• queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    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.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        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?

        Use your brain.

        • reinar@distress.digital
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          1 year ago

          that’s just because the USSR ruined them…

          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.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            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.

              • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                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.