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Bulletins and News Discussion from January 27th to February 2nd, 2025 - Tariffs in Trump's Imperium - COTW: Colombia

Image is of Colombian President Gustavo Petro giving a speech at the UN in 2022.

Trump has arrived in office with the force of an avalanche; ending slowing a genocide on the one hand, while simultaneously promising a total nightmare for minorities and the poor throughout and outside the United States on the other hand. [edited for clarity; I do not actually think Trump has ended the Palestinian genocide obviously, I was making a joke - but the ceasefire is a genuine improvement in conditions for millions of people right now who are on the edge of death, so it cannot be dismissed]

It's still far too early to truly compare and contrast his imperial strategy with Biden's, but initial signs show that there does appear to be somewhat of a reorientation. Biden was famous for being two-faced; ostensibly offering aid and stability, while also blowing up your pipeline to ensure you did not actually have an alternative to his idea. Trump, meanwhile, seems only really capable of aggression, threatening several "allied" nations with what may as well be sanctions because of the economic harm they'd do. I suspect we'll be debating for a long time how much of this can be attributed to the specific characteristics of Trump, or whether he merely embodies the zeitgeist of imperial decline - a wounded empire lashing out with extreme violence to try and convince everybody, including themselves, that they can still be the world imperialist hegemon.

I'll admit it: I did not believe that Trump would actually try and go ahead with putting tariffs on basically anybody who annoys him. And while the threat could still be empty in regards to countries like China and Canada, Colombia is the first indication of the potential of his strategy. Despite some fiery words from President Petro, after Trump's administration revealed the punishment if Colombia did not agree, it appears that Colombia will in fact be accepting deported migrants after all. It's funny how that works.

Last week's thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

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619 comments

  • https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/genz-dictatorship-survey-jordan-peterson-b2686927.html

    A lot of blah blah blah in this, predictable differences between gender and these are the only parts I think that matter

    Controversial influencers Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson were among those to command similar trust by 42 per cent of men.

    I really don't like this line.

    • When you let ethnofascist Zionazis control the media and make more fascist billionaires and take in fascists from other nations to run your electoral systems......gee I wonder when you flood fasxist bullshit everywhere it makes more fascists

    • More than half of GenZ wants the uk to become a dictatorsship"

      "More than half agree the UK would be a better place with a strong leader in charge"


      "They think that the entire way our society is organized must be radically changed through revolution"
      "They want a leader who doesn't have to deal with parliament and elections"

      That's not the same.

      "Dealing with elections" in the average persons mind means "dealing with politics" which means "posting dumb shit on twitter and caring about meaningless stuff instead of fixing the country". I'm sure some want anti-dei Stalin or climate Stalin or boomer Stalin, but I really doubt that's more than a few cranks. If you'd asked "do you want a dictator?" then the responses would be much different. And the parliament? The British Parliament seems absolutely cursed, not to mention its not a democratic institution what with the house of lords (and also the absolute fucked way they do FPTP voting). Tying them together gives "working towards a specific response".

      Edit: Incidentally why is a "strong leader" inherently a bad thing? Wouldn't you want your political representative to be able to wield the apparatus of the state efficiently? Seems like we've just linked "strong leader" with "authoritarian" but it doesn't have to be, right? Authoritarian isn't "when you make laws" it's more complex than that. Authoritarianism as a concept has done so much harm to political discourse.

      • I agree. It's actually pretty obvious what is happening.

        Shit is getting worse (living standards). Shit is not getting better no matter who is in charge so people reason the problem is that it's all a bureaucratic mess preventing someone from just doing the common sense changes that are necessary. This leads to "we need someone that can just do it". This mindset definitely settled in during the brexit battles.

        Also the young hormonal boys looking to get sex fall on these MANLYNESS grifters who then tell them the problem is caused by women and woke and the decline of western christian patriarchal society blah blah blah. These boys are uniquely vulnerable to grooming into the cult in that age range because they're all looking to get laid for the first time and basically nothing exists as a counter balance to that. I see no other reason for boys becoming reactionary other than that it is online social grooming that takes advantage of their early male sexual insecurities.

        • I see no other reason for boys becoming reactionary other than that it is online social grooming that takes advantage of their early male sexual insecurities.

    • Kier Starter declares martial law and publicly flays garage 🀞🀞🀞

    • Yeah I approve of Climate Stalin

619 comments