Late Stage Capitalism Vs 21st Century.... Which side are you on?

Medieval Village, England
Joined January 2013
Out of roughly 2 million olive trees in Gaza before October 2023, only 150,000 trees remain standing. This is a loss of roughly 85% to 90% of the region's olive groves. Ecocide is the deliberate, widespread destruction of natural ecosystems necessary to sustain human life. Many experts would agree that Israel's systematic destruction of Palestinian farmlands, aquifers, and trees would qualify as ecocide. Under international humanitarian law including the Geneva Conventions, any objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population like agricultural areas are granted special protections during conflict. Olive oil and table olives are crucial to Gaza's local agricultural economy, but in Palestinian culture, olive trees are much more than just a commodity. They are symbols of continuity, resilience, and attachment to the soil. Many groves are hundreds of years old and passed down through generations. Unlike annual crops like tomatoes or cucumbers that can be replanted and harvested in a single season, mature olive trees represent decades of invested capital. Losing them wipes out a reliable source of income for thousands of families, leaving them dependent on foreign aid.
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Solarpunk Bond retweeted
Neither Cartier-Bresson, Banksy nor Cold War Steve could have come up with such an image. Absolutely perfect composition and lighting (even the road signs are perfect)! 😍
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French protests are absolute cinema.
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Norway has removed all of its $2tn Investment Fund from Israel linked banks, as it continues its policy of BDS against Israel. Well done Norway.
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LABOUR BANNING BOOKS Sally Rooney says she can no longer sell books in UK due to Palestine Action support. Irish writer of Normal People says she can no longer receive royalties from British sales and she cancelled UK trip due to fear of arrest. theguardian.com/uk-news/2026…
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babe wake up, the actual disco Elysium successor just dropped
GLOBAL REVEAL: RED ROOSTER, AN INCENDIARY RPG Come home to Roost. We're honored to officially reveal our incendiary RPG. Read an introduction into the project on the new Red Rooster page: summereternal.com/redrooster
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Nearly everyone in the West focuses on China's Five Year Plans as the reasons for its manufacturing success, concluding that more central economic planning is needed. This is the exactly WRONG lesson. The country's success comes because its cities all compete with each other intensely, as something akin to vertically integrated corporations that are completely obsessed with local economic growth. Its incredible manufacturing industry is based on local clusters that local govts nurture and invest in, and collect a lot of the returns from through property fees and taxes. These govts are *much* closer to local needs than Western local govts are, and can focus on speed of building and iteration above all, which are critical for manufacturing. *This* is why local government matters in Britain and America, where it is almost completely broken and dysfunctional. Where local spillovers matter, as in manufacturing, you need some kind of entity that can internalise the positive externalities of economic activity. China is proof that with the right incentives and tax powers, local governments can become machines for economic growth, intervening and clearing the way for development.
China has become the most important manufacturing economy in the world because it is a continent-sized Silicon Valley. worksinprogress.co/issue/chi… Every Chinese city govt acts as a VC firm trying to create clusters in its region, because it has both the means and incentive to do so. Local govts generate their revenues, nearly all of which they keep, from selling leases on land and from stakes they have taken in local companies, which together allow them to capture economic spillovers. Chinese officials have their entire careers graded and determined by how much growth they have been able to create in the areas they run. Career progression is determined according to a great tournament that pits official against official and gives promotions to whoever has grown their region the most. If they don’t reach a certain stage by a certain age they are blocked from promotion forever. This is why so many economic clusters have centred on Chinese cities, for high- and low-tech products alike. Shaodong makes 70% of the entire world's cigarette lighters; Danyang makes half of the world's spectacle lenses; Zheng'an makes 1/7 of the world's guitars; Datang a third of its socks. Whereas many of the West’s most important city governments capture only a small amount of the spillovers from successful clusters, and thus have very little reason to foster them, in China, they get a huge amount of the upside and can re-invest it in further growth. This also gives them a great incentive to solve problems for companies, like when Shanghai's govt got Tesla's factory there built even faster than Elon himself had expected (and twice as fast as his Fremont, CA factory). But this is not some exotic 'oriental' innovation – this is how America used to do things when it grew fastest, in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Catching up with China on advanced manufacturing does not require a wise and strategic approach, let alone authoritarianism or the end of democracy. It may just mean fixing city government. This is why I care so much about local in Britain and America: if we give our own local governments the same incentives and means to grow, the crazily dysfunctional entities we have become used to may be transformed into corporation-like bodies that are ruthlessly focused on making their cities rich, safe and prosperous. Read more in Works in Progress worksinprogress.co/issue/chi…
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Replying to @GRITCULT
all high level players know they can just:
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Interesting* data showing how the most antisemitic group of UK voters (Reform) is also the most pro-Zionist, while the least antisemitic of UK voters (Greens) is the least pro-Zionist
Almost all of this is shocking.
