Trump Is Not the "End of Liberalism", Ending the War in Ukraine, European Industry Getting Ruined By US Diktaks, Germany's Failing Economic Model , When Airlines Vanish
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"I am thankful that the readers of this Substack are not unanimous in their opinions when it comes to the most lively topics that are discussed here, as there are few things that I find more boring than an echo chamber."
I prefer "Hegemonic Liberalism", where the core problem is the corrupting influence of absolute power. Fukuyama, due to being a think-tank fixture, will never recognize this (he, just as many liberals, believes that this final ideology is inherently incorruptible.)
Combine this with a caustic nature of liberalism: a feature in opposition, a destructive force in power.
"The cool punk kid shouldn't be the school principal." - evident for many of us, yet many Hegemonic Liberals believe it can be done, and the kid remains just as cool, punk, and everyone will adore him 100% of the time.
One of Orban's greatest mistake was the branding disaster that is "illiberalism". It's translated as "I am HitlerSatan lol".
His actual definition from the very speech he declared himself an illiberal is a rejection of neoliberalism (anarcho-capitalism):
"In Hungary however, it took us twenty years to be able to articulate the problem with this idea, that, besides being very attractive on an intellectual level, never made it clear, who is supposed to determine at what point my freedom is being violated.
And since this is not self-evident, somebody must determine it.
And since we didn’t appoint anyone to decide this, therefore, based on our everyday life experiences, it was always the stronger party who decided this. We constantly felt that the weaker were trampled over. It was not some kind of an abstract principle of fairness, originating from a recognition of mutual freedoms, that decided conflicts, instead the stronger party was always right: it is always the stronger neighbour who decides where the driveway will be; it is always the stronger party, the bank, who decides the interest rate on mortgages, and who changes it mid-term if needed, and I could go on with a long list of examples of what individuals and families with weaker economic defences experienced regularly during the previous twenty years."
"America First is good for Americans. Being an American ally these days (no matter who is in power there) doesn’t seem to deliver as much as it used to."
I'm seeing a change in this. EU elites are spooked by a Trump cabinet, and regretting going all in on Washington.
They really don't want to antagonize China, and with Orange Man in office, they have all the incentive to show some opposition.
Liberalism in all its forms relied on vast reserves of pre-liberal social and cultural capital. That has been strip-mined and exhausted. What comes next is unclear.
Fukuyama has nothing to contribute on this or related subjects. He is a think tank creature...the intellectual equivalent of a crisis actor in the realm of ideas.
Given the tenor of the previous Commentary entries, I was indeed expecting to find out how airline companies disintegrate in 21st century global economic headwinds.
And now this morning I read that he is going to appoint Marco Rubio to Secretary of State. This is a man who was likely popping Adderall during a debate https://vimeo.com/156951448 [ok, it may have been a breath mint, but what awful judgment] and then famously ran interference for Victoria Nuland when she blurted out the truth regarding biolabs in the Ukraine.
And people delusionally think that Trump is a peace candidate. If this is what MAGA is, include me out.
The only reason Trump won was because the DNC were told not to rig... I mean Fortify the Election (Selection more like), also Trump received less votes this time around than he did in 2020. So the system chose Trump as he is a known factor now.
Did Ukraine even have any chance? Sure MINSK II might have been a good pathway to short term peace, but the decentralization of Ukraine would just let Russia continue to excert more influence and probably get more territory, if not the whole country that way. Kissinger said Ukraine should be a bridge between the two worlds and I feel both sides wanted the whole thing.
Russia was not interested in more territory. It annexed the four provinces only in September 2022 - seven months into the war. Before that it was committed to the Minsk agreements. The change in September was most likely motivated by the governmentability of the Russian controlled territories. It is hard to provide citizens with adequate services when the most qualified people don't want to collaborate as they fear retribution from the Ukrainian government when the territory might return to Ukrainian rule later on.
When Ukraine became independent it was neutral - that was even codified in the constitution. It also treated the Russian language and culture equally to the Ukrainian. Gradually - partially thanks to pressure from the US and the EU - those things had changed and the Maidan coup speeded that change up. What Putin wanted was a return to those earlier times. But given the track record of the Ukrainian government an exact return seemed unlikely and provincial autonomy seemed the best alternative.
