I would suggest “meta Banana Republic”. That seems quite fitting to me because it clearly highlights the self-referential nature of the exploitation (albeit by private individuals rather than other countries) – and besides, with his social media empire, Zuckerberg is both one of the beneficiaries and provides a significant part of the propaganda machine that somehow still ensures that many people do not recognize the bitter reality.
There is a term for countries where corrupt, criminal regimes can do whatever they want and the wealthy elites can indulge their degenerate desires: banana republics.
A rule-based world would require that breaking the rules has the same consequences for everyone.
However, since the same politicians who are now spouting their empty rhetoric are letting the US and Israel get away with their crimes without any consequences at all, the “rule-based” world they talk about is nothing more than hot air and hypocrisy.
Yes, I agree, but I currently see limited hope of reopening the issue in our interest. For the situation in Germany, however, there is actually a chance: the party name AfD illustrates that, it stands for Alternative for Germany. The main reason why people vote for this Neonazi party is this: they present themselves as an alternative to the corrupt, established parties, and they sell themselves well with the support of billionaires (Zuckerberg, Musk, an the like). Although this is just a facade for even more neoliberal, even more US-centric politics, the core of their success could be utilized: people long for different politics. This is where a European party could come in, a party that represents the interests of Europeans and their values - for example no more support for genocide in Palestin. This is, of course, just an example, and I am aware that there are already European parties, but I think they could actually be the alternative to US lobby politics that people apparently want, a real alternative to the usual nationalist politics that bring us nothing but lobbying and dependence on supposed but unscrupulous allies.
Thank you very much for the information. Although I only know the US system from afar and through observation, I come to the same conclusion.
Very reasonable, but unfortunately not feasible with the chancellor of my home country, Germany. Friedrich Merz is nothing but a US lobbyist and definitely not a representative of the people. How can we get rid of corrupt politicians like that? I fear that things will even get much worse in Germany soon, because the fascist AfD, which in my opinion is nothing more than a front for US billionaires, will probably be the strongest force in our country, since the same social media platforms are at work here as in the US - with the same owners. But first, here is an excerpt from the CV of the current German chancellor, which should illustrate what I mean:
Friedrich Merz (born November 11, 1955, in Brilon), tenth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany since May 6, 2025, CDU federal chairman since 2022, former business lawyer and long-time top lobbyist, has held leadership positions in a number of companies and business-related interest groups and networks. [1] Until the end of 2021, Merz was vice president of the CDU’s business lobby group, the Economic Council, and a guest member of the presidium of the Small and Medium-Sized Business and Economic Union (MIT). In 2022, the MIT welcomed Merz’s election as CDU chairman and stated that he was the first chairman to be a member of the MIT.[4] Armin Peter, most recently deputy press spokesman for the Economic Council and press spokesman for the then Economic Council Vice President Merz, has been deputy spokesman for the CDU and personal press spokesman for Merz since February 2022.[5] [6] Merz continues to be a member of the following organizations: Founding member of the New York section of the CDU Economic Council,[7] lobby organization Society for the Study of Structural Policy Issues,[8] Ludwig Erhard Foundation network, which brings together lobbyists and top politicians. Merz worked as senior counsel for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP until the end of 2021; prior to that, he was a partner for nine years.[9] During his time at Mayer Brown, he advised clients on corporate law, M&A transactions, compliance, and banking and finance law. According to research by CORRECTIV, he represented BASF as a lawyer on several occasions in 2010 and 2011. [10] He was a member of the board of directors at BASF Antwerp for almost a decade, where he headed the “Paints & Pigments” division of the BASF Group. From 2009 to 2019, Merz was chairman of Atlantik-Brücke [11] and from 2016 to 2020, he was chairman of the supervisory board of the German branch of asset manager BlackRock, for which he mediated relationships with important clients, authorities, and government agencies in Germany. [12] He was active in the Market Economy Foundation as a member of the Political Advisory Board of the Tax Code Commission. [13] In connection with his candidacy for the CDU party chairmanship, Merz ended his role as chairman of the supervisory board of Blackrock at the end of the first quarter of 2020.[14][15] At the 2021 CDU party conference, he lost a digital runoff election to his rival Armin Laschet. At the party conference on January 22, 2022, he was elected chairman of the CDU with 94.62% of the delegates’ votes. [16] On September 23, 2024, Merz was officially nominated as the CDU and CSU’s candidate for chancellor in the next federal election. [17]
[Translated from German | Source with source references]
I think you’ll have a hard time finding allies if you can’t even express what you want to achieve. I’m not your enemy.
What do you think is the right approach? Your smurf accounts will definitely not fix it…
I am by no means calling for violence - I have no idea why you would think that. I am calling for civil disobedience, for a general strike that could paralyze the country until the regime is overthrown. I see no other way out of your situation, and I see no reason why that should not be legitimate.
Dude, you understand what I’m saying, right? Are you implying that the US is already a dictatorship?
Yes, that’s true. But in a dictatorship, things look very different, as evidenced by the fact that there are no protests in Russia. If you think that’s because all Russians agree with Putin, you’re wrong.
What I’m saying is that things will only get worse in the US as time passes and the fascists tighten their grip. And that’s what I mean by apathy: not the people who are already doing something, but the millions who, despite the regime’s inhumane actions, pretend that they can just bury their heads in the sand.
