Back with Carl Zha of Silk & Steel podcast, who we last saw in our episode on the India-China border conflict.
We’re thinking of calling this the Kung Fu Yoga series. In this one, Justin has just finished reading the terrifying book The American Trap by Frederic Pierucci (which Carl notes has 100,000 reviews for the Chinese edition so far). Pierucci was jailed for 30 months in the US in a 5-year long ordeal that ended in his company, the French multinational Alstom, selling off its entire nuclear division to General Electric.
We talk about Pierucci’s case in detail and its relevance to the kidnapping of Meng Wanzhou of Huawei and Trump’s ban of Tiktok: the use of the US’s judicial apparatus to seize billions in assets from other countries, including allied countries, and including entire businesses.
Carl thinks China’s only possible response is to build its own tech stack from the bottom up.
Mafiosity may not be the highest stage, but it is definitely the current stage
Manuel is back on the show for this one. How does an Indigenous community that has recovered land and autonomy end up back under state authority? How does a territory go from winning a life and death struggle for food sovereignty to growing a hemp monoculture? And how do mafias and ultra-rightwing (fascist) political movements work together to destroy everything?
I forced Dan to listen to naval (Naval Ravikant)’s twitter stream/podcast about How to Get Rich Without Luck or Inheritance. Naval’s twitterstorm inspired me to create one of my own, about the real strategies used by the super-wealthy (spoiler: they aren’t available to you). But we spend an hour talking about where these “how to get rich” methods fit into a bigger propaganda and ideology scheme, pushing people towards pyramid schemes; to despise unions, taxes, and collective solutions; and to feel like social failures are their own fault.
SHOW NOTES
Here are my thirty five ways to get SUPER WEALTHY.
My Dad tells me that everywhere online and on TV there are Indian guys my age teaching you how to be rich (in at least one case, without luck). I won’t be left out! After extensive study, not one but 20+ ways to become not just rich, but super-rich. Here we go.
I am going to confine myself to the great countries of the Anglosphere, where opportunity is more abundant and where the wealthy don’t have to worry about authoritarianism, socialism, or taxes.
7. Get a big contract with the military – supply a military with weapons. Look for countries that are violating human rights: these countries require weapons.
I am planning another twitterstorm about how to stay wealthy once you already are wealthy, so sign up for my EXCLUSIVE SEMINAR and I’ll teach you the secrets that ONLY THE RICHEST PEOPLE ON EARTH KNOW! (And everyone who looks them up).
The India-China Border Clash of June 2020, with Carl Zha
I talk to the incomparable Carl Zha of the Silk & Steel podcast about the border clashes between India and China in the Galwan Valley. We talked about the many changes in Indian politics with the rise of fascism over the past decade. In the second hour, we go into details of the McMahon line drawn by the British imperialists in 1914 and the 1962 war.
We’ve covered the legal treachery of the Meng Wanzhou case (part 1) and the history of Canadian racism (part 2).
Now in part 3, a deep dive into 5G technology, Huawei, its founder and Meng’s father Ren Zhengfei, the semiconductor industry, and US sabotage of its rivals, with writer and analyst George Koo.
This episode is so detailed you might be able to make microchips after listening.
Lord Elgin, who gave Canada Responsible Government, also burned the summer palace in China during the British Empire’s Opium War.
Sir John A. MacDonald sung the glories of the Aryan Race from the floor the House of Commons in 1885.
The poem “White Canada Forever” was aimed specifically at the supposed “Yellow Peril”.
And apparently the claws of the panda have sunk into Canadian society? Dan tried to read all the Canadian media coverage about the case since the BC Supreme court judgement and couldn’t find anything of interest in it.
In this episode we talk about the relationship between racism and propaganda in the past hundred years of Canadian history, and how understanding what Canada is can help you understand the Meng Wanzhou case unfolding today. Part 2 of the series on Meng Wanzhou.
An executive of one of China’s largest tech companies is detained in Canada accused of violating US sanctions against Iran. This story has many threads, and each one reveals something very important about our world. In Part 1, I talk to activist and writer KJ Noh about the BC Supreme Court’s decision to keep Meng Wanzhou imprisoned in Canada.
Stefan Kipfer and I talk about the lessons we learned from reading the revolutionary Frantz Fanon, author of The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks.
I talk to Ecological Economist Peter Victor, author of Managing Without Growth, about the idea of the economy taking place within a biological envelope, what is required for market prices to reflect value, and the pitfalls of the valuation of natural capital.
Quick reaction to the Iranian tanker’s arrival in Venezuela
A quick 12 minute reaction as the first Iranian tanker (Fortune) arrives in Venezuela with gasoline to alleviate shortages there. Some notes on the cruelty of the US sanctions regime, on why an oil producing country like Venezuela needs gasoline (for now), and what is likely to happen next.