Russia was definitely not committed to Minsk II in September of 2022. Russia recognized DPR and LPR on 21st of February of that year, this was a blatant contradiction to agreeing on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. I am not saying Ukraine is not guilty of destroying that agreement btw.
Ukrainians post-2014 had every right to be suspicious of Russian influence and control of their country, the hawkish part won and they pushed Ukraine away from decentralization and neutrality and into western alliances. This whole thing was Herodotean, just look at how it started... Putin overcalculated by influencing Yanukovych not to sign the Association Agreement with EU, this massively backfired for the Russians, they definitely didn't expect a revolution. Understandably Putin panicked and took Crimea and tried to destabilize the country. This then continued to spiral into catastrophe which than culminated in 2022. Yes, western governments lured Ukrainians into thinking they have the right to western integration, unfortunatly - because of the power relations - they do not.
At the eve of the war Ukraine was about to attack the Donbass republics. Russia had intelligence in that direction and the sharp increase in shelling by Ukraine pointed also to it.
Russia had given these republics informal guarantees that their reintegration into Ukraine would be peaceful and without retribution. Putin is a lawyer and he wants to do things according to the book. So when he recognized the independence of those territories he could conclude a security treaty with them and make clear that he wouldn't stand idle if Ukraine attacked. It was meant as a warning. The West took it as a declaration of war and immediately imposed a lot of sanctions. That made it clear to Putin that his guarantees wouldn't work and that there would be war anyway. So he chose for a preventive attack. The many things that went wrong showed that this was a last minute decision.
The Maidan was an US led and funded coup - not a revolution. If you see the opinion polls in Ukraine during the uprising you see that the support for the uprising was a little below 50%. That is not the amount of support that justifies the overthrowing of a democratically elected government.
Putin convinced Yanukovych in two ways. He offered a nice financial package and he also showed that the proposed treaty with the EU was not in the interest of Ukraine. It gave European companies freedom to wipe out their Ukrainian competitors. But in all sectors where Ukraine was competitive it imposed quota and other restrictions.
Yanukovych chose what was best for his country in the face of the composition and sentiment of the population: being a bridge between the blocks with good relations on both sides.
Did you read about the Georgian shooters who produced the definitive incident - ascribed to the Ukrainian police - that gave the uprising its final impetus?
Did you notice that Yanukovych concluded an agreement with the protesters for a transitional period that these protesters subsequently ignored? Did you notice that the EU gave guarantees for this agreement and then did nothing when it was violated? Did you notice that the next day the parliament adopted a lot of laws (17 if I remember well) within one day under threats from those protesters?
As for Crimea, Russia faced two issues. One was that the Crimean parliament and population wanted to join Russia. When Ukraine became independent Crimea was promised autonomy but that was taken away a couple of years later. There was also an incident where shortly after the Maidan had prevailed a train with anti-Maidan protesters returning home was molested by Maidan supporters. And there was the legislation against the Russian language and culture that was introduced.
The other issue was the Sebastopol harbor used by the Russian navy. It was clear that the US wanted to throw Russia out from this harbor and use it itself. There was a treaty between Ukraine and Russia that gave Russia the right for quite a few years more to use the harbor but the rumor was that they had found a point in the agreement that Russia hadn't kept that could be used as an excuse to break it. Direct evidence was that the US Navy published some requests for quotes for activities in Sebastopol.
Russia was massing troops on the border of Ukraine all the way back in may of 2021, there is no way in hell the invasion was a last minute decision. By your view of things, one would think Putin is a complete idiot. Why would the guarantee of Donbass independence stop "working" because western countries imposed sanctions after 21st of February? You think Putin was somehow suprised by this? Only a complete moron would think western countries would not impose sanctions and react to this.
