imagine having to create vastly complicated international supply chains to keep sustaining a consumption-based society while geopolitical interests remained fully national and many times divergent or antagonistic
like you obviously couldn't keep that shit going
you can't make those interests converge globally, the dominant classes in each country will always clash against each other in their own struggles for dominance
you can't bring stuff back and atomize production because at the very least prices will soar and your consumption drones are going to get mad and revolt
countries in the center did manage to maintain this by sheer force since the 80s, but that control is waning, and the very structure they created to adapt to the new conditions and keep the line going up is getting ruined
where the fuck is the way out of this
edit: what i mean is that what we're seeing since ukraine is just going to keep happening, this is part of a much larger process that will probably be very disruptive, maybe even "disruptive enough"
but my point is precisely that it can't be done as effectively anymore
it's becoming harder and harder for the empire to actually impose shit around the world, even though they still mostly manage to do it
If they need to they will start occupying territory again before they let the flow of treats fall
although a big aspect of it is that China is increasingly nipping at American heels
exactly, china's rise makes america's threats of economic isolation far weaker than they were in the 20th century
the option of direct confrontation, mainly war, still exists, but if it's widespread it's also disruptive as fuck for everyone involved (though it's obviously much worse for people like me who would be the ones actually eating the bombs)
i just don't see any perspective of things getting better or staying the same for the center, they'll just keep getting worse and worse