We’ve raised $5,820. I am grateful to everyone who has given. The fundraiser is, however, going the slowest of any I’ve ever done, which I expect is because of Covid.
We’ve reached the first tier:
A longer article on the collapse of the USSR, putting everything I’m aware of together. In particular, I want to discuss the steps Gorbachev took which seem like either gross stupidity or intentional destruction. The fall of the Soviet Union was studied in great detail by the Chinese Communist Party, and has informed their actions since.
If you can afford to give, I’d definitely appreciate it. If you’re short on rent/food or medicine money, though, please don’t.
The next tier is $2,180 from here. That one is one I think is especially useful, and will build on the collapse of the USSR article.
A summary of world system analysis as practiced mainly by Immanuel Wallerstein, with a look at what it means for the future. World system analysis takes capitalism as a world system, and looks at how it has re-ordered the entire relationship of nations, subordinating them to its needs, though about five centuries. We can see clearly that most countries today are not sovereign, but subject to the system as a whole — this is true to some extent even of the hegemonic power, the US. Wallerstein thinks this world system is played out, and we’ll look at why. (Wallerstein, like Randall Collins, predicted the collapse of the USSR in advance, using his model, when almost all specialists in the USSR did not see it coming.)
After that, at $10K, is a look at the theory of revolutions, something rather…timely for us today, and which will grow even more so as climate change causes conditions to further deteriorate and populations and elite factions lose patience with the fumbling of elite consensus.
If you value my writing, please do give. It makes a big difference, both to me, and to my calculation of how much I should write in the future. Subscriptions count for 3X as much as donations, for reaching the various tiers.
Be well, and if you aren’t giving I hope it’s not because you can’t afford to.
jo6pac
I’m down for $5.00 not much but it’s I can spare.
Ian Welsh
I understand, and I appreciate it. Hope things get better for you, me and all of us, soon.
Eric
Ian, I just put a $100 donation in your stocking.
Your site is among the few I read every day. I appreciate your insight and that you allow for comment. Also, I appreciate your now and then comments on JMG’s blogs. Mostly I appreciate your reasoned approach and the due diligence you take to research your topics.
We don’t always agree, but you have certainly brought more to the table than most blog writers who only seem to want to fan the flames that are consuming us all.
Thank you, and Have a Merry Christmas
Ian Welsh
Just received it, thank you Eric. I hope Christmas is good to you.