I won't get into the justifications for Maidan. Considering you probably think public opinions are as malleable as needed so long as you put enough money into it, what revolution or uprising is ever justified? How are the eastern separatists justified? They too, were controlled, this time by the Russian government. Throughout history most uprisings were done by a counter-elite, while for the successful ones this is almost certainty
In what world do you live that you think Yanukovych dropped the agreement because of Putin's friendly economic advice to Ukraine? This is such stupid naivity I can't even take you seriously. Just admit it and recognize the fact Putin overplayed his hand by wanting Ukraine to be economically integrated with Russia. This backfired immensely. Russia would normally not go to war because of an Association Agreement considering it supports Ukraine's accession to EU at this time (look at the Istanbul communique and the Draft Treaty of April 15th, 2022)
Crimea was occupied by Russia because of the unexpected overthrow of Yanukovych. Putin panicked and went into grab what was most important - Sevastopol harbour. He proceeded to destabilize Ukraine in the Donbass as a way to continue to have influence in Ukraine.
I am not blaming either side for the conflict. I completely understand Putin's security and historical reasons for the invasion, while I also recognize pro-western Ukrainians orientation towards western integrations.
Russia was amassing troops for a long time. That was a generic warning to Ukraine as it saw in which direction Ukraine was moving. Russia obviously hoped that the threat would be enough and that war wouldn't be needed. So these troops were not ready for an invasion.
In the months before the war the US went around the world asking countries to promise sanctions when Russia would attack Ukraine. And then it imposed those sanctions when Russia just recognized those republics. Don't you notice something weird there? And don't you see that that lowered the threshold for Putin to start a war considerably?
The recognition of those republics was rather meaningless except for the security guarantee. They were completely dependent on Russia and the moment Russia withdrew that support they would have to fold. So yes, those sanctions just for recognition was a big thing. It confirmed that Ukraine wanted to attack with Western support.
You completely miss the role of Ukraine's neonazi's, nationalist extremists or however you want to call them. These armed militia dominated the Maidan protests. Twice after 2014 Ukraine chose the most peace-loving presidential candidate and twice it saw him converted under the pressure/threats of those militia into a warmonger. In the first government after the Maidan half the people came from Galicia, the anti-Russian utter Western part of Ukraine. Do you remember the Trade Union House in Odessa? That kind of scum it is. So yes, the Eastern Ukrainians and Crimeans had all reason to be disgusted by the Maidan "revolution".
As a heritage of the Soviet Union Ukraine had a lot of industry that exported to Russia. Integrating in the EU and throwing up barriers to Russia meant that most of those companies would lose their market and be wiped out by Western competition.
After Putin had made his offer Yanukovich went back to Merkel to ask for better conditions. She stubbornly refused to do any concession.
I invite you to study the economic effects of Association Agreements on Ukraine and elsewhere. Obviously you are not very well informed.
The brouhaha surrounding Trump - both the man and his likely policies - forces us to revisit an age old (philosophical) question: namely, what is the role of the individual in politics. A question to which someone whose name I don’t recall responded that history was not a tale about “the high sounding dramas of princes and Kings”; that there were other more significant forces hidden from public scrutiny which were actually steering societies in one direction or another.
Which brings me to the twice-elected former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who bitterly complained that the (unelected) Civil Service repeatedly sabotaged and/or subverted the progressive policies his Labour Party had hoped would transform British society for the betterment of all. In the end, he said, he was too frequently defeated. In short, the institution beat the man.
The question at hand, is therefore: was Wilson’s fate destined to be that of Donald Trump’s. Is there anything about the force of his personality, his charisma, or the popular appeal of some of his policies, that will enable him even to dominate the deep state, let alone destroy it?
Given that few if any other leaders in positions like Wilson’s have managed to tame the deep state, it might well again be Trump’s master. Only time will tell.
"A year ago, [New York] Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $1 billion in state funding to construct the new building and purchase the EUV scanner as part of a larger $10 billion EUV consortium that will include IBM and Micron, the memory chip company that’s planning a $100 billion manufacturing campus outside of Syracuse."
