Yeah like, Brazil obviously does not want war on the continent. South America has an excellent record of avoiding interstate war and they understand very badly how disastrous it would be if that failed. Whatever you can do to make the US second guess, you do.
Good piece. What is consistently missing in rhetoric about this is that it’s not just oil. It’s also political in the most straightforward sense. Regardless of the resources the US hungers after, Venezuela is also a socialist project that successfully wearhered a brutal sanctuons regime. If it sticks around, you have a second Cuba in the Caribbean - a much bigger, more populous Cuba. That’s why no simple oil deal would be acceptable to Trump, and more importantly, to Rubio. The US had that in place recently and Venezuela would take it again in a heartbeat. But that reopened oil trade is exactly what boosted Venezuela’s economy out of the hole it was (in addition to the Bolivarian Revolution’s adaptability).
Now Colombia, America’s long time best South American asset, is Venezuela’s best friend on the continent. The presidents are talking about merging into a leftist coalition state! Even if something like that is a long way off, it can’t be ignored. Nicaragua is stable. Mexico is pursuing social democratic developmentalism effectively. In Brazil, Lula’s weak position has been massively strengthened specifically because he rebuffed the US. There are wins for the US all over the region in Ecuador, Honduras, Bolivia, but none of them feel stable. A win for the US in Peru id likely, but not certain. The only big LatAm player who’s really in the tank for the US is Argentina, and that’s not exactly a thriving economic powerhouse under Milei. And of course, every single one of these countries trades more with China than the US. It’s a disaster.
The US can tolerate being forced to step down from the global stage for a little specifically because it can use Latin America to regroup and recover. But what if it can’t? What if it can’t bring Venezuela to heel? Would Petro become the @ColombianLenin@hexbear.net? Would MST get to pick Lula’s successor? Would the communists win in Chile? Would Morales roar back into power in Bolivia, elections be damned? Or, worst of all, would Morena decide that the best way to retain their masssive popularity is to go further, get more radical? And all this while the US economy explodes from the obviously stupid AI gamble they can’t avoid!
Folks, here’s the thing about the domino theory of geopolitics: it’s actually true. Socialist victories in one country propel socialist victories in neighboring countries. There is a virality to popular revolution that has only ever had one vaccine: the good old US of A. If they can’t lock this shit down now, it will be too late - if it isn’t too late already.
But imagine if she WASN’T in charge of the world’s largest domestic military! Wouldn’t that be so dangerous for Mamdani?
If you give the Korean Democrats a super generous read as genuinely wanting to make amends to some extent with the North - no need to even go as far as reunification, just some de-escalation - you have to really feel for them. They’re trapped by the military occupation of their country. They feel the painful division of their homeland and are powerless to do anything to materially improve it.
Could be they’re all gleeful compradors, but I don’t think that’s reasonable to conclude universally.
They are coherent and generally act with class solidarity, that’s like the whole basis of Marxist class analysis, that the ruling class behaves that way.
Any proper Marxist analysis also understands that the capitalist class is deeply divided and constantly in conflict amongst themselves as individuals, industries, firms, and subclasses. You cannot treat capitalists as one single block.
What I mean is that the people who didn’t get blackmailed massively outnumber the ones who did and have much more collective power, so if they found this operation intolerable, they would either just cause an “accident” or take legal action against them, probably avoiding exposing the real scope of how it happened but doing a limited hangout type thing.
Who is they? Who would make the decision? Who would cause the accident and on whose orders? Who would file the legal case? You actually need to specifically lay out how these sorts of capitalist conspiracies would play out because there is not some giant capitalist hivemind that decides what to do in a unified fashion and then simply carries it out. It is completely idealistic and undialectical to not recognize that the capitalists are a messy bunch and their abilities are tightly restrained by their intraclass competition. They must act in the real world with real systems and real people.
the bourgeoisie
This is treating the ruling class too much like a single coherent, coordinated blob. Who would “cast them out” and with what mechanisms?
If it makes you feel any better I bet every single person on this website fits into the “freak” category
But once they have it, the blackmail power is real
why didn’t they send this to Iran?
But what, then, is China actually giving up? They aren’t going to stop trading or doing BRI. So they’ll no longer… fund communist revolutions in Latin America? What a dramatic change that would be! Seems like just an American withdrawal.
High-paying white-collar jobs is -55k.
these people are not supposed to be left out of the US economy
this is not going to last
“all our factory robots are acting like gooners and vtubers instead of operating the CNC”
It’s not the cardinal rule for humans, it’s the cardinal rule for nature documentaries.
Yeah, there’s simply no way to reform the UN deeply without the US either leaving, rendering the UN weak, or adopting a fundamentally anti-imperialist foreign policy. There’s been about five years of that in the country’s entire history, and it won’t happen again without a revolution.
It’s the move the empire always makes whenever it’s losing on the global stage. Refocus on the “backyard” where it can better exert its power, recoup, restrategize. Hopefully it’s too late from the simple economic momentum - there’s no way the US is supplanting China as LatAm’s primary trading power while it continues its economic tailspin.
May the people of Venezuela, if necessary, deliver a swift and brutal punch to the empire’s nose should it go to war.
not bad for a little hype reel but I need far more
this one’s pretty good: https://tankie.tube/w/jrfsxFRFXQtheir5E4EHnU
So there’s been rumors going around about Trump replacing him, but with who? Do you think they’re capable of finding somebody competent or will it just be Dan Bongino?
where can I get the best true promise highlight reel of Israel getting blasted when I need good vibes?
I put effort into this post and I wasn’t even stoned https://hexbear.net/comment/6723644