Ase decides that Ringo’s covert ops people work off a radically different set of assumptions than she does, and she's rather glad they're a few fictional universes away from her.
::cackles::
It's not just Ringo's Covert Ops people. He likes _all_ his protagonists to be pragmatic, ruthless and grimly amused. It's likely to keep them alive longer in combat zones (which is where Ringo tends to drop them).
OTOH, I'd imagine all covert ops people have radically different assumptions than yours...otherwise the CIA would be trying to recruit you too. It's not a job for just anyone you know. ;-) ______________ Re: Sino-Islamic Total War
I hold that a proportional percentage of the economy probably was pumped straight into the war effort - total war, remember?- and so would have drained it as fast or nearly so.
It's a matter of industrial base. Both the factories and resources of the two combatants were _far_ behind the front lines and not subject to bombing until the very end. Also, the Country-size to Trench-length ratio is much better in KSR's war than in our own. The trenches appear to run approximately down China's western border through the Himalayas, which is certainly longer than Belgium to Switzerland...but China and Dar al Islam are both _tremendously_ bigger than England and Germany, and equally larger in relation to the Front (if I'm conveying this right).
Also a large economy can sustain a 15% war output (frex) longer than a small economy.
Why?
::waves hands in magical economic handwaving::
Economies of scale...increased efficiency...increased surplus (they become _more_ productive with time, less "fat")...other stuff I don't know about, but believe exists...
...and as the War settled down to the long hall, they might well have settled into a _sustainable_ war production drain, with the real conflict being waged on where each side was able to peg "sustainable" (a three-way struggle of manpower, natural resources and technical innovation). An economic war with human casualties as a side-effect. Certainly it was only the fire-bombing of all major Islamic cities that caused the end. Sino-Indian technical innovation used to devastate Islamic industry (though intimidation probably was a factor too).
It's a fascinating, if terrifying, vision and one I can probably think about for far too long...
::wanders off to find Alt-History discussion group::
no subject
::cackles::
It's not just Ringo's Covert Ops people. He likes _all_ his protagonists to be pragmatic, ruthless and grimly amused. It's likely to keep them alive longer in combat zones (which is where Ringo tends to drop them).
OTOH, I'd imagine all covert ops people have radically different assumptions than yours...otherwise the CIA would be trying to recruit you too. It's not a job for just anyone you know. ;-)
______________
Re: Sino-Islamic Total War
I hold that a proportional percentage of the economy probably was pumped straight into the war effort - total war, remember?- and so would have drained it as fast or nearly so.
It's a matter of industrial base. Both the factories and resources of the two combatants were _far_ behind the front lines and not subject to bombing until the very end. Also, the Country-size to Trench-length ratio is much better in KSR's war than in our own. The trenches appear to run approximately down China's western border through the Himalayas, which is certainly longer than Belgium to Switzerland...but China and Dar al Islam are both _tremendously_ bigger than England and Germany, and equally larger in relation to the Front (if I'm conveying this right).
Also a large economy can sustain a 15% war output (frex) longer than a small economy.
Why?
::waves hands in magical economic handwaving::
Economies of scale...increased efficiency...increased surplus (they become _more_ productive with time, less "fat")...other stuff I don't know about, but believe exists...
...and as the War settled down to the long hall, they might well have settled into a _sustainable_ war production drain, with the real conflict being waged on where each side was able to peg "sustainable" (a three-way struggle of manpower, natural resources and technical innovation). An economic war with human casualties as a side-effect. Certainly it was only the fire-bombing of all major Islamic cities that caused the end. Sino-Indian technical innovation used to devastate Islamic industry (though intimidation probably was a factor too).
It's a fascinating, if terrifying, vision and one I can probably think about for far too long...
::wanders off to find Alt-History discussion group::