Thanks, I actually often get inspiration from threads on here and news I follow. Once I see a few events that seem connected, but being reported independently, I start jotting down some notes. I tend to look at the underlying material conditions as the connective tissue between events. And then try to think of how these events will affect the existing trends, and extrapolate from there.
For example, one thing I haven’t really seen mentioned is how long it took the US to build out all the infrastructure in the Gulf. We see a lot of stories about Iran attacking radars, and bases, but not really a lot of deeper analysis of what impact these attacks have. And I ended up mentioning this in a few comments here. So, that got me thinking about the cost and time it took to build this stuff. Then I connected it with how rare earths are needed for advanced tech, and I already knew the US wasn’t producing much. So, that becomes a more interesting analysis than just saying the radars got destroyed. Then you have the question of what the bases afford in terms of logistics. And why losing them makes it increasingly more difficult for the US to stage attacks on Iran. So, that becomes another thread to pull on.
I find this sort of analysis is entirely missing in the mainstream media. News will report the events that are happening, but they rarely place them in a bigger context surrounding these events. They don’t talk about the history leading up to them, how they might impact geopolitical situation, how they connect to each other. And I think connecting things together into a coherent picture is where dialectical analysis really shines.
In terms of process, I’ve also found DeepSeek to be pretty useful. I’ll often just jot down my notes and ideas, and then throw them in DeepSeek and ask it to create a mermaidjs diagram showing how these things connect, it’ll actually draw a diagram for you. Visualizing this stuff is pretty handy, you end up with a sort of a mind map, and then you can arrange the pieces into a narrative a lot easier.
Thanks so much, this is very inspirational for me! Your method of teasing out interconnections is kind of similar to the Zettelkasten method, which I’m trying to learn. I agree your kind of interconnected analysis is essential in geopolitics and is sorely lacking in liberal media, who seem to focus on individual choices in isolation.
Glad I helped, and best of luck with writing. Another advice I can give is to make a draft, walk away for a day, and then come back and reread it with fresh eyes. I find this is the single best thing you can do in improving quality. When you’re writing, you’re already in a particular head space, but when you come back you have a bit of a fresh perspective. And the key part is to just keep practising and reflecting on your past work. Don’t get discouraged if your articles aren’t perfect to start with, just publish anyway, and keep iterating.
Thanks, I actually often get inspiration from threads on here and news I follow. Once I see a few events that seem connected, but being reported independently, I start jotting down some notes. I tend to look at the underlying material conditions as the connective tissue between events. And then try to think of how these events will affect the existing trends, and extrapolate from there.
For example, one thing I haven’t really seen mentioned is how long it took the US to build out all the infrastructure in the Gulf. We see a lot of stories about Iran attacking radars, and bases, but not really a lot of deeper analysis of what impact these attacks have. And I ended up mentioning this in a few comments here. So, that got me thinking about the cost and time it took to build this stuff. Then I connected it with how rare earths are needed for advanced tech, and I already knew the US wasn’t producing much. So, that becomes a more interesting analysis than just saying the radars got destroyed. Then you have the question of what the bases afford in terms of logistics. And why losing them makes it increasingly more difficult for the US to stage attacks on Iran. So, that becomes another thread to pull on.
I find this sort of analysis is entirely missing in the mainstream media. News will report the events that are happening, but they rarely place them in a bigger context surrounding these events. They don’t talk about the history leading up to them, how they might impact geopolitical situation, how they connect to each other. And I think connecting things together into a coherent picture is where dialectical analysis really shines.
In terms of process, I’ve also found DeepSeek to be pretty useful. I’ll often just jot down my notes and ideas, and then throw them in DeepSeek and ask it to create a mermaidjs diagram showing how these things connect, it’ll actually draw a diagram for you. Visualizing this stuff is pretty handy, you end up with a sort of a mind map, and then you can arrange the pieces into a narrative a lot easier.
Thanks so much, this is very inspirational for me! Your method of teasing out interconnections is kind of similar to the Zettelkasten method, which I’m trying to learn. I agree your kind of interconnected analysis is essential in geopolitics and is sorely lacking in liberal media, who seem to focus on individual choices in isolation.
Glad I helped, and best of luck with writing. Another advice I can give is to make a draft, walk away for a day, and then come back and reread it with fresh eyes. I find this is the single best thing you can do in improving quality. When you’re writing, you’re already in a particular head space, but when you come back you have a bit of a fresh perspective. And the key part is to just keep practising and reflecting on your past work. Don’t get discouraged if your articles aren’t perfect to start with, just publish anyway, and keep iterating.