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This is the complete full text of law #33 titled “Discover each man’s thumbscrew” which is found in the book by Robert Greene titled “The 48 Laws of Power”.
LAW 33
DISCOVER EACH MAN’S THUMBSCREW
JUDGMENT
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
FINDING THE THUMBSCREW: A Strategic Plan of Action
We all have resistances. We live with a perpetual armor around ourselves to defend against change and the intrusive actions of friends and rivals. We would like nothing more than to be left to do things our own way. Constantly butting up against these resistances will cost you a lot of energy. One of the most important things to realize about people, though, is that they all have a weakness, some part of their psychological armor that will not resist, that will bend to your will if you find it and push on it. Some people wear their weaknesses openly, others disguise them. Those who disguise them are often the ones most effectively undone through that one chink in their armor.
THE LION. THE CHAMOIS. AND THE FOX
A lion was chasing a chamois along a valley.
He had all but caught it, and with longing eyes was anticipating a certain and a satisfying repast.
It seemed as if it were utterly impossible for the victim to escape; for a deep ravine appeared to bar the way for both the hunter and the hunted.
But the nimble chamois, gathering together all its strength, shot like an arrow from a bow across the chasm, and stood still on the rocky cliff on the other side.
Our lion pulled up short.
But at that moment a friend of his happened to be near at hand. That friend was the fox. “What!” said he, “with your strength and agility, is it possible that you will yield to a feeble chamois?
You have only to will, and you will be able to work wonders.
Though the abyss be deep, yet, if you are only in earnest, I am certain you will clear it.
Surely you can confide in my disinterested friendship.
I would not expose your life to danger if I were not so well aware of your strength and dexterity. ”
The lion’s blood waxed hot, and began to boil in his veins.
He flung himself with all his might into space.
But he could not clear the chasm; so down he tumbled headlong, and was killed by the fall.
Then what did his dear friend do?
He cautiously made his way down to the bottom of the ravine. and there, out in the open space and the free air, seeing that the lion wanted neither flattery nor obedience now, he set to work to pay the last sad rites to his dead friend, and in a month picked his bones clean.
FABLES, IVAN KRILOFF, 1768-1844
In planning your assault, keep these principles in mind:
Pay Attention to Gestures and Unconscious Signals. As Sigmund Freud remarked, “No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.” This is a critical concept in the search for a person’s weakness—it is revealed by seemingly unimportant gestures and passing words.
The key is not only what you look for but where and how you look. Everyday conversation supplies the richest mine of weaknesses, so train yourself to listen. Start by always seeming interested—the appearance of a sympathetic ear will spur anyone to talk. A clever trick, often used by the nineteenth-century French statesman Talleyrand, is to appear to open up to the other person, to share a secret with them. It can be completely made up, or it can be real but of no great importance to you—the important thing is that it should seem to come from the heart. This will usually elicit a response that is not only as frank as yours but more genuine—a response that reveals a weakness.
If you suspect that someone has a particular soft spot, probe for it indirectly. If, for instance, you sense that a man has a need to be loved, openly flatter him. If he laps up your compliments, no matter how obvious, you are on the right track. Train your eye for details—how someone tips a waiter, what delights a person, the hidden messages in clothes. Find people’s idols, the things they worship and will do anything to get—perhaps you can be the supplier of their fantasies. Remember: Since we all try to hide our weaknesses, there is little to be learned from our conscious behavior. What oozes out in the little things outside our conscious control is what you want to know.
Find the Helpless Child. Most weaknesses begin in childhood, before the self builds up compensatory defenses. Perhaps the child was pampered or indulged in a particular area, or perhaps a certain emotional need went unfulfilled; as he or she grows older, the indulgence or the deficiency may be buried but never disappears. Knowing about a childhood need gives you a powerful key to a person’s weakness.
One sign of this weakness is that when you touch on it the person will often act like a child. Be on the lookout, then, for any behavior that should have been outgrown. If your victims or rivals went without something important, such as parental support, when they were children, supply it, or its facsimile. If they reveal a secret taste, a hidden indulgence, indulge it. In either case they will be unable to resist you.
Look for Contrasts. An overt trait often conceals its opposite. People who thump their chests are often big cowards; a prudish exterior may hide a lascivious soul; the uptight are often screaming for adventure; the shy are dying for attention. By probing beyond appearances, you will often find people’s weaknesses in the opposite of the qualities they reveal to you.
Find the Weak Link. Sometimes in your search for weaknesses it is not what but who that matters. In today’s versions of the court, there is often someone behind the scenes who has a great deal of power, a tremendous influence over the person superficially on top. These behind-the-scenes powerbrokers are the group’s weak link: Win their favor and you indirectly influence the king. Alternatively, even in a group of people acting with the appearance of one will—as when a group under attack closes ranks to resist an outsider—there is always a weak link in the chain. Find the one person who will bend under pressure.
Fill the Void. The two main emotional voids to fill are insecurity and unhappiness. The insecure are suckers for any kind of social validation; as for the chronically unhappy, look for the roots of their unhappiness. The insecure and the unhappy are the people least able to disguise their weaknesses. The ability to fill their emotional voids is a great source of power, and an indefinitely prolongable one.
Feed on Uncontrollable Emotions. The uncontrollable emotion can be a paranoid fear—a fear disproportionate to the situation—or any base motive such as lust, greed, vanity, or hatred. People in the grip of these emotions often cannot control themselves, and you can do the controlling for them.
IRING IZAR
[Hollywood super-agent] Irving Paul Lazar was once anxious to sell [studio mogul] Jack L. Warner a play.
“I had a long meeting with him today,” Lazar explained [to screenwriter Garson Kanin], “but I didn’t mention it, I didn’t even bring it up.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because I’m going to wait until the weekend after next, when I go to Palm Springs.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t? I go to Palm Springs every weekend, but Warner isn’t going this weekend. He’s got a preview or something. So he’s not coming down till the next weekend, so that’s when I’m going to bring it up. ”
“Irving, I’m more and more confused.”
“Look,” said Irving impatiently, ”I know what I’m doing. I know how to sell Warner. This is a type of material that he’s uneasy with, so I have to hit him with it hard and suddenly to get an okay.”
”But why Palm Springs?”
”Because in Palm Springs, every day he goes to the baths at The Spa. And that’s where I’m going to be when he’s there. Now there’s a thing about Jack: He’s eighty and he’s very vain, and he doesn’t like people to see him naked. So when I walk up to him naked at The Spa—I mean he’s naked—well, I’m naked too, but I don’t care who sees me. He does. And I walk up to him naked, and I start to talk to him about this thing, he’ll be very embarrassed.And he’ll want to get away from me, and the easiest way is to say ‘Yes,’ because he knows if he says ‘No,’ then I’m going to stick with him, and stay right on it, and not give up. So to get rid of me, he’ll probably say, ‘Yes.’”
Two weeks later, I read of the acquisition of this particular property by Warner Brothers. I phoned Lazar and asked how it had been accomplished.
”How do you think?” he asked.
”In the buff, that’s how... just the way I told you it was going to work.”
HOLLYWOOD, GARSON KANIN, 1974
OBSERVANCES OF THE LAW
Observance I
In 1615 the thirty-year-old bishop of Luçon, later known as Cardinal Richelieu, gave a speech before representatives of the three estates of France—clergy, nobility, and commoners.
Richelieu had been chosen to serve as the mouthpiece for the clergy—an immense responsibility for a man still young and not particularly well known.
On all of the important issues of the day, the speech followed the Church line.
But near the end of it Richelieu did something that had nothing to do with the Church and everything to do with his career.
He turned to the throne of the fifteen-year-old King Louis XIII, and to the Queen Mother Marie de’ Médicis, who sat beside Louis, as the regent ruling France until her son reached his majority.
Everyone expected Richelieu to say the usual kind words to the young king.
Instead, however, he looked directly at and only at the queen mother.
Indeed his speech ended in long and fulsome praise of her, praise so glowing that it actually offended some in the Church.
But the smile on the queen’s face as she lapped up Richelieu’s compliments was unforgettable.
A year later the queen mother appointed Richelieu secretary of state for foreign affairs, an incredible coup for the young bishop.
He had now entered the inner circle of power, and he studied the workings of the court as if it were the machinery of a watch.
An Italian, Concino Concini, was the queen mother’s favorite, or rather her lover, a role that made him perhaps the most powerful man in France.
Concini was vain and foppish, and Richelieu played him perfectly—attending to him as if he were the king.
Within months Richelieu had become one of Concini’s favorites.
But something happened in 1617 that turned everything upside down: the young king, who up until then had shown every sign of being an idiot, had Concini murdered and his most important associates imprisoned.
In so doing Louis took command of the country with one blow, sweeping the queen mother aside.
Had Richelieu played it wrong?
He had been close to both Concini and Marie de Médicis, whose advisers and ministers were now all out of favor, some even arrested.
The queen mother herself was shut up in the Louvre, a virtual prisoner.
Richelieu wasted no time.
If everyone was deserting Marie de Médicis, he would stand by her.
He knew Louis could not get rid of her, for the king was still very young, and had in any case always been inordinately attached to her.
As Marie’s only remaining powerful friend, Richelieu filled the valuable function of liaison between the king and his mother.
In return he received her protection, and was able to survive the palace coup, even to thrive.
Over the next few years the queen mother grew still more dependent on him, and in 1622 she repaid him for his loyalty: Through the intercession of her allies in Rome, Richelieu was elevated to the powerful rank of cardinal.
By 1623 King Louis was in trouble.
He had no one he could trust to advise him, and although he was now a young man instead of a boy, he remained childish in spirit, and affairs of state came hard to him.
Now that he had taken the throne, Marie was no longer the regent and theoretically had no power, but she still had her son’s ear, and she kept telling him that Richelieu was his only possible savior.
At first Louis would have none of it—he hated the cardinal with a passion, only tolerating him out of love for Marie.
In the end, however, isolated in the court and crippled by his own indecisiveness, he yielded to his mother and made Richelieu first his chief councilor and later prime minister.
Now Richelieu no longer needed Marie de Médicis.
He stopped visiting and courting her, stopped listening to her opinions, even argued with her and opposed her wishes.
Instead he concentrated on the king, making himself indispensable to his new master.
All the previous premiers, understanding the king’s childishness, had tried to keep him out of trouble; the shrewd Richelieu played him differently, deliberately pushing him into one ambitious project after another, such as a crusade against the Huguenots and finally an extended war with Spain.
The immensity of these projects only made the king more dependent on his powerful premier, the only man able to keep order in the realm.
And so, for the next eighteen years, Richelieu, exploiting the king’s weaknesses, governed and molded France according to his own vision, unifying the country and making it a strong European power for centuries to come.
Interpretation
Richelieu saw everything as a military campaign, and no strategic move was more important to him than discovering his enemy’s weaknesses and applying pressure to them.
As early as his speech in 1615, he was looking for the weak link in the chain of power, and he saw that it was the queen mother.
Not that Marie was obviously weak—she governed both France and her son; but Richelieu saw that she was really an insecure woman who needed constant masculine attention.
He showered her with affection and respect, even toadying up to her favorite, Concini.
He knew the day would come when the king would take over, but he also recognized that Louis loved his mother dearly and would always remain a child in relation to her.
The way to control Louis, then, was not by gaining his favor, which could change overnight, but by gaining sway over his mother, for whom his affection would never change.
Once Richelieu had the position he desired—prime minister—he discarded the queen mother, moving on to the next weak link in the chain: the king’s own character.
There was a part of him that would always be a helpless child in need of higher authority.
It was on the foundation of the king’s weakness that Richelieu established his own power and fame.
Remember: When entering the court, find the weak link. The person in control is often not the king or queen; it is someone behind the scenes—the favorite, the husband or wife, even the court fool. This person may have more weaknesses than the king himself, because his power depends on all kinds of capricious factors outside his control.
Finally, when dealing with helpless children who cannot make decisions, play on their weakness and push them into bold ventures. They will have to depend on you even more, for you will become the adult figure whom they rely on to get them out of scrapes and to safety.
THE THINGS ON
As time went on I came to look for the little weaknesses....
It’s the little things that count.
On one occasion, I worked on the president of a large bank in Omaha. The [phony] deal involved the purchase of the street railway system of Omaha, including a bridge across the Mississippi River.
My principals were supposedly German and I had to negotiate with Berlin.
While awaiting word from them I introduced my fake mining-stock proposition.
Since this man was rich, I decided to play for high stakes....
Meanwhile, I played golf with the banker, visited his home, and went to the theater with him and his wife.
Though he showed some interest in my stock deal, he still wasn’t convinced.
I had built it up to the point that an investment of $1,250,000 was required.
Of this I was to put up $900,000, the banker $350,000.
But still he hesitated.
One evening when I was at his home for dinner I wore some perfume-Coty’s “April Violets.”
It was not then considered effeminate for a man to use a dash of perfume.
The banker’s wife thought it very lovely.
“Where did you get it?”
“It is a rare blend,” I told her, “especially made for me by a French perfumer. Do you like it?”
”l love it,” she replied.
The following day I went through my effects and found two empty bottles.
Both had come from France, but were empty.
I went to a downtown department store and purchased ten ounces of Coty’s ”April Violets.”
I poured this into the two French bottles, carefully sealed them, wrapped them in tissue paper.
That evening I dropped by the banker’s home and presented the two bottles to his wife.
”They were especially put up for me in Cologne,” I told her.
The next day the banker called at my hotel.
His wife was enraptured by the perfume.
She considered it the most wonderful, the most exotic fragrance she had ever used.
I did not tell the banker he could get all he wanted right in Omaha.
”She said,” the banker added, ”that I was fortunate to be associated with a man like you.”
From then on his attitude was changed, for he had complete faith in his wife’s judgment .... He parted with $350,000.
This, incidentally was my biggest [con] score.
-“YELLOW KID” WEIL, 1875-1976
Observance II
In December of 1925, guests at the swankiest hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, watched with interest as a mysterious man arrived in a Rolls-Royce driven by a Japanese chauffeur.
Over the next few days they studied this handsome man, who walked with an elegant cane, received telegrams at all hours, and only engaged in the briefest of conversations.
He was a count, they heard, Count Victor Lustig, and he came from one of the wealthiest families in Europe—but this was all they could find out.
Imagine their amazement, then, when Lustig one day walked up to one of the least distinguished guests in the hotel, a Mr. Herman Loller, head of an engineering company, and entered into conversation with him.
Loller had made his fortune only recently, and forging social connections was very important to him.
He felt honored and somewhat intimidated by this sophisticated man, who spoke perfect English with a hint of a foreign accent.
Over the days to come, the two became friends.
Loller of course did most of the talking, and one night he confessed that his business was doing poorly, with more troubles ahead.
In return, Lustig confided in his new friend that he too had serious money problems—Communists had seized his family estate and all its assets.
He was too old to learn a trade and go to work.
Luckily he had found an answer—“ a money-making machine.”
“You counterfeit?”
Loller whispered in half-shock.
No, Lustig replied, explaining that through a secret chemical process, his machine could duplicate any paper currency with complete accuracy.
Put in a dollar bill and six hours later you had two, both perfect.
He proceeded to explain how the machine had been smuggled out of Europe, how the Germans had developed it to undermine the British, how it had supported the count for several years, and on and on.
When Loller insisted on a demonstration, the two men went to Lustig’s room, where the count produced a magnificent mahogany box fitted with slots, cranks, and dials.
Loller watched as Lustig inserted a dollar bill in the box. Sure enough, early the following morning Lustig pulled out two bills, still wet from the chemicals.
Lustig gave the notes to Loller, who immediately took the bills to a local bank—which accepted them as genuine.
Now the businessman feverishly begged Lustig to sell him a machine.
The count explained that there was only one in existence, so Loller made him a high offer: $25,000, then a considerable amount (more than $400,000 in today’s terms).
Even so, Lustig seemed reluctant: He did not feel right about making his friend pay so much.
Yet finally he agreed to the sale.
After all, he said,
“I suppose it matters little what you pay me. You are, after all, going to recover the amount within a few days by duplicating your own bills.”
Making Loller swear never to reveal the machine’s existence to other people, Lustig accepted the money.
Later the same day he checked out of the hotel.
A year later, after many futile attempts at duplicating bills, Loller finally went to the police with the story of how Count Lustig had conned him with a pair of dollar bills, some chemicals, and a worthless mahogany box.
Interpretation
Count Lustig had an eagle eye for other people’s weaknesses.
He saw them in the smallest gesture.
Loller, for instance, overtipped waiters, seemed nervous in conversation with the concierge, talked loudly about his business.
His weakness, Lustig knew, was his need for social validation and for the respect that he thought his wealth had earned him.
He was also chronically insecure.
Lustig had come to the hotel to hunt for prey.
In Loller he homed in on the perfect sucker—a man hungering for someone to fill his psychic voids.
In offering Loller his friendship, then, Lustig knew he was offering him the immediate respect of the other guests.
As a count, Lustig was also offering the newly rich businessman access to the glittering world of old wealth.
And for the coup de grace, he apparently owned a machine that would rescue Loller from his worries.
It would even put him on a par with Lustig himself, who had also used the machine to maintain his status.
No wonder Loller took the bait.
Remember: When searching for suckers, always look for the dissatisfied, the unhappy, the insecure. Such people are riddled with weaknesses and have needs that you can fill. Their neediness is the groove in which you place your thumbnail and turn them at will.
Observance III
In the year 1559, the French king Henri II died in a jousting exhibition.
His son assumed the throne, becoming Francis II, but in the background stood Henri’s wife and queen, Catherine de’ Médicis, a woman who had long ago proven her skill in affairs of state.
When Francis died the next year, Catherine took control of the country as regent to her next son in line of succession, the future Charles IX, a mere ten years old at the time.
The main threats to the queen’s power were Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, and his brother, Louis, the powerful prince of Condé, both of whom could claim the right to serve as regent instead of Catherine, who, after all, was Italian—a foreigner.
Catherine quickly appointed Antoine lieutenant general of the kingdom, a title that seemed to satisfy his ambition.
It also meant that he had to remain in court, where Catherine could keep an eye on him.
Her next move proved smarter still: Antoine had a notorious weakness for young women, so she assigned one of her most attractive maids of honor, Louise de Rouet, to seduce him.
Now Antoine’s intimate, Louise reported all of his actions to Catherine.
The move worked so brilliantly that Catherine assigned another of her maids to Prince Condé, and thus was formed her escadron volant—“flying squadron”—of young girls whom she used to keep the unsuspecting males in the court under her control.
In 1572 Catherine married off her daughter, Marguerite de Valois, to Henri, the son of Antoine and the new king of Navarre.
To put a family that had always struggled against her so close to power was a dangerous move, so to make sure of Henri’s loyalty she unleashed on him the loveliest member of her “flying squadron,” Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay, baroness of Sauves.
Catherine did this even though Henri was married to her daughter.
Within weeks, Marguerite de Valois wrote in her memoirs,
“Mme. de Sauves so completely ensnared my husband that we no longer slept together, nor even conversed.”
And while I am on the subject, there is another fact that deserves mention. It is this. A man shows his character just in the way in which he deals with trifles-for then he is off his guard.
This will often afford a good opportunity of observing the boundless egoism of a man’s nature, and his total lack of consideration for others; and if these defects show themselves in small things, or merely in his general demeanor, you will find that they also underlie his action in matters of importance, although he may disguise the fact.
This is an opportunity which should not be missed.
If in the little affairs of every day—the trifles of life...—a man is inconsiderate and seeks only what is advantageous or convenient to himself, to the prejudice of others’ rights; if he appropriates to himself that which belongs to all alike, you may be sure there is no justice in his heart, and that he would be a scoundrel on a wholesale scale, only that law and compulsion bind his hands.
-Arthur SCHOPENHAUER, 1788-1860
The baroness was an excellent spy and helped to keep Henri under Catherine’s thumb.
When the queen’s youngest son, the Duke of Alençon, grew so close to Henri that she feared the two might plot against her, she assigned the baroness to him as well.
This most infamous member of the flying squadron quickly seduced Alençon, and soon the two young men fought over her and their friendship quickly ended, along with any danger of a conspiracy.
Interpretation
Catherine had seen very early on the sway that a mistress has over a man of power: Her own husband, Henri II, had kept one of the most infamous mistresses of them all, Diane de Poitiers.
What Catherine learned from the experience was that a man like her husband wanted to feel he could win a woman over without having to rely on his status, which he had inherited rather than earned.
And such a need contained a huge blind spot: As long as the woman began the affair by acting as if she had been conquered, the man would fail to notice that as time passed the mistress had come to hold power over him, as Diane de Poitiers did over Henri.
It was Catherine’s strategy to turn this weakness to her advantage, using it as a way to conquer and control men.
All she had to do was unleash the loveliest women in the court, her “flying squadron,” on men whom she knew shared her husband’s vulnerability.
Remember: Always look for passions and obsessions that cannot be controlled. The stronger the passion, the more vulnerable the person.
This may seem surprising, for passionate people look strong.
In fact, however, they are simply filling the stage with their theatricality, distracting people from how weak and helpless they really are.
A man’s need to conquer women actually reveals a tremendous helplessness that has made suckers out of them for thousands of years.
Look at the part of a person that is most visible—their greed, their lust, their intense fear.
These are the emotions they cannot conceal, and over which they have the least control.
And what people cannot control, you can control for them.
THE BATTLE AT PHARSALIA
When the two armies [Julius Caesar’s and Pompey‘s] were come into Pharsalia, and both encamped there, Pompey’s thoughts ran the same way as they had done before, against fighting....
But those who were about him were greatly confident of success ...
...as if they had already conquered....
The cavalry especially were obstinate for fighting, being splendidly armed and bravely mounted, and valuing themselves upon the fine horses they kept, and upon their own handsome persons; as also upon the advantage of their numbers, for they were five thousand against one thousand of Caesar’s.
Nor were the numbers of the infantry less disproportionate, there being forty-five thousand of Pompey’s against twenty-two thousand of the enemy.
[The next day] whilst the infantry was thus sharply engaged in the main battle, on the flank Pompey’s horse rode up confidently, and opened [his cavalry’s] ranks very wide, that they might surround the right wing of Caesar.
But before they engaged, Caesar’s cohorts rushed out and attacked them, and did not dart their javelins at a distance, nor strike at the thighs and legs, as they usually did in close battle, but aimed at their faces.
For thus Caesar had instructed them, in hopes that young gentlemen, who had not known much of battles and wounds, but came wearing their hair long, in the flower of their age and height of their beauty, would be more apprehensive of such blows, and not care for hazarding both a danger at present and a blemish for the future.
And so it proved, for they were so far from bearing the stroke of the javelins, that they could not stand the sight of them, but turned about, and covered their faces to secure them.
Once in disorder, presently they turned about to fly; and so most shamefully ruined all.
For those who had beat them back at once outflanked the infantry, and falling on their rear, cut them to pieces.
Pompey, who commanded the other wing of the army, when he saw his cavalry thus broken and flying, was no longer himself, nor did he now remember that he was Pompey the Great, but, like one whom some god had deprived of his senses, retired to his tent without speaking a word, and there sat to expect the event, till the whole army was routed.
-THE LIFE OF JULIUS CAESAR. PLUIARCH, c. A.D. 46-120
Observance IV
Arabella Huntington, wife of the great late-nineteenth-century railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, came from humble origins and always struggled for social recognition among her wealthy peers.
When she gave a party in her San Francisco mansion, few of the social elite would show up; most of them took her for a gold digger, not their kind.
Because of her husband’s fabulous wealth, art dealers courted her, but with such condescension they obviously saw her as an upstart.
Only one man of consequence treated her differently: the dealer Joseph Duveen.
For the first few years of Duveen’s relationship with Arabella, he made no effort to sell expensive art to her.
Instead he accompanied her to fine stores, chatted endlessly about queens and princesses he knew, on and on.
At last, she thought, a man who treated her as an equal, even a superior, in high society.
Meanwhile, if Duveen did not try to sell art to her, he did subtly educate her in his aesthetic ideas—namely, that the best art was the most expensive art.
And after Arabella had soaked up his way of seeing things, Duveen would act as if she always had exquisite taste, even though before she met him her aesthetics had been abysmal.
When Collis Huntington died, in 1900, Arabella came into a fortune.
She suddenly started to buy expensive paintings, by Rembrandt and Velázquez, for example—and only from Duveen.
Years later Duveen sold her Gainsborough’s Blue Boy for the highest price ever paid for a work of art at the time, an astounding purchase for a family that previously had shown little interest in collecting.
Interpretation
Joseph Duveen instantly understood Arabella Huntington and what made her tick: She wanted to feel important, at home in society.
Intensely insecure about her lower-class background, she needed confirmation of her new social status.
Duveen waited. Instead of rushing into trying to persuade her to collect art, he subtly went to work on her weaknesses.
He made her feel that she deserved his attention not because she was the wife of one of the wealthiest men in the world but because of her own special character—and this completely melted her.
Duveen never condescended to Arabella; rather than lecturing to her, he instilled his ideas in her indirectly.
The result was one of his best and most devoted clients, and also the sale of The Blue Boy.
People’s need for validation and recognition, their need to feel important, is the best kind of weakness to exploit.
First, it is almost universal; second, exploiting it is so very easy.
All you have to do is find ways to make people feel better about their taste, their social standing, their intelligence.
Once the fish are hooked, you can reel them in again and again, for years—you are filling a positive role, giving them what they cannot get on their own.
They may never suspect that you are turning them like a thumbscrew, and if they do they may not care, because you are making them feel better about themselves, and that is worth any price.
Observance V
In 1862 King William of Prussia named Otto von Bismarck premier and minister for foreign affairs.
Bismarck was known for his boldness, his ambition—and his interest in strengthening the military.
Since William was surrounded by liberals in his government and cabinet, politicians who already wanted to limit his powers, it was quite dangerous for him to put Bismarck in this sensitive position.
His wife, Queen Augusta, had tried to dissuade him, but although she usually got her way with him, this time William stuck to his guns.
Only a week after becoming prime minister, Bismarck made an impromptu speech to a few dozen ministers to convince them of the need to enlarge the army.
He ended by saying, “The great questions of the time will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by iron and blood.”
His speech was immediately disseminated throughout Germany.
The queen screamed at her husband that Bismarck was a barbaric militarist who was out to usurp control of Prussia, and that William had to fire him.
The liberals in the government agreed with her.
The outcry was so vehement that William began to be afraid he would end up on a scaffold, like Louis XVI of France, if he kept Bismarck on as prime minister.
Bismarck knew he had to get to the king before it was too late.
He also knew he had blundered, and should have tempered his fiery words.
Yet as he contemplated his strategy, he decided not to apologize but to do the exact opposite.
Bismarck knew the king well.
When the two men met, William, predictably, had been worked into a tizzy by the queen.
He reiterated his fear of being guillotined.
But Bismarck only replied,
“Yes, then we shall be dead! We must die sooner or later, and could there be a more respectable way of dying? I should die fighting for the cause of my king and master. Your Majesty would die sealing with your own blood your royal rights granted by God’s grace. Whether upon the scaffold or upon the battlefield makes no difference to the glorious staking of body and life on behalf of rights granted by God’s grace!”
On he went, appealing to William’s sense of honor and the majesty of his position as head of the army.
How could the king allow people to push him around?
Wasn’t the honor of Germany more important than quibbling over words?
Not only did the prime minister convince the king to stand up to both his wife and his parliament, he persuaded him to build up the army—Bismarck’s goal all along.
Interpretation
Bismarck knew the king felt bullied by those around him.
He knew that William had a military background and a deep sense of honor, and that he felt ashamed at his cravenness before his wife and his government.
William secretly yearned to be a great and mighty king, but he dared not express this ambition because he was afraid of ending up like Louis XVI.
Where a show of courage often conceals a man’s timidity, William’s timidity concealed his need to show courage and thump his chest.
Bismarck sensed the longing for glory beneath William’s pacifist front, so he played to the king’s insecurity about his manhood, finally pushing him into three wars and the creation of a German empire.
Timidity is a potent weakness to exploit. Timid souls often yearn to be their opposite—to be Napoleons. Yet they lack the inner strength.
You, in essence, can become their Napoleon, pushing them into bold actions that serve your needs while also making them dependent on you.
Remember: Look to the opposites and never take appearances at face value.
Image: The Thumbscrew. Your enemy has secrets that he guards, thinks thoughts he will not reveal. But they come out in ways he cannot help. It is there some where, a groove of weakness on his head, at his heart, over his belly. Once you find the groove, put your thumb in it and turn him at will.
Authority: Find out each man’s thumbscrew.
’Tis the art of setting their wills in action. It needs more skill than resolution. You must know where to get at anyone. Every volition has a special motive which varies according to taste. All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure. Skill consists in knowing these idols in order to bring them into play. Knowing any man’s mainspring of motive you have as it were the key to his will.
(Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658)
REVERSAL
Playing on people’s weakness has one significant danger: You may stir up an action you cannot control.
In your games of power you always look several steps ahead and plan accordingly. And you exploit the fact that other people are more emotional and incapable of such foresight.
But when you play on their vulnerabilities, the areas over which they have least control, you can unleash emotions that will upset your plans. Push timid people into bold action and they may go too far; answer their need for attention or recognition and they may need more than you want to give them.
The helpless, childish element you are playing on can turn against you.
The more emotional the weakness, the greater the potential danger. Know the limits to this game, then, and never get carried away by your control over your victims. You are after power, not the thrill of control.
Conclusion
I just cannot help but wonder if the American neocons are playing President Biden using this Thumbscrew technique to force Biden to approve of outlandish military actions that run counter to his decades of behavior within the Untied States government. It’s something to ponder.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my “48 Laws of Power” Index here…
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You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
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I have a premise that you can gauge the relative health of a nation by looking at what it is being promoted as “news” day in, and day out. While there are elements of information, promotion, propaganda, and scandal, over all by comparing the two sources you can get a general idea of the “social climate” in each individual nation. And from this, you can gauge it’s overall health and the direction of the society.
For starters, in the articles about the “other” nation, it is very interesting.
American “news” warns about the bad things about China.
Chinese news reports on the given situations inside of America.
Most of the other news discusses the events that “buy papers”, or in other words, that are of interest to the readership.
Today, a huge segment of media has been taken over by video. While article about certain subjects continue to sell, a huge percentage of media rely on videos to get their messages across. In fact, all “news” organizations have video elements as part of their articles.
I’d post some from America, but almost all of the videos come from organizations that are banned in China because they are associated with American “alphabet” agencies.
Here’s some from China…
Videos.
In regards to videos, China is all about the latest technologies, the new space station and well, you get the idea…
This is very cool. 5G, AI controlled location and positioning overlay upon the arm…
Here, we have the new space station…
Here’s a pretty girl. She has this “fish shape” that is considered to be very beautiful within China.
Here’s another gal. This is another girl that is selling her light and easy pants. I like her. She has good appeal.
Of course the news about what is going on in India with the COVID-19 and the new “India Strain” is heartbreaking. Judging from the pictures it seems to be almost as bad as the “B” strain that was unleashed on China on CNY 2020. I wonder why you aren’t seeing these images in America?
And here’s one thing that you see pretty irregularly. It’s applications of technology that are in use. In this case we see a guy using a hand sensor to map out an old village that is being torn down for new homes.
And finally a comparison of cities for fun.
Conclusions
If left alone, with no major “fire-hose of disinformation” drenching everyone with the propaganda of the day, Most media are the same. They concentrate on the things that interest their readership.
Obviously, the hate-China narrative from 2016 through 2020 had an impact.
Chinese readership want to know about technology, good things, and what’s going on in the world. More or less presented in a “neutral” fashion and manner. American readership seems to want (whether they want it or not) things that are alarming, salacious, interesting, fearful or worrisome.
America…
The “news” from America tend to fall into these kinds of categories…
I believe that these trends are indicative of the way that the people think. As well as how the entire society thinks.
Perhaps instead of thinking about controlling people to do this, or to do that via fear (the American way), maybe you should give them hope instead. Provide hope, provide help and throw in a dash of compassion.
Its the Chinese way.
And a direction, that I must add, that President Biden is attempting to do in his most recent speech. It’s a nice change of pace from what most Americans have seen or been exposed to.
Maybe there is some hope for Western society after all.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
You can start reading the articles sequentially by going HERE.
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You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
Well, I have been so busy lately that I have forgotten to deal with some of my other sub categories. Here is something for the FAQ Index. It’s just a collection of unsorted Q&A that I’ve accumulated over the last year or so. I think you all might find one or two answers of interest.
Some questions and comments are in regards to my experiences in retirement, some are in regards to slides and mission parameters. Some are in regards to spiritual beings and the non-physical reality, and some are just all over the place. maybe there is something for you all to chew on.
I put forth the questions anonymously.
If you are reading this and see your questions please do not be alarmed or insulted. I put them here simply because you are not the only one. I have others, with situations very similar to yours asking the same kinds of questions. Seriously.
This is my way to make it easier for everyone to pull together and work together.
And if you are reading these Q&A and want to comment, please do so in the comment section and refer to the specific question (Question 4a…etc.). This way we all can participate in helping each other out just like a real Rufus does. Just like what and who you are.
Question 1
Can you remember any “slides” where the earth was empty of people, you were all alone on planet earth during your mission?
I have a feeling that the “elites” are getting ready to “thin the herd” of humanity, I understand that they want to get rid of around 90% of humanity so they can have the entire place to themselves (YIKES!!!)
The reason I mention it is because there’s this guy named Javier that I learned of through YouTube who claims to be trapped in an empty world in the year 2027. He has many elaborate videos on his exploring the empty city of Valencia, Spain in 2027 without a single other person around, it made me think to ask if you had experienced a similar thing in your past slides?
At least I don’t need to convince you on the nature of variable time and the theory of information existing at all points within it, you “get it” already from your past experience 😉
If you check it out, let me know what you think bud.
Now that you mention it, there were times when things seemed really “empty”. It would be maybe 4 in the afternoon on a weekend. Normally, where I lived at that time (in a trailer park) there would be all sorts of activity. Kids would be playing. Lawnmowers would be non-stop noise makers. Cars would come and go. But for some reason it would be ghostly quiet.
No big deal, you brush it off. You say “Well, maybe there is something going on. Like a school event, a game, or something.”
Empty. Quiet.
And then you drive into town and most of the fast food franchises are closed. Again, you brush it off. You say “it must be a local holiday or something”.
Few people on the roads. No one on the sidewalk. But still, the dogs still bark. The birds still sing. The one thing that strikes me (now that I think about it) was that many lawns really needed to be mowed. Not only was the grass tall, but there were long weeds sprouting up in most of them. But aside from that, it was like a quiet day at 5:00 in the morning. Not too much activity at all.
I don’t recall anything on the “news”, but at that time (in my life) I was just listening to cassettes in the car. My own family was normal. Wife and cats were just fine. And then later on around 7pm I slid to a new reality, and the world “woke up” and came alive again.
I cannot definitively state that there was a depopulated world-line reality. But then at the time it could have been. I just never looked at it that way.
Question 2
What do you think the aliens were trying to accomplish through you, their agenda (as it were)?
Are you SURE they were not also agents of The Devil, how did they smell?
Answer 2
Well, for starters there are numerous extraterrestrial species involved in the earth. Some of the extraterrestrials actually “own” the earth, and are supported by other terrestrial species that we do not recognize as such.
In general, though, I am not sure about anything.
I feel a neutral level of respect that emanates from them. I myself, personally have a great deal of affection towards them. As far as smell, I haven’t really noticed anything worthy of note. But then again, at the times when I was interacting with them personally, my senses were so overloaded with sensory stimulus and new experiences that it would be pretty easy to overlook something like a scent.
Question 3
This question is in regards to a slide to a world-line where people were dying.
Interesting, since Rush was alive in that time-frame, we can probably assume it was a jump into the recent past, (you know he died in February, right?). Maybe Covid took hold of humanity more severely in that reference frame than it did in ours, who knows?
The whole bat soup thing is just a bunch of BS to cover the actual story, namely the intentional release of the thing by the CCP, that’s my analysis. They had sick people loaded onto airliners going all over the world in late 2019, bat soup accident my ass!
Back here at home, things are weird, nobody really knows who’s in charge. Biden is too feeble, Harris is a nut (The Scarecrow and the Joker I call them) and Rice and 0bama are running things from behind the scenes. People have mostly tuned out and are trying to go about their business best they can, you know, like they always do(?).
Answer 3
Yeah, well, the slides were always a mix of the culture AT THAT TIME with other elements that were alien to it. Well, the slide took place in the 1990’s so El Rushbo was still alive then, and I used to listen to him then. So yeah, he was going on and on…
Rush Limbaugh 1990’s.
Slides are not like time-travel. You just kind of go into a different reality that is contemporaneous with your departure point (world-line).
The “sickly reality” that I experienced (in many ways) resembles a sort of mix of 1995, 2020 and something else much different. It doesn’t mean that I had an image of the future, it’s just that certain events that seem to be scheduled for decades away, seem to be placed in my (then) present reality.
Other things just didn’t make sense to me. Like the shortage of masks (in October), or my car no longer using a key to start it! At the time, these things were very odd and very startling. The slide at that particular time was a pretty long one, and went for much of the day. It was a working week-day. And the office didn’t change much. Just a lot of really sickly co-workers, and general silence in the office.
At that time in my life, the slides tended to be of rapid cycle. And so it was “normal” for me to cycle in and out of unusual things. Like the “Denny’s” restaurant chain having a drive through window, or my vacuum cleaner having a hose instead of a stand-up model. After a while you just get used to the changes, and you roll with them. It becomes normal.
The ones I remember are the ones that stuck in my head.
Question 4
You know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about that “jump” you made into the world where everybody was either sick or dying.
Consider that the mRNA vaccine (if effective, big IF) will cause your cells to produce the antigens inside your body for corona/SARs viruses so that no antibodies will be produced if you should become infected from another one, resulting in it killing you.
The Covid vaccine will DELETE your immunity towards corona viruses so that the next “accidental” pandemic release wipes out all the share of the population that got the vax. Then they’ll do the same thing over again.
What do you remember seeing during that “jump” it would probably be useful to know any other snippets of info you might have remembered about that one?
Answer 4
Good question. Gosh that (event) was a long time ago.
I well remember that I thought that it was a bio-weapon attack, but I was confused because no one was talking about an attack at all. And the people just looked sickly. There weren’t any bumps, rashes or anything like that.
In my mind, a bio-weapon event would look like small-pox, measles, or Scarlet fever.
Smallpox.
I felt “heavy” like I was well winded, and my chest felt like cement.
Everything else was normal. The radio worked and the stations were the same. There was a greater number of stores closed than what I would normally expect. Maybe about one in three were closed. The roads had less traffic, and no one was walking on the streets. The office was quiet. People were in their cubicles. The parking lot was unusually emptier. Not vacant, but maybe about 70% full. For the most part everything seemed normal.
The news was about some sports figure dying in an airplane crash. El’ Rushbo was talking about the evil bat soup slurping Chinese (which is strange as the Chinese don’t eat bat soup).
The people dressed slightly differently. More sport-shoes instead of loafers. Open collars instead of ties. But nothing to really say it was all that different. The office coffee machine was there and running normally. I think that I made a pot of regular coffee for the group. No donuts on the table though. At that time, I would say that maybe 3 out of ten days would be some kind of donuts for the group to eat with the coffee.
I guess that you could say that everything seemed like a normal everyday work day. The only thing was that everyone seemed to be very sickly, weak and very, very tired. Including myself. It was a struggle to get up out of the chair. A struggle to walk to the car. A struggle to place an order at the drive through, and a lack of desire to eat what I ordered.
I do remember drinking more coffee than I usually would. I liked the hot warmth and the energy that it seemed to give me.
Question 5
I still don’t understand why China is not defending itself against the conclusion and dissemination of ALL US-based analysts that the virus “leaked” from the Wuhan lab.
And if it had, then what do you make of all the preparations in place by the Gates, WHO, etc just before this “leak”. Are they genies who looked into the bottle?
There is no logic in all this. Are they pretty soon going to start teaching our kids in America that 2+2=4 except when…
There’s something I’m missing. Or maybe I should go back to my desk and continue to stress on this proposal I’m working on due in 2 day…
Answer 5
China did defend itself. It followed the global protocol. Which is to use the United Nations, and lodge a complaint.
As such it lodged a formal complaint and made a formal statement at the UN.
The thing is that it was NOT reported in the Western press at all. One of the big mistakes that people in the West make is the assumption (based upon the enormous volume of “news”) that everything that happens is eventually reported to the public.
This is not true at all.
Americans live within an isolation bubble. Information that you are not supposed to see is prevented from your access.
You need not worry.
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China doesn’t NEED to defend itself and go tit-for-tat with the huge propaganda onslaught. It’s not arguing for the hearts and minds of Americans or Brits.
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The Chinese are sitting from a position of strength. Real strength. Not inflated numbers on spread sheets or the idea that America has a robust economy because the stock market is artificially inflated, or that it has tons of factories that can replace the things that China makes.
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That attitude is the most stunning thing that came out the US-China talks in Alaska. The Biden team went in cocky and demanding, and China hit back hard, then went to Russia the next day and strengthened the social-economic-and-military ties with it.
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China knows what’s going on. This game of pretend has worn thin. That; American “democracy” is the best and China must adopt it. Nonsense. Or that China should not follow the UN, and instead adopt American-lead “rule based order”. Or that Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet or Xinjiang are American protectorates. It’s bullshit. It plays well to the brain-dead American sheeple, but it is not flying in the rest of the world.
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Is the greater public ever going to get a clear view of the difference behind the "rules based order" of the West (we own the money system and make the rules) and the negotiated International law based order?Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2021 17:05 utc | 4
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Over the last 75 years, America has really angered the rest of the world, and the rest of the world cheered when China bitch-slapped Blinkein.
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What about your family back in <redacted>? Do they really cheer on the United States for fighting eight wars and bringing “democracy” to the world, Seriously. The social media all over Japan, and South Korea are saying (about the way China does things) “Why can’t our government do the same thing”.
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Which is one of the reasons why Blinkedin went to those other countries to talk to the leadership.
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Look. Let’s imagine that you have a nice house. It’s not the best house on the block. But it’s a good solid house. You have made sure that the foundation is strong, the roof is repaired, the windows and doors are robust, and the water and electricity works great. That’s China.
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Down the street is America. It’s an enormous mansion. But the lawn is unruly and untended. The paint is peeling, the roof IS LEAKING. And upon closer inspection you can see that the fixings are all gold-plated, not actual goal, and the windows are single pane, not triple pane like China. The sheets on the beds are all rough weaves at 300 threads / square inch, while the Chinese sheets are around 3000 threads per square inch, and the furniture is old. In fact, aside from the master bedroom, the entire rest of the house is gutted and looks like it same from the 1940’s.
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China doesn’t need to respond to the lies.
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It just continues on.
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I wrote some latest posts, no need to get upset, but the American “leadership” are just corrupted idiots. Sorry to say. So relax. Things are going to sort themselves out one way or the other.
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This is how the rest of the world sees America today…
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China is running their nation as a merit-driven leadership would naturally operate. And so they view a WIN-WIN scenario to be int he best interests of everyone. This is called, or referred to as “soft power”.
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This term “soft power” is very misunderstood in the West. And to make matters worse the Hard-Right describes it as something horrible, and insidious. Like this…
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And so now, after decades of non-stop American government propaganda that directs the thoughts of Americans towards certain objectives, we can see how this manifests. When people start taking “hard line”, and “evil combative stances” and thinking that it is normal, the rest of the world looks at them with incredulity.
Consider this little video…
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So after explaining that America is desirous to push all the Chinese into a world of poverty and corruption just so that America can be the predominant nation on the planet, and the American news anchor asks “what’s wrong with that?”
Evil has become normal inside of America today.
Question 6
All of this "news", and the Coronavirus situation, and the War-like Biden administration, the frustration, and the anger that is festering all over America is really getting people down. It's hurting people.
I have been following alternative news since this covid saga started. I have followed the development of those experimental injections they claim are “vaccines”, most likely yearly, though by their own admission, they don’t prevent infections and transmission.
I personally won’t be caught dead trusting Fauci and the Bill Gates or the CDC or Governor Cuomo who renamed the iconic Tappan Zee bridge the “Governor Cuomo Bridge”.
It has been quite evident to me that they don’t give a damn about us: To this date they are not providing their patients prophylaxis or early treatment, and HCQ and Ivermectin are not prescribed by mainstream doctors, even though the politicians including Giuliani and Trump have admitted that they have been on HCQ since the very beginning.
The recommendation is still stay home, take Tylenol, and when you can’t breathe go to the emergency room.
My cousin who lives in Cuba has told me of the Cuban government’s immediate distribution of prophylaxis for their entire population.
Yet (in comparison) I have a friend who right now is completely alone in the hospital since Saturday. They have given her pain killers and an antibiotic, that’s it.
The first few days of her illness the doctor gave her zero early treatment. She has never seen a doctor, they only talk to her once a day by phone, the nurses just about never enter her room – this is how they have killed thousand in America, through neglect. My girlfriend is right now sitting alone in terror, which is probably even more detrimental to her psyche, it might even be fatal.
Bref… to go back to my initial thought, everyone, including my cousins who are doctors, their pregnant daughters and even my own daughter in law who is a nurse and is trying to get pregnant, have jumped at the front of the line and taken the Moderna vaccine.
I’m just floored.
I love music, and arts, and nature, and travels, architecture, and peace on earth, and good friends, laughter and compassion for others. I’m just not sure I want to be around for what’s coming for us, this “new nomal” that my doctor cousins are so happy about, the kids in masks and “social distancing”, the forced vaccinations, the militarization of our lives to the point that free spirits and rebels like me will have to be eliminated…
Oh MM, I am afraid we’ve lost the battle, certainly, I have lost the battle in my own little world…
Answer 6
Oh dear…
Please do not feel that way. It’s not as bad as it appears. Not by a long shot.
One of the first things that you MUST do is stop reading “news”. Alternative, Right, Left, Foreign. What ever. Please stop. It’s got so much bullshit that no one is getting accurate and timely information.
You need to reset your thinking process.
America is collapsing, and it’s every-person for themself. Or so it appears…
There was this movie called The Lathe of Heaven. It’s based on a science fiction story by Ursula K. Le Guin.
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-lathe-of-heaven/In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George’s dreams for his own purposes.
So get this… when this guy falls asleep, his dreams are so strong that he switches world-lines and arrives on the reality that he dreamed about. Yikes! And of course if he has a nightmare he wakes up to a nightmare, and if he has a happy dream, he wakes up to a happy life.
Well, this guy sees what is happening and decides to hypnotize him and thus beable to manually control what the world will become… all with good intentions, don’t you know. But of course, everythign goes to shit.
In so many ways this resembles the world that we are inhabiting right now. Big, rich and powerful people are controlling things, and others are trying to sound the alarm. All of it is like a slow-motion car wreck and it’s terrifying. It really is. Our lives, our mental health, our families, our incomes are all disrupted. We dont know what to do and we are going and moving towards a panic state.
You are in this state right now.
And it is awful.
The good news is that it is all an illusion. It really is. Sure things are happening, but what is happening regarding you, and your family will not, and does not resemble the narrative that you are reading about. So the first thing that you must do is turn off “THE NOISE”. Stop the “news” feeds and all that nonsense. It’s not gonna be as bad as everyone with a microphone is yelling about.
Second thing. Go to my post about Hemi-sync. Download one or all of the files. Put them on a player, and lie in bed and listen to them.
Why? Well all this howling noise is moving your center of consciousness about. It is no longer centered on the pineal gland. It is off somewhere else. The hemi-sync will recenter it to where you need it to be.
Location of the pineal gland within the brain.
It might take two or three sessions to get the effect, but I guarantee that the first session (listen to 1-8 in a straight shot)… might take you one hour WILL ABSOLUTELY make a difference and you will see and feel the difference.
I am not saying that there is nothing to worry about. I am not saying that you need not be concerned.
What I am saying is that your family needs you right now. They need you to be alert, strong, composed and in control. You must fake it, show a good happy face. And show some leadership. You have a role and this is the time for you to shine.
When you are in a plane you don’t want to hear the airline pilot screaming into the microphone “Oh my God, we are out of control,we’re all going to die!“.
No. You want to hear “Hello folks, we have a minor technical alert. It’s probably nothing. But the policy is to land at the nearest airport. Sorry for the delay.”
Here’s my little secret. You are protected. I’m trying to make sure of it. So don’t worry too much about other things, none of the really bad things will happen to you and your family. What you need to do is turn off the noise, calm and compose yourself and realize that it’s all gonna end really soon.
Question 7
My question has to do with the events described on this site:
Where it appears as though I’ve suddenly become a Targeted Individual. I’m 63 years old and have been retired from the military for 21 years, and I have no idea why or how I suddenly became targeted at the end of October 2020, just before the elections. It is definitely some sort of energetic (scalar weapon?) attack, and it follows me 24 hours per day.
With your background in the USAP programs and your incredible ability to engage in deep research, I think you would be my best option to discover how/why I’m suddenly in the program, and maybe ways to defeat or at least mitigate the attacks.
Thank you – and thank you for your service! It sucks the way they made you exit the program, but that brought you to China and a much better 2nd half of your life. You wouldn’t believe how much life has gone south in the USA in the past year or two.
I’m 63 years old, and like I said retired in 1999 from the Air Force. I flew the F-4E Phantom, F-16C Falcon, and F-117 Stealth Fighter, and had a short stint as a Liaison with the Army in 1990-91 which was mostly spent in Iraq and Kuwait. I planned and controlled airstrikes for the 24th Infantry Division during Operation Desert Storm, which was the first Gulf War.
That went very well, and I was rewarded with my top choice assignment, which was to go to Tonopah Nevada and fly the F-117. The entire wing moved in 1993-94 to New Mexico, and another highly classified program went in to fill the hangers in Tonopah.
I think this is where my Gangstalking (Targeted Individual) story might begin.
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My time in Nevada was wonderful, and it was one of the best flying assignments imaginable. However, once we moved the entire Stealth Fighter Wing to Holloman AFB, New Mexico a number of strange things happened.
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This seemed to be the holy city for what would surface as the LGBT-QPB movement. Bizarre is an understatement!
There were openly gay people serving on active duty, long before the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” system was implemented. Top Secret documents about Space Warning (Nuclear Command & Control) and Stealth Technology were waltzing out the gate in the arms of some of the gay officers, which never returned to their rightful place in the SCIF.
My roots in the military go back to the Air Force Academy, which is known for a very strict honor and ethics code. So for a bit I was a classic Whistleblower, in a case where a fair haired gay Captain in the later stages of AIDS had taken some TS Code Word materials about the Stealth Fighter to Vienna, Austria.
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Shortly after that he collapsed from respiratory arrest at his downtown residence, spreading the TS Codeword material all over the neighborhood.
And shortly after that an F-117 pilot in my squadron was shot down over Serbia.
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I spent some time exiled to Saudi Arabia, and of course had the usual array of classic Gangstalking at the hands of some very incompetent OSI Agents.
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After I left the Air Force, I realized that the LGBT-QPB movement was part & parcel of the Deep State, and their Agenda was for a much bigger Game involving the components we now see described in Agenda 2030, and in play with such things as the COVID-19 overt/covert war with China.
To be honest, I don’t care at all about people’s individual sexual preferences. My point is that it was so far out of line with legal & regulatory norms at the time. The Air Force really needed my GIS and Airspace Management expertise after I left the military, so they actually brought me back as a highly paid contractor for about 4-5 years for a number of multi-national bombing range construction projects running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
So I became “normal” again and found myself briefing and involved with deliberations of people like the SecDef and Secretary of the Air Force, not to mention a number of Congressional Delegates.
All seemed to be forgotten about events from the 90’s. Then shortly before the 2020 elections, maybe late October I found myself in the “spotlight” of what appears to be the 21st century version of Gangstalking (Targeted Individuals). The program is fairly well described by the web site I mentioned (https://www.targetedjustice.com/).
I’m of course not absolutely certain that is the entity/agency that is targeting me, but the description matches at the 99% rate. And I don’t have any other idea of who or why. I completely finished my contractor work with the Gov around 2006, and have been a model citizen and Grandpa since.
My only other claim to fame is that I love to read about as much as you love to write. So I voraciously read everything online and in my library, which tend to average about 1 book per day (400 pages when I measured) of reading. Likewise, I have a small group of friends that I exchange e-mails with and discuss current events and political news as well as esoteric and high tech stuff.
My friends are mostly retired engineers, credentialed professionals, and people like me. We discuss amongst ourselves topics that range from the Deep State agenda to things you write about involving off-planet technology and species.
My research includes things like Ayahuasca and Monoatomic Gold Elixirs, but perfectly legal versions and settings. I don’t ingest or smoke anything illegal or questionable, and I absolutely do NOT do any sort of
social media.
In fact I’m so private I don’t have e-mail or internet on my phone. I keep it all separate between my phone and my computers. My other passion or hobby is ancient texts and prophecy, to include the Scriptures. Absolutely no religion or dogma though, just the Science, History, Culture, and Prophecy in the ancient texts. As a very personal but critically important side note, I was the Commander of a team of Forward Air Controllers in my time spent in Iraq.
During that period I was “summoned” to an out of body meeting early one morning in Oct 1990, and on the other side of the conversation was none other than the Deity you and I know as the LORD Jesus Christ.
Very profound and life changing meeting, where I was “commissioned” to do certain things in Iraq, and warned that there would come a day with another type of “War” that I would also play an important role. That “War” is the one that started for me on Dec 21st, 2019 – and became the COVID-19 overt/covert war to install a one-world government and global banking system.
The US vs China part of it is just a strategy to create fear, which allows the Deep State to enslave, control, and of course orchestrate an economic collapse. To my family and close friends, we think of it as the period described in Revelation, called “The Tribulation” by the religious nuts.
From my prophetic research, that will start in the Fall of 2023, plus or minus a year. But it is a very small group of people that I discuss this with via e-mails. Granted, I know e-mails are read and all that, but it is just a discussion. No social media, no broadcasting or advocating.
Just very pleasant analysis that the good times are finally here! I’ve considered the possibility that my attacks are coming from the demonic sectors, but that never plays out. Even when I query a handful of gifted and Energy Sensitive friends I’ve known and trusted over the years, nothing shows up indicating the attacks are from demonic sectors.
I’ve dealt with those entities dozens of times, and have a pretty robust toolbox to eradicate them. Plus, I have friends in the Higher Realms that step in to help! This seems to be a human controlled Gangstalking system, pretty much like it is described in the Targeted Justice web site.
There might be dark entities in the mix or behind the technology, but at the wheel seems to be human and artificial intelligent algorithms. The “beam” or whatever it is called follows me 24 hours per day, everywhere I go. The scalar component can go through many hundreds of feet of solid earth, so there isn’t any place on the planet that I know of where I could get away from it.
My only solution will involve facing it head on, and finding out ways to spoof, jam, disable, mitigate, and so on. There’s a chain of events involved in the guidance and tracking systems that include GPS, evoked potential biofeedback, microwave beams that intersect to create the Scalar beam, and of course computers and sensors to aid in the tracking.
At night time the signal to noise ratio is the best, so the energetic attack is strongest. Plus it needs the person to be still for it to be the most effective. Walking around or staying in motion just keeps it chasing you but not really affecting your health.
Once I stop to work in my office or try to sleep, it locks on and goes into the “kill” mode. I’ve noticed that it tries to turn my stomach into a battery, much like a lead acid battery in a car. It “charges” it up for a few minutes if I sit still, and then triggers a release like a capacitor discharging.
If I lay down, it is much more powerful in its operation and can (I think) easily kill a person. So, I don’t lay down or get horizontal – ever! I sleep sitting up in a chair, and have done so for the past 4 months. Usually only about 20 minutes at a time in any particular location, and I’m so exhausted and sleep deprived that I go immediately into REM sleep. 15-20 minutes later I get up and move to another location. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’ve been evaluating a number of shielding and jamming devices and materials, and have made some progress. Likewise, I’ve had to call upon my help in the Higher Realms to keep me alive, particularly on New and Full Moons, which probably has to do with Microwave Propagation (S:N ratio). We’ll talk about that more if you are interested, but I don’t yet want to pollute your research if you decide you want to go into a detailed analysis.
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I don’t know why I was suddenly targeted at the end of October. I suspect it might have something to do with the research and private e-mail conversations about the Deep State, but nothing clear in terms of what. In previous episodes with the AI Algorithms, I did notice sometimes I’d get several days of nonstop computer attacks after some particularly noteworthy (ie accurate?) research or e-mails about the Deep State Agenda. But no clear answers on why I was suddenly targeted this time with a Kill Vector, what agency is responsible, or how the system works. That’s the first level of analysis.
The deeper research of course would be how to disable or defeat the technology, which would also reveal who was behind it all. Considering there are something like 170,000 people being Gangstalked, that is definitely the end game and most noble cause. From what I can find thus far, just about all of the Gangstalked people at this level are either ex Military (or some type of DoD service), or are a serious threat to the Deep State.
Like a doctors speaking up against lockdowns and social distancing, and saying the COVID-19 is just a hoax. Let me know what you think, and how far you want to dive into this project. I suspect there is a priority list, and at the top of the stack are retired military that reach a certain age, whistleblowers, independent thinkers, and specific DNA types involving Gaelic, Cherokee, or Iriquois – with the Haplogroup X-2A gene from the original Hebrew Tribe.
There’s a spiritual component to that DNA that when activated it becomes rather powerful. I think the Deep State is scared of those people. Unfortunately, I don’t have the DNA. I’m back on the ex-military and whistleblower and fully informed critical thinker side of the list. I suspect that you will find yourself on the receiving end of the Scalar beam something in the next few years.
Answer 7
Yeah. There’s a lot of very strange things going on in the USA over the last four years, and especially in the last two years. It’s not your worries. It has been reported to me though others as well.
