Guns and ButterWednesday, August 5, 2009, 1:00pm
"The Collapse Gap" with Dmitry Orlov, author of "Reinventing Collapse - The Soviet Example and American Prospects". Orlov's repeated travels to Russia throughout the early nineties allowed him to observe the aftermath of the Soviet collapse first-hand. Being both a Russian and an American, Dmitry was able to appreciate both the differences and the similarities between the two superpowers. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the United States is going the way of the Soviet Union. His emphasis is on all the things that can still be made to work, and he advocates simply ignoring all that will fall by the wayside.
"Guns & Butter" investigates the relationships among capitalism, militarism and politics. Maintaining a radical perspective in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, "Guns & Butter: The Economics of Politics" reports on who wins and who loses when the economic resources of civil society are diverted toward global corporatization, war, and the furtherance of a national security state.
Live on KPFA at 01:00 PM Pacific Time: WednesdaysYou can listen to it here.
10 comments:
Caught it live, and am now mailing the link widely...
Damn, that's a fine interview Dmitry. You hit on so many crucial points, tying them together very well. Great observations on the Brezhnev Doctrine too! I linked to it at my blog and on my Facebook page. Great job! Thanks to Pacifica and Guns & Butter for doing it.
Damnit Dmitry, you really know how to bum out an American, don'tcha? I guess you live on a yatch as a convenient collapse escape vehicle, no doubt to arrive at those islands you post on your blog site when the time comes.
Care to make a prediction? Next year, 2-3 years, 3-5 years, >10 years?
Great interview. I've been mopping around, depressed about it for about two days now. No one likes a smarty pants that's always right, ya know.
Dmitry, I am glad you are being included in this type of conversation, which is so necessary in view of the collapse. One point that is perhaps implicit in what you talked about is that in the US, because everything is left to the mythical "individual", nobody will be held responsible for anything -- not for feeding the hungry, not for creating even temporary housing... or for anything else.
After a conversation like this, I hope the listeners started reckoning exactly what their changes for survival are... by themselves or with other citizens, not with the help of any institution or institutionalized mechanism.
The way things are looking, the main mechanism that is being grown is the imprisonment mechanism.
Things are looking really bad - one can smell the stuff from far away.
I would strongly suggest to those who are able to that they should consider leaving the country before it turns into hell. Here, they'll let you starve and they'll let you die.
Really interesting interview.
Wondering what Orlov/ClubOrlov thought about how the collapse of America may affect the UK and Europe..?
That would interest me too.
Although there are some differences to the US, like the gun policy, we have the same monetairy system in Europe. Peakoil affects us too. The debt issue in the Netherlands is hidden, but of a much bigger level than personal debt in the US. We have a huge average mortgage debt.
So I presume the economical and financial collapse here will not be much different compared to the US. A possible social collapse could be different. Not better, but different.
What scares me is that apparantly no-one seems to be aware of a possible collapse, around here. The media only have good news. There is little or no discussion on the internet on behalf of the future. While it does no harm to have some vision about it.
Thank you for your honesty. Although a bleak portrait is sometimes painted for the future of this once great country, I agree with just about everything you say. People better wake up and stop living in their little dream world before it's too late. They need to stop ignoring the fact that we only have a few years left before we are taken over by a foreign power. Start learning Chinese or Arabic, because that will be the new language of American in a short while. We are headed for certain doom and have already fallen from grace and are now one of the most despised countries in the world, and rightly so. Our overweight, arrogant, uninformed, apathetic populoation continue to affirm every stereotype given us.
Brilliant. I'm forwarding this one to friends. Perfect for the bizarre days we are living, days of total make-believ.e
And Jim Kunstler is in similar Swiftian mode in his vicious rant "Financial crisis called off", which you can read here:
http://kunstler.com/blog/2009/08/financial-crisis-called-off.html#more
Dmitry, can you post the interview on your server? it is no longer available at KPFA.org.
Thanks in advance.
Dmitry, i have a question from your interview that was never asked. what happens to mortgages during the collapse when the lending institutions go under?
secondly to anonymous about a copy of the interview, i have a copy if you would like. email me at safetydude61 at yahoo
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