CAPITALIST TENTACLES & FRONTS

ANDREW KORYBKO—Bolivia, a lithium-rich landlocked socialist state just fell victim to a Hybrid War regime change operation that risks embroiling the country in a more intense civil war than it already unofficially is in. Considering the possibility that any worsening of the crisis there could lead to similarly disastrous socio-economic consequences as the years-long one in Venezuela, it can’t be ruled out that a significant number of refugees might flee into neighboring Brazil, which could destabilize that already sharply divided country even more.

KEVIN REED—The mass scrubbing of all social media content by Facebook and YouTube that mentions the name Eric Ciaramella is part of the broader censorship efforts by the technology monopolies, in collaboration with the intelligence state, and sets the stage for even more draconian attacks on freedom of expression.

YASHA LEVINE—This week, the FBI unveiled charges against two former Twitter employees — one of whom is a Saudi citizen — accusing them of spying for Saudi Arabia. According to the feds, the two of them were being run by another Saudi national on behalf of Crown “Bone Saw” Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Reading the complaint, these “spies” come off as very inept. They did everything out in the open, had their activity logged, and even got caught by Twitter management.

Since the 1990s, increased production and the trade of intermediate manufactured components has integrated the world economy in unprecedented ways. Hyperspecialization is the novel process, identified in the report, whereby supplier firms access advanced markets by focussing on the production of a limited range of components. This kind of sub-product specialization is organized through GVCs and coordinated by lead firms. By 2008, 52 per cent of world trade occurred under such arrangements.

P. GREANVILLE—rom Ecuador to Argentina, Honduras, and now Chile, ordinary citizens are mobilising to resist and push back the economic aggression of “Neoliberalism”.  After more than 30 years of “free marketism” imposed at bayonet point by Pinochet and those “democratic” regimes that followed, Chileans have had enough. They have reached the point of desperation where death is better than living like a serf.  Meanwhile, the US media and vassal press in Europe and other countries never tire of praising Chile’s “economic miracle”, talking about this country being so developed, etc., etc., all of that based on the country’s GDP, without ever mentioning that a hefty GDP is useless unless the national wealth is well and fairly distributed, which Chile, profoundly inegalitarian, certainly is not.