Obviously, you have tapped into something that has targeted you. It’s never pleasant. And you are correct that it’s a human-driven event. It’s not from our benefactors. The best way that I can describe this difference is like this…
Imagine that you are in a room, playing a Avalon Hill Board Game (Like Squad Leader or Panzer Blitz). You are playing, and all is good. Someone moves in the room and secretly, when you are not looking, changes some of the pieces around. – That is how our fellow humans might interact with you.
Our benefactors are different. One minute you are playing the game in a room. You blink, and the next minute you are sitting inside a cafeteria having lunch, and you have no idea what happened.
All technology can be thwarted. That’s the good news. But somehow you ended up getting targeted, and we need to find out how this happened, and then disentangle you from that mess.
Most people are unaware about all the slicing and dicing Trump was engaged in regarding China. One of which was Zoom. You can still use it in China, but the fees are really excessive. No fees anywhere else, but a few hundred USD for a video conference on zoom… Give me a break. When chatting to the states I use skype.
When I was “retired” the shutdown of the ELF field went though this curious cycle. And part of the cycle involved some influences on my gut and stomach area. You are describing an interesting effect for certain. I don’t know if it is like a battery in so much as an internal feedback loop.
My mystery is WTF, dude? Who the Hell did you piss off?
For the most part once my retirement was set in motion most people were very respectful to me. Almost like they were afraid of me. And these were the outsourced dudes that hadn’t a clue as to what I was, am or have done.
Now granted, the initial intention was to disable and cripple me and put me in a nursing home for the rest of my life. But that didn’t happen. I didn’t write about it because it’s oh so painful. And it only makes my unbelievable story even more outrageous. The general public is not ready for the realty of what all this is like.
You pissed off someone, and that lies the key to controlling what ever you are going through.
Pissing off the wrong people. I get the impression that the people or person who decided to retire myself, my entire cell, and others in our unit was someone like a Mike Pompeo. Brash, uncaring, pompus and full of himself. Is in control of some very important levers or power, but is unaware of the details and the depth of the “big picture”.
I get the impression that somehow, in some way, you pissed of one of this kind of person’s underlings. Like one of the direct reports to this level of personage. It seems to be visceral, and up-close and personal. Maybe you can see a promotion of someone that you interacted with; getting promoted in 2017-2018. It’s personal. Which seems to indicate (what I know about people) either a gay-person, or an alternative-lifestyle person that you have directly and absolutely PISSED OFF.
When my group was “retired” it was very cold, calculating. It was methodical and ruthless. I was targeted for “disable and discard”.
A chick came into my life. Dragged me to Arkansas on the promise of a great job and a new life, poisoned the living shit out of me with heavy metals while having me sign away on multiple life insurance policies. The neurological effects got to be pretty pronounced, and was noted by the hospital staff (a doctor and two nurses), and that is what triggered the “fall back” solution; retirement as a sex offender.
Aside from the personal angst, it really was “click off the boxes”, “ram through the system”, and “discharge” into the arms of another agency that knows Jack-shit about what the fuck is really going on.
My situation.
For you, it really doesn’t seem to be that way. It seems to me that you pissed off someone really personally. And he has never forgotten. Then when he has risen to a position of power, he uses that power to attack you ruthlessly for his own personal purposes. It’s really a totally different situation.
I would suggest you read this…
Now, for the USN, (and myself) the ELF transmission facility was shut down the same year that I (and my cell) were all retired. It’s like someone decided to shut down the program and discard the players. The facility was closed. The participants were either killed off, or exiled (such as myself). So it seems for me and in my case we were all just being checked off the list.
But yours is really up-front and personal.
Now, this activity that is going on is telling in that it does not seem like the person doing this has the ability to give a kill-order. Only a torture-order. If you get my drift.
To authorize the execution of an asset or an American citizen you do need to have some very high level authorization. Even I wasn’t killed. They just wanted me to become a vegetable in a nursing home. So the impression that I get is that someone is doing this unofficially to you.
Never the less, they have the ability to authorize a broad spectrum of irritants on you, but is afraid to make their actions noticeable to their superiors.
As long as this person is at this level of power they can probably irritate the fuck out of you. I am sorry to say, but there are limitations. At least with the USN systems.
They needed to observe me to give them feedback as to how everything was working. And this would manifest as monitoring my electronic communication and having people “check up” on me from time to time.
Nothing really bad. Just an occasional observation to see “how I was doing”. I would imagine that that is along the lines of what you are going through.
Now, if MAJ wants to re-de-mothball the ELF probes for me, they would have to fireup the broadcast station (or create an equivalent), and then have someone local (in China) to check up on me. All this is too expensive and really a big hassle for a no-body such as myself. But the impression that I get is that the AF systems are currently operational.
Question one; do you have hardwired ELF probes like I do? Or is all of this direct radiation, targeted with technology that I am unaware of? That will help determine what the Hell is going on with you.
Question response 7a
Who the hell did I piss off? LoL, that’s exactly what I’d like to know! My experiences are very similar to yours, where most people (post military service) have been very respectful of me, while there is a group or agency lurking somewhere in the background that really wants me off the planet. It might be the same people, where the local guys are respectful and the senior leadership wants me to disappear.
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My best guess (at the moment) is that I have an uncanny ability to see through smokescreens. LoL, that happens when you spend your entire career as a warfighter! But I tend to connect the dots quite well (in my world) with whistleblower & leaked information, and match it up against the true Deep State Agenda behind all the Dog & Pony Show (Propaganda).
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Said differently, what really seems to scare the Deep State leadership is when I connect Biblical Prophecy with the Deep State Agenda, and place in on a Timeline of Current Events. That’s when I’ve always gotten the most “pushback” from various Algorithms/AI that manifests in the form of computer disruptions for a week or so. E-mails shut down or disappear or do weird things, and all my computers sort of blue screen at once. Things like that.
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Nothing new there, as that has gone on for about 30 years, counting the last 10 years of my active duty time. Things seem to have changed on/around Dec 21, 2019 when the Deep State went “Active” with their plans to orchestrate a global Economic Collapse and attempt to install a one-world government and banking system (etc). Just exactly like it is described in Biblical Prophecy. Note that I don’t care which Deity or Entity created the prophecies, as in the end it doesn’t matter.
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I think you’ve described it as a four year battle, particularly with bioweapon attacks in China, courtesy of Uncle Sam. I agree, although I would describe that as “preparation of the battlefield” as opposed to actual combat.
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All of 2019 was full of events between the US and China, and every month things were heating up. The Trade War that didn’t have good optics for DJT (Trump), the 5G/Huawei corporate espionage and economic prowess war, the BSL-4 labs where the Bioweapons were making their way from North Carolina and Canada (etc) back to Wuhan, the Fentanyl problem that connected to the Chinese port in the Virgin Islands (Abaco), some bioweapon espionage events with Dr. Xiangguo Qiu, her husband Keding Cheng at the Canadian BSL-4 Lab, and so on.
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Hurricane Dorian in Sept 2019 magically sat stationary on the Chinese Port of Abaco as a Cat 5 storm for 48 hours, which took care of the Fentanyl problem the C_eye_A was having with China.
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In July of 2019 the Biowar heated up: I saw reports that somebody on our side of the ocean wanted to solve ALL of the above US-China problems with a single chess move. They did it by inserting a poison pill in the Corona Virus (gain of function) bioweapon research, where it would specifically target the ACE2 Receptor. That of course primarily targets Chinese men because they have 5x as many ACE2 Receptors.
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From what I read (and connected the dots), somebody put the poison pill version in the Canadian BSL-4 lab, knowing that Dr Qiu would “steal” it and take it back to Wuhan, as she had been doing for years with all of the other bioweapon research. Once she did that and returned to Canada (about July 2019) she was promptly escorted off the premises and sent home, along with her husband (Dr Cheng) and I think some of her interns.
Mission Accomplished to get the Poison Pill to Wuhan, and then it was a matter of getting the bioweapon released.
Not a lot of information on how/when, but it does seem to connect to the Military Games that were held in Wuhan, that started the same day as Event 201 (Oct 18, 2019). Likewise, I saw a lot of information at the time that 5G had the ability to tweak gene selection and gain of function with COVID-19, which is why areas where 5G was deployed were particularly hard hit. And again, all of that connected to the 5G/Huawei “conflicts” that had been raging between the US and China for quite some time.
Dr Charlies Lieberman (Harvard Chemistry Chair) was arrested in early 2021, which is tightly connected to this story. He had a $4 million private lab inside the Wuhan BSL-4, and was also being paid $50,000 per month by China. His specialty is nanoparticles, which is a big part of the COVID-19 and Vaccine technology, and apparently connects to 5G as well. I think Lieberman was arrested to make him disappear, as 4-5 days after his arrest Canadian Scientist Dr Frank Plumber (SARS/COVID-19 global expert) mysteriously died at a conference in Kenya.
Even with all the smokscreens, deception, conspiracy theories (etc), it was pretty obvious that the war between the US and China was heating up and about to go kinetic, which was against a backdrop of an urgent need for the Deep State to get their Orchestrated Collapse underway, so they could install their One-World Government and Banking System.
I knew from a number of sources and pointers and whistleblowers throughout 2019 that December 21st was some sort of a tipping point for things to kick off.
Consequently, everything from about July to Dec were these preparatory events to set the stage. It appears as though COVID-19 was “cooking” in China 3-4 weeks after Event 201, which means China (CCP) knew by about Thanksgiving what was going on and that they had been attacked by the US Gov with yet another bioweapon. This one targeted humans instead of pigs or chickens.
In early Jan 2020, DJT (sigh… Israel?) took out Iranian Gen Soleimani, which I’m guessing was supposed to trigger a larger war with Iran, and then bring in China to back Iran and get the US and China directly engaged. It didn’t go as planned, and DJT “allowed” Iran to retaliate by an attack on a military base where all the US Soldiers had been removed or bunkered down from ground zero.
You have written up a much more detailed and accurate description of all the COVID-19 events and back story through 2020. I was just following the military and Deep State events, primarily from 2018-2019, knowing that things would kick off in 2020. I was expecting more directly military operations and less biowar, but that part is yet to come.
There were some very interesting tidbits from whistleblowers, which indicated that the Deep State was going to start eradicating (exterminating?) US Citizens, particularly ones that were most likely to resist bringing in the One-World Government to the USA.
Those projects seem to have kicked off in 2018-19 as described in the leaked material, while the usual deception and conspiracy labels flooded the internet sources. And all the whistleblowers and leaks were “plugged” (assassinated) in June-July 2019.
This story connects to the strange fires in Paradise California, where cars and homes burned but the trees and shrubbery didn’t seem to be affected. The particular “targets” to eradicate are the ethnic group being demonized now, which is the usual playbook: white, business or credentialed people, heterosexual, family & Christian values, property and gun owners, etc. The same role the Jews had in Nazi Germany. That’s BLM & Antifa’s role.
You can see that it is a close scrutiny of the Deep State. Even filtering out the conspiracies, deception, and smoke screen efforts, news and events tend to follow that Narrative. More aligned with events since the Summer of 2019, and very tightly so since Dec 21st, that year.
What I’ve found and connected is the Deep State Timeline is driven by planetary events in the solar system. Some of which are caused by weather cycles (Grand Solar Minimum), and some of which are related to a flyby event that again connects to Prophecies and Deities in the Scriptures.
That seems to be the hot button that keeps someone or some agency in the Deep State very worried about me. No broadcasting or social media, just e-mails and conversations with a handful of close friends. Maybe 2 dozen all told, but something I’ve said or been saying seems to be rather sensitive, yes?
Question Response 7b
Hurricane Dorian in Sept 2019 magically sat stationary on the Chinese Port of Abaco as a Cat 5 storm for 48 hours, which took care of the Fentanyl problem the C_eye_A was having with China.
Indeed, the two super typhoons that hit China in 2017 – 2019 were far too suspicious.
But nothing that you have stated was sensitive enough to authorize your death. Someone targeted you on a personal basis.
Question 8
“Likewise, something doesn’t sit right with me when the Gov takes its best, brightest, and most competitive aviators & engineers, put’s ’em through a brutal career including war, implants, and obscene responsibilities, and then turns around and wants to put ’em in the garbage disposal when they go to retire. That is really bizarre. Maybe you can write more about that one of these days. “
Answer 8
Indeed. You take the best and the brightest. You do remember the battery of test, after test to qualify for the AF Academy. Then after six or seven tests, you are sitting alone in a big room with just one or two others. It’s like that.
Only a handful of people got the chance to fly Navy and be a Naval Aviator. (Of course, your view might be different, LOL), and then when you get that opportunity and you are there in your first of several briefings, you are told over and over just how special you are. The 1% of the 1% of the 1%. You just don’t throw it away.
And then, those of us who excelled and survived and surpassed our classmates, we achieved various levels of success. And we, who have (for most of our lives) been promoted through merit, raise up to a position where those who “retire” us, don’t appear to have that same kind of background.
Indeed, to me it seems like America and many of it’s agencies are run by psychopathic idiots or…
…perhaps (better yet) sycophants appointed by psychopathic idiots. It really seems that way.
You can really see the difference here in China. I wouldn’t have thought about things this way, but when you experience leadership run by merit, and people who work together as a group, and who follow the rules. It’s all really rather refreshing.
And it’s starting to become obvious…
A similar anti-China fiasco emerged during last week's ABC.net.au Q & A which devoted its last 25 minutes to Oz's trade relationship with China.
It was introduced with a question from a young graduate of the Greta Garbo School for Wayward Boys & Girls.
He was already in an emotional lather when he stood up to castigate China for torturing Uighur Slaves, and subjecting them to forced abortion and forced sterilization etc sourced, Ahem, from that Tabernacle of Truthiness the BBC!
Anyway, it was slithering along quite hysterically until a young bloke stood up and asked...
... why no-one wants to talk about China virtually eliminating poverty, and a few other praiseworthy achievements absent from Western Homeland policies.
And then whilst the bashers were digesting those assertions, a young Oz entrepreneur pointed out that he couldn't get research funding from Oz.gov or Biz for his new concept.
But he asked China.gov if they were interested in helping commercialize it?
China.gov had a look and a listen and said Yes We Can!
Come on over!
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 20 2021 18:26 utc | 12
Question 9
Speaking of random images, look at the very last attachment and see if you can make anything of it. Just a random bit of evidence I scooped up on my research. The image was from June 21st, 2020.
But posted on February 16, 2020. CNY was on Saturday, January 25. So this image was originally posted two weeks into CNY.
Answer 9
Very interesting comment about the dry block of ice in Wuhan. Very interesting, and plausible. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it is certainly plausible. What many American fail to appreciate is just how technologically advanced China is, and just how many cameras are available.
When the HK “pro-democracy” color-revolution was instigated, everything was known and caught on tape.
From the US State Department chick promising “the world” to the leaders of the “pro-democracy” movement…
… to the NGO (CIA assets) being told to “light Hong Kong on fire and let it burn!“. All on tape. All on high-definition 5G.
What was surprising to me was why China let the nonsense continue for so long. They could have stopped everything immediately.
Question 10
Have you ever heard of “Project Preserve Destiny?” There is a book called Above Black by Dan Sherman that describes it.
This story is tightly intertwined with my world back in the early to mid-90’s, where my life went south after the Whistleblowing events that centered on the Fair Haired Captain that was dying of AIDS. He was the training mate or counterpart to Dan Sherman, who wrote the book. Sort of like your Sebastian character, where Sherman was going through training with the Gay Captain, but they never spoke to each other. Or, weren’t supposed to or something like that.
But they trained together and were given psychotropic drugs to boost their Intuitive Communicator abilities. The Gay Captain died in 1994, and turned my life into a shitstorm.
I’ll attach the 1.5 MB PDF, on the off chance it will make it to you. It will be more background material to chat about…
Answer 10
Curious.
The 1986 photo of Dan Sherman who wrote the book “Above Black” looks a lot like Sebastian. Funny that you would mention this. While in the Navy in training all of our hair was short and we were clean shaven, but when we met up again at NAS NASC China Lake, he had this same hair cut, mustache, and color hair. LOL.
I successfully downloaded the PDF and will take the time to read it. I have many things on my plate right now. No time this weekend for a conference chat. Maybe during the subsequent week. I think this weekend will be more cigarettes and tea, rather than VSOP and pretty girls. But you never know.
Question 11
By the way, no probes for me. I was a straight up combat coded pilot. I had people work for me that were implanted, including other test pilots that did some reverse engineering and flying of the craft. I wasn’t briefed on their program(s), so I didn’t have to be implanted.
One more level deep, and it would have happened. Likewise, when I flew the F-117A, it was a TS Codeword SAP. No direct access to off-planet species, so we got by on non-disclosure agreements and some pretty tight “monitoring.”
Answer 11
That’s fine that you didn’t have probes. MAJ is a carveout and lies embedded within the various military branches, and industry.
I do not think that it has fundamentally changed much, as I understood it, the ONI pretty much directs or funnels the funding.
My experience was that at NAS China Lake my direct MAJ supervisor was retired AF. His name was <redacted>, and used to fly the F-111 Aardvarks during the Vietnam conflict when they were having all sorts of deployment problems.
F-111 Aardvark
Curiously, he was gay (as were many people at China Lake) and was part of a “clique” with the facility. There was a lot, A LOT, of groups, internal politics and fiefdoms there. I’ll tell you what. If I was older, I might have gone running for the hills, it was that bad!
Anyways, the probes are part and parcel about access and control. The ELF probes were / are MAJ mandated and control and monitor participants. The EBP is a very special device that our benefactors install. Once you have them you are in for life.
I can understand how some of your subordinates would have it but you wouldn’t.
Question 12
LoL – sorry if I was too long winded! That’s just how I observed things setting up on this side of the ocean. It will be interesting to compare notes and see how & where your research diverges from what I can find here.
I found a used laptop today, so I’ll load Skype on it and try to get familiar with the controls.
Have you ever heard of “Project Preserve Destiny?” There is a book called Above Black by Dan Sherman that describes it. This story is tightly intertwined with my world back in the early to mid-90’s, where my life went south after the Whistleblowing events that centered on the Fair Haired Captain that was dying of AIDS. He was the training mate or counterpart to Dan Sherman, who wrote the book. Sort of like your Sebastian character, where Sherman was going through training with the Gay Captain, but they never spoke to each other. Or, weren’t supposed to or something like that. But they trained together and were given psychotropic drugs to boost their Intuitive Communicator abilities. The Gay Captain died in 1994, and turned my life into a shitstorm.
I’ll attach the 1.5 MB PDF, on the off chance it will make it to you. It will be more background material to chat about.
By the way, no probes for me. I was a straight up combat coded pilot. I had people work for me that were implanted, including other test pilots that did some reverse engineering and flying of the craft. I wasn’t briefed on their program(s), so I didn’t have to be implanted. One more level deep, and it would have happened. Likewise, when I flew the F-117A, it was a TS Codeword SAP. No direct access to off-planet species, so we got by on non-disclosure agreements and some pretty tight “monitoring.”
F-117A
Answer 12
Here’s the book and provided for reading pleasure.
Question 13
(Regarding China)
Would it be strange to say it almost has the feel, very much of an almost 50s or early 80s American upward mobility sensibility, with well appointed civic systems of order, cleanliness, and beauty!
Well done is all I can say.
Most Americans have no idea.
I am only tuned in because I have known and still known people of so many nationalities and lived in a number of countries like yourself! So that sense of civic self esteem is getting hard to see in the US but it does exist here and there in little pockets!
I love this country, it’s peoples, it’s foods, it’s sights, it’s traditions, it’s hard won formation, and it’s principles and styles of government… but I am not so pleased with the amount of evil that has become entrenched anywhere in the world.
But China does seem a bit upward mobility obsessed, almost like we all were in the 50’s, and boy we loved that car era too, and having the hottest wheels, whether power for boys, or comfort for girls, was the ticket!
Everybody had to buy their own house, everyone had to have savings, everyone.
Now it’s different in the USA, it’s very very cynical.
And it’s seems, not Pollyanna, but deeply optimistic in some ways what is going on in modern China. A force for the good, who knew, with all the narrative noise in the channel!
Answer 13
Yes. that is exactly how it is.
There’s this live-and-let-live feeling inside of China. No one bothers you. If you want to walk around the mall will a beer in your hand while you sip it, it’s totally fine. If you want to spend the night sleeping on the sidewalk, that’s fine too. But since people don’t need to do that…
…they don’t.
And in many ways, China does feel like the 1950’s and the 1960’s. Seriously. Just go ahead and compare the police for instance.
You know, the photo of the American police reminds me of a scale model that I built when I was in tenth grade. It was by Tamiya. Compare the two pictures. Then compare it to the current Chinese police force.
Question 14
My presumptuous take on it is Type 1Grey conduct themselves in a dispassionate neutral way but welcome chaos and strife as a so-called grit in the oyster growth factor for cultivating the current human species.
Basically inviting in the wave cycle sense, a dialectic antitheses or cancellation wave to close out and dissolve manifest theses constructs of reality.
This can be a great blessing to unstick a really stuck consciousnesses, OR be a curse forcing uninvited transcendence of identity.
Ego gets a full serving of whoop ass either way I suppose.
Answer 14
Yes. In the movie The Matrix, the main character Neo learns that the computer tried to create a pleasant “Heaven” for all the humans to live within. There was no hunger, no starvation, no strife, and…
…all the humans died as a result. We, as a species need to grow and learn. And that means getting out of our “comfort zone” and entering an area of distress. It’s how we grow.
In this scene Morpheus tells Neo about the real history of the world.
Question 15
On mutations yes of course I was assuming, in that negative future world line, at least 100 years or 5 generations out for such compound natural replication errors to fully emerge.
The human response will be the CRISPR the shit out of the human genome to attempt recovery, and in another 100 years that comes to stable fruition.
Neosapiens type R (will create) a whole future dedicated to global recovery from mutations caused via multiple vectors.
It’s one very negative human future to avoid that I suspect is on the actionable watch-list of any world line sentinels.
Also with these issues on the minds of the benefactors, I can see many will help, wittingly or unwittingly, to seed trim tab causal counter flows to help buffer and steer us to a better outcome.
Answer 15
You are so very close to what is really and actually going on.
Question 16
Yeah the list is long and only starts with the obvious first likely cause being that ionizing radiation from nukes or dirty nukes could do it…
… but then there are also-binary genetic toxins that could do it,
…non-ionizing radiation (NIEMR) at certain frequency and intensity profiles that could do it,
…non conventional nuke contamination events could do it,
…a really bad CME could do it (Carrington x5?),
…an exposure of mutagenic material fallen all over the globe from a passing comet could do it,
…a pure mutagenic chemical weapon or bio weapon could do it,
…much later a quantum biogenic munition experiment gone bad could do it…
…it doesn’t take much imagination to imagine a few more plausible tipping points, or crucial key causal trigger events, for such hell on Earth to come about.
Then I think why lay it all out? Lol but duh as you know so well, there is no way around the fact that for the most part most of these alternate wildcards are just that wildcards that are entirely unlikely.
The largest causal likelihood is apt to be what we agree is looming the most – the risks of nuclear exchange.
But you know somehow I am optimistic that sanity will somehow prevail and the unity of the global marketplace will derail fomenting anti-BRI military strategy.
Is blind entitled hegemony worth all our children’s lives? Obviously not, but we do live in an age of highly engineered stupidity, docility, and group think. I don’t mind healthy group think, because it can withstand logical inquiry and ethical justification.
Answer 16
There are so many avenues that can play out. And they have on many world-line, world-path, trajectories. But what matters is the “end game”; the “end result” of all this so that the human species can develop to fit within the galactic society, and there are some very tricky things that must transpire first for it to come to fruition.
OK. Enough for now. I hope you all had a chance to digest some of this and toy with it in your minds.
Question 17
You really seem to make China out as some kind of great glorious place. Sure I suppose that there are some things that China does that are better than America. But you don’t have to be so gungho about it. You need to show some balance to make yourself believable. I just cannot see it ever being as great as you say. You need to tone it down and show some balance.
Answer 17
America is so full of shit right now, that balance is impossible.
It’s gone down into the sewer and it is beyond redemption. Meanwhile China has it’s act together. To make China look a little foul, and dirty by making up things so that it would seem believable to Americans is just… well, silly.
Americans have zero idea how deep they have fallen.
I would guess that the point of divergence happened in the societies in the late 1960’s. China took one path. America took the other path. Now look where everyone is
You see, everything is expensive in America because the corrupt and the evil have taken over the “democracy” and have made it that they rigged the game. Everything flows into one hundred billion tiny pockets. Fees, taxes, regulations, approvals… all are designed to siphon money away from the government to the corrupt individuals.
This just doesn’t happen in China.
There are two reasons for it. The first is that the culture and society has adapted and changed making whole-scale corruption frowned upon. But most importantly secondly, there is a special police branch; the corruption police that will hunt you down and kill you if you try to put your “fingers in the till”.
China does not play.
So when I see America, or the UK, or Australia, this particular scene comes to mind…
You know…
America is being “really really bad” right now. It’s pushing, and pushing for war. The entire fucking world can see this.
I really don’t know what the Hell is wrong with the American leadership. China is not going to be another Yemen. Maybe they want to go out with a “bang” instead of a “whimper”? I don’t know.
One thing that I can tell you is that China is a very deathly serous nation. As the video says, it has taken over a decade for the city of Boston to renovate a fucking bridge. China does it in 48 hours.
Imagine, just imagine what China can do if it is attacked! Especially since it is allied with Russia, North Korea, and Iran. And has pretty much unified all of Asia to include the EU (minus the UK). Imagine…
Question 18
Now you may think this is a bit way out, but I share anyway. I guess you of all people can accept way way out!
I resonate with your site as you know. I also resonate with this site which I have been following intuitively for many years after an event of my own which confirmed this lady had something very special to share. It may not be fitting with your venue, or you may find it too far out which is why I haven’t added a comment. Every day I visit your site, I enjoy all the readers’ comments, sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the intellect and to keep saying, wonderful thank you isn’t really cutting it! But your site is wonderful thank you!
So I share because it might relate to the changes you call the big bump.
This was the newsletter for March. You can listen to her voice if you don’t have time to read all the script. It is very meaningful to me but its all down to personal experience I guess. I don’t understand all of how she puts things, but a part of me does greatly.
It is a very positive shift all the same, and light and sound are the name of the game. I connect with stones and trees and hear sounds naturally. My happy place is on the hills and loving the earth.
I will check it out and so will others that visit the MM site. Best regards and a big thank you!
Question 19
While you were in the organization, have you at any time, walked on Mars?
Answer 19
I can say that I have used the transport portal to go to other places. And they had gravity that in every case was less than the earth. At no time was it more than what I am used to on Earth.
I can tell you that I was inside of a structure that had lighting, and an atmosphere that was suited for other species other than humans, but I did not find it uncomfortable.
I can also say that I had no idea where I went. I can only guess.
That being said, I do know about a very specific facility on Mars. I know about it because that is where the “pilot” that controlled the (EBP / ELF) artifice lived. And being so entangled with this artifice, I was able to “sense” or “overlay” thoughts, impressions or images with this “pilot” entity (as long as it permitted it).
It is through these impressions that I am able to remember, specific (and very limited), images feelings and events. For me, it is almost like being there. Almost.
On a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no experience. And 10 being the full human sensory experience. We can thus rate other forms of media and electronics to obtain a better understanding of what I have been able to capture in sensory stimuli.
Reading a story is about a 1.
Reading poetry is about a 2.
Radio and television are pretty much a 3 and a 4 on this scale.
A 4D movie with movement and scents is around a 5.
Wearing a deep sea diving suit, and walking on the ocean floor is around a 6.
And the overlay of sensory input on the experiences of this other being is a 7.5.
So, no. To my knowledge I was never physically on the planet Mars that I am aware of. Though I could have been.
But I was entangled with the Pilot of the artifice, and that provided me with some experiences that were similar to being on Mars. And so I have written about them. As strange and unusual as they seem. But what do you want me to do? Shut the fuck up about it, then die. And thus leave my experiences to disappear into nothingness so that no one benefits from it? Is that what you want?
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China is a traditional nation that has zero tolerance for progressive ideas or values. And we, within China, see this every day. This is a point that I have made time and time again, and have written various articles on this particular subject. And yet, we are reminded of this fact once again.
Here's a great article. All credit to the original author. Republished from National Justice. Edited to fit this venue.
China: Nationalists Smash Cyber Network of Feminists and Foreign Backed Social Justice Warriors
A cyber army of nationalists have successfully shut down a network of feminists and American-style leftists on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
More than a dozen prominent accounts belonging to purple haired women preaching homosexuality, hatred against men, and attacks on the traditional family were banned from the site for violating Weibo’s policy on promoting hate.
How it began…
The confrontation began when US supported Chinese feminist Xiao Meili posted a video.
It was a video of a woman harassing a random man for smoking a cigarette near a restaurant.
SJW feminists have a “death wish”.
The man responded by throwing his drink in her face.
Meili attempted to paint the incident as a social indictment of Chinese men.
Instead online users swarmed her comments and began protesting her “xenocentrism”.
Xenocentrism is a term used against people attempting to import American and European Union values to China.
When several prominent Chinese “social justice warriors” rallied to her defense and accused the critics of “intimidating” her, the dispute spiraled into an all out cyber war.
Those that attack the Confucian ethic of caring for the elderly.
And those that engage in frivolous sexual harassment accusations.
Western Media are howling!
Western media is up in arms about the affair, blaming the Chinese government for having a role in “silencing” or “censoring” these women.
Article 35 of the Chinese constitution guarantees the right to free speech.
However, Weibo is a privately owned company, meaning that it wouldn’t even be censorship under American law.
The feminists have filed an impotent lawsuit against Weibo similar to ones filed by Americans against Silicon Valley monopolies in hopes of being reinstated.
“Free Speech” or CIA sponsored NGO “Color Revolutions”?
“Human rights” groups, US/European controlled media, and NGOs attempting to spur a political response for merely banning users engaged in what the Chinese perceive as hate speech contradicts their position on online speech in America.
Every powerful institution in the West supports ruthlessly suppressing pro-normal beliefs in America and Europe, including affirming that men cannot be transformed into women through drugs and mutilation.
As politicians, corporations and feminist activists in the United States like to remind us, the right to free speech is not a right to a platform.
Traditional Values within China
Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has sought to avoid a looming demographic winter by increasing national birth rates.
Defending the dignity of the traditional Chinese family, which includes a husband, a wife, children and often older relatives, has been made a national priority by president Xi.
This embrace of tradition is a drastic departure from Mao Zedong’s Marxist campaign to “liberate” women from marriage and force them to go to work instead.
Conclusion
China is quickly becoming a photo-negative of America.
Billionaires who try to exert political influence have their monopolies busted instead.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
Well, in 2020 Trump decided to go to a “hot” war with China. he sent 7 – 8 assault battle carrier groups to the South China Sea, and an undisclosed number of submarines. I’ve discussed this issue before HERE. And we now know that no “disclosed” fighting actually occurred. The flotilla steamed back to the United States “empty handed”, and the Admiral and his staff were fired immediately when they arrived back in Washington DC.
No word or information is provided as to why the Admiral(s) refused to engaged the Chinese, or attempt the take-over of some “minor” outlying islands. We all, in the Western readership” are all oblivious to it. But the fact is that something actually “spooked” the Naval brass (leadership) in charge of the operation. What was it?
We will never know.
But what we do know is that China is decades ahead of the West in certain technologies such as directed energy weapons and electronic suppression systems. Indeed it would be a sorry day for an entire submarine with 100 – 200 crew and all sorts of multi-million dollar munitions to sink softly to the bottom of the South China Sea when nothing works. It would be a scene out of the Foundation Trilogy.
During the story, there was this group of technologists that controlled the manufacturing and science related to all technology. It had become a religion to them. They were dedicated to technology like religious fanatics.
Meanwhile the various empires and governments were using this technology to conduct wars and achieve their very own petty objectives.
So the leader of the technologists decides to shut everything down, and as a result the Empire space fleet of enormous weapons systems and space-dreadnoughts all shut down and came to a complete stop.
That being said, let’s be real.
Ever since the middle 1990’s the United States has invested billions of dollars in the creation of very expensive and very unique submarine warfare systems. These are not to attack Yemen, or Zaire with. They are to attack China, and maybe… Russia with. For the vast bulk of territory that is valuable to China are the shipping lanes in the South China Sea.
So for nearly three decades the United States has invested billions of dollars in these systems, but no one knows about them.
Here we are going to discuss them, and indeed they are IMPRESSIVE. But keep in mind, no matter how impressive they are, and their capabilities are, they can be rendered absolutely and completely inert…
…and sink to the bottom of the South China Sea with one blast of a direct energy weapon. Weapons that completely and absolutely ring the entire Pacific basin near China.
You can have the best trained SEALs, and the most impressive weaponry, and the most excellent leadership, but it means nothing when you are trapped inside a steel tomb three miles beneath the ocean and your nuclear reactor is going into meltdown. Word to the wise.
So while I have no proof that this is what was going on, there is every reason to believe that it is this kind of thing that “spooked” the admirals to call off the invasion and “instigation” force and return home.
Never the less, the American capability is substantive, and for a military-technology geek, this stuff is superbly interesting.
Here’s a great article, and it is amazing. I want to give full and absolute credit to the source and the article author. Please take note. And also remember, like all reprints, they were edited to fit this venue and all credit to the author.
Today, the U.S. Navy’s quartet of converted Ohio class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, or SSGNs, are among America’s most powerful, in-demand, and flexible weapons. These giant and secretive submarines are known for their ability to carry up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and dozens of special operations frogmen into contested territory to ply their quiet trade, but really, they are much, much more than that.
A decade and a half ago, the U.S. Navy was testing incredible new capabilities that it would subsequently integrate into its four yet to be converted SSGNs, including one highly elaborate, but obscure proof of concept exercise that solidified the SSGN concept for the seagoing service. Here is the story of how these vessels came to be and the highly unique, if not exotic capabilities, from drone mothership to command and control center, they possess.
The Genesis of the Ohio SSGN
The decision to covert Ohio class SSBNs into SSGNs originated with the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review, which determined that only 14 of the 18 Ohio class boats were necessary to meet the United States’ nuclear deterrence needs. Eight years later, the Navy began actually converting the four oldest Ohio class submarines – USS Florida, USS Georgia, USS Michigan, and USS Ohio – into the new configuration.
The Navy had considered a number of potential configuration options for the new SSGNs. The concept that the service finally settled on retained 22 of the 24 missile tubes found on Ohio SSBNs, but modified them so that they were unable to fire Trident D5 nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). Instead, each one would be able to launch up to seven BGM-109 Tomahawks using a Multiple All-Up-Round Canister (MAC) adapter. The SLBM fire control systems were similarly replaced with ones for the Tomahawk.
Tubes one and two on each of the four SSGNs would be completely replaced with lockout chambers so combat divers and Navy SEALs could enter and exit the submarine underwater. Personnel could also install a Dry Deck Shelter (DDS) to the top of the hull linked to either one of these modified tubes, or both if required, which could accommodate swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) mini-submarines. As the name suggests, the DDS provides a fully enclosed, dry space to work in on the submarine’s deck, even while it is underwater.
The abortive Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) was supposed to have been able to directly dock with either one of these lockout chambers, as well. The Navy canceled the ASDS program in 2009 after cost overruns and other major setbacks, including a fire that had destroyed the original prototype the year before.
With a DDS installed, a number of additional tubes on the SSGNs would also be blocked off, so the Navy decided to make tubes three through 10 reconfigurable into storage space, if necessary. A dedicated berthing area for a typical contingent of 66 special operators, with a surge capacity of up 102 personnel, was added in the reconfigured missile compartment, as well.
More recent reporting has indicated that a typical load for these submarines is around 100 Tomahawks. This most likely represents between 14 and 16 fully loaded tubes, which would equate to between 98 and 112 missiles in total. This would leave between six and eight tubes available for storage or other purposes, something we will come back to later on in the story.
Beyond that, the SSGN configuration had an all-new a dedicated special operations mission control center and associated mission planning spaces. It also included additional and improved sensor and communications antenna masts on the sail. Other modifications that would allow these submarines to better operate in shallower waters closer to shore, were also likely involved with the conversion.
A rich history of special mission submarines
The Navy had substantial past experience with employing submarines as special operations motherships and in the tactical strike role, to say nothing of using them as specialized covert intelligence gathering platforms, when it had crafted the requirements for the Ohio SSGNs. The ability of a submarine, in general, to transport personnel and materiel, as well as launch raiding parties ashore, while using its inherent capabilities to help avoid detection, was well established by the end of World War II.
Between the mid-1950s and early 1960s, the Navy, in cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and U.S. Air Force, had even used submarines to secretly launch radar-reflecting balloons to probe hostile air defense capabilities. You can read more about these operations in this past War Zone story.
By the Vietnam War, the Navy was using specially configured submarines to support special operations. These included Gato class USS Tunny and the first-in-class USS Grayback, both of which were diesel-electric submarines that had previously been configured to fire the Regulus nuclear-armed cruise missile.
The “hangars” on the decks of these submarines for the airplane-sized Regulus were well suited to modification into lockout chambers for swimmers and shelters for mini-submarines, just like the Ohio’s Trident tubes. In 1968, the Navy went so far as to designate them LPSSs, or amphibious transport submarines.
These boats supported special operations along the coast of North Vietnam and also helped gather intelligence. Grayback was notably involved in Operation Thunderhead in 1972, an attempt to rescue American aviators that the U.S. military believed had escaped from North Vietnam’s infamous Hanoi Hilton prison. Bad weather and other factors eventually led the Navy to abort the mission and SEALs and Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) members never made contact with any escapees.
One SEAL, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Melvin Spence Dry, died during the mission. The U.S. military only acknowledged the operation in 2008, at which time Dry received a posthumous Bronze Star.
In the decades after Vietnam, a number of Sturgeon class nuclear-powered attack submarines also served in similar special operations support roles. In something of prelude to the Ohio SSGNs, as part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, or SALT I agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1981, the Navy disabled the SLBM capabilities on a number of SSBNs, reclassifying them officially as attack submarines.
USS Sam Houston, USS John Marshall, USS Kamehameha, and USS James K. Polk – the first two belonging to the Ethan Allen class and the latter pair being from the Benjamin Franklin class – received further modifications that added DDSs to the top of the hull and dedicated spaces to carry embarked SEAL teams. These submarines continued sailing into the 1990s and Kamehameha was the last to leave service, with the Navy only decommissioning her in 2002.
A new kind of submarine mothership
Still, while the Navy had decades of experience with using submarines to support tactical operations, including special operations, at sea and onshore, the Ohio SSGNs aimed to be far more robust and flexible multi-mission platforms than any of these previous conversions.
As of 2004, the service was still very much fleshing out the specifics of the SSGN conversion and “writing the manual” on how to then employ these submarines. Georgia had become the main testbed for what was still very much an evolving concept, receiving a number of interim modifications including reconfigured internal mission spaces and additional data links and communications equipment. At that time, none of the four chosen Ohios had gone through the full conversion process and they were still years away from actually entering service in their new configuration.
“Two years from now, when we open the wrapping paper to see USS Georgia, a brand-spanking-new SSGN, we are going to need an instruction manual,” U.S. Navy Commodore Robert Shuetz, then-commander of Submarine Squadron 17, said at a change-of-command ceremony for the submarine in December 2004. “A manual that hasn’t been written yet; a manual that will describe in excruciating detail how this new ‘toy’ will be operated.”
“This is where the crew of Georgia has excelled,” Shuetz continued. “They have written the first instruction manual for how this ship and her three sisters, the ‘toys’ in demand by every combat commander, will be operated.”
Silent Hammer
Two months earlier, off the coast of San Diego, California, Georgia, even without anything near the full suite of capabilities outlined in the conversion plan, had demonstrated just what the SSGN configuration might be capable of as part of an experiment nicknamed Silent Hammer. To enhance the realism of the scenario, the Navy inserted this test into a larger exercise, called Trident Warrior, that involved an array of other submarines, ships, aircraft, drones, and special operations forces (SOF).
The Silent Hammer scenario, which lasted a little over a week, involved a joint task force with Georgia in the lead locating and neutralizing mock terrorists on land and at sea. The “red team” occupied various sites on San Clemente Island, situated some 80 miles west of San Diego, which the U.S. military routinely uses for exercise and other test purposes. The contractor-operated offshore support vessel, the R/V Acoustic Explorer, also served as a simulated maritime threat.
The overall objective of the exercise for the “blue team” was to find and fix these faux militants using a variety of intelligence sources and then neutralize them with simulated Tomahawk strikes.
During the experiment, at least publicly, the focus was far more on the submarine’s ability to act as an intelligence-collection platform, as well as a broader “clandestine sea-base” that would provide a “headquarters node from which command and control operations and logistic support were conducted,” including for special operators ashore.
“Our converted Tridents will generate their own intelligence, which allows onboard commanders to make decisions about what’s needed and determine what additional organic sensors should be deployed in virtually any scenario,” by-then-retired U.S. Navy Admiral Frank “Skip” Bowman wrote, referring to the Ohios collectively by the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missiles that the SSBN versions carry, said in the Winter 2005 edition of Undersea Warfare magazine, the official publication of the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Force. Bowman’s last position in the service had been as Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion.
“Silent Hammer demonstrated how a networked force, including sea-based SOF from an SSGN, can fill joint gaps – Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) and Time Sensitive Strike – by conducting large-scale clandestine operations, supported by advanced unmanned systems, to reduce risk and increase capability,” U.S. Navy Captain J.S. Davidson, who headed up the Silent Hammer experiment, had explained in another interview for another story in that same issue of Undersea Warfare.
An intelligence nerve center
It’s hard to overstate how significant the intelligence fusion capabilities demonstrated during Silent Hammer were. For the experiment, Georgia had an embarked joint service command team onboard, who used modified spaces in the submarine to run a forward operations center that controlled other assets under the waves, riding on the surface, in the air, and on land. This was intended to reflect the capabilities that the submarine would have after going through the SSGN conversion, which would create new, more robust mission spaces for command and control elements and intelligence gathering personnel, among others.
This was the first time the Navy had ever done this as part of the development of the SSGN concept of operations and it put the operational commanders right in the thick of things in a whole new way. Unlike traditional surface command ships, such as the USS Blue Ridge, the Georgia was allowing these officers and their staff to direct forward operations while sailing concealed below the surface of the ocean. The submarine’s command center was linked to rear command centers, and their intelligence networks, via satellite. It also had direct data-link feeds from a number of other sources.
In the air, these included the Pelican, a highly modified, pilot-optional Cessna 337 propeller-driven aircraft, and a specially configured Sabreliner twin-engine business jet. The Pelican belonged to the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) and was configured at the time in a way that matched the capabilities of the MQ-1 Predator drone. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory operated the Sabreliner as a surrogate for smaller, lower-altitude unmanned aircraft.
The Lincoln Lab also had their heavily modified Boeing 707 airliner, nicknamed Hannah, a well-known cutting-edge communications and sensor testbed, in the air playing the role of a airborne radar with synthetic aperture and ground-moving-target indicator capabilities. This effectively made it, in part, a surrogate for a U.S. Air Force E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) battlefield management command and control aircraft.
Navy EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare planes and EP-3E Aries II intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft also took part in Trident Warrior and fed information into this network of information sources.
Down below, Georgia was networked together with other vessels taking part in Trident Warrior, including two Los Angeles class fast attack submarines, the USS La Jolla and USS Pittsburgh. In addition, members of the Silent Hammer experiment team were on board the first in class amphibious assault ship USS Tarawa and the Wasp class USS Bonhomme Richard, which were also taking part in the larger exercise.
Ashore, U.S. Navy SEALs, along with other unspecified attached special operators, likely including U.S. Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC), were in direct contact with Georgia. They emplaced their own “unattended” sensors to monitor for potential hostile activity and otherwise fed even more data back to the submarine.
We also know that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) supplied unspecified payloads, as well as sensor systems for the exercise. Georgia itself demonstrated how she might launch unmanned aircraft and an unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) during the exercise to support intelligence collection efforts. We will talk more about these shadowy developments later on.
Data fusion pioneers
The amount of intelligence information collected during the exercise was staggering. The supporting aircraft, ground sensors, and other offboard sensors collected more than 21,000 individual images during the exercise. In total, the task force created nearly 11 gigabytes of data, including thousands of textual alerts and nearly 3,000 actual intelligence “products,” such as PowerPoint presentations distilling various pieces of information, according to an article in a 2007 edition of the Lincoln Laboratory Journal.
Unfortunately, this wealth of information also risked being overwhelming. So, the Navy and the Lincoln Lab had also developed a computerized and heavily automated network system, state-of-the-art for the time, that allowed the command center onboard Georgia to rapidly parse through the mountains of available information for the most relevant data and only download what they needed in full. Being able to avoid downloading unnecessary information was particularly important given the bandwidth limitations in the data links available between the submarine and its various offboard information sources, especially 15 years ago.
Silent Hammer planners, as well as the Lincoln Lab, had been acutely aware of data sharing issues based on lessons learned from a smaller SSGN developmental experiment in 2003, nicknamed Giant Shadow, which involved the USS Florida and took place in and around the secretive Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center, or AUTEC, off the coast of Andros Island in the Bahamas. Similar to the Silent Hammer scenario, Giant Shadow centered on an operation to destroy a chemical weapons plant that mock terrorists were operating on shore.
“We can get this [imagery] real-time down to the submarine,” U.S. Navy Captain William Toti, then commander of the Florida, said in an interview at the time with “60 Minutes” on CBS News. “The SEALs can look at it real-time as they’re planning their missions, and have a better sense of what’s going on.”
The problem in that exercise, as it turned out, had been that there quickly became too much information for personnel on the submarine to sift through and process in real-time. “The providers, not the consumers, decided what information to transmit and when, which created a situation whereby analysts were overloaded with processing extraneous information, yet still had insufficient information for decision support,” according to the 2017 Lincoln Laboratory Journal article.
The flow of information during Silent Hammer was better, but still showed room for improvement. The vast quantities of data meant that it was still easy for intelligence officers to miss important new developments as they did their best to prioritize the efforts. Of the more than 21,000 images that various platforms collected during the exercise, less than 7,000 made their way into the networked database and “blue team” personnel only ever looked at 361 of them at any resolution, downloading just 45 of them in full for more extensive analysis. Still, the task force that Georgia led was ultimately able to find all of the simulated threats and successfully carry out the mock strikes to neutralize them.
Secretive payloads
For how much is known about Georgia’s participation in Silent Hammer, as well as the overall scope and scale of the intelligence gathering and networking systems employed during the exercise, there is little information about the testing of the submarine’s capabilities to launch underwater unmanned vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned aircraft.
It’s not clear what type or types of UUVs participated in Silent Hammer, or if Georgia deployed any of them herself. However, during the earlier Giant Shadow exercise, Florida had become the first Navy submarine to launch and recover the Seahorse Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (AUV) via a modified missile tube. It is very possible that this undersea drone took part in Silent Hammer, as well.
The Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at the Pennsylvania State University had begun development of Seahorse in 1999 under contract to the Naval Oceanographic Office, or NAVOCEANO. At 28 and a half feet long and weighing 10,800 pounds, this underwater drone was more than 10 feet longer than a Mk 48 heavyweight torpedo and just over 7,100 pounds heavier.
Its main job was undersea mapping using a variety of sensors, including multi-beam bathymetric and synthetic aperture sonars, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and a Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD) sensor. Those same sensors could be used to scout out mines and other potential underwater hazards and, in the decades since the Navy took delivery of Seahorse, the service has acquired and fielded a large number of increasingly more capable torpedo-shaped UUVs of various sizes for mapping and mine clearance missions, among others.
The Flexible Payload Module
Georgia didn’t actually launch any unmanned aircraft during Silent Hammer, according to the Navy, but did release two Stealthy Affordable Capsule System (SACS) canisters, each containing an “inert test shape simulating a UAV,” from a Flexible Payload Module (FPM) installed in one of the submarine’s missile tubes.
Since the 1990s, the Navy had been very interested in the idea of pairing unmanned aircraft with submarines to expand the ability of the boats to scout ahead and collect intelligence. Drones working with subs could also act as communications and data relays, probe and collect information on enemy defenses, and potentially even strike targets themselves. For example, in March 1996, the Los Angeles class attack submarine USS Chicago took part in a demonstration in which it tested its ability to both communicate with and actively control an early example of what was then known as the RQ-1 Predator.
Development of the FPM dates back to at least 2000, when the Navy tasked two separate industry consortiums with crafting concepts for future submarines designs, as well as payloads and sensors for them, with an eye toward technologies that could be operational in the years to come. The Navy and DARPA managed this project, aptly named Submarine Payloads and Sensors, cooperatively.
Northrop Grumman, a member of Team 2020, one of the consortiums, which Lockheed Martin headed up, developed the FPM. General Dynamics Electric Boat, the United States’ premier submarine builder, which had built the Ohios, among others, and was involved in the development of the Virginia class attack submarine at the time, was also part of Team 2020.
The FPM was effectively an insert that would slot into a large diameter ballistic missile tube on a submarine, but could be adapted to hold multiple payloads, including numerous unmanned aircraft, that the crew could then launch independently. General Dynamics Electric Boat described it as a “plug and fight” system.
Northrop Grumman designed the first iteration, which had 10 14-inch tubes and a pair of larger 20-inch ones, specifically around the dimensions of the Ohio’s missile tubes. The second FPM prototype, which Georgia carried during Silent Hammer, had only three tubes of an unknown diameter. Each one of those could accommodate a payload inside a SACS, another Northrop Grumman development.
“The FPM and SACS comprise an encapsulation system that facilitates the launch of non-marinized payloads and weapons from a submarine,” according to the article on Silent Hammer from the Winter 2005 issue of Undersea Warfare. “This allows the use of Navy air- or surface-launched payloads – plus those from other services – without the need to redesign them for launching in an undersea environment.”
SACS was “adaptable for long-term storage, variable release depths, launching under broaching or surface-loitering conditions, and the ability to encapsulate small or large payloads,” according that same article.
“In the case of the SUAV [submarine-launched unmanned air vehicle], SACS rises buoyantly to the surface, a sensor in the capsule detects broach, the SACS end-cap is blown away, and the SUAV booster ignites to clear the water and build vertical speed,” notes from a presentation that Steve Weinstein and William McGannon gave at the National Defense Industry Association’s (NDIA) 2002 Joint Undersea Warfare Technology Spring Conference explains. “At the proper moment, the SUAV wings are extended from alongside its long slender body to the horizontal position, the flight control software tilts the SUAV over to the horizontal flight position and once in stable flight, the SUAV turns and climbs to the pre-planned altitude to begin its mission.”
At the time, Weinstein and McGannon were employed with the Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) Submarine Sensor Systems division.
The other industry collective that had taken part in the Submarine Payloads and Sensors program, called Forward Payloads And Sensors for Submarines (Forward PASS), had developed a similar system, known as the Broaching Universal Buoyant Launcher (BUBL), that worked in much the same manner. However, BUBL’s design was meant to work with a variety of existing launcher options on submarines, including torpedo tubes and countermeasures launchers, or even be carried externally. Of course, the external carriage option could have created performance problems or increased the sub’s acoustic signature, making it more vulnerable.
Raytheon was the team leader for Forward PASS, which also included Boeing and Pennsylvania State’s Applied Research Laboratory, among others. General Dynamics Electric Boat was part of both teams in order to provide its extensive knowledge base to help with submarine development and integration questions. There is no mention of Georgia employing BUBL during Silent Hammer.
Submarine-launched drones
While we don’t know what drones Georgia was supposed to have been simulating the launch of from the FPM specifically, Northrop Grumman had also already developed at least one submarine-launched drone known as Sea Ferret in the 1990s. This was an evolution of Ferret, which the company had originally developed for the U.S. Army.
The Sundstrand TJ50 turbojet-powered Ferrets and Sea Ferrets are what we would call loitering munitions today. The approximately 145-pound drones carried both electro-optical sensor packages and 20-pound warheads and could fly out to a maximum range of around 370 nautical miles and a top speed of 300 knots and still be able to orbit around a target area for around two hours.
In December 1996, the USS Asheville, another Los Angeles class attack submarine, simulated launching the Sea Ferret during a technology demonstration. A Cessna 206 light aircraft carried one of the drones under its wing to then simulate the unmanned aircraft in flight. Northrop Grumman had intended the final system, which the Navy did not ultimately adopt, to be torpedo tube-launched using a modified canister for a UGM-84 submarine-launched Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile.
Still, the 1996 test “successfully simulated organic and inorganic UAV operations & SOF support,” according to Weinstein and McGannon 2002 NDIA presentation. It is certainly possible that Northrop Grumman could have developed a follow-on of some sort to Sea Ferret at the time of Silent Hammer.
We also know that the Navy had been holding workshops and other defense industry engagement events to gauge options for submarine-launched unmanned aircraft starting in 2000, around the same time as the Submarine Payloads and Sensors initiative. A slide from a General Dynamics Electric Boat briefing at the 2006 NDIA Systems Engineer Conference, which also touches on the Flexible Payload Module (FPM) development, shows concept art for at least five different potential submarine-launched drone designs.
By 2002, a team that included General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, AeroVironment, and Kollmorgen, had also demonstrated a modified Universal Modular Mast that could shoot small unmanned aircraft into the sky from periscope depth. An artist’s conception of the system shows a drone design virtually identical to the Blackwing, which AeroVironment officially began developing four years later for the Navy as a submarine-launched system.
In his guidance for 2005, then Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark had also called for a follow-on Silent Hammer II exercise that “should employ aerial sensors (UAVs) in addition to ground sensors and exercise full range connectivity links.” It’s not clear if Clark had wanted to demonstrate a true submarine-launched drone capability or if that exercise ever ultimately occurred.
Lockheed Martin’s mysterious Cormorant
Of all the submarine-launched unmanned aircraft in development around the time of Silent Hammer, by far, the most interesting was Lockheed Martin’s shadowy Cormorant, a product of the company’s Skunk Works advanced design division. DARPA managed this program, also known as the Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MPUAV), which sought to develop a relatively large, stealthy, jet-powered drone that a submarine could both launch and recover.
Patent documents show that Cormorant was in development at least as early as 2004. A subsequent official Lockheed Martin video presentation on the Cormorant makes clear that, while DAPRA was officially in charge of the project, it was informed, at least in part, by Navy requirements relating to the Ohio SSGNs.
“The Navy came to us for our concepts for a wide range of unmanned aircraft that could operate from aircraft carriers or surface ships or even submarines,” Bob Ruszkowski, then-Lockheed Martin’s MPUAV Team Project Manager and Technical Lead, said in the video. “This idea was unique in that it was the first time someone had thought about the idea of launching and recovering the vehicle while the submarine was still submerged.”
The Cormorant, in concept, would be launched from a modified missile tube on an Ohio class SSGN at a depth of up to 150 feet and then float the surface “like a cork,” according to Ruszkowski. Rocket boosters would then propel the four-ton, titanium-skinned craft into the air, a traditional turbofan jet engine would take over. During launch, as well as recovery, the intakes and exhausts for the engine would be sealed off from the water.
“The aircraft uses its stealth and mission planning to penetrate hostile airspace,” Ruszkowski continued. “Once it’s in there, it can do a variety of missions, that could be collecting intelligence and reconnaissance on weapons of mass destruction sites, it could be supporting special operations forces. But whatever it’s doing, it’s using its stealth and its mission planning to avoid detection.”
One patent that Lockheed Martin filed in 2004 regarding Cormorant included artwork depicting the drone releasing weapons, suggesting that Lockheed Martin, DARPA, and the Navy may have been considering a strike role from the drone, as well. A Lockheed Martin briefing from 2005 describes the unmanned aircraft as being capable of carrying a 1,000-pound payload in a modular bay, which could include sensors, communications relay systems, and even supplies that it could drop to personnel at a designated drop zone.
After completing its mission, it would return to a rendezvous point and deploy a parachute, landing safely in the water. The submarine would then send out its own tethered remotely operated vehicle to attach a cable to the drone and reel it back in.
It’s unclear how far the program progressed, but we do know that Lockheed Martin conducted a number of disclosed tests, including releasing a test article from a simulated launch tube underwater, dropping that test article into the water, and evaluating the recovery concept that Ruszkowski had described in the video.
Theoretically, Cormorant could have worked using a launcher mounted on a surface ship, as well. The 2004 patent shows an artist’s conception of a surface ship releasing a Cormorant off the side.
Publicly, DARPA canceled development of Cormorant, ostensibly due to budget cuts, in 2008. It’s not clear whether development of the system continued on afterward, possibly in the classified realm, under a different program. Discussions about the unmanned aircraft, or its underlying concepts, virtually evaporated, even from Skunk Works, which had been promoting the project heavily up until then.
In 2009, Lockheed Martin didfile another patent relating to an unmanned aircraft that could be launched and recovered in the water. This application described a system that used an electric ducted fan both for self-propelled operation in the water, as well as in the air. The concept art curious shows an aircraft shaped like an early Cold War Soviet MiG-15, which was reportedly because Lockheed Martin had utilized a modified radio-controlled model of one of these aircraft to test the electric fan propulsion system.
The Ohio class SSGNs enter service
For as open as the Navy was in the early 2000s about the book it was writing on how to employ the Ohio SSGNs, and what capabilities they might have as a result of their refits and in the future, since they actually entered service toward the end of that decade there has been relatively little information about how they have been putting that doctrine into action. Ohio was the first to rejoin the fleet, with General Dynamics Electric Boat delivering the converted submarine on Dec. 17, 2005. A ceremony to mark its return to service occurred nearly two months later.
Florida and Michigan followed on Apr. 8 and Nov. 22, 2006, respectively. For unclear reasons, Michigan did not have her official return to service ceremony until June 2007. Georgia was the last to arrive on Dec. 18, 2007.
The bulk of the official news reporting about these four boats has been primarily concerned with deployments, returns to home port, port visits, and general announcements about their participation in exercises. “The missions that we do are very exciting and challenging,” U.S. Navy Captain Murray Gero, then the commanding officer of the Ohio’s Blue crew, said in one typical pre-deployment story in 2009.
