By Reading Level

Investors seek to profit from Russia as Trump pursues rapprochement – Financial Times (2025)

This Financial Times article shows a very bleak reality of contemporary capitalism and imperialism. However, this is nothing new that is exclusive to the current day. The way finance capital flows premptively along the flow of the forces of war or peace is just good business.

Investors in American weapons made it big when the war broke out, and investors in Ukrainian development, lending, defense, energy, agriculture, and rare earth mineral exploitation will make it big if a peace deal is brokered between Ukraine and Russia.

There is an adage I read that I’ve struggled to find the source of…

The difference between feudalism and capitalism is that under feudalism, a king directs the flow of resources. Under capitalism, capital itself dictates resource distribution.

I’m paraphrasing, but you get it, right? It’s not about individual leaders and their judgement anymore. If a boardmember decides not to pollute a river for profit, he must be replaced for not doing his duty to the shareholders. And any company that does not act with swift and violent profit-seeking will be beaten out by its competition that chooses the more depraved path.

This article pairs nicely with Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest State of Capitalism.

Cuba: An American History – Ada Ferrer

This definitive history of Cuba from pre-Colombus to Donald Trump is an incredible resource. Cuban history is an incredible theater for a range of historical dramas, and it’s a prime example for learning about everything from colonialism and slavery to the cold war and communism.

Consider buying it with my Amazon link for the same price, and I’ll get a commission! Thank you.

China’s Caribbean Ties: Dominica FM Speaks (2023)

Time and time again, we hear leadership from developing countries praise China for their hands-off approach to development. Countries who work with China get competitive interest rates, no political intervention, and new vital infrastructure.

It’s important to lift the voices of developing nations US global leadership has neglected and even stifled for so many years. A new pathway has emerged that doesn’t require a leader. China is showing how it’s possible to lead with win-win deals that honor both parties’ interests and autonomy, and they’re leading with action not ideology.

Also, this interview in particular struck me as wholesome and enjoyable! These two had so much success and national friendship to celebrate!

Why We Fight – China (1944)

This documentary on China is a propaganda film produced by the US for WWII and is a part of a series of films meant to show soldiers and the public why the war was important.

However, a decade after this film was released, the CIA was training terrorist Tibetan separatists at Camp Hale in Colorado to fight China in what would be a failed armed rebellion.

Tibet – The Truth (2013)

This documentary really opened my eyes to the complex history of Tibet. I really appreciated learning how serious the threat of imperialism was to the region leading up to its reunification with China. Also, the part beginning at 37:39 clearly explains the conflict that occurred during reunification. However, I encourage readers to watch from the beginning to see the context for why reunification was so important.

Democracy in China (2022)

My latest TikTok video on China’s economy got an outpouring of critical comments about “worker ownership” in China. People are very concerned that state owned enterprises are not a form of socialism but rather something called “state capitalism.”

But I think we can all agree that if the state is actually representative of the workers, then state ownership is worker ownership.

Here is a video describing the recent history of China’s emerging “consultative democracy,” showing ways the central leadership is embracing the power of democracy.

Please keep an open mind as I tell you now that China has the best “Democracy Perception Index” of all countries surveyed. This index is found by polling citizens of how democratic they feel their society is and subtracting that from how important they feel democracy is to their future.

Their 2022 report can be downloaded here.