1 #pedagogy 2 #brpoli 3 #newtech 4 #geopolitics 5 #transversal
https://vanres1974.blogspot.com/2025/03/208e10mar25.html
main souces:
naked capitalism
"“Trump’s tariff policy has nothing to do with trade. The president is using economic warfare to compel corporate loyalty…
“If you understand Trump’s actions as the use of executive power to bully into complicity the institutions that would otherwise stop a slide towards autocracy, then it is easy to see how tariffs fit into the plan.”
https://www.ft.com/content/6d0c25e1-f8e5-43d6-88eb-5587df9f58a1"
https://climateandeconomy.com/2025/04/18/18th-april-2025-todays-round-up-of-economic-news/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CTrump%E2%80%99s%20tariff%20policy,43d6%2D88eb%2D5587df9f58a1
31mar2025
Richard Murphy below works out the implications of his hypothesis, that Trump’s grand visions is rule by broligarch. The wee problem is it fails to explain big parts of Trump’s agenda, such as
his lawless approach to deportation,
his aggressive suppression of anti-Zionist speech,
climate change denialism,
his destruction of an already weak public health system,
his love of tariffs even as their implementation damages US companies and with that,
his naive approach to restoring manufacturing in the US.
And let’s not get started on annexing Greenland.
I would argue that the broligarchs are big force multipliers for implementing an extreme libertarian agenda, and with it, asset grabs as prices crash. The wee problem is that between
climate change,
resource scarcity, and distress in other countries if Trump policies are not reversed, many of those bargains will prove to have been correctly priced. Many viable enterprises that Trump reduces to junk will remain junk. It’s not as if this crowd is good at dealing with complicated real world problems like turning businesses around.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/03/what-is-trumps-grand-plan.html
Lin Jian: The U.S. uses tariff as a weapon to exert maximum pressure for its own selfish gains, which severely hurts the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, violates the WTO rules, sabotages the rules-based multilateral trading regime, and destabilizes the global economic order. The U.S., in defiance of global criticism, is pitching itself against the rest of the world. China has taken necessary countermeasures against the U.S.’s bullying acts in order to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, and more importantly, to uphold international fairness and justice and the multilateral trading regime, and protect the common interests of the international community. A just cause enjoys the support of many. America’s move that goes against the trend of the times will find no support and end up in failure.
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xw/fyrbt/lxjzh/202504/t20250410_11592730.html
Trump narcissism in charge. As John Helmer said in on interview with Nima on Dialogue Works, the Russians, when the Ukraine talks looked like they were happening, had ascertained that they were negotiating with a personality cult. One of the keys for Trump aides in persuading him to retreat was the idea that he’d won because over 75 countries wanted to negotiate pronto. From Axios, with particular attention to #1:
- The move was based on three factors, according to three sources familiar with the meeting:
- Bessent and Lutnick told Trump their phones were burning up with countries calling to negotiate. One source described the message from the two as: “We’ve got all these great countries. They all want to come and talk. How do we do it?”
- The president and his advisers also agreed that China’s decision to raise tariffs on the U.S. created an opportunity for Trump to pause the tariff hikes on other countries as a token of friendship. It would be an effort to “put a ring around China, and isolate them,” an administration official said.
- After several days in which Trump steadfastly said the falling stock market didn’t bother him, the market’s continued slide, emerging problems in the bond market and the falling value of the dollar became impossible to ignore. Friendly world leaders, congressional allies, major donors and CEOs “were practically begging for a pause,” another official said.
,,,
The “isolating China” claim suggests that US negotiators will try to wrest concessions from ASEAN members and other countries not just on bilateral relations with the US, but also on Chinese companies producing products in those countries that are sold to the US. Like India, these nations make a point of not choosing sides between the West and China; so the US acting like a prototypical colonialist who can tell its possessions what to do is not going to go over well.
23mar2025
“Trump’s Economic Agenda Is Bigger Than a Trade War…
“It is becoming increasingly clear that, for Trump’s team if not for Trump himself, the goal in deploying tariffs as an economic and diplomatic tool is not simply to remake the global trade order, but to remake the entire post-World War II global financial order to correct for not only its current trade imbalances but also its financial imbalances.”
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trump-economic-agenda/
The Forever Wars May be Over, But Trump Is No Peacemaker, Jonathan Cook • March 14, 2025
‘Baffling rhetoric’
Does any of this amount to a clear strategy? Does it make any sense?
These mixed messages fit a pattern with the Trump administration. Its wider strategy is, as Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied territories, calls it: psychological overwhelming.
