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What is the most powerful flying bug? This poll is closed. |
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| 🦋 |
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15 | 3.71% |
| 🦇 |
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115 | 28.47% |
| 🪰 |
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12 | 2.97% |
| 🐦 |
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67 | 16.58% |
| dragonfly |
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94 | 23.27% |
| 🦟 |
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14 | 3.47% |
| 🐝 |
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87 | 21.53% |
| Total: | 404 votes | ||
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Majorian posted:I just spent several posts explaining that claim my dude. "Nehru was a secret muslim who ruined India and prevented us from becoming a superpooper 2020 by not letting us sell out to the americans" - average indian computer toucher. Al-Saqr posted:if Nehru is so great how come he doesnt have a comically sized statue the way some random dude who didnt do much of anything but hindutvas worship him did? not so great now is he?! Funniest thing is patel died so fast that BJP shills can eternally pretend that he was going to be a based right wing leader, same with JC Bose's INA. Yeah dude, the Indian mutineers in 1946 were running around with his photo and lenins. They were all going to make you into an epik free market capitalist nation that stretched from afghanistan to thailand. Also the statue is low energy. (and made in china)
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Nov 10, 2022 19:04
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speng31b posted:bricking this orc, but somberly, for its own good playtime has been denazified
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Nov 10, 2022 19:04
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I do think de-SWIFTing Russia was idiotic. The sanctions aren't why Russia's losing (except maybe the threat of sanctions to third parties selling Russia weapons?), but if the American Empire really does take a big hit at the end of all of this, they'll be the reason for that for sure.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:06
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Tankbuster posted:"Nehru was a secret muslim who ruined India and prevented us from becoming a superpooper 2020 by not letting us sell out to the americans" - average indian computer toucher. Uuuuuuuuuuuugh...I went to grad school with a number of folks like that.  I'm glad I got out of it long before Modi came to power, at least.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:06
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Majorian posted:I just spent several posts explaining that claim my dude. there's no american empire, and the capitalist empire is not getting stronger.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:11
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Majorian posted:Uuuuuuuuuuuugh...I went to grad school with a number of folks like that. tell them to go back home into their new hindu wakanda that modi is building lol. An entire psuedoclass built on fabian socialist ideals of industrial growth that never emerged until they became computer toucher ayn randians.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:11
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Zodium posted:there's no american empire, and the capitalist empire is not getting stronger. Well, I agree on the second point in the long-term, but on the first point, I'm afraid it's my term to  Tankbuster posted:tell them to go back home into their new hindu wakanda that modi is building lol. An entire psuedoclass built on fabian socialist ideals of industrial growth that never emerged until they became computer toucher ayn randians. Well hold on now, I've been told that Modi is building a trillion-dollar economy in India...*puts finger up to ear* ...we are receiving word that COVID has royally eviscerated India...
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Nov 10, 2022 19:15
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Also I think people are underestimating how online and interconnected everything is today. Even the ones posting on a day gay comedy forum. Walk out of your little echo chamber and into another one, and you'll find that it's exactly the same. Anyone as terminally online as the posters here are just as aware of the same things. The subconscious inarticulate perceptions are things for people living in the real world.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:16
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personally i just hope both sides have been having fun out there and giving it their all 
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Nov 10, 2022 19:17
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This war is definitely not strengthening the US. It's pulling EU closer to the US but also pushing other regions away from US, particularly the Opec countries. Also another effect is weakening the EU at the same time, kind of like forcing EU countries out of the most expensive poker table and move to the cheaper table. Europe's energy intensive industries have to move out of EU and set up shops in countries near cheap energy and transportation hubs (India, China, etc) Also, in the weapon sales, the US is not selling more weapons to new markets, they are selling more weapons to Germany and Poland, effectively stealing the contracts from France. So, basically, the big MIC killing the small MICs within the same western bloc ("liberal democracy world order")
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Nov 10, 2022 19:18
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Majorian posted:Well, I agree on the second point in the long-term, but on the first point, I'm afraid it's my term to Uhh, our fundamentals are strong....we just need to open our acconomie up a little more.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:20
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stephenthinkpad posted:Also, in the weapon sales, the US is not selling more weapons to new markets, they are selling more weapons to Germany and Poland, effectively stealing the contracts from France. So, basically, the big MIC killing the small MICs within the same western bloc ("liberal democracy world order") ironically, also the same mechanism neoliberal imperialism uses to create neocolonies within the periphery foucaults boomerang always a reliable indicator of sharpening contradictions
