I was being somewhat facetious, like the sweet lemonesque way some Russians describe the “independence” from their former republics now gone their own way. But, I’m glad you responded. There’s a lot that you’ve put on the table to unpack and discuss. I especially find intriguing your mention of the fear of thinking beyond industrialism and the false promise of green technology. I’ll try to get one of my OPS-Alaskans to post over his blog a piece he called “Who Shilled the Electric Car?” and provide a link. It’s a lengthy observation he made to a Member of Congress about the Zap vehicle.

Maybe… But 1- the dependence of euro-american (and Chinese, Brazilian, Indian…) industrial societies on fossil fuels (and equally devastating and inefficient nuclear power), 2- the intellectual and moral failure of their elites, 3- their incapacity to leave the tragic western dogma of economic growth that destroys both nature and humans, 4- The capitalist inner dynamics regarding value and surplus 5- The habitus from centuries of colonial plunder even among non-western elites 6- The limited, partial, sectorial understanding of the challenges by honest, critical intellectuals and activists (specially the strengh of the dogma of growth from socialists to capitalists, the internalized western dominance, the fear of thinking beyond industrialism, the false promises of green capitalism, or even degrowth ‘light’ recycled in a capitalist, postcolonial order…)
All this will lead to more empire (even if US role is diminished in the transnational decision-making), more military build-up, more wars, more ecological devastation. One can doubt USAns and all citizens of the “civilization of plastic” will have anything to celebrate in the coming years.