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Ben Norton Profile picture
@BenjaminNorton
Sep 8, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
The country of Georgia—which since a 2003 Western-backed neoliberal "color revolution" has become a de facto colony of NATO—is holding large-scale military exercises with 2,800 troops from the US, UK, France, and Poland, *right on the border with Russia*

This is a blatant threat
The US gov't promised the former USSR it would never expand NATO eastward.

The USA lied of course, and has continued expanding further. Now it regularly holds military exercises right on Russia's border.

But we're supposed to believe Russia is a "threat"
dw.com/en/georgia-lau…
It's hard for brainwashed Americans to look past "exceptionalism" propaganda, but try to think about this from Russia's perspective:

The US Army is holding military exercises in the antagonistic country on your border, using the hashtag #Ready2Fight.

How is that not a threat? Image
Declassified documents prove top leaders from the US, Britain, France, and West Germany repeatedly reassured the former USSR they would not expand NATO eastward.

They all lied, because NATO is a warmongering imperialist cartel that wants to dominate Earth
nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/…

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More from @BenjaminNorton

Ben Norton Profile picture
Jun 30
In this important speech, the director of the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University notes:
-US-China "competition" is "ideological"
-The US wants to subordinate China
-"The socialist path led by the CPC is the unchangeable path for China"
eastisread.com/p/yao-yang-on-…
This influential Chinese economist explains how the Reform and Opening Up started by Deng was pivotal to develop the productive forces, after a time of destructive ultra-leftism. But China went too far to the right by the 2000s, so it's shifting left again
eastisread.com/p/yao-yang-on-…
"Excessive financialization hollows out real industries". China is countering this by using state-owned bank lending to "prioritize manufacturing and high-tech industries".

"The goal of [China's] new era is high-level socialism", better income distribution, and common prosperity
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jun 17
China's economy is bigger than official GDP statistics indicate, because it uses a measurement system based on manufacturing production, under-counting services.

US GDP data, meanwhile, is distorted by expensive "services" like imputed rent and legal fees
asiatimes.com/2024/06/whats-…
"The affordability crisis in Western economies, the US in particular, is largely driven by inflation of necessary services – rent, healthcare, education, childcare – not by manufactured goods"

When those costs go up, US GDP goes up.

This is why "number go up" is not always good
This point is so crucial: Costs of healthcare, education, housing, and childcare have skyrocketed in the US, which makes GDP go up, but it also makes average people's standard of living worse, especially because real wages have not caught up.

So that GDP growth benefits the rich Image
Read 5 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Apr 25
The US already is the authoritarian police state that they have told you for decades to be afraid of.

If you oppose the empire's genocidal crimes, police and state troopers will attack you and arrest you. "Free speech" only exists for rich oligarchs.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said anti-genocide protesters at the Uni. of Texas "belong in jail"

“Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail”, he said

The real face of the US authoritarian regime
thehill.com/homenews/educa…
Biden is banning TikTok (one of the most popular apps in the country), while Republican governors send state troopers to brutalize and arrest anti-genocide student protesters, saying they "belong in jail".

The US is an authoritarian regime. There is nothing democratic about it.
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Apr 19
The economics of imperialism: A new study shows how "the US’ exorbitant privilege has become a rich world privilege".

The world system has persistent capital income transfers from the poorest to the richest, equal to 1% of GDP of top 20% countries, and 2% of GDP for the top 10%.

Source: wid.world/news-article/t…Image
Image
The perpetual debt trap of imperialism: "Foreign capital income flows result in a net transfer from poor to rich countries of around 1.2% of the rich’s GDP. This big net transfer of resources allows the richest countries to incur in bigger trade deficits without the need to in-debt themselves to finance them.

"Moreover, it forces the bottom 80% of the world to record trade surpluses to be able to finance such a transfer. If they fail to do so, then they would need to compensate by acquiring more debt, which reinforces the dynamics".Image
As this study puts it, "The richest countries have become the bankers of the world, attracting the excess savings [of poorer countries] by providing low-yield safe assets and investing these inflows in more profitable ventures".

This imperial "privilege allows these [rich] countries to accumulate net foreign assets, even in cases where they run trade deficits. It signifies their ability to attract foreign investment at low rates and generate income from their external assets".

"This privilege has been translated in positive foreign capital income of 1%-4% of their GDP".Image
Image
Read 5 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jan 26
🚨 The president of the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said there is sufficient evidence for the genocide case against Israel. Image
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said some allegations against Israel fall within the provisions of the Genocide Convention, and it applies to Palestinians. Image
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has officially recognized the Palestinian people's right to be protected from acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention.

South Africa's case has been approved. Image
Read 6 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jan 5
Western economists love to selectively quote Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, but conveniently ignore the lengthy chapter he wrote on how colonialism was central in the creation of capitalism.

Smith discussed the "injustice" of the "plundering of the defenceless natives". 🧵 Image
Adam Smith wrote how colonialism enriched Western colonial powers:

"To the natives however... all the commercial benefits which can have resulted from those events have been sunk and lost in the dreadful misfortunes"

Europeans "commit[ed] with impunity every sort of injustice" Image
Adam Smith acknowledged how colonialism raised "the mercantile system to a degree of splendour and glory which it could never otherwise have attained to".

For Europe, "new worlds have been opened to their industry", with big markets in the colonies in "Asia, Africa, and America" Image
Read 6 tweets

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