"Arguably the most underinvestigated revolution of the twentieth century, the revolution in logistics was not the upheaval of one country or political system but a revolution in the calculation and organization of economic space."
"While it was during WWI that [oil] began to reshape the nature of warfare, livestock continued to play a definitive role, & fodder remained a...logistical problem. The greatest volume of material shipped...from the UK to France was not munitions but...oats & hay for horses."
"Geo-economics entails new forms of describing...that treat spatial relations w/ the same top-down...visual preoccupations of geopolitics but that are also characterized by a different non-state identification w/ the...deregulatory dynamics of today's transnationalized economies.
"Perhaps most striking [is] the reorganization [of] national security to fit the form & function of transnatl. logistics space. Rather than territorial borders at the edge of natl. space guaranteeing sovereignty, a new cartography of security aims to protect global circulation."
Really interesting account of Canada's Asia Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, which sought/seeks to invest in logistical infrastructure to reorient the Canadian/North American economy to better engage with the Asia-Pacific Rim
"One 2008 Asian mission took the APGCI Executive Council to Dubai, which Gow described as “like Disneyland. It was very interesting—very interesting.” Dubai Ports is also a member of the APGCI.
"Dubai [is] an entity that, when they do things, they think of everything...And they don’t just develop a port. They develop a system. Its infrastructure, & ports, & its free trade zones, & its accommodation, and its transportation of people, and its energy..."
"Dubai may well be a “Disneyland” for capital, w/ its radical social order where workers & citizens are separate classes...w/ a labor force that is 90% noncitizen, Dubai ensures a “love it or leave it” approach for professionals & pitiful conditions of work & wages for the rest."
"The use of labor disruptions as “attacks” on the supply chain follows directly from positing global trade as vital to natl. security...A legal act asserting workplace democracy, when viewed through this lens, is not just like an attack—it is an attack on the integrity of flows."
"The Container Security Initiative, a program defined and administered by American authorities, posts Customs and Border Patrol agents in dozens of foreign ports to inspect U.S.-bound cargo." As of 6/2022, MENA ports in the CSI included Haifa, Aqaba, Ashdod, Dubai, & Salalah
"While...imaginaries of...labor...conjure scenes of manufacture...transportation has long been understood as...a form of production...Marx outlines how use value...may require a “change in location” & thus an “additional process of production, in the transport industry.”
In 2002, after worker deaths, the ILWU stressed for its members to strictly follow safety procedures. The maritime employers' association called this a slowdown, locked out the workers. Dell, Ford, Boeing complain. Bush II invokes Taft-Hartley against the workers at Port of LA.