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Nov 10, 2022 19:21
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https://twitter.com/BBCBweaking/status/1590770884746178560?t=UK-8lxcolKdG9bQoNw1P7g&s=19
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Nov 10, 2022 19:22
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stephenthinkpad posted:This war is definitely not strengthening the US. It's pulling EU closer to the US but also pushing other regions away from US, particularly the Opec countries. Ehhhh, I wouldn't overestimate how much that's the case. These things happen dialectically. KSA has taken its shot at trying to weaken the Biden Administration by jacking up oil prices, and it doesn't seem to have worked as much as they had hoped. China is selling more arms to them than before, but the U.S. is still the overwhelming guarantor of Saudi security. So things are going to go back to being buddy-buddy between Washington and Riyadh soon enough. quote:Also, in the weapon sales, the US is not selling more weapons to new markets, they are selling more weapons to Germany and Poland, effectively stealing the contracts from France. So, basically, the big MIC killing the small MICs within the same western bloc ("liberal democracy world order") That in and of itself is a strengthening of the American empire, though. The American empire and NATO/the EU aren't synonymous, although there's a lot of overlap. If the American MIC is killing or buying up the European MIC and the governments of Europe are more reliant on the American MIC, that's a boon to the American empire.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:23
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me when I look at American imperialism me when I look at Russian imperialism me when I read Xi Jinping thought 
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Nov 10, 2022 19:24
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Majorian posted:Well, I agree on the second point in the long-term, but on the first point, I'm afraid it's my term to just had this exact discussion with ardennes in doomsday econ. Zodium posted:it is just about capitalism. the post-ww2 state, whether capitalist or communist, is in the business of maximizing stability so as to serve as a more effective attractor--in the capitalist state, to maximize production of capital, and in the socialist state, to maximize control of the means of production. thus, while america may be the origin of cybernetic capitalism, it isn't remotely american, because the national scale is not meaningful to Capital. does Capital reward americans over and above, say, germans? no. did it hesitate to brutally deindustrialize the US when Deng signaled to it a better profit to stability ratio in China? again, no. what materially anchors Capital to the US? nothing. the US is simply a very stable place defended by two oceans. Zodium posted:of course the capitalist empire exists. that is exactly my point: even though it began there, it isn't american capitalism, because the US is a province no different from any other. the US state isn't invested with any additional power over it, it can only serve or fail to serve, as any other state. american industry moved to China because it had to. it was compelled by the feedback the system received, not because the american ruling class had a choice between China or some other place and arbitrarily went with China. any member of the ruling class who resisted deindustrialization, and there were many now-forgotten capitalists too invested in their nation to serve without hesitation, were simply removed from power and replaced by Capital.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:27
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Al-Saqr posted:me when I look at American imperialism this
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Nov 10, 2022 19:28
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Tankbuster posted:tell them to go back home into their new hindu wakanda that modi is building lol. An entire psuedoclass built on fabian socialist ideals of industrial growth that never emerged until they became computer toucher ayn randians. india is still very much run by the neoliberal class, which started with the debt spending of the 80s which led to insolvency and allowed the IMF to come in and liberalize the economy. that brought in the anglosohere style thinking which is still the dominant form of economic thought in india today, especially at the RBI. congress and BJP are both complicit in this as they privatized their protected sectors and weakened labor laws to the point where there are none. no politician is going to fix this. this is a paradox though because Indias foreign policy going back to Nehru has been suspicious of the US ever since we put sanctions on them after the atomic tests and Pakistan was used by British/American interests to fuel instability my point in bringing up Nehru is that the mixed economy he sought to bring about was a no-man’s land as the communist system didn’t work with with non communist monetary systems and the US was not interested in having india develop itself independently, which barred it from post war development funds. for the first time, there is tremendous activity and energy being put forth to what Keynes originally thought should be set up post ww2, which was a coalition of nations willing to lend to each other instead of a single nation dictating terms.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:30
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Zodium posted:just had this exact discussion with ardennes in doomsday econ. It seems to me like you're arguing that it's not an American empire because it doesn't directly benefit American citizens (at least as much as it used to), but that's hardly a necessary criterion for a geopolitical entity being an empire. The fact of the matter is, it's American defense contractors that are going to be raking in the boatloads of money for Europe's defense over the coming decades, and it's the American government that's going to be able to exert undue influence over European countries' foreign and defense policies. That's an empire, my dude.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:35
