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Gadaffi threatened to sell oil in a currency other than the US dollar. That particular threat to the hegemon could not go unpunished. Without the dollar as the
by agent327 3y ago
Gadaffi threatened to sell oil in a currency other than the US dollar. That particular threat to the hegemon could not go unpunished. Without the dollar as the world reserve currency, a position firmly backed by the US army, there is no way the US could afford its current level of expenditure. A threat against the reserve status of the dollar is an existential threat to the US.
And so did Saddam Hussein, for that matter...
- 26fingies 3y agoI really hate when these sorts of topics come up on HN because even though we fancy ourselves a group of evidence-driven, logical people we have a real blind spot for history. We in the west have spent the better part of the last 500 years finding deeply creative ways to keep the rest of the world under our rule. The world today is essentially the one we created. And then a tragedy like this dam failure happens and we ask ourselves "How can the Libyans be so careless?" Indeed it must be their fault because they are less intelligent or more irresponsible or lazier than us. It's not because we have systematically made them poor and undermined any attempt of theirs to have some self determination. After all they've been free to do what they wanted since 2011! Before that even but they chose tyranny because they're stupid, not because the DGSE and CIA were in there creating dissident movements loyal to us.