any% speedrun of an economic collapse lmao
We're waiting for the fireworks to begin off the coast of Yemen basically, the empire cannot tolerate Yemen trying to stop the genocide and cut supply routes but simultaneously if the US starts shit, then that might be the impetus for the long-awaited/feared regional war to start and only Allah knows where that will bring us.
Big lead-up-to-February-24th hours
You're gonna put the part of my brain that comes up with megathread pun titles out of a job
By that logic, is the Boston Tea Party a genocide lmao?
Methinks the slogan "no taxation without representation" is deeply Offensive, implying that the colonists hast not been offered any Representation in the British Parliament. Verily, King George III, our Lovely Sovereign, hath the best interests of the colonists inside his Bosom, and multiple times our good faith efforts to Provide these colonists with better Conditions hast been forswore.
The events of 1776 hast shocked the Globe and shall respond post-haste to ensure we remain in full Control. I bid everybody whom I converse with: "Doth thou condemn the Yankees?"
Our mightiest Ships of the Line sail with God's wind behind them, on their way to Defeat the rowdy revolutionaries whom hath Plagued this uppity Colony. Its citizens hath nothing to fear from our Redcoats as long as they remain compliant. Once we defeat these Savages that are assaulting Saratoga, we shall shift our attention to Frenchbollah, whom hast been causing an almighty Ruckus on our other frontier. Spainsarallah are also not safe from our Retribution.
It's at least partially because the US is extremely nervous about starting a war in such a critical region, but honestly I think it's mostly because it just genuinely takes a long time to get forces in position no matter what country you are, but especially if you're an overextended country that is gradually crumbling and with inefficiencies due to capitalism and a parasitic financialised economy.
Like, even if the US had decided on October 7th "Alright, that's it, we're going to war with Iran, get everything ready for the invasion" preparations still would not be complete. You have to inform troops, prepare to move them, equip them, set up supply lines and infrastructure for the war, set up hospitals, set up barracks, get ships in position, and dozens of other things. And this is lengthened when every single corporation along the chain is trying to maximise its own profits. Like, it took literally 6 months for Ukraine to gather together even the shitty force that they sent to be annihilated in Zaporozhye, and that is one front in one war. What if you're the world hegemon, with dozens of theaters to handle (some in outright conflict, others more clandestine)? @carpoftruth@hexbear.net linked a Simplicius article talking about how the US navy is in a dismal state.
The alphabet boys are getting really bad at manufacturing these kinds of guys in their test tube facilities. Can't wait until the war begins, the US gets owned, a peace is eventually signed, and this guy just goes silent after his funding is cut and he's moved to a different program
Your Tuesday Briefing
Developing countries spent $443 billion in 2022 to service their public debt, which could have otherwise been spent on social welfare, infrastructure, or climate change mitigation. This is 5% higher from a year earlier and could increase by 10% in 2023-2024. For the world's 75 poorest countries, their debt service payments are predicted to rise 40% over 2023-2024.
Germany and Norway's Equinor have signed a โฌ50 billion deal, its biggest long-term gas contract in nearly 40 years, supplying Germany with 129 billion cubic meters of gas up to 2039, or a third of the country's industrial demand. Norway supplies half of the EU's piped gas. Meanwhile, German business sentiment continues to fall, particularly in the construction industry, which is at its lowest since September 2005.
Iraq has held its first provincial elections in a decade, with a turnout of 67%.
In Kazakhstan, the Chinese company Shipbuilding Industry Corp., is exp-- wait, what? Shipbuilding Industry Corp.? Shipbuilding Industry Corp?! Oh yeah, let me call my fucking agricultural company "Food Growing Inc." We should have named Hexbear "Online Communist Forum" instead. ...anyway, they wanna build container facilities in the port cities of Aktau and Kuryk, and other Chinese companies also want to modernize and improve railway lines and their throughput in Kazakhstan and in Kyrgyzstan. There's also increasing air connectivity to China in the region.
Sisi in Egypt has won the presidential election with 89.6% of the vote, with a turnout of 66.8%, the highest in Egyptian history.
US Steel has been sold to Japan's Nippon Steel in a $14.9 billion deal, with several US politicians vowing to block it in a very non-free market move.
Chileans have rejected the new constitution drafted by the far-right. A year ago, they also rejected a left-wing constitution. So now we're just back where we started, with the Pinochet-era constitution. What a tremendous waste of time.
Colombia's drug war is flaring up again after the FARC, the largest armed revolutionary group in the country, entered peace negotiations in 2016. With this, the drug vacuum was filled by organized crime, due to a lack of alternative ways of generating money for many Colombians. The ELN, a Marxist revolutionary group, is training to take on narcotraffickers, as it was designed by the CIA and the Pentagon.
Several global maritime agencies, as well as fossil fuel giant BP, have paused all transit through the Red Sea until further notice due to missile and drone threats. This is a capital strike against the West to force them to address Yemen by targeting Ansarallah - and they are, through "Operation Prosperity Guardian".
The empire that took over from the British Empire having its own Suez moment in a place close to the Suez proves that god exists and he's laughing at us
Enacts a war that drives Russia permanently into the arms of China, builds a military alliance between Iran and Russia, strengthens the military and economy of Russia....
Step 1: Arm Ukraine to fight Russia, buy time with the Minsk accords as we know Putin isn't aggressive and likes to do things diplomatically if he can.
Step 2: Well, shit. There goes the JCPOA. Well, this is still salvageable, but it'll take a little more finesse, so once Biden is president things will be fine.
Step 3: Invent atrocity propaganda around China to try and isolate them diplomatically and provide a reason to re-enact protectionist industrial policies as we break a little with neoliberal orthodoxy; and we also arm Taiwan at the same time.
Step 4: Okay, fuck, the pandemic derailed things a little there but we're back on track.
Step 5: Start the Ukraine War! Russia will have collapsed by summer 2022 and we'll have Nalvany or somebody else in power to help us take on China.
Step 6: ...Russia will collapse any day now...
...
Step 15: Shit. Okay, well, China has recovered from the semiconductor sanctions. Uh, shit. They control most rare earth production so now we have to invest more in those...
...
Step 27: Goddamn it, with the counteroffensive failed, Ukraine's probably toast. This is still okay, as long as the 12th sanction package works and we keep Europe under our thumb and reliant on our energy supplies.
...
Step 36: ...okay, listen. What we need to do now is declare war on Yemen. Yes, I swear this has something to do with fighting China, it's really simple--
fast forward to 2036:
Step 287: Okay, so, our global hegemony is mostly degraded, our military capabilities are a joke, and climate change is really fucking up the mainland US, but listen, if we just invade Brazil, we can reverse our fortunes and finally work back towards fighting China...
Additionally, Hezbollah has hit 2 Iron Dome batteries.
With this, plus the escalation around Yemen, it looks like we continue to go up the escalation ladder.
They have Russian Kornets, like Hezbollah. Looks like there's still plenty of gas in Hamas's tank.
#Tradle #653 2/6
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https://oec.world/en/tradle
spoiler
I started way off and then my brain finally acknowledged the words "palm oil" and then it was pretty straightforward