this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2024
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[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I'd argue that there's a deterministic end to the abstractions- things can only go so far. With each series of sanctions on the world's factory (China) and the majority of humanity, the forces in play to circumvent said sanctions only grow stronger (ie. the middlemen like Turkey, Hungary, Vietnam, India, Mexico, etc). Both economically, and in the very tangible sense that they are all happily industrializing thanks to the sanctions (thanks USA! ๐Ÿ˜‚)- in other words, the sanctions are creating all sorts of little "Chinas" (if not generally anywhere near as based) which will act in their own interests, rather than being enslaved to the west.

Meanwhile, the sanctioned world (read: the majority of humanity) is developing, and in China and Russia's case in particular- have developed, beyond the material conditions and contradictions of the west (which western sanctions and warmongering have helped further motivate, for instance in Russia's case (once again, thanks USA for effectively neutering the oligarchs in Russia and pushing China fully to self-sufficiency in all fields ๐Ÿ˜‚). And they're engaging, more and more, with each other, and with third parties (non-western nations not party to western unilateral sanctions and other tyranny); in win-win mutual development, in building up the industries and markets of the global south... (thanks USA ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚).

And at this point, in regards to the sanctions on China and Russia- well, the west thinks they're sanctioning China and Russia- and I suppose they are (to them it does hurt a bit, like an annoying mosquito or leech... which is what the west is). But these sanctions are, if anything, more so sanctions on the west themselves- on western consumers, and western industries- this is the result, not just of financialization and globalization, but of the contradiction that is the west's dependency on extracting and consuming from the rest of the world to begin with (of which financialization and offshoring simply set everything into overdrive).

And so, with each sanction, not only does the west strengthen what is essentially the (unintentional) bloc of sanctioned nations (and of nations who are well aware that they could be next on the sanctions list- ie. everybody), and not only do they prove to the rest of the world yet again why the west is entirely unreliable and untrustworthy, but the west actually makes... their own industries, even less competitive than before (lmao ๐Ÿ˜‚), both by making the west even less cost-effective (thanks to middlemen and tariffs, etc), but also by opening the door for further financialization and the enshittification of what production does exist, as western corporations, with their industries in retreat such that their monopolies are receding, capitalize on and encourage the creation of captive markets, while receiving more and more subsidies and yet cutting more and more corners to simply maximize their profits in the imperial cores...

The abstraction can only go on so far, and I'd argue we're well at the end of it all. It will continue, up until things explode; but things are at a point where the only way to abstract further would require WW3- they would need to stop China and Russia's internal development, destroy or suppress the development of the entire global south, and crack the whip on the middlemen countries (both in regards to their circumventing sanctions, and their own development resulting from it- ie. killing off the domestic capital of the middlemen ๐Ÿ˜‚ such that there will only be- not even capitalists, just plain goons occupying the middlemen, open imperialism once again). There's no space for (nor ability for) any meaningful carrot for the rest of the world, the development is too far gone ๐Ÿ˜„ , there's only the stick- the healthy, vibrant jungle has grown back, and no-one save for the genocidal "gardeners" want the return of the "garden..."