“We typically go to sea with over 100 tomahawk missiles, and that basically replaces a tomahawk missile inventory of three surface warships,” he continued, focusing on the time-sensitive strike mission. “This increases the flexibility of the surface fleet, because we basically allow them to reassign those three ships as soon as we get into our operating theater.”
The Captain did add that the boat was capable of other missions, including intelligence gathering and special operations support, and that “they are very complex, and they involve very close coordination with several outside agencies, including SEALS.” He didn’t offer any more specific details, though.
Conventional deterrence and actual combat
We do know that the boats have flexed their strike muscles both for deterrent purposes and during actual operations. In 2010, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio nearly simultaneously made port visits at Diego Garcia in the India Ocean, in Busan in South Korea, and in Subic Bay in the Philippines, respectively, in what some observers took to be a show of force aimed at China.
“This demonstrated that these platforms offer signaling capabilities that other conventional missile systems lack,” Forrest E. Morgan, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation think tank wrote about these events in a study in 2013. “Yet, one might doubt whether U.S. leaders would even allow SSGNs to surface while on patrol in an engagement zone during a crisis when doing so might put them at risk of attack.”
In 2011, Florida also notably took part in the open stages of Operation Odyssey Dawn, the NATO-led intervention into Libya that led to the ouster and death of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. The submarine fired 93 Tomahawks over the course of the operation, 90 of which hit their targets.
“By virtue of their concealment and endurance, the SSGN platform forces our adversaries to consider that they could be operating almost anywhere at any time,” then-Vice Admiral John Richardson, Commander of Naval Submarine Forces at the time, said upon Florida’s return to its homeport at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia on Apr. 29, 2011. “The sensor suite on the boat allows the captain to gather information and intelligence in situ, passing that back to the commander and responding on the spot. When you combine all that with the tremendous combat capability the boat brings – land attack missiles, special forces, torpedoes – that’s a lot of bets the enemy has to cover down on.”
Richardson subsequently became Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion and then Chief of Naval Operations, the service’s top uniformed officer. He retired in August 2019.
In 2017, Michigan had appeared again in Busan at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea, which was also seen as a signal to the regime in Pyongyang. U.S. President Trump had also revealed and highlighted the submarine’s presence in the region as a counter to North Korean aggression in a telephone conversion with his counterpart in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, which subsequently leaked out into the press. Michigan did go on to conduct exercises with the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and her associated Carrier Strike Group, which had also deployed the region.
Earlier in November 2019, ABC News‘ “Nightline” aired a segment in which David Muir got to spend a day aboard Florida, which is presently operating in the Mediterranean Sea on what was described as a “classified mission.” Muirs interviews with U.S. Navy Rear Admiral William Houston and Captain Seth Burton offered some additional insights into the SSGN operations. Houston is presently tripled-hatted as Director of Plans and Operations for U.S. Naval Forces Europe/U.S. Sixth Fleet, the Deputy Commander of Sixth Fleet, and the Commander of Submarine Group Eight. Burton is the current commander of the Florida.
“We’ve put this submarine right in this area of the eastern portion of the Mediterranean to counterbalance the Russian buildup in Syria,” Houston told Muir. “We’re watching them [the Russians] very very closely. There’s really not a day where we’re not watching them, every single day.”
“If you just look at the region and you’ve got ISIS in Northern Africa, you’ve got what’s going on on the Turkey Syria border right now, the fact that you’re here in the Mediterranean, does that give you a set of silent eyes for the U.S.?” Muir asked Burton. “Absolutely. It gives them eyes where no one knows that they’re being looked at,” he replied.
#USNavy silent service in action! Rare look at the Ohio-class fleet guided-missile submarine #USSFlorida operating in @USNavyEurope AOR. Florida, is capable of conducting clandestine strike operations, carrier and expeditionary strike group operations, and more. #NavyLethalitypic.twitter.com/uiRgUpQSsw
We also know that the Ohio SSGNs regularly conduct intelligence gathering missions during their patrols and work together with SEAL teams and other special operations forces on a routine basis around the world. As Captain Murray Gero noted back in 2009, these boats offer their crews unique experiences and they are among the hottest boats to get on in the fleet.
New capabilities?
If operational information about the Ohio class SSGNs is limited, then details about upgrades and new technologies for these boats have been even scarcer. This stands in stark contrast to how open the Navy had been about the capabilities of these converted submarines early on and how willing it had been to discuss what it might have in store for them in the future, including the drones and UUVs, both of which have seen quantum leaps in the expansion of their capabilities over the last decade and a half.
We do know that by the late 2000s, the Navy was integrating a signals intelligence collection system, called Radiant Gemstone, onto at least some Los Angeles class attack submarines, which you can read about more in this past War Zone piece. This came along with the necessary data links and software backend, known as Radiant Mercury, to rapidly exchange that information with the National Security Agency.
“The RADMERC [Radiant Mercury] program facilitates sharing of critical information across security domains and among allied, coalition and inter-agency partners,” an official list of the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s (SPAWAR) programs as of 2017 explained. “The Radiant Mercury product provides cross-domain information sharing capabilities from Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) to General Service (GENSER) and GENSER to Unclassified.”
This sounds very much like an evolution of the data sharing systems and concepts of operation that Georgia pioneered during Silent Hammer. It also seems like an ideal addition to the SSGNs that would align well with their known intelligence gathering and fusion capabilities, if they didn’t have it already, and may well be an extension of developments that first appeared on the converted Ohios.
The Universal Launch and Recovery Module
We also know that the Flexible Payload Module (FPM) evolved, at least in part, into the Universal Launch and Recovery Module (ULRM), also known as the Universal Launch and Retrieval Module. General Dynamics Electric Boat has described this system as primarily being intended to launch and recover various types of UUVs, including Seahorse, Seaglider, and the Bluefin 21.
The Bluefin 21 became well known world-wide after taking part in the search for the remains of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014. The U.S. Navy subsequently adopted a derivative of this UUV, the Knifefish, primarily for mine hunting missions.
The modified Trident missile tubes would be able to accommodate racks that could launch and recover a number of these relatively small UUVs at once. General Dynamics Electric Boat envisioned the possibility of an SSGN deploying entire swarms of networked underwater drones to conduct persistent surveillance missions across a broad area as one possible application. There were also plans to eventually integrate larger underwater drones into the system.
General Dynamics Electric Boat did not specifically say that this system could launch unmanned aircraft from submarines, but it is possible that it could have been adapted to deploy encapsulated drones. The same system might similarly be able to deploy other payloads, as well, such as mines or decoy balloons.
As it was working on the ULRM, the company also said that it was developing an improved storage module that would be more readily transportable and installable. This, in principle, would have allowed more tailored special operations force packages to rapidly deploy to a forward port to rendezvous with one of the submarines for a specific mission.
There was also talk about another module that could contain additional masts with sensors or potentially for deploying additional payloads, such as drones. The modular nature of these systems combined with the large number of missile tubes on the SSGNs offered the potential to readily mix and match capabilities that would be best suited to the boat’s operational needs.
In 2013, the Navy said that it would test a prototype ULRM onboard one of the Ohio class SSGNs the following year. The goal at that time was to have examples available for actual operational use by 2019, but it’s unclear if this has occurred or not.
Upward Falling Payloads And Hydra
In 2013, DARPA itself initiated a new program to explore the possibility of launch small unmanned aircraft from capsules that could lie on the seabed, dormant and potentially unknown to potential opponents, for years at a time. A submarine could potentially deploy them covertly, as well, a mission that seems well suited to the SSGN concept of operation.
Known as Upward Falling Payloads (UFP), this project envisioned a system that American forces could activate remotely, or that might be triggered automatically in some fashion, and then release its payload. “Such a system of pre-positioned, deep-sea nodes could enable a full range of maritime mission sets that are more cost-effective than existing manned or long-range unmanned naval assets,” DARPA’s archived page for the project explains. UFP is also reminiscent of the Broaching Universal Buoyant Launcher (BUBL) system from a decade earlier, but it’s not clear if there is any actual direct relationship between the two projects.
At the same time, DARPA was working on this seabed payload launcher concept, it was also exploring a modular, standardized payload module that could work with submarines, as well as aircraft and surface ships, called Hydra. This could deploy either unmanned aircraft or UUVs and sounds similar in some respects to the Stealthy Affordable Capsule System (SACS). Again, it is unclear if there was any direct relationship between these two efforts.
Both UFP and Hydra appear to have come to an end sometime between 2016 and 2017. As with Cormorant, it’s not immediately clear if these continued on in some other form, including in the classified realm.
In 2013, the Navy itself had successfully demonstrated the ability to launch an encapsulated unmanned aircraft via a submarine’s torpedo tube. The Los Angeles class USS Providence (SSN-719) deployed the Naval Research Laboratory’s eXperimental Fuel Cell Unmanned Aerial System, or XFC UAS, using a launch system known as Sea Robin, which used a modified Tomahawk missile launch canister. That same year, the service said it was also actively testing AeroVironment’s Blackwing using the standard three-inch countermeasures launchers on its submarines.
More capable than we know
All told, it seems very possible, if not probable, that the capabilities of the Ohio class SSGNs have significantly expanded since Silent Hammer in 2004, even if the specifics are limited. Even without new systems, such as the Universal Launch and Recovery Module, the Ohio SSGNs have already been using their modified Trident launch tubes to deploy unmanned systems and for other novel purposes, including just acting as valuable storage space within the confines of the submarines.
The intelligence collection and fusion systems that Georgia had in 2004, even before its full conversion into the SSGN configuration, were state-of-the-art. More than a decade of improvements in basic computing technology and processing power, as well as new developments in data links and communications systems, including new ways for submarines to transmit and receive information, can only have drastically expanded those already impressive capabilities.
UUV and drone technology has also come a long way, both in general and within the Navy specifically. The service, by itself, has made significant progress in submarine-launched drones, drone swarm technology, and autonomous capabilities that apply to unmanned platforms in the air, at sea, and underneath the waves. Just this year, the Navy hired Boeing to build a new fleet of large displacement UUVs as part of a program called Orca, which you can read about in more detail in this past War Zone piece. All of this aligns well with the SSGN’s capabilities, and the Navy’s long-standing plans to expand them, as we understand it.
The Navy has also been quietly working on a new and revolutionary electronic warfare architecture, known as the Netted Emulation of Multi-Element Signature against Integrated Sensors, or NEMESIS, since at least 2013. The service has described this effort, which you can read about in-depth in this past War Zone feature, as involving swarms of unmanned platforms, various systems on ships and submarines, countermeasures and electronic warfare suites, and more that could combine to project signatures mimicking large groups of aircraft, surface ships, and subs.
The Ohio SSGNs present an ideal platform for deploying elements of and supporting this cutting-edge and critical initiative. Most notably, they could launch swarms of small electronic-warfare payload-carrying drones deep in enemy territory that can project false fleets and aerial armadas on enemy sensors and act as decoys during a time of war or probe and gather intelligence on enemy air defense networks during a time of peace. Launching radar-reflector carrying balloons, a 60-year-old proven tactic, could also be part of this capability. In fact, we know of no better platform to carry out such a task.
The Ohio SSGNs could also see the integration of new conventional weapons to support their time-sensitive strike mission, and otherwise expand their offensive capabilities, in the future, as well. The Navy is already working on a number of new and upgraded missiles that could have submarine-launched applications, such as the multi-purpose SM-6 Block IB, a highly classified supersonic anti-ship missile known as Sea Dragon, and the future Next Generation Strike Weapon. The Navy has also already test-fired prototype submarine-launched hypersonic boost-glide vehicles from Ohio class submarines under the Conventional Prompt Strike program, though it’s unclear if it may choose to deploy those only on those submarines configured as SSBNs.
Smaller weapons could dramatically increase the boats’ already impressive magazine depth. The extra capacity could give the submarines more diversity in their arsenals, allowing them to engage broader target sets, as well. European missile consortium MBDA’s SPEAR 3 mini-cruise missile and its SPEAR-EW variant, which carries an electronic warfare payload instead of a warhead, are good examples of the kind of miniaturized missiles that could be extremely valuable additions to the Ohio SSGNs.
The Navy has also been putting these converted Ohios through major refits, which serve as an opportunity to integrate even more new capabilities. Georgia left the dry dock at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in March 2019 and Ohiofinished her stint at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Washington State in August. Michigan is set to return to the fleet in 2020. It is not clear when Florida, which is presently deployed in the Mediterranean, will go through the process. These overhauled SSGNs likely represent a whole new level of capability derived from lessons learned over the last decade and a half of operations.
Successors to the Ohio SSGNs
Unfortunately, the Ohios SSGNs won’t be able to serve forever, they are already the oldest Ohio class submarines in existence, and the Navy is already exploring concepts for what comes next. The experience with these four boats has directly informed the development of the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) for the future Block V Virginia class attack submarines.
The VPM has four large multi-purpose tubes that can accept various modules just like the modified Trident missile tubes on the Ohio SSGNs, including the same seven-round Tomahawk launchers. The designs of the existing Block III and future Block IV Virginia class boats also already feature two similarly-sized Virginia Payload Tubes (VPT) in the bow of the submarine.
As such, the VPTs already bring some of the multi-mission capability found on the SSGNs to the Block III Virginias and this will only be more pronounced on the Block IV boats. The Navy has already set aside at least four Block II and III Virginia class submarines for special operations support missions, with two more available as alternates, if required.
These six Virginias – USS Hawaii, USS Mississppi, USS New Hampshire, USS New Mexico, USS North Carolina, and USS North Dakota – can also carry the same types of Dry Deck Shelters (DDS) as the Ohio SSGNs. All of these submarines actually share a common pool of DDSs that Navy personnel can install on any of the boats, as necessary.
The Navy’s present plan is to fully replace the Ohio SSGNs with Block IV Virginias by 2026, though, especially given the recent refits, its possible that the former boats could end up remaining in service longer. It’s not clear whether older Virginias would continue to serve int he special operations support role, as well.
Beyond that, the Navy is already exploring options for what it presently refers to as Large Payload Submarines, which will be a future class of multi-purpose, multi-mission boats derived from the Columbia class SSBN design that will be capable of, as the name implies, deploying a wide variety of large payloads. This could include both UUVs and submarine-launched drones. The submarines could also have the ability to deploy networked swarms of these unmanned platforms above or below the waves.
At present, the Navy plans to buy a minimum of five Large Payload Submarines, but it’s not clear when they might actually enter service. The current schedule would be to buy one every three years starting in 2036, after the initial Columbia class production run, totaling 12 boats, ends.
However, there are already concerns about how expensive and complex the Columbias are, each of which will cost more than $7 billion, and whether General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding will be able to keep to the schedule. This, in turn, could push plans for the Large Payload Submarines further into the future. You can read more about all this in-depth in this past War Zone story.
More than 15 years after Georgia wrote the first few chapters in the book on Ohio class SSGN concepts of operations, the U.S. Navy’s four SSGNs remain some of the most unique and capable platforms within the Pentagon’s portfolio, and that is just based on what we know about their abilities. By every indication, these submarines have and continue to serve as testbeds for even more impressive developments that still have yet to become public.
Just think, if the ability to launch various drones, both air and sea types, and especially higher-end ones like the Skunk Works’ Cormorant, was very much in development on multiple fronts 15 years ago, just imagine what is deployed today or on the drawing board. If an SSGN can carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles, how many small weaponized drones can it carry and how could an enemy ever defend against such an overwhelming onslaught crossing their shores? It is this type of imagination and the room to realize such dreams that have made these submarines so valuable and, for lack of a better term, revolutionary.
It’s safe to say that the Navy’s SSGNs are a case of “more than meets the eye,” as they are much more than the stealthy Tomahawk slingers and SEAL delivery platforms that the public perceives them to be. While their arsenal of cruise missiles and frogmen is certainly formidable, their ability to adapt, spy on the enemy, control the battle from under the waves, and above all else, accommodate new ideas, makes them uniquely ferocious to any enemy nation they may be sitting off of at any given moment.
Conclusion
What an article! Ok. Please keep in mind that the best made weapons and technology is meaningless when the environment that you expect to use it in has altered and changed. Which is China. They DO NOT PLAY.
You might amass all your forces on a plain. Everyone wearing the best and strongest armor. Your men might have the best training and the horse might be the most loyal and robust in the world. But that means nothing when a wall of water comes crashing down and wipes out your forces.
China is a nation that is not only four to five time larger in population, but it is merit driven. And not just merit in the ability to dispute diversity issues, or numbers on a tabulated spreadsheet, but real hard and fast (hard scrabble) abilities.
They are formidable, and especially now that China and Russia and Iran are all linked together militarily as one. The USA had best stop playing with the boyhood toys and grow up. It’s a new game, and a new way of doing things. The best thing that the USA can do is “get with the program” and adapt, or die though extinction.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Did you know that some species of creatures view size of particular shapes or body forms as sexually stimulating. It’s sort of like how birds are attracted to displays of plumage, and precise mating dances, or how bees and insects are attracted to scents and colors. Well, what is very interesting and what we are going to talk about here are the sexual “turn ons” for long extinct animals.
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Sounds like fun, huh?
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In particular we are going to amuse ourselves with the magnificent rack on the megaloceros.
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I mean, when you see this creature cross the street, or walk into a store, or get into a car, you will not be able to help yourself. You will be staring at that absolutely stunning enormous rack. I am not kidding, I will tell you what!
Lived from the Pleistocene through the Modern Period
Lived on the plains of Eurasia
Was as long as an elk
Weighed as much as 10 white-tailed deer
Was an herbivore
Its antlers were longer than a car
About Megaloceros
Megaloceros, also known as the Irish Elk, was a genus of deer which lived approximately 2 million to 10,000 years ago – from the Pleistocene through the Modern Period. It was first discovered during the late 18th century and was named by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in 1799. Its name means “giant horn.”
The genus of Megaloceros covers 9 distinct species of this genus, but only one of them were as large as small dinosaurs. And that species is Megaloceros giganteus. It is also the one that we will be talking about today.
Megaloceros.
If you look at Megaloceros pictures, then you’ll quickly realize that this animal looks like an elk with an extremely large set of horns. However, that is not entirely accurate. These mammals had more in common with North American deer than it did with European elks. Another one of the interesting facts about Megaloceros is that it wasn’t exclusive to Ireland either. This deer lived all over Eurasia.
This animal was approximately 8 feet long and weighed around 1,500 pounds. Which is about the length of a modern elk but nearly double the weight of one. Another feature that made it quite different from looking like a modern elk is its antlers. Its antlers were about 12 feet long and weighed around 100 pounds.
As impressive as that sounds, their antlers weren’t used for combat, however. They were almost certainly used by the male deer to attract females.
Megaloceros went extinct right at the cusp of the last Ice Age. And scientists aren’t exactly sure why.
Some paleontologists have speculated that overpopulation and inbreeding led to a population of Megaloceros’s that were unable to adapt when the climate changed. Other paleontologists believe that mankind hunted them into extinction. Most likely, it was a combination of these two facts which led to the inevitable demise of these majestic looking animals.
Speaking about some large racks…
Of course, I just couldn’t help myself. Heh heh.
Here’s the videos. Most are under thirty seconds. Very quick. To open them up, just click on the link below.
MOV1 – She’s from Hunan, and I love her in traditional clothes.
Now wasn’t that fun? Yeah. I like looking at pretty girls.
And the point that I am trying to make is… um… well, big physical attributes tell us nothing about the person who displays them. But they DO tend to get our attention.
I posit that the Megaloceros evolved with these large enormous horns not because it offered it better ability to forage, to run, to camouflage or to survive, but rather to attract the attention of females that wouldn’t help but notice his enormous, gigantic presence.
Instead of survival, it was procreation of the species.
Which is a very important driving force for life. And while it might not be all that progressively popular to admit, it is true. Species that are not able to procreate to the point where it is able to live within it’s environment are doomed for extinction.
Perhaps we see that manifesting in humans as well. Eh?
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If you read the American (and Western) media today, you will discover that there are a number of long-running screeds regarding China, that play over and over, and over again.
For instance, China is filthy, the people are evil, they lie and cheat and steal, and they are oppressed by the evil communist regime. Etc, Etc. Well one of the narratives is exactly that; “the oppression” of the Chinese people.
Here we are going to talk about this “oppression”.
Here’s a nice little video that works to dispel that illusion. Keep in mind that oppressed people do not smile, laugh, and have fun. They tend to hide inside their homes, and spend the evenings alone watching television or playing games in front of video monitors. They avoid groups. They talk about having to defend themselves, and they justify their stance of defense to be “freedom” from “tyranny”.
You don’t see that in China.
You do see that in the United States, though.
Shanghai, China.
Improving the lives of the citizens
All governments will say that their first order of business is to improve the lives of their citizens.
Most of them will actually mean it. Some of them will work hard at it. But only a few will succeed in doing it.
We know that GDP numbers cannot accurately capture the totality of life.
But certainly we can see that the trend of GDP per capita can offer strong clues about whether things are looking better, or worse, over time.
Harvard Business Review issued this very interesting report, that I would recommend for a read: https://lnkd.in/gY4F6DP
Check out this video
Here’s the video.
And NO, it’s not me. This is a video blogger that travels the world and speaks better Chinese than I do. He has a vblog called JaYoeNation. He’s pretty good. LOL.
Take a spell and let it download. If it is taking too much time, you can click on THIS LINK and down load a zipped-file and watch the video directly. It’s pretty good. Please enjoy.
You have got to see the pictures and this video…
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China vs. USA Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please note that this article has a large number of videos. It is important for you to watch them to get the full impact of the message. None of the videos are longer than four minutes, but they might take some time to download depending on your service provider.
There’s a bunch of dunder-head idiots inside the United States that wants to get involved in a war. Whether it is with Russia, or Iran, or China. They want a war. And they are justifying war like they are some middle-school boys planning on a swing set in the playground. It’s dangerous, but it’s all there in black and white.
Right up front in our faces….
Rep Ted Yoho had a PR nightmare this week after reportedly calling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez some ungentlemanly terms. Though this is the controversy du jour, we should not lose sight that actual policy is more important than sound bites. Yoho recently announced plans to submit legislation this week for the “Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act” that would commit the United States to war against China if Beijing attacks Taiwan. Such a proposition has long been popular in the Beltway. Before tying the United States to Taipei’s fate, however, a closer analysis is warranted.
-Should the United States Go to War with China if Taiwan is Attacked?
But, you know, this time is really different. Oh, now. The “boys” won’t be a marching off to war. It will pretty much be “game over” for the Old US of A.
They don’t seem to understand just how meager and vulnerable the United States actually is.
The truth is that America is so weak and disorganized right now, that the slightest “event” could have everyone fighting each other like a scene out of a Hollywood movie.
And to make this point, just how absolutely RIPE America is ready for social upheaval and tearing other Americans apart, I have to show a clip from a movie. It’s one that most non-Americans are confused by. But here, now that you understand the real context behind the deeper meaning of the scene, you can well appreciate it.
America is ripe and ready for this…
Exactly… THIS…
Sorry that the quality is on the poor side. But the point is there. Listen to it, and embrace it.
American against American. Black against white. Urban against rural. Rich against poor. Spanish against Anglos.
Notice how the wealthy oligarchy observes and knows what is going on, but they either [1] divert their eyes because they don't want to see, or [2] watch the events with glee. Others also watching look up it with horror, disgust, and a state of trying to monitor the situation reasonably. This piece of video art is a masterpiece.
And I'm not saying that solely because they use Lynyrd Skynyrd music as the backdrop.
I am not the only one saying this. It’s pretty much well-established inside of America today.
The church fight scene in Kingsman: The Secret Service is hands down one of the most memorable action sequences in recent history. But there are actually layers to what makes it so great – layers beyond the primal gratification we collectively derive from seeing someone (rightfully) get the shit kicked out of them.
-Bosshunting
People are angry. They’re angry about the Covid lockdowns. They’re angry because they are losing their jobs and can’t pay the rent and feed their families. They’re angry because the stores are all out of the food and supplies they need to survive.
They are angry because they get beaten up by the cops if they don’t keep a certain distance from each other in public. They’re angry at the politicians who pretend to be helping but in truth are making things worse with partisan, self-serving bullshit. And African-Americans are angry because they find themselves — yet again — in the crosshairs of deadly racism.
In short, Americans are as mad as hell.
America is on the verge of an explosion. I can feel its rumblings already. My guess is it’s already started happening in a small way, and within the next year or two it is going to spread like wildfire.
…
Right now, virtually the entire country is in a really bad mood, and unfortunately some people will choose to resort to violence.And it can happen in places that you might not expect. For instance, an argument over social distancing rules at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma resulted in three people getting shot…But as our world gets even crazier, more people than ever are going to be going off the deep end.Our nation is so deeply divided, and explosions of anger and hatred are becoming increasingly common. So many Americans are willing to “shoot first and ask questions later”, and the shooting of a 25-year-old African-American man in Georgia is causing a national uproar…
-End of the American Dream
Rage
Take this…
People are screaming at each other a lot these days. The most recent example is a viral video, seen by millions of people since last week, of a woman who went ballistic because a service dog was sitting near her in a Delaware restaurant.The dog in question belonged to a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. But that didn't stop the woman from unleashing a three-minute, profanity-laced tirade. I'm sure all the diners at Kathy's Crab House lost their appetite that evening."It is disgusting to have an animal in a public restaurant ... I think it's gross!" the woman screams. (This is a family-friendly publication, so I can't print much more of what she said.)It seems everybody is furious today. We've created a culture of outrage. People are offended, and if you aren't offended by what offends them, they are offended by your lack of offense.We are addicts. We crave a daily fix of rage. We rant on Facebook and Twitter because we need a regular dose of vitriol to fuel our habit. Then we turn on a newscast to watch agitated political commentators throw more gasoline on the flames.The rage burns on both sides of our political divide. White supremacists march with tiki torches to spread hate. Black Lives Matter activists loot stores and smash windows. Former NFL fans burn football jerseys on barbecue grills. Campus lectures require police protection because leftists have threatened right-wing speakers. Madonna drops expletives and threatens to blow up the White House because she's so mad President Trump won the election.Is there anything we don't get angry about these days? Depending on which side of an issue Americans stand, we are offended by Starbucks coffee, Chick-fil-A sandwiches, Target restrooms, CNN, Fox, Nike shoes, the real cause of hurricanes or whatever the actress Jennifer Lawrence said yesterday.Our rage has become so absurd that a shopper at a Hobby Lobby craft store was offended by cotton stalks (yes, cotton stalks!) in the fall décor aisle. She took her protest online and demanded that the store stop selling dried cotton bouquets for $12.99 because slaves were used in the 1800s to harvest the plants.Honestly, it makes me wonder if the real cause of global warming is the alarming increase in human anger. We're going to burn up this planet with our rage if we aren't careful.
- Is America About to Explode?
Ok, to America isn’t just being led by psychopathic madmen with an IQ of a sixth grader, but that the American people are all worked up in a lather; in a frenzy. And the pressure is ON.
Now, couple this environment with the wealthy aristocratic and oligarchy inside the Washington Beltway that want to start a war with China. You know for “democracy”, and “freedom”!…
Back to China
But back to the subject at hand…
… if the fucking morons in Washington DC really want to engage in a Hot War with China…
… they will be doing it with Russia as well.
As they both; Russia and China, share self-defense interests.
Here’s how a neocon journal characterizes going to a hot war with china. Here’s one of the precious few “con” points of view. As most view points are “we can fight the world and win! Rah! Rah!” So I was greatly relieved to read this contrary article from the K-street in Washington DC.
Well…
…sort of at least.
There would likely be no dispute from any American that we affirm and endorse the prospect that the people of Taiwan ought to be free, deserve to determine their own form of government, and above all to decide whether it is in their interests to unify with China. But what price should America be asked to pay to underwrite the freedom aspirations of another country?Any conflict against China over Taiwan would result in American service men and women being killed, likely in large numbers. China’s military has been built over the past two decades specifically to deter the U.S. from attacking them–via anti-access, area denial (A2/AD)–but if deterrence fails, to build a defense force that would be able to sink our ships, knock out our satellites, and shoot down our fighters from great distances; if it ever came to a ground war, they have more than 375 million military-aged males from which to draw for their Army.
And keep in mind that the TOTAL population of the USA is less than that. That’s right. There are more Chinese military males than Americans in total.
United States Population (2021) - Worldometerhttps://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-populationThe current population of the United States of America is 332,526,757 as of Thursday, April 15, 2021, based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest United Nations data. the United States 2020 population is estimated at 331,002,651 people at mid year according to UN data.
And they are not some idiotic, uneducated simpletons either. They are not “cannon fodder”.
But even he “get’s it” and understands the risks. Well, some of them at least…
Though Yoho was initially hailed as a more libertarian member of Congress, and even introduced a resolution in 2015 that would have reined in the president’s warmaking powers, the proposal to use U.S. troops for Taiwan’s defense is not characteristic of outside-the-box thinking championed by political renegades, but instead comes from the worst pages of the establishment’s playbook.
Instead, the best way for America to help Taiwan would be to enable them to build an A2/AD defensive bubble of their own to deter China.
But we must ensure our security first and foremost. Committing ourselves to a war against China for the benefit of another government would be a tremendous mistake because the cost to us could be a lost war, or a victory so expensive it bankrupts us and puts our own security in peril.
However you look at it, extending security guarantees to Taiwan is not in America’s interests.
-Daniel L. Davis
But he really doesn’t fully understand the risks. In his mind, and you read it for yourself, he has identified two possible outcomes of a war with China. Which are;
America could lose the war, and have to return home. (Vietnam, Afghanistan)
A victory so expensive it bankrupts the nation.
To which I must posit the most OBVIOUS outcome that for some reason the fucking idiots on K-street in Washington DC are somehow missing…
That World War III could erupt, all cities in America are destroyed, and the rest of the work sacks what remains, and America becomes a footnote in the history books. While a united-Asia administers a radioactive North America as a “backwater: for slave labor.
Here’s some video clips from various history/war movies. Let them serve as a reminder that any conflict with China, Russia, Iran or any combination will be up-front, personal, and on American soil.
Sierra Leon
This is about Sierra Leon. Rich oligarchy in the UK used the people of Sierra Leon to create a war of distraction so that they could mine diamonds. Here we see the one faction, the “rebels” enter a town and create havoc.
Shooting an RPG during the Sierra Leon civil war.
Do not be under the impression that this cannot happen inside of America. America is terribly balkanized, and this is EXACTLY what the oligarchy needs to further their plans.
In Blood Diamond, the sinner ripe for enlightenment is Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a native of Zimbabwe who makes a point of referring to the country by its old colonial name, Rhodesia. A former Angolan mercenary, Danny now (the film is set in the late nineties) smuggles Sierra Leone diamonds into Liberia in return for guns and rocket-launchers, which go to the rebel army (the RUF)—the army we’ve seen mowing down women and children, training young boys to be rapists and mass murderers, and conscripting hardier men to work in the diamond fields.
-NYMag
The difficulties in the country were compounded in March 1991 when conflict in neighbouring Liberia spilled over the border into Sierra Leone. Momoh responded by deploying troops to the border region to repel the incursion of Liberian rebels known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor. Sierra Leone’s army came under attack not only from the NPFL but also from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by former Sierra Leone army corporal Foday Sankoh, who was collaborating with the Liberian rebels; this was the beginning of what would be a long and brutal civil war.
In April 1992 Momoh was deposed in a coup led by Capt. Valentine E.M. Strasser, who cited the poor conditions endured by the troops engaged in fighting the rebels as one of the reasons for ousting Momoh. A National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) was established with Strasser as the head of state. During Strasser’s administration the civil war escalated, with the RUF increasing the amount of territory under its control, including lucrative diamond mines—the source of the “blood” or “conflict” diamonds used to fund its activities. There were disturbing reports of atrocities committed against the civilian population not only by rebel forces but also by some government troops. Civilians were subject to horrific acts of mutilation, including having their limbs, ears, and lips cut off. Incidents of rape and forced labour were widespread, and many civilians were used as unwilling human shields or held in captivity and subjected to repeated acts of sexual violence by the combatants. Forced conscription was pervasive and made many civilians, including children, unwilling participants in the conflict.
And here’s the most important statement;
Still, in the years after the war, Sierra Leone was consistently rated as one of the world’s poorest countries.
Any civil war in America will not be one that can be easily mended. A war will have long-term damage to what America is, and the fantasies that it stands upon.
Wealthy oligarchs treat the world as their property and use people and citizens as pawns to do their bidding.
And make no mistake, a Civil War is result during any global internal war. this time, the nation will not be unified against a common enemy. It will remain balkanized where every “man for himself” will carve out their existence.
Of course, the scene is not from Blood Diamond, but it could be. The situation in Sierra Leon was very awful.
As I watched the senseless brutality, the shooting of mothers and children as they fled, I was torn up, divided. I thought, Why do I need to see this? Then I thought, This happened in Sierra Leone and is still happening in parts of Africa—I need to see it. Then I thought, If I need to see it, I need to see more than a sneering villain with an eye patch. I need to understand how this man—and the people under him—become the monsters they are.
-NYMag
But enough of the fiction.
.
TheSierra Leone Civil War was an armed conflict in theWest African country of Sierra Leone from 1991 t0 2002. The war began on March 23, 1991, when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under Foday Sankoh, with support of Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor andhis group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NFPL), attempted to overthrow the government of Sierra Leonean President JosephMomah.TheSierraLeone Civil War (1991-2002)
Or, anywhere in Africa or South America
The story line is identical. It’s just the climate, the societies, and the people that are different. Do you think that because America considers itself a First-Class nation that it is somehow immune to these kinds of conflicts?
Do you believe that this would NEVER happen in the United States, simply because the wealthy people in the Untied States are kind, caring, compassionate and religious?
This is what happens when the government of a country becomes big, bloated and terribly corrupt…
The situation was further complicated when Siaka Stevens, the third prime minister, took office in 1968. He served for 17 years and during his term, created a one-party political system which led to the further dismantling of public administrative offices and extreme levels of corruption. In 1985, the fourth prime minister, Joseph Momoh, proved to be one and the same. Under his watch, Sierra Leone suffered an absolute economic crisis. Public officials were left unpaid and, in retaliation, many looted and destroyed government property and offices. This included public school teachers which led to the complete collapse of the public educational system. By 1991, Sierra Leone was one of the most impoverished countries in the world, and its citizens were dissatisfied with their living conditions.
-World Atlas
A very important review. Does it sound somewhat familiar; like it might actually happen in America…
In 1982, as Sierra Leone’s government and economy worsened, a group of Sierra Leone University, Fourah Bay College students set up a paramilitary organization.
They were led by their group leader Alie Kabbah.
They fled to eastern Sierra Leone to form a political organization to rebel against the Temne tribe's All People’s Congress (APC). This was the governing party of the time.
Their organization became the RUF.
Its objectives were to [1] overthrow of the Sierra Leonean government, [2] oust corrupt officials, and [3] re-allocate Sierra Leone’s wealth to benefit the general population
And you do not think that it could happen in the United States?
America is RIPE for war. But on in a far away land, but rather back on US soil, up front and personal.
Wealthy oligarchs have plans for America.
Meanwhile oligarchs (working behind the scenes) tried to recruit people to do their bidding.
In Sierra Leon, throughout the 1980s, neighboring Libyans infiltrated into Sierra Leone with the intention of recruiting rebels.
This was part of Libyan President, Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s Pan-African initiatives to recruit dissidents against western influence in Africa. He wanted to create a "new Africa" where American influences would be removed completely.
Now, while training in Libya, Foday Sankoh from Sierra Leone met Liberian warlord Charles Taylor.
The two decided to form a pact, or an agreement. After establishing a relationship, Sankoh and Taylor agreed to support guerilla wars in their respective countries.
Both had hopes of overthrowing their country’s governments and creating political change.
And so it started.
In 1989, the Civil War in Liberia began.
Under the leadership of Charles Taylor, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launched a guerilla war against the Liberian government. This led to Liberia’s civil war.
He won the war, and came to power.
Once Taylor was in power in Liberia, he supported Sankoh’s invasion and guerilla war in Sierra Leone. For after all, they were close buddies and shared the same vision and objectives.
Or maybe you don’t think that these kinds of political alignments cannot happen. Like the Antifa, or the BLM, or the Marxists, or the Far-Right.
Civil war broke out in Sierra Leon in 1990 under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Sankoh.
He launched his first attack in villages in Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone on March 23, 1991.
This small band of men who called themselves the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
After that he began to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone on the Liberian border.
The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to put up significant resistance.
Within a month of entering Sierra Leone the RUF controlled much of the Eastern Province.
And so it begins…
Fighting continued in the ensuing months, with the RUF gaining control of the diamond mines in the Kono district.
Then, they were successful in pushing the Sierra Leone army back towards Freetown.
On April 29, 1992, a group of young soldiers led by Capt. Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by the Sierra Leon government's failure to deal with rebels, launched a military coup.
This ended up sending President Momoh into exile in Guinea.
They established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Yahya Kanu as its chairman.
But Kanu was assassinated by fellow NPRC members, who accused him of trying to negotiate with the toppled APC administration.
And so after a period of bloodletting, on May 4, 1992,Captain Valentine Strasser took over as chairman of the NPRC.
As well as thend Head of State of Sierra Leone.
And did it change anything?
No.
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh government in repelling the RUF.
More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters.
By 1995 the RUF held much of the countryside.
They were also near the major populated cities, and were on the doorstep of Freetown.
To retrieve the situation, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm Executive Outcomes.
Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders.
So now that the new “reformed” government was able to suppress the RUF rebels, is that the end of the story?
No.
In January 1996, after nearly four years in power, Strasser was ousted in a coup by fellow NPRC members.
This was led by his trusted deputy Maada Bio.
The new(est) government took immediate actions to change the course of Sierra Leon.
As a result of popular demand and mounting international pressure, the NPRC agreed to hand over power to a civilian government.
Bio reinstated the Constitution and called for presidential and parliamentary elections. A a "democracy" was reconstituted.
Elections were held in April 1996.
In the second round of presidential elections in early 1996, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) defeated John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP). Kabbah was a diplomat who had worked at the UN for more than 20 years.
So an internationalist took power of the democratic Sierra Leon.
And eventually, after nearly a solid six years of bloody fighting, parliamentary elections were conducted. And this time, under the system of proportional representation.
South Vietnam
Let’s look at Vietnam.
Ah, most MM readers won’t even remember the daily newscasts about the “proud American soldiers who died”.
But let’s not look at the American side of the involvement. Instead, let’s look at the actions of the American puppet government set up in South Vietnam…
Corruption played a signficant role in thwarting American objectives in Vietnam by contributing to the South Vietnam government’s lack of legitimacy. The heavy handed and corrupt government of South Vietnam actually made the countryside fertile for the insurgency of the Viet Cong and the communist. Successive governments left much to be desired and too readily turned a blind eye to corruption and incompetence.
An important cause for dissension among the ARVN soldiers was the widespread corruption and war profiteering that prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition. It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
ARVN soldiers of South Vietnam.
The Republic of Vietnam, headed from 1954 to 1963 by Ngo Dinh Diem, was venal, reactionary, inefficient, and corrupt. Although Diem inherited a functional administration from the French, he failed to pursue judicial, economic, and administrative reforms, empower subordinates to exercise government authority, or create a system of oversight to curb corruption. Consequently, corruption abounded in all forms. In spite of Diem’s personal revulsion of corruption, the Ngo family was the biggest practitioner of nepotism. His close relatives filled the top ambassadorial, cabinet, and civil service posts.
In 1960, the Groupe Caravelliste, comprising 18 senior Vietnamese politicians, publicly condemned regime oppression and corruption in detail. Weeks later, a poorly planned military coup provided the regime withthe opportunity to crack down even more, including the imprisonment of the Groupe Caravelliste. At this point, Diem began to withdraw into himself, reducing his circle of confidants, and isolating himself even further from the public view. Nhu began to step up his persecution of “subversives,” as well as factionalizing the officer corps through corruption, extortion, and espionage.
The United States attempted to “fix” the incompetence, corruption, and oppression of the Diem administration by having him removed from office by a military coup. However, the problem remained. Like the Catholic Diem, who failed to connect with the predominantly Buddhist population, the military leaders who took control after the coup complicated matters by perpetuating corruption and failing to take the war to the Viet Cong insurgents.
The effectiveness of the gradually professionalizing South Vietnamese Army deteriorated rapidly as soldiers in the field lost confidence in their leaders and the government. In a matter of months, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam lost credibility with the population it was supposed to defend and with its American advisors.
Within the government of South Vietnam corruption, nepotism, extortion, and incompetence remained the norm afterwards with various leaders all the way through to President Thieu in the 1970s. A province chief might be removed here or there and replaced with a more competent and honest leader; however, the same problems would continue.
ARVN soldiers at rest.
The top leadership of the government and army remained as dependent as ever on the United States. The Saigon government remained a network of cliques, held together by American subsidies, a group of people without a coherent political orientation, bent on their own survival. Free-flowing aid lined the pockets of South Vietnamese generals and bureaucrats, deepening the corruption problem, not solving it.
Corruption was (and is) endemic throughout the developing world and even, at times, in much of the developed world. To have expected South Vietnam to be an exception was perhaps unrealistic. In fact, corruption was widespread in North Vietnam as well as in the South, giving lie to a common assumption that there was something morally pristine about the highly disciplined North. In fact, the problem of corruption had become so acute in the North that, in 1967, Ho Chi Minh himself felt compelled to go on the radio and inveigh against this troublesome plague.
More ARVN soldiers.
In the 1970s widespread corruption and war profiteering prevailed, not only among the civilian population but also among military officers. Corruption, of course, had long been common in South Vietnam. However, as infiation increased in the 1970’s and military pay failed to keep pace, corrupt practices drove wedges between the troops and their officers. For example, there were reports that the wounded had to pay helicopter pilots to fly medical evacuation missions.
President Thieu did make efforts to remove some of the more corrupt senior officials from office, but his actions proved to be a mere drop in the bucket. Corruption had another adverse effect; it siphoned funds that could have been used to buy critically short supplies and ammunition.
It has been estimated that as much as 25 percent of ARVN’s military payroll was in the name of dead or deserted soldiers who were kept on the roll so that corrupt officers could collect their salaries.
United States supplied tank used by the ARVN military in South Vietnam.
Syria
And of course, we could look at Syria.
Do you all think that it is any different? Aside from the new vehicles, the different weapons and drone systems, and the kinds of “news” reporting, do you actually think that somehow the United States is immune from all this boomeranging back?
All you need to so is read some history.
And China…
…well China has a long and horrible history of invasions and abuse. They KNOW what it is like to be hurt, destroyed and sacked. They know.
And if you all think that they are going to allow some pot-bellied neocon from the state of Kansas or Arkansas cheer on a war against them without consequence, then you are very, very, VERY mistaken.
China – Nanjing
Most Americans have absolutely no idea what the Chinese went through and why they are the way they are today.
A person who goes though a divorce is far more understanding of someone in the throes of marital troubles than say an unmarried 20-year old. And this is true about nations as well. Perhaps the American leadership would be very hesitant on poking Russia or China if they knew what it was like to see your beloved homeland reduced to rubble.
The Nanjing Massacre refers to the 40-day slaughter committed by the Japanese army in the early stages of their invasion of China, which cruelly claimed the lives of more than 300,000 civilians and captured soldiers. One third of the city was razed and property losses were beyond count.Some believe that the Nanjing Massacre, along with Auschwitz Concentration Camp and bombing of Hiroshima (the first use of atomic weapons in combat) were the three greatest tragedies of WWII. Some refer to the massacre as the “Asian Auschwitz.”
-ChinaToday
Nah…
It would never happen in America. You see, America is “exceptional“.
On December 13, 1937, after seizing Nanjing, the Japanese army carried out a bloody slaughter of unparalleled savagery in violation of international law. As stated in the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, "Estimates indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanjing and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000....
These figures do not take into account those persons whose bodies were destroyed by burning, or by being thrown into the Yangtze River, or were otherwise disposed of by the Japanese Army." The Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing stated in a verdict that "during the period from December 12 to 21, 1937, it was estimated that more than 190,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were shot with machine guns in large groups by the Japanese Army and their bodies were incinerated…
In addition, more than 150,000 people were killed in small or scattered groups, and their bodies were collected and buried by charity organizations. Altogether, more than 300,000 people were murdered." After capturing the city, Japanese troops employed all kinds of brutal methods in their killing, such as decapitation, skull splitting, slicing open the stomach, pulling out the heart, drowning, burning, cutting off reproductive organs, dismemberment, and piercing the vulva or anus. Equally unthinkable, there was a killing contest between two second lieutenants, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, to see who could win by being the first to kill 100 Chinese. When they met on December 12, Mukai had killed 106 and Noda 105. John Rabe, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin, and John Magee recorded the incidents of rape carried out by Japanese soldiers after the fall of Nanjing in their diaries, photographs, and films. It is roughly estimated that more than 80,000 women were violated in Nanjing, of whom more than 65,000 were killed. The Japanese army also committed frenzied acts of arson and looting. According to incomplete statistics calculated after the war, Japanese soldiers looted 2,406 sets and more than 309,000 pieces of appliances or utensils, 5,920 boxes and more than 5.9 million articles of clothing, 710 kilograms of gold and silver, plus 6,345 pieces of jewelry, 1,815 boxes, 2,859 sets, and 148,600 volumes of books, more than 28,400 ancient calligraphy scrolls and paintings, more than 7,300 antiques, more than 6,200 animals bred as livestock, and more than 720 million kilograms of grain.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Chinese Military Tribunal for War Crimes in Nanjing, after collecting a large amount of evidence and confirming all the findings, pronounced death sentences for the principal culprits of the massacre, Iwane Matsui, Akira Muto, and Tadayuki Furumi.
The crimes of the Japanese aggressors will forever be recorded in the history of the Chinese war of resistance against Japan.
-CRI
Or Germany…
Germany
Let’s not forget what happens to “scapegoats” when they are targeted for their “privilege”…
And not just in Germany. all the rest of Europe had to deal with the actions of a handful of crazed fanatics in Germany…
Europe
I suppose that I could go on and on.
And you all would turn off my MM and go watch cute and funny kitty videos, check out the latest vehicles out of Detroit, or look up TenderPotRoastRecipe.
But all that you are reading…right now… in real time sounds AWFULLY familiar. Throw away the details and the names. Look at what is going on. It sounds like the kind of nonsense out of Sierra Leon in the 1980’s, or the bullshit in Saigon in the 1960’s in South Vietnam. It sounds like the bullshit leading up to “the war on terror” in the Middle East, or the crap nonsense made by Hitler as he demonized the Jews, or the Japanese demonized the Chinese.
Yet somehow…
Somehow, America can have another war with China, or Russia, or Iran or all three, and you know that magically it will happen in far away lands that Americans never herd of before.
China wants to fight the USA? It’s a nation of leadership by merit. They are not a military Empire like the USA. They just want for Chinese people to live in China free of foreign (namely USA) interference.
This idea that China wants war is ludicrous. It’s just political posturing.
Political Posturing
When someone pretends to have a particular opinion or attitude. This is done so that they can achieve their objectives without discussing the real reasons behind them.
It’s clear as day that the people who are running this (supposedly) Progressive Liberal Democrat administration, are actually war-mongering neocons.
If you don’t think this is really happening, then you probably need to rethink that:
StratCom just issued a warning to Americans that we might be nuked as a result of the Biden Regime escalating tensions with these two nuclear powers.
#USSTRATCOM Posture Statement Preview: The spectrum of conflict today is neither linear nor predictable.
We must account for the possibility of conflict leading to conditions which could very rapidly drive an adversary to consider nuclear use as their least bad option.
pic.twitter.com/4Oe7xkl05L
— US Strategic Command (@US_Stratcom) April 20, 2021
Yes, they are that crazy.
But is there anyone, anyone at all inside the Pentagon that is really aware of what the stakes are today? Well, read this great article by Pepe…
Yes, and the regular disclaimers abound. All credit to the author. Formatted to fit this venue, etc.
What you are about to read is part of an internal report by one of my top business/intel sources in the Beltway for the past decade and a half. Readers who received it include JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, Evelyn de Rothschild and wife Lynn, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, Michael Bloomberg – who would never hire me as a Bloomberg columnist… – Blackstone’s Stephen Schwartzman, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and other assorted Masters of the Universe. I received a copy with all their addresses – which for obvious reasons I cannot make public.
This is a MAJOR bombshell – in the sense that the financial Masters of the Universe are now fully aware of sensitive intel not shared with non-military players. The question is what they’re gonna do about it.
The section of the reports starts HERE:
“While Rome burns which I use as an extended metaphor about the hundreds of US cities that burned last summer, and the US faces internal disintegration, the Pentagon admits that the US cannot face a two front war.
The US cannot face a one front war in Europe alone and would be defeated in five to ten minutes. It is not widely known that the key means that the US has chosen conventionally to defend Europe was by its superior airpower which outguns the Russians. However, what also is not widely known is that the US will be defeated in Europe by the Russians in five to ten minutes by the Russian hypersonic missiles destroying all NATO and European commercial airfields including those in England as it merrily sends its warships towards the Kerch Peninsula.
Whether all of our F-35 trillion dollar aircraft will be blown up too in five minutes depends on how fast the US can fly them out of harm’s way to some foreign shore. The remaining key question then is whether the US can evacuate Europe fast enough via a Dunkirk exit to escape to England or whether all the US forces will join their NATO comrades in a Russian prisoners of war camp.
The answer is that it cannot escape as it would take more than the two weeks time to evacuate. This has been confirmed to me by the highest US military authorities.
The US use of recent sanctions on Russia was to send the message that the nation killer that they call SWIFT-CHIPS is in the US toolkit as the US reply to an invasion of the Ukraine. (It goes without saying that Nord Stream Two would be over and the pipeline presently in operation from Russia to Europe would be shut down.) The US thus is sitting back in this poker game in smug self-confidence that the Russians would not dare to invade the Ukraine, causing the US to pull the trigger on throwing Russia out of SWIFT-CHIPS payment system to their Iranian-style doom.
But the US has not seen the Russian cards in their hand yet, which would be to exercise their super financial weapon of closing the Strait of Hormuz with their ally Iran which is willing to cooperate, according to our best intelligence sources.
We have discussed this scenario with the Goldman Sachs derivative specialists in oil who predict the oil price would rise to $500.00 to a $1,000.00 a barrel on such a closing. This would result in a triggering and the implosion of the 600 trillion to 2.5 quadrillion derivative market. In effect, it would end up destroying the entire world financial system.
The cataclysm that would hit the US would lead (as in Germany did in 1933) to a 50% unemployment rate or more. This would automatically begin the instigation of the complete overthrow of the US government. A government right now. which is barely hanging on by a thread (after last summer’s riots when the US military refused to intervene out of fear that its forces, as in Russia in 1918, would disintegrate along racial lines).
The defeat of the US in Europe would constitute the death knell of the US Empire as when Rome was sacked by Alaric. And make no mistake, there would be cheering all over the world.
[Now comes the killer part, which left me, well, speechless]
The myth of fissures between Russia and China should be dispelled by the following article in the Asia Times. There, where is sitting on Putin’s desk a major offer by a major company to finance the redirection of all oil and natural gas now going to Europe. Instead it would be redirected to China via pipeline.
It would constitute the largest commercial transaction in world history.
China could then depend on receiving from Russia the natural resources that presently come by sea. And Russia can replace all European imports to Russia by substitution and where that is not possible from China.
This very deep article should be read very carefully. The hundreds of billions of dollars for this project are available today according to the highest intelligence sources.
Here is an important quote from the article:
“A closely guarded secret in Moscow is that right after German sanctions imposed in relation to Ukraine, a major global energy operator approached Russia with an offer to divert to China no less than 7 million barrels a day of oil plus natural gas. Whatever happens, the stunning proposal is still sitting on the table of Shmal Gannadiy, a top oil/gas advisor to President Putin.”
[And then the report links to my story]:
Definitive Eurasian alliance is closer than you think. And things are proceeding well in advance than anyone actually realizes. And America is in no state to take on any major global power as it currently stands. It’s a foolish exercise in futility, and a death sentence for the participants.
Modern America 2021.
So what is going to happen?
I hold no “magic crystal ball”. No one does.
If I could characterize the state of affairs inside the Untied States government today, numerous examples come to mind…
A Train Wreck
A bunch a crazed maniacalmegalomaniacs are all crammed in the tiny engine of a locomotive, and everyone is trying to grab the controls to wheel and right this big, long enormous train back onto the tracks safely. Some are just there to stop the others. Some are earnestly trying to put the brakes on. Some are trying to increase the speed. Some are fighting among themselves, and some are lighting firecrackers at everyone's feet to see what will happen next. All are evil, out of control and running amok.
An Alien Monster trying to get out
The United States today is like the Alien monster that has incubated inside the host human (from the Alien movie). It is starting to get out, and the poor host is in a state of panic and fear.
I wrote an article on this theme. It is HERE.
Evil psychopath child playing with live dynamite
This is what it looks like. Especially after the "Long Telegram", and the Alaska meeting between China and the USA.
A suicidal man trying to get killed intentionally
It's almost that the people inside of Washington DC have no scruples, no idea of what reality is, and believe that they are somehow sitting on thrones in the clouds somewhere in their magical city of Olympus. Do they have a "death wish"? It most certainly seems that way, doesn't it?
What will happen, I don’t know. But keep your eyes open. Realize that the only idiots are in Washington DC and their colonies in the UK, and Australia. The rest of the world are watching from the spectator stands with popcorn in their right hand, and a Civil-Defense helmet in their left hand.
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We are witnessing the end of the United States military Empire. As well as the rise of a unified Asia.
There are all sorts of articles on this subject. Most out of the United States are pretty limited in scope. No one is looking at the big picture, and instead what they see is evil or frightening. But it need not be.
First, lets look at history…
All credit to the author. And note that it was formatted to fit within this venue. The article is titled “The Last Days of Rome: How A Great Empire Fell With Barely a Whimper“, and it makes some very interesting points.
…
Unlike the valiant last stand by Constantine XI in Constantinople which marked the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Roman Empire in the West did not fall after a notable battle. Indeed, it is perhaps ironic that one of the greatest empires in history surrendered rather meekly without much of a struggle. Although the end of the empire is said to have occurred when Odoacer marched into Rome and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus on September 4, 476, the end was nigh for quite some time.
A Fragmented Empire
Although Diocletian managed to bring the disastrous Third Century Crisis to an end by taking control in 284, the Empire was fundamentally weakened. Aside from widespread economic strife throughout the Empire in the fourth century, the tribes of Germany significantly increased their populations and became more of a threat.
By 376, an enormous influx of barbarians from across the Danube threatened the Eastern part of the Empire, and the Romans suffered a disastrous defeat at Adrianople in 378 when Emperor Valens died with most of his army. By the end of the fourth century, Emperor Theodosius was reliant on barbarian warlords who lacked discipline and loyalty. It was the equivalent of allowing wolves into the chicken coop.
To make matters worse, Theodosius had to contend with the usurper Magnus Maximus who declared himself Emperor of the West in 383. Theodosius finally defeated his enemy in 388 but with heavy losses on both sides that only served to weaken the Empire. When he died in 395, his sons Honorius and Arcadius became emperors. Both were incompetent and little more than puppet rulers.
Sack of Rome
Much like the Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 was the beginning of the end for the Byzantine Empire, the Sack of Rome in 410 can be seen as the start of the Western Empire’s last days. The King of the Visigoths, Alaric, first attempted to invade Italy in 401 but was repelled by Stilicho at Pollentia the following year. When Emperor Honorius ordered a massacre of Goths serving in the Roman military, some 30,000 of them defected to Alaric in 408.
He laid siege to Rome that year and forced its citizens to pay a sizeable tribute to prevent them from starving to death. Alaric did not want to destroy the Empire; he just wanted a recognized position within its borders. After another siege in 409, he tried to negotiate with Honorius the following year. The influence of an enemy Goth during negotiations angered Alaric, so he laid siege to Rome once again. This time, he succeeded in breaking through and sacked the city.
Oddly enough, there was relatively little destruction during the three-day sacking of Rome. Alaric invited barbarian slaves to join his army, and a large proportion was happy to do so. He had no intention of remaining in Rome and decided to sail to Africa. However, his ships were battered by storms, and he died of fever. Although Alaric did not remain in Rome to conquer it, the sacking of the city was an indication of just how weak the Empire in the West was. The countdown to its demise began in earnest.
A Continued Collapse
The Empire disintegrated further throughout the fifth century. It lost Carthage to the Vandals in 439 and was at the mercy of Attila the Hun during the 440s and early 450s. After successful campaigns against the Eastern Empire, he turned his attention to the West, and while he suffered defeat at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, he invaded Italy. Attila accepted a favorable peace treaty but planned to invade Italy once again before his death in 453.
After a brief resurgence under the rule of Emperor Majorian (457-461), the Empire once more plunged into chaos. A Germanic general called Ricimer entered Rome in 472, but he died just six weeks later. Over the next four years, the Western Empire had a succession of Emperors who were little more than puppets for barbarian warlords.
A Sad End
In 475, a man named Orestes drove the Emperor Julius Nepos out of the capital Ravenna and declared his 16-year-old son as Emperor Romulus Augustus. The teenager was never recognized as the ruler outside Italia, and when his father refused to grant federated status to the Heruli, its leader Odoacer launched an invasion. He chased Orestes to Pavia and then Piacenza where the Emperor’s father was executed on August 28, 476.
On September 4, 476, the Senate compelled Romulus Augustus to abdicate, and it is typically on this day that the Western Roman Empire is said to have officially fallen. The unfortunate boy remained in Ravenna, but instead of executing him, Odoacer showed mercy by sending him to live in Campania. The fate of the last Emperor of the West is unknown because he disappears from the historical record.
Although 476 is used as a convenient date to mark the end of the Empire, it is a little more complicated. The deposed Julius Nepos continued to claim that he was the Emperor of the West until he was murdered in 480. In the meantime, Odoacer began negotiations with Zeno, the Emperor of the East. Although Zeno accepted Odoacer as viceroy of Italia, he insisted that the barbarian continue to recognize Julius Nepos as the Emperor in the West.
