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The crank stuff is really annoying. Like with regards to Venezuelan military capabilities for instance, all over social media you had these alt media sphere accounts acting like Venezuela's ancient S-125/SA-3 Goa air defence systems were going to shoot down F-35s in a repeat of the Serbian F-117 shoot down (with zero understanding of what the F-117 was, what the F-35 is today, and how the F-117 shoot down even happened). Acting like a single S-300VM/SA-23 system, which wasn't even deployed to the capital, was going to protect the entire country. Acting like Kh-31 anti ship missiles, missiles that the US Navy used the exact same model of to test their air defence systems, were going to deter the US. Acting as if Maduro talking about 6000 MANPADs was going to shoot down fighter jets. Saying that the Buk air defence systems would do well in Venezuela because they perform well in Ukraine and Russia. Saying that some "anti stealth radars" Venezuela got from China were going to locate the F-22s and F-35s.

And then when the US did capture Maduro, those same alt media sphere accounts said that Venezuela just surrendered in a deal, ignoring all the pictures of destroyed Buks (there were quite a lot), and videos of US helicopters shooting anything that moved, and the close to 100 casualties amongst Venezuelan and Cuban forces. They did the same with regards to the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, saying that the US never actually flew into Iranian airspace and dropped bunker buster bombs, they just launched cruise missiles for show to make holes on the surface.

I guess most of the left (outside of China) doesn't want to engage seriously with military matters because most experts are western aligned and ideologically opposed to leftism. But then again, look at what China is doing. They are very much learning from the doctrine of the USA, making stealth jets, advanced electronic warfare aircraft, etc. China even has their own F-35 analogue, the J-35, an aircraft type many on the left constantly make fun of, despite it being a very capable aircraft produced in large numbers. Is China stupid for making their own F-35s? Or are the alt media sphere and exaggerated RT articles wrong? You can decide for yourself, but I very much think that China is right here by building J-35s.

I also feel like a complete idiot for taking the alt media sphere seriously years ago.

Absolutely. All that “peaceful coexistence” bullshit is just to cover that their military is not strong enough.

What makes you think this?

ML types only concern themselves with economic analysis, forgetting that there’s more to hard power than the economy. I see reading lists from ML orgs and few of them incorporate texts on revolutionary warfare.

A lot of the best titles on revolutionary warfare were written by MLs and most MLs are not worried about engaging in revolutionary warfare before properly building a party, a disciplined cadre and a vanguard while addressing class contradictions in the area/country that they are working in instead of distributing COIN manuals on Instagram pages and calling PSL police (NATO Anarchists, as you said, not jabbing at you.). This is demonstrable in the fact that actually existing socialist nations fall (generally) under the M-L banner and had to fight constantly for their existence/survival and only survived through addressing class contradiction via their own socialist characteristics deployed through extensive theory and party discipline.

And if I were the kind of person who wants to get a good theory reading about revolutionary warfare, where would I begin?