Sure China is not some moral or benevolent actor in all this. At the very least they were forward thinking enough to subsidize the future of automobile transport. Some degree of protectionism may be warranted but the goal should be to catch up with China in the meantime, not double down on fossil fuels.

They’re doing what we should be doing. Subsidizing a sustainable alternative.

Canada and Europe have already let Chinese vehicles in. Canada reportedly wants to make an indigineous EV through sharing of Chinese technological knowledge. Wonder how long the US will hold out.

Canada wants to be 1st in North America to build EV with Chinese knowledge: senior official

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-electric-car-china-tariffs-trump-united-states-9.7049950

Neither India nor Brazil want BRICS to become a Global South equivalent to NATO and instead see it as a forum for economic cooperation so their actions match their intentions.

The lead nation was China with Russia and Iran also participating in the most recent military exercise. Brazil likely would not want to participate given their proximity to the US and India is already part of other security partnerships (Quad).

1. Dogmatically sticking to fossil fuels.
2. “Protecting” domestic manufacturering jobs by refusing to engage with your neighbours.
3. Using tariffs to keep out affordable Chinese EVs that use tech everyone will probably be using in 15 to 20 years.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster. You can only artificially prop up your domestic market for so long. You’ll inevitably fall behind even further on innovation with this approach.

Might be the first to make a CoPilot or ChatGPT powered car though.

Having two federal parties with the Dems and Republicans being the only feasible options sounds antidemocratic. A true democracy would be a bit more… representative.

How did America manage to become the continuation of the British Empire and Nazi Germany? Was it really necessary to be both?

1. Immediately reverse domestically regressive policies.

2. Foreign affairs? I’m afraid cats out of the bag. No ones trusting the US in the same way again. Start the process of patching up relations but it’s going to take much longer than one presidential term.

3. Find a way to actually improve the material conditions of the average American. Trying to use laws to prevent another Trump is not going to work. Demagogues thrive in an environment typically defined by unease or insecurity. If people feel that their lives are improving they don’t fall for it as easily.

4. Be competent.

Does America have values beyond imperialism when it comes to Israel?

Some liberals enjoy the idea of ICE being called on an immigrant that supported Trump or MAGA. America is such a police state that having a paramilitary presence in its cities is not consistently a problem for either side of the political spectrum there.

If we’re going to reflect on history honestly then we should remember that it wasn’t the white supremacy aspect that other European powers took issue with regarding Nazis. That was an accepted fact from their perspective. The British and French had an appeasement policy towards the Nazis until they attacked Poland. The main issue was expansionist imperialism.

Seeing the horrors of the holocaust definitely led to some self reflection on what it means to be human among European white supremacists but that was after the fact.

This is why it’s naive to think the war had any chance at ending Nazism. To end Nazism one has to end white supremacy and that’s a lot easier said than done.

India US relations have gone cold since Trump. Particularly with the +25% tariff for buying Russian oil which they perceive as unfair since

1. India followed the US in sanctioning Iran in 2019 which is why they increased purchases of Russian oil.

2. The West had set a price cap on Russian oil after the Ukraine war as everyone understood that completely banning its purchase would drive oil prices up undesirably.

3. The Biden administration was explicit in acknowledging and accepting that India buy Russian oil. It was seen as necessary to stabilize the market.

4. China buys more oil than India from Russia and faces no specific additional tariff.

5. The EU continues to buy gas and the US buys uranium from Russia (which also allows them to continue to finance the war).

6. The IMF (which is seen as an American/Western institution) continues to bail out Pakistan and the peception in India is that some of those funds will reach non-state actors who will perpetuate violence in India.

There are actually more reasons but India recently hosted Putin for a state visit and rolled out the red carpet for him. India and Russia have historically had good relations (the Soviet Union used its UN security council position to support India against postcolonial Western interference on several occasions) but this was friendlier than many were expecting and it is in large part due to the current US administration being inconsistent on trade policy and incompetent at diplomacy.

India’s official stance is ‘strategic autonomy’ or multialignment but at least right now it seems to have more friends in the East than in the West.

Middle East/Africa would likely become its own sphere just based on geography. I assume Europe would be in Russia’s sphere.