Odoacer invaded Dalmatia when he learned of Nepos’ murder while in 488, Zeno authorized the Ostrogoth Theodoric the Great’s invasion of Italia. After five years of indecisive fighting, Odoacer and Theodoric agreed to rule jointly, but the Ostrogoth betrayed his new ‘ally.’ At a banquet celebrating their new arrangement in 493, Theodoric’s men slaughtered Odoacer’s troops, and he cut his rival in half.
And so one of the greatest Empire’s in history ended not with a fearsome battle, but with a sorry capitulation. Its hold on the East lasted for almost 1,000 years after that, and while the Byzantine Empire also fell apart meekly, the final battle at Constantinople was at least more befitting of a regime’s downfall than the slow, painful demise of Rome.
Likewise, we can expect America to die with a whimper.
Indeed, unless [1] World War III occurs, or [2] the United States government starts acting and behaving like people who care for America, the nation is destined the long slow crawl towards the gutter. It will be just like Rome. With insignificant minor events as defined by technology rather than structure.
Let’s consider China. Indeed, let’s understand what contemporaneous Chinese think of America through the lens of their own history.
The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty
Although the brief Qin dynasty managed to unite the Warring States of China, the Han dynasty is considered to be the second great Chinese imperial dynasty after almost 800 years of Zhou control. The Han had such a profound impact on its nation’s culture that the word ‘Han’ ultimately referred to a person who was ethnically Chinese.
The short-lived Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) began with the unification of six warring states. Led by a man who proclaimed himself the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the empire unified China for a brief period before Qin died in 210 BC. The result was a vicious civil war which was won by Liu Bang who defeated Xiang Yu. Liu led the Han since 206 BC and after four years of fighting, finally got the better of Xiang after surrounding him at the Yangzi River where his rival committed suicide. From 202 BC until his death seven years later, Liu was known as Emperor Gaozu of Han, the first leader of the dynasty.
He decided to pick Chang’an as the empire’s new capital as all major roads converged there; it was also the eastern end of the legendary Silk Road. Within 200 years, the population of the city grew to approximately 250,000 as it was the economic, cultural and military center of the nation.
When the emperor died in 195 BC, his wife Lu Zhi tried to take the empire for her family. She murdered all of her husband’s sons born to concubines and mutilated his favorite mistress. The Empress embraced nepotism by installing relatives in positions of power, replacing those who had been loyal to the emperor. Emperor Gaozu’s heir apparent was his teenage son, Liu Yang who became Emperor Hui of Han. Once he found out what his mother was doing, the frightened emperor took great care not to disobey her.
Rise & Fall of the Lu Clan
Emperor Hui did not have any children so when he died in 188 BC; his mother showed that she was the real powerbroker in the Han dynasty by placing one ruler on the throne before removing him for someone else. During the reigns of her handpicked emperors, Lu Zhi issued imperial edicts and picked family members as kings, military officers and officials.
Once Lu Zhi died in 180 BC, the King of Qi (grandson of the first emperor) raised an army to fight the Lus but before they could engage, the Lu Clan was destroyed by a coup. The King of Qi did not become the new ruler; instead, the King of Dai, Liu Heng, became Emperor Wen and ruled until 157 BC.
Stability & Prosperity
Wen was succeeded by Emperor Jing who ruled until 141 BC. The near 40-year period of combined rule by these two men was an era of stability and prosperity for the Han dynasty. While the Qin dynasty was known for its cruelty, the Han tried to show a different face of power by issues multiple amnesties, reducing tax on agricultural goods and abolishing mutilation as a legal form of punishment.
However, kingdoms that rebelled against the Han were ruthlessly dealt with as their territories were reduced and in some cases, kingdoms were abolished altogether. The result was an increase in the number of kingdoms and commanderies.
Emperor Wu was one of the longest reigning Han rulers; he became the leader in 141 BC and ruled until his death in 87 BC. Although he had to contend with the Xiongnu and fought a lengthy war with this enemy, literature, poetry and philosophy flourished under Wu. The ‘Shiji’ was written by Sima Qian, and this Historical Records text set the standard for later histories sponsored by the government. The Shiji recorded information about ‘barbarians’ that lived on the borders of the empire among other things.
Emperor Wu also established Confucianism as the kingdom’s basis for proper conduct and education.
China regained a number of territories under his rule with new commanderies formed in Korea. In 101 BC, the Han conquered Ferghana and several neighboring regions which enabled them to steal a large quantity of horses. At this stage, China had control of important trade routes around the Taklamakan Desert. The nation traded its coveted silk and gold for items such as grapes, wine, broad beans, and alfalfa.
Fall of the Western Han
The death of Emperor Wu resulted in a variety of social and political conflicts that eventually led to the downfall of the Western Han dynasty. The Empress Wang Zhengjun oversaw the succession of emperors and ensured her male relatives took the throne one after another.
In 8 BC, her nephew, Wang Mang, became General-in-Chief but was removed from office less than a year later. Pressure from his supporters ensured he returned to the capital in 2 BC.
The following year, Emperor Ai died, and as he had no son, Wang Mang assumed the title of regent over Emperor Ping.
When Ping died in 6 AD, Empress Wang confirmed Wang Mang as the acting emperor. Although he promised to relinquish power when the child Liu Ying came of age, he clearly decided that he enjoyed being emperor.
Wang Mang started a propaganda campaign, announced the end of the Han dynasty and proclaimed himself the leader of the new Xin dynasty in 9 AD.
Rise & Fall of the Eastern Han
To Wang Mang’s credit, he tried to change the unfair land ownership situation but failed. In 23 AD, a rebellion led by a group called the Red Eyebrows sacked the capital city of Chang’an and beheaded the unfortunate Wang Mang.
The court of the Eastern Han dynasty was laden with scheming and intrigue during the first century AD as there was no real line of succession.
Most of the emperors died relatively young with no heirs, so a close relative usually became the next ruler. Towards the end of the second century AD, eunuchs had far too much power in the royal court, and the people ultimately grew tired of government corruption.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184 AD threatened the capital city (Which was Luoyang since 25 AD), and six years later, a warlord called Dong Zhou captured the city and placed a child named Liu Xie on the throne.
Although the young boy was a member of the Han, Zhou was the real leader, and he proceeded to murder all the eunuchs and burn the city to the ground.
A succession of battles significantly weakened the empire, and in 220 AD, Liu Xie agreed to abdicate and allowed Cao Pi, King of Wei, to take over. This marked the end of the Han dynasty and the formation of the Cao Wei state which was a major player during the period of the Three Kingdoms.
Confusing?
In China the nation was ruled by the elite. Much like America is ruled by the elite in Washington DC. And this rule involved all kinds of “back stabbing”, “power plays”, “alignments”, and subterfuge. And that is what we see here. The entire dynasty was broght down by the very people who were supposed to make it last, and work; the leadership.
But they were far too preoccupied with petty squabbles, wealth and power, and politics that they let the empire dissolve around them. Sure, there had capable people, and technologies at their disposal, but their interest wasn’t in the good of the nation.
It was themselves.
Let’s look at America today…
The best articles are the ones that come with a historical perspective. They are the best. And here is one right here. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have. What is surprising is that it comes right out of America. Imagine that someone stuck their head out of the echo-chamber bubble to throw this one together.
Of course, all credit to the original author. Note that it was reformatted to fit this venue, but the content stays the same. You can read the original article HERE.
How Empires End
“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
Histories are generally written by academics.
They, quite naturally, tend to focus on the main events: the wars and the struggles between leaders and their opponents (both external and internal). Whilst these are interesting stories to read, academics, by their very nature, often overlook the underlying causes for an empire’s decline, – reports the Internationalman website.
Today, as in any era, most people are primarily interested in the “news”—the daily information regarding the world’s political leaders and their struggles with one another to obtain, retain, and expand their power. When the history is written about the era we are passing through, it will reflect, in large measure, a rehash of the news. As the media of the day tend to overlook the fact that present events are merely symptoms of an overall decline, so historians tend to focus on major events, rather than the “slow operations” that have been the underlying causes.
The Persian Empire
When, as a boy, I was “educated” about the decline and fall of the Persian Empire, I learned of the final takeover by Alexander the Great but was never told that, in its decline, Persian taxes became heavier and more oppressive, leading to economic depression and revolts, which, in turn led to even heavier taxes and increased repression. Increasingly, kings hoarded gold and silver, keeping it out of circulation from the community. This hamstrung the market, as monetary circulation was insufficient to conduct business. By the time Alexander came along, Persia, weakened by warfare and internal economic strife, was a shell of an empire and was relatively easy to defeat.
The Tang Dynasty
Back then, I also learned that the Tang Dynasty ended as a result of the increased power amongst the eunuchs, battles with fanzhen separatists, and finally, peasants’ revolts. True enough, but I was not taught that the dynasty’s expansion-based warfare demanded increases in taxation, which led to the revolts. Continued warfare necessitated increasing monetary and land extortion by the eunuchs, resulting in an abrupt decrease in food output and further taxes. Finally, as economic deterioration and oppression of the citizenry worsened, citizens left the area entirely for more promise elsewhere.
Is there a pattern here? Let’s have a more detailed look—at another empire.
The Spanish Empire
In 1556, Philip II of Spain inherited what was regarded as Europe’s most wealthy nation, with no apparent economic problems. Yet, by 1598, Spain was bankrupt. How was this possible?
Spain was doing well but sought to become a major power. To achieve this, Philip needed more tax dollars. Beginning in 1561, the existing servicio tax was regularised, and the crusada tax, the excusado tax, and the millones tax were all added by 1590.
Over a period of 39 years (between 1559 and 1598) taxes increased by 430%. Although the elite of the day were exempt from taxation (the elite of today are not officially exempt), the average citizen was taxed to the point that both business expansion and public purchasing diminished dramatically. Wages did not keep pace with the resultant inflation. The price of goods rose 400%, causing a price revolution and a tax revolution.
Although Spain enjoyed a flood of gold and silver from the Americas at this time, the increased wealth went straight into Philip’s war efforts. However, the 100,000 troops were soon failing to return sufficient spoils to Philip to pay for their forays abroad.
In a final effort to float the doomed empire, Philip issued government bonds, which provided immediate cash but created tremendous debt that, presumably, would need to be repaid one day. (The debt grew to 8.8 times GDP.)
Spain declared bankruptcy. Trade slipped to other countries. The military, fighting on three fronts, went unpaid, and military aspirations collapsed.
It is important to note that, even as the empire was collapsing, Philip did not suspend warfare. He did not back off on taxation. Like leaders before and since, he instead stubbornly increased his autocracy as the empire slid into collapse.
Present-Day Empires
Again, the events above are not taught to schoolchildren as being of key importance in the decline of empires, even though they are remarkably consistent with the decline of other empires and what we are seeing today. The very same events occur, falling like dominoes, more or less in order, in any empire, in any age:
The reach of government leaders habitually exceeds their grasp.
Dramatic expansion (generally through warfare) is undertaken without a clear plan as to how that expansion is to be financed.
The population is overtaxed as the bills for expansion become due, without consideration as to whether the population can afford increased taxation.
Heavy taxation causes investment by the private sector to diminish, and the economy begins to decline.
Costs of goods rise, without wages keeping pace.
Tax revenue declines as the economy declines (due to excessive taxation). Taxes are increased again, in order to top up government revenues.
In spite of all the above, government leaders personally hoard as much as they can, further limiting the circulation of wealth in the business community.
Governments issue bonds and otherwise borrow to continue expansion, with no plan as to repayment.
Dramatic authoritarian control is instituted to assure that the public continues to comply with demands, even if those demands cannot be met by the public.
Economic and social collapse occurs, often marked by unrest and riots, the collapse of the economy, and the exit of those who are productive.
In this final period, the empire turns on itself, treating its people as the enemy.
The above review suggests that if our schoolbooks stressed the underlying causes of empire collapse, rather than the names of famous generals and the dates of famous battles, we might be better educated and be less likely to repeat the same mistakes.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely. Chances are, future leaders will be just as uninterested in learning from history as past leaders. They will create empires, then destroy them.
Even the most informative histories of empire decline, such as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, will not be of interest to the leaders of empires. They will believe that they are above history and that they, uniquely, will succeed.
If there is any value in learning from the above, it is the understanding that leaders will not be dissuaded from their aspirations. They will continue to charge ahead, both literally and figuratively, regardless of objections and revolts from the citizenry.
Once an empire has reached stage eight above, it never reverses. It is a “dead empire walking” and only awaits the painful playing-out of the final three stages.
At that point, it is foolhardy in the extreme to remain and “wait it out” in the hope that the decline will somehow reverse. At that point, the wiser choice might be to follow the cue of the Chinese, the Romans, and others, who instead chose to quietly exit for greener pastures elsewhere.
Editor’s Note:The US government is overextending itself by interfering in every corner of the globe. It’s all financed by massive amounts of money printing. However, the next financial crisis could end the whole charade soon.
The truth is, we’re on the cusp of a global economic crisis that could eclipse anything we’ve ever seen before.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
I do not advocate following this law, but you all should be made well aware of it. When you are outside of your friends and family you enter a zone of questionable trust. You do need to be somewhat guarded in your public dealings as not everyone is a friend. No matter what they say. The world is filled with all kinds of people, all involved with all kinds of agendas.
Please take note that there are others that prefer to use this technique. Be wary.
LAW 12
USE SELECTIVE HONESTY AND GENEROSITY TO DISARM YOUR VICTIM
JUDGMENT
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift— a Trojan horse—will serve the same purpose.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
Sometime in 1926, a tall, dapperly dressed man paid a visit to Al Capone, the most feared gangster of his time.
Speaking with an elegant Continental accent, the man introduced himself as Count Victor Lustig.
He promised that if Capone gave him $50,000 he could double it.
Capone had more than enough funds to cover the “investment,” but he wasn’t in the habit of entrusting large sums to total strangers.
He looked the count over: Something about the man was different—his classy style, his manner—and so Capone decided to play along.
He counted out the bills personally and handed them to Lustig. “Okay, Count,” said Capone. “Double it in sixty days like you said.”
Lustig left with the money, put it in a safe-deposit box in Chicago, then headed to New York, where he had several other money- making schemes in progress.
The $50,000 remained in the bank box untouched.
Lustig made no effort to double it.
Two months later he returned to Chicago, took the money from the box, and paid Capone another visit.
He looked at the gangster’s stony- faced bodyguards, smiled apologetically, and said,
“Please accept my profound regrets, Mr. Capone. I’m sorry to report that the plan failed... I failed.”
Capone slowly stood up.
He glowered at Lustig, debating which part of the river to throw him in.
But the count reached into his coat pocket, withdrew the $50,000, and placed it on the desk.
“Here, sir, is your money, to the penny. Again, my sincere apologies. This is most embarrassing. Things didn’t work out the way I thought they would. I would have loved to have doubled your money for you and for myself—Lord knows I need it— but the plan just didn’t materialize.”
Capone sagged back into his chair, confused. “I know you’re a con man, Count,” said Capone.
“I knew it the moment you walked in here. I expected either one hundred thousand dollars or nothing. But this... getting my money back ... well.”
“Again my apologies, Mr. Capone,” said Lustig, as he picked up his hat and began to leave. “
My God! You’re honest!” yelled Capone.
“If you’re on the spot, here’s five to help you along.”
He counted out five one-thousand-dollar bills out of the $50,000. The count seemed stunned, bowed deeply, mumbled his thanks, and left, taking the money.
The $5,000 was what Lustig had been after all along.
FRANCESCO BORRI. COURTIER CHARLATAN
Francesco Giuseppe Borri of Milan, whose death in 1695 fell just within the seventeenth century ... was a forerunner of that special type of charlatanical adventurer, the courtier or “cavalier” impostor....
His real period of glory began after he moved to Amsterdam.
There he assumed the title of Medico Universale, maintained a great retinue, and drove about in a coach with six horses.... Patients streamed to him, and some invalids had themselves carried in sedan chairs all the way from Paris to his place in Amsterdam.
Borri took no payment for his consultations: He distributed great sums among the poor and was never known to receive any money through the post or bills of exchange.
As he continued to live with such splendor, nevertheless, it was presumed that he possessed the philosophers’ stone.
Suddenly this benefactor disappeared from Amsterdam. Then it was discovered that he had taken with him money and diamonds that had been placed in his charge.
THE POWER OF THE CHARLATAN, GRETE DE FRANCESCO, 1939
Interpretation
Count Victor Lustig, a man who spoke several languages and prided himself on his refinement and culture, was one of the great con artists of modem times.
He was known for his audacity, his fearlessness, and, most important, his knowledge of human psychology.
He could size up a man in minutes, discovering his weaknesses, and he had radar for suckers.
Lustig knew that most men build up defenses against crooks and other troublemakers.
The con artist’s job is to bring those defenses down.
One sure way to do this is through an act of apparent sincerity and honesty.
Who will distrust a person literally caught in the act of being honest?
Lustig used selective honesty many times, but with Capone he went a step further.
No normal con man would have dared such a con; he would have chosen his suckers for their meekness, for that look about them that says they will take their medicine without complaint.
Con Capone and you would spend the rest of your life (whatever remained of it) afraid.
But Lustig understood that a man like Capone spends his life mistrusting others.
No one around him is honest or generous, and being so much in the company of wolves is exhausting, even depressing.
A man like Capone yearns to be the recipient of an honest or generous gesture, to feel that not everyone has an angle or is out to rob him.
Lustig’s act of selective honesty disarmed Capone because it was so unexpected.
A con artist loves conflicting emotions like these, since the person caught up in them is so easily distracted and deceived.
Do not shy away from practicing this law on the Capones of the world.
With a well-timed gesture of honesty or generosity, you will have the most brutal and cynical beast in the kingdom eating out of your hand.
Everything turns gray when I don’t have at least one mark on the horizon. Life then seems empty and depressing. I cannot understand honest men. They lead desperate lives, full of boredom.
Count Victor Lustig, 1890-1947
KEYS TO POWER
The essence of deception is distraction.
Distracting the people you want to deceive gives you the time and space to do something they won’t notice.
An act of kindness, generosity, or honesty is often the most powerful form of distraction because it disarms other people’s suspicions.
It turns them into children, eagerly lapping up any kind of affectionate gesture.
In ancient China this was called “giving before you take”—the giving makes it hard for the other person to notice the taking.
It is a device with infinite practical uses.
Brazenly taking something from someone is dangerous, even for the powerful.
The victim will plot revenge.
It is also dangerous simply to ask for what you need, no matter how politely:
Unless the other person sees some gain for themselves, they may come to resent your neediness.
Learn to give before you take.
It softens the ground, takes the bite out of a future request, or simply creates a distraction.
And the giving can take many forms: an actual gift, a generous act, a kind favor, an “honest” admission—whatever it takes.
Selective honesty is best employed on your first encounter with someone.
We are all creatures of habit, and our first impressions last a long time.
If someone believes you are honest at the start of your relationship it takes a lot to convince them otherwise.
This gives you room to maneuver.
…
Jay Gould, like Al Capone, was a man who distrusted everyone.
By the time he was thirty-three he was already a multimillionaire, mostly through deception and strong-arming.
In the late 1860s, Gould invested heavily in the Erie Railroad, then discovered that the market had been flooded with a vast amount of phony stock certificates for the company.
He stood to lose a fortune and to suffer a lot of embarrassment.
In the midst of this crisis, a man named Lord John Gordon-Gordon offered to help.
Gordon-Gordon, a Scottish lord, had apparently made a small fortune investing in railroads.
By hiring some handwriting experts Gordon-Gordon was able to prove to Gould that the culprits for the phony stock certificates were actually several top executives with the Erie Railroad itself.
Gould was grateful.
Gordon- Gordon then proposed that he and Gould join forces to buy up a controlling interest in Erie.
Gould agreed.
For a while the venture appeared to prosper.
The two men were now good friends, and every time Gordon-Gordon came to Gould asking for money to buy more stock, Gould gave it to him.
In 1873, however, Gordon-Gordon suddenly dumped all of his stock, making a fortune but drastically lowering the value of Gould’s own holdings.
Then he disappeared from sight.
Upon investigation, Gould found out that Gordon-Gordon’s real name was John Crowningsfield, and that he was the bastard son of a merchant seaman and a London barmaid.
There had been many clues before then that Gordon-Gordon was a con man, but his initial act of honesty and support had so blinded Gould that it took the loss of millions for him to see through the scheme.
A single act of honesty is often not enough.
What is required is a reputation for honesty, built on a series of acts—but these can be quite inconsequential.
Once this reputation is established, as with first impressions, it is hard to shake.
…
In ancient China, Duke Wu of Chêng decided it was time to take over the increasingly powerful kingdom of Hu.
Telling no one of his plan, he married his daughter to Hu’s ruler.
He then called a council and asked his ministers,
“I am considering a military campaign. Which country should we invade?”
As he had expected, one of his ministers replied, “Hu should be invaded.”
The duke seemed angry, and said,
“Hu is a sister state now. Why do you suggest invading her?”
He had the minister executed for his impolitic remark.
The ruler of Hu heard about this, and considering other tokens of Wu’s honesty and the marriage with his daughter, he took no precautions to defend himself from Cheng.
A few weeks later, Chêng forces swept through Hu and took the country, never to relinquish it.
…
Honesty is one of the best ways to disarm the wary, but it is not the only one.
Any kind of noble, apparently selfless act will serve.
Perhaps the best such act, though, is one of generosity.
Few people can resist a gift, even from the most hardened enemy, which is why it is often the perfect way to disarm people.
A gift brings out the child in us, instantly lowering our defenses.
Although we often view other people’s actions in the most cynical light, we rarely see the Machiavellian element of a gift, which quite often hides ulterior motives.
A gift is the perfect object in which to hide a deceptive move.
…
Over three thousand years ago the ancient Greeks traveled across the sea to recapture the beautiful Helen, stolen away from them by Paris, and to destroy Paris’s city, Troy.
The siege lasted ten years, many heroes died, yet neither side had come close to victory.
One day, the prophet Calchas assembled the Greeks.
Image: The Trojan Horse. Your guile is hidden inside a magnificent gift that proves irresistible to your opponent. The walls open. Once inside, wreak havoc.
“Stop battering away at these walls!” he told them. “You must find some other way, some ruse. We cannot take Troy by force alone. We must find some cunning stratagem.”
The cunning Greek leader Odysseus then came up with the idea of building a giant wooden horse, hiding soldiers inside it, then offering it to the Trojans as a gift.
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, was disgusted with this idea; it was unmanly.
Better for thousands to die on the battlefield than to gain victory so deceitfully.
But the soldiers, faced with a choice between another ten years of manliness, honor, and death, on the one hand and a quick victory on the other, chose the horse, which was promptly built.
The trick was successful and Troy fell.
One gift did more for the Greek cause than ten years of fighting.
…
Selective kindness should also be part of your arsenal of deception.
For years the ancient Romans had besieged the city of the Faliscans, always unsuccessfully.
One day, however, when the Roman general Camillus was encamped outside the city, he suddenly saw a man leading some children toward him.
The man was a Faliscan teacher, and the children, it turned out, were the sons and daughters of the noblest and wealthiest citizens of the town.
On the pretense of taking these children out for a walk, he had led them straight to the Romans, offering them as hostages in hopes of ingratiating himself with Camillus, the city’s enemy.
Camillus did not take the children hostage.
He stripped the teacher, tied his hands behind his back, gave each child a rod, and let them whip him all the way back to the city.
The gesture had an immediate effect on the Faliscans.
Had Camillus used the children as hostages, some in the city would have voted to surrender.
And even if the Faliscans had gone on fighting, their resistance would have been halfhearted.
Camillus’s refusal to take advantage of the situation broke down the Faliscans’ resistance, and they surrendered.
The general had calculated correctly.
And in any case he had had nothing to lose: He knew that the hostage ploy would not have ended the war, at least not right away.
By turning the situation around, he earned his enemy’s trust and respect, disarming them.
Selective kindness will often break down even the most stubborn foe: Aiming right for the heart, it corrodes the will to fight back.
Remember: By playing on people’s emotions, calculated acts of kindness can turn a Capone into a gullible child. As with any emotional approach, the tactic must be practiced with caution: If people see through it, their disappointed feelings of gratitude and warmth will become the most violent hatred and distrust. Unless you can make the gesture seem sincere and heartfelt, do not play with fire.
Authority:
When Duke Hsien of Chin was about to raid Yü, he presented to them a jade and a team of horses. When Earl Chih was about to raid Ch’ou- yu, he presented to them grand chariots. Hence the saying: “When you are about to take, you should give.”
(Han-fei-tzu, Chinese philosopher, third century B.C.)
REVERSAL
When you have a history of deceit behind you, no amount of honesty, generosity, or kindness will fool people.
In fact it will only call attention to itself.
Once people have come to see you as deceitful, to act honest all of a sudden is simply suspicious.
In these cases it is better to play the rogue.
…
Count Lustig, pulling the biggest con of his career, was about to sell the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting industrialist who believed the government was auctioning it off for scrap metal.
The industrialist was prepared to hand over a huge sum of money to Lustig, who had successfully impersonated a government official.
At the last minute, however, the mark was suspicious.
Something about Lustig bothered him.
At the meeting in which he was to hand over the money, Lustig sensed his sudden distrust.
Leaning over to the industrialist, Lustig explained, in a low whisper, how low his salary was, how difficult his finances were, on and on.
After a few minutes of this, the industrialist realized that Lustig was asking for a bribe.
For the first time he relaxed.
Now he knew he could trust Lustig: Since all government officials were dishonest, Lustig had to be real.
The man forked over the money.
By acting dishonest, Lustig seemed the real McCoy.
In this case selective honesty would have had the opposite effect.
…
As the French diplomat Talleyrand grew older, his reputation as a master liar and deceiver spread.
At the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he would spin fabulous stories and make impossible remarks to people who knew he had to be lying.
His dishonesty had no purpose except to cloak the moments when he really was deceiving them.
One day, for example, among friends, Talleyrand said with apparent sincerity, “In business one ought to show one’s hand.”
No one who heard him could believe their ears: A man who never once in his life had shown his cards was telling other people to show theirs.
Tactics like this made it impossible to distinguish Talleyrand’s real deceptions from his fake ones.
By embracing his reputation for dishonesty, he preserved his ability to deceive.
Nothing in the realm of power is set in stone.
Overt deceptiveness will sometimes cover your tracks, even making you admired for the honesty of your dishonesty.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my “48 Laws of Power” Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
It’s time for a nice relaxing stroll through some art. This fellow is one of my favorites, but he isn’t one that you would stand in front of one of his pieces and ponder. It’s (rather) the way your feel when you look at his works that matter.
John William Godward was a “English Victorian Neoclassical, Olympian Classical Revivalist artist”. He died in 1922 and has painted at least 203 separate artworks that we know of. He has a unique style, smooth and classical with a stylized form that is actually quite attractive. He is one of my favorite artists.
John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicistera. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favour with the rise of modern art.
-Wikiart
I think that it doesn’t matter what culture you are in, what society your come from, or what time period you live in; we all fall in love. And this fact, and the pure beauty of it, is very significant. Which makes this painting adorable…
The Tigerskin
Back in the day, when this painting was made, the possession of tiger, lion and other sins of animals was a sign of your power and experience. It was equated with wealth. this, I like to believe, was a carry over from days centuries ago.
It pains me to think that people killed these magnificent animals for their skins, but humans have always been rather primitive beings. Anyways, Goddard does a nice job in painting the skins as well as the details on the marble surfaces.
A Priestess of Bacchus
Bacchus was the Roman god of agriculture, wine and fertility, equivalent to the Greek god Dionysus. Dionysius was said to be the last god to join the twelve Olympians. Supposedly, Hestia gave up her seat for him. His plants were vines and twirling ivy.
-Bacchus - Simple English Wikipedia
.
She certainly looks comfortable. I’ll bet that the dress is remarkable, and you well imagine being on the coast… wearing fine relaxing comfortable clothes… and enjoying the day. It appeals to me.
A Fair Reflection
As an artist, I admire the softness and shading of the woman’s arms. I love the colors of the hair and the contrast between it and the marble wall behind her, as well as the details on the folds of the dress.
You will notice how the artist managed to show how the dress clung to her chest and how the textured and patterned belt gathered around her waist. It’s awfully lovely.
Waiting for an Answer
Women, girls… they can read men so very easily. And as such we are all like “putty in their hands”. But this is all timeless. It doesn’t matter if you are from Columbia, Israel, or ancient Greece. It’s all the same. Man courts woman, and she weighs her options.
Timeless.
Innocent Amusements
I love these calm and pleasant classical scenes.
There’s no serious or deep meanings behind them. Instead, they remind you of calmer and easier time. A time when the pace of life was easy.
The Engagement Ring
Likewise we can see and feel the emotion behind the story for the ring that the woman is admiring within this painting.
A Priestess
Lovely. As I have stated before, the details on the hand and the hair are just awesome.
The Betrothed
Another painting toying with a precious ring.
A Dilettante
A person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, especially in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler. a lover of an art or science, especially of a fine art.
-Dilettante | Definition of Dilettante at Dictionary.com
The Posy
It’s a simple painting and a simpler subject matter.
Dolce Far Niente
Dolce far niente is an Italian phrase for pleasantly doing nothing. An example of dolce far niente is what someone would say to describe that they are laying on a blanket gazing at trees in Florence.
-Dolce far niente dictionary definition
Mischief and Repose
Reclining on a tiger skin draped over a marble ledge, a young woman, Repose, is disturbed from slumber by her companion, Mischief, who pesters her with a dress pin. They wear diaphanous robes fashioned after chitons worn by women in ancient Greece. Another dress pin and a hair ribbon lie scattered on the marble floor.
Following the excavations of Pompeii, which began in 1748, artists were fascinated with Greek and Roman life. John William Godward painted many scenes like this one of idealized beauties in calm, often sterile environments. In this painting, the figure of Repose is arranged seductively, with her breast and nipple showing through the thin material of her dress. But there is something distinctly untouchable about these women; they do not engage the viewer with an inviting gaze nor solicit personal contact. Like their antique setting, they possess a monumental, marmoreal quality, resembling Greek statues frozen in time.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
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Well, this post is to be an elaboration on a few specific MM comments. The poster wanted some clarification on what is going on regarding [1] hotels (in China, obviously) and [2] “new friends” that you might make on your adventures inside of China, and I of course, was more than willing to help him out.
But before I begin, let me clarify a few things.
First Off, China has changed.
China is not the way it was ten years ago, or even later. The days of going to a salon with wall to wall girls that can give you some manly pleasures are few and far-between today. Even in the remote communities. It’s all kind of dying off.
So your experience from ten years ago or longer are actually (sad to say) not really going to be replicated. Those days are over.
I do not see them returning.
The same goes with the ladies that walk the streets, and hang out on the corners. You used to see them everywhere and on certain streets. You can still go to those streets, but things are much more discreet these days. You need to know what you are doing, and have a local friend to help you navigate the local geography.
It’s all about change.
And change is good. Well, in this case it’s good.
Part of the reasons behind these changes it are due to laws, part of it is due to society, and part of it is due to technology.
Laws
China has implemented some harsh laws regarding morality. The Chinese government wishes to maintain a traditional culture, and thus many venues related to vice are discouraged. Prostitution has always existed, and still exists, but it is no longer so blatant and open as it used to be.
Raw, Western style, quick flings are a dying breed. Instead, they have been replaced with talented and beautifulcourtesans. These are mighty women. Some youngish (in their 20's) and some older. All strong, capable and beautiful.
Not to mention... profit oriented.
Society
China is very prosperous.
The Western "news" has been so God-Damn awful that no one outside of China realizes just how well off the Chinese are. They are not only far richer than their American equals, but they own multiple homes, have savings, and are generally far happier.
A walk through any Chinese parking lot will produce a vast number of Mercedes, BMW's, Porches, and high-end local vehicles. Not to mention the occasional Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Bentley.
What this means is that even the poorest Chinese person is doing quite well. The need to go prostitute yourself out of drug addiction, poverty or some kind of forced-slavery is no longer on the table. People who prostitute themselves in China do so for additional money, or to improve their lives. Not out of necessity.
Technology
QR code in the skies of Shenzhen. All done by laser-mounted and LED mounted drones flying via 5G and AI.
Sure there are dating APPs, and payment APPS and QR codes and all sorts of technology that makes business transactions very easy, and free.
Unlike the USA where every single thing you do comes with a fee, in China it's free. You want to transfer some money electronically, scan the QR. No cost. It's free. Try doing that in America. America is the land with a million tiny, tiny hands in your wallet taking very small bites out of everything that you do, so that at the end of the day your wallet is empty.
Not in China.
So it's much easier to network electronically, make your connections and associations and make some "new friends" in the process. Everyone has a smart phone, and unlike America where you need to pay a weeks salary for one, here in China they are cheap and easy to get. Everyone has them. Everyone uses them.
And if you want to make a few spare yuan on the side, it's ridiculously easy to meet new people, and make new friends.
China is far, far, FAR more advanced than anyone in the West has any idea about. All those electronics, and technologies that come from Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Korea are all developed and made inside of China.
That’s the reality.
And that is partially why the US government is so horrified about “China’s rise”. As if it just happened “over night”. It didn’t.
And don’t even get me started on the idea that America is going to invest 2 trillion dollars on infrastructure to catch up with China…
Catch up…
The second point…
I think that the world has become a very harsh place.
Some places like the Middle East, and America are very difficult places to live. People feel under all sorts of pressure and need a release. They want some fun, and some pleasure.
And while I like to talk about the sexual activity that may or may not be associated with this, I strongly believe that the companionship of some new friends, some good food, and great conversation is really … REALLY… very much in need today.
Seriously, the best conversationalists are women.
I am sorry guys. That’s a fact. And they can chat up a storm, and they are interesting to boot! Add to that the fact that they can read EQ and emote to you on a very deep and significant level. It’s calming to me, and seriously I need to relax before I am ready to perform any kind of sexual activity. I’m not a 16 year old boy. I need intellectual stimulation to relax.
The old days of being “ready to go” in a second and leap into bed are long, long gone. Those days are like a very distant memory to me.
Now from my point of view, as a older man, I need to have more stimulation aside from what you would just get sexually. I need to have some good food. Some great wine. And some great conversation with a woman that spends the time to look great and who is willing to chat up and have some fun with me. Other older men in the MM audience know what I am talking about.
For you’se other guys that don’t know, and don’t understand, you WILL find out.
Just popping a Viagra, or a Cialis just won’t cut it.
It’s no longer about getting “it up”, and “staying hard”. It’s also about wanting to have sex, being interested, and staying interested, and having the energy and stamina to engage in some physical romping.
Your little-MM won’t budge an inch unless you are relaxed and interested in your partner and what they have to say.
That’s just the way it is.
Believe me or not. I don’t care.
For me, you just aren’t gonna get that with a run-of-the-mill street walker. Instead, You get that (what you need) from friends, and from other people who are upwardly mobile looking to chat up with successful and interesting men.
Interesting men. People who can discuss things on a wide selection of topics, and who have some money to spend, and like to play around a little bit. And that’s … well… you all like MM don’t you?
Ok. Enough of that disclaimer.
I think you all know what I am trying to say. Stop thinking that everything is a black and white cartoon. It isn’t. the world is colorful, and the needs of humans are varied and complex. Our best experiences come from understanding and embracing this fact.
Drink some wine. Chat up on a subject that you love to talk about. Be a little goofy, or silly. Don’t be afraid to say things. Joke some, drink some and eat some delicious food. have a great time, and then… relaxed, and engaged, you can take your time alone with your new friends. At a nice, leisurely pace.
It’s a win – win.
The Comment
I think this comment was written on 19APR21.
Concerning “ding dong” girls.
IMO best to just go into the bar. My first experience was in a Zhuhai hotel. (Took ferry straight from Hong Kong airport). The bar folks will call somone to come talk to you if there is no one there.
However, found out the hard way that first Chinese trip that you need to be careful about the pebble trick (I believe that is what happened: someone put a stone in the door so it never fully closed and while showering someone came in and exchanged my real RMB with counterfeit RMB). First the taxi guy told me I had fake RMB (didn’t believe him since I had it exchanged in the bank the previous day) but accepted they were fake when I went for an incredible foot and back massage the next night.
Also, learned the scary way in Shanghai to never go to KTVs that are not connected to the hotels you are staying in, unless you are with a local.
If one had a “ding dong” girl (first time I heard the term), how does one pay them if currency is no longer exchanged? Or do you still need cash for stuff like that?
And this is my response, and note that I elaborated upon it substantially…
Payment
You pay the girls using QR scans via Ali-pay, WeChat, or in E-yuan.
The most common way to move money around to friends or make purchases within China is through QR code. Everyone has one, and depending on your situation, you might have a couple all directing to different backs or purposes that you have arranged beforehand. You can read about it HERE.
Sometimes you can use some paper currency. They are useful. No one is going to reject a couple of thousand RMB if you hand it to them.
But in general, you use e-pay. You just generate your personal QR to your bank account. It’s amazingly easy.
If she (or he) is reluctant to give you a QR to scan, you can easily pass the money to here electronically. (BTW, It’s never happened.) I know that there is a KTV club in Louhu, Shenzhen that has a nice troop of young attractive men (in white) that service the ladies. They have a QR code printed on a cloth that is sewn into their jacket. They just flop out the cloth QR and the lady (or guy) scans the code and everyone is good to go.
Male hosts tend to provide services to the ladies in fine, clean (and often white) attire.
It doesn’t sound very classy, but it is. It’s all in the presentation. You know, for a man who is providing services to a lady, the actions and the behaviors are all very scripted and precise. It’s not crude at all, but rather very refined, polite, and calming.
In general, the most common way of transferring money is through the exchange of wechat names, and then you can either do a direct transfer, or send a few red envelopes to her. As in the picture at the top of this article.
Sending a “red envelope” full of money to a friend is very easy using WeChat.
If that doesn’t work, then you can do a direct surface to surface transfer of cash.You use a direct transfer APP and put your two phones physically together and the transfer goes directly without using Wifi.
Finally, if she is associated with the hotel, you can tack her fees to your hotel bill, and the gal at the register will hand her cash or transfer via QR.
Most of the bars with the bar-girls available via ferry from HK to Shekou no longer exist. The entire area has been built up by overseas Chinese investors and is now one large sprawling mall with Western prices. Yikes!
As far as Zhuhai is concerned, the major hotels that were involved in the KTV girls pretty much were closed. The hotel in front of my home was busted in 2013 for having 600 KTV girls. It was a night of many sorrows, I can well imagine.
Vice raids on Chinese hotels that host KTV girls and boys occur all over China. Since 2013 the police has put a major clamp-down on these establishments and most have ended up operating in a stealth mode ever since.
Ding Dong girls are the girls on the colorful business cards that you see shoved under your hotel doors, or on the street. Usually if you see a trail of cards on the sidewalk, they are a trail of “bread crumbs” that you follow to a hotel lobby.
You can tell that “X” marks the spot with a bunch of cards lying on the cement in front of the lobby door.
So you look down, see all these business sized colorful cards with pictures of cute girls and then you look in the front lobby. There when you go in, you’ll see from three to seven girls all sitting around in the lobby looking bored and playing with their phones.
You can, of course, go up to them and chat.
But more commonly is that you turn on your wechat “scan for local members” and see if any of the girls near you are broadcasting.This feature will alert you to all the local people near you with a wechat on. Which should be a couple thousand. But if you only look at those that are the closest to you, you will be fine. You should be able to pick out the girls really easily.
For instance, if you are in a lobby, the girls will be from 1 to 10 meters away. So you look over the closest girls and try to associate the girl with the wechat picture. The smartest girls will put their picture so that you can recognize them directly.
Chances are, that they are available. so you find the gal that you want, and you connect, and send her a message. The wechat function allows you to chat and translate at the same time. So you just say hi. Ask the amount, and the desired services, and then you two can go up to the hotel and have some fun.
It’s super convenient.
Now the “shake” feature is something different. You can easily connect with someone. You both click on the shake feature , and then both phones will connect. It’s useful when you don’t have a local Wifi and you don’t want to use data. You just shake and broadcast.
I tend not to use it very much.
But it can get you to meet some interesting people…
About the “fun”
Well, I assume that most MM readers are adults, eh?
Fun means many things to many people. When I was a younger fellow, I would immediately get down to “business”. Get my rocks off and they see the lady out the door. But, you know, that’s a long, long time ago.
So you see guys, as you get older, your testosteronedropsdramatically, You just don’t have the interest in sex like you used to have when you are younger.
Now, the thing is that it’s not only the singular need to have enough blood pressure in the nether regions so you can pop up a nice erection, but rather it is the entire system.
It’s like a car that’s getting old…
Worn out car. This is what happens to hard-drivers when they get old.
When you get old, you are like a high-performance car that needs some really, really good tender loving and care.
You run out of gas…
…and out of oil,
…and out of windshield washer fluid,
…and out of brake fluid,
…and out of steering wheel fluid,
…and a loss of air pressure in the tires…
Yikes!
And along with that comes with the entire effort to “get it up” to engage in sexual activity.
Actually as bad as it sounds, it’s no big deal. We all (really) don’t care that much about it. The truth of the matter is that by the time you are in your mid-60’s you know how the world works and discover that your fears about relationships and sex are just nonsense.
And when you don’t have that testosterone screaming in your ear all day and night, you can take your time and savor what is in front of you. Things are not so urgent, and driven any longer.
Truth.
You no longer gobble down a hamburger and wash it down with a coke. Instead, you take the time to find a nice local restaurant, and call a friend to join you. You pick out the meal carefully, and you savor the smells, the environment, and the companionship. You appreciate things more. You are no longer in such a frantic rush to “obtain”, or to “get” what ever it is that you are being driven towards.
As you get older, you start to savor what is placed before you. And you start enjoying life.
What is going on…
There are three primary components to a male sex rive & ability. They are…
Ability to have (and maintain) an erection. [Blood pressure]
Interest and desire
Ability to make the milky goodness and release.
Of course, this is never spoken about. The closest you ever come to this kind of discussion is on a Viagra commercial. But it’s a real issue and you all should be made aware of it.
Guys, because after all, we all encounter these situations. One way or the other, and…
Women, to understand what is going on with the men in your life, you need to best understand a little bit about their biology.
Now…
I really don’t want to have this entire article degrade into a biologically based topic, but I do want to though out some quick notes that people can nod in agreements with or go “pshaw! You dat crazy!”.
[1] Ability to have (and maintain) an erection. [Blood pressure]
This is easy, more or less, to take care of. There are medicines (today) such as viagra, levitra and cialis. that can take care of this issue. The thing is about this is that you must be careful with drinking alcohol when you mix drugs. And when you are older, and you are taking other medicines for heart issues, blood pressure issues, and other issues, mixing medicines can come with consequences.
The thing is, and it's an important thing, just being hard and strong means nothing unless your other two issues are taken cared for.
[2] Interest and desire
The ability to have interest and desire is also complex. Much of that comes from Testosterone. and men tend to lose it as they get older. Which can be a real problem. You can end up having a lot of sex, but can never release. It can be a little frustrating. Don't you know.
Now there are natural ways to increase your production of this very important hormone. Good healthy food, and moderate exercise will work wonders. You can also take one of the different kinds of testosterone medications that are available.
Heck! You can even get some of the testosterone injection tablets that they inject into cattle (to make them big) and suck on it for a few minutes to improve your dose. (They are little white pills that look like tip of a ball point pen, on shaped like a miniature barrel.) But like all medications, if you do that without compensation in other areas, you might cause other problems. Try to strive for balance.
[3] Ability to make the milky goodness and release.
And thus, with the two above systems working well, and you are interested and relaxed with your partner, you would be able to ejaculate. And this (of course) starts up and fires up those wonderful endorphins that make us all feel good and healthy.
And the more times you do this a day (with a partner) the younger you become. Not just in mental attitude, but also in physical health.
Which leads me to…
Exercise
Never the less, having sex is a great way to get exercise, and we need exercise. If you don’t get your needed exercise you can be prone to illnesses, and those illnesses can actually kill you. So exercise is an important part of your daily regimen. So we engage in healthy pleasureful exercise every opportunity we get.
Did you know that men who have daily or sex often (during) a week tend to live, act, and look ten times younger? Its true!
So every opportunity I get, I try to engage in sex… you know… for health reasons. It’s important for me (personally) and for my family. It’s a need that all men must take regardless of your age.
Now if you don’t believe me, that’s fine too. But I am going to stick with my theories. Thank you very much.
The need for fun & companionship
All this being said, even if you have near-zero levels of testosterone, and a low interest in sex, you do want and need to have companionship. And if you are out and about, on the road, working like crazy, far away from home you do get lonely.
It might be nice eating in a restaurant a few times a week, but it gets really old, really fast if you are forced to do it every single day.
Business Road Warrior.
The life of a “road warrior” is not all that it is cracked up to be. And so when you are out with your friend and are out and about, it’s a real pleasure to have some close physical contact with an attractive member of the opposite sex who you want talk to and who is interesting.
And really…
Seriously…
Why be lonely when you could share it with other nice and interesting people. Not just women, of course, but men. And dogs. And cats. Is that fight, fight, fight for the “big money” worth taking away from some companionship, pleasures and fun?
I say NO!
Hotels
Now, we’ve talked about all sorts of things, but let’s get down to talking about hotels. And Lordy, I have seen my fair share. I have been in every kind of hotel imaginable inside China. From five star castles to one star flop-houses, to rural three-star “business” hotels, to Bordello Hotels. I’ve been to them all.
It’s always an adventure.
They are not the clones of hotels that you see in the USA. Whether it is a Marriott, Hilton or Hotel-6. Each hotel inside of China has it’s own very unique and interesting branding. It’s all a real pleasure.
Like before, this all began with a comment…
In reply to congjing yu.
Your integrity shows by not trying to dispel reality.
The criticism of public washrooms must include a caveat about Hotel rooms and their showers.
Spent over a hundred days in China over 20+ trips to China in early 2010’s. Being SuperElite on Air Canada had me upgraded on almost ever flight to First Class while paying almost always under USD$1,000 return. So I am smart cheap and have experiences in Chinese hotels. And was fortunate to hit 6 of 7 continents before 50 and hope to step on 7th before I die.
Chinese hotels are the BOMB! Spacious and Clean and everyone with King-sized beds. Now there are filthy hotels I am sure, but I always paid between USD$50-USD$100/night. Each room would have cost more than USD$300 in Western Europe, USD$250 in NYC, and over USD$150 everywhere else in Canada and the U.S.
The Showers were the best in the World. All showers had room for 2 and many for 3. Rain showers with incredible shower heads were included in almost all rooms. Some had water jets from the sides. Funny things is that half were glass so you could see the rest of the room while showering (something I have never experienced outside China – maybe available in rest of southeast Asia, but I have not traveled there)! There was a shower curtain (shower privacy blind) on the side facing the room, so if you had a visitor in your room and didn’t want them to see you, you could pull down.
I suggest anyone wanting to see what I am raving about just watch a few of the many Chinese quarantine videos out there.
MM, question: You showed us your kit that you use to go on overnight stays. You included a toothbrush and toiletries. Have Chinese hotels gone the Rest of the World way and no longer provide these?
Every hotel room I was in had complimentary combs, tooth brushes, and plenty of everything else. Many even had complimentary condoms.
-TorontoSamIAm
Great info on the hotels, I think that I am going to write an article on this subject int he future. Thanks for the alert!
Actually, I am so used to the Hotels inside of China that I have forgotten just how shoddy the ones in the United States are.
You are absolutely correct, and they all are nice. Or course, you were a foreigner so you probably stayed at the four and five star hotels, and of course they are the shit! I’ll tell you what, but you must know that I am used to sleeping all over the place in China, from five star hotels to one star hotels. So I have a pretty decent idea of what it is all about.
Most showers are glass. When I mean most, I mean 99.9999% are. I have NEVER seen a shower curtain in my life here. Most are very open, spacious and have these very nice shower heads. Most of the shower accessories are made in FoShan, and coincidentally, I happen to know most of the factory bosses for this particular line of products. And yeah… all over the world… they are all made in China.
Foshan is in the center of the Guangdong province. It is near the major city of Guangzhou.
As far as the kit goes, each hotel is different.
Most do have toiletries. They do, as well as complementary items for your use and a few free bottles of water, a tea kettle, and free tea. Also normal are disposable slippers, bathrobes, and condom access. Also normal is a gas mask (in a red box) in case there is a fire in the hotel.
Emergency fire-mask that can be found in all of the hotels inside of China.
What is not normal is ice. The only time where I have seen an ice machine is in the five star western hotels. Never in the local hotels.
Also a shaving kit tends to be hit or miss. I would say around 40% of the hotels don’t have them. Also missing is hand creme or lotion. This seems to be very common in the United States, but absolutely absent in China.
Now that all being said, on occasion, I have run into instances where there isn’t a toothbrush. It does happen, you know. So what I tend to do is pick up a spare brush or two and throw it in my kit just in case. I haven’t needed them for a while, but it’s better safe than sorry.
In the smaller cities, you can also get a lot of “ding dong” girl cars slid under your door. They tend to look good on the cards, but the real deal is rather hit or miss.
Ding Dong Cards
These are the cards that you find lying everywhere. They have a half-life and tend to expire, so if you find a fresh card around then you can probably pick it up if you want to meet someone new.
And…
While I am at it…
Let’s take a look at some of the advertisements that you can find inside the men’s bathrooms all over China. The following is a stamp that I think ended up being stamped everywhere in China. They must have used a couple tankers of red ink to advertise all this…
Manly advertisements.
Anyways…
This is pretty much how it is inside of China.
If you are at a Western hotel that caters to travelers from the West the beds will be extra soft, they will have complementary coffee packets, some hand lotion, and English-fluent staff. The rest of China will, however, have harder beds. Complementary tea bags, and instructions in Chinese.
It’s all good.
A final note…
We are not machines.
And the illusions that the media, and that the “news” provide to us tend to be lies. The gals in the pictures that you see might be all that perfect, and alluring and wonderful, but you know what?
It’s when their real personality comes out that I really get interested in them. It’s when I see what they are like. It’s when I see that behind that nice perfect appearance that they have “heart”, passion, and uniqueness.
It’s the PERSONALITY that makes my jizzle sizzle!
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China KTV Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
According to modern accepted history, prior to the ability to write, most humans were very, very primitive. While they might have been able to farm, and perhaps fabricate some clothes from animal skins, that was the full extent of human progress. And most historians place this date around 5,000 years ago, with some squabbling that it might be as early as 9,000 years ago.
The Stone Age marks a period of prehistory in which humans used primitive stone tools. Lasting roughly 2.5 million years, the Stone Age ended around 5,000 years ago when humans in the Near East began working with metal and making tools and weapons from bronze.
During the Stone Age, humans shared the planet with a number of now-extinct hominin relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans.
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The idea that Neanderthals were able to do anything besides one or two carvings on mammoth tusks, and using bones as hammers, is considered ludicrous.
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And when they pretty much were dying out, historians believe that that was the period of time when the use of stone tools started to make way for pottery, and perhaps roughly sewn clothing.
The oldest pottery known was found at an archaeological site in Japan. Fragments of clay containers used in food preparation at the site may be up to 16,500 years old.
Stone Age food varied over time and from region to region, but included the foods typical of hunter gatherers: meats, fish, eggs, grasses, tubers, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts.
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But that’s pretty much the extent of it all. But, then we have an OOPART. A thing that should not exist. A thing or an item that shakes the very foundation that historians have created for the lineage of man.
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How? Well, these are the OLDEST dates that people are willing to attribute to humans…
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Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, evolved from their early hominid predecessors between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago. They developed a capacity for language about 50,000 years ago.
The first modern humans began moving outside of Africa starting about 70,000-100,000 years ago.
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Here we talk about this.
Enigmatic Ancient Wheel: The 300-Million-Year-Old Wheel and Anomalous Ancient Tracks Across the World
The following article is extracted from The Myth Of Man by J.P. Robinson. All credit to the author, and please kindly note that it was edited to fit this venue. Along with some healthy MM additions.
In 2008, a curious find was discovered down a coal mine in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
As it could not be safely or successfully cut out due to the nature of the sandstone in which it was embedded, the mysterious artifact looking much like an ancient wheel remains in situ down the mine.
A fossilized (previously) wooden wheel has been unearthed in a mine in Eastern Europe / Russia. It is encased in rock (sandstone) that is 300 million years old.
Whilst drilling the coal coking stratum named J3 ‘Sukhodolsky’ at a depth of 900 meters (2952.76 feet) from the surface, workers were surprised to find what appears to be the imprint of a wheel above them in the sandstone roof of the tunnel that they had just excavated.
Thankfully, photographs of the unusual imprint were taken by the Deputy Chief V.V. Kruzhilin and shared with the mine foreman S. Kasatkin, who brought news of the find to light.
Without being able to further explore the site and inspect the imprint at close hand, we are left with only the photographs as evidence of their existence (there was more than one imprint) and the word of a group of Ukrainian miners.
Discovering the Wheel
Without being able to definitively date the strata in which the fossilized wheel print was found, it has been noted that the Rostov region surrounding Donetsk is situated upon Carboniferous rock aged between 360-300 million years ago.
As well as the widely distributed coking coals have derived from the middle to late Carboniferous; suggesting a possible age of the imprint at around 300 million years old.
This would mean that an actual wheel became stuck millions of years ago and dissolved over time due to a process called diagenesis, where sediments are lithified into sedimentary rocks, as is common with fossil remains.
Diagenesis () is the process that describes physical and chemical changes in sediments first caused by water-rock interactions, microbial activityand compaction after their deposition. The increase of pressure and temperature only starts to play a role as sediments get buried much deeper in the Earth's crust.
In the early stages, the transformation of poorly consolidated sediments into sedimentary rock (lithification) is simply accompanied by a reduction in porosity and water expulsion (clay sediments), while their main mineralogical assemblages remain unaltered.
As the rock is carried deeper by further deposition above, its organic content is progressively transformed into kerogens and bitumens. The process of diagenesis excludes surface alteration (weathering) and deep metamorphism.
There is no sharp boundary between diagenesis and metamorphism, but the latter occurs at higher temperatures and pressures. Hydrothermal solutions, meteoric groundwater, rock porosity, permeability, dissolution/precipitation reactions, and time are all influential factors.
-Wikipedia
A miner below a wheel imprint in the mine. (Author provided) SMXL
The following is an extract from a letter written by S. Kasatkin (translated from Ukrainian) in reference to his testimony of having been witness to the anomalous wheel imprint discovered by his team of miners in 2008:
‘This finding is not a PR action. In due time (2008), we as a team of engineers and workers asked the mine director to invite scientists for detailed examination of the object, but the director, following the instructions of the then owner of the mine, prohibited such talks and instead only ordered to accelerate work on passing through this section of lava and on fast ‘charging’ of the section with mining equipment. Owing to that, this artifact and the smaller one found during further work came to be in a tunnel blockage and could not be taken out and studied. It is good that there were people, who in spite of the director’s prohibition, photographed this artifact. I have connections with the people who first discovered these imprints and also with those who photographed them. We have more than a dozen witnesses. As you understand, the admission in the mine is strictly limited (it is dangerous on sudden emissions) and to obtain such permit is rather difficult. The ‘wheel’ was printed on sandstone of the roof. Guys (drifters) tried to ‘cut away’ the find with pick hammers and to take it out to the surface, but sandstone was so strong (firm) that, having been afraid to damage a print, they have left it in place. At present the mine is closed (officially since 2009) and access to the ‘object’ is impossible - the equipment is dismantled and the given layers are already flooded.(with water)’
The wheel.
With only this written testimony and that of the other witnesses, the photographs remain the only proof of this anomalous imprint, but it must be deemed worthy of mention despite any difficulties verifying the details beyond that which you have read.
For, if the photographic evidence is indeed legitimate, then one must question how a man-made wheel became embedded in such ancient strata, when according to scientific orthodoxy man had not even evolved yet.
Contemporaneous Cartwheel
Here is the design of a cartwheel made out of wood that was common prior to the industrial age.
Yeah.
You all might want to compare it with the wheel found in the 300 million year old limestone.
A curious thing about this cartwheel
it’s very difficult to make out, and (as far as I know) no one bothered to measure the wheel, from the pictures, it appears diminutive.
Most cartwheels that I have seen and know of from my personal experiences tend to be large. They are perhaps, 150 cm in diameter. (With obvious variations of course). This is roughly five feet in diameter.
This wheel appears to be much less than that. Maybe 100 cm in diameter, or roughly three feet.
Judging from this singular article, and extrapolating with many assumptions, you might want to suggest that the species, or creatures that manufactured this wheel were diminutive in size as well. Perhaps, 120 cm high (4 feet).
If so, then this would be in agreement with the hand bell that was found in a lump of coal that is contemporaneous with this wheel.
The wheel apparently has metal banding on both the hub and the wheel. This implies directly, that the species that manufacturing this wheel was also able to work in metal.
Why is this an OOPART?
It’s not just that this wheel predates the “bronze age” of human technological advancement, but it predates all primates.
The wheel pre-dates to the time of the dinosaurs.
The Earth, 300 years ago…
This was a time before even the mighty dinosaurs roamed the Earth. A time in history when the plants and animals would be unrecognizable to us today, well most of them.
You’ll probably already know that at this time the Earth’s continents were fused together in the supercontinent Pangea. This supercontinent would eventually break up and produce the modern configuration of continents we are all too familiar with.
Professor Roger Steinberg from Del Mar College hand drew a sheet of paper with 5000 dots on it. He then photocopied it 200 times and stuck them all together to show his students. When shown the paper, he asked her students to guess the number of dots they could see. Estimates ranged from 4.6 billion (the age of the Earth) to 13.7 billion (the age of the Universe).
They were all shocked when he revealed it was only actually 1 million. Now imagine 60,000 of those sheets stuck together and you’ll “get a feel” for the length of time we are talking about here. Given the average dimensions for A4 paper (21 by 29.7 cm or 0.06 m2) that would cover an area of 3600 m2!
