r/NewsAndPolitics • u/_II_I_I__I__I_I_II_ United States • Oct 12 '24

Social Commentary Jason Hickel explains why a liberated Palestine threatens global capitalism: 'A liberated Palestine means a liberated Middle East. A liberated Middle East means capitalism really faces a crisis[...] & they're unleashing the full violence of their extraordinary power to ensure it doesn't.'

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u/AssumedPersona Oct 13 '24 edited Oct 13 '24

Hickel doesn't mention here the central tool of capitalist imperialism: the US dollar. Dollar hedgemony is the means by which capitalism monopolizes resource exploitation of the global south, through mechanisms such as the 'petro-dollar' and the IMF loan system.

However because of a phenomenon known as the Triffin dilemma, the dollar's dual status as a domestic and global reserve currency renders its fate inevitable, hastened by its weaponization through sanctions. The US' insistance on promoting the dollar as the global reserve currency afforded them almost half a century of supremacy through exhorbitant privilage, but ultimately this short-sighted greed will prove to be its downfall.

The world would be a very different place if Keynes' proposal of Bancor had been adopted instead, and a new supranational reserve currency which reflects his ideas will present a very attractive alternative. In the meantime however, we can expect the US to stoop to ever worsening forms of violence and aggression in the vain attempt to defend its dominance.

https://wp.unitfoundation.org/

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u/whater39 Oct 13 '24

I've always thought Iraq was attacked over its Petro dollar switching to the Euro from the USD.

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u/AssumedPersona Oct 13 '24

Also Libya over Gaddafi's proposal for an African gold dinar which would be used to trade oil.