I haven’t read the book, but maybe People’s Republic of Walmart could be interesting.

Inside the Prolewiki Project Cybersyn page you can also find some links to books and a couple of articles.

Sorry, I do not. I found the quote inside The Long Transition Towards Socialism and the End of Capitalism

Attempts to fix the landing gear caused the fighter jet to think it was on the ground, ultimately leading to the crash.

F-35s never fail to make me chuckle

Okay, we’ll stop

Only Stalinism from now on

The grass in the thumbnail is ankle high, justified use of force

This article is great and discusses more or less exactly what you want to know Cosmonaut: why machines dont create value

Walkability in Hanoi City

Please have a look at Figure 2, 90% of trips 3-5km (3-10km generally) in length are done using a motorcycle. I will assume that the local government are targeting trips like these for electric bicycles and mopeds.

I’m confused about your statement of being ready as a society to transition. Which things in society have we been “ready” for when they started happening?

De-dollarisation and the new development bank would be the best examples. Leverage away from unipolarity and entrenched institutions like the World Bank and IMF were the topics on my mind.

I don’t know a lot about the Non-Aligned Movement, but I would see all BRICS members as somehow bringing the NAM into the modern day. Clearly NAM and BRICS are not the same, but it sparked my question.

The fact that “Jakarta Method” exists as a term shows that the goals of the NAM, however neutral or pragmatic they may have been, were seen as a threat by the US

While Russia and China see it as an anti-hegemonic tool, Brazil and India prioritize neutrality and pragmatism.

I don’t think anyone would argue that India and Brazil are using BRICS to it’s full geopolitical potential, but even a position of “neutrality and pragmatism” is seen by the US as unacceptable.

Framing it as though the leverage Brazil and India are finding through BRICS isn’t anti-hegemonic feels wrong to me. Am I missing something?

Trip was good, saw a small slice of Serbia, need to go back for more.

During my stay in Belgrade there was no large protest, I can’t really comment on transport/infrastructure for that reason. Regarding daily life, there are small reminders around the city everywhere.

The only “active” protest I saw was the “students 2.0” encampment near the presidential palace…that was some astroturfing

Short personal anecdote from me. I was recently in Serbia (I do not speak Serbian, which could mean that I got heavily biased answers) and I got the chance to ask a few people this question directly.

Some takeaway points:

1. The idea that Serbia can/will be part of the EU and everyone will live happily ever after has taken hold of most people I spoke with;

2. If the beginning of the protests were astroturfed, they have been extremely successful at bringing people into this movement; because at the heart of it, people ARE pissed off about corruption;

3. Apparently talking politics in Serbia was a somewhat taboo topic…now it is completely reversed, it is taboo to NOT state your position on these protests.

One family (middle aged mother, father and kids) walked past my campsite where I was having a chat with a Serbian couple, the father talked to them for less than one minute, in that time he managed to ask them if they support the government or not.

4. I forgot to look this up because I’m a lazy piece of shit, but two people said to me that the renovated train station that collapsed and sparked this protest was done by a Chinese company. This is leading people to believe that every piece of Chinese-built infrastructure in the country (which is quite a lot) is a scam/corrupt and it will fall over within a week of opening.

As I said, all personal anecdotes from the mouths of some Serbs I met last month, take it with a grain of salt.

The Bob Vylan guys are the real deal

For some, it echoed the familiar choreography of moral retreat: a gesture of concession that risks metastasizing into posture, then into position, and eventually into principle. The fear, voiced not out of cynicism but historical memory

The “cynicism” arguement is so pervasive. Doesn’t matter how many times you can vividly remember being deceived or disappointed; by politicians, by management etc. you are the one being cynical, negative and unreasonable.

This author is smart enough to know that memories can exist for more than a few months. Refreshing

If there weren’t so many bootlicking nations, almost the entire planet could “unionise” and agree a deal with the US…what could have been. Would be hilarious to watch, hopefully in my lifetime the conditions will be right for this scenario

Why would I wish bad things on my paymaster idol?

Western battery producers have barely got their heads around LFP cells, Chinese firms are already moving onto Sodium.

For stationary storage and some two wheel transport these batteries should occupy a decent chunk of the market share.

at that length you can easily look like Anton Chigurgh

That’s good, right?! Right?!

When you consider that every source of wealth held by settler nations is stolen, it can’t be anything but projection.

I basically agree with all of those points. There are some ties in the text between the settler nations and their sources of capital i.e. land/nature/slaves, but not explicitly.

Treating decolonisation as a metaphor is a real problem…especially if you are planning to overthrow/dismantle Capitalism. Acknowledging the challenges that will come and trying to shatter those illusions about decolonisation is critical. Decolonisation is only ever going to be a metaphor in a world dominated by Capitalism.

Good idea, two truths one lie, imperialism style