Now imagine this 300 times larger!
Incredible!
300 million years ago puts us firmly within the Palaeozoic period of geological history, technically speaking within the Permian-Pennsylvanian boundary. This was a time of great change in the animal kingdom. Amphibians had evolved into reptiles that will one day give birth to all-conquering dinosaurs in a few tens of millions of years.
300 million years ago puts us firmly within the Palaeozoic period of geological history.
The plants that were in the carboniferous period were very similar to those present in a tropical climate. It was known for swamp forest which had lots of life. Lycopsids were abundant during the Carboniferous period and were a big source of carbon. There was a lot of coal during this time period so it helped the coal a lot. Then the lycopsids went extinct due to a drying trend. After that ferns and sphenopsids were dominant.
The land was dominated by the ancestors of all mammals, the Synapsids, and the ancestor of all reptiles and birds, the Diapsids. Living Diapsids include crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tuatara. The Synapsids would become a highly diversified group throughout the Permian ultimately evolving into the first mammals during the Triassic.
The iconic apex predator of the period, the Dimetrodon, would rule the land. This chap, although looking pretty reptilian, is actually more closely related to you than the dinosaurs that would follow it.
The Dimetrodon was the apex predator.
In the oceans, ammonites and ancient fish and sharks roamed the depths. Plant life on land was undergoing a revolution changing from the giant swamps of the Carboniferous to truly modern Gymnosperms taking dominance.
At this time in Earth’s history, the continents of the modern world were tightly locked together in the supercontinent known as Pangea. It is believed this assembly formed somewhere around 335 million years ago. It wasn’t to last, however.
The restless “gubbins” of the Earth would tear this assembly apart about 175 million years ago through a process known as plate tectonics. This gradual motion of the plates still continues today, in fact, Australia and India (they share the same plate), for example, are actually sliding northeast towards Asia and the central Pacific Ocean.
This a picture of what the world looked like during the Carboniferous Period. As you can see it looks nothing like the world we know today. The continents are in process of forming a super continent called Pangea.
So there you go. That’s how the world looked 300 million years ago. Cool eh?
The Carboniferous Period (350-300 Million Years Ago)
Some of the animals that were present during the Carboniferous period were Amphibiamus lyelli, Which had long snouts, short limbs and flattened heads. Labachia is an early relative of they conifers. Crocodiles were there and hey are still present today. There were some dinosaurs but not as many as the Mesozoic era. There was also marine reptiles, lizards,snakes, birds and land snails. They also had many insects such as big dragonflies, mayflies, millipedes, scorpions and spiders. The millipedes scorpions and spiders were very good for the environment. There was hylonomos which were lightly built with deep strong jaws and slender limbs. Some other animals were gastropods, bonyfish and sharks.
A Look at Prehistoric Life During the Carboniferous Period.
Amphibamus grandiceps, a dissorophoid temnospondyl from the late Carboniferous of Illinois.
The name “Carboniferous” reflects the most famous attribute of the Carboniferous period: the massive swamps that cooked, over tens of millions of years, into today’s vast reserves of coal and natural gas. However, the Carboniferous period (359 to 299 million years ago) was also notable for the appearance of new terrestrial vertebrates, including the very first amphibians and lizards.
Climate and Geography
The global climate of the Carboniferous period was intimately linked with its geography.
During the course of the preceding Devonian period, the northern supercontinent of Euramerica merged with the southern supercontinent of Gondwana, producing the enormous super-supercontinent Pangea, which occupied much of the southern hemisphere during the ensuing Carboniferous.
This had a pronounced effect on air and water circulation patterns, which resulted in a large portion of southern Pangea being covered by glaciers and a general global cooling trend (which, however, didn’t have much effect on the coal swamps that covered Pangea’s more temperate regions).
Inthe swampy forests of the Carboniferous Period, 360 to 286 million years ago, dragonflieswithtwo-and-a-half-foot wingspans darted among the giant ferns. Mayflies grew to canary size. Cockroachesappeared suddenly (as cockroachesdo) for the first time.
-Insects of the Oxygeniferous | DiscoverMagazine
Oxygen made up a much higher percentage of the Earth’s atmosphere than it does today, fueling the growth of terrestrial megafauna, including dog-size insects.
Terrestrial Life During the Carboniferous Period
The climate during the carboniferous period was tropical and mild temperatures. It was a uniform climate, and the early carboniferous period was relatively warm.
Amphibians. Our understanding of life during the Carboniferous period is complicated by “Romer’s Gap,” a 15-million-year stretch of time (from 360 to 345 million years ago) that has yielded virtually no vertebrate fossils.
What we do know, however, is that by the end of this gap, the very first tetrapods of the late Devonian period, themselves only recently evolved from lobe-finned fish, had lost their internal gills and were well on their way toward becoming true amphibians.
Carboniferous life.
By the late Carboniferous, amphibians were represented by such important genera as Amphibamus and Phlegethontia, which (like modern amphibians) needed to lay their eggs in water and keep their skin moist, and thus couldn’t venture too far onto dry land.
Reptiles. The most important trait that distinguishes reptiles from amphibians is their reproductive system: The shelled eggs of reptiles are better able to withstand dry conditions, and thus don’t need to be laid in water or moist ground.
The evolution of reptiles was spurred by the increasingly cold, dry climate of the late Carboniferous period.
One of the earliest reptiles yet identified, Hylonomus, appeared about 315 million years ago, and the giant (almost 10 feet long) Ophiacodon only a few million years later.
By the end of the Carboniferous, reptiles had migrated well toward the interior of Pangea. These early pioneers went on to spawn the archosaurs, pelycosaurs, and therapsids of the ensuing Permian period. (It was the archosaurs that went on to spawn the first dinosaurs nearly a hundred million years later.)
Invertebrates. As noted above, the Earth’s atmosphere contained an unusually high percentage of oxygen during the late Carboniferous period, peaking at an astounding 35%.
This surplus was especially beneficial to terrestrial invertebrates, such as insects, which breathe via the diffusion of air through their exoskeletons, rather than with the aid of lungs or gills.
Carboniferous life.
The Carboniferous was the heyday of the giant dragonfly Megalneura, the wingspan of which measured up to 2.5 feet, as well as the giant millipede Arthropleura, which attained lengths of almost 10 feet.
This is a drawing of the Dragon flies that were around during this time period. As you can see they look similar to the ones we have today except for their much larger size.
As well, as the domestically evolved Mantid species.
Insects of the Carboniferous Period
During the Carboniferous, numerous new insect families developed on Earth, with many insect species growing to incredible sizes. Fortunately, there’s a distinct lack of eight-foot-long millipedes today.
Bugs today are minuscule compared to the Carboniferous period, likely due to the way that insects breathe and how that system fails to hold up at large scales.
Invertebrate insects grew to enormous sizes.
Insect respiration relies on a series of small tubes, or tracheae, spread throughout their bodies. Most insects don’t even “breathe,” exactly, but rather allow oxygen to passively diffuse throughout their respiratory systems. When an insect gets too large, these tracheae can’t collect enough oxygen to support their bodies.
Around 300 million years ago, however, Earth was saturated with oxygen. Today’s atmosphere is 21% oxygen, while the Carboniferous period had an atmosphere that was 35% oxygen. With this overabundance, insects’ respiratory systems could support larger bodies than what we think of as typical. Being big is, generally, a good thing: large animals stand to win in a fight, can store more energy for when resources are scarce, and retain heat more efficiently.
Animals that were passive absorbers of oxygen, like insects, started growing to huge sizes. And I mean HUGE.
There was a species of caterpillar that grew to 2.5 metres in length, a scorpion that grew to 70 cm and a dragonfly that had a wingspan of 75 cm. Yikes!
Invertebrate insects grew to enormous sizes.
In fact, the size of many modern insects is only limited by ambient levels of oxygen. It’s not a genetic limit. More oxygen equals bigger size. There are scientists who are, right now, trying to grow large insects inside oxygen chambers. Someone should tell them to stop. PLEASE STOP.
For insects, there needed to be more oxygen in the air for this to happen. The extra oxygen didn’t suddenly appear, however; this change in the atmosphere can be attributed to the arrival of the first trees on the planet.
Prior to the Carboniferous period, trees didn’t exist. During this time, the first things that could properly be recognized as trees appeared. These were unlike the trees we know today—they were more like massive ferns with shallow roots that made them prone to falling over. They grew throughout the swamps that covered most of the planet during this period.
Invertebrate insects grew to enormous sizes.
However, ancient trees and modern trees do share a crucial characteristic. They both are made of a cellulose and lignin composite—wood. Wood also happens to be an excellent store of carbon. As these trees grew taller and taller to compete for sunlight, they sucked more and more carbon out of the atmosphere and exchanged it for oxygen, fundamentally changing the composition of the atmosphere.
Wood was a novel material on the planet: the fungi and microbes capable of digesting it didn’t exist yet. When these trees fell over and died, they stayed in place. Tree trunks slowly accumulated over the swampy Earth, storing away much of the carbon in the atmosphere. This is where the name of this period of time comes from: Carboniferous is Latin for coal-bearing. In fact, as layers of dead trees piled on top of each other, they were gradually compressed into a massive layer of coal, which is where we get most of the coal we use today.
Invertebrate insects grew to enormous sizes.
All of this paints a very surreal picture of ancient Earth. It would have been a moist, swampy place covered in endless fields of timber and giant ferns, crawling with Lovecraftian insects the size of your arm or larger.
Crazed boffins in the USA say they have successfully carried out a Jurassic Park-style project in which enormous flesh-eating creatures from the remote prehistoric past have been successfully bred in the laboratory. Incomprehensibly this laboratory is not located on a remote island.
As many readers will doubtless be aware, during the late Paleozoic era the Earth was, if not exactly ruled or terrorized, at the least very seriously bothered by swarms of gigantic dragonflies with wingspans around 70cm across. The monster insects will have been all the more troublesome as dragonflies “need to hunt live prey”, according to experts.
One such expert is Dr John VandenBrooks, who has after a lengthy struggle managed to breed such much-enlarged dragonflies in his Arizona laboratory. The large size was achieved by enhancing atmospheric oxygen levels to 31 per cent, as seen in the Paleozoic (today’s air is only about 20 per cent O2).
Proudly showing off the results of their genetic experimentation.
The hard bit, according to the prof, was not the creation of this artificially enriched (or “hyperoxic”) atmosphere but the actual care and feeding of the monstrous, prehistoric winged flesh-eaters.
“Dragonflies are notoriously difficult to rear,” boasts VandenBrooks. “We are one of the only groups to successfully rear them to adulthood under laboratory conditions.”
According to a statement issued by the Geological Society of America:
There is no such thing as dragonfly chow. As juveniles they need to hunt live prey and in fact undergraduate students Elyse Muñoz and Michael Weed working with Dr VandenBrooks had to resort to hand feeding the dragonflies.
It’s to be hoped that the unfortunate undergrads escaped from the hyperoxia chambers with their hands and other body parts intact. Plenty more where they came from, no doubt.
Not content with his creation of huge flesh-eating Paleozoic hyper-dragonflies, VandenBrooks also sought to breed greatly enlarged cockroaches and other horrors using similar hypercharged breeding pens. However this time the experiments were a failure, even once the hyper-roaches had been blasted with incredibly powerful energy rays at a handy atom-smasher.
The disappointed prof, perhaps assisted by surviving members of his team, is to reveal details of his accomplishments at a convention in Colorado.
Yikes!
Giant Millipede.
Marine Life During the Carboniferous Period
With the extinction of the distinctive placoderms (armored fish) at the end of the Devonian period, the Carboniferous isn’t especially well known for its marine life, except insofar as some genera of lobe-finned fish were closely related to the very first tetrapods and amphibians that invaded dry land.
Falcatus, a close relative of Stethacanthus, is probably the best-known Carboniferous shark, along with the much bigger Edestus, which is known primarily by its teeth.
As in preceding geologic periods, small invertebrates like corals, crinoids, and arthropods were plentiful in the Carboniferous seas.
Plant Life During the Carboniferous Period
The dry, cold conditions of the late Carboniferous period weren’t especially hospitable to plants—but that still didn’t prevent these hardy organisms from colonizing every available ecosystem on dry land.
The Carboniferous witnessed the very first plants with seeds, as well as bizarre genera like the 100-foot-tall club moss Lepidodendron and the slightly smaller Sigillaria.
Lepidodendron trees. However, by most accounts they existed in dense forests with very thick and deep swampy undergrowth. So if you add that green boggy mess to the picture you would have a better idea of what the tree actually looked like.
The most important plants of the Carboniferous period were the ones inhabiting the large belt of carbon-rich “coal swamps” around the equator, which were later compressed by millions of years of heat and pressure into the vast coal deposits we use for fuel today.
Bruno, a fellow forum member and moderator of the naturalistes forum has a ton of plant fossil examples and reconstruction info over on that site..
Take a look at each page and you'll see the closeup detail of fossils of the genus Lepidodendron and lots of reconstructions that will help your cause.
He's also got a wealth of info on the other major plant members of the forest in that website....days and days worth of fossil images and reconstructions. It is a treasure!
http://forums-naturalistes.forums-actifs.com/t2395-lepidodendron-sternberg-1820
Carboniferous period summary
During this period in time, there was one super continent on the earth. It had plentiful oxygen which permitted the evolution of insects to grow to enormous sizes and develop specialized intelligence’s over the years.
Most other creatures were still primitive and resembled proto-dinosaurs. These were smaller creatures that were just then finding their way on the food chain. There were NO apes, primates or humans.
Ancient Tracks
Yet…
Evidence for the existence of wheeled vehicles in antiquity has surfaced all over the world. They do so as petrified ancient tracks.
They are found in France, Spain, Italy, Malta, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and even North America.
Prehistoric “Cart ruts”
"I believe we’re seeing the indicators of the civilization which existed sooner than the vintage introduction of this global,” Dr. Koltypin mentioned. “All those rocky fields had been coated with ruts left thousands and thousands of years in the past…we don’t seem to be speaking about human beings. We are coping with some more or less automobiles or all-terrain vehicles.”
-Alienpolicy
A prehistoric site known formally as Misrah Ghar il-Kbir meaning the Great Cave in Maltese (and commonly referred to as Clapham Junction), is located at Siggiewi, near the Dingli Cliffs in Malta.
It is at this now famous site that what have been termed ‘cart ruts’ cut into the limestone have mystified all that have visited the area.
Cart ruts suggestive of an axle connected pair of wheels.
Likewise, a number of unusual tracks in stone are also visible on the island of Sicily at the Greek amphitheater called the Great Theater of Syracuse.
Interestingly, and paradoxically, most archaeologists have suggested that the Maltese tracks were probably created by Sicilian settlers who traveled to Malta around 2000 BC at the start of the Bronze Age.
Yet more tracks are to be found in Turkey.
Some at Sofca cover an area roughly 45 by 10 miles (72.42 by 16.09 km), and also in Cappadocia, where several pockets of tracks can be seen.
The many ruts discovered around the world have caused a great deal of controversy as to their purpose, age, and origin.
These mysterious objects remain up for debate, but due to the association and close proximity with megalithic structures, in Malta particularly, and due to the fact that many tracks are now submerged below the sea in that region, many researchers have concluded that the fossilized lines show signs of great antiquity.
‘Cart rut’ tracks in Sofca, Turkey. (Author provided)
Bizarrely, considering the anomalous wheel print discovered in Ukraine that we have just discussed, a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains of Ukraine called Chufut-Kale lies in ruins, but also plays host to a number of cart ruts in stone like those at the nearby site of Eski-Kermen.
"We can think that ancient vehicles on wheels had been drove on comfortable soil, perhaps a rainy floor, and as a result of their weight the ruts had been so deep. Later those ruts – and all the floor round – simply petrified and secured all the proof,”
-Alienpolicy
Dr. Alexander Koltypin is a geologist and director of the Natural Science Research Center at Moscow’s International Independent University of Ecology and Politology.
He has spent a great deal of time visiting these sites and comparing them to one another in search of similarities.
“I first saw tracks in stone - fossilized car or terrain vehicle traces (usually called cart ruts) on Neogen plantation surface (peneplene in Phrygian) plain in May 2014 (Central Anatolia Turkey).
They were situated in the field of development of Middle and Late Miocene tuffs and tuffites and according to age analysis of nearby volcanic rocks, had middle Miocene age of 12-14 million years,” wrote Koltypin.
This particular region which Koltypin has researched further is relatively unknown and the guide books offer nothing in the way of information.
Whilst orthodox researchers claim that the tracks are simply the remnants of old petrified cart ruts from the kind of wheeled vehicles which donkeys or camels would have pulled, Koltypin has other ideas.
“I will never accept it,” he explained when confronted with the standard explanations. “I myself will always remember . . . many other inhabitants of our planet wiped from our history.”
Raddet ir-Roti Cart Ruts, Xemxija Heritage Trail in St. Paul’s Bay, Malta. (Frank Vincentz/ CC BY SA 3.0 )
Upon measuring the width and length of the tracks at the Phrygian Valley site, he is convinced that they were created by vehicles of a similar length to modern cars but with tires 9 inches (22.86 cm) wide.
With the depth of the impressions of the tracks in stone exceeding that which one would associate with small carts, Koltypin maintains that the vehicles responsible must have been much heavier.
"As a geologist, I will unquestionably inform you that unknown antediluvian (sooner than the flood) all-terrain vehicles drove round Central Turkey some 12-14 million years in the past. The technique of specifying the age of volcanic rocks may be very smartly studied and labored out,”-Alienpolicy
He theorizes that whichever civilization drove the heavy vehicles that created the tracks were most likely responsible for the many different but identical roads, ruts and underground complexes which are scattered around the entire Mediterranean, more than 12 million years ago.
Aware that the process of petrification can occur within a relatively short period, Koltypin insists that the heavy mineral deposits which coat the tracks and the visible erosion are suggestive of…
…of a greater antiquity;
…along with the surrounding underground cities, irrigation systems, wells, and more, which also show signs of being millions of years old in his view.
Koltypin wrote on his website,
‘We are dealing with extremely tough lithified (petrified) sediments, covered with a thick layer of weathering, that takes millions of years to develop, full of multiple cracks with newly developed minerals in them, which could only emerge in periods of high tectonic activity.’
It is evident that much research is needed to clarify the age and origin of the many tracks that are being discovered.
Discoveries which occur at multiple geographical locations, all over the world.
And yes, it is easy to simply state that they are the product of old carts which once trundled through these parts.
But actual investigation may well reveal far more complex and remarkable explanations which could well correlate with other things.
Other things, such as the mysterious remnants of an unknown ancient civilization as postulated by Alexander Koltypin.
The sheer presence of the fossilized wheel found in the Ukraine is certainly suggestive of the fact that the ancients may have had access to more technology and know-how than is currently accepted.
Especially when we KNOW that the world pretty much looked a little like this…
About the ruts
Don’t the ruts resemble trying to move carts through very marshy, muddy land? Just exactly the kind of terrain and environment that existed 300 million years ago?
Typical terrain 300 million years ago.
Conclusion
Dates are being bantered about of 300 million years, and 12 million years. In any event these dates pre-date apes, monkeys, primates and proto-humans.
Yet, we find the impossible.
Not only a wheel firmly embedded deep down inside a mine shaft, but ruts that take many centuries to harden into stone. Couple that with the discoveries of chains, metal lamps, bells, and other objects all pulled out of 300 million year old coal, it makes one wonder what is really going on.
Perhaps instead of trying to reationalize how these OOPART objects can exist relative to the history that is taught in school, perhaps we should realize that at signifigant points in time…
…in this case,
300 million years ago
12 million years ago
…that civilizations existed upon the earth. That these civilizations possessed tool-making ability, (as shown in other articles) metal forming ability, and the ability to work together in groups to create large megalithic structures that resemble boulders and rocks today.
And…
…instead of saying that mankind, or proto-humans created these objects, wouldn’t it be cleaner, more sensible, and easier to simply acknowledge that there must have been other civilizations, populated by other creatures living upon the earth at those far, far distant times.
A diminutive, and smaller than human, species… capable of living in a high oxygen content environment… where the oxygen made them grow to enormous sizes (though still smaller than humans). Capable of fabricating things out of wood, such as the Lepidodendron tree. And capable of metal working, which means that they had control over fire, and an understanding on how to mine ore.
And when we understand that point, we are truly able to see the insignificance of the human species on the grand scale of things.
Do you want more?
I have more posts like this in my OOPARTs Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
One of the often mentioned narratives regarding China can be found on the Alt-Right and Hard-Right websites in America. It’s the narrative that China builds these huge enormous “ghost cities”. That China builds these huge concrete cities that no one lives in, and that this is just another example about how “out of touch” China is with it’s people.
Well, of course, it’s a big bunch of misdirection, misunderstandings, lies, and intentional fabrications.
Yet, what is actually going on is far more interesting.
And if you study it, you see just how healthy the government of China is, and how proactive it is in caring for the Chinese people.
In this article we are going to take a look at one of these “ghost cities” and see what is actually going on. No. It’s not about how “out of touch” the Chinese government is, but rather how forward thinking it is. People in the West simply cannot imagine what is going on. This is simply because the size, the scope, the forward planning, and the belief that if everyone is “lifted up”, then everyone prospers.
It’s unheard of in the greedy West.
Here’s the video.
And NO, it’s not me. This is a video blogger that travels the world and speaks better Chinese than I do. He has a vblog called JaYoeNation. He’s pretty good. LOL.
Take a spell and let it download. If it is taking too much time, you can click on THIS LINK and down load a zipped-file and watch the video directly. It’s pretty good. Please enjoy.
You have got to see the pictures and this video…
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China vs. USA Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
The photo above reminds me so very much of the old Doc Savage paperbacks that I used to read when I was in Middle School. This is a promo image of Dwayne Johnson in one of his Jumanji movies.
Dwayne is an interesting person, but the thing is that few people hate him. He’s a kind soul, or at least tries to portray that image. And without that image, he’s just another smuck that went from weight-lifting to movies.
It’s difficult to keep your reputation. Certainly no one knows that better than myself who now has the ugly reputation of being a nasty filthy child predator now living inside the filthy evil communist Hell-hole.
And that’s the way it works, you know.
To destroy a person completely, you need only destroy his reputation so that no one wants to associate with him, employ him, listen to him, or be friends with him. Then alone, shunned, starving, and destitute he can die inside the hole you made for him to crawl into.
This is a great chapter by Robert Greene. Read it and learn from it.
LAW 5
SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION—GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE
JUDGMENT
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW I
During China’s War of the Three Kingdoms (A.D. 207-265), the great general Chuko Liang, leading the forces of the Shu Kingdom, dispatched his vast army to a distant camp while he rested in a small town with a handful of soldiers.
Suddenly sentinels hurried in with the alarming news that an enemy force of over 150,000 troops under Sima Yi was approaching.
With only a hundred men to defend him, Chuko Liang’s situation was hopeless.
The enemy would finally capture this renowned leader.
Without lamenting his fate, or wasting time trying to figure out how he had been caught, Liang ordered his troops to take down their flags, throw open the city gates, and hide.
He himself then took a seat on the most visible part of the city’s wall, wearing a Taoist robe.
He lit some incense, strummed his lute, and began to chant.
Minutes later he could see the vast enemy army approaching, an endless phalanx of soldiers.
Pretending not to notice them, he continued to sing and play the lute.
Soon the army stood at the town gates.
At its head was Sima Yi, who instantly recognized the man on the wall.
Even so, as his soldiers itched to enter the unguarded town through its open gates, Sima Yi hesitated, held them back, and studied Liang on the wall.
Then, he ordered an immediate and speedy retreat.
THE ANIMALS STRICKEN WITH THE PLAGUE
A frightful epidemic sent To earth by Heaven intent to vent Its fury on a sinful world, to call It by its rightful name, the pestilence, That Acheron- filling vial of virulence Had fallen on every animal.
Not all were dead, but all lay near to dying, And none was any longer trying To find new fuel to feed life’s flickering fires.
No foods excited their desires; No more did wolves and foxes rove In search of harmless, helpless prey; And dove would not consort with dove, For love and joy had flown away.
The Lion assumed the chair to say: “Dear friends, I doubt not it’s for heaven’s high ends That on us sinners woe must fall. Let him of us who’s sinned the most Fall victim to the avenging heavenly host, And may he win salvation for us all; For history teaches us that in these crises We must make sacrifices. Undeceived and stern-eyed, let’s inspect Our conscience. As I recollect, To put my greedy appetite to sleep, I’ve banqueted on many a sheep Who’d injured me in no respect, And even in my time been known to try Shepherd pie. If need be, then. I’ll die. Yet I suspect That others also ought to own their sins. It’s only fair that all should do their best To single out the guiltiest.”
“Sire, you’re too good a king,“the Fox begins; ”Such scruples are too delicate. My word, To eat sheep, that profane and vulgar herd. That’s sin? Nay. Sire, enough for such a crew To be devoured by such as you; While of the shepherds we may say That they deserved the worst they got. Theirs being the lot that over us beasts plot A flimsy dream-begotten sway.”
Thus spake the Fox, and toady cheers rose high, While none dared cast too cold an eye On Tiger‘s, Bear’s, and other eminences Most unpardonable offences.
Each, of never mind what currish breed, Was really a saint, they all agreed.
Then came the Ass, to say: ”I do recall How once I crossed an abbey-mead Where hunger, grass in plenty, and withal, I have no doubt, some imp of greed. Assailed me, and I shaved a tongue’s-breadth wide Where frankly I’d no right to any grass.”
All forthwith fell full cry upon the Ass: A Wolf of some book-learning testified That that curst beast must suffer their despite, That gallskinned author of their piteous plight.
They judged him fit for nought but gallows-bait: How vile, another’s grass to sequestrate! His death alone could expiate A crime so heinous, as full well he learns. The court, as you’re of great or poor estate, Will paint you either white or black by turns.
THE BEST FABLES OF LA FONTAINE, JEAN DE LA FONTAINE, 1621- 1695
Interpretation
Chuko Liang was commonly known as the “Sleeping Dragon.”
His exploits in the War of the Three Kingdoms were legendary.
Once a man claiming to be a disaffected enemy lieutenant came to his camp, offering help and information. Liang instantly recognized the situation as a setup; this man was a false deserter, and should be beheaded.
At the last minute, though, as the ax was about to fall, Liang stopped the execution and offered to spare the man’s life if he agreed to become a double agent.
Grateful and terrified, the man agreed, and began supplying false information to the enemy. Liang won battle after battle.
On another occasion Liang stole a military seal and created false documents dispatching his enemy’s troops to distant locations.
Once the troops had dispersed, he was able to capture three cities, so that he controlled an entire corridor of the enemy’s kingdom.
He also once tricked the enemy into believing one of its best generals was a traitor, forcing the man to escape and join forces with Liang.
The Sleeping Dragon carefully cultivated his reputation of being the cleverest man in China, one who always had a trick up his sleeve.
As powerful as any weapon, this reputation struck fear into his enemy.
Sima Yi had fought against Chuko Liang dozens of times and knew him well.
When he came on the empty city, with Liang praying on the wall, he was stunned.
The Taoist robes, the chanting, the incense—this had to be a game of intimidation.
The man was obviously taunting him, daring him to walk into a trap.
The game was so obvious that for one moment it crossed Yi’s mind that Liang actually was alone, and desperate.
But so great was his fear of Liang that he dared not risk finding out.
Such is the power of reputation.
It can put a vast army on the defensive, even force them into retreat, without a single arrow being fired.
For, as Cicero says, even those who argue against fame still want the books they write against it to bear their name in the title and hope to become famous for despising it. Everything else is subject to barter: we will let our friends have our goods and our lives if need be; but a case of sharing our fame and making someone else the gift of our reputation is hardly to be found.
Montaigne, 1533-1592
OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW II
In 1841 the young P. T. Barnum, trying to establish his reputation as America’s premier showman, decided to purchase the American Museum in Manhattan and turn it into a collection of curiosities that would secure his fame.
The problem was that he had no money.
The museum’s asking price was $15,000, but Barnum was able to put together a proposal that appealed to the institution’s owners even though it replaced cash up front with dozens of guarantees and references.
The owners came to a verbal agreement with Barnum, but at the last minute, the principal partner changed his mind, and the museum and its collection were sold to the directors of Peale’s Museum.
Barnum was infuriated, but the partner explained that business was business —the museum had been sold to Peale’s because Peale’s had a reputation and Barnum had none.
Barnum immediately decided that if he had no reputation to bank on, his only recourse was to ruin the reputation of Peale’s.
Accordingly he launched a letter-writing campaign in the newspapers, calling the owners a bunch of “broken-down bank directors” who had no idea how to run a museum or entertain people.
He warned the public against buying Peale’s stock, since the business’s purchase of another museum would invariably spread its resources thin.
The campaign was effective, the stock plummeted, and with no more confidence in Peale’s track record and reputation, the owners of the American Museum reneged on their deal and sold the whole thing to Barnum.
It took years for Peale’s to recover, and they never forgot what Barnum had done.
Mr. Peale himself decided to attack Barnum by building a reputation for “high-brow entertainment,” promoting his museum’s programs as more scientific than those of his vulgar competitor.
Mesmerism (hypnotism) was one of Peale’s “scientific” attractions, and for a while it drew big crowds and was quite successful. To fight back, Barnum decided to attack Peale’s reputation yet again.
Barnum organized a rival mesmeric performance in which he himself apparently put a little girl into a trance.
Once she seemed to have fallen deeply under, he tried to hypnotize members of the audience—but no matter how hard he tried, none of the spectators fell under his spell, and many of them began to laugh.
A frustrated Barnum finally announced that to prove the little girl’s trance was real, he would cut off one of her fingers without her noticing.
But as he sharpened the knife, the little girl’s eyes popped open and she ran away, to the audience’s delight.
He repeated this and other parodies for several weeks.
Soon no one could take Peale’s show seriously, and attendance went way down.
Within a few weeks, the show closed.
Over the next few years Barnum established a reputation for audacity and consummate showmanship that lasted his whole life.
Peale’s reputation, on the other hand, never recovered.
Interpretation
Barnum used two different tactics to ruin Peale’s reputation.
The first was simple: He sowed doubts about the museum’s stability and solvency. Doubt is a powerful weapon: Once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors, your opponents are in a horrible dilemma. On the one hand they can deny the rumors, even prove that you have slandered them. But a layer of suspicion will remain: Why are they defending themselves so desperately?
Maybe the rumor has some truth to it? If, on the other hand, they take the high road and ignore you, the doubts, unrefuted, will be even stronger. If done correctly, the sowing of rumors can so infuriate and unsettle your rivals that in defending themselves they will make numerous mistakes. This is the perfect weapon for those who have no reputation of their own to work from.
Once Barnum did have a reputation of his own, he used the second, gentler tactic, the fake hypnotism demonstration: He ridiculed his rivals’ reputation.
This too was extremely successful.
Once you have a solid base of respect, ridiculing your opponent both puts him on the defensive and draws more attention to you, enhancing your own reputation.
Outright slander and insult are too strong at this point; they are ugly, and may hurt you more than help you.
But gentle barbs and mockery suggest that you have a strong enough sense of your own worth to enjoy a good laugh at your rival’s expense.
A humorous front can make you out as a harmless entertainer while poking holes in the reputation of your rival.
It is easier to cope with a bad conscience than with a bad reputation.
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900
KEYS TO POWER
The people around us, even our closest friends, will always to some extent remain mysterious and unfathomable.
Their characters have secret recesses that they never reveal.
The unknowableness of other people could prove disturbing if we thought about it long enough, since it would make it impossible for us really to judge other people.
So we prefer to ignore this fact, and to judge people on their appearances, on what is most visible to our eyes—clothes, gestures, words, actions. In the social realm, appearances are the barometer of almost all of our judgments, and you must never be mis led into believing otherwise.
One false slip, one awkward or sudden change in your appearance, can prove disastrous.
This is the reason for the supreme importance of making and maintaining a reputation that is of your own creation.
That reputation will protect you in the dangerous game of appearances, distracting the probing eyes of others from knowing what you are really like, and giving you a degree of control over how the world judges you—a powerful position to be in.
Reputation has a power like magic: With one stroke of its wand, it can double your strength.
It can also send people scurrying away from you.
Whether the exact same deeds appear brilliant or dreadful can depend entirely on the reputation of the doer.
In the ancient Chinese court of the Wei kingdom there was a man named Mi Tzu-hsia who had a reputation for supreme civility and graciousness.
He became the ruler’s favorite.
It was a law in Wei that “whoever rides secretly in the ruler’s coach shall have his feet cut off,” but when Mi Tzu-hsia’s mother fell ill, he used the royal coach to visit her, pretending that the ruler had given him permission.
When the ruler found out, he said, “How dutiful is Mi Tzu-hsia!
For his mother’s sake he even forgot that he was committing a crime making him liable to lose his feet!”
Another time the two of them took a stroll in an orchard.
Mi Tzu-hsia began eating a peach that he could not finish, and he gave the ruler the other half to eat.
The ruler remarked, “You love me so much that you would even forget your own saliva taste and let me eat the rest of the peach!”
Later, however, envious fellow courtiers, spreading word that Mi Tzu- hsia was actually devious and arrogant, succeeded in damaging his reputation; the ruler came to see his actions in a new light.
“This fellow once rode in my coach under pretense of my order,” he told the courtiers angrily, “and another time he gave me a half-eaten peach.”
For the same actions that had charmed the ruler when he was the favorite, Mi Tzu-hsia now had to suffer the penalties.
The fate of his feet depended solely on the strength of his reputation.
In the beginning, you must work to establish a reputation for one outstanding quality, whether generosity or honesty or cunning.
This quality sets you apart and gets other people to talk about you.
You then make your reputation known to as many people as possible (subtly, though; take care to build slowly, and with a firm foundation), and watch as it spreads like wildfire.
A solid reputation increases your presence and exaggerates your strengths without your having to spend much energy.
It can also create an aura around you that will instill respect, even fear. In the fighting in the North African desert during World War II, the German general Erwin Rommel had a reputation for cunning and for deceptive maneuvering that struck terror into everyone who faced him.
Even when his forces were depleted, and when British tanks outnumbered his by five to one, entire cities would be evacuated at the news of his approach.
As they say, your reputation inevitably precedes you, and if it inspires respect, a lot of your work is done for you before you arrive on the scene, or utter a single word.
Your success seems destined by your past triumphs.
Much of the success of Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy rested on his reputation for ironing out differences; no one wanted to be seen as so unreasonable that Kissinger could not sway him.
A peace treaty seemed a fait accompli as soon as Kissinger’s name became involved in the negotiations.
Make your reputation simple and base it on one sterling quality.
This single quality—efficiency, say, or seductiveness—becomes a kind of calling card that announces your presence and places others under a spell.
A reputation for honesty will allow you to practice all manner of deception.
Casanova used his reputation as a great seducer to pave the way for his future conquests; women who had heard of his powers became immensely curious, and wanted to discover for themselves what had made him so romantically successful.
Perhaps you have already stained your reputation, so that you are prevented from establishing a new one.
In such cases it is wise to associate with someone whose image counteracts your own, using their good name to whitewash and elevate yours.
It is hard, for example, to erase a reputation for dishonesty by yourself; but a paragon of honesty can help. When P. T. Barnum wanted to clean up a reputation for promoting vulgar entertainment, he brought the singer Jenny Lind over from Europe.
She had a stellar, high-class reputation, and the American tour Barnum sponsored for her greatly enhanced his own image.
Similarly the great robber barons of nineteenth-century America were long unable to rid themselves of a reputation for cruelty and mean-spiritedness.
Only when they began collecting art, so that the names of Morgan and Frick became permanently associated with those of da Vinci and Rembrandt, were they able to soften their unpleasant image.
Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded.
Especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it.
Once it is solid, do not let yourself get angry or defensive at the slanderous comments of your enemies—that reveals insecurity, not confidence in your reputation.
Take the high road instead, and never appear desperate in your self-defense.
On the other hand, an attack on another man’s reputation is a potent weapon, particularly when you have less power than he does.
He has much more to lose in such a battle, and your own thus- far-small reputation gives him a small target when he tries to return your fire.
Barnum used such campaigns to great effect in his early career. But this tactic must be practiced with skill; you must not seem to engage in petty vengeance.
If you do not break your enemy’s reputation cleverly, you will inadvertently ruin your own.
Thomas Edison, considered the inventor who harnessed electricity, believed that a workable system would have to be based on direct current (DC).
When the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla appeared to have succeeded in creating a system based on alternating current (AC), Edison was furious.
He determined to ruin Tesla’s reputation, by making the public believe that the AC system was inherently unsafe, and Tesla irresponsible in promoting it.
To this end he captured all kinds of household pets and electrocuted them to death with an AC current.
When this wasn’t enough, in 1890 he got New York State prison authorities to organize the world’s first execution by electrocution, using an AC current.
But Edison’s electrocution experiments had all been with small creatures; the charge was too weak, and the man was only half killed.
In perhaps the country’s cruelest state-authorized execution, the procedure had to be repeated. It was an awful spectacle.
Although, in the long run, it is Edison’s name that has survived, at the time his campaign damaged his own reputation more than Tesla’s.
He backed off.
The lesson is simple—never go too far in attacks like these, for that will draw more attention to your own vengefulness than to the person you are slandering.
When your own reputation is solid, use subtler tactics, such as satire and ridicule, to weaken your opponent while making you out as a charming rogue.
The mighty lion toys with the mouse that crosses his path—any other reaction would mar his fearsome reputation.
Image:
A Mine Full of Diamonds and Rubies.
You dug for it, you found it, and your wealth is now assured.
Guard it with your life. Robbers and thieves will appear from all sides. Never take your wealth
for granted, and constantly renew it—time will diminish the jewels’ luster,
and bury them from sight.
Authority:
Therefore I should wish our courtier to bolster up his inherent worth with skill and cunning, and ensure that whenever he has to go where he is a stranger, he is preceded by a good reputation.... For the fame which appears to rest on the opinions of many fosters a certain unshakable belief in a man’s worth which is then easily strengthened in minds already thus disposed and prepared.
(Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529)
REVERSAL
There is no possible Reversal.
Reputation is critical; there are no exceptions to this law.
Perhaps, not caring what others think of you, you gain a reputation for insolence and arrogance, but that can be a valuable image in itself—Oscar Wilde used it to great advantage.
Since we must live in society and must depend on the opinions of others, there is nothing to be gained by neglecting your reputation.
By not caring how you are perceived, you let others decide this for you.
Be the master of your fate, and also of your reputation.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
One of the often comments that I have seen is how absolutely terrible China is because all you need to do is go ahead and take a look at it’s bathrooms. And yes, this has been a very difficult impression to discount, because as recently as 2010, most public bathrooms in China has been absolutely horrific.
And when I mean horrific, I mean exactly that. They were totally and absolutely foul, disgusting, dirty, disease ridden death-traps filled with insects, vermin and open sewers. Horrible is putting it nicely.
Used to be.
Has been.
Not any longer.
But of course, with anything good, no one ever reports anything good about China. It’s all bad, and evil, and filthy stuff.
No one ever reports on the good.
Certainly not the United States.
Here’s a nice little video that works to dispel that illusion. Now, you all must keep in mind that pitiful toilets do still exist inside of China. You have a population that is four to five times larger than that of the United States. So it takes time to implement change. Yet, all in all, the changes inside of China are enormous and rapid. Especially when you compare it to the glacial changes inside of America.
Here’s the video.
And NO, it’s not me. This is a video blogger that travels the world and speaks better Chinese than I do. He has a vblog called JaYoeNation. He’s pretty good. LOL.
Take a spell and let it download. If it is taking too much time, you can click on THIS LINK and down load a zipped-file and watch the video directly. It’s pretty good. Please enjoy.
You have got to see the pictures and this video…
Do you want more?
I have more posts along these lines in my China Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Hey everyone, I’ve been busier than a dog in a forest going tree to tree pissing indiscriminately. And some of my activities enables me to mix a little bit of business with pleasure. And isn’t that the way we want to do things? We work a little bit, and we play a little bit too.
Anyways, I decided that I would give you all a taste of what my last few days were like. It’s nothing super fantastical. I’m not driving a Ferrari, and staying in five star hotels and all that. It’s all rather middle class and plebeian. Don’t you know. But it’s so gosh darn different from what things are like in the Untied States that perhaps you all might might a glimpse into what it’s like to be me.
Sounds ok?
Everyday carry
One of the themes in Western media is “everyday carry”. People take pictures of the things that guys stuff in their pockets when they go out. And for most of America it’s a set of car keys, a wallet stuffed with cash, a multi-purpose tool, and a nice pocket knife or so.
I’m in China. My “everyday carry” is a cellphone and a couple of fobs. No one uses money anymore. We just scan to buy things, and some fobs for access to gates, or passes. These are only for the places that don’t have facial recognition yet.
But, I’ve kind of made up a picture of my gear bag for travel that you all might enjoy looking at.
First up is my bag. Nope, it’s not a designer bag with Gucci on the side of it. It’s just a basic functional bag that has stains and wear from use. that’s about it.
Typically, I keep it pre-loaded with basic gear and when I need to go overnight, I just top it off with whatever I need, and sling it over my shoulder and out the door I go.
Next up…
What I put inside it.
The last night was typical. I met a few new bosses, and we are out drinking and there we go again! They want to “bottoms’ up” me (Geng Bei) me until I can hardly stand. Now, my aide(s) are telling him, no. Please don’t try to drink me under. that I can drink anyone under the table. but he wouldn’t listen, and then one of my aides told them my age, and he about shit himself. He thought that I was in my late 30’s early forties. LOL.
Never the less, I did continue to drink And I did drink him almost under. He cried “uncle” after the third bottle of Beijiu.
Anyways, also in my travel bag are these essentials…
Now, of course, I have other things. But I want to elaborate on what they are and the limitations involved in using them.
For starters, you will notice that there isn’t a lighter. But there is a pack of cigarettes. In my world, people fight for the honor to light my cigarette. And they prefer to offer me my own packs out of a case that they tend to buy for the occasion. So I rarely have the need to carry my own cigarettes or a lighter. Not to mention that if I am flying that I cannot bring it on board the plane.
Of course, to this mix, I would throw into the bag a change of underwear. Usually socks and underpants. And what ever medicine that I am taking at the time. Which currently is blood pressure medicine. (It’s pretty much what you all will have to deal with when you pass 60-years old.)
And that, pretty much is my carry bag.
Having Dinner
So after arriving at our destination, we visited a couple of bosses of various factories. All friends of mine. And we enjoyed “death by tea and cigarettes”. I tend to deal with the small to middle-sized factories. And that’s just fine with me. And after we took care of some business, we went out to eat.
Now, there are all sorts of great places to eat in China. But as far as I know, no one discusses the “on the farm” eating establishments. What this is, is a restaurant that is a farm. They have a pond where they raise their fish, and cages where they raise their chickens, geese, and pigs. And a nice garden where they raise their vegetables. When you order a meal, say a chicken with leeks, peppers and garlic, they will kill the chicken there, and get the vegetables right there. All very, very fresh.
So here we are going to the farm restaurant. You can eat in these little bungalows that sit over a pond where fish are raised and the ducks and geese swim. though right now, the pond is all dried up (this is the season).
And then, of course, we all get settled in and select some food, and open up the massive quantities of alcohol. In this case, we agreed to drink a combination of Rice Wine and Beijiu. That’s 53 degree poison and will peel the paint off your car if you spill a drop. Yikes!
You will notice that we brought the alcohol with us. Which is pretty much the norm in China. You can bring in alcohol or other food to eat in any restaurant as you desire. they don’t have laws or rules forbidding you from doing that like they have in the United States.
You will also note that there are these clear plastic bags of water handing from the ceiling. these little bags keep the flies and mosquitoes away. Somehow when the insects get near the pavilions the water gets them confused and they fly away. So you aren’t bothered by them.
We pretty much ate Guangzhou style. Which is one food that walks, one that flies and one that swims. It was delicious. Of course.
So we ate and drank and had a fine time. This is what friends do. And you can see how much it resembles my life growing up in Western Pennsylvania. This is how things used to be back in the 1960’s and 1970’s before the ultra-billionaires bought up the United States and turned it into a feudal society to service them.
One of the topics of conversation is the big drive by President Biden (in the United States) to invest one trillion dollars in infrastructure.
Over all, this was welcomed as a positive development, and many felt that America was on the right track trying to copy China, though most had their doubts that it would actually come to fruition.
One said that America would need to pull out of Afghanistan, and some of the other wars that it is fighting to get the money, while another pointed out that America should have done this much sooner, and that there needs to be strong serious changes in how the United States makes and authorizes plans like this. China it isn’t. Most people came to the conclusion that it was just a bunch of “hot air” to appease the masses, and that the money would flow upwards to the wealthy oligarchy instead.
Then after dinner it’s a drunken drive to the hotel…
Now, of course, we had one of the workers or staff drive us to the hotel. We do not drive drunk. It’s too dangerous.
So we went off and went to the hotel. Now, this is a local small town hotel, not one in the big city and as such I ended up with a room with a tea table and a tea set and a large king size bed. My companions ended up with different rooms, one of which had a Majong table, and they decided to go play Majong until late in the night.
So to make a long story short, they were off getting drunk, playing Majong, and they sent me to my room with a few new friends to play with. It was a nice calm evening of delights for all of us.
It’s always fun to make new friends. I’ll tell you what.
Of course, everyone slept in, and where we got back on the road the first thing we wanted to do is go eat something warm and filling. So we ate Congee, and noodles. Then off to meet some more bosses who then whisked us off into their cars and we went out to eat some beef hot pot.
I am sure that many readers already know that Hot Pot is. It’s sort of a Chinese fondue. Only instead of cheese, you deal with beef, and you dip it in flavored oil. Then once it’s cooked, you can go ahead and eat it in your own sauces. It’s like this…
It’s pretty delicious.
Now, you will notice that there is this brown mixture to the side where I panned the camera to. This is a make-your-own dipping sauce. Mine is a mixture of garlic, sauces, some peanut sauce, and other goodies.
Here’s where you go to get the ingredients to make your own dipping sauce.
Doesn’t look like China is wracked with Famine like Townhall.com has claimed since 2017, or that people are dying everywhere and that the evil CCP is hiding the “true numbers” and the “truth about China”. LOL. You have to be a brain slug dumbed down imbecile to believe the nonsense out of the American media these days.
It’s all pretty tasty I’ll tell you what.
One of the things that I enjoy about China is the FREEDOM that you have that is impossible to have int he United States. And to underline this point, I made this little video to rub it in the faces of any “I’m free and China is a boot-stomping, totalitarian nation!” folk.
Here, I do something that you all in America CANNOT do, and would probably get you arrested for even trying it.
Freedom, you either have it, or you don’t.
Anyways, here’s how you cook the beef. You put it in this kind of basket ladle and then dip it inside the scorching hot oil for a spell, then you take it out and you eat it by dipping it int he sauce that you prepare.
Cool huh?
Like this…
I’ve got much more to say about China, and the adventures over the last few days, but this will suffice for now.
I do hope that you enjoyed this little insight into my life, and if you are from America (my old stomping ground) you will note that in many ways it is similar to the way things used to be in the Untied States, and often very different. Furthermore it doesn’t resemble anything like the nonsense spewing out of Townhall.com, Hall Turner, Rush Limbaugh or FOX “news”.
Like the “famine” in China that the CCP is “covering up” and hiding…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”
— Ayn Rand
Rule by brute force.
That’s about as good a description as you’ll find for the sorry state of our nation.
SWAT teams crashing through doors. Militarized police shooting unarmed citizens. Traffic cops tasering old men and pregnant women for not complying fast enough with an order. Resource officers shackling children for acting like children. Homeowners finding their homes under siege by police out to confiscate lawfully-owned guns. Drivers having their cash seized under the pretext that they might have done something wrong.
The list of abuses being perpetrated against the American people by their government is growing rapidly.
We are approaching critical mass.
The groundwork has been laid for a new kind of government where it won’t matter if you’re innocent or guilty, whether you’re a threat to the nation, or even if you’re a citizen. What will matter is what the government—or whoever happens to be calling the shots at the time—thinks. And if the powers-that-be think you’re a threat to the nation and should be locked up, then you’ll be locked up with no access to the protections our Constitution provides.
In effect, you will disappear.
American Citizens are just “things” that the elites use
President Biden’s long list of executive orders, executive actions, proclamations and directives is just more of the same: rule by fiat.
Now the Biden Administration is setting its sights on gun control.
Mark my words: gun control legislation, especially in the form of red flag gun laws, which allow the police to remove guns from people “suspected” of being threats, will become yet another means by which to subvert the Constitution and sabotage the rights of the people.
In Radley Balko's study of police raids of the homes of civilians for the CATO Institute, he described the mayhem currently taking place at the hands of federal and state governments in the United States in the name of law enforcement:
"Americans have long maintained that a man's home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.
"These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they're sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects."
- from the Executive Summary of a research paper titled, Overkill: he Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America by Radley Balko, CATO Institute.
…
But you have already heard this spiel…
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
These “red flag” laws, growing in popularity as a legislative means by which to seize guns from individuals. They are an excuse. The excuse sounds so reasonable. People who are viewed as a danger to themselves or others, have their guns removed. Yes, this is yet another Trojan Horse, a stealth maneuver by the police state to gain greater power over an unsuspecting and largely gullible populace.
Nineteen states and Washington DC have red flag laws on their books.
That number is growing.
As The Washington Post reports, these laws “allow a family member, roommate, beau, law enforcement officer or any type of medical professional to file a petition [with a court] asking that a person’s home be temporarily cleared of firearms. It doesn’t require a mental-health diagnosis or an arrest.”
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
Sound familiar?
Someone in the neighborhood doesn’t like you…
… they claim that you are a witch…
…or you are a communist…
…or a child sex offender…
…or are a danger to yourself.
In the midst of what feels like an epidemic of mass shootings (the statistics suggest otherwise), these gun confiscation laws—extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws—may appease the fears of those who believe that fewer guns in the hands of the general populace will make our society safer.
Of course, it doesn’t always work that way.
It’s just an excuse
SWAT team raids "The Garden of Eden" The beast is gaining more and more unbridled power to lash out as he did this week at "The Garden of Eden" - a small organic farm in Texas reported by a RT News. This is but one of many raids that take place on a daily basis throughout the U.S. In this case they held 6 adults at gunpoint and handcuffed them for 10 hours saying they were looking for marijuana. Throughout the day the police conducted their search, destroying parts of the farm in the process. However, the property owner Shelley Smith told the media, "They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana growing operation. They destroyed everything.”
The residents believe the raid was only an excuse to allow them to change the farm's "unconventional appearance." Code enforcement cops came along with the SWAT team and Smith said that they had been issued a number of code violations recently including, “grass that was too tall, bushes growing too close to the street, a couch and piano in the yard, chopped wood that was not properly stacked, a piece of siding that was missing from the side of the house and generally unclean premises,” The cops found no drugs or criminal activity but arrested one of the members of the group for an unpaid parking ticket.
While in theory it appears perfectly reasonable to want to disarm individuals who are clearly suicidal and/or pose an “immediate danger” to themselves or others, where the problem arises is when you put the power to determine who is a potential danger in the hands of government agencies, the courts and the police.
Any excuse serves a tyrant
It took place in August, 2005 when a SWAT team killed an innocent man in his home while his wife and 4 year old son hid in a bedroom closet in Sunrise Florida. After killing the man, the police claimed they knocked on his door and announced they were police. But according to neighbors who watched the scene unfold from their window, the police in black masks did not identify themselves before smashing down his door and using a flash grenade expecting to find drugs and guns. The neighbors said that if the police had yelled, "POLICE!" - they would have heard it. The police claimed that 23 year old Anthony Diotaiuto (a two-time Iraq war veteran) fled from his bed into another room and "armed himself." Radley Balko (quoted above) reported that the police initially claimed that he fled to the bedroom for a handgun and pointed the gun at them. Later, the story changed with a spokesperson for the police saying that the "found the weapon next to his body" after they killed him.
Diotaiuto returned from his night shift at one of the two jobs he had to provide for his family. According to his friends, he had a shotgun and handgun which he kept for protection with a valid concealed weapons permit. Balko surmised that he rose from a deep sleep, disoriented by the crashing of his door and flash grenade and ran terrified into another room. After they killed him, the police claimed that they found 2 ounces of marijuana, some plastic baggies and a scale. But by the time the case went to a jury trial, that amount of marijuana was determined to be 16 grams, a little more than half an ounce. The Broward County medical examiner reported 10 bullet wounds in his head, chest, torso, and limbs.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
We’ve been down this road before.
Remember, this is the same government that uses the words “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” interchangeably.
This is the same government whose agents are spinning a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies to identify potential threats.
This is the same government that keeps re-upping the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows the military to detain American citizens with no access to friends, family or the courts if the government believes them to be a threat.
This is the same government that has a growing list—shared with fusion centers and law enforcement agencies—of ideologies, behaviors, affiliations and other characteristics that could flag someone as suspicious and result in their being labeled potential enemies of the state.
For instance, if you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution ...
(namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign),
Radley Balko’s White Paper, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America:
Balko said that botched raids such as this one are not 'isolated incidents.' Other examples of SWAT teams misused are the hundreds of raids conducted each year at a wrong address. Often the people targeted are completely innocent, unlike in the Diotaiuto tragedy. Further, the 'no-knock' and 'quick-knock' raids often rely on anonymous tips and 'dubious informants to obtain the search warrants.'
The raids are intended to terrify. The police generally break down the doors with a battering ram or blow them off with explosives. Sometimes police use a flash bang grenade. Once inside, police force the occupants to lie prone, generally at gunpoint...
Balko wrote in Overkill, 'The idea of sending battalions of men dressed, trained, and armed like soldiers to do civilian police work should give us great discomfort'.”
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
Now consider the ramifications of giving police that kind of authority: to preemptively raid homes in order to neutralize a potential threat.
It’s a powder keg waiting for a lit match.
Duncan Lemp
Under these red flag laws, what happened to Duncan Lemp—who was gunned down in his bedroom during an early morning, no-knock SWAT team raid on his family’s home—could very well happen to more people.
At 4:30 a.m. on March 12, 2020, in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that had most of the country under a partial lockdown and sheltering at home, a masked SWAT team—deployed to execute a “high risk” search warrant for unauthorized firearms—stormed the suburban house where 21-year-old Duncan, a software engineer and Second Amendment advocate, lived with his parents and 19-year-old brother.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
No one in the house that morning, including Lemp, had a criminal record.
No one in the house that morning, including Lemp, was considered an “imminent threat” to law enforcement or the public, at least not according to the search warrant.
So what was so urgent that militarized police felt compelled to employ battlefield tactics in the pre-dawn hours of a day when most people are asleep in bed, not to mention stuck at home as part of a nationwide lockdown?
According to police, they were tipped off that Lemp was in possession of “firearms.”
Thus, rather than approaching the house by the front door at a reasonable hour in order to investigate this complaint—which is what the Fourth Amendment requires—police instead strapped on their guns, loaded up their flash bang grenades and acted like battle-crazed warriors.
In May, 2010 Joseph Weekley, a Detroit cop shot and killed Aiyana Stanley Jones, a seven-year-old girl when they raided a home during the early morning hours as she lay sleeping on a sofa in her home on Lillibridge Street in Detroit. Aiyana was shot in the head and neck. Assistant Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the heavily armed "Special Response Team" was executing a "no-knock" search warrant for a homicide suspect and they threw a flash grenade through an unopened window around 12:45 a.m. before charging in with guns drawn but they got the wrong house. It may have never gained international attention except that it was recorded by a reality TV crew, which was filming an episode of “The First 48,” a program like "Cops" and other racist TV shows that feed off the misery of victims in praise of the work of US police.
In June, 2013 Weekley went on trial for involuntary manslaughter with a possible sentence of 15 years in prison. The cop claimed that he had "physical contact" with the little girl's grandmother, Mertilla Jones, after entering the home. On June 18, the trial ended in a hung jury and he is now to be retried. In the trial, Grandmother Mertilla testified,
"I saw the light leave out of her eyes, and blood gushed out of her mouth. I knew she was dead.” After the first trial, Mertilla stated, "He admitted he shot and killed her. He's a dirty cop because he said I touched him. I never touched that man. ... I was never anywhere near Joseph Weekley. He's a lying [expletive] cop."
The Military patrol America today
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
This is what you get when you live inside a Military Empire.
This is the blowback from all that military weaponry flowing to domestic police departments.
This is what happens when you use SWAT teams to carry out routine search warrants.
Red Flag Laws
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
This is what happens when you adopt red flag gun laws, which Maryland did in 2018, painting anyone who might be in possession of a gun—legal or otherwise—as a threat that must be neutralized.
Therein lies the danger of these red flag laws, specifically, and pre-crime laws such as these generally where the burden of proof is reversed and you are guilty before you are given any chance to prove you are innocent.
Red flag gun laws merely push us that much closer towards a suspect society where everyone is potentially guilty of some crime or another and must be preemptively rendered harmless.
Where many Americans go wrong is in naively assuming that you have to be doing something illegal or harmful in order to be flagged and targeted for some form of intervention or detention.
The American Police State
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
In fact, U.S. police agencies have been working to identify and manage potential extremist “threats,” violent or otherwise, before they can become actual threats for some time now.
All you need to do these days to end up on a government watch list or be subjected to heightened scrutiny is use certain trigger words (like cloud, pork and pirates)…
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
Be warned: once you get on such a government watch list—whether it’s a terrorist watch list, a mental health watch list, a dissident watch list, or a red flag gun watch list—there’s no clear-cut way to get off, whether or not you should actually be on there.
You will be tracked wherever you go.
You will be flagged as a potential threat and dealt with accordingly.
This is pre-crime on an ideological scale and it’s been a long time coming.
