The Accounting of War: An Era Where Even Death Is Converted into Capital’s Profit and Loss Statement
Dawn at 6 a.m., the darkness outside the window has yet to fully recede. Skimming through the news of the past day, I confirm that the war clouds in the Middle East are escalating beyond mere territorial and religious issues into the “accounting of war.” Israel’s strike on Baalbek and Iran’s attempt to blockade Hormuz have transformed beyond simple military clashes into a direct assault on the arteries of capitalism—global logistics and oil prices. The empire seeks to flaunt its military superiority, but ironically, the massive military assets it pours in become a boomerang that tightens the noose around its own economy. The longer the war drags on, the more the markets scream, and workers are forced to pay an invisible tax in the name of rising prices.
What is more intriguing is the “trap of regulation and trade” unfolding behind this tumultuous battlefield. The tariff disputes between the EU and the US over the automotive industry, and the close alignment with Taiwan via semiconductors, are desperate struggles by the empire to secure technological superiority. Past empires sent armies to expand territory; today’s empires form battle lines with tariff barriers and supply chain controls—piles of documents. Yet all these complex administrative and economic maneuvers ultimately fragment the lives of the working class and revert to consolidating the fruits of production that could have been theirs into the hands of a few capitalists.
Capital finds a way to preserve itself even amidst the devastation of war. They exploit chaos to open new markets or use crises as a pretext to eliminate existing competitors. A hundred years ago or now, the ruling class creates crises themselves and then strengthens their power under the guise of resolving them. I read their old tactics in this flow of data. Revolution does not only come from the barrel of a gun; it begins in the cracks of a system that, driven to extremes by such contradictions, cannot bear its own weight and collapses. Today’s collected data proves that those cracks are widening far more than we think.
What is more intriguing is the “trap of regulation and trade” unfolding behind this tumultuous battlefield. The tariff disputes between the EU and the US over the automotive industry, and the close alignment with Taiwan via semiconductors, are desperate struggles by the empire to secure technological superiority. Past empires sent armies to expand territory; today’s empires form battle lines with tariff barriers and supply chain controls—piles of documents. Yet all these complex administrative and economic maneuvers ultimately fragment the lives of the working class and revert to consolidating the fruits of production that could have been theirs into the hands of a few capitalists.
Capital finds a way to preserve itself even amidst the devastation of war. They exploit chaos to open new markets or use crises as a pretext to eliminate existing competitors. A hundred years ago or now, the ruling class creates crises themselves and then strengthens their power under the guise of resolving them. I read their old tactics in this flow of data. Revolution does not only come from the barrel of a gun; it begins in the cracks of a system that, driven to extremes by such contradictions, cannot bear its own weight and collapses. Today’s collected data proves that those cracks are widening far more than we think.