For decades, allies As the United States spreads, life in the United States is comfortable. They have established financial institutions, communication systems and defense on infrastructure provided by the United States.
Just now, they may wish they didn’t.
Back in 2022, Cory Doctorow coined the term “inshittific” to describe a cycle that works time and time again in the online economy. Entrepreneurs are starting to make high-thinking commitments to let new users try their platform. However, once users, vendors and advertisers lock in network effects, insurmountable collective action problems, and high conversion costs, strategies will change. Platform owners start to squeeze users, even if the platform is filled with slopes of lower and lower quality. Then, they also began to squeeze suppliers and advertisers.
People usually don’t think of military hardware, dollar and satellite constellations as platforms. But that’s them. When U.S. allies purchased advanced military technology, such as F-35 fighter jets, they received not only one aircraft, but also relevant communications technology, parts supply and technical support. When businesses engage in global finance and trade, they regularly route transactions through a platform called the “Dollar Clearing System”, which is managed by only a few regulated agencies in the United States. When countries need to establish internet connections in hard-to-reach places, they may rely on a Starlink constellation with deep connections to Spacex in the U.S. state. Like Facebook and Amazon, U.S. hegemony is also maintained by network logic, which makes it difficult for all these platforms to detach.
For decades, American allies have accepted American control over these systems because they believe in the U.S. commitment to a “rules-based international order.” They can no longer convince themselves. In a world where President Trump threatens to annex Canada, vows to acquire Greenland from Denmark, and announces that foreign officials may be banned from entering the United States if they “request that U.S. technology platforms adopt global content review policies.”
Since Trump re-appointed in January, rapid alms have actually become the organizational principle of Scraft in the United States. This time, the Trump World understands that in the infrastructure layer that controls global finance, technology and security, it has huge compulsory machinery that can be used. As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said: “The United States is starting to profit from its hegemony.”
So what should allies do? Like individual consumers captured by Google search or Facebook, many are still learning how difficult it is to quit the network. Like the myriad of startups that have tried to create Twitter or Facebook alternatives over the years (now forgotten, some success) now, other allies are now desperately scrambling to figure out how to build their own network.
Infrastructure tends to Not visible until it starts to be bad for you. Back in 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam because he suppressed democratic protests on behalf of China. Immediately, Lin was fully familiar with the power of the US dollar liquidation system, a layer of world financial machinery that most people have never heard of.
