Fascism requires an enemy.

Capitalist ingenuity.

Cartel. We need to start calling “corporate unions” what they are.

Oh boy, that’ll show em!

Russia sees this war as a war for their existence. They tried to join NATO several times after the fall of the USSR and were prevented from doing so. The current Russian state is capitalist, yes, but they are on the other side of the imperialist bloc they would have rather been a part of. What does that make NATO but an explicitly anti-Russian alliance? And even if we were to pretend it isn’t, why should Russia trust NATO? Especially after the US and EU sank the Minsk agreement and revealed that they only supported it in bad faith anyway? Especially since the US has been openly talking about shutting down the Nord Stream pipeline since even began construction? Especially since US state representatives were present during the Maidan revolution, shaking hands with Nazis in photos, and discussing in leaked audio how they will engineer regime change in Ukraine (said engineer has continued to be involved in the Biden White House).

Given that last time Nazis were on Russia’s border, over 10 million Russians (over 20 mil Soviet citizens) perished in a war of record-breaking proportions, and now Nazis are here again and the US is attempting to make them part of the Western imperial club with nukes and everything… What, in your opinion, is the rational, compassionate action that Russia supposed to take?

On your note about conspiracy theories… Yeah while it’s tempting to think that these large venture capital firms are an evil cabal of string pullers that manage every facet of the economy because they “own” everything, the reality is a lot more “boring” for lack of a better term.

Because they have ownership in everything and are seeking to maximize profit, all they really do is impose pressure on their portfolio companies. They’re likely not directly managing and ordering all the corner-cutting, labor abuse, and other evil shit these companies do. It’s the whole system that incentives profit above all else that has led us here, not one particular club of devils.

Speaking as someone with some friends in the finance world, some would be shocked to know just how ignorant these venture capitalists are of the wrongdoings the companies they own are responsible for. Of course, I’m sure there’s some level of truth to conspiracies impacting markets, but otherwise these capitalists are just buying companies, plugging their eyes and ears, and doing a whole lot of nothing while they wait for returns.

I’m not speaking of Blackrock specifically, just in general about the whole venture capital system.

Not to mention the gouging at urgent care clinics. Often when I need to go to the doctor, i can’t get an appointment for weeks and need to rely on urgent care. More than once I’ve been charged $400+ just to walk in and have the doctor tell me they can’t do anything.

US Healthcare is just the Mafia in scrubs.

The imperial motives are always economic. It should be glaringly obvious for all socialists at this point, but for some reason plenty of socialists in imperial core countries still think the anglosphere is making these accusations from a place of moralism.

The US is the only country on Earth where you can get critically injured in a mass shooting and yet still be held personally responsible for the outrageous hospital bill.