Status Updates From Sinews of War and Trade: Sh...

"By invoking the state as a patron and protector [Omani] unions were making a Faustian bargain. Even when allowed to come out into the open, being beholden to the state means that the union's ability to disrupt the order of things is severely disadvantaged...work stoppages are seen not only as a challenge to the employer but also to state security."

Naturally, the mandate (or lack thereof) of the state matters...

"The aim of the [Gordon Clapp] mission, constituted under the auspices of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, was finding a solution that prevented the return of expelled Palestinians to their homes...This entailed finding jobs and new countries for the refugees. The Clapp mission secured the agreements of Ibn Saud and Aramco to hire a thousand displaced Palestinians."

"Historically, the category of 'native' workers on the Peninsula had included communities considered part of the life of the cities...These communities only became 'migrants' after such categories were invented by modern states to classify and control workers. Restricting or encouraging migration flows was a means of containing worker solidarity and action and forging mechanisms of labour control."

"Vverifying blockchains can consume mind-boggling quantities of electricity and time, and their calculative processes are highly repetitive, inefficient, and wasteful...

The extent to which their failures or successes transform practices...can only be measured years after their implementation...These technologies ultimately centralise power through making its workings unintelligible, capillary, and ever-present."

"[Lloyd's of London's] Joint War Committee, other insurance underwriters, and members of the International Underwriting Association determine the world shipping hotspots and issue a list that enumerates wars, strikes, terrorism, piracy, and other possible risks. The list's opaque categories [define] which shipping routes are considered 'safe'...[influencing] shipping rates and routes, [and] security apparatuses."

"There were no roads connecting colonies and different parts of the same colony in a manner that made sense with regard to Africa's needs and development. All roads and railways led down to the sea."

- Walter Rodney, 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'