this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
9 points (100.0% liked)
Late Stage Capitalism
5614 readers
11 users here now
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I didn't hand curate them, I just went to google and copy/pasted in a demonstration of the lowest amount of effort I could do to find articles that dispute the narrative here.
Most of these countries have free press, btw. And some articles blame Russia, others give credence to the possibility that Ukraine could have done this, but with the realistic perspective that it's basically impossible to know.
In fact, reading those stories makes me incredibly skeptical of anyone who doesn't show uncertainty on this topic. Look at that, I just changed my own view by researching a bit more.
Press free to be bought and controlled by billionaires.
Murdoch doesn't own EVERY newspaper.
But yeah Murdoch media is fucked.
You say that like Russia isn't Capitalist as all get out.
The only good counterpoint to Capitalism in the modern global landscape is Singapore, and possibly China if you're feeling extra spicy and support their version of global hegemony.
The modern Russian state is a Fascist Autocracy propped up by Oligarchs. Y'know, what Trump likes.
Edit: Actually I'm going to add Slovenia to that as well, as I had a great time learning about that Jewel of a Country before the Delta Variant absolutely wrecked it.
When I was there in 2018, it was a fantastically eye-opening example of a successful socialist state.
But that's where my knowledge end on counterpoints to Capitalism, in its varied forms. I'm sure more exist. I'm not an academic on this subject.
You are gliding over every single time that Xi Jinping said, out loud, that this is the long term goal? Why wouldn't you believe him?
Yeah, they couch it carefully, but it's quite clear, from the China #1 propaganda, that China doesn't want to uplift anyone else, they want to use their soft power to make neighboring countries dependent on them. They're following the playbook laid out by Western companies in the 20th century, but organizing it with State controlled corporations.
And as for Singapore, there's a lot of propaganda from some right-wing Supply-Side economists that mischaracterize that country as being an ideal Capitalist state, while gliding over how the State controls most of the means of production. It isn't an ideal system, it has many inequities. But it's an example that serves as a surprising counterpoint to the argument that only free markets can thrive & survive in global capitalism, and components of it could be useful for looking for solutions to the issues with capitalism. Right wing economists do this, so they don't have to confront how incorrect their argument that Capitalism cannot be reformed with the State taking a direct role in the economy without disaster.
It's one of those things where I look at it, and say 'wow that sucks... But you can't argue with the results damn, can we workshop a better version of that?'