https://twitter.com/War_Takes/status/1546579298508750852?cxt=HHwWiICyibHrxvYqAAAA
The Rhodesia episode itself was good, but then I went through his tweets. of course he omits the NATO proxy war when discussing ukraine (framing it purely as a russian invasion that happened for no reason) in addition he had this lovely drivel where he responded to Luna Oi, saying she's "Denying the agency" of people in countries like Vietnam (her home) for noticing how often the US backs color revolutions. He's also quote tweeting himself while claiming "tankies" called him a "cuck" and presenting no evidence anyone said any of those things.
After this guy, and AdamSomething, I'm waiting for them to bring Vaush on and start complaining about "tankies" every episode. I'm starting to think the entire "Nate Bethea" produced podcast circuit: WTYP, Trash Future, Lions Led By Donkeys, 10K Losses, etc. is just social imperialist drivel. Nate Bethea and Joe Kasabian are both vets of the US invasion of Afghanistan (not conscripts, but actual fucking volunteers who fell for imperialist propaganda and now feel or pretend to feel some guilt about it) , and wouldn't you know it, every podcast Nate Bethea produces tows a tepid "both sides are always equally bad" line with regards to US imperialism. Joe Kasabian in particularly loves to play up Soviet atrocities with western sources like Montefiore and Snyder. Weird. Getting very disappointed in this shit. Chapo-adjacent pods, for all their faults, aren't nearly this bad when it comes to US imperialism.
Getting real tired of this line I see increasingly in media: Pointing out US hegemonic involvement is "denial of the people's agency". If you point out the US's specific involvement in this or that coup, this or that color revolution, this or that forced loan, this or that diplomatic pressure, no matter how specific you get, or how well-documented your sources, you get accused by liberals of "believing everything ever is the USA's fault." They apply a false broadness of scope to the specific historical point to discredit it.
Meh. Liam's dad is a shameless Trot and they've never made any secret of being "Both Sides Gang" when it came to the Cold War.
One of the more frustrating things about getting deep into the Leftist History podcasting is that they end up painting a picture in which all the Soviets were saints and all the Westerners were monsters. You don't see a lot of ink spilled on Nicolae Ceaușescu or Edward Gierek. Nobody spends much time asking where Gorbachev and Yeltsin even came from, as though these guys weren't also Communist Party leaders. Nobody talks about Bo Xilai nearly doing to China what Modi has done to India, much less how India fell to capitalism in the first place. Nobody likes to talk about the shitty industrial labor conditions in the Soviet bloc or the environmental costs of a given five year plan.
For all the shit WTYP gets, they're not above "going there" so-to-speak. Digging through the dirty laundry of the Soviet heyday and pointing out where the problems were.
If the leftists who spend all their time digging through the trash bin of history come out smelling foul, that's the nature of the business. The 20th century sucked and we're still dealing with its consequences.
Probably millions of gallons of ink have been spilled in arguments about where and how the USSR went wrong. It might be the most discussed subject on the left. Many people have even made worthwhile arguments, unlike (as far as I know) Liam.
Episode 81: Palace of the Parliament, Episode 78: Supersonic Transport, and Episode 68: The Nedelin Catastrophe
all seem to advance their theories.
WTYP: the podcast about being a trot with your dad.
Why are you even mentioning Modi? He isn't even remotely left wing or claimed to be. You want to know when India fell to capitalism? It happened as soon as the USSR collapsed. The fall of Soviet Union was the single worst moment in history for any country that had hopes for moving left wing.
Anyways, I don't care what a bunch of white guys have to say about communism. I certainly wouldn't listen to Americans telling people what's good or bad. Especially when they always seem to find an excuse for their shitty ass country that's responsible for so much destruction around the world including the Soviet Union.
:jesse-wtf:
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As I understand it, he was pretty nakedly neoliberal. His "New Left" was about lowering taxes, encouraging more private foreign investment, and taking on lots of foreign debt.
This is a strategy we've seen play out across Europe, Africa, and Latin America by The World Bank and the ECB, among other institutions. What's pitched as this soft business-friendly consumerist leftism ends up being a means of stripping people of their sovereignty the privatization and debt collections.
Modi's been operating under a similar playbook, particularly in India's agricultural regions. He's tried to break up communal farms into private turf and use the market system to bid down everyone's incomes.