And you think the West is any different?
Of course not. In every country, most recruits come from the poorest regions. This is exactly what I was saying in my previous posts. The West has a big problem with recruitment because it has very few poor regions, and the vast majority of the population has a high standard of living, so they don’t want to join the army.
It is much easier for countries with high poverty rates to recruit soldiers than it is for wealthy countries.
Call it what you want. But MAGA is something you would expect when there's an economic downturn and your government is busy spending money on other nations.
You don’t need special economic circumstances for slogans like “I will give you the money instead of giving it to someone else” to be attractive for the uneducated masses. The same tactics work both in boom times and in economic downturns. People are greedy and they always want more money for themselves. It doesn’t matter if they are poor, middle class or even wealthy. They always want more money.
The same we're seeing now. As I said, the moment the West fought a major war which requires the sacrifice of many men, that's the moment they realize that their population is no longer willing to do the burden.
Unfortunately I have to agree with you here. The West is too wealthy for people to be willing to make sacrifices.
IMO the Americans experienced their peak when it comes to quality of life around the 50s to early 60s. When the Vietnam War just started, families would enthusiastically gather in front of their TVs to listen to the latest developments in Viet Nam. Young men age 18 would tell their family and friends that they're serving.
If your theory is all about "Good life = not willing to sacrifice" then it doesn't explain why Americans in the 50s are so eager to join the war in Vietnam.
This is just an illusion of the “good old days” to think that the peak of quality of life in America was in the 50s to 60s. The peak of quality of life is now. People earn much more and work much less than they did back then. They have a much easier life now.
Of course, the current standard of living is unsustainable for the long term, as it is partially funded by increasing debt and the abuse of the US dollar as the global reserve currency, but this doesn’t change the fact that Americans today have a much higher standard of living than they had 70 years ago.
They didn’t even have computers and smartphones back than, how can you even compare?
Which in the end dictates who will prevail.
This is no longer the immediate post-Cold War era, where American power could dictate the behavior of other countries from their embassies. The era where the one's having more money will prevail is basically over.
Wealthy countries have an advantage in technology and organization, but have a disadvantage in manpower. It all boils down to who manages to use its strengths better.