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The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

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Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#11

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

May i recommend Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong?

I'm sorry, but Uncle Enzo and I go way back, and I couldn't do that to him -- not after I already promised him I'd go to the job fair coming up.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#12

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

That's all government has ever been and will always be: a protection racket.

> That's all government has ever been and will always be: a protection racket.

Eh, no.

I think it's usually an indication of sloppy thinking when someone makes sweepingly absolute statements about vague, abstract concepts with numerous and important differences in implementation.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#13

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

That's all government has ever been and will always be: a protection racket.

Protection against rampaging business people, warlords, and run of the mill monsters.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's all government has ever been and will always be: a protection racket.

you're saying the quiet part out loud... it's supposed to be the arbiter of civil rights, fairness, and enablement, with the convenient side effect of enriching a very small group of people who actually pull the strings

>it's supposed to be the arbiter of civil rights, fairness, and enablement, with the convenient side effect of enriching a very small group of people who actually pull the strings

so the ends justify the means? Even the premise is wrong

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#15
US-centric approach. How about if China decides to fill the power vacuum that the isolationist US leaves. How about if eg. COSCO buys out the port operators around the globe. How about if they decide to protect their shipping routes with their military so that they carry on with providing goods to the globe. Globalization is still in the best interests of China, even if the US decides to abandon it.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#16

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

> Might we see the nation-state get replaced by a web of competing mercenaries, each of which effectively serves as a protection racket for their customers?

How do you envision the deprecation of the nuclear-armed nation state unfolding? The USSR had a unipolar world outside to stabilize and manage its disintegration. How is this accomplished in a multipolar context, with tensions inflamed by intensifying scarcity, competition, environmental instability, etc?

Serious questions, not a derogatory comment

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#17
From the Wikipedia entry for the U.S. Marines:

The Marines' most famous action of this period occurred during the First Barbary War (1801–1805) against the Barbary pirates,[38] when William Eaton and First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led 8 Marines and 500 mercenaries in an effort to capture Tripoli. Though they only reached Derna, the action at Tripoli has been immortalized in the Marines' Hymn and the Mameluke sword carried by Marine officers.

8 Marines, 500 mercenaries. Contractors have always played a big part in the ebb and flow of international conflict.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#18

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

This is basically the premise of Metal Gear Solid 4.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#19

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

That's all government has ever been and will always be: a protection racket.

> a protection racket.

A racket implies they're 'protecting' you from themselves. I don't think that's true.

If protection isn't important to you, you can give Somalia a try.

Re: The end of the world is just beginning for shipping

#20

Interesting to combine this line of thinking with the transition from nation-states to market-states: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1744057060106386... The power vacuum that's arisen from populism & isolationism is about to create a gigantic untapped market for firms that provide the services of a state - defense, dispute resolution, and currency - for a fee, to gigantic multinational corporations. At t…

This is basically the premise of Metal Gear Solid 4.

RoboCop, too.
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