Z

Z

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Z @_mengde_

Apr 26

TBH one of the most insane things about Japan I think most people don't realize is that they haven't had any kind of foreign intelligence agency since 1945. It's obvious if you pause for a moment and try to think "what's the Japanese CIA?"

Terence Shen

@Terenceshen

Apr 23

Breaking: Japan just passed a significant bill today to establish a National Intelligence Council and a National Intelligence Bureau. This reform is one of the most consequential changes to Japan's security apparatus since 1952. The new National Intelligence Bureau and proposed Anti-Espionage Law specifically target activities often attributed to China’s state actors.

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Z @_mengde_

Apr 26

"blablabla anti-militarism" - would be a much more compelling argument if the JSDF wasn't also one of the strongest militaries in the world! Thus far, they've somehow managed to get by with just a bunch of amateurs detailed to their equivalent of the White House EOP.

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Z @_mengde_

Apr 7

The funny thing is that they *used* to do this in Europe. When Latinizing your name was all the rage, Germans called Stefan Fuchs would insistently sign their names Stephanus Vulpius. When he spoke with a Frenchman, he would introduce himself as Stéphane Renard.

Air Katakana

@airkatakana

Apr 7

you all like to talk about how the japanese call ice cream "aisu kuriimu" but none of you are ready to talk about how mao zedong is called "mou takutou" or chiang kai-shek is called "shou kaiseki"

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Z @_mengde_

Apr 7

But historically, this would have been the default when actually speaking and writing. You hear "Roi Guillaume" (or Old French equivalent anyhow), write down "Rex Willelmus", read "König Wilhelm". All the more remarkable since unlike with East Asia, there isn't a writing system

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Z @_mengde_

Apr 7

where the names are at least notionally written identically if pronounced differently. The names in the vernacular and literary languages are actually be written obviously differently. /fin

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History Defined

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History Defined

@historydefined

Mar 9

Photorealistic image of George Washington if he lived in the present day.

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Z @_mengde_

Feb 21

A very important qualifier IMO is that there's a difference between "predicting war in November 2021" and "predicting war in January 2022". The second is after the buildup is obvious and the dispute is over what Putin's actual intentions are. By contrast, most people in November

T. Greer

@Scholars_Stage

Feb 21

The French and Germans had the same intelligence as the Americans and the Brits, but could not see the Ukraine war coming. "I think they took as a starting point: "Why would he?" And we took as a starting point: "Why wouldn't he?""

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Z @_mengde_

Feb 21

qualitative differences in intelligence capability. So that context may have given the CIA greater confidence that "invasion" was the right call as opposed to "demonstration" or "exercise" or "intimidation." Moreover, such important sources and accesses that could provide such

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Z @_mengde_

Feb 21

confidence at so early a date are likely the least shareable kind of source or access. So it was possible that the CIA had access to critical pieces of information that bolstered the argument for "invasion" but which the CIA was only willing to source with "trust me bro." /fin

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Jerome Sneed Democrat

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Jerome Sneed Democrat @avrilbradley23

Feb 10

Unironically probably the most successful and reasonably historically accurate portrayal of the American Revolution on screen.

Ben Crew @BenjaminCrew1

Feb 10

Crazy that the American Revolution has almost no movies outside of an epic that makes Pearl Harbor look historically accurate in comparison and a musical that has been obliterated from the public consciousness by Hamilton

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propaganda of the deez

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propaganda of the deez @oball

Feb 10

Replying to @BamaExpat

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Z @_mengde_

Feb 10

A little known fact is that one of the secondary reasons the US confiscated German patents after WW2 as part of Operation Paperclip - besides the scientific and technological value of the patents themselves ofc - was because the US and other Allied countries had nationalized

T. Greer

@Scholars_Stage

Feb 9

Net positive. We need to rebuild the entire industrial ecosystem—every factory built makes other factories easier to build and staff. (And if we are worried about times of war… who owns the factory will matter less than where it is).

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