Its possible as a once or twice off but I think with how the population skews in many Western countries, retirees will always have a disproportionate voice. Essentially death by gerentocracy. It’s why new legislation often amounts to a transfer of wealth from young to old.

Even if that skew wasn’t a factor, many young people are consuming far right propaganda on social media and accepting that ideology as their worldview.

Finally even if there is a massive rebuke against Trump/MAGA etc. by 2028 it may be too little too late.

Its fascinating to watch news within the US versus outside of it. Within the US there are political commentators recommending that allied nations do their best to hold out to 2028 when the US hopefully gets back on track. Outside the US, countries are reorganizing supply chains to minimize US involvement / dependency wherever possible.

When your most reliable partner suddenly becomes unreliable, you don’t forget that in one election cycle.

Fascinating to see the Western world fall apart while quadrupling down on the possibility AGI and fossil fuels.

5 to 10 more years of these disproportionately wealthy nations quibbling with each other and fighting within themselves due to far right politics and one wonders what the world will look like in a few decades.

Most empires fall when they spend more time looking backwards than forwards. Looking at you America…

Is it though? People hear what they want to hear and believe what they want to believe. No one wants to believe that their privileges are predicated on suffering elsewhere.

Westerners in particularly have always been very “heads in the sand” when it comes to modern history but it’s not surprising. Every nation struggles with the darker aspects of their history.

We call that extortion in our part of the world. I assume the British call it that today too.

Where I’d say Friedman is arguing in bad faith is that the obvious goal of colonialism is value extraction by force or coercion. He may argue that due to inefficiency or resistance it didn’t actually produce significant wealth for Britain but the evidence shows otherwise.

That or he may argue that the East India Company (the origin of multinational capitalism) was not colonialism which would be divergent from historical consensus.

There are several estimates. Some as high as $45 trillion.

Friedman’s take has been repeated in many Western circles.

As you’ve mentioned there were multiple members of Parliament who were directly invested in the EIC and made sizable profits. The EIC managed to extract explotative taxation during the Bengal famine of 1770 (promoting starvation) while shareholders increased their dividend from 10 to 12.5%. The massive transfer of wealth from India, the Atlantic slave trade and Opium sales to China essentially built Britain during this era. It was the seed capital of the industrial revolution.

The British Raj took over after the failed sepoy mutiny in mid 1800s. It was at this point Britain introduced the strategy of the ‘civilizing mission’, denigrating Indian culture as a justification to the British public to continue colonization. The British public accepted this. It was the independence movement in India that ultimately secured freedom (along with Nazi destruction of British infrastructure).

As we watch power and wealth slowly drift back from West to East and South, African, Indian and many other voices that speak truth on this matter will be heard more clearly.

Often times Westerners are not open to accepting voices from the global south on these matters and portray them as biased. I usual refer to the writings of historian William Dalrymple (the self admitted descendant of colonists) as a starting point to those that feel morally threatened by this history but want to learn more from someone who doesn’t feel too foreign.

For those that are open to Indian voices, Sashi Tharoor’s writings or his YouTube series ‘Imperial Receipts’ does a good job capturing the history and scale of extraction.

Didn’t know much about the guy except that he’s a Nobel laureate. Happened to come across a YouTube video where a curious college student asks him about how slavery and colonialism contributed to Western wealth. He had an elaborate answer but within it he actually said Britain did not have slaves and America did not have colonies (for the most part).

Nevermind the fact that America absolutely had slaves and Britain certainly had colonies (he was selective on who didn’t have what), Britain absolutely did profit from slavery also.

He added on that Britain spent more on administering colonies than it gained extracting their resources which may be one of the stupidest arguments I’ve ever heard. How can someone that worships at the altar of capitalism not understand that greed was the obvious motivator? Or is it only the motivator when it fits his narrative?

If this is the messaging we get from our intellectuals, what hope does truth have?

If your skin is not sensitive and white cast is not a deal breker simple unscented aluminum based anti perspirant works just fine.

If your skin is sensitive an issue or you want to avoid a white cast look for a magnesium based or probiotic option.

I would focus on the active ingredient rather than brands or marketing.