The government has been building its pre-crime, surveillance network in concert with fusion centers (of which there are 78 nationwide, with partners in the private sector and globally), data collection agencies, behavioral scientists, corporations, social media, and community organizers and by relying on cutting-edge technology for surveillance, facial recognition, predictive policing, biometrics, and behavioral epigenetics (in which life experiences alter one’s genetic makeup).
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
It’s the American police state’s take on the dystopian terrors foreshadowed by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Phillip K. Dick all rolled up into one oppressive pre-crime and pre-thought crime package.
If you’re not scared yet, you should be.
It’s a Nightmare America
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
Connect the dots.
Start with the powers amassed by the government under the USA Patriot Act, note the government’s ever-broadening definition of what it considers to be an “extremist,” then add in the government’s detention powers under NDAA, the National Security Agency’s far-reaching surveillance networks, and fusion centers that collect and share surveillance data between local, state and federal police agencies.
To that, add tens of thousands of armed, surveillance drones that will soon blanket American skies, facial recognition technology that will identify and track you wherever you go and whatever you do. And then to complete the picture, toss in the real-time crime centers being deployed in cities across the country, which will be attempting to “predict” crimes and identify criminals before they happen based on widespread surveillance, complex mathematical algorithms and prognostication programs.
Hopefully you’re starting to understand how easy we’ve made it for the government to identify, label, target, defuse and detain anyone it views as a potential threat for a variety of reasons that run the gamut from mental illness to having a military background to challenging its authority to just being on the government’s list of persona non grata. Finally, add in the local police agencies and SWAT teams that are being “gifted” military-grade weaponry and equipment designed for the battlefield and trained in the tactics of war.
It all adds up to a terrifying package of brute force coupled with invasive technology and totalitarian tactics.
This brings me back to those red flag gun laws.
It’s the nail in the American Coffin
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
In the short term, these gun confiscation laws may serve to temporarily delay or discourage those wishing to inflict violence on others, but it will not resolve whatever madness or hate or instability therein that causes someone to pull a trigger or launch a bomb or unleash violence on another.
Indeed, those same individuals sick enough to walk into an elementary school or a movie theater and open fire using a gun can and do wreak just as much havoc with homemade bombs made out of pressure cookers and a handful of knives.
Nor will these laws save us from government-instigated and directed violence at the hands of the militarized police state or the blowback from the war-drenched, violence-imbued, profit-driven military industrial complex, both of which remain largely overlooked and underestimated pieces of the discussion on gun violence in America.
No matter how well-meaning the politicians make these encroachments on our rights appear, in the right (or wrong) hands, benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes. In this way, even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation.
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.
And what is next…
.
Well, it’s when the elites declare that they are a class that is up and above that of the American citizenry.
.
The following article is reprinted as found with limited editing to fit in this venue, and all credit to the original author. by Baruch Pletner,PhD,MBA
The Hi-Tech Traditionalist: A Revolution In Reverse: The Uprising Of The American Elites Against The American People
The great Bolshevik revolutions of the last century in Russia, in China, and in Cuba all followed a familiar pattern: a group of young, energetic, endlessly corruptible, but not yet corrupt outsiders take on, in the name of the people, a tired corrupt establishment.
A civil war ensues in which the people side with the revolutionaries because they (mistakenly) think that things can never be worse.
Revolutionaries win, slaughter the establishment elites, and proceed to rob and enslave the people in even more outrageous fashion.
In May, 2008, a SWAT team raided a home in Norwalk, Connecticut after a prostitute called the police telling them that the home contained drugs and weapons. She gave the police a false name and after the killing no weapons were found but the police killed Gonzalo Guizan and dragged the home owner, Ronald Terebesi out in handcuffs. In February, 2013 taxpayers from 5 Fairfield County towns were ordered to pay $3,500,000.00 resulting from the raid on the residence in Norwalk that left Guizan dead, Terebesi traumatized and heavy damage done to his house. Reporter Jonathan Turley expressed his view of the $3.5 million settlement:
"Now, Easton First Selectman Thomas Herrmann insists that the settlement does not reflect any negligence by his officers or those of the other towns: 'While the defendants, police departments and officers from Darien, Easton, Trumbull, Monroe and Wilton maintain they were not responsible for the unfortunate death of Mr. Guizan, the insurers for the defendants, who will bear the full cost of the settlement, believed that it was best to resolve the matter rather than incur further attorneys’ fees, which were anticipated to be significant. The defendants concurred, further believing it was important to facilitate the Guizan family being relieved of the combined burden of litigation.'
"That seems a rather belated concern for the Guizan family since you first launched a virtual military assault on a drug allegation, then killed the unarmed Guizan, and then fought their claim for damages until you had little practical alternative but to settle."
The only thing the police found were two smoking pipes and a tin with a minuscule amount of drugs. Jonathan Turley described the raid and this part of his original story has since been redacted,
"One would have thought this was the alleged bin Laden raid, as it looked like a military operation in a war zone. Heavily armed police and SWAT teams raided a home owned by Ronald Terebesi based on a tip from a local stripper that she had a “dispute” with Terebesi. This sounds pretty harmless so far, but SWAT team members dressed in armor bore down on this home with flash grenades, snipers surrounding the house, and a virtual tank supplied to this police department after the cover up of 9/11 by DHS.
"When all was said and done, one man, Gonzalo Guizan, was killed and Terebesi was dragged from his home. Both of these men were unarmed, and had done nothing to warrant this raid, and in fact were cowering in a corner when the spray of bullets were fired."
Soon enough the old guard revolutionaries become every bit as corrupt as the ones they have replaced if not more so and the cycle repeats itself.
In America, the situation is rather farcically backwards.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
In America, the corrupt establishment elites have decided to stage a Bolshevik coup against the American people rather than the other way around.
A Tsar fully in command of his own kingdom staging a coup against his own people is a bizarre development to say the least, and yet, here we are in 2021 America.
Like always, there are reasons.
First and foremost among them is the sheer scope of the nepotism and corruption of the American elites in business, government, technology, and the intelligence services.
This scope has very likely far exceeded anything previously known in human history.
Had the dimensions of the robbery perpetrated by the American ruling classes against the American people become widely known earlier, America could well have experienced a more typical revolution, one by the people against the elites.
Well aware of the possibility if not probability of such an outcome, the people who run America put in place a plan to make it all but impossible.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
The plan involved the gradually escalating erosion of the limits on government powers put in place by the Constitution with a parallel erosion in the God-given rights guaranteed every American by the same document.
This was a fully bipartisan effort, put in place immediately after president Reagan departed office.
It is sufficient to observe the exponential increase in government versus private sector employment in America from 1988 to 2019 to fully grasp this point.
Stopping immigration from countries that have (or at least used to have) a tradition of personal freedom and limited government while throwing open the spigots for immigration from countries that have neither was the second part of the same plan.
The destruction of family values and Christianity in America was the third.
On the whole, the plan was a spectacular success.
Americans proved easy targets for propaganda on pro-gay rights and every other kind of moral depravity and have learned to bite their tongues and bow low whenever they heard the phrase: “diversity is our strength”.
White Americans learned to internalize guilt for something they had no control over – the very color of their skin.
Americans allowed themselves to become squeezed out of well-paying jobs by the elites-induced trifecta of low and high-skilled immigration and automation, with nary a whisper in protest.
All was going well for the elites until they had a panic attack, a freakout of unheard of proportions when a non-establishment person, Donald Trump managed to get himself elected president.
The problem for the elites inherent in Trump’s election was simple: they have not done much, if anything, to cover the tracks of their massive robbery of the American people.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
That meant that when Trump assumed office even their best efforts would likely not be good enough to stop him from perceiving at least a glimpse of the true scale of their crimes.
There is a certain irony in the fact that being criminals themselves, the American establishment has found, in Trump, the one true nemesis.
For he is a New York developer who cut his teeth dealing with the New York building trades, which are, of course, a criminal element in and of themselves.
Trying to pin on Trump their own sins of sexual corruption, nepotism, embezzlement, etc. has not been a well-thought out strategy on the part of the American power elites.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
This is simply because it enabled him to begin educating the American public as to the breathtaking scope of their own criminality.
And that pretty much explains what happened during the election of 2020; a coup d’etat against the American people, the American Constitution, and the American Republic itself.
Since the elites still very much permeate every hall of power in America, this is a one-off deal in which the rulers of a country set out to violently overthrow the very political structure of the country they are ruling, but, as they say, it is what it is.
The cover may be different, but the playbook is the same, so we are already being exposed to the oldies but goodies of…
escalating agitprop (weaponized lies and propaganda),
suppression of unwanted elements (cancel culture),
and paid snitching (whistleblowing).
Now we are entering into a new phase, that of secret trials with a predetermined outcome.
Apparently congressional Democrats are going to hold impeachment hearings (read Bolshevik tribunal) at a secret location with no rights whatsoever being afforded to the accused.
America is a military empire, it’s police are military soldiers.
Unfortunately for all of us, however, the scope of their criminal acts is such that they cannot contemplate any due process without committing political and even non-political suicide.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said federal government programs that armed police “with the weapons and tactics of war” had led forces across the United States to become unnecessarily and dangerously militarized.
“The use of hyper-aggressive tools and tactics results in tragedy for civilians and police officers, escalates the risk of needless violence, destroys property and undermines individual liberties,” the ACLU said in a report.
It said police forces set up special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units initially to face emergencies such as hostage situations and active-shooter scenarios.
But after studying more than 800 SWAT deployments conducted by 20 law enforcement agencies between 2011-2012, it said the specialized teams had moved away from that original role and were increasingly used to search people’s homes for drugs.
It said the raids were often violent, involving 20 or more officers armed with assault rifles and stun grenades, breaking down doors and windows, and screaming at occupants to get on the floor. It said children were present on numerous occasions.
The ACLU said the militarization of policing was also evident in police training that it said encouraged officers to adopt a “warrior” mentality – something it said was reinforced by the use of equipment such as battering rams, flashbang grenades, and armored personnel carriers.
It said the shift in culture was partly driven by U.S. Supreme Court rulings that gave police increased authority to force their way into homes, often in narcotics probes.
All things are on the table right now, including things that now sound crazy like setting up a parallel Supreme Court having declared the Constitution illegitimate because it was written by white males some of whom supported slavery and ratified without African American and other minority votes.
Needless to say, such actions may well precipitate an armed conflict we know of as civil war, but that would not be an unexpected outcome for the elites.
We know now that the American intelligence services all work for the elites and not for the people.
They will fight on their side in the coming war. What we don’t know is to what degree the armed forces have been infiltrated, especially the mid-level officer corps.
The outcomes of such cataclysms are never possible to predict, but we know what we know.
American ruling classes have long since betrayed her and her people to make themselves fabulously, generationally rich and powerful.
They could have cut a power-sharing deal with the American people as represented by president Trump; his hand has always been open to them.
They didn’t take him up on it.
Massive anger is building up in America now and the battle lines are drawn: either the American republic overthrows her own criminal elites or they overthrow her.
Which shall it be? To quote the Commander in Chief of the forces of light: “we’ll see what happens.”
The MM Opinion
Nothing is going to happen domestically. People are getting ready, ready, ready but there isn’t any “trigger” that will enable the unleashing of holy terror internally.
If something is going to happen, then it will happen externally.
Which brings up all these “waltzes” and “dances” that the Biden administration is involved in regarding other nations. It’s very blatant and “in your face”. Here’s my terms, you lowly Chink.. you lowly scum Russki… you evil Iranian… accept them or we will squelch you like the vermin you are.
Is it intentional? Or is the leadership complete morons? It’s difficult to tell these days. So I must ask…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Lately I have been really driven to throw things out. It’s almost like a real crush. I feel that I must send out as much as I possibly can, for some strange compulsion. It’s darn strange and tiring me out.
Seriously.
You all would be surprised at the rate my fingers are typing and the pace that these darn articles are coming out.
It’s a good thing that I have to go to a couple of factories and give my typing fingers a rest. It’s wearing me out. I’m set up for some fun in my near future. Some great friends, some fantastic food. A goodly amount of booze, and some friendly environments from where I can make some new friends in. I’m trembling in anticipation, I’ll tell you what.
I think that it’s a fair time to go play with some dice, make some new friends, and sing a song or two.
Anyways, I would suggest that all of you all also take the time to spend with some friends and play some games. Talk a little bit, chat some and have a good time. Don’t forget the food. And don’t buy cheap booze. Life is too short to waste on cheap booze.
And if you have the means, go ahead and make some new friends. There’s an entire world of interesting and colorful people to meet.
The world is filled with all kinds of interesting and colorful people. Everyone has a story, and everyone likes food. So what is stopping you?
Anyways…
The thing that I have been trying to underline all week is a very simple point.
Which is…
Make no mistake. A war with a major military power will result in the complete annihilation of America.
I’ve really been somewhat fixated in driving this point home. I don’t understand why. I don’t think that I have tapped into any kind of non-physical data stream or anything like that. But never the less, I am driven. Who’d figure.
So…
Don’t poke the Panda, or kick the bear.
Not that anyone will listen to me. It seems that either the United States leadership has a death wish, or that they are seriously retarded morons without a lick of sense.
…
Consider just how dangerous the “deep state” has become.
Now… imagine that a serious REAL war takes place. Missiles are flying back and forth. Entire cites are blasted out of existence, and evil people at the local level take up arms to defend their little patches of land and territory. Here and there.
What do you think the “deep state” would do?
You just cannot assume that they would all disappear, or slink under a rock, or go a hiding in the bushes. they will still exist, and given their (former) levers of power… what do you think they would be capable of? And how far do you think that they would go to exert full regional control in a nation that is in the process of going absolutely mad?
…
It’s bad enough that they are poking the bear and panda…
…but they will utilize what ever happens to their own personal benefit.
Military, Deep State and the American Naivety
While only 11% of Americans trust Congress, a whopping 74% have a “great deal or quite a lot of” trust in the military, which also vastly outperforms newspapers (23%) and even the US Supreme Court (37%).
Similarly, the CIA and the FBI get an “excellent” rating from 58% of Americans.
While reverence to military is quite common all over the world — perhaps related to evolutionary fear — it behooves us to be a bit more critical and objective.
Like the Old Testament characters who never asked Moses for evidence regarding the burning bush, Americans blindly accept all verdicts from the intelligence agencies.
The rise of the colossal military and the “Deep State” are new phenomenons in American history, and a dispassionate scrutiny underscores the need for more vigilance on our part.
Military-Industrial Complex – Eisenhower
While many Americans consider it heretical to question the US military, none other than a five-star military general and US president did just that.
“we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Such a speech would now be derided as a conspiracy theory and even labeled as treasonous.
CIA – Truman
Guess who thought that the CIA had turned into an American Gestapo?
Harry Truman, the US president who created the CIA.
“Those fellows in the CIA don’t just report on wars, they go out and make their own (wars), and there’s nobody to keep track of what they’re up to. They spend billions of dollars on stirring up trouble. The CIA has become a government all of its own.”
Former Director of the CIA, William Colby, described CIA’s culture in his memoir as follows:
“cult of intelligence … that held itself to be above the normal processes of society, with its own rationale and justification, beyond the restraints of the Constitution …”
Election Meddling and Coups by the CIA
Since World War II, the CIA has meddled in more than 80 foreign elections around the world (doesn’t include coups and regime changes!).
And the RAND corp has the nerve to refer to Russia as a "rogue state". I discussed this HERE.
The US Senate’s Church Committee in 1975 documented several instances of US meddling in other nations.
The operations included suitcases of cash to bribe politicians and voters, manuals for psychological warfare, sensational fake news, organized mass protests, armed violent oppositions etc.
Starting in the 1980’s, the Deep State refined its plans for regime changes, resorting to the use of sophisticated NGO’s such as the USAID, NED and Open Society Foundations of George Soros, which all specialize in mass propaganda and color revolutions.
When asked a few months ago, if we still meddle in other countries’ elections, CIA director James Woolsey grinned and responded, “myum, myum, myum.”
There are incontrovertible proofs for some of the coups, thanks to declassified CIA documents – for example, the overthrow of democratically elected leaders in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in 1954.
Assassinations
Recently released “JFK Files” from the CIA archives show detailed plans to assassinate Fidel Castro that included exploding cigars and tuberculosis-laced diving suit.
Other leaders targeted in these documents include General Trujillo of Dominican Republic and Patrice Lumumba of Congo.
William Blum has done extensive research and documented numerous foreign assassinations – successful and attempted – by the CIA and/or the US military.
Theoretically, nothing stops the killing machine in operating within the US.
Even intellectuals like David Talbot — founder of Salon magazine and editor of Time magazine — are convinced that some from the top echelons of the CIA assassinated JFK.
President Truman also seemed to suggest the same when he wrote an extraordinary op-ed in Washington Post one month after JFK’s assassination saying that CIA’s covert operations must be terminated.
By the way, the phrase “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA in 1967 to discredit anyone challenging the official narratives!
The US has supported and installed numerous brutal tyrants and authoritarians all over the world in the last century.
Suharto in Indonesia, for example, killed two million people, but was loved by the West, since he let western corporations exploit his people and plunder his country.
Nazis and Jihadists
After the defeat of Hitler, the US recruited more than 1000 Nazis, including high-ranking officials, to work against the Soviet Union.
Under Operation Paperclip, the CIA brought numerous Nazi scientists into the US.
As I explain in my book, Deconstructing the Syrian War, the US has trained, armed and funded Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Libya, Syria etc. to wage proxy wars.
Drug Trafficking
From 1950 to 1975, the CIA — using a fleet of planes and helicopters known as Air America — was involved in massive heroin trafficking from the Golden Triangle area in Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
After the Vietnam War, the Deep State in the 1980s used heroin in Afghanistan to fight the USSR and cocaine in Central America to fight leftist leaders. According to Gary Webb, the CIA also imported cocaine into the US.
In 1998, a Congressman entered into official records a shocking document called “A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking” that summarizes CIA’s nefarious drug activities from 1947 to 1996.
Since the US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, opium cultivation there has exploded. Correlation or causation? As a NY Times investigation revealed in 2009, the biggest Afghan drug dealer was on the CIA payroll.
Propaganda & Psy Ops
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
CIA’s Operation Mockingbird was an extensive operation to infiltrate and control all the major news organizations.
Over the decades, the CIA and the Pentagon have actively participated in over 800 major movies and 1000 TV shows to make sure that the right (propaganda) message reaches the audience!
Declassified documents on MK-Ultra and other mind-control and brainwashing programs and experiments –LSD and numerous other drugs, hypnosis, electric shock etc. – are right out of a sci-fi horror movie.
Wars and Lies
Remember all the deceit and fearmongering that convinced us to go to Iraq war after 9/11?
He could launch chemical weapons against Israel and British soldiers (in Cyprus) in just 45 minutes
Through innuendos and bold lies, the Establishment convinced 70% of Americans that Saddam was responsible for 9/11 and even the Anthrax attack that followed.
Go back in history, there are many such lies, including the Gulf of Tonkin claim that helped the US launch the Vietnam War.
Wars and Corporatism
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
Every American should read General Smedley Butler’s amazing testimony titled, “War is a Racket.”
John Perkins’ book, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” is another must read to understand how banks and corporations drive geopolitics, coups, regime changes and wars in the 21st century.
False Flag Attacks
Somehow, it’s psychologically hard for people to think that their government might stage false flag attacks.
However, as recently declassified documents show, the CIA had many such ideas – killing boatloads of Cuban refugees or blowing up ships and then blaming Fidel Castro;
…carrying out “terror campaigns” – their own words – with bombs in Miami and Washington D.C. to frame Castro;
…and buying Russian planes to attack US soldiers to start a war with the Soviet Union.
Shockingly, these plans got approved all the way up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and only got stopped by JFK or his brother.
There are convincing evidence to prove the CIA carried out similar false flag attacks — Operation Gladio — in Europe in the 1950’s through the 1970’s to blame the communists and shift the political landscape to the right.
In recent years in Libya, Syria and Ukraine, false flag attacks were used to launch the regime change operations.
Wild accusations such as the Novichok poisoning in the UK by Russia also bear all the hallmarks of fake or false flag attacks.
Torture and Human Experiments
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
While our politicians are skilled at crying crocodile tears over human rights abuses by our geopolitical adversaries, the CIA runs secret torture prisons in many countries to avoid scrutiny.
Sometimes we do it ourselves, like in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
According to a 1994 government report, hundreds of thousands of Americans were subjected to unethical radiological, chemical, biological and medical experiments between 1940 and 1974.
The US military even conducted biological warfare testing on the entire city of San Francisco!
Nuking 1200 Cities
Another deeply held American belief is that our elites always hold high moral standards, value lives and are compassionate.
In September 1945, merely one month after Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the US military drew up plans to drop 204 atomic bombs on 66 cities in the USSR, who was our ally during World War II and still an ally at that time!
Then a decade later, in 1956, the US military had detailed plans to drop 2,000+ atom and hydrogen bombs on 1,200 cities in Russia, China and Eastern Europe.
This would have immediately killed 500 million people, 99% innocent civilians.
Think about what kind of evil monsters and sociopaths would come up with such genocidal ideas.
Also, if they had carried out their psychopathic plan, the nuclear fallout might have ended the entire human race.
Perpetual Wars
Since 9/11, the US/NATO wars have already cost $5.6 trillion and killed 5 to 7 million people, but clever propaganda hide or justify such atrocities.
In the 1990s, half a million Iraqi children died from US sanctions, which Sec. of State Madeleine Albright said was “worth it.”
Wars and conflicts are extremely profitable for the military-banking-intelligence complex, which uses the soldiers as pawns. 2.7 million Americans have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11; and more than 400,000 of them suffer from PTSD.
If diplomacy, free trade and fair wages become the norm, we wouldn’t need 800 military bases in 140 countries to prop up friendly dictators, bully competitors, and enforce the Ponzi scheme of the Petrodollar regime.
The unsustainable Empire thrives because we cannot question or challenge it.
Mass Surveillance
America did this for “democracy”. What do you think that a leader would do to you and your family for his own personal power.
In the land of the free, Americans don’t mind NSA spying on them.
While many assume that it’s to protect us from terrorists, Edward Snowden revealed that the mass collection of phone calls has been going on since 1985.
If the spooks have dirt on every single American, it’s no wonder that no politician speaks out against the Orwellian nightmare.
The attacks on Wikileaks and Julian Assange also reveal how much the Deep State hates transparency and accountability.
Conclusion
The zeitgeist in America demands blind support for military, defense industry and the intelligence community.
Like fish in the water, Americans have lost the ability to notice the pervasive and omnipresent propaganda.
However, we owe it ourselves to be more knowledgeable and objective in processing and reacting to information.
We also need to be more cynical about our government and the mass media.
Freedom, liberty and prosperity are not achieved and maintained through willful ignorance, blind allegiance and naïve faith.
Now, when a full SHTF event occurs, these very same people will capitalize on the situation and turn it into their own personal benefit. You all need to be ready and aware of that. For this is what always happens after the dust settles and the war subsides.
Where will you be when that happens, and will you be ready to handle the new leaders that rise up out of the ashes? Are you ready?
I’m getting ready. I’m spending my time getting drunk and making all sorts of new friends. Because, as I have stated over and over again, it is your friends that will be able to help you when you need it the most. Nothing else.
I’m spending my time getting drunk and making all sorts of new friends.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
The soaring contempt and smug exceptionalism made me almost gag on my weetbix as I read this. I've never met an empire more in dire need of a slap down...
-Posted by: Patroklos | Apr 14 2021 19:50 utc | 6
For shits and giggle, I often read some of the policy papers that are generated out of Washington DC. They are fantastical and outlandish and shows that either [1] America is a nation run by herd-mentality idiots, or [2] that they are so enraptured in their own echo chamber that they don’t realize what fresh-air is. Here is one such policy paper.
It is from RAND.
Which is a big “Think Tank” out in Washington DC that loves war, like I love sex, pizza and wine.
I love sex, pizza and wine.
It’s a hoot. I’ll tell you what.
Here’s access to the document yourself, and a nice summary with my MM comments thrown in for some points of stability.
Russia Is a Rogue, Not a Peer; China Is a Peer, Not a Rogue
How do Russia and China challenge U.S. national security and global influence?
How can the United States meet those challenges?
Russia and China represent distinct challenges to U.S. national security.
Russia is not a peer or near-peer competitor but rather a well-armed rogue state that seeks to subvert an international order it can never hope to dominate.
So Russia; enormous Russia with a population larger than the United States is a "well armed" rogue state.I can agree that it is well-armed. But, a rogue state?Arogue state otherwise known as an outlaw state, is a term appliedby some international theorists to states that they consider threatening to "the world's peace".
This means being seen to meet certain criteria, such as [1] being ruled by authoritarian or totalitarian governments. [2] That severely restrict human rights. That [3] sponsors terrorism and [4] seeking to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.
By these criteria, it is America that is a rogue state.
Yet, the term is used most by the United States, and in his speech at the United Nations in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated this phrase.
In contrast, China is a peer competitor that wants to shape an international order that it can aspire to dominate.
Yes. China is a peer competitor with the Untied States, and in many areas it has surpassed the Untied States.
But this idea that it wants to "shape an international order" that it can dominate is flat-out false.
It wants to follow confucianism values in cooperation and harmony so that all can benefit. Of course China wants to put the Chinese people first. This is the function of all governments. But to call a peaceful nation that hasn't been involve din a war for over 50 years desirous of dominating others is really outlandish.
4 Confucian principles that are integral to a moral life and a moral society[1] Development of the self. The development of the self and the cultivation of virtue and morality are crucial to Confucius’ vision of a harmonised world.[2] Filial Piety. Filial piety is a love and respect for one’s parents. ...[3] Theimportanceof tradition. ...[4] We must behumane. ...
No wonder that RAND and those psychopathic personalities in Washington DC are confused with China. these values are completely alien to them.
Both countries seek to alter the status quo.
But only Russia has attacked neighboring states, annexed conquered territory, and supported insurgent forces seeking to detach yet more territory.
Russia assassinates its opponents at home and abroad.
Russia interferes in foreign elections.
Russia subverts foreign democracies.
Russia works to undermine European and Atlantic institutions.
And so does the United States. Historically this is known as spy-craft, international politics, and intrigue. It's not a reason to go to war over.
In contrast, China’s growing influence is based largely on more-positive measures: trade, investment, and development assistance. These attributes make China a less immediate threat but a much greater long-term challenge.
True. China is not an immediate military threat.
But the only challenge here is whether the Untied States is able to compete with it. After throwing away it's scientists and engineers, it's going to be a hard slog trying to compete with "diversity directors" and "accountants".
In the military realm, Russia can be contained, but China cannot.
Its military predominance in east Asia will grow over time, compelling the United States to accept greater costs and risks just to secure existing commitments.
But it is geoeconomics, rather than geopolitics, in which the contest for world leadership will play out.
It is in the domain of geoeconomics that the balance of global influence between the United States and China has begun shifting in China’s favor.
Key Findings
China presents a greater geoeconomic challenge to the United States than Russia does
China’s per capita GDP approaches Russia’s; its population is eight times Russia’s, and its growth rate three times.
As of 2017, China’s economy was the second largest in the world, behind only that of the United States. Russia’s was 11th.
Russia’s military expenditure is lower than China’s, and that gap is likely to grow.
Russia is far smaller, has poorer economic prospects, and is less likely to dramatically increase its military power in the long term.
You can tell just how out of sync this entire paper is when they start using GDP instead of PPP for comparison values. I argue, rather convincingly I must add, that if you remove the top 0.1% of the super-billionaires out of America in your GDP calculations, the GDP slides way down to a value that is half of China's GDP.
Also the level of crime and corruption is far lower than what you see in America. Thus you can make and create things with far, far less effort and money.
Thus you really cannot make the comparisons that are being made here.
It truly is like comparing apples with bananas.
Russia is a more immediate and more proximate military threat to U.S. national security than China is but can be countered
Russia will probably remain militarily superior to all its immediate neighbors other than China.
Russia is vulnerable to a range of nonmilitary deterrents, such as sanctions on the Russian economy and limiting Russian income from exports of fossil fuels; multilateral efforts would be more effective than U.S.-only operations, however.
China presents a regional military challenge and a global economic one
Militarily, China can be contained for a while longer; economically, it has already broken free of regional constraints.
Russia backs far-right and far-left political movements with a view to disrupting the politics of adversarial societies and, if possible, installing friendlier regimes. China, in contrast, seems basically indifferent to the types of government of the states with which it interacts, increasing its attractiveness as an economic partner.
Recommendations
In the security sphere, the United States should continue to hold the line in east and southeast Asia, accepting the larger costs and risks involved in counterbalancing growing Chinese military capabilities. Meanwhile, Washington should help its regional allies and partners to field their own antiaccess and area denial systems. Finally, the United States should take advantage of any opportunities to resolve issues and remove points of Sino-American tension, recognizing that its bargaining position will gradually deteriorate over time.
In the economic realm, the United States needs to compete more effectively in foreign markets, persevere and strengthen international norms for trade and investment, and incentivize China to operate within those norms. Given China’s efforts to take technological leadership in the long term and the potential advantages that such leadership brings, the United States also needs to improve its innovation environment. Measures could include greater funding for research, retention of U.S.-educated foreign scientists and technologists, and regulatory reforms that ease the introduction of product and process improvements into businesses and the market.
In responding to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the United States should move to secure its own preferential access to the world’s largest markets, the industrialized countries of Europe and Asia; assist nations in increasing connectivity with the world economy; work with partners to ensure more transparency in China’s Belt and Road projects; and increase support to U.S. exporters and investors.
In all these challenges, the United States will be more successful coordinating action with allies and trading partners.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation perspective series. RAND perspectives present informed perspective on a timely topic that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND perspectives undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Well, well. Here’s some thing for thought. What? You didn’t think that the United States couldn’t be contained, did you?
I struggle to understand people like Cohen (and Blinken and Pompeo and Albright and the rest of them). I don't think pathologizing them as psychopaths or sociopaths is definitive. Simply evil comes closer. And yet we let them rule us.
-Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | Apr 14 2021 19:26 utc | 2
.
Indeed, everything on the “news”, almost without exception, is about how America is doing this to “contain China”, and doing that “to sanction Iran”, and doing this other such thing to “contain Russian actions”. You read this automatically, and you automatically get this idea in the back of your mind that…
.
America is out of control.
It is everywhere doing everything.
America is super powerful.
No one dares fight back.
.
And that is only because America controls the “news” media over most of the Western world, and if you read, speak or think in English, your thoughts are being manipulated.
But,you know, don’t you think that it is pretty fucking sick for the United States to try to contain anyone? I mean, that’s what “freedom” and “liberty” is supposed to be all about. It’s supposed to be a “live and let live”, and only fight at the very last possible moment when someone gets up in your face…
Instead, the US is out in everyone else’s face and “laying down the law”.
A schoolyard bully located in The state of Alabama purportedly assaulted a 9-year-old female, resulting in the girl having a major concussion, a pair of black eyes in addition to a head rife with bruises. Institution authorities were adamant that this particular young lady had not been picked on, rather these bruises were self-inflicted and that the girl had some personality “issues”. Not that a bully had beat her to a pulp.
.
That’s what the USA is today.
It’s a big bully, and when anyone tries to point it out, the toadies of the bully come up with all kinds of excuses.
It is NOT, not, not sustainable.
And unless it stops, and stops quickly, someone’s nose is going to get awfully bloody.
Unless the bullying stops, some of the victims of the bullies are going to rise up and go “Sandy Hook” on their asses.
Here’s The 20-Point Plan For How Russia Could Contain The US
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov’s dramatic declaration that his country “will pursue the policy of active containment of the US on all fronts” if American pressure on Russia doesn’t soon end inspired a unique 20-point plan for what this could look like in practice.
Russia’s Anti-American Containment Policy
Russia finally appears to be serious about “decoupling” from the West after over half a decade of its well-intended and passionate efforts to enter into a rapprochement with it following the onset of the Ukrainian Crisis.
This event was a game-changer which would push Russia to accelerate its foreign policy diversification strategy towards non-Western countries, especially those in the Global South.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is evidently very serious about this after dramatically declaring in February 2021 that his country “will pursue the policy of active containment of the US on all fronts” if American pressure on Russia doesn’t soon end.
He promised to [1] prevent foreign meddling in his country’s democratic processes, [2] promote multipolarity across the world, and [3] impose counter-sanctions on the US.
Markov’s 10 Euro-Centric Proposals
Prior to Ryabkov’s policy announcement, Russian expert Sergey Markov predicted ten ways in which his country could respond to more EU sanctions against it. As Google Translated into English from his original Facebook post and slightly edited for clarity, these are:
“1. Russia may recognize the DPR and the LPR and accelerate their integration into Russia;
2. Russia may impose strict sanctions in the economy against the EU;
3. Russia may cease to consider the interests of Europe in Syria and Libya;
4. Russia may impose strict restrictions on the work of Russian-speaking media that are supported by the EU;
5. Russia may limit the work of NGOs, with which the EU tries to influence Russian public opinion;
6. Russia may tighten the position regarding the Russophobic regime in Ukraine and start working on its elimination and replacement with a pro-Russian government;
7. Russia may switch its economic projects from the EU to other countries, especially the East;
8. Russia may significantly increase its military resources in the Kaliningrad region and other regions close to the EU;
9. Russia may begin to react significantly more strictly to the Russophobic policies of EU countries such as Poland, the Baltic countries, Romania;
10. Russia may dramatically reduce consultations with France and Germany on important global strategic issues. This will reduce the impact of France and Germany in the world.”
Korybko’s 10 Non-Western Proposals
I regard all ten of his proposals as viable options.
However, you have to understand and believe that they are (never the less) quite Euro-centric and reactionary.
For that reason, here are ten non-Western ones that could prospectively be paired with Markov’s and pursued even in the event that the West temporarily stops provoking Russia:
1. Rigorously implement “DemocraticSecurity” at home to safeguard Russia’s domestic political processes in accordance with Ryabkov’s vision;
2. Thoroughly articulate the unofficial national ideology of multipolarity and actively promote these views abroad through foreign policy & civil society outreaches, including through academia and the media;
3. Export bespoke “Democratic Security” solutions to at-risk Global South states modeled off of the CentralAfricanRepublic, Congo Republic, and Togo precedents to help defend others from US HybridWar threats;
4. Double down on “military diplomacy” with China through increased cutting-edge arms sales and joint military drills in order to send a message of unwavering security solidarity with the People’s Republic;
6. Prioritize progress on the N-CPEC+/RuPak Corridor in order to fulfill President Putin’s envisioned Arctic-Indian Ocean corridor that he first publicly proposed in October 2019 while speaking at the Valdai Club;
7. Ensure that Azerbaijani President Aliyev’s six-country regional integration platform is a success in turning the South Caucasus into the zone of geostrategic convergence between Russia, Iran, and Turkey;
8. Bring together steps 4-7 to ultimately create an expanded Golden Ring in the Eurasian Heartland which would function as the center of gravity for the emerging Multipolar World Order;
9. Continue practicing “vaccine diplomacy” to creatively establish strategic inroads in non-traditional partners that could then be courted to contribute to the collective cause of multipolarity;
Ryabkov’s official announcement that Russia is seriously countenancing the creation of an anti-American containment strategy proves that the Kremlin is finally fed up with the West’s games.
Markov’s prior ten proposals for how his country could react to the potential EU-initiated worsening of bilateral relations are thought-provoking and deserve to be considered.
However thy are nevertheless Euro-centric and reactionary.
The addition of these other points, which are non-Western in focus can be added to the mix. As such they can be proactively undertaken even without Brussels taking the first step by sanctioning Russia.
Taken together, this 20-point containment strategy should hopefully give Russian decision makers a better understanding of the full range of options available to them.
They probably won’t implement every proposal, but it’s likely that at least some of them will see the light of day, though it might still take time for their effects to be felt as would be the case with my long-term policy suggestions.
Comments
Is the greater public ever going to get a clear view of the difference behind the "rules based order" of the West (we own the money system and make the rules) and the negotiated International law based order?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2021 17:05 utc | 4
You know, most American don’t have a clue to what is going on in Russia. it’s the same thing about China. It’s been a near non-stop hate-fest against Shina for the last five years, and yet the American (and Western) readership still hasn’t a clue as to anything. It’s all the same old nonsense.
And they are all falling for it. It’s like this…
Well…
These other nations are fed up.
They are linking together. They are investing time and money and doing so with very little “fan fare” and publicity. You might read about one thing or the others in your travels of daily “news” reading. But that’s about it. You read about a rail line in Pakistan, and an oil pipeline in the Black Sea. But since most people don’t know geography or history they have no context to put everything into context.
Russia has stopping playing games.
China has stopped playing games.
They have set things up for a big “spring loaded” global powers reset, and are just waiting for the USA-led Western powers to walk into the trap.
Mouse Trap.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my “International America and the rest of the world” index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Many drive-by visitors to Metallicman often raise their noses and proclaim “I’ve seen it all before”, and then leave. They don’t stick around and really study what is being presents. They just assume that it’s just another ‘same old”, “same old”, and thus not worthy of their time.
A lesser person might be upset.
But I know, and most long time MM readers know, that this is all an illusion.
The people who come and stay are here for the content, and the juicy nuggets of gold that you won’t find anywhere else.
Arthur Schopenhauer famously observed that talent hits a target that no one else can hit, but genius hits a target that no one else can see.
We now know that, through the Dunning-Kruger effect, each of us is limited by cognition: anything more complex than our minds can grasp appears as ludicrous bizarre gibberish to us.
Let. That. Sink. In.
Can you fly a “Frisbee”? If not, then why?
Knowledge and skills are learned. And that includes the ability to reason, to plan, and to sort things out.
This creates a framework of genius as that which notices the obvious but ignored. As explained in the biography of a famous gun designer, high cognitive ability seems mystifying until the results are seen:
It is often said in the industry that small arms now are designed by committee. But the design process will always need that one unique person, the imaginative individual with a new way of looking at a problem.
Eugene Stoner was the man with the ideas who passed them on to the design committees. According to a long-time friend and colleague, Stoner was “the master of the obvious”. “When he came up with an idea you would ask yourself, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ But you didn’t.”
Most people cannot see genius.
To them, it appears as an oddity, something incomprehensible, and when it succeeds, they hate it. The last three centuries in the West have been a rebellion against genius, replacing it with inferior substitutes like navel-gazing novels, pop culture, and modern art.
Face it.
People who have genius capability are shunned and thwarted in society.
Yet, early on, Western Civilization succeeded because it embraced genius. Under the kings, those of great potential were subsidized so that all could enjoy their insights.
Not so today.
Under democracy, they are treated with suspicion and thrust into the workforce, where they often flounder. Individual genius is a fast train ticket to oblivion and poverty.
If we are to rise again, much of our focus must be on finding good people instead of trying to regulate mediocre people with complex systems in the Asiatic model. In the meantime, it helps to recognize that genius is most commonly unrecognized except by those on its level.
The Dunning-Kruger effect
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a hypothetical cognitive bias stating that people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. As described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the bias results from an internal illusion in people of low ability and from an external misperception in people of high ability; that is, "the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others". It is related to the cognitive bias of illusory superiority and comes from people's inability to recognize their lack of ability. Without the self-awareness of metacognition, peoplecannot objectively evaluate their level of competence.
It explains, among other things, how in a society that places too much value on image, idiots and insane people are able to get ahead by overestimating their value and getting fools to agree with them.
The essence of the Dunning-Kruger effect is that “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than knowledge.”
Studies have shown that the most incompetent individuals are the ones that are most convinced of their competence.
At work this translates into lots of incompetent people who think they are superstars.
And what is worse is that if you have a manager that doesn’t closely supervise work, he or she may judge performance based on outward appearances using information like the confidence with which these incompetent blockheads speak.
An important corollary of this effect is that the most competent people often underestimate their competence.
This is a result of how you frame knowledge.
The more you know, the more you focus on what you don’t know. For instance, people who can name 15 of the 50 state capitals tend to think “I know 15.” People who know 45 of the 50 state capitals tend to think “I don’t know 5.”1
Fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy,
If they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.
Translation: Without leadership at the top of the curve who is willing to call people on their incompetence, the incompetents will appear competent to other incompetents and be advanced, possibly even to the presidency.
This causes a mathematical problem for democracies since most people are not particularly competent at leadership, government or logical argument, meaning they are both unable to assess the best leadership choices and sure that they’re right.
It’s essentially similar to the Downing effect:
One of the main effects of illusory superiority in IQ is the Downing effect. This describes the tendency of people with a below average IQ to overestimate their IQ, and of people with an above average IQ to underestimate their IQ.
The propensity to predictably misjudge one’s own IQ was first noted by C. L. Downing who conducted the first cross-cultural studies on perceived ‘intelligence’.
His studies also evidenced that the ability to accurately estimate others’ IQ was proportional to one’s own IQ. This means that the lower the IQ of an individual, the less capable they are of appreciating and accurately appraising others’ IQ. Therefore individuals with a lower IQ are more likely to rate themselves as having a higher IQ than those around them. Conversely, people with a higher IQ, while better at appraising others’ IQ overall, are still likely to rate people of similar IQ as themselves as having higher IQs.
The disparity between actual IQ and perceived IQ has also been noted between genders by British psychologist Adrian Furnham, in whose work there was a suggestion that, on average, men are more likely to overestimate their intelligence by 5 points, while women are more likely to underestimate their IQ by a similar margin.2
That tendency could go a long way toward explaining why many successful societies have relied on strong leaders who had no problem beating down the incompetent with force.
Unless suppressed, the 90% of humanity who per the “Bell Curve” are unskilled and unaware of it will take over and, being incompetent, run society into the ground.
In addition, while people can be taught specific tasks, they cannot be taught to reason in general; education does not raise IQ and in the process of trying, becomes dumbed-down to the point where no one intelligent will get any benefit from it, which discriminates against the intelligent.
Conclusion
The conclusion is obvious.
When you combine the Bell Curve, the Dunning-Kruger and Downing effects, and the natural tendency of human beings to compromise, you have a working explanation why human societies inevitably begin the pursuit of a “race to the bottom” once they become powerful enough to stop losing so many people to natural events, disease and war.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
"... if they (the psychopaths) keep playing "chicken" with Russia & China, they'll get it-sooner, rather than later"
This is going to be a pretty harsh article. We are not going to “dance around” any of the issues. Instead we are going to spell (or spit) it out directly. If you aren’t ready for it you can leave.
First of all, the Untied States has spent a good portion of the last twelve years building up a narrative towards a major global-wide war with China. The last four years (2016 through 2020) has really placed the TargetingReticule on China, and you have to be delusional not to notice it.
And let’s be real about it, as well.
You can pretend that it’s a “cold war”, or it’s a “hybrid war”, or perhaps a simple “trade war”. But that’s just dancing around the raw and harsh facts. It’s a build up to a “hot shooting war” and you just simply cannot avoid that reality.
Most people avoid the harsh reality because [1] they don’t want to believe it, and [2] they are not given all the information of what if going on.
How many Americans know about the American drones spraying swine flu to devastate the pig industry in 2018? How many Americans know about the tit-for-tat attacks on the VTOL aircraft carriers in 2020? How many Americans are aware of the differences between the COVID-19A and the COVID-19B strains.
Very, very few.
It’s been exceptionally hot. And the only way that you can keep abreast of the latest run of attacks is to read the neocon publications out of the K-street military-industrial network in Washington DC.
Propaganda campaigns, and hybrid wars ALWAYS end up in a hot shooting war. There is not one single instance where it did not. Not once.
And people (!) all hot wars that America initiates requires an ignition event to launch. And if one cannot be found, then a fake event is created. These events are called “false flags”.
What is a “False Flag”?
Afalse flag operation is an act committedwith the intent of disguising the actualsource of responsibility and pinning blame onanother party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promotersinreferring to covert operations of various governments and cabals.
-Wikipedia
The following is from History.com, All credit to the author.
On the night of the 31st of August 1939, several covert Nazi operatives dressed as Polish soldiers stormed the Gleiwitz radio tower on the Germany-Poland border. They broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish before leaving. The soldiers left behind the bodies of a pro-Polish German farmer and several unidentifiable Dachau concentration camp prisoners. The farmer and the prisoners had been murdered and dressed up in German uniforms.
The attack was part of a series of covert actions along the Polish border that the Nazis would use to justify Germany’s attack on Poland the following day. Gleiwitz was a classic ‘false flag’ operation.
So, what is meant by the term ‘false flag’? Originally, the phrase was coined for the practice of pirate ships flying the colors of other nations to deceive merchant ships into thinking they were dealing with a friendly vessel. While the pirates would usually unfurl their true colors just before attacking, the wrong flag would sometimes continue to be flown throughout an attack, hence the term ‘attacking under a false flag’. Over time, the term ‘false flag’ came to be applied to any covert operation that sought to shift the responsibility on to a different party from the one carrying it out, as was the case with the Nazis at Gleiwitz.
One of the most famous incidents considered by many to be a false flag operation is the Reichstag fire, which took place on the night of the 27th of February 1933. A lone communist sympathizer called Marinus van de Lubbe was arrested and charged with setting fire to the German parliament building. This gave Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, the excuse they needed to purge Germany of opposition, especially the communists. The sweeping emergency powers Hitler and the Nazi Party grabbed for themselves after the fire are the reason many people think the Reichstag was burned not by a lone communist protesting Germany’s treatment of the working classes (as van de Lubbe himself claimed while in custody), but by the Nazis themselves.
Of course, it isn’t just the Americans and the Europeans who have been accused of participating in false flag operations over the years. Between 1979 and 1983, the Israeli secret services stand accused of instigating a series of car bomb attacks in Lebanon that killed hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians. Though the bombings were claimed by the terrorist organization, the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners, many believe the bombs were set off by the Israelis to sew dissent throughout the region and justify an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Though an Israeli general has admitted the attacks were carried out by his country, the official line is still that Israel was not involved.
In the modern era, things become a little murkier. Whether a modern-day false flag operation is real or not is now a matter to be bitterly fought over on the Internet.
To many online conspiracy theorists, the biggest false flag operation of all time was the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many believe that these attacks were deliberately carried out by the US government as a way to justify the subsequent attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, which they believe were carried out to install a gas pipeline across Afghanistan and to seize the oil wealth of Iraq.
Many ‘9/11 Truthers’ point out discrepancies in the official report into the destruction of the World Trade Center, focusing primarily on the collapse of the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center. They argue that the towers could not have been brought down by plane strike and fire alone, be must instead have been brought down by another means, such as by controlled demolition. The claims that 9/11 was an inside job have been vigorously disputed both by the US government and various experts many times, but it is highly unlikely the myriad of conspiracy theories swirling around 9/11 will ever go away.
Accusations of false flag operations have continued right up to the present day. One of the most widely-disputed and discussed is the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings of 2012, which has been laid at the door of the US Government.
People who refuse to believe the shootings were the act of a lone gunman allege twenty students and six staff were deliberately murdered so stricter gun controls could be imposed on the US population. Skeptics point to the attack coinciding with President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would sign restrictive small arms legislation. The convenient timing of the attack could then be used by the president as the excuse he needed to impose new restrictions, hence why it must have been a false flag operation. Again, like 9/11, it is highly unlikely that the theories surrounding the tragic attack will ever die down.
We now live in an age where, to some at least, nothing is as it seems, everything can be labelled a conspiracy and no amount of evidence to the contrary will change people’s minds.
There have been several documented false flag operations throughout history, and the existence of them goes some way to explaining why thousands upon thousands of people all around the world believe many more covert operations have been carried out regardless of government claims to the contrary.
Why does the United States want to start a war with China?
The following is from Global Research. Reprinted as found, all credit to the author and edited to fit this venue. The original title of the article is: "China-US Relations and Biden’s “Global Death Trap”: The World Is Facing Another Cold War Which May Become Hot, Even Very Hot" by Prof. Joseph H. Chung Global Research, April 09, 2021.
In Anchorage, Alaska, on 18-19 March 2021, top diplomats of China and the U.S. met and declared the new Cold War. The U.S. side was represented by Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, while China was represented, by Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister and Yang Jiechi, top diplomat of China.
Anthony Blinken said ” China’s actions pose a threat to a rule-based order designed to maintain global stability:”
Translation: “You unthankful China, listen carefully! Do not dare challenge the world in which Washington feels comfortable. Otherwise!” This is the declaration of the cold war.
On his part, Wang Yi said: “Beijing is firmly against US interference in domestic affairs. We will take firm actions in our response.” “Most countries in the world do not recognize US values as global values.”
Translation: “Listen You Washington,. China has done a lot for you. China has something to tell you! China has had enough of your bullying. If Washington wants to fight, well, China is ready!
Two days later…
On March 22, Wang Yi, foreign minister of China and Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia met to protest against Washington’s sanction imposed on Russia and China.
The very next day, on March 23, Xi Jinping, president of China and Kim Jong-un, president of North Korea exchanged letters for mutual cooperation. This is the beginning of China’s recruiting of cold war alliances.
All these events mean one thing. The Global Cold War has begun and the world will be divided once again between the West and the East and the Cold War is likely to become Global Hot War and we will be all dead.
Before I begin, I would like tell this to Beijing and Washington!
In 2020, the combined GDP of China and the U.S. was 35 trillion USD, or 42% of the global GDP of 84 trillion USD.
You China and the U.S. listen! You have become rich and powerful, because the world has worked hard for you. The world has provided low-cost labor, high quality raw materials and people’s precious savings; the world has bought your products.
Remember! The world belongs to every human being and every country.
Please behave like responsible global super powers. You have no right to ruin the world with your hegemonic fight.
So, China and the U.S. please stop the dreadful cold war and take responsibility of assuring global peace, safety and prosperity.
*
In this paper, I am asking these questions.
Why does Washington declare the new cold war now?
What are the American objectives of the cold war?
What are the cold war Strategies of the U.S. and China?
Can Washington win the cold war?
Can the hot war happen?
What will be the impact of the Sino-American war on the humanity?
Why does Washington declare the New Cold War Now?
When it comes to the economy, the language betrays the reality all too clearly. The Trump administration’s economic struggle with China is regularly described, openly and without qualification, as a “war.” And there’s no doubt that senior White House officials, beginning with the president and his chief trade representative, Robert Lighthizer (image on the right), see it just that way: as a means of pulverizing the Chinese economy and so curtailing that country’s ability to compete with the United States in all other measures of power.
-Global Research
There are two possible reasons for Washington’s decision to declare the Cold war against China, a war which actually began since Barack Obama’s Asia Pivot.
The first reason is that Joe Biden needs an enemy dangerous enough to unify the American people and to deal with [1] the impossible task of restoring the economy and [2] justify the raison d’être of the existence of the government.
The Pearl Harbor attack was devastating enough to wake up the sleeping Americans to unite and follow the Washington’s leadership. But I wonder if the Chinese challenge is grave enough to unify the Americans and trust Washington and cooperate for the policy of restoring the economy.
The second reason is more convincing. It is matter of coping with the Chinese economic threat when China’s military challenge is still manageable. The Chinese economy is catching up with the U.S. economy at a threatening rate, while the Chinese military capability is still far weaker than American military capacity. In other words, Washington has decided to hit hard Beijing when it is still a weak attacker and get rid of the economic threat.
I have done some calculations to see the evolution of economic and military power of the two super powers. I have assumed that the Chinese GDP will increase per year, at a compound growth rate of 5 %, from US$ 15.42 trillion in 2020 to $ 24.98 trillion in 2031, or a accumulated increase of 62%. As for the United States, it is assumed that its GDP will increase by 2% a year from $20.93 trillion in 2020 to $25.32 trillion in 2031, or accumulated increase of 21%.
This means that, in 2020, the Chinese GDP was 73.6% of the U.S. GDP to reach 98.7% in 2031. This is surely threatening to Washington.
Thus, the Chinese GDP is expected to catch up with the U.S. economy in ten years. But, we have a different picture as far as military strength is concerned.
We have examined the 10-year evolution of national defense budget of the two countries. It is assumed that the share of the defense budget in the GDP will remain the same throughout the 10 year period. The Chinese 2020 national defense share was 1.15% of GDP yielding $ 178 billion. In 2031.The Chinese defense budget will be $287 billion. Now, for the U.S. in 2020, the national defense budget was $730 billion, or 3.6% of GDP, this rate is applied for 2031 to get $911 billion.
This means that despite rapid rise, the Chinese catching up for the defense budget is much slower than the case of GDP. In fact, in 2020, the amount of Chinese national defense expenditures was 24.5% of that of the American national defense budget to increase only to 30.2% in 2031. This may allow Washington to feel safe as far as the Chinese military threat is concerned.
So, Washington’s strategy is to strike China before the Chinese economy catches up with the U.S. economy while Beijing’s is still “militarily weak”.
What are the Objectives of the U.S. initiated Cold War?
An examination of the demands submitted to Chinese negotiators by the U.S. trade delegation last May suggests, however, that Washington’s primary intent hasn’t been to rectify that trade imbalance but to impede China’s economic growth. Among the stipulations Beijing must acquiesce to before receiving tariff relief, according to leaked documents from U.S. negotiators that were spread on Chinese social media:
[1] halting all government subsidies to advanced manufacturing industries in its Made in China 2025 program, an endeavor that covers 10 key economic sectors, including aircraft manufacturing, electric cars, robotics, computer microchips, and artificial intelligence;
[2] accepting American restrictions on investments in sensitive technologies without retaliating;
[3] opening up its service and agricultural sectors — areas where Chinese firms have an inherent advantage — to full American competition.
In fact, this should be considered a straightforward declaration of economic war. Acquiescing to such demands would mean accepting a permanent subordinate status vis-à-vis the United States in hopes of continuing a profitable trade relationship with this country.
“The list reads like the terms for a surrender rather than a basis for negotiation,” was the way Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, accurately described these developments.
The principal objectives of the Cold War is to prevent China from becoming a Global Power threatening the accumulated interests of the U.S. and its allies.
-Global Resource
What are the Cold War Strategies of the U.S. and China?
The weapons of the New Cold War are likely to include the following:
Security Alliance War
Ideological War
Economic War
Security War
Security Alliance War
The security alliance is designed to maximize the “friendly supports” for the country’s war efforts. On this ground, the U.S. has a definite upper hand. Actually, China has only a few alliances; its potential alliances would include North Korea, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Pakistan. But, there is no guarantee that these potential alliances will help China in a Sino-American war. On the other hand, Washington has a lot of alliances.
The U.S. has many security alliances in the East Asian region: the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, the U.S.-South Korea Security Alliance, the U.S.-Australia Security Alliance, the U.S.-the Philippines Security Alliance. The U.S. has security partnership with Singapore and Taiwan.
The U.S. has the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) composed of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S.
Moreover, there was the TPP (Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership) led by Washington. It had 12 member countries. Since Trump withdrew, it has become CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership) with 11 member countries. But, Biden might rejoin it, because it is supposed to be a free-trade alliance, but, in reality, it is a part of China-containment alliance. It includes five East Asian countries: Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. In addition, most of the East Asian countries have some sorts of security cooperation with Washington. Thus, the U.S. has a lot of countries with which it has security related relations.
But, the question is whether these security alliances will join the U.S.-initiated anti-China war. They may cooperate with Washington as long as the cold war remains cold. However, what they should do is to persuade Washington to end the cold war, for it is the best way to keep their economy going in peace.
This is suggested by Graham Allison, the author of his famous book, “Destined for War: Can America and China escape Thucydides Trap?” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston-New York, 2017)
Ideological War
The purpose of the ideological war is to demonize the rival country in order to justify the country’s war on the one hand, and on the other, to maximize global support for the war.
The ideological war relies on the following weapons:
Human Right Violations
Freedom of the Press
Violation of law-Based Rules
Authoritarianism
Assertiveness
Violation of the UNCLOS
Human Right Violations:
The U.S. accuses China for violating minority groups’ rights to maintain autonomous values and political system. But, Beijing argues that it upholds the rights of minority groups. China would say that it has to intervene in order to prevent minority regions from becoming independent, thus threatening the sovereignty of China.
China may ask Washington how it would react, if the State of Alaska fights for its separation from the United States. Moreover, China openly criticises widespread human right violations in the U.S. against minority groups including the Black Africans, Native Indians and other minority groups.
The Canadian Human Right Commission defines human rights as the fundamental right of all human beings for a life of dignity, respect and equality. Hence, all human beings have rights to enjoy public goods such as health, education, housing, racial equality, physical safety on the street. These rights may be violated not only by the government but also by individuals and institutions. Any government which fails to protect these rights is violator of human rights.
In the mainstream media, the perception of human rights violation is limited to the harsh measures taken by the government. The human rights issue has become a political tool in international relations. The debate on human rights issue should, on the contrary, focus on a solution to human rights violations rather than political gain.
In regards to Washington’s policy of China’s human rights violations, I am quite puzzled by its lack of consistency. In fact, for decades since the time of Richard Nixon to the era of Barack Obama, human rights violations in China was not a major issue.
Joe Biden makes human right the key issues in Sino-American relations. Why? Is it because he considers China as a threat to U.S. hegemony?
Freedom of the Press:
The American media criticizes China for lack of the freedom of press. It is true that the press in China is closely managed by the State in order to minimize criticism of government policies. China may react by asking if there is freedom of press in the U.S. China may ask if the American press is free to criticize large corporations which finance the media.
Here, I may ask one question which may interest both China and the U.S.
Is the freedom of the press the raison d’être of the press? What happens, if the free press is biased and behaves in such a way that it is harmful to the welfare of the ordinary people? The Korean press is the freest press in the world, owing to the liberal policies of the government of Moon Jae-in.
Unfortunately 98% of the press present biased report, fabricate stories, publish lies in order to protect the corrupted vested interests of the conservatives accumulated for 70 years; the press is the integral part of the corruption; its sole purpose is to destroy the liberal government and retake the power so that it could enjoy the privileges and wealth provided by the corruption culture. The freedom of press is important, but without political neutrality, it can hurt the nation.
In fact, in the context of the Sino-U.S. cold war, one of the most dangerous weapons is the press. Unfortunately, the press gives itself the mission of demonizing the enemy through lies, biased reports, presenting prepared horror pictures. In a way, the outcome of the New Cold War depends largely on the “press war”. So, my humble wish is that the press in the U.S. and China give itself the mission of stopping the Sino-American cold war and not intensifying it.
