if Trump wins the latino vote then every Democrat Party fan in the country will drop dead
The parallel universe where Hitler invades the Soviet Union first (and thus probably receives help from England, France, and the US for doing so) really would be the worst timeline. Actually, I'm not sure why Hitler didn't do that. Some WW2 history buff might be able to fill me in.
The weekly update is here on the website.
Also check out the new community that I moderate, c/self_improvement!
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The Country of the Week is Haiti!
As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Haiti, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):
- Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
- What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
- What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
- What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
- How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
- What role do foreign powers play in the country’s politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
- If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
- Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?
The previous country was Finland.
This is our Geopolitics Reading List so far! Please chime in with suggestions!
General Theory:
- Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson.
- Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, by John Smith.
- Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's 'Dialectics of Dependency' Goes beyond Marx's 'Capital', by Andy Higginbottom.
- Capital Volume 3 Lecture Series, 32 videos, 10-15 minutes each, by Andy Higginbottom.
- World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, by Immanuel Wallerstein.
- Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire, by Radhika Desai.
- Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy, by Radhika Desai.
Canada:
- Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, by Tyler Shipley.
Chile:
- 1000 Days of Revolution: Chilean Communists on the Lessons of Popular Unity (I cannot personally find an online version).
- Santiago Boys Podcast, analyzing Allende's government and Cybersyn.
Lebanon:
- A History of Modern Lebanon, by Fawwaz Traboulsi.
United States:
- Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, by Oswaldo Zavala.
Venezuela:
- Objective Conditions in Venezuela: Maduro’s Defensive Strategy and Contradictions Among the People, a longform article by Steve Ellner.
#Tradle #666 4/6
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https://oec.world/en/tradle
i really hate islands. when I become world president, I am going to drag all the islands together to form a single island. this is not only impossible but a terrible move regardless, but it will be worth it so that tradle is easier
Islamophobia is also a racist phenomenon that is defined by a unique word. There are probably things to discuss in the differences in the presentation of racist beliefs - that is, referring to racism against Muslims as a "phobia" whereas for Jews it's more neutrally presented as merely being "anti", while racism of most other kinds like anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Mexican, etc is usually lumped under the umbrella term "racism". But I think it goes too far to say that the term "anti-Semitism" needs to go. Attacking Zionism - e.g. saying that anti-Zionism is not only not anti-semitic, but in fact Zionism is itself anti-semitic - is sufficient without having to also attack the latter term.
"A curse upon the Jews"
I'm not sure if that statement is meant in the specific sense of being against Israelis who are colloquially known as merely "the Jews" (because there's not really any other group who could be called that in the region), or if it's an actual broad statement against followers of Judaism in general. It would surprise me if it was the latter given that the Resistance seems to have no real issues with Jewish people who aren't Zionists, despite the fearmongering.
the (neo)classic move of the conservative coming in, saying "this is the worst economy I've ever been handed, there is literally no money in the budget, very sorry everybody, we're gonna have to do austerity for a while and everybody will need to tighten their belts, it's for the greater good, there's simply no alternative to this according to the greatest minds in economics" and pillaging whatever capital the working class happens to possess
then the socdem is voted in 4-5 years later and reverts like 20% of the damage at best and then the cycle repeats itself
kinda unfair tbh, Israel should be able to celebrate this year, as it's the last year they'll have
I disagree but that's very nice of you
I am begging you to start putting /s tags on your comments
Putin sitting in the war cabinet meeting with Shoigu and Gerasimov and all the rest.
Putin: "...we've gone over the logistics situation, okay... now I want to talk about our missile strike capability. I assume that all of those 160, very expensive missiles hit various civilian structures across Ukraine, as attempting to spread terror rather than aiming for military installations, in a war, is the best possible use of our resources and money. Is my assumption correct?"
Everybody else begins sweating.
Gerasimov: "I... we... sir..."
Putin: "Out with it."
Gerasimov: "...after our long period without missile strikes in order to recalibrate our sights, this newest bombardment doesn't appear to have resulted in any substantial differences."
Putin: "Give it to me straight."
Gerasimov: "Once again, our missiles veered off course at the very last moment, hitting military targets rather than innocent civilians. We only killed 20 civilians this time around, and--"
Putin: "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT! How does this keep happening? Tell our missile operators that further failure is unacceptable. I will feel extremely insecure if I don't murder at least 100 innocents per day - those goddamn TikTok body analysts keep correctly interpreting everything I do. I am fundamentally evil and a dictator and we are fighting the forces of justice and freedom. We must win and create a world free from happiness and love, because I am evil and a very bad man."
Gerasimov: "...yes, sir, we're already running further tests to see what the problem was this time around and the next run should hopefully hit many fewer military legitimate targets."
in the short description of the current situation in the post preamble I talked about how the situation in Haiti is really chaotic right now. a ton of gang warfare but also a lot of more revolutionary activity. not entirely sure on the chain of events that led to the government losing control of the monopoly on violence after the previous leader was assassinated, but that's the situation they're in right now. another article on this topic from Haïti Liberté journalist Kim Ives: