Important thread. For almost 100 years, oligarchs worldwide have been trying to regain the status and power they exerted prior to the Great Depression. In the U.S., this effort is documented in One Nation Under God/Kruse and Dark Money/Mayer.
The efforts have been loosely aligned with efforts guided by common interests. The intersection of oligarchy with government has changed this. International oligarchs are now not just aligned with government, in many cases they are the government.
Billionaire oligarchs now run democratic (U.S), royal (Saudi etc), and totalitarian (Russia), 'strong man' (Erdrogan) governments that are aligned. Oligarchs now have direct access to the military, policy, and diplomatic powers of government.
The capture of so many diverse governments by cynical players working for common personal interests is a relatively recent phenomena, emerging in the last twenty years. Power in the Soviet Union (party/politburo) and Saudi Arabia (huge royal family) was too diverse to conspire.
Distribution of power in countries across even a relatively small number of people (thousands) creates very different dynamics than when power is concentrated in a small number of people (a few dozen).
The availability of international corporations, consulting groups, and mercenary corporations magnify the ability of small groups to exert power. Previous criminal syndicates could not dream of acting worldwide with the same level of control. We live in a newly dangerous world.
@ThreadReaderApp pleas unroll.
