fascinating conversation between Rod Dreher and the executive director of The American Conservative--feels like sitting in on a closed door meeting of sorts youtu.be/iXb9kpqWEak?...
pretty alarming things coming across finance/commodities twitter rn!
🙏
I think that's less of a problem of intellect and more a problem of will. Typing this has helped me articulate what really irritated me here (thanks for the back and forth!), which is precisely that--the comfort that comes from diagnosing them with a reasoning deficiency. They just don't want to!
yeah completely, I agree with that. But why is that a "global perspective?" They very much have a global perspective--but as you note what they don't seem to have is an understanding of anyone else's interiority, they just expect obedience. Which is itself a strategy. A bad one! But a very real one
they have been planning it for decades (wargames included!), and the people who have planned it range from Hegseth typing in macho fantasies to AI to serious geopolitical strategists with bipartisan influence
yes, I *completely* agree that their blind spots are vulnerabilities. That's always what I'm trying to see--but I think we also have to be cautious about what is actually a blind spot and what is wishful thinking. This war isn't an offhanded EO Trump came up with while watching TV
interests doesn't mean their project has no coherence, or that they haven't strategized how to get to this point. It took them those same 40+ years to do their "long march through the institutions," why do we assume they forget all that once they are in power?
This might sound pedantic but I think this is a real problem for those opposed to the right--it's a very powerful and reassuring story that these guys are stupid and don't know what they are doing. That is just not the case; just because the actual exercise of power unfolds in chaos with competing
Well, again--they very much have a "global perspective!" It's just very different than what you or I mean when we use that term. What do you mean by it?
there isn't anyone to tell them no, and with a larger shift to hemispheric influence in the wake of Putin's invasion, these actions are all part of the same death drive that ends in one place: war
Trump is barely conscious and surrounded by a number of interests that know they have only a short time to tear out the remaining wiring from the walls to get their pet projects in under the wire. This wing of the nat sec state has dreamed of toppling the Iranian regime for decades, and now that
of strategic thinking. I think this is a huge mistake. They are *very* strategic--it's just ridiculous strategy motivated by grievances, obsessions, narcissism and violence, a demand the world recognize their rightful place at the top of the hierarchy and the power/wealth that come with it
lol, I committed the key sin here, didn't I? I'm not sure I agree with this account of my argument. But let's clarify: what *was* OP writing about? I take OP's claim to be the same claim made by a number of liberal critics: that these guys are so unserious and stupid they are incapable of any kind
Violence is a way to get what they want. That's their strategy.
Again, why do you keep going to "clear strategy?" It's not that thought out! They want control over the region and the oil market, they think they will get it by forcing their way in with guns and impressing everyone. That's what they did in Venezuela, that's what they think they are doing here too
The notion they just so happened to stumble into control of the largest oil reserves in the world a few months before invading the country a section of the Nat sec state had been fantasizing about overthrowing for nearly 50 yrs is frankly absurd. It’s a structural, strategic pivot, not a conspiracy
I think there are degrees of remove between “there is a step-by-step conspiracy to install the CEO of Exxon into the Venezuelan parliament” or something and the very clear strategic move towards hemispheric influence and control that is largely determined by access to resources in a multipolar world
That’s the second part—their inability to project consequences and anticipate challenges. That’s the part they are incapable of, they are more than equipped to come up with a fantastical idea that they think will work
That’s really smart
It’s going to be interesting and instructive to see how Kristi Noem responds to this firing. Much of MTG’s turn against Trump came as a result of her involuntary rejection from the broader MAGA movement. Her conversion was no less genuine, but it could only take place after this separation
what? of course that was the plan! it's just not true they can't "(think) that far ahead." they can't project *consequences* to their plans, but everything they do is to usher in some future utopian state where all their enemies recant and give them what they want
if you thought gambling on the housing market was bad, wait until you see gambling on gambling on the petrodollar
checking the TL
anyway where's our abel gance
it's difficult squaring my feeling of where all of this is headed with the knowledge that we no longer live in mass society, and that warfare no longer looks like the modern, industrial form everyone still imagines it to be. someone put the car in neutral and jumped out at the top of the hill
From the beginning, video #surveillance has been bound up with popular entertainment. From the 1990s with things like MTV's Real World and America's Dumbest Criminals, and this is no accident, so it's no surprise we have a #Ring -based series now...
where?
it's troubling that we don't seem to have any idea about what's actually happening on the ground in the middle east right now. memes, old videos passing as new, influencer accounts giving hearsay, rumors. how convenient!
Homeland Empire
The amazing Nikhil Pal Singh joins to discuss his concept of Homeland Empire -- the Trump admin's smash-and-grab form of internal/external imperialism -- and how it is shaping global and domestic politics, including the world of sports.
open.spotify.com/episode/5xmw...
