>>2625359>leaders are what determine society>venezuela>the country that had a revolution because of cronyism and poor managementIt's as if social and material structures determined the superstructure hmmm… If Maduro's state collapses because of the intervention, it's because it's signaled a weakened state to the venezuelan people, not because their precise leader got captured. People often don't realize the cost of appearance (in which cult of personalities fit in).
>>2626338It's funny to watch from the european perspective. You guys had an empire in the 1990s-2000s but neocons scared everyone away because of unjustified intervention. Because of this, other powers emerged and had antagonistic relations to the US. You could've kept and made the liberal dream come true, but you just had to intervene in Irak and afghanistan, and scare everyone off. It decribilized you on the international scene and cemented the idea of imperialism despite the end of the cold war.
Then, afterwards, through the Obama admin, you guys were doing fine economically, and had more or less managed to contain these antagonist countries to third-world rebellious dictatorial regimes. I mean, look at China. It was not seen as a threat as it is today. I still remember discussing with friends about China in the 2010s and saying "yeah, china is illiberal but it's because of confucian values. They'll eventually switch sides". Then, you guys voted for Trump and sent a massive "fuck you" to european and other liberal allies.
It's sad really. You could've really had the entire liberal hegemony but you destroyed it because of :
1. Neocons intervening in Irak and signaling that third world countries had to adopt liberalism or die (which prompted reactions from said-countries)
2. Trump completely destroying the liberal premise of mutual development, ecological unity, social progressive cohesion etc.
It really is just the republican party in the end…