SeventyTwoTrillion

joined 3 years ago
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[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Probably won't get again idf sickos training his soldiers though

this will actually make their soldiers more competent, then

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

And in the end, the US could just end up winning because its opponents simply don’t know how fragile it actually is, and made all the wrong decisions instead of sticking together and launch a cohesive assault against the dollar.

I don't think there's a situation where the US "wins" because that's not really how it's happened in the past; the contender states are rising in opposition to the US as they are geopolitically bound to do. It wouldn't really matter if the contender states were capitalist or communist. Germany, Japan, and the United States rose as contender states to oppose the British Empire's much stronger hegemon and none of them were communist and the global currencies were at that point either the sterling or the gold standard, both of which the British Empire more-or-less controlled. Even in the absolute worst case scenario for the anti-hegemon and the absolute best case for the US, we're not looking at the US empire lasting past this century. Let's assume the worst happens and China's government topples and a capitalist one is instituted instead - they'd still be contending for the top spot in the arena of generating profit. And even as communists, China is caught up in the same global conditions as everybody else, the same generally lowering rate of profit as per the TRPF, the same development of neo-colonies, the same increasing difficulty to acquire resources as all the easy-to-access spots are taken up, etc.

I strongly dislike any theory which relies on a person or group of people having to "make the right choice" beyond that which their immediate interests lie. One of the many reasons I like Marxism is that it doesn't at all rely on, say, a person or group of people suddenly growing a heart and betraying the bourgeoisie as a prerequisite for the workers to institute a dictatorship of the proletariat. In a similar vein, at the geopolitical level, it shouldn't matter what the people inside China or Russia or the US want to happen, it shouldn't rely on, say, the Chinese leadership being presented with either dedollarization (growing a heart) or maintaining the dollar (acting selfishly and against their long-term interests) and then either choice shapes the future of the human race. It might not be inevitable per se, climate change or rampant disease or an asteroid impact might still get us of course.

But if we're in a situation where the only way out of US empire supremacy is a particular national government making a choice that works against their interests in the short term (as dedollarization would be a painful process for China) then we are very probably fucked.

Essentially what I'm trying to say is that if the US "wins", and neoliberalism prevails for decades or centuries, then Marxism must definitionally be incorrect. We must have made an incorrect judgement about the viability of capitalism, perhaps the rate of profit does not in fact fall over time, and the theory is wrong. Until somebody points out that fatal flaw, then I don't see how Marxism can be wrong. QED, the US will not win.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

all that really matters is that Ansarallah fired missiles at the carrier group and it proceeded to fuck off to where it can't bomb people, whether that was due to superficial damage or needing to reload, I don't particularly care. nobody (that I know of) was asserting that Ansarallah did even major damage to the ship, let alone catastrophic damage, let alone sink it

libs in 2030: "Well, the problem with Trump nuking half the countries in West Africa when the communist uprising happened was because that he didn't fill out the appropriate forms. When Biden in his ongoing second term decided to drop nukes there too, he not only sought the permission of Congress (which he didn't even have to do! what a lovely gentleman) but also the Parliamentarian, and dotted his i's and crossed his t's. There's a really big difference between a madman with nukes who murders tens of millions of people, and a respectable, democratic leader who causes tens of millions of people to experience a bomb-adjacent termination."

#Tradle #820 2/6
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https://oec.world/en/games/tradle

spoilermy eastern Europe spider sense was tingling

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Country of the Week is Mexico!

Feel free to post or recommend any books, essays, studies, articles, and even stories related to Mexico.

If you know a lot about the country and want to share your knowledge and opinions, here are some questions to get you started if you wish:

spoiler

  • What is the general ideology of the political elite? Do they tend to be protectionist nationalists, or are they more free trade globalists? Are they compradors put there by foreign powers? Are they socialists with wide support by the population?
  • What are the most important domestic political issues that make the country different from other places in the region or world? Are there any peculiar problems that have continued existing despite years or decades with different parties?
  • Is the country generally stable? Are there large daily protests or are things calm on average? Is the ruling party/coalition generally harmonious or are there frequent arguments or even threats?
  • Is there a particular country to which this country has a very impactful relationship over the years, for good or bad reasons? Which one, and why?
  • What are the political factions in the country? What are the major parties, and what segments of the country do they attract?
  • Are there any smaller parties that nonetheless have had significant influence? Are there notable separatist movements?
  • How socially progressive or conservative is the country generally? To what degree is there equality between men and women, as well as different races and ethnic groups? Are LGBTQIA+ rights protected?
  • Give a basic overview of the last 50 or 100 years. What's the historical trend of politics, the economy, social issues, etc - rise or decline? Were they always independent or were they once occupied, and how have things been since independence if applicable?
  • If you want, go even further back in history. Were there any kingdoms or empires that once governed the area?