I'm kind of cynical about this. It's possible that Micron could make it work (and possibly drag IBM into the modern world). The Albany/Schenectady region had a lot of outstanding research work via General Electric years ago, but then celebrity CEO Jack Welch dumped a lot of the defense work (which included semi) in the early 90's, gutting most of the Mohawk Valley. Kodak in Rochester NY has its own sad story as well. But Syracuse? That's the center of gutterdom in upstate NY. It's so bad there, I genuinely hope that Sen Schumer/Gov Hochul's plan works.
If they are serious about bringing back industry they need to understand that they can't fleece the labor costs and expect the same precision.
In a highly financialized nation, huge industries are just machines that seek cost cutting at all costs which is against innovation and creativity in favor of wealth accumulation.
Let's not forget that historian Fukuyama's most famous conclusion was that history was over and liberal democracy was the last and final destination. He's never been very astute and his analysis here shows that again.
“We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European,” a member of Trump’s team said. “We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”
The question is whether the European powers have the appetite for it. If a security arrangement is not in place before the peace deal is signed, there is a significant risk of the Ukrainian government being abolished by a coup. Tens of thousands of hardened nationalist militiamen is a powder keg waiting to ignite. Unrestrained, civil war is assured.
And a collapsing Ukraine would make a perfect pretext for Russia to resume the war.
Hit the like button at the top or bottom of this page to like this entry. Use the share and/or re-stack buttons to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you to do so.
And please don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already!
Now off to work on a few more items....
"I am thankful that the readers of this Substack are not unanimous in their opinions when it comes to the most lively topics that are discussed here, as there are few things that I find more boring than an echo chamber."
I 100% agree.
Me too!
I prefer "Hegemonic Liberalism", where the core problem is the corrupting influence of absolute power. Fukuyama, due to being a think-tank fixture, will never recognize this (he, just as many liberals, believes that this final ideology is inherently incorruptible.)
Combine this with a caustic nature of liberalism: a feature in opposition, a destructive force in power.
"The cool punk kid shouldn't be the school principal." - evident for many of us, yet many Hegemonic Liberals believe it can be done, and the kid remains just as cool, punk, and everyone will adore him 100% of the time.
One of Orban's greatest mistake was the branding disaster that is "illiberalism". It's translated as "I am HitlerSatan lol".
His actual definition from the very speech he declared himself an illiberal is a rejection of neoliberalism (anarcho-capitalism):
"In Hungary however, it took us twenty years to be able to articulate the problem with this idea, that, besides being very attractive on an intellectual level, never made it clear, who is supposed to determine at what point my freedom is being violated.
And since this is not self-evident, somebody must determine it.
And since we didn’t appoint anyone to decide this, therefore, based on our everyday life experiences, it was always the stronger party who decided this. We constantly felt that the weaker were trampled over. It was not some kind of an abstract principle of fairness, originating from a recognition of mutual freedoms, that decided conflicts, instead the stronger party was always right: it is always the stronger neighbour who decides where the driveway will be; it is always the stronger party, the bank, who decides the interest rate on mortgages, and who changes it mid-term if needed, and I could go on with a long list of examples of what individuals and families with weaker economic defences experienced regularly during the previous twenty years."
More insightful than a tome of Fukuyama.
"America First is good for Americans. Being an American ally these days (no matter who is in power there) doesn’t seem to deliver as much as it used to."
I'm seeing a change in this. EU elites are spooked by a Trump cabinet, and regretting going all in on Washington.
They really don't want to antagonize China, and with Orange Man in office, they have all the incentive to show some opposition.
there's an old adage that says (paraphrasing) being an enemy of the US is dangerous, but being a friend is often lethal.
Why don’t they pull out of NATO?
Good for them, good for us 🇺🇸
Liberalism in all its forms relied on vast reserves of pre-liberal social and cultural capital. That has been strip-mined and exhausted. What comes next is unclear.
Fukuyama has nothing to contribute on this or related subjects. He is a think tank creature...the intellectual equivalent of a crisis actor in the realm of ideas.
well said
Keep in mind that, for the time being at least, the PMC remains the hegemonic class, which, by definition means that PMC values are deemed normative.
Time’s ending but you have a point.
Word
Thanks Niccolo!