Law-Based Rules:
If there is any universal consensus in the West, it is the belief that China does not respect law-based rules. But, we seldom find any concrete incidences where China violates such rules.
The trouble is that rules cannot cover all things and all behaviors. Besides, rules must evolve in function of the need of the time. There are hundreds of reports and research papers which give the impression that China does not respect the international rules. But seldom do they point out which laws are violated. If China is such a violator of international laws, how could it trade with other countries and how could it realize the economic miracle without respecting international laws? Have any international institutions including IMF, WTO, WHO and other international institutions complained about China’s not respecting international laws?
China would react. First, it may ask Washington to provide the actual cases of China’s rule violation. In addition, China may add that most of the international rules being conceived and imposed by the U.S., they may not be suitable for countries of different cultures and judicial traditions. Therefore, China might suggest a reform of the international laws more flexible and inclusive.
Authoritarianism:
Another favorite pass time topic in Washington elite circle and media is the sins of China’s authoritarian regime. This is rather amazing, because the U.S. is a lover of authoritarian regimes in numerous countries, provided these regimes are good boys obeying Washington’s command.
Washington loved General Park Chung-hee and General Jun Doo-hwan for their oppressive authoritarian regime, because they were obedient to Washington.
Chiang Kai-sek was a more than an authoritarian dictator in Taiwan, but he was an asset for America’s China policy.
China may tell the U.S. not to worry about the authoritarian character of the Chinese political regime. China may tell Americans that the authoritarianism has been the core of Chinese values and culture. Besides, as a country of 1.5 billion people with more than a hundred dialects and constant threats of [US supported] independence of minority regions, China needs a strong top-down authoritarian decision-making process.
China’s Assertiveness:
China is accused also for its being assertive with its BRI project, its relations with ASEAN countries and, especially, its militarization of the South China Sea.
China is accused for its assertiveness in connection with its Belt-Road Initiative (BRI). The often quoted incident of such assertiveness is the China’s debt-trap applied to Sri Lanka. However, according to studies by Sri Lankans, the story of debt trap is a lie or misunderstanding by so-called China haters. The project of the Hambantato Port was initiated by current prime minister (former president) in the early 2000s.
It was a purely commercial project and managed by a Chinese government-owned enterprise (GOE). Sri Lanka excessively borrowed money from Western financial institutions including the IMF. Sri Lanka’s debt was so high that the cost of servicing the debts represents 44% of government revenue; this is the debt trap which has nothing to do with the BRI. In fact, Chinese loans represent mere 9% of Sri Lankan government debt. The Hambantato Port is leased for 99 years managed by a Chinese enterprise, CMPort. Sri Lanka has to pay the debt to China for the loans. By the way, the port cannot be used by Chinese navy.
China is accused also for bullying South East Asian countries. This is contentious, according to several studies, these countries do not experience Chinese political assertiveness. On the contrary, Chinese soft business diplomacy is greatly appreciated.
Moreover, China’s productive participation in the activities of ASEAN, APT (ASEAN plus Three), ARF (Asia Regional Forum), EAS (East Asia Summits), RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Shangri-La Dialogue, and numerous FTAs is highly valued. Even those countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam which have security cooperation with Washington do not feel the pressure of apparent Chinese assertiveness.
Chinese assertiveness which is the most criticized is its alleged military assertiveness. To see more clearly the nature of China’s military assertiveness, we need to study its evolution, which shows that China’s assertiveness was the reaction to American assertiveness.
In 2008, The U.S. joined the TPSEP (Trans-pacific Strategic Economic Partnership) which became later the TPP (Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership) which was more a security alliances than FTA (Free Trade Agreement).
In March 2009, China was under surveillance by an American vessel’s surveillance activities near Hainan Island, the key Chinese navy port.
In September, 2009, the U.S. adopted the Air and Sea Battle (ASB) which was another threat to Chinese A2/AD (Anti-Air/Area-Denied) strategy.
In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that the U.S. had interests in the South China Sea, meaning the strong military presence in Asia.
In 2012, Barack Obama announced the Asia-Pivot or “Rebalancing” of American military might in favour of the Asia-Pacific region. It is important to point out here that this series of Washington’s assertive activities hostile to China inevitably invited China’s assertive actions.
In fact, in the period, 2013-2014, China extended its ADIZ (Air-Defence Identification Zone) to as far as the region of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island.
In September 2013, China started its Island-Building operations in the South China Sea.
In 2013, a Chinese navy vessel dangerously approached USS Cowpens, U.S. navy guided-missile destroyer.
Thus, Chinese assertiveness was, largely, the counter defensive actions to the American assertiveness. In short, so called, Chinese assertiveness, cannot not be used for China denunciation.
The building of the South China Sea islands and the militarization of these islands have been the principal object of China demonization. In fact, this operation started in 2013 and completed in 2016. Several reefs including the Mischief Reef, the Subi Reef and the Fiery Reef all became islands armed with missile launch facilities and airstrips for jet fighters. The reason behind this operation may be the fear of blockade of the South China Sea by the U.S. and its allies, a military operation which will make China to starve to death.
Unfortunately, the American assertive actions followed by Chinese counter actions have inevitably led to the deterioration of the Washington-Beijing relations.
In 2014, Barack Obama visited Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore in order to strengthen the China containment operations. What is disturbing is the fact that Barack Obama promised Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister, that the U.S. would be ready to intervene, if a Japan-China conflict took the form of military confrontation. Obama did not, however, commit himself to US military intervention. In contrast, Biden’s Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, promised, during his recent visit to Japan, US military intervention in case of China-Japan confrontation involving the Diaoyu/Senkaku Island. This is indeed a dangerous decision on the part of the U.S.
Violation of UNCCLOS:
Another item on the China demonization menu is the theory that China does not respect the UNCLOS (UN Convention of the Law of Sea) and that China prevents free maritime traffic in the South China Sea. But, there is no actual evidence of China’s violation of free maritime traffic in the South China Sea.
To sum up, the Sino-U.S. ideological war has failed to make China’s regime to deserve global suspicion and denunciation.
Washington has no assurance that the region’s neighbouring countries would rally behind the U.S. because of China’s regime and ideology. This does not mean, however, that China is the winner. .
Economic War
As suggested by America’s trade demands, Washington’s intent is not only to hobble China’s economy today and tomorrow but for decades to come. This has led to an intense, far-ranging campaign to deprive it of access to advanced technologies and to cripple its leading technology firms.
Chinese leaders have long realized that, for their country to achieve economic and military parity with the United States, they must master the cutting-edge technologies that will dominate the twenty-first-century global economy,
-Global Research
As I pointed out above, in ten years, Chinese economy will catch up with the U.S. economy assuming that the American GDP will increase by 2% per year, while the Chinese GDP will rise by 5% per year. My assumptions may be wrong, but one thing which is certain is that China’s GDP will soon catch up with that of the US.
There are several reasons:
First, the Chinese per capita is about $11,000 meaning that there is a lot of room for further growth, while in the U.S. where the per capita GDP is $63,000 the potential growth is approaching its limit.
Second, under the intensification of the trade war, the diversification of trade partners becomes strategic. The American trade partners being highly developed countries, the diversification of trade partners will not be a great help, whereas, China’s trade partners being Asian countries with high growth rate, its trade partner diversification will be an advantage.
Third, the U.S., the economy being dependent on high technology, economic growth is unable to create jobs and it creates unequal income distribution at the expense of ordinary Americans, which in the long run, it will slow down the growth of the American economy.
Fourth, the U.S. economy is excessively dependent on the domestic market, the strength of which is the consumer demand. Remember that, in the U.S., the consumer demand accounts for as much as 70% of GDP as against 50% in China. The consumer demand requires strong middle-income class. Unfortunately, in the U.S. the rising inequality of income distribution has almost destroyed the middle class, which will make it difficult to sustain the domestic market.
The COVID-19 crisis has worsened the problem. In short, it will be difficult to stop the Chinese economy from catching up with the American economy.
Security War
As we saw above, it is more than possible that by 2031, Chinese GDP will have caught up with the U.S. GDP. Moreover, if China allocates 3% of its GDP, instead of the present 1.15 %, its military spending will be $ 749 billion, or 82% of Washington’s military expenditures.
The U.S. may beef up its striking force by deploying its 3rd fleet to strengthen the power of its Sea Air Battle (ASB). China will be able to improve its 2A/AD strategy. So, there will be no clear cut winner.
Under such circumstance, God knows what will happen, if China and the U.S. start to “shoot one another”. The message is clear. The shooting war will bring the dooms day for us all. The dooms day will come, if bloody cold war continues.
Can Washington win the Cold War?
The answer is: “it cannot.”
There are several reasons for this.
First, it seems clear that none of the anti-China strategies will give clear upper hand to Washington. In fact, none of the China demonization tactics, the economic war and the military confrontation promises Washington’s victory.
Second, since the fall of the Berlin Wall of 1989, the ideological difference has been much diluted. Hence, the anti-China antagonism is much weaker than it was during the Soviet-U.S. cold war. The implication is that Washington will have difficulties in ganging up its supporters, which will make American offensive uncertain victory.
Third, China being the world’s factory and the world’s consumer market, most of the U.S. allies will be reluctant to support the cold war.
Fourth, the decadence of the U.S.-led neo-liberal economic system and the world wide corruption of the American version of democracy will make it difficult to attract U.S. sympathizers.
In short, neither the U.S. nor China can be the winner. In their cold war, there will be no winner. If there is one, it will be the suffering of all humanity.
If the U.S. cannot win the cold war, that is, if it cannot prevent China from catching up the U.S. economy and the U.S. power, it means that Washington has failed to attain its objectives.
Then, Washington might decide to declare a hot war.
But, American generals and admirals know very well that China is not the (former) Soviet Union and that China is much stronger and richer than the Soviet Union. Moreover, there will be few allies including the UK which will join Washington’s shooting war fight.
However, misguided political leaders might make dangerous decisions to venture into a “shooting war with China” to save the honor and the glory of the U.S. At any rate, we must all try to stop the shooting war, because it will destroy what the humanity has built so far.
Thus, neither the U.S. nor China can win the cold war.
The hot war will kill us all.
So, the only way out for Washington is to admit China as co-leader of the world and cooperate for the global security, safety, peace and prosperity.
There are so many areas where they should cooperate and lead including public health, climate change, natural disasters and terrorism. There are so many global enemies that we need the U.S. and China to deal with these enemies.
Can the Hot War happen?
As Admiral Davidson suggests, one possible outcome of the ongoing cold war with China could be armed conflict of the traditional sort. Such an encounter, in turn, could escalate to the nuclear level, resulting in mutual annihilation. A war involving only “conventional” forces would itself undoubtedly be devastating and lead to widespread suffering, not to mention the collapse of the global economy.
-Global Research
The hot war should not happen, but it can.
The possible flash points of shooting war are the South China Sea, the East China Sea, Taiwan, North Korea especially the Dioayu/Senkaku Island. But, none of these flashpoint countries is likely to lead to shooting war with one exception, namely the Dioayu/Senkaku Island.
Major wars are often sparked by allies of major powers. Graham Allison in his Book (pp 34-38) tells us that the Peloponnesian war between Athena and Sparta, started because of the conflict between Corinth, alley of Sparta and Megara, alley of Athena. In fact, for this reason, Allison is saying that Washington’s plan of expanding security alliances is a very risky game.
If there is any Washington’s ally which might ignite war with China, it will be Japan. (Graham Allison, pp.178-179) There are many reasons. But, I may point out two of them. First, Japan is a military might; its Self Defence Force (SDF) is the third most powerful military force in Asia and it will be much more strengthened by Washington, if the Cold War continues. Incidentally, despite the Peace Constitution, the SDF can go to war and assist the U.S. forces. That is, Japan can participate in the Sino-American war.
The second reason is Japan’s ambition to rule the world. For last 70 years, Japan has been ruled by far-right imperial nationalist conservatives who dream of reviving the Japan of the pre-WWII era.
This extreme right-wing of Japanese politics is inspired by the Japan Conference, led by imperialist symbolized by Shinzo Abe and encouraged by Washington, The Sino-American war provides a golden opportunity for Japan to rearm and realize its dream.
There are four psychic elements which might induce Japan to get into a war against China. These elements are the Hak-Ko-Ichi-U, the Tanaka Memorial of 1929, Shintoism and Bushido.
The Hak-ko-Ichi-U means that the single roof (Japan) should rule the eight corners (the world). This psychic was well represented by the Tanaka Memorial which argued that it was Japan’s sacred destiny to conquer Manchuria for raw materials using Korea as the royal high way to Manchuria, then conquer China for slave labour, then the rest of Asia, and then the U.S.(Pearl Harbour).
Shintoism is back and the Japanese accept the Emperor as God. Bushido has returned and the Japanese people seek redemption by dying for the Emperor. True, many of ordinary Japanese are free from such psychic, but they have no power to participate in Japan’s national policy.
What could happen is Japan’s provocation of military confrontation in the Dioayu/Senkaku Island. Japan could be tempted to provoke war against China just like it did in Manchuria in 1930 and Nanking in 1937.
Moreover, Washington might welcome the Sino-Japan war, not only because it can ruin China and but also the fight between Asian powers would weaken Asia facilitating Washington’s control of Asia. This is something the world should be concerned with. To avoid this, the U.S. should dissolve its security alliance with Japan. For that matter, to avoid shooting war, the U.S. should dissolve all its security alliances.
What we need is huge anti-war alliances including Japan, South Korea and other Washington’s alliances. The same goes for Chinese alliances, although it has few alliances. The ultimate mission of the anti-war alliances is to prevent the super powers from getting into war so that humanity can be saved from total annihilation.
What would be the Impact of the Sino-American War on humanity?
There is no point of talking about the consequences of a hot war, because it is bound to lead to nuclear war and the end of human civilization.
So we will not talk about it…
If Nuclear War is avoided…
Even if a shooting war doesn’t erupt, however, a long-term geopolitical war of attrition between the U.S. and China will, in the end, have debilitating and possibly catastrophic consequences for both sides. Take the trade war, for example. If that’s not resolved soon in a positive manner, continuing high U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports will severely curb Chinese economic growth and so weaken the world economy as a whole, punishing every nation on Earth, including this one. High tariffs will also increase costs for American consumers and endanger the prosperity and survival of manyfirms that rely on Chinese raw materials and components.
This new brand of war will also ensure that already sky-high defense expenditures will continue to rise, diverting funds from vital needs like education, health, infrastructure, and the environment. Meanwhile, preparations for a future war with China have already become the number one priority at the Pentagon, crowding out all other considerations. “While we’re focused on ongoing operations,” acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan reportedly told his senior staff on his first day in office this January, “remember China, China, China.”
Perhaps the greatest victim of this ongoing conflict will be planet Earth itself and all the creatures, humans included, who inhabit it. As the world’s top two emitters of climate-altering greenhouse gases, the U.S. and China must work together to halt global warming or all of us are doomed to a hellish future. With a war under way, even a non-shooting one, the chance for such collaboration is essentially zero. The only way to save civilization is for the U.S. and China to declare peace and focus together on human salvation.
-Global Research
What interests us is the consequence of the cold war. One thing sure is that the longer it lasts, greater become its negative impact. The cold war is likely to have the following impacts.
Globalization impact
Political and ideological Impact
Economic Impact
Globalization impact: the world will be de-globalized and decoupled. There will be Washington-led bloc and China-led bloc. There will be regional globalization led by Washington and Beijing.
Political and Ideological Impact: there will be emergence of two political and ideological blocs. The China bloc will have varying types of political regimes including hybrid regimes, while the U.S. bloc will maintain liberal democracy. Washington’s ambition of evangelical propagation of its democracy will be compromised.
Economic Impact: there will be China-led free trade bloc in which member countries’ sovereignty is respected and trade negotiations will allow accommodations for member countries specific needs. On the other hand, there will be Washington-led free trade bloc in which member countries sovereignty is minimized and the trade negotiations are likely to be controlled by large corporations.
It is difficult to estimate the cost of the cold war. The Rand Corporation is reported to suggest that the American GDP will fall by 30% because of the cold war. It could be more than that because of the pronounced interdependence of national economies. One thing sure is that the longer the cold war lasts, the greater will become the cost.
To conclude, we have to stop, at all costs, the Sino-American Cold War which will surely throw humanity into the deep and dark bottom of the Thucydides Trap.
It is not too late for academics, research centers, thin-tanks, social movements, decent media and, above all, people’s organizations at the grassroots to launch anti-cold war movements throughout the world.
So what is the ignition going to be?
Well, I do disagree with the author above. I believe that we NEED to discuss the very real and very strong possibility of a hot war between the USA and China / Russia. After all, that is what the neocon publications and the military-industrial think tanks on “K-street” and Washington DC beltway have all been chattering about these last few years.
We just cannot ignore it.
Pretend that it will go away if we don’t mention it. Like in the article above.
So, seriously, what kinds of “false flags” can we expect to get the American population all hot and bothered and ready to march off and attack China?
Nuclear Detonation on American soil.
No. China is not going to randomly launch a nuclear weapon on a “sacrificial” city in America. They are not idiots. But the American population might believe the narrative, and thus it is a real possibility of a pending false flag. All it takes is an American made nuke detonated on American soil, and then unleash the dogs of propaganda blaming China, then immediately gear-up Congress into a war footing.
Japan
This is the kind of thing that launched World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Middle East War on Terror
As well as the eight wars in the Middle East against terror by the plane attacks on the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Syria
Reasons forWar "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger." –George W. Bush,
Blaming China for the Global Pandemic and having a “smoking gun”.
You get Americans all upset about some aspect of their life, then you “prove” that it was caused by the Chinese. For instance the inconvenience of the Coronavirus pandemic, is a good target to direct anger towards.
Bosnia
This is one of the more complex reasons to start a war. An event, often beyond anyone's control sparks a breakup of society, and the changes are often uncomfortable. Such as the pandemic. Certain forces use this period of societal upset to initiate war. Such is the case with Bosnia.
In 1990, as Yugoslavia collapsed, the first multiparty elections were held. These elections created nationalist parties intent on perpetuating ethno-national identities and causes. By 1992, war was being imposed through Serbian and Croatian nationalists seeking to expanded into “greater”national territory.
In the coming years the perpetrators of “ethnic cleansing,”displacement, mass atrocity, and genocide, were rewarded by the international community at the Dayton Accords in 1995. Dayton ended the war, but then imposed an ethno-nationalistic portioned Bosnia. A “tycoon class”of nationalist leaders continues to enrich themselves through corruption supported by poverty, fear, insecurity, and the promotion of divisive ethnic identities.
"The hate didn’t exist before; it was artificially installed. It was all so unbelievable that at first, it seemed funny...The emphasis on ethnicity and exclusion was so strong that ethnic hatred became normalized...There is also the ideology of religion and nationality...Never has there been more religion and less faith...National and religious identities are openly used as weapons in the political arsenal.
–Vedran Grahovac, Prijedor"
An assassination of an American Politician inside Washington DC.
This is a very common technique, and there have been numerous Hollywood movies based on this theme.
World War I
This was the kind of event that started World War I. World War 1 started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on June 28, 1914. This was the immediate cause but there were a series of events which triggered the war.
Rwanda
It's also the kind of thing that started the civil war in Rwanda. Thegenocidewassparkedbythedeath of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airporton 6 April 1994.
The need to rescue or save people
Maybe the people in Xinjiang, those “poor Muslims”, or Tibet, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong. So many areas that the United States has been prepping for actionable “color revolution”.
Panama
TheUnited States invades Panama in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted intheUnited States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracyinPanamaandendangering U.S. nationals. Noriegas Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) were promptly crushed, forcing the dictator to seek asylum with the Vatican anuncio in Panama City, where he surrendered on January 3, 1990.
When American is attacked by military forces
As unlikely as it appears, there is nothing to prevent the US government to stage a “false flag” to make it look like some military attacked America. That’s what it did to pull America into the war in Vietnam.
The American Civil War
The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern “insurrection.”
Vietnam WarThe false flag that started the Vietnam War There was notorpedo attack in the Gulf of TonkinHowLyndon Johnsonlied us into a catastrophe On this day in 1964, Congress passed the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” which began massive escalationof the US war and occupation of Viet Nam.Thefalseflagthatstarted the Vietnam War |
Conclusion
America has decided to wage a war against Asia. There are aspects of both China, Russia and Iran involved. Right now, it is considered to be “trade”, “Hybrid”, “ideological”, “propaganda”, and …
…it’s intended to go hot.
Whether or not it will be limited to conventional weapons is a silly argument. Of course it will go nuclear.
This article looks at the kinds of false flags that are being set in place for the ignition for the war. And while the planners in K-street and the Washington DC beltway are looking towards a very long generational war, I don’t see that their planning will come to fruition. Instead I picture an unholy terror unleashed upon the USA if any action is attempted. And the result will be a very, very bad and nasty war. And no matter what damage that America wrecks China with, the end result will be the complete and utter devastation of America by the combined forces of Russia and China acting in unison.
To pretend otherwise is foolish.
It’s and entirely uncomfortable subject, but fits exactly with the predictions for the Fiuth Turning generational theory.
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Here is a nice story to get your mind off of whatever it might be on right now. Please relax, fix yourself a nice coffee, tea, or beer… get into your most comfortable chair, and relax.
MARS IS HEAVEN!
by Ray Bradbury
The ship came down from space. It came from the stars and the black velocities, and the shining movements, and the silent gulfs of space. It was a new ship; it had fire in its body and men in its metal cells, and it moved with a clean silence, fiery and warm. In it were seventeen men, including a captain.
The crowd at the Ohio field had shouted and waved their hands up into the sunlight, and the rocket bad bloomed out great flowers of beat and cobs and run away into space on the third voyage to Mars!
Now it was decelerating with metal efficiency in the upper Martian atmospheres. It was still a thing of beauty and strength. It had moved in the midnight waters of space like a pale sea leviathan; it had passed the ancient moon and thrown itself onward into one nothingness following another. The men within it had been battered,, thrown about, sickened, made well again, each in his turn. One man had died, but now the remaining sixteen, with their eyes clear in their heads and their faces pressed to the thick glass ports, watched Mars swing up under them.
“Mars! Mars! Good old Mars, here we are!” cried Navigator Lustig.
“Good old Mars!” said Samuel Hinkston, archaeologist.
“Well,” said Captain John Black.
The ship landed softly. on a lawn of green grass. Outside, upon the lawn, stood an iron deer. Further up the lawn, a tall brown Victorian house sat in the quiet sunlight, all covered with scrolls and rococo, its windows made of blue and pink and yellow and green colored glass. Upon the porch were hairy geraniums and an old swing which was hooked into the porch ceiling and which now swung back and forth, back and forth, in a little breeze.
At the top of the house was a cupola with diamond, leaded-glass windows, and a dunce-cap roof! Through the front window you could see an ancient piano with yellow keys and a piece of music titled Beautiful Ohio sitting on the music rest.
Around the rocket in four directions spread the little town, green and motionless in the Martian spring, There were white houses and red brick ones, and tall elm trees blowing in the wind, and tall maples and horse chestnuts. And church steeples with golden bells silent in them.
The men in the rocket looked out and saw this. Then they looked at one another and then they looked out again. They held on~ to each other’s elbows, suddenly unable to breathe, it seemed. Their faces grew pale and they blinked constantly, running from glass port to glass port of the ship.
“I’ll be damned,” whispered Lustig, rubbing his face with his numb fingers, his eyes wet. “Ill be thinned, damned, damned.’~
“It can~t be, it just can’t be,” said Samuel Hinkston.
“Lord,” said Captain John Black.
There was a call from the chemist. “Sir, the atmosphere is fine for
breathing, sir.” –
Black turned slowly. “Are you sure?’
“No doubt of it, sir.”
“Then we’ll go. out,” said Lustig.
“Lord, yes,” said Samuel Hinkston.
“Hold on,” said Captain John Black. “Just a moment, Nobody gave any orders.”
“But, sir-.-”
“Sir, nothing. How do we know what this is?”
“We know what it is, sir,” said the chemist. “It’s a small town with good air in it, sir.”
“And it’s a small town the like of Earth towns,” said Samuel Hinkston,
the archaeologist. “Incredible. it~ can’t be, but it is.”
Captain John Black looked at him, idly. “Do you think that the civilizations of two planets can progress at the same rate and evolve in the same way, Hinkston?”
“I wouldn’t have thought so, sir.”
Captain Black stood by the port. “Look out there. The geraniums. A specialized plant. That specific variety has only been known on Earth for fifty years. Think of the thousands of years of time it takes to evolve plants. Then tell me if it is logical that the Martians should have: one, leaded glass windows; two, cupolas; three, porch swings; four, an instrument that looks like, a . piano and probably is a piano; and, five, if you look closely, . if a Martian composer would have published a piece of music titled, strangely enough, Beautiful Ohio. All of which means that we have an Ohio River here on Marst”
“It is quite strange, sir.”
“Strange, hell, it’s absolutely impossible, and I suspect the whole bloody shooting setup. Something’s wrong here, and I’m not leaving the ship until I know what it is.”
“Oh, sir,” said Lustig.
“Dam it,” said Samuel Hinkston. “Sir, I want to investigate this at first hand. It may be that there are similar patterns of thought, movement, civilization on every planet in our system. We may be on the threshold of the great psychological and metaphysical discovery In our time, sir, don’t you think?”
“I’m willing to wait a moment,” said Captain. John Black. – “It may be, sir, that we are looking upon a phenomenon that, for the first time, would absolutely prove the existence of a God, sir.”
“There are many people who are of good faith without such proof, Mr. Hinkston.”
“I’m one myself, sir. But certainly a thing like this, out there,” said Hinkston, “could not occur without divine intervention, sir. It fills me with such terror and elation I’ don’t know whether to laugh or cry, sir.”
“Do neither,. then, until we know what we’re up against.”
“Up against, sir?” inquired Lustig. “I see that we’re up against nothing.
It’s a good quiet, green town, much like the one I was born in, and I like the looks of It.”
“When were you born, Lustig?” –
– “In- 1910, sfr.”
“That makes you fifty years old, now, doesn’t it?”
“This being 1960, yes, sir.”
– “And you, Hinkston?”
“1920, sir. In Illinois. And this looks swell to me, sir.”
“This couldn’t be Heaven,” said the captain, ironically. “Though, I must admit, it looks peaceful and cool, and pretty much like Green Bluff, where I was born, in 1915.”
lie looked at the chemist. “The air’s all right, is it?”
“Yes, sir.”
‘Well, then, tell you what we’ll do. Lustig, you and Ilinkston and I will fetch ourselves out to look this town over. The other 14 men will stay aboard ship. If’ anything untoward happens, lift ‘the Ship ‘and get the hell out, do you bear what I say, Craner?”
“Yes, sir. The hell out we’ll go, sir. Leaving you?”,
“A loss of three men’s better than a whole ship. If something bad happens get back to Earth and warn the next Rocket, that’s Lingle’s Rocket, I think, which will be completed and ready to take off some time around next Christmas, what he has to meet up with. If there’s something hostile about Mars we certainly want the next expedition to be well armed.”
“So are we, sir. We’ve got a regular arsenal with us.”
“Tell the ‘men to stand by the guns, then, as. Lustig and Hinkston and I go out,”
“Right, sir.”
“Come along, Lustig, Hinkston.”
The three men walked together, down through the levels of the ship.
It was a beautiful spring day. A robin sat on a blossoming apple tree and sang continuously. Showers of petal snow sifted down when the wind touched the apple tree, and the blossom smell drifted upon the air. Somewhere in the town, somebody was playing the piano and the music came and went, came and went, softly, drowsily. The song was Beautiful Dreamer. Somewhere else, a phonograph, scratchy and faded, was hissing out a record of Roamin’ In The Gloamin,’ sung by Harry Lapder.
The three men stood outside the ship. The port closed behind them. At every window, a face pressed, looking out. The large metal guns pointed this way and that, ready.
Now the phonograph record being played was:
–
“Oh give me a June night
The moonlight and you—”
Lustig began to tremble. Samuel Hinkston did likewise.
Hinkston’s voice was so feeble and uneven that the captain had to ask him to repeat what he had said. “I said, sir, that I think I have solved this, all of this, sir!”
“And what is the solution, Hinkston?”
The soft wind blew. The sky was serene and quiet and somewhere a stream of water ran through the cool caverns and tree-shadings of a ravine.
Somewhere a horse and wagon trotted and rolled by, bumping.
“Sir, it must be, it has to be, this is the only solution!
Rocket travel began to Mars in the years before the first’ World War, sir!” S
The captain stared at his archaeologist. “No!”
“But, yes, sir! You must admit, look at all of this! How else explain it, the houses, the lawns, the iron deer, the flowers, the pianos, the music!”
“Hinkston, Hinkston, oh,” and the captain put his hand to his face, shaking his head, his hand shaking no , his lips blue.
“Sir, listen to me.” Hinkston took his elbow persuasively and looked up into the captain’s face, pleading. “Say that there -were some people in the year 1905, perhaps, who hated wars and wanted to get away from Earth and they got together, some scientists, in secret, and built a rocket and came out here to Mars.”
“No, no, Hinkston.”
“Why not? The world was a different place in 1905, they could have kept
-it a secret much more easily.”
“But the work, Hinkston, the work of building a complex thing like a rocket, oh, no, no.” The captain looked at his shoes, looked -at his hands, looked at the houses, and then at Hinkston.
“And they caine up here, and haturally the houses they built were similar to Earth houses because they
brought the cultural -~architecture with them, and here it is!”
“And they’ve lived here all these years?” said the captain.
“In peace and quiet, sir, yes. Maybe they made a few trips, to bring enough people here for one small town, and then stopped, for fear of being discovered. That’s why the town seems so old-fashioned. I don’t see a thing,
myself, that is older than the year 1927, do you?”
“No, frankly, I don’t, Hinkston.”
“These are our people, sir. This is an American city; it’s definitely not
European!”
“That—that’s right, too, Hinkston.”
“Or maybe, just maybe, sir, rocket travel is older than we think. Perhaps it started in some part of the world hundreds of years ago, was discovered and kept secret by a small number of men, and they came to Mars, with only occasional visits to Earth over the centuries.”
“You make it sound almost reasonable.”
“it is, sir. It has to be. We have the proof here before us, all we have ‘to do now, is find some people and verify it!”
“You’re right- there, of course. We can’t just stand here and talk. Did’ you bring your gun?”
“Yes, but we won’t need it.”
“We’ll see about it. Come along, we’ll ring that doorbell and see if anyone is home.”
Their boots were deadened of all sound in the thick green grass. It smelled from a fresh mowing. In spite of himself, Captain John Black felt a great peace come over him. It had been thirty years since he had een in a small’ town, and the buzzing of spring bees on the air lulled and quieted him, and the fresh look of things was a balm to the soul.
Hollow echoes sounded from under the boards as they walked across the porch and stood before the screen door. Inside, they could see a bead curtain hung across the hall entry, and a crystal chandelier and a Maxfleld Parrish painting framed on one wall over a comfortable Morris, Chair. The house smelled old, and of the attic, and infinitely comfortable. You could hear the tinkle of ice rattling in a lemonade pitcher~ In a distant kitchen, because of the day, someone was preparing a soft, lemon drieL – –
Captain’ John Black rang the bell.
Footsteps, dainty and thin, came along the hail and a kind-faced lady of some forty years, dressed in the sort of dress you might expect in the year 1909, peered out at them.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Beg your pardon,” said Captain Black, uncertainly.
“But we’re looking for, that is, could you help us, I mean.” He stopped. She looked out at him with dark wondering eyes.
“If you’re selling something,” she said, “I’m much too busy and I haven’t time.” She turned to go.
“No, wail,” he cried bewilderingly. “What town is this?”
She looked him up and down as if he were crazy.
“What do you mean, what town is it? How could you be in a town and not know what town it was?”
The captain looked as if he wanted to go sit under a shady apple tree. “I beg your pardon,” he said, “But we’re strangers here. We’re from Earth, and we want to know how this town got here and you’ got here.”
“Are you census takers?” she asked.
“No,” be said. –
“What do you want then?” she demanded.
“Well,” said the captain.
“Well?” she asked. -‘
“How long has this town been here?” he wondered.
“It was built in 1868,” she snapped at them. “Is this a game?”
“No, not a game,” cried the captain. “Oh, God,” – be said. “Look here.
We’re from Earth”
“From where?” she said.
‘Prom Earth!” he said. –
“Where’s that?” she said.
“From Earth,” he cried. ‘ –
“Out of the ground, do you mean?”
“No, from the planet Earth!” he almost shouted.
“Here,” she insisted, “come out on the porch and I’ll show you.” , –
“No,” she said, “I won’t come out there, you are all evidently quite mad
from the sun.”
Lustig and Hinkston stood behind the captain. Hinkston now spoke up.
“Mrs.,” he said. ‘We came in a flying ship across space, among the stars. We came from the third planet from the sun, Earth, to tb-is planet, which is Mars.
Now do you understand, Mrs.?”
“Mad from the sun,” she said, taking hold of the door. “Go away now, before I call my husband who’s upstairs taking a nap, and he’ll beat you all with his fists.”
“But—” said Hinkston. “This is Mars, is it not?”
“This,” explained the woman, as if she were addressing a child, “is Green Lake, Wisconsin, on the continent of America, surrounded by the Pacific and ~Atlantic Oceans, on a place called the world, or sometimes, the Earth. Go away now. Good-bye!”
She slammed the door. –
-The three men stood before the door with their hands up in the air toward it, as if pleading with her to open it once more.
They looked at one another.
– “Let’s knock the door down,” said Lustig.
“We can’t,” sighed the captain.
“Why not?”
“She didn’t do anything bad, did she? We’re the strangers here. This is private property. Good God, Hinkstonl” He went and sat down on the porchstep.
“What, sir?”
Did it ever strike you, that maybe we got ourselves, somehow, some way, fouled up. And, by accident, came back and landed on Earth!”
“Oh, sir, oh, sir, oh oh, sir.” And Hinkston sat down numbly and thought about it.
Lustig stood up in the sunlight. “How could we have done that?”
“I don’t know, just let me think.”
}Iinkston said, “But we checked every mile of the way, and we saw Mars and our chronometers said so many miles ‘gone, and we went past the moon and out into space and here we are, on Mars. I’m sure we’re on Mars, ‘ sir.” Lustig said, “But, suppose that, by accident, in space, in time, or something, we landed on a planet in space, in another time.
Suppose this is Earth, thirty or fifty years ago? Maybe we got lost in the dimensions, do you think?”
“Oh, go away, Lustig.” -‘
“Are the men in the ship keeping an eye on us, Hink..
ston?” , –
“At their guns, sir.”
Lustig went to the door, rang the bell. When the door opened again, he asked, ‘What year is this?’ –
“1926, of, course!” cried the woman, furiously, and slammed the door again. “Did you bear that?” Lustig ran back to them, wildly, “She said 1926! We – have gone back in time. This is Earth!”
Lustig sat down and the three men let the wonder and terror of the thought afflict them. Their hands stirred fitfully on their knees. The wind blew, nodding the locks of hair on their heads.
The captain stood up, brushing off his pants. “I never thought it would be like this. It scares the hell out of me. How ‘can a thing like this happen?”
“Will anybody in the whole town believe us?” wondered Hinkston.
“Are we playing around with something dangerous? Time, I mean. Shouldn’t we just take off and go home?”
“No. We’ll try another house.”
They walked three houses down to a little white cottage under an oak tree. “I like to be as logical as I can’ get,” said the captain, He nodded at the town. “How does this sound to you, Hinkston? Suppose, as you- said originally, that rocket travel occurred years ago. And when the Earth people had lived here a number of years they began to get homesick for Earth. First a mild neurosis about it, then a full-fledged psychosis. Then, threatened insanity. What would you do, as a psychiatrist, if fated with such a problem?”
– –
Hinkston thought. “Well, I think I’d re-arrange the civilization on Mars so it resembled Earth more and more each day. If there was any way of reproducing every plant, every road and every lake, and even an ocean, I would do so. Then I would, by some vast crowd hypnosis, theoretically anyway, convince veryone in a town this size that this really was Earth, not Mars at all.”
“Good enough, Hinkston. I think we’re on the right track now. That woman in that house back there, just’ minks she’s living on Earth. It protects ‘her sanity. She and all the others in this town are the patients of the greatest experiment in migration and hypnosis you will ever lay your eyes on in your life.” –
“That’s it, sir!” cried Lustig.
“Well,” the captain sighed. “Now we’re getting some- – where. I feel better. It all sounds a bit more logical now. This talk about time and going back and forth and traveling in time turns my stomach upside
down. But, this way—”- He actually smiled for the first time in a month. “Well. It looks as if we’ll be fairly welcome here.”
“Or, will we, sir?” said Lustig. “After all, like the Pilgrims, these people came here to escape Earth. Maybe they won’t be too happy to see us, sir Maybe they’ll try to drive us ~out or kill us?”
‘We have superior weapons if that should happen. Anyway, all we can do is try. This next house now. Up we go.”
But they had hardly crossed the lawn when Lustig stopped and looked off across the town, down the quiet, dreaming afternoon street. “Sir,” he said.
“What is it, Lustig?” asked the captain.
“Oh, sir, sir, what I see, what I do see now before me, oh, oh—” said Lustig, and he began to cry. His fingers came up, twisting and trembling, and his face was all wonder and joy and incredulity. He sounded as if any moment he might go quite insane with happiness. He looked down the street and he began to run, stumbling awkwardly, falling, picking himself up, and running on. “Oh, God, God, thank you, God! Thank you!”
– “Don’t let him get away!” The captain broke into a run.
Now Lustig was running at full speed, shouting. He turned into a yard half way down the little shady side street and leaped up upon the porch of a large green house with an iron rooster on the roof
He was beating upon the door, shouting and hollering and crying when Hinkston and the captain ran up and stood in the yard, The door opened. Lustig yanked the screen wide and in a high wail of discovery and happiness, cried out, “Grandma! Grandpa!” –
Two old people stood in the doorway, their faces light. lug up.
“Albert!” Their voices piped and they rushed out to embrace and pat him on the back and move around him, “Albert, oh, Albert, it’s been so many years! How you’ve grown, boy, how big you ate, boy, oh, lbert boy, how are you!”
“Grandma, Grandpa!” sobbed Albert Lustig. “Good to see you! You look fine, fine! Oh, fine.” He held them, turned them, kissed them, hugged them, cried on them, held them out again, blinked at the little old people.- The, sun was in the sky, the wind blew, the grass was green, the screen door stood
open.
“Come in, lad, come in, there’s lemonade for you,fresh, lots of- it!”
“Grandma, Grandpa, good to see you! I’ve got- friends down here!
Here!” Lustig turned and waved wildly at the captain and Hinkston, who, all during the adventure on the porch, had stood in’ the shade of a tree, holding onto each other. “Captain, captain, come up, come up, I want you to meet my grandfolks!”
“Howdy,” said the folks. “Any- friend of Albert’s is ours, too! Don’t stand there with your mouths open Come on!”
In the living room of the old house it was cool and a grandfather clock ticked high and long and bronzed in one corner. There were soft pillows on large couches and walls filled with books and a rug cut in a thick rose pattern and antimacassars pinned to furniture, and lemonade in the hand, sweating, and cool on the thirsty tongue. “Here’s to our health.” Grandma tipped her glass to her porcelain teeth. – –
“How long you been here, Grandma?” said Lustig.
“A good many years,” she said, tartly. “Ever since we died.”
“Ever since you what?” asked Captain John Black, putting his drink down. – –
“Oh, yes,” Lustig looked at his captain. “They’ve been dead thirty years.”
“And you sit there, calmly!” cried the captain.
“Tush,” said the old woman, and winked glitteringly – at John Black. “Who are we to question what happens?
Here we are. What’s life, anyways? Who does what for why and where? All we know is here we are, alive again, and no questions -asked. A second chance.”
She toddled over and held out her -thin wrist to Captain John Black.
“Feel” He felt.~ “Solid, ain’t I?” she ask~ed. He nodded.
“You hear my voice, don’t you?” she inquired. Yes, he did. “Well, then,” she said in triumph, “why go around questioning?”
“Well,” said the captain, “it’s simply that we never thought we’d find a
thing like this on Mars.”
“And now you’ve found it. I dare say there’s lots on every planet that’ll show you God’s infinite ways.”
is this Heaven?” asked Hinkston.
“Nonsense, no. It’s a world and we get a second chance. Nobody told us why. But then nobody told us why we were on Earth, either. That other Earth, I mean. The one you came from. How do we know there wasn’t another before that one?”
“A good question,” said the captain.
The captain stood up and slapped his hand on his leg in an off-hand fashion. “We’ve got to be going. It’s been nice. Thank you for the drinks.”
He stopped. He turned and looked toward the door, startled. ‘ –
Far away, in the sunlight, there was a sound of voices, a crowd, a shouting and a great hello.
“What’s that?” asked Hinkston.
“We’ll soon find out!” And Captain John Black was out the front door abruptly, jolting across the green lawn and into the street of the Martian town.
He stood looking at the ship. The ports were open and his crew were streaming out, waving their hands. A crowd of people had gathered and in and through and among these people the members of the crew were running, talking, laughing, shaking hands. People did little dances. People swarmed. The rocket lay – empty and abandoned.
A brass band exploded in the sunlight, flinging off a gay tune from upraised tubas and trumpets. There was a bang of drums and a shrill of fifes. Little girls with golden hair jumped up and down. Little boys shouted, “Hoorayl” And fat men passed around ten-cent cigars. The mayor of the town made a speech. Then, each member of the crew with a mother on one -arm, a father or sister on the other, was spirited off down the street, into little cottages or big mansions and doors slammed shut.
The wind rose in the clear spring sky and all was silent. The brass band had banged off around a corner leaving the rocket to shine and dazzle alone in the sunlight.
“Abandoned!” cried the captain. “Abandoned the ship, they did! I’ll have their skins; by God! They had orders!”
“Sir,” said Lustig. “Don’t be too -hard on them. Those were all old relatives and friends.”
“That’s no excuse!” – –
“Think how they felt, captain, seeing familiar faces outside the ship!” –
“I would have obeyed orders! I would have~!’ The captain’s mouth
remained open.
Striding along the sidewalk – under the Martian sun, tall, smiling, eyes blue, face tan, came a young man of some twenty-six years. –
“John!” the man cried, and broke into a run.
“What?” said Captain .John Black. He swayed. –
“John, you old beggar, you!”
The man ran up and gripped his hand and slapped him
on the back. –
“It’s you,” said John Black.
“Of course, who’d you think it was!” –
“Edward!” The captain appealed now to Lustig and Hinkston, holding the stranger’s hand. “This is my brother – Edward. Ed, meet my men, Lustig, Hinkston My brother!” – – –
They tugged at each other’s hands and arms and then finally embraced.
“Ed!” “John, you old bum, you!” “You!re locking fine, Ed, but, Ed, what .is this? You haven’t ,changed over the years. You died, I remember, when you were twenty-six, and 1 was nineteen, oh God,
so many years ago, and here you are, and, Lord, what goes on, what goes on?”
Edward Black gave him a brotherly knock on the chin.
“Mom’s waiting,” he said.
“Mom?”
“And Dad, too.”
– “And Dad?” The- captain almost fell to earth as if hit upon the chest with a mighty weapon. He walked stiffly and awkwardly, out of coordination. He stuttered and whispered and talked only one or two ords at a time.
“Mom alive? Dad? Where?”
“At the old house on Oak Knoll Avenue.” –
“The old house.” The captain stared in delighted amazement. “Did you hear that, Lustig, Hinkston?”
~‘I know it’s hard for you to believe.”
“But alive. Real.”
“Don’t I feel real?” The strong arm, the firm grip, the white smile. The light, curling hair.
Hinkaton was gone. He had seen his own house down the street and was running for it. Lustig was grinning.
“Now you understand, sir, what happened to everybody on the ship. They couldn’t help themselves.”
“Yes. Yes,” said the captain, eyes shut. “Yes.” He put out his hand.
“When I open my eyes, you’ll be gone.” He opened his eyes. “You’re still here.
God, Edward, you look fine!” – – –
“Come along, lunch is waiting for you. I told Mom.” Lustig said, “Sir, Ui
be with my grandfolks if you want me.” –
“What? Oh, fine, Lustig. Later, then.”
Edward grabbed his arm and marched him. “You need support.” –
“I do. My knees, all funny. My stomach, loose. God.”
“There’s the house. Remember it?” –
“Remember it? Hell! I bet I can beat you to the front porch!” –
They ran. The wind roared over Captain John Black’s ears. The earth roared -under his feet. He saw the golden figure of Edward Black pull ahead of him in the amazing dream of reality. He saw the house rush- forward, the door open, the screen swing back. “Beat you!” cried Edward, – bounding up the steps. “I’m an old man,” panted the captain, “and you’re still young. But, then, you always beat me, I remember!”
In the doorway, Mom, pink, and plump and bright. And behind her, pepper grey, Dad, with his pipe in his hand.
“Mom, Dad!”
He ran up -the steps like a child, to meet them.
It was a fine long afternoon. They finished lunch and they sat in the living room and he told them all about his rocket and his being captain and they nodded and smiled upon him and Mother was just the same, and Dad bit the end off a cigar and lighted it in his old fashion. Mom brought in some iced tea in the middle of the afternoon. Then, there was a big turkey dinner at night and time flowing oil. When the drumsticks were sucked clean and lay brittle upon the plates, the captain leaned back in his chair and exhaled his deep contentment. Dad poured him a small glass of dry sherry. It was seven thirty in the evening. Night was in all the trees and coloring the sky, and the lamps were halos of dim light in the gentle house. From all the other houses down the streets came sounds of music; pianos playing, laughter.
Mom put a record on the victrola and she and Captain John Black bad a – dance. She was wearing the same perfume he remembered from the summer when she and Dad had been killed in the train accident. She was very real in his arms as they danced lightly to the music. –
“I’ll wake in the morning,” said the captain. “And I’ll be in my rocket in space, and this will be gone.”
“No, no, don’t think that,” she cried, softly, pleadingly~ “We’re here.
Don’t question. God is good to- us. Let’s be happy.”
The record ended with a – hissing.
“You’re tired, son,” said Dad. He waved his pipe. “You and Ed go on
upstairs. Your old bedroom is waiting for you.” . – –
“The old one?”
“The brass bed and all,” laughed Edward.
“But I should report my men in.”
“Why?” Mother was logical
“Why? Well, I don’t know. No reason, I guess. No,. none at all. What’s the difference?” He shook his head.
“I’m not being very logical these days,” –
“Good night, son.” She kissed his cheek. “‘Night, Mom.”
“Sleep tight, son.” Dad shook his hand.
“Same to you, Pop.” – “It’s good to have you home.”
“It’s good to be home.”
He left the land of cigar smoke and perfume and books and gentle light and ascended the stairs, talking, talking with Edward. Edward pushed a door open and there was the yellow brass bed and the old semaphore banners from college days and a -very musty raccoon coat which he petted with strange, muted affection. “It’s too much,” he said faintly. “Like -being in a thunder- shower without an umbrella. Fm soaked to the skin with emotion. I’m numb. I’m tired.” –
“A night’s sleep between cool clean sheets for you, my bucko.” Edward slapped wide the snowy linens and flounced the pillows. Then he put up a window and let the night blooming jasmine float in. There was moonlight and the sound of distant dancing and whispering.
“So this is Mars,” said the captain undressing.
“So this is Mars.” Edward undressed in idle, leisurely moves, drawing his shirt off over his head, revealing golden shoulders and the good muscular neck. –
– The lights were out, they were into bed, side by side, as in the days, how many decades ago? The captain lolled and was nourished by the night wind pushing the lace curtains out upon the dark room air. Among the trees, upon a lawn, someone had cranked up a portable phonograph and now it was
playing softly, “I’ll be loving you, always,- with a love that’s true, always.”
The thought of Anna came to his mind. “Is Anna here?”
His brother, lying straight out in the moonlight from the window,waited and then said, “Yes. She’s out of town. But she’ll be here in the morning.” –
The captain shut his eyes. “I want to see Anna very much?’ –
The room was square and quiet except for their breathing. “Good night, Ed.”
A pause. “Good night, John.”
He lay peacefully, letting his thoughts float. For the — first time the stress of the day was -moved aside, all of the excitement was calmed. He could think logically now. It had all been emotion. The bands playing, the sight – of familiar faces, the sick pounding of your heart. But—
now… –
How? He thought. How was all this made? And why? For what purpose?
Out of the goodness of some kind God? Was God, then, really that fine and thoughtful of his children? -How and why and what for? –
He thought of the various theories advanced in the first heat of the afternoon by Hinkston and Lustig. He let all kinds of new theories drop in lazy pebbles down through his mind, as through a dark water, now, turning, throwing out dull flashes of white light. Mars. Earth. Mom. Dad Edward. Mars. Martians.
Who had – lived here a thousand years ago on Mars? Martians? Or had this always been like this? Martians. He repeated the word quietly, inwardly. –
He laughed out loud, – almost. He had the ridiculous theory, all of a sudden. It gave him a kind of chilled feeling. It was really nothing to think of, of course. Highly. improbable. Silly. Forget it. Ridiculous.
But, he thought, Just suppose. Just suppose now, that there were Martians living on Mars and they saw our ship coming and -saw us inside our ship and hated – us. Suppose, now, just for the hell of it, that they wanted to destroy us, as invaders, as unwanted ones, and – they wanted to do it in a very clever way, so that we would be taken- off guard. Well, what would the best weapon be that a Martian could use against Earthmen with atom weapons? –
The answer was interesting. Telepathy, hypnosis, memory and imagination. –
Suppose all these houses weren’t real at all, – this bed not real, but only figments of my own imagination, given substance by telepathy and hypnosis by the Martians.
Suppose these houses are really some other shape, a Martian shape, but, -by playing on my desires and wants, these Martians have made this seem like my old home town, my old house, to lull me out of my suspicions?
What better way to fool a man, by his own emotions.
And suppose those two people in the next room, asleep, are not my mother and- father at all. But two Martians, incredibly brilliant, with –the ability to keep me under this dreaming hypnosis all of the time?
And that brass band, today? What a clever plan it would be. First, fool Lustig, then fool Hinkston, then gather a crowd around -the rocket ship and wave. And- all the men in the ship, seeing mothers, aunts, uncles, sweethearts dead ten, twenty years ago, naturally, disregarding orders, would rush- out and abandon the ship. What more natural?- What more unsuspecting? What more simple? A man doesn’t ask too many questions when his mother is suddenly brought back to life; he’s much too happy. And – the brass band played and everybody was taken off to private homes. And here we all are, tonight, in various houses, in various beds, with no weapons to protect us, and the rocket lies in the moonlight, empty. And wouldn’t it be horrible and terrifying to discover that all of this was part of some -great clever plan by the Martians to divide and conquer us, and kill us. Some time during the night, perhaps, my brother here on this bed, wifi change form, melt, shift, and become a one eyed, green and yellow-toothed Martian. It would be very simple for him just – to -turn over in bed and put a- knife into my heart. And in all those other houses down the street a dozen other brothers or fathers suddenly melting away and taking out knives and doing things to the unsuspecting, sleeping men of Earth. –
His hands were shaking under the covers. His body was cold, -Suddenly it was not a theory. Suddenly he was very afraid. He lifted- himself in bed and listened. The night was very quiet. The music had stopped. The wind had died.
His brother (?) lay sleeping beside him.
Very carefully he lifted the sheets, rolled them back. He slipped from bed and was walking softly across the room when his brother’s voice said, “Where are you going?”
“What?” –
His brother’s voice was quite cold. “I said, where do you think you’re going?”
“For a drink of water.”
“But you’re not thirsty.”
“Yes, yes, I am.” –
“No, you’re not.” –
Captain John Black broke and ran across the room.
He screamed. He screamed twice. – He never reached- the door.
…
In the morning, the brass band played a mournful dirge. From every house in the street came little solemn processions bearing long boxes and along the sun-filled street, weeping and changing, came the grandmas and grandfathers and mothers and sisters and brothers, walking -to the churchyard, where there were open holes – dug freshly and new- tombstones installed. Seventeen – holes in all, and seventeen tombstones. Three of the tombstones said, CAPTAIN JOHN BLACK, ALBERT LUSTIG, and SAMUEL HINKSTON. – – –
The mayor made a little sad speech, his face sometimes looking like the
mayor, sometimes looking like something else. — – – –
Mother and Father Black were there, with Brother Edward, and they ‘cried, their faces melting now – from a familiar face into something else. – –
Grandpa and Grandma Lustig were there, weeping~ their faces. Also shifting- like wax, – shivering as a- thing does in waves of heat on a summer day. – –
The coffins were lowered. Somebody murmured –about “the unexpected and sudden deaths of seventeen fine men during the night—”. – – – –
Earth was shoveled in on the coffin tops. –
After the funeral the brass band slammed and banged into town and the crowd stood around and waved and shouted as the rocket was torn to pieces and strewn about and blown up. – –
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There’s a lot of talk in the United States these days. It’s all about how “evil” the Chinese are, and how “evil” the Russians are, and how “evil” the Iranians are. And along with this well publicized narrative is the flood of articles about “how strong” and “how invincible” the American military is. It’s almost like, well it’s exactly like, America is on a war-footing and is readying the population for a long drawn out, multi-generational war, with Asia.
It’s a big mistake.
I guess that the American “leadership” wasn’t paying attention in history class. Perhaps they should ask the ghosts of NapoleonBonaparte and Hitler how that all worked out.
But one of the unspoken realities is the illusion that Asia won’t fight back. That it is inconceivable. And that any far in far-away Russia, or far-away China, or far-away Iran will stay far away.
Far… far… away.
And that, even if it did somehow manage to “throw a few punches” back at the United States, that the (good ol’) USA will manage to absorb them, quickly recover, and continue living a great and exceptional life as the “leader of the free world”, and that “brilliant city on the hill”. America is “exceptional” don’t you know…
And I for one am going to tell you that this is delirious wishful thinking.
Back in the day
This attitude that “we are strong and invincible” and that “we can tell the world what to do, or else” is thuggish bullying. And it’s more than just irritating, it’s disgusting. But for historians (well, I am an amateur, but you all know what I mean) it’s frightening.
History is full of stores of the proud rulers of nations. They would live inside their huge stone forts. they would have these huge banners fluttering in the azure blue skies, and they would have gaggles of beautiful maidens attending to them. And they would have large armies of “Heavy Cavalry” and “Knights in singing armor” . They would have thousands of these armed knights.
And they would sit inside their castles, on their thrones, and eat their lamb, drink their mead, and cavort with their wenches. They would make proclamations. They would be delirious and drunk with power, and totally and completely unaware of true and real dangers elsewhere in the world.
I feel a lecture coming on…
Genghis Khan and the “Brilliant Cities on the hill”
Genghis Khan was the Emperor of the Mongol Empire. He must have been one of the most ferocious people ever to live on the planet Earth. Genghis marked his reign with blood, feasts, and love of different women. People like Napoleon, Hitler, or Stalin look like amateurs when we compare them to Genghis Khan.
This fierce Mongol knew how to rule, and he successfully did it for many years in the 13th century. There wasn’t a person back in the day, who would not be scared of Genghis Khan’s power.
But before he came to power, he was not all that well known. And, as such he was dismissed as a “uncouth”, “uncultured” barbarian. Which he pretty much was…
The knights at their tournaments, in their finery, armor and emblems of ancestry, believed they were the foremost warriors in the world, while Mongol warriors thought otherwise.
Mongol horses were small, but their riders were lightly clad and they moved with greater speed. These were hardy men who grew up on horses and hunting, making them better warriors than those who grew up in agricultural societies and cities.
Their main weapon was the bow and arrow. And the Mongols of the early 1200s were highly disciplined, superbly coordinated and brilliant in tactics.
The Mongols were illiterate, religiously shamanistic and perhaps no more than 700,000 in number. Their language today is described as Altaic, a language unrelated to Chinese, derived from inhabitants in the Altay mountain range in western Mongolia.
They were herdsmen on the grassy plains north of the Gobi Desert, south of Siberia's forests. Before the year 1200, the Mongols were fragmented, moving about in small bands headed by a chief, or khan, and living in portable felt dwellings.
The Mongols endured frequent deprivations and sparse areas for grazing their animals. They frequently fought over turf, and during hard times they occasionally raided, interested in goods rather than bloodshed. They did not collect heads or scalps as trophies.
-Genghis Khan
…but that is besides the point.
The Mongol Empire conquered all Asia, and no enemy could withstand Genghis Khan and his bloodthirsty army. Oh yes, even though Mongols loved to compromise, they were known for their brutal physical power.
But they were much more than that. The Mongols under Genghis Khan were fair, just and orderly. You just don’t get on their bad side.
Genghis Khan created a body of law that he was to work on throughout his life. This included outlawing the tradition of kidnapping women. The kidnapping of women had caused feuds among the Mongols, and, as a teenager he had suffered from the kidnapping of his young wife, Borte, and he had devoted himself to rescuing her.
In addition, Genghis Khan declared all children legitimate, whomever the mother. He made it law that no woman would be sold into marriage. The stealing of animals had caused dissension among the Mongols, and Temujin made it a capital offense. A lost animal was to be returned to its owner, and taking lost property as one's own was to be considered thievery and a capital offense. Temujin regulated hunting – a winter activity – improving the availability of meat for everyone. He introduced record keeping, taking advantage of his move years before to have his native language put into writing. He created official seals. He created a supreme officer of the law who was to collect and preserve all judicial decisions, to oversee the trials of all those charged with wrongdoing and to have the power to issue death sentences. He created order that strengthened his realm and improved his ability to expand its territory.
-Genghis Khan
People believed that one Mongolian man could defeat ten or more warriors of other culture. And that was true. Genghis Khan proved many times how strong his army was, defeating his enemies against all the odds.