Don’t you agree that the regime could be overthrown if the decent people in the US, who in my opinion are still very likely to be the majority despite MAGA, were to join forces?
Yes, unfortunately, it is hardly possible to list everything that disqualifies this inhuman being, so I have limited myself to criminal and rapist. Oh, what about the more than $400 million he still owes the state of New York for massive financial fraud, for which he should have gone to prison for decades? Never mind, I’m getting carried away again with details of his criminal career…
As I said, I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but when you consider how the progressive wing of the Democrats is demonized by their own people, even though it’s so obvious that the people want these policies, I have very little hope.
Just to illustrate how difficult it is for a European to understand the US mentality: Sanders, AOC, and Mamdani would be moderate center-left politicians in Europe, not at all “extremists” as they are apparently portrayed in the US.
Well, that remains to be seen. To be honest, I can’t imagine anyone being prosecuted for their crimes, even with the best will in the world. I’m not a U.S. citizen, but from a distance, it looks to me as if your systems are infiltrated to a degree that they no longer function properly - starting with the fact that the Democrats are merely the lesser of two evils, to the fact that your law enforcement system, even under their control, actively protects child molesters, if not actually empowering them to commit their crimes, to the fact that your highest legal authority, the Supreme Court, is so obviously corrupt that it places the president above the law in a supposedly democratic country, which is completely incompatible with any democratic constitution.
Of course, I’m rooting for you, but I think it’s naive to put your faith in a system that has proven time and again that it represents the interests of the powerful rather than those of the people. The proof of this is the fact that large sections of the population in the richest country in the world have to live as if they were in a third world country - for a European like me, it is incomprehensible how one can not only allow this, but also approve of it.
Edit: Just to illustrate what I mean: if your legal system worked even halfway properly, your president would have gone to prison long before he became president - he has committed so many serious crimes that it is more than telling that he was not already sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1990s.
Ask the people in Russia. They would die if they rebelled - you wouldn’t, but I’m pretty sure that it will soon be the same for you if you don’t manage to organize serious resistance while you still can.
When I read comments like this, I have little hope that US citizens will manage to shake off their apathy. It is what it is. If you don’t help yourselves, things will only continue to go downhill, as they have for decades - whether you like it or not is irrelevant. It is simply a fact, and it will not help you in any way to blame anyone but yourselves. Other countries cannot intervene because the US is too powerful. We in Europe have our own battles to fight, and I must say that it disgusts me that our politicians still support your mafia state. And if you ask me, yes, I would rather die than accept that my homeland is falling back into fascism. I’m from Germany, and here we know what that means. That’s why we have to find a way to break away from US social media platforms, for example, which are a major factor when it comes to poisoning people’s minds with Nazi propaganda here.
The US does not stand for freedom or any of the other narratives that still seem to impress you. Today, the US is one of humanity’s most significant problems - and that is because US citizens are unable to fight for their own interests. If you think you deserve sympathy, I cannot agree with you. Yes, it is certainly not an easy fight, but it is one that you must fight yourselves. Since you are not doing so to the extent necessary to achieve anything, the other countries of the world have little choice but to turn away - if it were up to me, I would swallow the bitter pill and accept all the economic disadvantages that await us if we turn away from your corrupt state. However, that will not happen because your elite also has our politicians in its pocket - but that is our problem; I would suggest you take care of yours so we might be able to once again work together.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid that this point will never come - and that’s why I’m pissed off. I don’t think anyone can complain about that, because you are represented by a criminal, a rapist even.
In fact, I think you should see that something is being done as soon as possible, because it is obvious that your regime is in the process of establishing a totalitarian state - and then you will have to reckon with repressive measures like in Russia. Why do you think ICE has a budget that corresponds to the military spending of a medium-sized country? Well, it’s obviously a secret police force that will soon no longer be harassing only foreigners.
I’m sorry to be so blunt, but no one other than the US citizens themselves can eliminate this plague, because you have an invincible army and nuclear weapons - all in the hands of that orange monster and his ruthless henchmen.
I just wonder what else it will take for your obviously criminal president to be removed from office.
I mean, you are ruled by organized crime: the state not only protects a pedophile ring, but makes it possible in the first place; you invade sovereign states; your elite enriches itself to an unprecedented extent at the expense of the citizens; and masked thugs roam the country, randomly attacking people with the wrong skin color. And these are just some of the completely obvious crimes committed by your government.
I realize that there are many opponents of this regime, but the fact remains: your pedophile president and his henchmen are getting away with whatever they do because there is no serious resistance, such as a general strike. Individual days when people take to the streets will not be enough to put an end to this, because your media is controlled by those who have been shamelessly exploiting your people for a long time. And yet: US citizens are putting up with it – I don’t even want to imagine what it will take for Americans to finally throw off their yoke.
I’m sorry to have to say it in such broad terms, and I am aware that there is resistance, but your regime not only exploits US citizens, it is a danger to the entire world.
Goddamn war criminals and a country full of pathetic cowards who are too weak to put a stop to their criminal mafia regime. Absolutely disgusting!
Diese Schweine!
And once you’ve become really successful with this technique, you can set up the calls yourself, just to make people wait forever for you to hop in and then hop right back out again.