In all of my life — 32 years in the business — I have never seen a law enforcement or intelligence organization like the bureau be directed to go after people purely on political, vindictive reasons,” said Phil Gurski, a former analyst with Canada’s intelligence and cryptologic agencies. “In a Western democracy, that’s unheard of. It’s every day in Russia and China.”

LMAO. 🤣 Sure.

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[–] UmmmCheckPlease@hexbear.net 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The one (soft power) is designed to hide incompetence/intent in the other (threats of violence). With soft power accepting the implicit threat of violence as a part of the ecosystem and utilizing it as a backstop against straying “outside the lines”, it’s then able to shape outcomes within its defined realm.

If the threat of violence is identified as non-existent, then there’s nothing to keep things within capitals preferred realm. And soft power is just that, soft, and falls apart when trying to fulfill imperial ambitions without that threat.

Soft power via collaboration building is a bit different, since it’s shaped around a collectively formed goal rather than enforcing that of a single entity. Moreso carrot than stick. The US has been applying so much austerity that they’ve discarded both the carrot and the stick in (imo) the hopes that society is too atomized to notice; but one does catch on when contradictions heighten enough.

[–] ClassIsOver@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago

Excellently-put.