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LBC has deleted the article it published about Dr Lola Salem. Something weird is happening.
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And yet people like Nicole will tell you it’s the Green Party
I’m not surprised to see that Reform and Tory voters are the most antisemitic voters
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not to sound gay but im actually starting to think structuring our entire society around maximizing profit instead of the public good is a bad idea
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Is the entire speech just mic drops after mic drops
French Presidential Candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon: They tell us, "We must reassure the markets." Reassure the markets? What are their names? Where do they live? Let me go and reassure them! What market? What are you talking about? There is no market. There are hedge funds, financial companies and insurance companies.
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Israel’s New – and Terrifying – Security Doctrine by Trita Parsi | Oct 13, 2026 | News | 0 comments Reprinted with permission from Trita Parsi’s Substack. If you read one thing today, make sure it is this: In a stunning piece published by the head of one of Israel’s most prominent think tanks, Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman describes the reality of Israel’s new security doctrine: A few crucial principles he describes: 1. The United States is a “declining power” and, given its ongoing social and political shifts, will soon abandon Israel in any event. This is compelling Israel to move toward greater self-reliance in order to avoid “excessive dependence” on the US since it “exposes Israel to the influence of a progressive American value system that is incompatible with Israel’s Jewish character.” Then he concludes: “Severing ties with the United States is therefore not only inevitable, but essential to Israel’s independence and the resilience of its Jewish national identity.” 2. Primacy of Jewish Identity over Democracy: The state’s Jewish identity takes precedence over its democratic system of government. 3. Peace as a Means Rather Than an End: “A meaningful peace agreement is unattainable in the Middle East, as peace agreements are merely technical and temporary arrangements requiring constant reassessment. According to this view, peace is not an intrinsic value that generates security, but a means of achieving other policy objectives.” 4. “Rejection of the Independent Existence of Arab States: The underlying premise is that most Arab states are not genuine nation-states, but collections of tribes and ethnic groups lacking a shared history and a foundational national vision. Consequently, undermining their stability is viewed as a natural process, one that Israel can manage more effectively than it can contend with strong nation-states, and one that it should even encourage.” 5. “War as a Foundational State: War is essential to national security and cannot be replaced by a state of peace, which, as noted, is merely a means rather than an end…. War is necessary, and preventive war is preferable because it secures a significant achievement at the outset.” 6. “Absolute Priority for Initiative and Offense over Defense: Preemptive, surprise strikes are viewed as the only way to achieve victory, giving offense precedence over defense.” And there’s more. Important to note that Hayman does not advocate for this. Rather, he contends that this already is the new security doctrine of Israel. He is describing reality as he sees it. And that reality simply is not compatible with a US or Western alliance with Israel – unless the West transforms into a similar entity that treats war as a permanent and desirable state of being. Read the full piece here: inss.org.il/publication/new-… Trita Parsi is the Executive VP of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an award-winning author. Washingtonian Magazine has named him one of the 25 most influential voices on foreign policy. Noam Chomsky calls him “one of the most distinguished scholars on Iran” Visit Trita Parsi’s Substack and subscribe.
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"the economy is broken," per FT
"Don’t own bonds and be cautious with stocks," per FT
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Thinking of this today
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Recuerden que vivimos en un mundo en el que Ms. Rachel tiene más huevos de denunciar los horrores en los que vivimos que el wey de la guitarra.
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oh my god it worked
referenced the pope's encyclical on my homework to avoid being forced to use AI for it, let's see what happens.
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Replying to @LloydsBank
@LloydsBank refused to give me a reason for closing my accounts. The advisor could only submit a 'complaint' to request one. It can take 8 weeks. Meanwhile, I cannot pay my bills or access my money. I must wait for a cheque and find another bank. This is political persecution.
My @LloydsBank accounts have been closed down after 15 years without a single issue. No warning. No notice. Since advocating for Palestine, I have: - Lost my job - Had my medical licence suspended - Been arrested 5 times and charged And now debanked. Thank God for everything.
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It’s pretty nuts. Tom Watson’s very first intervention in his new job at spytech firm Palantir is to write a letter to his former colleague @labourlewis.bsky.social detailing all the times the firm has monitored his anti-Palantir activities thenerve.news/p/clive-lewis-…
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