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I think it's fair to say that this is the Empire exposing its frailty and ongoing decline rather than an out-and-out example of current weakness. The global south has nothing left to extract, or are figuring out that China is a less destructive collaborator, and so the Americans move the periphery and start hollowing out Europe instead - in the same way they did Japan. American capitalists will make a shitload of money near-term, but you can only extract so much. Once the EU is a withered husk, the Yanks will start eating themselves I guess. And they certainly won't be going quietly into that dark night. vvv Strategies like this are only going to exacerbate that decline vvv Dr Kool-AIDS posted:I do think de-SWIFTing Russia was idiotic. The sanctions aren't why Russia's losing (except maybe the threat of sanctions to third parties selling Russia weapons?), but if the American Empire really does take a big hit at the end of all of this, they'll be the reason for that for sure.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:37
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dieselfruit posted:I think it's fair to say that this is the Empire exposing its frailty and ongoing decline rather than an out-and-out example of current weakness. The global south has nothing left to extract, or are figuring out that China is a less destructive collaborator, and so the Americans move the periphery and start hollowing out Europe instead - in the same way they did Japan. American capitalists will make a shitload of money near-term, but you can only extract so much. Once the EU is a withered husk, the Yanks will start eating themselves I guess. And they certainly won't be going quietly into that dark night. Well-put. The American empire will unravel, most certainly, but it's going to take a while. So strap in, folks!
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Nov 10, 2022 19:39
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Russian imperialism is just as bad as American imperialism... says a moron. Hello? America isn't the world's leading reactionary power. America isn't invading countries. America doesn't have bases in dozens upon dozens of neocolonial states that surround it. America doesn't bend the weak to its will at merely a threat. There is no American imperialism... and if there were, it definitely doesn't compare to the imperial ambitions of a rogue authoritarian state.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:40
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Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them
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Nov 10, 2022 19:41
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I don't imagine that German Capital is going to be especially pleased with the looming deindustrialization of Germany. That is going to have Consequences, for sure.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:43
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them Oh absolutely - just ask Madeleine Albright. Using a Ouija Board. Because she dead lmfao gently caress that shithead!
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Nov 10, 2022 19:43
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them -The Two Reigns of Terror
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Nov 10, 2022 19:44
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Majorian posted:It seems to me like you're arguing that it's not an American empire because it doesn't directly benefit American citizens (at least as much as it used to), but that's hardly a necessary criterion for a geopolitical entity being an empire. The fact of the matter is, it's American defense contractors that are going to be raking in the boatloads of money for Europe's defense over the coming decades, and it's the American government that's going to be able to exert undue influence over European countries' foreign and defense policies. That's an empire, my dude. defense contractors are going to be raking in boatloads of money for Europe's defense. american, european, israeli, all going to be raking in the dough. the error in your analysis stems from an underlying assumption that nationality matters to Capital. it doesn't. and that's who's in charge of the american, german, british and other bourgeois governments.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:44
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Majorian posted:
I think its a wash. The "Pax Americana Order" in 2021 already include 70% of the EU support by default, so you are increasing the support from 70% to maybe 85% of EU but also the whole region is weaker by 15% or something. That's why I don't count Australia and Canada's military support of US that much of an alliance. They already rely on the US MIC to build weapons for them so they are basically only footing the tax payer money for a small portion of the US weapons. Does US MIC really need Australian and Canadian tax money to build more weapons? They can already print more money if they are holding onto the dollar hegemony. The only important stat is how much you are expending the MIC capacity. Keep in mind that when the US export more weapon out of the country, it interferes with the main business of exporting dollar.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:45
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them True. See as evidence: it's not against the rules to be pro-United States.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:45
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Also before someone ats me... yes, we did invade Iraq. That was a mistake. George Bush is a nice old painter guy now, and we have forgiven him. It was a mistake but it sort of pales in comparison to Drumpf's reign of terror at this point and the bloodbath that was unleashed on January 6th.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:47
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Zodium posted:defense contractors are going to be raking in boatloads of money for Europe's defense. american, european, israeli, all going to be raking in the dough. the error in your analysis stems from an underlying assumption that nationality matters to Capital. it doesn't. and that's who's in charge of the american, german, british and other bourgeois governments. I'm not assuming that at all, though. What I am saying is that geopolitics still matter to some degree, and one of the outcomes of this war is that the American government and MIC now have more leverage over their wealthiest client-states than they did previously.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:48
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them *West Point grad reading Engels* hey this guy is saying we can murder people twice!