"what happens to airlines when they disappear"...
There's a typo...Not "airlines", in this case, but "airliners". Planes, not companies.
Airlines disappear too, but they seldom end up in the Sahara desert.
Given the tenor of the previous Commentary entries, I was indeed expecting to find out how airline companies disintegrate in 21st century global economic headwinds.
"The above is not an endorsement of his entire agenda, but I will admit to liking quite a lot of it."
I like quite a lot of it too, but it does not matter, because Trump is a conman whose words mean nothing.
For UN ambassador he has appointed a woman who thinks that Vladimir Putin is carrying out a genocide: https://x.com/EliseStefanik/status/1500572425641021445
And now this morning I read that he is going to appoint Marco Rubio to Secretary of State. This is a man who was likely popping Adderall during a debate https://vimeo.com/156951448 [ok, it may have been a breath mint, but what awful judgment] and then famously ran interference for Victoria Nuland when she blurted out the truth regarding biolabs in the Ukraine.
And people delusionally think that Trump is a peace candidate. If this is what MAGA is, include me out.
Trump is weak, stupid and easily manipulated, which his neocon friends have shown over and over.
The point is neither to make excuses for the man, nor to refuse to recognize when he does something right.
👋🏻
The only reason Trump won was because the DNC were told not to rig... I mean Fortify the Election (Selection more like), also Trump received less votes this time around than he did in 2020. So the system chose Trump as he is a known factor now.
The system is collapsing
Did Ukraine even have any chance? Sure MINSK II might have been a good pathway to short term peace, but the decentralization of Ukraine would just let Russia continue to excert more influence and probably get more territory, if not the whole country that way. Kissinger said Ukraine should be a bridge between the two worlds and I feel both sides wanted the whole thing.
Russia was not interested in more territory. It annexed the four provinces only in September 2022 - seven months into the war. Before that it was committed to the Minsk agreements. The change in September was most likely motivated by the governmentability of the Russian controlled territories. It is hard to provide citizens with adequate services when the most qualified people don't want to collaborate as they fear retribution from the Ukrainian government when the territory might return to Ukrainian rule later on.
When Ukraine became independent it was neutral - that was even codified in the constitution. It also treated the Russian language and culture equally to the Ukrainian. Gradually - partially thanks to pressure from the US and the EU - those things had changed and the Maidan coup speeded that change up. What Putin wanted was a return to those earlier times. But given the track record of the Ukrainian government an exact return seemed unlikely and provincial autonomy seemed the best alternative.
Russia was definitely not committed to Minsk II in September of 2022. Russia recognized DPR and LPR on 21st of February of that year, this was a blatant contradiction to agreeing on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. I am not saying Ukraine is not guilty of destroying that agreement btw.
Ukrainians post-2014 had every right to be suspicious of Russian influence and control of their country, the hawkish part won and they pushed Ukraine away from decentralization and neutrality and into western alliances. This whole thing was Herodotean, just look at how it started... Putin overcalculated by influencing Yanukovych not to sign the Association Agreement with EU, this massively backfired for the Russians, they definitely didn't expect a revolution. Understandably Putin panicked and took Crimea and tried to destabilize the country. This then continued to spiral into catastrophe which than culminated in 2022. Yes, western governments lured Ukrainians into thinking they have the right to western integration, unfortunatly - because of the power relations - they do not.
At the eve of the war Ukraine was about to attack the Donbass republics. Russia had intelligence in that direction and the sharp increase in shelling by Ukraine pointed also to it.
Russia had given these republics informal guarantees that their reintegration into Ukraine would be peaceful and without retribution. Putin is a lawyer and he wants to do things according to the book. So when he recognized the independence of those territories he could conclude a security treaty with them and make clear that he wouldn't stand idle if Ukraine attacked. It was meant as a warning. The West took it as a declaration of war and immediately imposed a lot of sanctions. That made it clear to Putin that his guarantees wouldn't work and that there would be war anyway. So he chose for a preventive attack. The many things that went wrong showed that this was a last minute decision.
