Yes, Finland (which didn’t exist as an independent state until 1917) definitely has a long history of colonialism and slave trade in the last *checks notes* 106 years.
Finland, Iceland, and Greenland are certainly different from their cultural contemporaries. They are, historically, victims of colonialism instead of perpetrators like Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. That’s worth recognizing!
They still benefit from modern imperialist extraction like every other Western State.
Social democracy is a way for capitalism to mask its cruelty by fully exporting all of the suffering it generates. It’s totally unsustainable without other countries to steal from or wrecking the environment, because at the end of the day it’s still capitalism and everything that entails.
We don’t need to tax the rich. We need to do something else to them. 😘
Would you say that the average citizen of a developed nation is one of these rich or is benefiting from the rich? They probably make up the most of these statistics about happiness.
I would say that social democracy is better at distributing the superprofits from imperialism among its citizens. I’m even somewhat cynical about it, and believe Norwegians have a legitimate interest in opposing international socialism because they benefit more from imperialism than they would if they were forced into equality with the rest of the world (at least until international socialism uplifted the rest of the world)
I also don’t think it is sustainable. Blowback is inevitable.
Exploitation of cheap labor and resources in the global south, which create artificially cheap commodities to subsidize their lifestyles.
Exporting environmentally destructive resource extraction and production to the global south, allowing them to reap the benefits of plastics and meat without suffering the costs of massive amounts of pollution and hyper-exploitation of local workers.
Being welcomed under the umbrella of America/NATO protection instead of being labeled as one of its enemies.
So, like every developed country in the world? Even post-soviet countries that never even existed before 1991 are imperialistic? Who would’ve thunk.
Every first world country in the world. The second world (post-soviet countries) aren’t really allowed to benefit from imperialism.
Surely you’ve noticed how much worse off they are? Do you think that’s just because the USSR ruined them and they still haven’t recovered? Do you not realize how much better things were before the West’s so-called “shock therapy” destroyed all of their social programs?
You do realize that countries technically speaking Sweden is not even in the NATO yet and a year ago neither Sweden or Finland were in NATO and had no intention to join NATO until Russia threatened them? They achieved their welfare states before they decided to join NATO. Does that retroactively turn them imperialistic?
Sweden still fell under the umbrella of protection! Do you really think if Russia invaded Sweden a year ago that the US would allow it?
Germans still pay solidarity tax lil bro… USSR was one of the most talented entities in fucking up entire countries for decades to come, politburo was producing most vile, scheming and backstabbing ruling class ever to imagine. The very same people were running privatization and scraping all the social security programs in place, your boys from the West in Yeltsin’s team were simply lacking and couldn’t keep up.
you think the products made from the resources from southern countries don’t end up in post-soviet countries?
I think they don’t benefit from it. Products made from the resources from southern countries end up in southern countries too! That’s not the point.
The benefit of superexploitation is being able to make commodities artificially cheap in the imperial core relative to wages in the imperial core. In post-soviet countries these products aren’t actually cheap relative to their own incomes, they have to pay a significant portion of their wages to afford them.
The “shock therapy” didn’t destroy all social programs, it restarted the economy and social programs got rebuilt. Overall a net positive.
I’m working my way through Red Hangover, and that really doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe 1 in 10 people living in the post-soviet sphere have benefitted. Neoliberalism is nightmare.
The fuck kind of a stupid question is this? Obviously US wouldn’t allow it, but it’s not like the EU would allow it either.
So there you go. Sweden benefits from Western militarism.
I was able to buy Coke and Mars back in 1994 despite the economy being probably in its worst state ever and most people probably could until the start of this year.
lol wtf is this how you measure prosperity? Mexico drinks 7 times more Coke than the rest of the world, would you call them prosperous? I think I remember something about Coke being more readily available than baby formula there?
I guess my parents, me, my friends and most people I know just happen to live in some magical bubble where we’re the 1 in 10? I know not everyone is well off, but it’s not like everyone in the Nordic countries are well off either. It’s definitely not 1 in 10 who have benefited.
Only 1 in 10 saw improvement from before, and specifically in ways unrelated to technological development.