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Nov 10, 2022 19:48
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Majorian posted:I'm not assuming that at all, though. What I am saying is that geopolitics still matter to some degree, and one of the outcomes of this war is that the American government and MIC now have more leverage over their wealthiest client-states than they did previously. owning a billion euros worth of capital affords more power over what the american state does than being american ever could. that is the fact of the matter. "american" counts for nothing.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:49
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:Using crushing economic pressure to starve countries is much more humane than dropping bombs on them the funniest part about that is we then turn around and say “see? socialism doesn’t work” after sanctions cause capital flight and dollars flow outwards, causing massive dollar shortages, leading to local currency devaluation and exponentially rising debt obligations without anyway to even get those dollars, causing defaults which result in downgraded bond ratings, causing even more capital flight until hyper inflation sets in and those countries have to impose severe austerity measures. that’s along with just outright steal their currency reserves like Iran, Venezuela and Afghanistan which leads to fun things like this https://theowp.org/afghanistan-hunger-crisis-worsens-as-undp-reports-97-of-population-could-be-impoverished/
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Nov 10, 2022 19:51
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stephenthinkpad posted:I think its a wash. The "Pax Americana Order" in 2021 already include 70% of the EU support by default, so you are increasing the support from 70% to maybe 85% of EU but also the whole region is weaker by 15% or something. The whole region being weaker by 15% doesn't matter to the American empire, though - they know that Russia's not going to invade any NATO countries, so they get to keep raking in the cash for pretty much nothing. They're selling Europe anti-tiger rocks, and Europe's gonna keep on buying.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:52
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Zodium posted:owning a billion euros worth of capital affords more power over what the american state does than being american ever could. that is the fact of the matter. "american" counts for nothing. In an abstract world sure. But in our world with history and economic development capital tends to concentrate in specific geographic locations, so there is some similarity between the two sometimes.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:52
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Zodium posted:owning a billion euros worth of capital affords more power over what the american state does than being american ever could. that is the fact of the matter. "american" counts for nothing. they're influence is not compared to americans. they're influence compares to american capitalists, who say, "you now have buy our LNG and if that means you go out of business, too bad."
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Nov 10, 2022 19:53
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I guess I can dive into back into the same discussion, nationality doesn’t matter except which in group is the dominate one. Corporate executives don’t really care if people have different passports or their company is registered in Luxemberg or whatever but they also know not to specifically cross the particular elite that lives in DC, NYC, and to a lesser extent London. So it is yes and no, capital can cross borders within the boundaries of the empire but there is organization and a core to it. That is why I usually reference “the west” because that is the closest name.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:54
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Zodium posted:owning a billion euros worth of capital affords more power over what the american state does than being american ever could. that is the fact of the matter. "american" counts for nothing. Again, you're making the mistake of treating the American Empire and the American citizenry as synonymous. They are not. That which serves the American Empire does not necessarily serve the American citizenry (in fact, it usually doesn't). Defense contractors and governments all over the world may all serve "Capital" in a theoretical sense, but the fact of the matter is, in the world we currently inhabit, there are still competing military-industrial complexes (namely, the U.S. and China). This war has very clearly strengthened the American MIC and its geopolitical sway over Europe.
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Nov 10, 2022 19:56
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Sounds like good news for Iran!
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Nov 10, 2022 19:58
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