Non paywall link so we can actually read the entire article?
You may check about the “Late Bronze Age Collapse” if you want a hope ;
And or remember it was as hard to imagine the USSR collapse from a 1988 point of view.
First, because a nation with a nuclear arsenal ia not going to be allowed to collapse.
Second, don’t think the US as a country, think of it as a corporation, because that is essentially what it is. Corporations don’t collapse, they get bought up by the highest bidder, their assets liquidated, their workers let go without compensation.
Not allowed by who to collapse? Corporations only exist because the nation state says they do, and the nation state only exists because the people collectively acknowledge that it does.
Billionaire class seems, isolated for decades in their bubbles, seem to have convinced themselves that their power and wealth exist independent of little things like governments and peasants, and yeah that may seem true because they currently have total control over the state.
But if they really actually do end up causing the nation-state to collapse (which they seem to be trying to do) they’ll find out pretty quickly how wrong they are.
Hopefully something better will rise in it’s place but I kind of find a little solace knowing the billionaires and their minions aren’t going to live to see it.
I think they all know how this kind of thing ends, they just all think they’re clever enough to grab what they can and get out with their loot right before it’s too late.
First, because a nation with a nuclear arsenal ia not going to be allowed to collapse.
I mean, the USSR pulled it off.
It’s not hard to imagine, and I think it’s time for that. I say this as an American citizen. This country does not deserve to be the dominant empire. I really don’t know who does though.
we are entering into a multipolar era without a dominant empire. don’t let the us sabotage it.
Haha I don’t think Xi agrees with that assessment.
I think we, humans globally, should try for no dominant empire. I think if we all get together and think really hard, we can come up with a better system than “whichever group has the most guns and money gets to do whatever they want and take whatever they want, whenever”. It just never ends well. Or middles well. Or begins well! It’s a bad system for most of the people, most of the time, inside and outside of the dominant empire du jour.
Getting rid of the bullshit “veto” power of some countries in the United Nations would be a start.
I think we should start a world government from scratch. A global, grassroots, democratic fellowship of people, operated locally and cooperating globally. All persons are considered members, and they can assert their membership by joining a local group or starting their own. We recognize the other power structures in the world; the governments and the corporations and the religions. We may even belong to some of them, this fellowship is not exclusive.
Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to define membership, or verify the integrity of votes or member identity, or implement a functional judiciary, so this is more of a long-term project. But I think long-term, humans need to figure out how to settle our differences without killing each other, and I don’t trust the existing power structures to willingly give up their authority. It has to be bottom up, and every one has to have a voice.
I think for decades the US empire was seen as the lesser of 2-3 evils, the others being the USSR/Russia and China.
Now the US has gone the way of Russia, so China is the next logical answer, with Iran coming out of the current conflict as a major world power in it’s own right.
What we’re seeing is the logical conclusion of decades of having a sense of supremacy in the USA. Dipshits in this country bought into our own hype, thought we were invincible, and are still in denial that its all crashing down, and that its their fault.
Now the US has gone the way of Russia,
America today is only somewhat more evil than it was, say, 20 or 16 years ago. The “lesser of X evils” thing has always been bunk.
I meant moreso the way if Russia in that its a pariah state
south america
True, but even at its pre-Trump worst America never tried to starve Cuba to death. You could say that Trump is willing to be more brutal in doing the things America has always done.
The UN, as in, the sum of all nations and people in the world.
The UN in theory maybe. But an institution that allows an illegal trade embargo to continue 33 years in a row (longer before votes on it even began) because “special vetos” are more important than human rights. Yeah. Fuck that.
Like, the idea of what a “United nations” might be in the average westerners head. Sure. But, that’s not what the UN is at all. The UN exists to create a hierarchy that exists to uphold the American empire and it’s capital interest. So, I’d start over from the drawing board.
Edit: Cuba trade embargo if it wasn’t obvious.
The problem with a monopoly is that it tends to abuse its position, no matter the intentions of the people in it.
Multipolarity with international rules that are followed out of self-interest because conflict is more costly than cooperation. That’s about the best equilibrium we can hope for. Until we have O’Neill cylinders, ofc .
That sounds like a good goal to strive for.
Hard to imagine? I’ve been living it real time for 25 years. Its just speeding up.
yeah this millenium. ugh. took like a decade or so for me to realize we were past the point of no return.
It’s like imagining living without your parents.
You fear they day they die, you know it will happen, and then they do, and it is over.
My whole arse life has been a decline aloneside the diminishing returns as the boomer fools gobble it all up and resent us. It is not hard to imagine I wish I was never born. Abortions for all.
If you’re miserable you should leave. Australia welcomes Americans and the standard of living is much better, even Canada, UK, get out while you still can. I don’t know how Americans endure it while their passport is still semi powerful
no you can’t lol, go check immigration.
Just hop on a plane and say g’day if anyone makes eye contact.
Don’t know abt Aus but Americans can’t just resettle in Canada. They need to immigrate like every other poor world sod if they want to stay here and work / get benefits permanently.
It’s not like Australia doesn’t have its own problems with cost of living, being essentially still a colony of the US Empire, etc. It’s a global empire that has global effects, and just moving doesn’t solve anything.
God why the fuck are you cunts downvoting me I was just trying to help. Sometimes as an individual you need to focus on making sure that you’re okay before trying to fix the world’s problems.
Your being downvoted (by me at least) because I don’t want more of america exporting its sick culture and bad attitudes to Australia. It’s bad enough that every channel is chock-a-block with US crime dramas, and locally-made movies need to have an american lead to be considered for development. I want less american accents in my life, not more. Americans should stay in the shithole mess they created and work on fixing it, thank you very much.
Because:
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Mutual defence pacts, world bank lenders, and trade organizations are not empires, the USA has been giving away territory for many decades.
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A shallow understanding of history is that the USA has only just begun to decline and could take more than 50 years of steadily worsening to see any uprisings or collapse.
Are you critiquing 2 as a shallow understanding of history, or saying that even a shallow understanding is all that’s necessary to be convinced? Because I agree with the former.
US debt is going to be an immediate and pressing problem in a few years at most. Countries are already pulling out of US bonds. The petrodollar is unsustainable without security guarantees in the Middle East, where Iran has already chased us out. Without the world loaning us money, the empire will collapse overnight.
Mutual defence pacts, world bank lenders, and trade organizations are not empires, the USA has been giving away territory for many decades.
Until they overthrow inconvenient regimes on the other side of the world for sport, then they become empires.
What makes an empire is using military to take over and hold large territories like China, Nazi Germany, or the USSR have done.
Like how the USA got Texas?
Before and during the year 1845? Yeah, like that.
Taking territory and giving it to vassals does not, in fact, make one less of an empire. Britain had the East India Company running India yet it’d be ridiculous to say that India wasn’t part of the British Empire before the Raj. Also you get three guesses for why how America managed to extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Oh wow we’re pulling out the late 18th century trivia, now?
Hows that Vassal state of Cuba working out?
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It isn’t hard. Its unwanted.
