Depends on the capital. Doesn’t work too well for infrastructure and human capital, and the west has plenty of those anyway. What the west is insecure about is energy,and it seems that a combination of diplomacy, threat and proxy warfare is a more efficient way to keep it flowing than all out capture.
The example of von Braun and co crossed my mind. But that was something of a side effect. Fighting a war specifically to capture a smallish numbers of smart people is frought with risks.
Depends on the capital. Doesn’t work too well for infrastructure and human capital, and the west has plenty of those anyway. What the west is insecure about is energy,and it seems that a combination of diplomacy, threat and proxy warfare is a more efficient way to keep it flowing than all out capture.
Depends on the human capital. Look at the history of the US space program :-/
At the moment. I’m wary of evolutionary arguments based on a few decades worth of data.
The example of von Braun and co crossed my mind. But that was something of a side effect. Fighting a war specifically to capture a smallish numbers of smart people is frought with risks.
Opportunistic seizure of capital is to be expected in a war fought for any purpose.