Americans’ muted reaction to the quarter-century anniversary of 9/11 reveals a waning zeal for the American imperial project. We tolerate it only because we believe it can’t end. But it can.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Admittedly I’m not well-informed on the early years of the Cuba thing (except that the Bay of Pigs was a thing), only the pre-Trump status quo, so I guess if you could point me to something that goes into more detail that’d be nice. That aside what I’m trying to say is that while the American embargo has been impoverishing Cuba, for the most part Cubans could get the basic necessities of life. Trying to cut off fuel is a new low.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
“America never tried to starve Cuba to death”
Uh what? Did we just forget about all the shit the US was doing to Cuba in the 60s and 70s trying to destabilize Castro’s socialist government?
The sanctions, embargo, and blockades?
Admittedly I’m not well-informed on the early years of the Cuba thing (except that the Bay of Pigs was a thing), only the pre-Trump status quo, so I guess if you could point me to something that goes into more detail that’d be nice. That aside what I’m trying to say is that while the American embargo has been impoverishing Cuba, for the most part Cubans could get the basic necessities of life. Trying to cut off fuel is a new low.
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.