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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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Empire was part of the broader Belt and Road Initiative, which was basically corporatist colonialism without any noblisse oblige. I namedropped it because I figured people might be more familiar with it. It's just a prompt.

Let's say the US massively pulls back from it's efforts stabilizing the world. What do you think fills the void, and why would it be better?

which was basically corporatist colonialism without any noblisse oblige

I'm happy to admit that European colonialism with noblesse oblige was better (I think even the Chinese were impressed with what was left over), but we seem to have decided that it's racist and it's better to do nothing, send food over every mce in a while, and constantly self-flagelate. So the Chinese seem to win this one.

Let's say the US massively pulls back from it's efforts stabilizing the world. What do you think fills the void, and why would it be better?

Probably some rough times initially, with people jumping in to fill the power vacuum, and later on more uneasy truces, and less galaxy brained attempt at End Of History-esque spread of liberalism.

Though I have a bit of an issue with the question - pulling out now means we'd get the worst of both worlds. You already messed up the world several times, and withdrawing isn't going to undo it.