this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
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Epstein was far from the only flesh peddler exploiting the wave of post-Soviet refugees following western Shock Therapy in Eastern Europe. Paolo Zampolli founded the modeling agency in NYC that imported Melania and eventually introduced her to Heir Donald. He did partner with Epstein in 2004 to purchase Elite Model Management. But it could have just as easily been a thousand other creep-o finance tycoons running around NY, Paris, Berlin, or Tokyo from the 90s/00s.
The whole fucking joke of Epstein and The Files is that he gets treated as a unicorn when we've had Jack Abramoffs and Lawrence E. King Jrs and Deborah Jeane Palfreys and Andrew Tates for just as long.
No, ALL those modeling agency creeps were child sex pimps.
It's like that with all the bullshit extremely wealthy people and corporations get up to. Every now and then they throw the book at one (Martha Stewart, Purdue Pharma) then pretend like they solved the problem allowing the innumerable other people/corporations to continue pulling bullshit. It's like when China every few years trots out some rich person or powerful politician and nails them for tax evasion or corruption in a show trial then goes back to pretending to be socialist like they aren't a neolib paradise with awful wealth inequality and crony capitalism.
I think Chinese domestic economic planning goes a few steps beyond the semi-annual show trial.
Their green energy and ev markets illustrate as much
Oh, absolutely. They're living in the future over there, if you've got the money to enjoy it. The next century+ probably belongs to them. I would never dispute that. I only take issue with calling them anything other than something like crony capitalism despite the name of the party in charge. If I died right now and was told I was going to be reincarnated but unfortunately I would be born poor and was given a choice of where to go, China would be near the bottom of my list of developed nations. But if I was told I was going to be born rich, China would be near the top. I love visiting China.
The fundamental difference between Chinese Socialism and American Capitalism can be summed up in their retirement rates.
In China, white collar men can retire at 63. Blue collar women are out at 55. That upwards of twelve years gap in retirement age is why China has billionaires and America has trillionaires.
The real value of a civilization is its infrastructure. And you're going to find it difficult to name a country more advanced and resilient - particularly to looming climate change.
But if you want to roll the dice on Starmer's UK or Takaichi's Japan or Milei's Argentina? Good luck.
Slovenia wasn't part of the Soviet bloc though
Slovenia - a Yugoslav state - was a major trading partner of the USSR. It's economy was hollowed out, first after the decline of Russia, and then after a decade of looting, sanctions, and war.
Finland and West Germany were more major trading partners with the USSR, and more than half of Yugoslavia's trade was with the OECD.
Yugoslavia's economy destabilized firstly from the 70s oil crises and the IMF loans tied to requirements to privatize industries. Many of those loans were taken with the premise that the USSR may invade and the funds were necessary for defense.