theory

I'm always on guard for the present-day parallels while reading through these books, and for this week's chapter, all I can really say is: imagine the present day US allowing countries around the world more political/economic sovereignty? Such a voluntary imperial decline wouldn't necessarily have to be all that terrible for everybody involved if it was managed - though a LOT of capitalists would still lose a LOT of money. Of course, such a hypothetical, while interesting to consider, isn't all that helpful as the US administration regardless of party seems to pick a different country each week to threaten with invasion or sanctions.

@reader@hexbear.net In response to your comment last thread - any thread can be used to discuss any chapter discussed so far. In general, I wouldn't really advise people commenting in the older threads as you're unlikely to get anybody but me reading and responding to them and it's harder to moderate old threads, but there's nothing really wrong with doing so. Feel free to post your links here too!