Is your water cleaner? Are you healthier? Do you have more free time? Maybe! Not most people, though.
And this is where you go off the deep end. At no point was western militarism even a point of discussion. The discussion was the welfare state of Nordic countries and western militarism has nothing to do with that.
It has a lot to do with it! It’s easier to spend money on welfare when you don’t have to spend it on defense.
Pay no attention to the legacy of colonialism and slave trade, and certainly not modern imperialist extraction from the third world.
Yes, Finland (which didn’t exist as an independent state until 1917) definitely has a long history of colonialism and slave trade in the last *checks notes* 106 years.
Finland, Iceland, and Greenland are certainly different from their cultural contemporaries. They are, historically, victims of colonialism instead of perpetrators like Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. That’s worth recognizing!
They still benefit from modern imperialist extraction like every other Western State.
“If you are not rich because you were lucky, you are rich because you took it.”
Gotcha. So, what does social democracy have to do with it again?
Social democracy is a way for capitalism to mask its cruelty by fully exporting all of the suffering it generates. It’s totally unsustainable without other countries to steal from or wrecking the environment, because at the end of the day it’s still capitalism and everything that entails.
We don’t need to tax the rich. We need to do something else to them. 😘
Would you say that the average citizen of a developed nation is one of these rich or is benefiting from the rich? They probably make up the most of these statistics about happiness.
I would say that social democracy is better at distributing the superprofits from imperialism among its citizens. I’m even somewhat cynical about it, and believe Norwegians have a legitimate interest in opposing international socialism because they benefit more from imperialism than they would if they were forced into equality with the rest of the world (at least until international socialism uplifted the rest of the world)
I also don’t think it is sustainable. Blowback is inevitable.
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Exploitation of cheap labor and resources in the global south, which create artificially cheap commodities to subsidize their lifestyles.
Exporting environmentally destructive resource extraction and production to the global south, allowing them to reap the benefits of plastics and meat without suffering the costs of massive amounts of pollution and hyper-exploitation of local workers.
Being welcomed under the umbrella of America/NATO protection instead of being labeled as one of its enemies.
Like, come on.
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Every first world country in the world. The second world (post-soviet countries) aren’t really allowed to benefit from imperialism.
Surely you’ve noticed how much worse off they are? Do you think that’s just because the USSR ruined them and they still haven’t recovered? Do you not realize how much better things were before the West’s so-called “shock therapy” destroyed all of their social programs?
Sweden still fell under the umbrella of protection! Do you really think if Russia invaded Sweden a year ago that the US would allow it?
Use your brain.
Germans still pay solidarity tax lil bro… USSR was one of the most talented entities in fucking up entire countries for decades to come, politburo was producing most vile, scheming and backstabbing ruling class ever to imagine. The very same people were running privatization and scraping all the social security programs in place, your boys from the West in Yeltsin’s team were simply lacking and couldn’t keep up.
I’m sure the Cold War has nothing to do with that lol
The fuck did you call me, btw?
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I think they don’t benefit from it. Products made from the resources from southern countries end up in southern countries too! That’s not the point.
The benefit of superexploitation is being able to make commodities artificially cheap in the imperial core relative to wages in the imperial core. In post-soviet countries these products aren’t actually cheap relative to their own incomes, they have to pay a significant portion of their wages to afford them.
I’m working my way through Red Hangover, and that really doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe 1 in 10 people living in the post-soviet sphere have benefitted. Neoliberalism is nightmare.
So there you go. Sweden benefits from Western militarism.
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lol wtf is this how you measure prosperity? Mexico drinks 7 times more Coke than the rest of the world, would you call them prosperous? I think I remember something about Coke being more readily available than baby formula there?
Only 1 in 10 saw improvement from before, and specifically in ways unrelated to technological development.
Is your water cleaner? Are you healthier? Do you have more free time? Maybe! Not most people, though.
It has a lot to do with it! It’s easier to spend money on welfare when you don’t have to spend it on defense.
Please show me how slave trade and colonialism played any part whatsoever in Scandinavia. I’ll wait.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_colonialism