The Maidan was an US led and funded coup - not a revolution. If you see the opinion polls in Ukraine during the uprising you see that the support for the uprising was a little below 50%. That is not the amount of support that justifies the overthrowing of a democratically elected government.
Putin convinced Yanukovych in two ways. He offered a nice financial package and he also showed that the proposed treaty with the EU was not in the interest of Ukraine. It gave European companies freedom to wipe out their Ukrainian competitors. But in all sectors where Ukraine was competitive it imposed quota and other restrictions.
Yanukovych chose what was best for his country in the face of the composition and sentiment of the population: being a bridge between the blocks with good relations on both sides.
Did you read about the Georgian shooters who produced the definitive incident - ascribed to the Ukrainian police - that gave the uprising its final impetus?
Did you notice that Yanukovych concluded an agreement with the protesters for a transitional period that these protesters subsequently ignored? Did you notice that the EU gave guarantees for this agreement and then did nothing when it was violated? Did you notice that the next day the parliament adopted a lot of laws (17 if I remember well) within one day under threats from those protesters?
As for Crimea, Russia faced two issues. One was that the Crimean parliament and population wanted to join Russia. When Ukraine became independent Crimea was promised autonomy but that was taken away a couple of years later. There was also an incident where shortly after the Maidan had prevailed a train with anti-Maidan protesters returning home was molested by Maidan supporters. And there was the legislation against the Russian language and culture that was introduced.
The other issue was the Sebastopol harbor used by the Russian navy. It was clear that the US wanted to throw Russia out from this harbor and use it itself. There was a treaty between Ukraine and Russia that gave Russia the right for quite a few years more to use the harbor but the rumor was that they had found a point in the agreement that Russia hadn't kept that could be used as an excuse to break it. Direct evidence was that the US Navy published some requests for quotes for activities in Sebastopol.
Russia was massing troops on the border of Ukraine all the way back in may of 2021, there is no way in hell the invasion was a last minute decision. By your view of things, one would think Putin is a complete idiot. Why would the guarantee of Donbass independence stop "working" because western countries imposed sanctions after 21st of February? You think Putin was somehow suprised by this? Only a complete moron would think western countries would not impose sanctions and react to this.
I won't get into the justifications for Maidan. Considering you probably think public opinions are as malleable as needed so long as you put enough money into it, what revolution or uprising is ever justified? How are the eastern separatists justified? They too, were controlled, this time by the Russian government. Throughout history most uprisings were done by a counter-elite, while for the successful ones this is almost certainty
In what world do you live that you think Yanukovych dropped the agreement because of Putin's friendly economic advice to Ukraine? This is such stupid naivity I can't even take you seriously. Just admit it and recognize the fact Putin overplayed his hand by wanting Ukraine to be economically integrated with Russia. This backfired immensely. Russia would normally not go to war because of an Association Agreement considering it supports Ukraine's accession to EU at this time (look at the Istanbul communique and the Draft Treaty of April 15th, 2022)
Crimea was occupied by Russia because of the unexpected overthrow of Yanukovych. Putin panicked and went into grab what was most important - Sevastopol harbour. He proceeded to destabilize Ukraine in the Donbass as a way to continue to have influence in Ukraine.
I am not blaming either side for the conflict. I completely understand Putin's security and historical reasons for the invasion, while I also recognize pro-western Ukrainians orientation towards western integrations.
Russia was amassing troops for a long time. That was a generic warning to Ukraine as it saw in which direction Ukraine was moving. Russia obviously hoped that the threat would be enough and that war wouldn't be needed. So these troops were not ready for an invasion.
In the months before the war the US went around the world asking countries to promise sanctions when Russia would attack Ukraine. And then it imposed those sanctions when Russia just recognized those republics. Don't you notice something weird there? And don't you see that that lowered the threshold for Putin to start a war considerably?
The recognition of those republics was rather meaningless except for the security guarantee. They were completely dependent on Russia and the moment Russia withdrew that support they would have to fold. So yes, those sanctions just for recognition was a big thing. It confirmed that Ukraine wanted to attack with Western support.
