Bulletins and News Discussion from September 11th to September 17th, 2023 - Atlas Shrugged - COTW: Chile

Image is from this article in the New York Times.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Morocco on September 8th, with the epicenter 73 kilometers away from Marrakesh.

At least 2500 people have died as of September 11th, most outside Marrakesh, with more people being pulled out of the rubble every day, making it the deadliest earthquake in Morocco since 1960, and the second-deadliest earthquake this year (first being, of course, the one in Turkiye-Syria in February, which killed nearly 60,000 people). While the deaths are the most horrific part, damage to historic sites has also been very significant - including buildings dating back to the 1000s.

Morocco is situated close to the Eurasian-African plate boundary, where the two plates are colliding. The rock comprising the Atlas Mountains, situated along the northwestern coast of Africa separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean Sea, are being pushed together at a rate of 1 millimeter per year, and thus the mountains are slowly growing. As they collide, energy is stored up over time and then released, and faults develop. The earthquake this month originated on one such fault, as did the earthquake in 1960. The earthquake hypocenter was 20-25 kilometers underground, with 1.7 meters (or 5 and a half feet) of rock suddenly shifting along a fault ~30 kilometers (19 miles) long.

Earthquake prediction is still deeply imprecise at best, and obtaining decent knowledge and forewarning of earthquakes is highly dependent on dense seismometer arrays that constantly monitor seismic activity, such as in Japan, and detailed understanding of the local and regional tectonic environment. The best way to prevent damage is to build earthquake-resistant infrastructure and establish routines for escaping buildings and reaching safety. All of these, of course, are underdeveloped to nonexistent in developing countries, particularly in poorer communities inside those countries.

The Country of the Week, in honour of Allende's death 50 years ago (the only bad geopolitical event that has occurred on September 11th, of course), is Chile. Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

Here is the map of the Ukraine conflict, courtesy of Wikipedia.

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The Country of the Week is Chile!
As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Chile, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):
Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
What role do foreign powers play in the country’s politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?
Last week's country was Libya.
Discussions included:
A Responsible Statecraft article on how the Libyan civil war related to the Sahel, and particularly Niger.
An article by Vijad Prashad in 2020 on the Libyan war.
A story from @LargePenis@hexbear.net's communist uncle.
@vomit_sounds@hexbear.net talking about Qaddafi, the Green Book, and (further down) Syrian ba3thism.
My post after having read Everyday Politics in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including potential books that might be part of a hypothetical reading list on Libya.
Also, honorable mention, @thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net's effortpost on the current state of Mexican politics.
Geopolitics Reading List (so far):
General Theory:
Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson.
Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, by John Smith.
Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's 'Dialectics of Dependency' Goes beyond Marx's 'Capital', by Andy Higginbottom.
Capital Volume 3 Lecture Series, 32 videos, 10-15 minutes each, by Andy Higginbottom.
World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, by Immanuel Wallerstein.
Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire, by Radhika Desai.
Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy, by Radhika Desai.
United States:
Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, by Oswaldo Zavala
Chile:
Santiago Boys Podcast, analyzing Allende's government and Cybersyn.
- What are the most salient domestic political issues
  I know, one is a migrant crisis, another is conflict against the Mapuche in the south, the constitution old and new, the constant protests against the raise in rpices and police brutality, pensions
  What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases?
  So one factions are the socdems normaly represented by bachelet party and nowdays boric party, then there are the cristian democrats who are divided in reactionaries and socdems, then the conservative neolib parties like the one of piñera, then the pro-pinochet fascist party from Kast, the communist party that jadue comes from
  who are khruchevites. Those are the big ones
- Also, I want to nominate Wallerstein's World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, to the geopolitics reading list. He is the author who introduced the core-periphery relationship into contemporary studies on imperialism. This book is short, but a good intro into these terms.
  
  Both have been added.
  
  A note about the podcast: it's very well cited for a podcast so the website itself is a great resource with notes and links to articles, etc..
- The Santiago Boys podcast by Morozov is a good, critical, look into project cybersyn and Allende's government.
- As an addition to Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century, I recommend this short paper (approx. 20 page) by Andy Higginbottom which summarizes some of the same points:
  Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's Dialectics of Dependency Goes Beyond Marx's Capital
  And secondly I strongly recommend his lecture series on YouTube, which makes a start on amendments to the three volumes of Capital to incorporate superexploitation into the core theory. It has a good discussion on the transformation 'problem' as well.
  Andy Higginbottom Capital Vol 3 Lectures
  (Not sure why the videos are chopped up in 15 minute pieces, sorry)
  
  Added!

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