🔺Continuation from above @rednile12 💠Regime change isn’t just about removing a leader. To make a country truly “investable,” the entire system has to be rebuilt: ▪️ Laws rewritten ▪️ Courts reshaped ▪️ Contracts redesigned —all to legally lock in foreign investor protections for decades. 🔹 That’s where “rule of law” programs enter the picture. Often run by USAID or the State Department, they’re branded as “democracy promotion” or “good governance.” But Benz argues that, in practice, they frequently reengineer legal systems to favor large foreign corporations. 💠 He points to Mongolia as a textbook case. In 2006, Mongolia’s mining laws were rewritten with help from USAID-linked groups and Western NGOs. The result? Foreign firms gained long-term access to Oyu Tolgoi—one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits. To make all this socially acceptable, a soft-power ecosystem kicks in: U.S.-funded NGOs, “civil society” initiatives, and media campaigns work to gently prepare public opinion—what Benz bluntly calls “fluffing.” Like fluffing pillows before guests arrive… so large-scale resource extraction doesn’t spark mass resistance. For bigger, more defiant states like Iran and Venezuela, the challenge is far greater. Their size and political history mean enormous budgets are needed to: ▪️ Rewrite major sections of national law ▪️ Loosen foreign ownership rules ▪️ Secure cooperation from local elites ▪️ Prevent populist backlash—like Iran’s 1979 revolution, partly fueled by anger at U.S.-backed elites selling national assets It’s a lot to process—but once you see the pattern, it’s hard to unsee. If you’re trying to understand how soft power, “aid,” and “governance reforms” quietly reshape nations and economies, this lens adds a whole new layer to the news. What do you think—does this match what you’ve observed in global politics? 💬 📡@rednile12 Geopolitics | Multipolarity | Sovereignty | Strategic Reality #Geopolitics#ForeignPolicy#SoftPower#ResourcePolitics#MikeBenz#Venezuela#Iran#Mongolia#Neocolonialism
静态网站悖论 个人网站的两种不同实现方式：一种是复杂的内容管理系统（CMS），另一种是简单的静态 HTML 文件。文章指出，尽管大多数普通用户倾向于使用复杂的解决方案（如 WordPress），但实际上，只有少数专业软件工程师能够选择更简单的静态网站。 via HackerNews 2024 10 09 前两天刚好听朋友说 square space 已经涨到了近乎搞笑的 $25 月费，做不用来盈利的个人博客实在难以 justify。这篇文章中吐槽得很在点子上： normal users are stuck with a bunch of greedy clowns that make them pay for every little thing, all while wasting ungodly amounts of computational power to render what could have been a static website in 99% of cases. 普通用户被困在了一群屁大点功能都要收费的贪婪小丑手里，与此同时浪费着人神共愤额度的算力来渲染 99% 的情况下都可以作为静态的网站。 当然原文中说的“只有少数专业软件工程师才能选择更简单的静态网站”略微夸张并不认同，因为静态站至少是比 self-host 的动态 CMS 少太多维护了。我的 backlog 里也一直躺了篇安利新手用静态站并拉踩 WP 的文，不过网上这种文已经有无数了也还是拦不住前赴后继往各种 CMS 的坑里冲的新手，觉得写了又有什么意义呢就还搁着没写。（当然迟早会像以前反复造的无数轮子一样被废话欲战胜的 but not today） #indieblog#newletter
Hashtags
找到 1 条相似帖子
搜索 #mikebenz