You completely miss the role of Ukraine's neonazi's, nationalist extremists or however you want to call them. These armed militia dominated the Maidan protests. Twice after 2014 Ukraine chose the most peace-loving presidential candidate and twice it saw him converted under the pressure/threats of those militia into a warmonger. In the first government after the Maidan half the people came from Galicia, the anti-Russian utter Western part of Ukraine. Do you remember the Trade Union House in Odessa? That kind of scum it is. So yes, the Eastern Ukrainians and Crimeans had all reason to be disgusted by the Maidan "revolution".
As a heritage of the Soviet Union Ukraine had a lot of industry that exported to Russia. Integrating in the EU and throwing up barriers to Russia meant that most of those companies would lose their market and be wiped out by Western competition.
After Putin had made his offer Yanukovich went back to Merkel to ask for better conditions. She stubbornly refused to do any concession.
I invite you to study the economic effects of Association Agreements on Ukraine and elsewhere. Obviously you are not very well informed.
The brouhaha surrounding Trump - both the man and his likely policies - forces us to revisit an age old (philosophical) question: namely, what is the role of the individual in politics. A question to which someone whose name I don’t recall responded that history was not a tale about “the high sounding dramas of princes and Kings”; that there were other more significant forces hidden from public scrutiny which were actually steering societies in one direction or another.
Which brings me to the twice-elected former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who bitterly complained that the (unelected) Civil Service repeatedly sabotaged and/or subverted the progressive policies his Labour Party had hoped would transform British society for the betterment of all. In the end, he said, he was too frequently defeated. In short, the institution beat the man.
The question at hand, is therefore: was Wilson’s fate destined to be that of Donald Trump’s. Is there anything about the force of his personality, his charisma, or the popular appeal of some of his policies, that will enable him even to dominate the deep state, let alone destroy it?
Given that few if any other leaders in positions like Wilson’s have managed to tame the deep state, it might well again be Trump’s master. Only time will tell.
Read more about ASML's issues finding employees.
It sounds like the same scam other tech companies pulled in the US.
Tax breaks go away for them bringing in cheap foreign labor.
They claim that the local people can't do it, but it's that they don't want to pay the labor prices that the locals with the skills want.
They rely on tax breaks and cheap labor despite their profits.
Typical end stage capitalism.
"A year ago, [New York] Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $1 billion in state funding to construct the new building and purchase the EUV scanner as part of a larger $10 billion EUV consortium that will include IBM and Micron, the memory chip company that’s planning a $100 billion manufacturing campus outside of Syracuse."
I'm kind of cynical about this. It's possible that Micron could make it work (and possibly drag IBM into the modern world). The Albany/Schenectady region had a lot of outstanding research work via General Electric years ago, but then celebrity CEO Jack Welch dumped a lot of the defense work (which included semi) in the early 90's, gutting most of the Mohawk Valley. Kodak in Rochester NY has its own sad story as well. But Syracuse? That's the center of gutterdom in upstate NY. It's so bad there, I genuinely hope that Sen Schumer/Gov Hochul's plan works.
If they are serious about bringing back industry they need to understand that they can't fleece the labor costs and expect the same precision.
In a highly financialized nation, huge industries are just machines that seek cost cutting at all costs which is against innovation and creativity in favor of wealth accumulation.
Fukuyama regurgitating Niccolo’s Ukraine = Big Loser (correct) take is not something I expected to see. Fukuyama confirmed subscriber?
Let's not forget that historian Fukuyama's most famous conclusion was that history was over and liberal democracy was the last and final destination. He's never been very astute and his analysis here shows that again.
But didn't he then warn that bored listless young people would seek other dragons to slay.
Enter the transphobic chud, who must be vanquished
ROFL
“We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European,” a member of Trump’s team said. “We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”
This I can agree with.
The question is whether the European powers have the appetite for it. If a security arrangement is not in place before the peace deal is signed, there is a significant risk of the Ukrainian government being abolished by a coup. Tens of thousands of hardened nationalist militiamen is a powder keg waiting to ignite. Unrestrained, civil war is assured.
And a collapsing Ukraine would make a perfect pretext for Russia to resume the war.