Check out the reading list. Our books on Mexico:

  • The Mexican Revolution of 1910 by Edgcumb Pinchon (1944).
  • Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880–1954 by Carmen Ramos Escandón (1998).
  • Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt by John Gibler (2009).
  • Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture by Oswaldo Zavala (2022).

These books focus more on left wing movements:

  • Homage to Chiapas: The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico by Bill Weinberg (2000).
  • Ya Basta!: 10 Years of the Zapatista Uprising Writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos by Subcomandante Marcos (2003).
  • The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement by Gloria Muñoz Ramírez (2008).
  • Insurgent Marcos: The Political-Philosophical Formation of the Zapatista Subcommander by Nick Henck (2016).

These books focus on women:

  • Women and Power in Mexico: The Forgotten Heritage, 1880–1954 by Carmen Ramos Escandón (1998).
[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

shitton of wooden Poles

I assume other nationalities also work?

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

we're doing "epic NATO-trained Ukrainian supersoldier Ghost of Kyiv is able to take on 100 conscripted Russian orcs approaching in human waves all at once and only has to stop because he ran out of ammo" propaganda but with planes now

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 62 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

you don't actually think Trump will be materially worse on Gaza or similar issues, you're just filled with horror at the thought that big scary stupid orange man will tweet during the genocide. the average lib's brain was catastrophically shattered by 2016-2020 despite the only meaningful change compared to any other president being that Trump was acting like a buffoon during it. there's a lot of things that got worse during Trump, obviously, but they would have gotten equally worse under Clinton or anybody else.

when liberals do make complaints about how things got materially worse, it's almost invariably true that you can either a) point to how it was already bad until Obama and the trendline just kept going in the same direction, or b) point to how Biden then proceeded to make it worse anyway despite being a Democrat. so the only problem libs genuinely have with Trump, when you peel away the bullshit, was that Trump was an "unpresidential" Tweeter in Chief and they had to endure a bunch of shitty pepe memes being posted at them by dipshit chuds while trying to eat brunch; truly a fate worse than death.

"What if we killed a hundred thousand starving Palestinians like we are now, but the guy in charge was incompetent?" Oh god! Those dead Palestinians will feel much worse knowing that the way they killed was bombs being dropped on them incompetently rather than the result of a smart, systematic, scientific approach via the AI revolution delivered by Final Solutions Inc!

"What if we got rid of the right to an abortion, or let states across the country strike down rights for the LGBTQIA+ like we are now, but this time the guy in charge was tweeting about McDonalds during it?" What a nightmare!

"What if we explicitly reduced the US's ability to fight climate change by expanding the national fossil fuel industry and introducing tariffs on foreign green energy and electric vehicles like we are now, but Trump made our country look silly while doing it?" Please, anything but that!

"What if we built a wall on the southern border and deported more migrants than the previous president and made the lives of migrants absolute living hell with constant violations of human rights by border guards, while the media then pretends that the guards there are being ordered at gunpoint by communist Marxist Stalinist politicians to provide a million dollars to each migrant and let them fuck their wives because the best way to motivate Americans to vote is to make them scared that the Scary Group of Brown People are coming to steal their stuff? But, instead of Biden doing that, Trump was doing it, and he was being RACIST on SOCIAL MEDIA too!" What torture!

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

the Eisenhower's captain posted a video from March 2024 as "proof" that the ship was not hit by the Houthis in the last couple days, and the ship is hightailing it to Jeddah. I now officially believe that Ansarallah did in fact hit the aircraft carrier, though obviously not enough to sink it or anything

edit: now there's a new video showing half the ship, but with an extremely conveniently well-placed dude directly in the way of the camera who is standing still throughout the entire video such that he blocks the view of the other half of the ship. this really is gonna be a whole saga, isn't it

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

the central conceit of neoliberalism has always been that it's the most rational position and only the true adults in the room will accept its mandates.

this was all the more mindboggling in the aftermath of the World Wars, when state-driven planning resulted in absolutely massive economic and industrial booms and even better profit for the bourgeoisie than under "free trade". it was literally just "ignore what happened over the last five years, ignore the evidence of your senses, we have to do deflation and remove funding from programs." this total willingness to ignore history and science in the pursuit of maintaining the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie even at the expense of their own profits means that there is no hope that in the current day, neoliberal governments will follow China's lead. hell, even mild Keynesianism and full employment measures would be regardless as giga-Stalinist ultracommunism now. this is bad for us proles of course, but pretty great if you're interested in watching Western imperialism collapse - they will resist with all their might any attempt to take the offramp that would save the imperialist system

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