“Hitting us every day with XXL [extra-extra large] doses of baffling rhetoric and erratic policies serves to ‘control the script’, distracting and disorienting us, normalising the absurd, all while disrupting global stability (and consolidating US control).”
The White House is doing something similar over Ukraine.
https://www.unz.com/jcook/the-forever-wars-may-be-over-but-trump-is-no-peacemaker/
12 mar 25
It appears to have been made for no better reason than scoring much-needed political points for Trump, who now wallows in a post-euphoric doldrums phase of his floundering second term, when virtually every one of his campaign promises has faltered or flopped. No Epstein, JFK, or 9/11 lists, no Mexican wall, no Fort Knox audit or UFO disclosure, no mass deportations, with ICE raids rumored to have halted, no promised US troop withdrawals from Syria, Europe, or elsewhere. Every other boastful attempt to capture Greenland, Canada, Panama, and everything in between has likewise fallen flat on its face, with countries no longer fearing nor taking the US seriously.
10mar25
South Africa is the largest beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a US trade agreement that provides preferential duty-free access to US markets for eligible Sub-Saharan African nations.
Some US lawmakers want those benefits withdrawn when AGOA is reviewed this year...
Kubheka told CNN that South Africa could be on the verge of losing its trade benefits with the US under AGOA.
“Based on the changes in trade policy and national interests of the US government, the possibility of changes and South Africa’s exclusion does exist,” he said.
To remain eligible for AGOA, a benefiting nation “must demonstrate respect for rule of law, human rights … (and) should also not seek to undermine US foreign policy interests,” according to requirements outlined on its website.
In a letter to Trump on February 11, US Rep. Andy Ogles and three other Republican congressmen called for South Africa’s duty-free access to the US market to be withdrawn and for diplomatic ties to be suspended, expressing disapproval of its land reforms, its alleged “vendetta against Israel” and its “embrace of China.”
In a leader-centered political order, whatever the boss says, no matter how outlandish, sets the agenda for every underling. In fact, the willingness of subordinates to parrot and defend even the most extreme parts of his stated agenda is one of the most important signs of regime loyalty, used by the leader to decide on promotions, demotions, and in cases of open criticism, retribution. Those opposed to President Trump cannot decide, say, to ignore his social media posts about making Canada the 51st state, nor can they claim that his tariff threats are just a “bargaining chip” while focusing on his efforts to subordinate the federal bureaucracy to his will. All of these stated priorities matter, precisely because the essence of patrimonialism is the leader’s arbitrary right to treat the state as his personal property. That doesn’t mean that opponents of Trump’s regime shouldn’t pick their fights carefully, of course. But it is impossible to say in advance which of the leader’s many words merely reflect ephemeral musings, and which reveal his reasoned intentions….
President Trump’s new patrimonial regime, if he is able to consolidate it, will amount to nothing less than a revolutionary change in the American political system, as well as a paradigm shift in the global order. For those who prefer a different future—one in which leaders are constrained by the law, officials are judged by their competence and expertise rather than personal loyalty, the use of public office for private gain is prosecuted systematically, and norms of international law still matter—the years ahead will be intensely challenging. Understanding the way patrimonialism works will be vital for those who wish to resist its triumph in the United States.
The Trump administration announced the cancellation of 83% of USAID programmes, focusing on "America First" policies.
Critics warn that slashing USAID's humanitarian aid will impact millions of people across 120 countries.
Rubio confirmed the remaining 1 000 programmes will be handled by the State Department, with cuts backed by Elon Musk's efficiency drive.
"The 5 200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States."
"Afinal, como disse Donald Trump, tudo isso “está apenas começando”. O presidente dos EUA, um dos países mais infelizes do mundo nesse momento, voltou a defender nesse novo velho discurso, as políticas antieconômicas de taxas alfandegárias impostas ao Canadá, México e China; seguiu falando do seu desejo de anexar a Groenlândia e retomar o Panamá. Aproveitou para xingar o governo Biden como um “pesadelo inflacionário”. Ele também defendeu seu garoto propaganda, seu boneco de ventríloquo que é o Elon Musk. Como bom macho nazifascista ele falou contra a população LGBTQIA+ e que os EUA “não será mais woke”, afinal a retórica psicopolítica precisa desses artifícios para criar ódio contra uma minoria tratada como inimiga. Não há nazifascismo sem inimigos criados à maneira populista.
Por fim, Trump falou como um Hitler na linha da dominação do planeta. A megalomania delirante compõe o discurso grotesco que tem efeitos de poder."
https://www.brasil247.com/blog/a-retorica-neonazi-de-trump#:~:text=Afinal%2C%20como%20disse,efeitos%20de%20poder.
