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PaperclipPerfector  8d ago (text post)   832 thread views

Transnational Thursday for October 9, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Here is an interview with a drone expert on the future of AI warfare.

Look at that! A Mottezin (Mottezen? Mottizen?)in the wild! Could be my first time seeing the actual visage of anyone here.

The guy Paul Scharre's constant rapport-seeking rise in intonation was distracting so I ended up reading the transcript, but thanks for the vid!

Funny story, I used to look like this a few weeks ago, but cut my beard; got stopped too much at airports.

You made the right choice.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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