Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 4 days agoI’m not sure how far you read, but he argues that it would only take one country’s legislature to set this off and reap the rewards of nurturing a fully open alternative to the US big-tech stack.
With the US pissing off pretty much everyone else and losing allies by the day, it will only be a matter of time before the doors are blown open on this.
rumba@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
It’s a speech. He has a hypothesis at best, and expertly lays out one way for it to go.
If one country did it, they’d try to give them the Venezuela treatment.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the overall concept has incredible legs, but the finer details of tit-for-tat and retaliation aren’t quite fleshed out.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 3 days ago
It’s why things have to happen in a certain order. You can’t do the more aggressive economic actions against the US until after certain conditions are in place. First you need to cut dependency on the US for anything essential. Food and strategic resources like aluminum, steel, and energy. You also need a strong enough military to make any US military action costly for the US.
Once those conditions are met you can take further action. Hitting the US tech sector is more of a middle option. Manipulating the US bond market is the nuclear option.
Currently these options aren’t on the table since the US can kick out the legs of that table if you tried to play those cards. But many things are quietly changing around the world while Americans are obsessing over Epstein files, Trump playing battleship, and Hegseth and Rubio fucking around with tinpot South American dictators.
plyth@feddit.org 3 days ago
But many things are quietly changing around the world by Americans
Trump is not a lone mad man. Consider that the US can have coordinated their steps with western elites. E.g. why else would they have reacted indifferent to Venezuela?
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
You might well be right, but I don’t think enough time has passed to call this indifference just yet.
China is mad because it was already sourcing oil from there. Apparently, they had a contingent that met with M the day he was taken. So I don’t think their vague threat really counts in this scenario yet.
America does have a decent-sized military and someone at the head who needs to prove himself every time he’s challenged. Most countries don’t really like it at least on the basis that they’re next, but challenging him would be more likely to make them next.
These are the kind of things that take a long time to iron out. If they’re going to do something about it, they’re going to wait until a few others start to do things about it.