immuredanchorite [he/him, any]

this is great… I want to believe… I am not so sure that Trump wouldn’t change his mind as soon as he hangs up the phone and talks to Rubio….

Honestly though, there is likely little payoff (in terms of resources or strategic assets) for creating instability in Cuba, which has a peaceful government that has been isolated by blockade and has little oil to speak of… makes me think the talk of annexing Greenland might make more sense from an imperialists perspective

probably not, but I don’t know if assuming that that is inevitable is helpful either

I am skeptical that the earth will necessarily experience a food supply shortages, I think the issues will continue to be the profit motive holding up an inflexible system. I think a lot of the issues with agriculture are essentially engineering challenges and social challenges that will break slowly or shift arable land, but we understand so much more now and can even genetically modify food to adapt. The worst problems will likely be when financialized agriculture makes a calculated decision to simply raise prices rather than adapting to keep people alive- or worse yet, engineer things to make them intentionally worse in order to increase prices and then blaming climate change itself

Well, you are correct that I don’t know if China would even want this, but in the short term, could it not give China additional protection against sanctions? Could they not then control the flow of yuan to protect their interests and reward allies? Long term, if the economies of many countries become reliant on a steady flow of renminbi, could they not then have their own mechanism of sanctions that could work as a check against the US? I mean, if they ultimately want to replace the dollar as world reserve currency, it would make sense to do it with a currency they control (if they can’t get get other nations to agree to something like a Bancor, that would probably be the only favorable option?). If the US petrodollar system is based on an agreement to trade oil in dollars, and rare earths are also essential to modern warfare and technology, could China not assert more control over the global economy to counter the US financial regime? That is, if other nations truly are unable to get their own rare earths industries running

I feel like guaranteeing profits is fair game for them. That was the basis of the chips act, the bailout of Silicon Valley Bank, the Affordable Care Act, the Iraq War… you name it

US to push for quicker action in reducing reliance on China for rare earths

Alright, a few thoughts have occurred to me and I wanted to see if someone who understands this better than me could answer:

What is the likelihood that the PRC will lose its leverage with regards to rare earths?

Would every country establishing a strategic reserve not also cause the price to continue to skyrocket?

Finally, why doesn’t China require everyone to purchase rare earths in yuan instead of stopping the flow of goods? Wouldn’t that create demand for the renminbi and threaten dollar hegemony? I am sure there are probably deleterious consequences for this, but it seems like offering most (maybe not all) rare earths with almost no limitations, as long as it is traded in renminbi, would likely put a stop to these foreign ventures attempting to mine and process rare earths- because it might create a less forgiving price pressure that could bankrupt the companies or threaten to nullify their capital expenditures… right? But without relinquishing control over the production itself? Its best for world peace if the US loses access to rare earths, but the US becoming less reliant on China seems like a big L for the PRC and for world peace also

you are assuming that the Democrats are competent, but they have so much contempt for their own constituents that they won’t lift a finger. They assume that it will all work in their favor as the official “Opposition” ™ - and the saddest part is that is true everywhere the communists exclude themselves from those spaces

In my experience, a lot of the original (local) organizers were basically just angry libs online who have never organized a day in their life, but looked to the Democratic Party for leadership informally. They seemed to mostly chat in discord and started having regular meetings eventually. There was no official structure or centralized leadership, although in places like DC it seemed like a slightly different story. Interestingly, where I live this also meant that unions which were often deeply attached to the Democratic Party were in contact and open to being involved, but the Democratic Party itself seemed to offer no help or financial support.

There is a big distinction (often missed by ultra-left tendencies) between the people showing up to these no kings events and the 50501 leadership regardless, and the PSL identified that this is opening a relatively progressive space for large numbers of dissatisfied working class people. -so by engaging with popular language, and even being helpful to their organizers (despite some significant political differences), there is massive potential to help shift the conversation toward revolutionary socialist consciousness to people who would have otherwise only looked to the Democratic Party.

This worked quite well, and showed itself in particular when the PSL successfully helped shift a “no kings” event to “ice out” messaging, which was a clear departure from the Democratic Party’s stance on immigration and would not have been the focus were it not for PSL (at least as far as I can tell). I know at least locally, this was also when the lib organizers were bullied into allowing our Palestinian coalition partners into speaking at their demonstrations and it was met with an incredibly positive response from the crowd that shut up all of the negativity coming from the most reactionary lib organizers. (where I live, the things they told the Palestinians not to say (that everyone ignored) ended up getting the most positive responses from the masses)

I agree with jack, this has proven to be the correct call and has potentially bridged the gap between the growing anti-imperialist movement in the US and the mass movement against Trump that otherwise would have inevitably ended with only a call to vote for the Democrats and something performative. Hundreds of thousands have been able to connect the dots between Trump and the system itself rather than just blaming Trump. And for instance, when Maduro was kidnapped, there was another break from the typical Democratic Party imperialist politics, where many many more people turned out than normal for anti-war demonstrations despite the democratic party bending over backwards to manufacture consent. Where I live, the local media even covered those actions, and mentioned the PSL, despite for years leaving out the Party’s name or attributing our actions to other socialist organizations if they covered an event at all. imo, it has also proven that the PSL can intervene in national politics in a way that a communist party has not been able to since the 30s. The US is still nowhere near broad revolutionary consciousness, but this is still a significant change

I don’t even find trump funny anymore

a sad day indeed. we have gone from “its joever” to “donzo”

This article ignores a key point: Maduro and Delcy, by insisting he is still president and that Delcy is acting president, has given the PSUV a legal framework for continuity without the specter of yet another election - which is another opportunity doe the US to meddle. This suggests to me that Maduro, Delcy, and the PSUV are still working under unity and they understand that that is essential to the survival of the bolivarian revolution. The US, wanting an extractive relationship that avoids disrupting Chevron’s profits but potentially can open the market up to Exxon, will welcome anything that allows them to claim victory and leave in a marginally better position rather than going “all in” and losing.

The CIA analysis that Machado, or any of the Vzla opposition, simply do not have the legitimacy or respect to lead the country is 100% correct, but this breaks the brains of westerners who actually believe that the PSUV is unpopular and that Maduro “lost” the election. I have a feeling everyone in Venezuela understands the US attempted to overturn the election- in the exact way they overturned the election in Honduras- but because the PSUV is ideological, and they have 20 years of struggle, the US could not bribe the national electoral commission the same way. In the exact same way Honduras’ stolen election is being lent legitimacy by the US, it is being denied to PSUV- through its own constitutional process. Where corruption is reported as legitimate if in US interests and loyalty to the republic (or political allegiance, regardless it is no different than SCOTUS) is being reported as illegitimate if it isn’t.

Regardless, it isn’t a savvy move on the US’s part- or a coup designed by 5d chess- they simply have few good options- and decided to dress it up like a total victory

I find it strange that despite the supposed purge of traitors and zionist spies from Iran after the Israeli/US bombing the color revolution people were able to mobilize so quickly and for such a sustained period. … like i find it so doubtful that anyone in iran would be demonstrating on pro-monarchist/pro/shah themes. you know its a US op when Reza Pahlavi comes out of the woodwork

this also sounds like a psyop

At this rate the US is going to annex it and Europe will just ignore it after a week. They are kidding themselves if they think that would “end NATO” - they are the only ones who seem to not see their own vassalage. They accepted the US blowing up nordstream- they will accept this too

or will they continue to dig their own grave while blaming foreigners for all of their problems?

that one