That NC article was really good today. Amazing that real wages in Russia grew 7.8% last year! I couldn't imagine that happening here in the US anytime soon.
".... it may very well be the West that is cutting itself off from the international connections that it requires to flourish. The Western elites are still deep in a denial of reality, leading to policy decisions which negatively impact their own position."
What we are witnessing is the turning point in a world that, having been dominated by imperialism in a process which begins in the late C15th is now coming to be overwhelmed by the reaction to that imperialism. It is a double movement of the classic kind- imperialism led to conditions in which humanity cannot thrive, it makes too many demands on the population and the environment. Thus it gives rise to a countervailing movement-that of the victims of empire rejecting, inter alia, the unipolarity which is implicit in imperialism as monopoly is in capitalism.
This reaction begins in the early C20th its earliest victories are the Revolutions of 1905, of 1916 in Ireland and of 1917 in Russia. All were led by urban based worker movements but all were essentially peasant revolutions against imperialism. And they succeeded because they endured if only in symbolic forms. Now the anti-imperialist forces dominate the globe- the last bastions of old empire are crumbling away. They literally fray at the edges the way that the UK is breaking down into to its pre-imperial constituents. Similar movements are abroad elsewhere- in Canada for example the confederation grows ever looser as neo-liberalism attacks the foundations of the state.
Once the reason for central state power is removed, as its functions are closed down, the power of states and provinces is bound to grow, mirroring the multipolarity of international affairs. At the same time supra state organs such as the EU are cleft by tensions and rivalries, exacerbated by their manifestly undemocratic nature and hence their inability to reform themselves to appease popular opinion.
The old Empire, the West is run by neo-liberal fanatics with a totally irrational faith in an economic system which has never existed outside of the heads of economists and the pages of the texts that they have written. These fanatics have taken most of the ideology to which they subscribe on faith, never having tested it critically and are ,consequently, impotent in the face of changes which they can only deny.
Or, in practical terms 'cancel' -pretend that they cannot exist, explain them as inexplicable aberations bound to collapse- such as China's capitalist economy within communist party rule which much of the academic world has been claiming to be on the verge of disaster for most of the century.
The progress of countries out of neo-colonialism is also denied and, where possible reversed by employing force majeure in which the imperialists rely almost entirely on bribed agents in the army, judiciary or media to prevent mass conquests of power. But here too nothing but brute force sustains the reactionary governments such as those which came to power after coups in Brazil, Honduras, Ecuador,Peru and Bolivia.
How to groom a Oligarch: This is from the horse’s mouth. Such funny piece to read: truley a master peace of one of our best spin doctor‘s Will Dunn: fits good with your view Robert
„In January 1995 a 31-year-old Mikhail Khodorkovsky travelled to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum. At a café in Davos one morning he saw a fellow Russian businessman, Boris Berezovsky, speaking to the Hungarian financier George Soros. It was a small place, and he sat close enough to know they were speaking about Russia’s first post-Soviet-era election, which would be held the following year. “You’ve had a good life so far,” Soros told Berezovsky, “and now the communists are coming back, and it’s time to flee.“
That NC article was really good today. Amazing that real wages in Russia grew 7.8% last year! I couldn't imagine that happening here in the US anytime soon.
".... it may very well be the West that is cutting itself off from the international connections that it requires to flourish. The Western elites are still deep in a denial of reality, leading to policy decisions which negatively impact their own position."
What we are witnessing is the turning point in a world that, having been dominated by imperialism in a process which begins in the late C15th is now coming to be overwhelmed by the reaction to that imperialism. It is a double movement of the classic kind- imperialism led to conditions in which humanity cannot thrive, it makes too many demands on the population and the environment. Thus it gives rise to a countervailing movement-that of the victims of empire rejecting, inter alia, the unipolarity which is implicit in imperialism as monopoly is in capitalism.
This reaction begins in the early C20th its earliest victories are the Revolutions of 1905, of 1916 in Ireland and of 1917 in Russia. All were led by urban based worker movements but all were essentially peasant revolutions against imperialism. And they succeeded because they endured if only in symbolic forms. Now the anti-imperialist forces dominate the globe- the last bastions of old empire are crumbling away. They literally fray at the edges the way that the UK is breaking down into to its pre-imperial constituents. Similar movements are abroad elsewhere- in Canada for example the confederation grows ever looser as neo-liberalism attacks the foundations of the state.
Once the reason for central state power is removed, as its functions are closed down, the power of states and provinces is bound to grow, mirroring the multipolarity of international affairs. At the same time supra state organs such as the EU are cleft by tensions and rivalries, exacerbated by their manifestly undemocratic nature and hence their inability to reform themselves to appease popular opinion.
The old Empire, the West is run by neo-liberal fanatics with a totally irrational faith in an economic system which has never existed outside of the heads of economists and the pages of the texts that they have written. These fanatics have taken most of the ideology to which they subscribe on faith, never having tested it critically and are ,consequently, impotent in the face of changes which they can only deny.
Or, in practical terms 'cancel' -pretend that they cannot exist, explain them as inexplicable aberations bound to collapse- such as China's capitalist economy within communist party rule which much of the academic world has been claiming to be on the verge of disaster for most of the century.
The progress of countries out of neo-colonialism is also denied and, where possible reversed by employing force majeure in which the imperialists rely almost entirely on bribed agents in the army, judiciary or media to prevent mass conquests of power. But here too nothing but brute force sustains the reactionary governments such as those which came to power after coups in Brazil, Honduras, Ecuador,Peru and Bolivia.
How to groom a Oligarch: This is from the horse’s mouth. Such funny piece to read: truley a master peace of one of our best spin doctor‘s Will Dunn: fits good with your view Robert
„In January 1995 a 31-year-old Mikhail Khodorkovsky travelled to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum. At a café in Davos one morning he saw a fellow Russian businessman, Boris Berezovsky, speaking to the Hungarian financier George Soros. It was a small place, and he sat close enough to know they were speaking about Russia’s first post-Soviet-era election, which would be held the following year. “You’ve had a good life so far,” Soros told Berezovsky, “and now the communists are coming back, and it’s time to flee.“
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/05/he-has-embarked-on-a-war-he-cant-stop-mikhail-khodorkovsky-on-putins-next-move
Classic projection. Just replace "Russia" with "US" & you'll be back in the real world.