I wonder how nettimers from different perspectives around the world see the current, remarkably tense international situation? Where do you think all the anxieties of war, economic competition, natural disaster and climate change are going to lead in the near future? How do you think one should intervene?
-- There's a war on in Europe, which is a proxy war that pits NATO against Russia, via the fighting force of Ukraine. Definitely check out the list of equipment which the US alone has sent: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/sleepwalking-elites (list begins in paragraph 3) -- There's likely to be a second refugee crisis in the EU due to the earthquake in Turkey and Syria as well (I mean, added to the exodus from Ukraine). -- There are rapidly rising tensions between the US and China, with this week's US airspace-defence operations visibly influenced by domestic get-tough politics, and a lot of uncertainty as to whether China will try to use a nationalist, rally-around-the-flag effect to quash the social protest and state-delegitimation brought by the zero-covid fiasco. As part of all this, an industrial re-orientation is being attempted from the US side (CHIPS act, electric-car subsidies for nationally made products). I am not clear if the EU, and especially Germany, participates in this reorientation, or not. -- Lower-income countries dependent on international finance have had to absorb the interest-rate consequences of pandemic inflation in the rich countries, leading to stalled development and left-right conflicts. -- Fires, droughts and floods have made climate change into an openly admitted crisis, an economic factor in its own right, and a crucial element in strategic economic military planning. -- And in parallel to all that, another technology shift is coming through the application of AI to existing industrial and communications technologies. I think those are undeniable factors whose spillovers must affect most people somehow, wherever you live, so I'm totally curious what you make of this conjuncture. >From my viewpoint, I think that the neoliberal model of society has now irretrievably broken down, leaving vast psycho-social disarray and increasing conflict as state and corporate actors begin trying new strategies. Currently there is a lot of happy talk about "solving the climate crisis" with solar panels and electric cars, and I'm glad about it too, but I think this masks the enormity of the changes ahead. On the one hand, the reason of state calls simultaneously for protective reterritorialization (nationalism, militarized borders, renegotiated alliances) and, in a diametrically opposite way, for intensified international regulatory and planning regimes, as well as a certain coordination of production to achieve energy transitions. On the other hand, populations at all class levels seem to sense that these changes will again be highly disruptive (I mean, as they were in the 80s-90s when neoliberalism came in) - so you have an incredible repositioning going on at the molecular level, not only politically but above all, psychologically. It's noteworthy that in the US, almost none of the sprawling social-welfare package that was originally intended to accompany the Green Capitalism legislation made it through, and more broadly, I don't think capitalist societies have overcome their basic social contradictions. Instead they are being exacerbated, which makes it much, much harder to steer the big ships of state... It all adds up to stormy weather ahead, and I was just interrupted by a friend telling me that NORAD had closed the airspace over Lake Michigan. That's right out my window! They just opened it again, no explanation yet, but it seems like a good place to end. curious what you think, Brian
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