Re: Could these incidents be read as more signs of the US's increasing powerlessness? Archived Message
Posted by margo on September 5, 2019, 11:48 am, in reply to "Could these incidents be read as more signs of the US's increasing powerlessness? "
Bribery is a highly effective strategy, actually. It works across Africa and keeps many figures firmly in power, year after year - so I wouldn't underestimate it as a tool or a tactic. Rather than powerlessness, it's a sign of power dropping the PR and taking its gloves off. Once the bribery becomes blatant, it actually becomes more effective and ever more difficult to root out - because it's an incentive for widening circles of amoral players. Bribery corrodes and distorts, a great way to disrupt and destroy your 'enemies'. Poorer people see dollar $$$igns, not a fraying currency. Domestic bribery = state capture. International bribery = extra-territorial capture. Note how the captain of the Iranian tanker - who refused the original bribe offer on behalf of his company - was then hit hard afterwards with *personal* financial sanctions meted out by the US.
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