Nowadays, the only news we can hear about Mongolia is that Russians are trying out their nuclear weapons in the steppes of this ancient empire. Or that the Chinese are placing farming robots to herd cattle in inner Mongolia.
We forget that modern Chinese, and modern Russians are the direct descendants of the Mongol warriors of Genghis Khan.
What about this “uncouth barbarian”…
Genghis Khan was one of the most deeply feared historical figures in the world for a good reason. Historians estimate that Genghis Khan is responsible for over 40 million deaths, and at that time it was equal to 11 percent of the world’s population. For comparison, we can look at World War II, which has put “only” around three percent of the world’s population, 60-80 million people, to the graveyard. What Genghis Khan did is downright scary when we put it in perspective, right?
Not bad for an “evil” uncouth barbarian.
Genghis Khan was the most feared human of the 13th century, who could destroy dynasties just by moving his little finger. He created the Mongol Empire all by himself and earned his eternal spot in the history books. However, a lot of people had to suffer for Genghis Khan to succeed.
In cities the Mongols were forced to conquer, Genghis Khan divided the civilians by profession. He drafted the few who were literate and those he could use as translators. Those who had been the city's most rich and powerful he wasted no time in killing, remembering that the rulers he had left behind after conquering the Tangut and the Jurchens had betrayed him soon after his army had withdrawn.
It is said that the Genghis Khan's military did not torture, mutilate or maim. But his enemies are reported as having done so. Captured Mongols were dragged through streets and killed for sport and to entertain city residents. Gruesome displays of stretching, emasculation, belly cutting and hacking to pieces were something European rulers were using to discourage potential enemies – as was soon to happen to William Wallace on orders from England's King Edward I. The Mongols merely slaughtered, and preferred doing so from a distance.
The city of Nishapur revolted against Mongol rule. The husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed, and, it is said, she asked that everyone in the city be put to death, and, according to the story, they were.
-Genghis Khan
Oh yes, the Mongolians were known for their horrendous torturing techniques. One of the most popular was pouring molten silver down the throat and ears of a victim.
Genghis Khan also liked bending his enemy’s back until the backbone snapped. If that sounds barbaric, skip this next part. So, the Mongols once celebrated victory over Russians in a very bizarre way. They picked all the Russian survivors, dropped them on the ground and put a heavy wooden gate on top of them. Then, Genghis Khan and the entire Mongol army had a huge banquet on that wooden gate. They ate, drank, and watched how Russians were dying one by one from the suffocation, pressure, and wounds.
Genghis Khan had so much power that he could do whatever he wanted. For instance, when Genghis occupied some new area, he would kill or enslave all the men and share all the women amongst his tribe.
Genghis Khan would even make beauty contests of captured women to decide which woman is the most beautiful one. Yeah, he was having his Miss Universe competition before it was cool. So, the queen of those beauty competitions would win the privilege to become one of many Genghis Khan’s women.
The rest of the Mongolian army would share all the other contestants. It shows us once again how cruel and barbaric Mongols were. I suppose that it was a different time and a different place, but the fact remains that when you have lost, your cities destroyed, and sacked, the victor can do whatever they want. And they wanted sex.
Lots and lost of sex.
Genghis Khan was able to destroy entire “impenetrable” cities easily.
When we look at what Genghis Khan achieved with the Mongol Empire, we cannot help but appreciate his mastermind as a warlord. It surely looks like Genghis Khan had three dragons with him just like Khaleesi.
I cannot find any other explanation of Genghis Khan’s success.
I mean, he defeated Jin Dynasty’s one million troops with only 90,000 Mongolians by his side. Yes, Genghis Khan managed to win a war with ten times fewer troops than his opponent’s army.
Jin Dynasty.
On top of that, he was invading China, so he had to overcome all the “little” problems such as the Great Wall of China.
Genghis Khan with his army had destroyed over 500,000 of Chinese troop before getting control of Northern China and Beijing. The rest of the Chinese army had to surrender to the power of Genghis Khan.
Destroying Jin Dynasty is only one of many examples of how great of a warlord Genghis Khan was. Also, he had some brutal and loyal men by his side, so let’s not rule out the dragon theory.
Physical force is not enough to achieve something as great as Genghis Khan did.
Yes, there is no doubt that he is the greatest and most brutal warlord in history, but he was also a very wise man. In 1201, during a battle, Genghis Khan was shot by an enemy archer. Needless to say, he was not happy about it.
So, after the Mongolian army won the battle, Genghis Khan spent some time looking for the man that shot him. He even pretended that it was not him who got shot, but his horse, so the enemy archer would have the courage to confront Genghis.
An unbelievable thing happened when the archer finally stepped out of the crowd and confessed shooting Genghis Khan.
Instead of killing his enemy, Genghis Khan recognized his talent and asked him to join the Mongolian army. The archer became a great general and loyally served Genghis for many years. That is one of the reasons why Mongol Empire was such a success back in the 13th century.
It is not a secret that Genghis Khan loved to have some bedroom time with all the different women. Whenever Genghis would conquer new land (he did it more frequent than people scroll Facebook nowadays), he would also get himself a couple of new wives.
As well as a gaggle of some “playthings”.
Genghis did that because he liked beautiful women, but it was also a very convenient way to demonstrate his power. Spreading his blood line all over Asia ensured peace in the entire Mongol Empire.
So, how many children did Genghis Khan have? It is pretty much impossible to tell the number, but historians estimate that today, around eight percent of men from Asia are his descendants. I cannot even start to process this number, but apparently, Genghis Khan was a great lover. No one in the history is even close to having such a wide family tree. So, next time when you talk about Genghis Khan, remember that it is a great chance that he is your ancestor.
Torture time.
Genghis Khan was a man of reason. He let the people in the Mongol Empire live a happy life as long as they followed his rules.
However, Genghis Khan cruelly punished everyone who tried to break those rules.
In Hungary and Poland the Mongols were outnumbered but tactically superior. They defeated several Hungarian armies. In early April, 1241, at the Battle of Lenica (Liegnitz) in Poland, they defeated an army that is said to have included heavily armored Teutonic knights. Dying in the battle was the most powerful of Polish dukes, Henryk II (Henry II).
-Genghis Khan
For example, when the governor of one of the cities in the Khwarazmian Empire took over Genghis Khan’s trade caravan and killed all the traders, Genghis Khan went berserker.
He sent 100,000 Mongols to the Khwarazmian Empire and killed thousands of people, including the governor.
Genghis Khan poured molten silver into the governor’s eyes and mouth until the poor guy roasted from the inside. That was a clear sign that anyone, stupid enough to harm the Mongol Empire, would have to face devastating consequences.
While Genghis Khan was consolidating his conquests in what had been the Khwarezmian Empire, a force of 40,000 Mongol horsemen pushed through Azerbaijan and Armenia. Without Genghis Khan they defeated Georgia's Christian crusaders, captured a Genoese trade-fortress in the Crimea and spent the winter along the coast of the Black Sea. In 1223, as they were headed back home, they met 80,000 warriors led by Prince Mstislav of Kiev. The Battle of Kalka River (map location) commenced. Staying out of range of the crude weapons of peasant infantry, and with better bows than opposing archers, they devastated the prince's standing army. Facing the prince's cavalry, they faked a retreat and drew the prince's armored cavalry forward, taking advantage of the over-confidence of the mounted aristocrats. Lighter and more mobile, the Mongols strung out and tired the pursuers and then attacked, killed and routed them.
-Genghis Khan
History shows that spreading fear worked perfectly in Genghis Khan’s favor. He still needed to invade some rebellious places from time to time, but for the most of the time, people in The Mongol Empire behaved really well.
Genghis Khan could be as powerful and respected as he wanted, but he still had to surrender to the laws of nature. Genghis Khan died in 1227, at the age of 65.
And why is all this important?
History tells us that psychopathic personalities in charge of nations that possess science, technology, and modern works tend to be blinded to the realities of the world. They become drunk with power, and forget that there are “bigger fish in the sea” and that you should not discount them because they are different…
…or they look different…
…or that they are “book worms”…
…or are drunk on vodka all the time…
…or whatever bullshit reinforcements that you want to believe. Genghis Khan serves as a stark and frightening reminder that there is always someone bigger, and better, and stronger than you are. And you should mistake their polite actions, their calm words, their soft tone of voice for a sign of weakness.
The result could be lethal.
"Let me control the media and I will turn any nation into a herd of pigs"
- Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Consider the reality
I could type until my fingers fall off, and no one is going to believe the statistics that pretty much show that a FIRE based economy isn’t capable of rebuilding, creating, or structuring anything. I can show you historical examples, you you all would ignore them. I can show you charts and graphs, but they will remain oblivious.
A FIRE economy is any economy based primarily on the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors. Finance, insurance, and real estate are United States Census Bureau classifications. Barry Popik describes some early uses as far back as 1982. Since 2008, the term has been commonly used by Michael Hudson and Eric Janszen. It is New York City's largest industryand a prominent part of the service industry in the United States overall economy and other Western developed countries.
-Wikipedia
I argue that strategically, a nation that makes, creates and builds things is far superior to that that talks about things, writes about things, and tabulates numbers on spreadsheets. And this superiority manifests in numerous ways.
The historical displacement of America’s industry for replacement by lawyers, economists, bankers and real estate tycoons.
But rather than get into all the charts and the graphs, it get’s tiresome don’t you know, instead we are going to greatly simplify things and look at the far simpler model.
So what we are going to so is simplify the equations.
An exercise in simplification
We are going to create an imaginary nation, roughly the the same size and structural organization of the United States. We are going to call it “Freedom United!”.
And…
We are also going to create another nation, this is going to be a unified Asia that includes Russia, China and Iran. We will call it “Asia First!”
And…
Does this map remind you of anything?
How about this…
Genghis Khans empire.
Comparisons
What we are going to do is compare the two collective communities. For each one is comprised of a group of separate states or independent nations, all brought together under a common banner.
And when we do compare them, we see this…
Ah…
And the first thing that should strike the reader is that there is a major “real estate difference” involved.
Asia First! is much larger, geographically, than Freedom United! is.
But it’s more than that…
"Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper, but in Spain, for the first time, I saw newspaper reports which did not bear any relation to the facts, not even the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie. I saw great battles reported where there had been no fighting, and complete silence where hundreds of men had been killed. I saw troops who had fought bravely denounced as cowards and traitors, and others who had never seen a shot fired hailed as the heroes of imaginary victories; and I saw newspapers in London retailing these lies and eager intellectuals building emotional superstructures over events that had never happened. I saw, in fact, history being written not in terms of what happened but of what ought to have happened according to various ‘party lines’."
- George Orwell, Looking back on the Spanish War, Chapter 4
The second thing that you must note it it is not only bigger, but it has more people, more factories, and more resources.
But let’s simplify things and note that while Freedom United! and Asia First! both have factories and R&D centers, the nature of them, and the location of them within the geographical territories are quite different.
Freedom United! has pretty much “offshored” it’s manufacturing capability to other nations and places, and what remains are “think tanks”, “conceptional Research” and “study centers”. They are staffed by bankers, accountants and highly paid diversity directors. Further, their location tends to be centralized to the major cities within the nation body.
Cities like Yorker City, San Chicago, and New Angles have their “industry” very close to the densely packed urban centers. And while there are certainly scattered factories and manufacturing center peppered throughout the nation, the vast bulk of them at located at the urban city centers.
Something like this…
Meanwhile, Asia First! not only has more factories, but they are scattered throughout the entire nation. Furthermore, they tend to make real physical things. Not spreadsheets, Power Point Presentations, and accounting evaluations. The owners and the executives are all merit driven as it is their culture. All the leadership can, if needed, go onto the factory floor and make the parts and equipment products themselves.
Like Freedom United!, they also tend to cluster, but instead of clustering with the major population centers, they cluster inside manufacturing communities that are widely separated and located in the vast tracks of the countryside.
Here’s a map of Guangdong. It is a collection of many, many, many smaller towns that host many, many, many factories. This area is a designated Tier 1 city in China and it is north of the principal city of Shenzhen. For your shit’s and giggles, MM used to live in one of these cities here in this region. It’s all factories, and hills. Factories and hills. Factories and hills.
Dongguang
.
The Human bridge is really a hassle I will tell you what. That’s the icon at the far lower left of the picture. I go over it maybe once ever few months. It’s traffic as far as the eye can see!
Now for our purposes, we will consider ASIA FIRST! to be much like this. Which regions of scattered communities and factories all spread out over wide expansive terrain.
It looks something like this…
Now…
Let’s compare the two nation states
"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
When you compare the two nations you notice something very important to our calculus here. No matter how smart, how prosperous, how beautiful or how exceptional one nation is compared to the other… a nation with a bigger population, and more factories, and resource will be able to out-produce and out-survive a lesser nation.
It’s the “Risk” strategy.
IntheRiskgame, the goal is simple: playersaimto conquer their enemies’ territories by building an army, moving their troops in, andengaginginbattle. Depending on therollofthedice, a player will either defeat the enemy or be defeated. This exciting game isfilledwithbetrayal, alliances, and surprise attacks.
We saw that during World War II with the Nazi Germans. While their military weapons industry was top rate, and the quality of their equipment was the best in the world, it was the ill-trained, masses and hordes of soldiers from Russia that was able to overwhelm Germany.
This idea that huge quantities of “average” soldiers, and mediocre equipment can compensate for very specialized, and efficient, and expensive weapons systems is not new. It’s just not well reported as the Freedom United! military-industrial lobby is desirous of keeping this issue quiet and “under wraps”.
Let’s compare the two nations side by side…
All this is very interesting, but let’s get to the point.
A comparison with the events of the last few years leading up to today.
America takes on Asia…
Freedom United! is just getting “clobbered” on the international scene. It is a military empire that has few remaining exports of value. It exports aircraft, and wheat, and some very specialized machines, but that’s about it. It’s primary revenue generating venue is in the banking, finance and real estate venues.
This nation has been fighting numerous wars all over the globe, and it’s leadership are drunk with power, and oblivious to the true realities of the world.
So, where they got this idea is unknown, they get this idea that they can take on and fight with Asia First! And that they would win!
What’s more, they seriously believe that they could draw out the battle and fighting for a long, long time.
Not just years and decades, but generations…
Mike Pompeo in India working on the QUAD to fight against China.
.
Now they know that it would be very difficult to fight on the geographical territory of Asia First! as it would result in a complete nuclear retaliation.
Asia First! combined has an enormous nuclear arsenal. It is far bigger, more technologically advanced, and with a larger military than what Freedom United! has.
Thus, they need to be able to fight Asia First! is such a way that Nuclear MAD doctrine is avoided.
They also know that they need to “bleed out” Asia First! in such a way as to give them time to overtake the nation through attrition. So they have established other areas by which the fighting can take place.
Create a MAJOR “false flag” event to ignite a war-footing.
Keep the fighting conventional. Avoid nuclear weapons.
Fight by proxies on predetermined proxy nation locations.
Bleed Asia First! through dominance on the oceans, and in Space.
Isolate Asia First! in all ways and means.
Prevent war from hitting the mainland Freedom United!
The battles are designed to occur on proxy locations.
The idea is to have wars and battles taking place in far-away lands, so that no one in Freedom United! is harmed, and a direct nuclear strike with Asia First! can be avoided. These proxy war locations (already decided upon by FREEDOM UNITED!) are shown in gold.
And of course, the idea is that Freedom United! would fight Asia First on these designated battlefields. These areas are known as the QUAD.
It’s a brilliant plan.
Except one thing.
Some of those QUAD areas are considered to be Asian First! territory. And pretending that they are not is a egregious mistake. And Asia First! has said so explicitly. These are “RED LINES” that one dare not cross.
But the leadership of Freedom United! just chucked, and pretended that they didn’t hear the statements.
A Battle Rages
So let’s go through the logical progression of things.
Logical.
Progression.
Of events as we know them.
Freedom United! creates a series of “false flags” to justify a war with Asia First!. There are a number of events stacked up that are ready to go. The question is which one will Freedom First! use to “get the ball rolling”?
And within a short period of time there are global military actions globally.
Initially, it looks like everything is going to plan. One or two QUAD members decide to “sit the conflict out”, but the rest support the effort in varying degrees.
Trade slows to a trickle and even stops.
The people of Freedom United! are all in gleeful patriotism, and conventional fighting is occurring all along the “doorsteps” of Asia First!. As planned! Off in far-away lands!
American media constantly pushes for war because they have no idea what real war is. To them, going to war is like spanking a child: possibly backfiring socially, but no real danger to their own lives. Most of the time, they just send bombers and take cool videos. When guys have to be sent on the ground, their deaths can be used to fuel the national hard-on America has for its military. I call it the "thank you for your service culture.
America has waged war on minor nations for so long that they can't even imagine that fighting another nation might result in aunt Nancy meeting her creator early. To them, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Russia, it's all the same.
Also, the infantile thinking in terms of good and bad doesn't help.
Posted by: Eeny | Apr 12 2021 18:32 utc | 12
They can sit down in front of their televisions set, and social media feeds and feel so proud and patriotic about how strong and powerful their military is, and finally doing something about all those evil dirty filthy Asia First! people.
But then something happens.
Those “neutral” QUAD nations are not all independent. Some of them are actually geographically part of Asia First! They are not considered to be “protectorates of Freedom United!” instead they are recognized by the UN as actual sovereign territory of Asia First!, and…
…when the military operations in support of the False Flag events start to occur, action starts to unfold very rapidly.
Asia First! decides that enough is enough, and that this bullshit must end. So it unleashes a combined military horror upon Freedom United!.
All Hell breaks loose.
The event was is brief and is over quickly. All in all an equal exchange of nuclear conflagration occurs to both nation states. No one is spared.
But…
The nuclear strike has been planned for decades. It’s not spontaneous.
And one nation decides to end it, and it remains the victor who lays the terms of surrender of the other nation.
Which nation would be the winner, and which would be the loser, do you suppose?
It looks like this…
Global Devastation
We can see what happens.
Not only are the designated battlefields (pre-established by Freedom United!) hit with crippling nuclear salvos, but the “untouchable” cities of Freedom United! are also targeted. In fact, ALL of the major urban ares of Freedom United! are erased from the globe.
All of the major cites of Freedom United are erased from the map. All of the military bases in support of the military empire of Freedom United! are turned into slag and glass. The capital, and all the leadership locations are craters surrounded by radioactive wasteland.
Freedom United! ceases to be a nation.
The world is in big trouble.
It did come at a price.
Asia First! also took some hits and they did not survive unscathed. But we can clearly see that even though there was an equal exchange of hostilities, the nation that suffered the worst was Freedom United! by the simple geography of it’s cities and manufacturing base.
The Aftermath
Now consider the years following this nuclear exchange.
How was the globe able to recover, and which nations recovered the best?
And…
Which nations are best able to recover?
Which nations would be able to recover within a decade?
Which nations would be able to recover within 50 years?
Let’s take a look at that…
Recovery Suggestions
Well, there are far too many variables at play to make any kind of reasonable determine what could happen. All we have are the numbers and the proportions. Asia First! could lose 75% of it’s population and still be better off than Freedom United! And then there is the destruction of factories and cities, and the ability to rebuild. In all aspects, Asia First! would be far better equipped to rebuild, stabilize the situation, and begin all over.
Not so with Freedom United!
Because of this, and the fact that Freedom United! is already balkanized, it seems logical that whatever the condition of Freedom United! would be after a major nuclear exchange, it would fracture into many different singular, independent cities, and independent nations. Some would be healthier than others. Some would be absolutely horrible and horrid places to live, while others might be generally unscathed.
We can also say that there would probably be some serious internal domestic conflict as a nation of “independence” (and high levels of gun ownership and decades of “race bating”) and government actions that pit one group against another…
… that there would be a relatively long period of adjustment to the new normal.
There might be efforts to maintain the original constitution, while there might be efforts to maintain the independence of the individual states. There might be efforts to carve out new states and new territories, as well as neighboring nations deciding to annex some of the lands that are now “up for grabs”.
No matter, how contentious, how difficult, how problematic, and how confused, one thing is certain, the Federal Government will no longer exist, and it would take a herculean effort to keep the Freedom United! national unity intact after a global nuclear exchange.
Conclusion
Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. Nuclear war has become a multi-billion dollar undertaking, which fills the pockets of US defense contractors. What is at stake is the outright “privatization of nuclear war”. Massive amounts of money have been allocated by the Joe Biden Administration to feed the weapons industry including the Pentagons’ 1.3 trillion dollar nuclear weapons program first launched under Obama, is ongoing under the Biden administration.Michel Chossudovsky, April 12, 2021
This post looks at the world like the simplified game of “Risk”. The nation with the bigger population and armies will be able to offset what ever technical advantage you might possess. This is not always true, of course. (Consider the Incas when they met the Spanish in search of gold.) But it is often true enough to say that perhaps 80% of modern conflict follows this rule.
We can wish that advantage can be mitigated by brilliant generals (Carl von Clausewitz, and Rommel), or exciting cutting edge technology (radar, sonar, stealth, cruse missile, hyper-glide technology, drones, nuclear weapons), and elite and specialized training (Seals, Green Berets) but for the most part these advantages are on the Tactical level, not on the Strategic level.
Avalon Hill’s game “Squad Leader” simulates tactical level military warfare on the Eastern Front between Germany and Russia during World War II.
But we have to take into account something else. This is something that is rarely if ever addressed…
… incompetence at the leadership level.
The public faces change, but the stupidity remains because, like Rome, you can change the leadership… but the system is faulted and humans will abuse it.
When Germany ran over France in 1941 the French generals were ill prepared to deal with the Germans. When World War II broke out, Stalin was so incompetent, that he locked himself in the room and got drunk waiting for people to haul him away and arrest him.
When Genghis Khan attacked Europe, and the Silk Road, many nations and city state had an unrealistic understanding of the threat that was facing them, and they had an artificially inflated idea of what they were capable of.
Like the 20,000 armored knights that rode into battle to take on 4 million angry Huns... none survived.
In this overly simplified scenario we discount advantages on the tactical level.
Instead we compare geography and leadership (only). In this set of goggles it is quite obvious that Asia First! has a decided advantage over Freedom United!. Yet, as much fun as this very frightening scenario plays out, we do not know what to expect, and our guesses can be wildly inaccurate.
But, and yet, given the little what we know, and what we have learned from history, there is a case that the scenario presented here has a 60% likelihood of occurring. The Freedom Forever! nation will not easily recover at any pre-confligation level, and it is ridiculous to assume that it would. No matter what “secret weapon” the neocons in control of the nation might think.
We need only review the catastrophic mistakes of the Hungarians when they encountered the Huns of Genghis Khan to underline this point.
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i don't know that the usa has any type of long range strategy... and i don't think they care who dies, or what mess they make of other places on the planet either... it seems the usa is intent on serving the god of mammon only.. this certainly works for wall st and the military industrial complex... i really don't think concern for the welfare of other nations, or the planet for that matter, are any considerations washington gives at this point... and to have the same brand of neo cons in bidens gov't as the previous bunch, is not a positive sign either.. it is hard to appreciate the constant hate towards russia these people have.. i find it impossible to understand in fact..
It’s a nice day out. And maybe too nice to complain about the mess the United States is today. But that’s life, don’t you know. Human constructions, nations and people, come and go. But the weather, society, the birds and the bees continue oblivious to whatever the United States does.
Too nice a day to worry about the collapse of whatever the heck it is. But it’s happening whether we want to watch or not. Meanwhile it’s not only the “rank and file” citizenry; the “Joe Sixpack” in the “flyover states” discussing this, but also the “elites” in the posh enclaves inside the elite residential areas of the North east. And they so banter about…
Here we have a couple of elites chatting about what’s going on.
While (initially) laws might say that everyone is equal, what actually happens is that certain types of people (psychopaths) tend to gobble up all the “power” over time. Thus resulting in a society of “elites” who rule over the nation.
These elites are talking.
I found it interesting, not only for the way that they are approaching the current situation; all, but also for what they know, and what they are oblivious to. As people used to say in the hills “He might be smart, but he has shit for brains”…
These people talk about life inside of the Washington DC “beltway”, and the various “alphabet” agencies while they live in their nice plush estates, inside their gated communities. You cannot blame them. They are not oblivious to what is going on in America, and in the rest of the world on the international scene, instead, they view it from a set of “eyeglasses” that is alien to the rest of us. thus their discourse, and bantering about has value and is valuable to us.
It’s worth taking the time to absorb…
Here's a pretty good read about what America is, and who the "leaders" are. It came from Culture News, and I edited to fit this venue. the author wrote long expansive paragraph-long run-on sentences that was difficult to read. But aside from that, and my own artistic flourishes in this particular article, the content remains intact. It's a good read. All credit to the author.
Please note that I interjected quotes and comments from the “Joe Six-pack” audience at the start of each section, just to keep everyone grounded. They are in dialog boxes.
The Codevilla Tapes
The historian of American statecraft and spycraft and conservative political philosopher Angelo Codevilla talks about the ruling elite, Jonathan Pollard, and the rise of the techno-surveillance state—and the consequent demise of the American Empire.
That’s the terror and the beauty of American life in a nutshell.
It is the answer to the secret of how 300 million people from many different places can live together between two oceans, sharing a future-oriented outlook that methodically obliterates any ties to the past.
All prior lived experience is transformed into science fiction…
…or else into self-serving evidence of …
…the present-day moral, intellectual, and technological superiority of the brave imagineers…
…those who are fortunate enough to live here, in the “Now”, while all who came before them are cursed.
It’s out of control
Yes it is.
Thanks for pointing out the planning of US aggression. One hopes this is all brinksmanship on all sides.
If the plan is to take Crimea, then the USA has completely lost its mind and is hellbent on extinction rather than face collapse of 'the greatest country in the history of the world.'
It's understandable that those wanting to see the USA get its ears boxed are frustrated by Putin/Russia's strategy of repeatedly 'turning the other cheek.'
Rather than weakness, we can see now how Russia has consolidated its alliances, developed advanced weaponry, and consistently worked within International Law and not the Rules Based International Order of Might Makes Right.
The United States and its equally bankrupt allies/vassals face a three-front battlefield - Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Obviously the supply chain is a problem.
So, dear friends, the question is: How batshit crazy are the folks pulling the strings?
No one can or does control such fantasy-driven machinery…
… which seems incapable of operating in any other way than it does, i.e., in a space with no beginning and no end…
… but trending always toward utopia perfection.
Learning to accept imperfection and failure may be an emotionally healthy way for adults to negotiate the terrors and absurdities of human existence, but it is not the highway to the perfectibility of man or woman-kind.
Because the large-scale explanations that Americans offer each other about how their country works, or doesn’t work, arise from working backwards from the expectation of some future storybook perfection…
…Americans tend to be either childishly conspiratorial or cartoonishly stupid…
…because those are the types of explanation that tend to win out…
…once you stipulate an ever-more-perfect-and-glorious future…
…as the inevitable outcome of whatever snake oil it is that you are pitching to the suckers.
The Snake Oil Addiction
To my mind, the most chilling sentence uttered in this whole affair was by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said "that any attempts to start a new military conflict in Ukraine’s war-torn east could end up destroying Ukraine".
Lavrov never speaks like this and the Russians do not bluff.
Zelensky signed a decree recently stating Ukraine's intent to take back the Donbass AND Crimea! This means if Ukraine attacks, Russia WILL intervene and destroy Ukraine as we know it. I think it means Russian tanks will roll on Kiev to stop this war forever.
Moves like recalling the US Ambassador are very ominous and usually prelude all out war between nations. Combined with Lavrov's warning, Russia is giving all possible signals it is ready for war with Ukraine AND the US.
In today’s America, these explanations come in the form of shallow and sweeping identitarian polemics (“white people” or “globalists” run “everything”)…
… indecipherable academese backed by graphed coefficients (people are motivated by “rational self-interest,” as calculated by academics)…
… or as appeals to a glorified and abstracted historical past (“the Founding Fathers,” “the melting pot”)…
…whose promises of future perfection may have seemed real enough to past generations, but must now grow ever more distant with every new iteration of Moore’s law.
Who is in control?
Martyanov is correct in the sense that the USA can only claim to be "universal" (empire) as long as it keeps the European Peninsula in its hold.
psychohistorian @ 4 states that the USA would still be the world empire even if it loses Europe because it has the financial system. But this financial system, including the dollar standard, would mean jack shit without Eurasia. The Americans would lose, by definition of the term, the petrodollar if it were to lose Eurasia, plus most of the world trade. The USD would have nothing to back it up as the world standard fiat currency; at most it would still be a strong, well-respected fiat currency (a la Swiss Franc, Pound Sterling, Euro, Yen and now the Renminbi) which would probably still be the currency used in Latin America and the Pacific region - but the power to enforce economic sanctions the USA has today would be instantly over.
Without its great foothold in the European Peninsula, the USA would certainly lose any serious claim to be a world empire. Maybe if it somehow would be able to keep the Middle East (through Israel and Saudi Arabia) - but that would probably be a Justinian version of the American Empire, not the Good Ol' American Empire of the times of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
If it were to lose the European Peninsula, the USA would just have Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Western Pacific islands as its last serious footholds in Eurasia. It would be what I called here sometimes a "Byzantine" USA - essentially a Western Empire, with some footholds in the Western Pacific, memories of a glorious long gone past. It would not mean the end of the American Empire by any stretch of the imagination (the true end of the American Empire can only be achieved by internal conflicts/contradictions, not external), but it would certainly mean the beginning of another era (a much less glorious one) of its history, for sure.
Which is not to say that America isn’t governed by an elite class, just like China, or Japan, or France is—only that the ability of that class to actually rule anything is even more constrained by the native culture.
The idea that an advanced technologically driven capitalist or socialist society of several hundred million people can be run by something other than an elite is silly or scary…
…the most obvious present-day alternative being a society run by ever-advancing forms of AI, which will no doubt have only the best interests of their flesh-and-blood creators at heart.
Yet it is possible to accept all of this, and to posit that the reason that the American ruling class seems so indisputably impotent and unmoored in the present…
…is that there is no such thing as America anymore.
In place of the America that is described in history books…
…, where Henry Clay forged his compromises, and Walt Whitman wrote poetry, and Herman Melville contemplated the whale, and Ida Tarbell did her muckraking, and Thomas Alva Edison invented movies and the light bulb, and so forth…
… has arisen something new and vast and yet distinctly un-American.
That for lack of a better term is often called the American Empire.
Which in turn calls to mind the division of Roman history (and the Roman character) into two parts: the Republican, and the Imperial.
The American Empire
I guess the Russians made clear they mean business:
"What happened and how this could be, that mighty Ukraine and her US handlers suddenly want to prioritize "political and diplomatic way". Well, here is some snippet of suddenly a much more peaceful mindset with a bit of explanation of this sudden (not really) change:
The United States on Thursday said it was discussing Russia’s military build-up near the Ukrainian border with Nato allies as fresh reports showed Russia deploying ballistic missiles to the area. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said that Washington was “increasingly concerned” about what has been described as Russia’s largest military manoeuvres in the area since the break-out of hostilities in eastern Ukraine in 2014. “Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed this week alone. These are all deeply concerning signs,” Ms Psaki told reporters on Thursday."
And suddenly the Ukrainians become angels of peace: ""Liberation" of Donbass by power means will lead to mass loss of life among civilians and military personnel--this is unacceptable for Kiev, stated the Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Ruslan Khomchak. "Being dedicated to universal human values and norms of humanitarian law (I am under the table trying to get up....), our state places the life of its citizens on the first place (I tried to get up, fell again...)",
While containing the ghosts of the American past, the American Empire is clearly a very different kind of entity than the American Republic was…
…starting with the fact that the vast majority of its inhabitants aren’t Americans.
Ancient American ideas about individual rights and liberties, the pursuit of happiness, and so forth, may still be inspiring to mainland American citizens or not…
… but they are foreign to the peoples that Americans conquered.
To those people, America is an empire, or the shadow of an empire, under which seemingly endless wars are fought…
… a symbol of their own continuing powerlessness and cultural failure.
Meanwhile, at home, the American ruling elites prattle on endlessly about their deeply held ideals…
….of whatever that must be applied to Hondurans today…
…and Kurds tomorrow…
…in fits of frantic-seeming generosity in between courses of farm-to-table fare.
Once the class bond has been firmly established, everyone can relax and exchange notes about their kids…
… who are off being credentialed at the same “meritocratic” but now hugely more expensive private schools that their parents attended…
… whose social purpose is no longer to teach basic math or a common history….
…but to indoctrinate teenagers in the cultish mumbo-jumbo that serves as a kind of in-group glue that binds ruling class initiates (she/he/they/ze) together…
…and usefully distinguishes them from townies during summer vacations by the seashore.
America is run by a class of people
A quick consideration on the MIC question.
It is patent that the USA, at this stage of its development, depends almost entirely on its defense industry - which is backed up and insulated from the law of capitalism by the State - on keeping its technological prowess.
We already know that, as the world's financial superpower, the USA is destined to deindustrialize (because that's the price of keeping the USD as the standard fiat currency without incurring the danger of hyperinflation). As it deindustrializes, another part of the world must industrialize - in this case, Asia (China in particular). That's the conditio sine qua non for the financial hegemony to exist without quickly self-destructing, i.e. another part of the world has to industrialize, you can't have a financial superpower without an industrial superpower, as the commodities are what back up money (as Marx once said, the use value is the Träger des Tauschwerts, the surface over which the house of cards can be erected).
By exclusion, the USA can only keep its status as the financial superpower as long as it keeps absolute control over the Seven Seas (most of trade still happens through the sea), which means a strong defense industry must be kept at the behest of the financial sector (Wall Street). The Defense industry is, therefore, the exception to the rule - alongside the electronics-communications system (which gives material form to the financial system, to the USD and the stock market) - over which the USA cannot escape. If it can keep recycling USDs through multi-billionaire defense contracts with other countries, the better, as it gives another life extension to the USD. This is what happen in the famous Petrodollar scheme, where Saudi Arabia denominates its oil in USDs by buying American T-bonds, but also American military weapons and systems, which keeps Saudi Arabia sovereign and intact to keep its oil reserves denominated in USDs, in a virtuous cycle.
That's why arms sales are so important to the USA: it keeps, at the same time, its domination of the Seven Seas and therefore of world trade thus keeping its financial system the dominant one, and decelerate its inevitable deindustrialization process.
The understanding of America as an empire is as foreign to most Americans as is the idea that the specific country that they live in is run by a class of people who may number themselves among the elect but weren’t in fact elected by anyone.
Under whatever professional job titles…
… the people who populate the institutions that exercise direct power over nearly all aspects of American life from birth to death are bureaucrats…
…university bureaucrats,
…corporate bureaucrats,
…local, state and federal bureaucrats,
…law enforcement bureaucrats,
…health bureaucrats,
…knowledge bureaucrats,
… spy agency bureaucrats.
At each layer of specific institutional authority, bureaucrats coordinate their understandings and practices…
…with bureaucrats in parallel institutions through lawyers.
They do so in language that is designed to be impenetrable, or nearly so, by outsiders.
Their authority is pervasive, undemocratic, and increasingly not susceptible in practice to legal checks and balances.
All those people together comprise a class.
For themselves, and only for themselves.
I’ve never commented before. I’m in South Africa, with family members in Palestine and family members who’ve lived through WWII.
I truly hope that Russia has a strategy to make the US Mainland (I also have many American friends I dearly love) carry some of the consequences of anglozionist adventures abroad.
The world is imploding/exploding under the weight of Western hegemony.
None of the people I love (including my dearest family and friends or myself) will probably survive consequences a conflagration of this type could unleash. But what option is there to responding to ongoing geopolitical abuse by the US-ZIO-EU? How sad! Five billion years of evolution and this is what it comes to?
Another thing that residents of the broad North American expanse between Canada and Mexico have noticed is…
…that the programs and remedies that this class has promoted, both at home and abroad…
… have greatly enriched and empowered a small number of people, namely themselves.
While the broader American population continues to decline in wealth, health, and education.
Meanwhile, the American Empire that the ruling elite administers is collapsing.
The popularity of such observations on both the left and the right is what accounts for the rise of Donald Trump, on one hand, and of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the other hand…
… among an electorate that has not been historically distinguished by its embrace of radicalism.
Add those voter bases together, and perhaps 75% of Americans would seem to agree that their country, however you think of it, is in big trouble.
And that the fault lies with the country’s self-infatuated and apparently not-so-brilliant elite.
Why Empires Fall
Xerxes, Russia (or any other country) is unlikely to “make the US Mainland carry some of the consequences of anglozionist adventures abroad”. This could only happen in a “post-war/Nurenburg” type scenario, once the US has already been defeated. What they will do, and have been doing, is to separate from the US monetary system, work together with other resistance countries, and let the US isolate itself and fade as a result of this.
Fortunately the US empire has been weakening, and other countries developing and strengthening and working together under an ostensibly fairer paradigm. The worm has been turning against the empire. This is something to be happy and hopeful about.
Every student of history has their own theory about how and why empires fall.
My theory is this:
The wealth of any empire flows disproportionately to the capital, where it nourishes the growth, wealth, and power of the ruling elite.
As the elite grows richer and more powerful, the gulf between the rulers and the ruled widens…
… until the beliefs and manners of the elite bear little connection to those of their countrymen…
… whom they increasingly think of as their clients or subjects.
That distance creates resentment and friction.
In response to which the elite takes measures to protect itself.
The more wealth and power the elite controls, the more insulation it must purchase.
Disastrous mistakes are hailed as victories or are made to appear to have no consequences at all.
This is done in order to protect the aura of collective infallibility that protects ruling class power and privilege.
What happens next…
the US sociopaths want to do in Europe much the same as what they did in Iraq - but using different means/proxies:
Create a situation of much chaos in a chosen country, as a relatively modern state dissolves, and use that as a pretext both to inject themselves even more into that region's affairs, and also to spread the 'contagion' of 'chaos' to other surrounding states..... where the US sociopaths who run the Empire will try (again) for regime changes in the surrounding nations (from Serbia to Georgia to the other Black Sea states) and beyond.
that the puppet Zelensky has been off to Qatar and next Turkey is a sure sign that these mindless people in the US national security state are going to try once again using the psychopathic jihadists as one of their means to inject instability, terror and chaos into the region.
on top of all that, as many commentators have already pointed out, as soon as Russia intervenes in a big way (if it does go that route), the Nord-Stream project is over with, Germany is without its gas and gas hub plans - plus there's now no gas/oil going to Europe via the Ukraine.
So two birds with one stone: northern/central Europe is then even more dependent on the US for energy, as well as 'protection' from the big bad bear.
What happens next is pretty much inevitable in every time and place…
…Spain, France, Great Britain, Moghul India, you name it…
… Freed from the laws of gravity, the elite turns from the hard work of correct strategizing and wise policymaking…
…to the much less time-consuming and much more pleasant work of perpetuating its own privileges forever.
In the course of which endeavor the ruling elite is revealed to be a bunch of idiots and perverts who spend their time prancing around half naked while setting the territories they rule on fire.
The few remaining decent and competent people flee this revolting spectacle, while the elite compounds its mistakes in an orgy of failure.
The empire then collapses.
Sanity Check
Interesting to see the sudden back-peddling by the Kiev mouthpieces. I see a few different things going on here. First, and the biggest, is that I have come to believe that Russia (and China) has finally had enough, what with the constant pinpricks of the Trump years and now the absolute vitriol and diplomacy-killing antics of O'Biden, and have decided that everything else has been tried, the only way the US will listen is if it gets its nose bloodied, and bloodied good. Too many years of no consequences. So with this in mind, I believe Russia (and perhaps China) are actually looking for a good opportunity to inflict pain.
In the hopes of confirming or disproving my theory, I recently traveled out to a vineyard in Plymouth, Northern California. There I found Angelo Codevilla.
He, who along with Michael Walzer of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the few American political philosophers who combines a deep sense of the Western moral and philosophical traditions with a hard-nosed sense of how the American political system actually works.
While I am naturally more inclined toward Walzer-ism, I thought it would be fair minded to give Codevilla a hearing, despite the fact that he identifies as a conservative Catholic rather than as a liberal Northeastern Jew.
As a sometime student of intelligence work, I will also admit to being an attentive reader of Codevilla’s book Informing Statecraft.
Which together with Norman Mailer’s novel Harlot’s Ghost offers a fair guide to the karmic evolution of the U.S. intelligence community.
Codevilla’s former boss in the U.S. Senate, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, had this to say about his protégé’s book:
Woodrow Wilson once spoke of the demands that would be made on Presidents in the age to come; demands of a kind that could only be met by “wise and prudent athletes, a small class.” Such is Angelo Codevilla; one of the small class of intelligence analysts who has actually been there. Read him; although I plead: Do not invariably agree!
What follows is an edited record of our conversation, which began when I arrived at the Codevilla vineyard in the evening and then continued the next morning, after the Codevillas invited me to spend the night at their house and then served me a delicious breakfast.
***
The Ruling Elite
David Samuels: In 2010, you wrote an article, which then became a book, in which you predicted the rise of someone like Donald Trump as well as the political chaos and stripping away of institutional authority that we’ve lived through since. Did you think your prediction would come true so quickly?
Angelo Codevilla: I didn’t predict anything. I described a situation which had already come into existence. Namely, that the United States has developed a ruling class that sees itself as distinct from the raw masses of the rest of America. That the distinction that they saw, and which had come to exist, between these classes, comprised tastes and habits as well as ideas. Above all, that it had to do with the relative attachment, or lack thereof, of each of these classes to government.
David Samuels: One of the things that struck me about your original piece was your portrait of the American elite as a single class that seamlessly spans both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Angelo Codevilla: Of course, yes. Not in exactly the same way, though; what I said was that the Democrats were the senior partners in the ruling class. The Republicans are the junior partners.
The reason being that the American ruling class was built by or under the Democratic Party. First, under Woodrow Wilson and then later under Franklin Roosevelt. It was a ruling class that prized above all its intellectual superiority over the ruled. And that saw itself as the natural carriers of scientific knowledge, as the class that was naturally best able to run society and was therefore entitled to run society.
The Republican members of the ruling class aspire to that sort of intellectual status or reputation. And they have shared a taste of this ruling class. But they are not part of the same party, and as such, are constantly trying to get closer to the senior partners. As the junior members of the ruling class, they are not nearly as tied to government as the Democrats are. And therefore, their elite prerogatives are not safe.
David Samuels: As a young person moving through American elite institutions, I was always struck by the marginal status of those other people you mention, Republicans. Clearly, they were not as bright as me and my friends were, which is why they were marginal, even if they had an easier path to some kind of dubious status as pseudo-intellectuals in their second- or third-rate party organs. That hardly mattered, though. The New York Times was the important newspaper, and it was a liberal newspaper. The New Yorker was an important magazine, and so it was a liberal magazine. Right-wing types might look instead to the Conservative Review of Books, published out of Mobile, Alabama, or the Jesuit review of something or another. But nobody was quaking in their boots about how such places might review your work. All the cultural capital was on the Democratic side of the ledger.
Angelo Codevilla: What a marvelous recitation of ruling class prejudice.
Of course, you would not have judged them to be nearly as intelligent as you folks were. And you probably didn’t imagine that others would think you less intelligent.
David Samuels: Let them rant and rave about their conspiracy theories and whatnot. They didn’t matter.
Angelo Codevilla: Well, they didn’t matter. Because of the power that you wielded, because of the institutions that you controlled.
Now let me give you an alternative. In France, with which you tell me you are acquainted, you have meritocracy in government and institutions. Meritocracy ensured by competitive exams. I, and a bunch of nonliberal democrats as myself, would be absolutely delighted if institutions like TheNew York Times, TheAtlantic, were to open their pages to people who bested others in competitive exams. But of course, they’re not thinking at all of doing that. As a matter of fact, the institutions of liberal America have been moving away from competitive exams as fast as they know how.
In living memory, and I’m an example of that, it was for a time possible for nonliberal Democrats to get into the American foreign service, and if they did as I did, and scored number one in their class, they would have their choice of assignments. But now, you have all sorts of new criteria for admission into the foreign service, which have supposedly ensured greater diversity. In fact, what they had done was to eliminate the possibility that the joint might be invaded by lesser beings of superior intelligence.
David Samuels: There is a curious mélange of dispensations under which people are escorted into the grand ballroom of the good and the great, right? Category one were with high test scores. Then there were the children of people who had gone to these institutions in previous generations, whose parents have money and might be named Cabot or Lowell. Then there were the admissions categories that cover you in the opposite direction—4.8% African Americans plus at least one white person who grew up without shoes in the mountains of West Virginia. These covering cases were useful because they could be trumpeted as proof of how far and wide the net was cast. All of which went to show that the most meritorious people were all gathered together in this place, and were therefore fit to rule everyone else.
Angelo Codevilla: Merit as defined by what?
David Samuels: I have no idea.
Angelo Codevilla: Merit as defined by the capacity to be attractive to those at the top of the heap. In other words what you have is rightly called not meritocracy, but co-option.
Now it is one of the fundamental truths of our co-option that it results in a negative selection of elites. That each group selects people who are just a smacking below themselves, so that generation after generation, the quality of those at the top deteriorates.
David Samuels: Are you suggesting that the all-white Christian male elites, who largely inherited their status from their parents, were more deserving of their elevated status than their more diverse counterparts, like the people who ran American foreign policy under President Barack Obama?
Angelo Codevilla: I don’t know that the statesmen of the 1920s and ’30s were any more meritorious than the folks under Barack Obama, because they themselves were not selected by any meritocratic criteria, as you suggest. However, I do know, having taught college for many years, that the amount of work that was done by college students 50 years ago or more was considerably greater than the amount of work that is done by college graduates today.
David Samuels: As a graduate of two elite American universities, I am entirely willing to grant that point.
Angelo Codevilla: Them that don’t work so much don’t learn so much, usually.
David Samuels: There is something funny to me about your description of these people as the “elite” or a “ruling class,” though. I picture grand country homes like in the Masterpiece Theatre production of Brideshead Revisited. But if you look at your American elite, you find earnest bureaucratic types living in collegiate apartments with Ikea furniture.
Angelo Codevilla: No. Not Ikea furniture.
David Samuels: You’re talking about a class of people who are academics or lawyer-bureaucrats living on federal government and NGO salaries.
Angelo Codevilla: They have far more money than people who don’t have similar government attachments. The fact is that proximity to government power has meant, and does mean, more money and greater possibility.
David Samuels: I think about the tech oligarchs who park their multibillion-dollar fortunes offshore.
Angelo Codevilla: I would dispute that.
David Samuels: Really? How many tens of billions of dollars has Apple parked offshore? How much money do Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer and Mark Zuckerberg pay in taxes?
Angelo Codevilla: Apple and Bill Gates have secured their money, not so much by relocating, but by having become the biggest lobbyists in the country. That is the source of their financial security.
The point of the ruling class is precisely the confusion of public and private power. This is, in fact, this is becoming in fact a corporate state. Which by the way was pioneered by one of my former countrymen by the name of Benito.
David Samuels: So, when you’re talking about the ruling class, you’re positing a continuum between the Silicon Valley oligarchs with their hundred-billion-dollar fortunes and these public employee and NGO types.
Angelo Codevilla: I am indeed. That is the meaning of the word party. The Democratic Party is in fact composed of the very people that you are talking about.
Parties are by nature coalitions, each part of which benefits from the other. But they share certain things in common. One of them is contempt for Americans who are outside of their ranks.
David Samuels: You call those contemptible people the “country party.”
Angelo Codevilla: Precisely. Here, I’m borrowing an 18th-century British term.
David Samuels: I thought it was a good term because it brings to mind country music.
Angelo Codevilla: That too. Have you ever been to Branson, Missouri? Do you even know what it is?
David Samuels: I gather it’s neither Aspen nor Hollywood.
Angelo Codevilla: Branson, Missouri, is an entertainment center, larger in every way than Hollywood. It is located in Branson, Missouri, in the Ozarks. It is one of the homes of country music stars and starlets. It’s a huge complex of every kind of family entertainment, from bass fishing to theater, music, museums, anything you can imagine. Now the fact that you have never heard of it typifies the limitations of the ruling class.
David Samuels: My oligarchical snobbery.
Angelo Codevilla: No, no, no. You haven’t even risen to that.
David Samuels: I’m a piker. I bet $5 on the trifecta at the dog track.
Angelo Codevilla: It typifies the limitations of the ruling class mind, not even to understand that over which you are lording it.
David Samuels: So, what role do the poor and disadvantaged people of America play in your scheme? As I’m sure you understand, the reason we members of the elite class accumulate so much money and power is to be good allies for those who are less fortunate than we are. At least that’s what they teach my children in these schools that cost $35,000 a year.
Angelo Codevilla: You certainly do teach them that. It is a youthful pretense. It is a pretense to which the Roman patricians did not stoop.
David Samuels: But eventually they did, right? Constantine got them. The nobles all made public displays of their Christian charity.
Angelo Codevilla: No, no, go back. The Roman patricians call these unfortunates clients. Their relationship with their clients is precisely your relationship with the unfortunate and the poor. They are your pawns, the people whose votes you take.
David Samuels: So, when I express my sincere concern about transgender rights, you would presumably accuse me of manufacturing a new category of clients—and at the same time, a new class of bigots for me to self-righteously oppose.
Angelo Codevilla: You are not manufacturing a class, or rather you are exploiting that class’ weakness to turn that class into clients.
Most of all, what you are giving them—which really in a sense they crave more than anything else—is a sense of grievance against the rest of America. Grievance is the handle by which you push these pawns into your cultural wars.
David Samuels: What an ungenerous way to describe my noble instinct to help the less fortunate. Do the less fortunate truly have nothing to be aggrieved about, here in America?
Angelo Codevilla: Whatever they have to be aggrieved about, that grievance serves your instrumental purpose. Their grievance is your happiness. If they didn’t have a grievance, you’d try to manufacture it. Their having a grievance is an occasion for you to, to sharpen it, to scratch it, and to make it more relevant to them than it otherwise would be.
David Samuels: So, what exactly does the authority of the beneficent class I am supposedly part of, and which you seem to abhor, rest upon? There is the inherent rightness of my views, of course, which is proven by science—
Angelo Codevilla: Well, no. It is founded upon your will to power.
David Samuels: But look at all the wonderful benefits we elitists have to offer, like Davos in the wintertime. Why shiver out in the cold, Angelo?
Angelo Codevilla: Let me crib my response to you. Verily, verily I say unto thee, they have their reward. Do people in your class know where that comes from?
David Samuels: I’m a Jew, so I get a mulligan on quotations from the New Testament.
Angelo Codevilla: I read the first part of the Bible as well as the second, so you ought to read the second as well as the first.
David Samuels: So people have insisted to the Jews throughout our history.
Now tell me: How does your eccentric description of the American elites square with what we know to be the American democratic system? Congress makes the laws. The president of the United States is in charge of the executive functions of government. And then there’s the Supreme Court, which makes sure everything’s constitutionally kosher.
What you are describing is a kind of semiconspiratorial extraconstitutional elite superstructure whose actions do not accord with American civics textbooks or what I read in the newspaper.
Angelo Codevilla: Thank you! Right over the plate.
You are describing, and the textbooks describe, what used to be the American system of government, which has not existed since the late 1930s. The last attempt to revive that system, to make it rise up out of the overlay of administrative agencies that the New Deal built, was the Supreme Court of Schechter Poultry vs. the United States, 1935, the essence of which decision was to say that a legislative power cannot be delegated. Were that maxim to be enforced, the FAA, the FCC, and on and on, all of these agencies would cease to exist because they are, quite literally, unconstitutional. Now the Supreme Court has held them to be constitutional under the fiction that they are in fact merely filling in the interstices of laws. However, your average law passed by Congress these days consists almost exclusively of grants to these agencies to do whatever it is they wish.
Which is why, when Nancy Pelosi said of Obamacare that we would only know what it contained after it was passed, she was entirely correct. She was describing the way the American government works, which is in fact, to use your words, a vast conspiracy between the best lawyers on the outside and the best lawyers on the inside of government. They call each other, both on the inside and the outside, stakeholders. And the rest of us are what, scumbags?
David Samuels: Deplorables.
Angelo Codevilla: Deplorables, yes. But we’re not stakeholders, we who are neither regulators nor regulated entities, but rather ordinary people. We are not parties to this covenant.
There’s a lecture given by James Wilson, the signer of the Declaration of Independence and the head of the first American law school, about the difference between American law and law everywhere else in the Western world. Elsewhere, law came from power. In America, positive law will be valid only if it was in accordance with the laws of nature and nature’s god.
David Samuels: But that’s not the basis of the revolt of the deplorables, or the country party, as you call it.
Angelo Codevilla: The basis of the revolt is simple. We realize that you hate us and therefore we hate you back. And we will take anybody, not that we found this man who fits our description, because Donald Trump didn’t fit anybody’s description of what they wanted. But we will take anybody who’ll take a swing at you.
Which is why I originally wrote at the back of that essay, that this revolution would be for the better or the worse. Because of the urgency that the country class felt. For getting out of all of this.
David Samuels: You seem to have had a marvelous life, though.
Angelo Codevilla: Fraught with all manner of difficulties. I had several job offers just as I was finishing my comps, and then I got drafted. By the time I came out of the service, there were no jobs to be had. And so first I worked at a jerkwater college in Pennsylvania. Too awful for words, I got out of there, but I couldn’t find anything else. So I did the only thing that I could do, which is to pass exams. I got into the foreign service. And then from there to the Hill and then to Stanford to the Hoover Institution and then to Boston. While I was on the Hill, I also taught ancient and modern political thought in Georgetown.
I probably would have done better for myself and my family if I stayed in the foreign service. Or, in the depths of my depression I got admitted to Berkeley Law school. But hey, you’re right. I have absolutely nothing to complain about.
David Samuels: You got to write. You got to think. You got to see the kinds of things that were going to feed your writing.
Angelo Codevilla: I got to teach a lot of students, several of them are teaching right now. And they’re doing good work. Books, we’ll see. I don’t think I’m going to write another book because the last one I wrote, hell of a good book, didn’t sell very much. But who knows. If I get some time off of the vineyard here, and I don’t get too many irrigation systems going wrong or things like that, I’ll write some more.
***
The Rise of the Surveillance State
David Samuels: You have some real knowledge of how the American intelligence community thinks and operates, from your days as a staffer working for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Angelo Codevilla: Senate staffer in control of the intelligence budget. My senator was the chairman of the Budget Subcommittee of the Intelligence Committee. Which means that the budgets came through him and therefore through me. And back then we had markups and we could punish those who were not forthright with us, and we did.
David Samuels: How do you understand the seemingly unchecked growth of this globe-spanning American surveillance apparatus, and how do you understand the danger of that apparatus being turned to domestic political purposes?
Angelo Codevilla: There’s always danger inherent in secrecy. And you know secrecy of course is central to intelligence operations. Secrecy most often is used not for the good of the operation, but to safeguard the reputations of those who are running the operations.
The agencies, like all bureaucracies, have always tried to aggrandize themselves, build their reputations, in order to make and spend more money. Get more high-ranking positions. Get more post-retirement positions for their people in the industries that support them. They’ve done exactly what bureaucrats in other agencies have done, neither more nor less.
But the business they’re in, which involves surveillance, is uniquely dangerous, because surveillance is inherently a political weapon. Inherently so. And there is never any lack of appetite for increasing the power of surveillance, and for increasing the reach of surveillance.
Fortunately, especially in my time on the Hill, we had pretty good resistance against bureaucratic attempts to increase the reach of government surveillance over the rest of the country.
Then along came 9/11, and congressmen, senators, who didn’t know any better, were rather easily persuaded, and for that matter Presidents—George W. Bush being exhibit number one—were very easily persuaded, that giving the agencies something close to carte blanche for electronic surveillance would help to keep the country safe. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was amended in 2008 to accommodate the practices which had evolved extralegally under George Bush, which essentially allowed the agencies to wiretap at will, so long as they claimed that this was for foreign intelligence purposes. In this regard, they claimed that what they were doing was within the spirit, if not the letter, of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which stated that any warrantless collection of electronic intelligence, bugging and other means of collection in finding intelligence, could capture the communications of U.S. persons, only incidentally in the course of capturing the communications of foreign targets.
The 2008 amendments legalized this practice, and added the capacity of the agencies to compel communications companies to help upstream collection of emails etcetera, which would then be recorded. The act, rather the amendment, contains an even longer list of apparent restrictions on how these intercepts of Americans may be used. But these restrictions are basically for show because, essentially, once the foreign intelligence surveillance court authorized a particular operation the practical means of judicial review of what has happened, of how it is being carried out, are so complicated as to be unworkable. And besides, what the hell do judges know about the substance of these things?
Therefore, to get to the point of your question, this increased power and lax attitude conserving it posed a temptation to use these tools for the convenience of the administration in power, which was made much more likely by the increasing identification of the senior ranks of the intelligence community with your ruling class. To the point that these people, being ordinary sentient human beings, believe what the people at the top of their class are saying about the opposition.
David Samuels: We are good, and they are bad.
Angelo Codevilla: We are good and these opponents of ours, which mean to take over our positions, are bad people, they are dangerous to the country, and therefore why not look for every possible means of keeping them out of office?
David Samuels: You were directly involved in the drafting of the original FISA law in 1978.
Angelo Codevilla: That’s correct.
David Samuels: In the aftermath of the Church Committee revelations, yes?
Angelo Codevilla: Right. Now you use that term “the Church Committee” in the context that it was something that was antagonistic to the intelligence business. It was not. The Church Committee was a joint operation between, let’s call it “the left” inside the intelligence community, specifically the CIA, and their friends on the Hill. The result of it was that the left component of that bureaucracy has control of the CIA now.
The drafting of FISA was a cooperative enterprise between the Democratic majority, at that point, of Congress, the staffers being all Church Committee staffers, every one of them. And the ACLU. What I’m calling the establishment left. They were the drafters.
But the impetus of the drafting came from the FBI, primarily, and secondarily from the CIA, the NSA. The reason for their pressure was that the left had sued individual members of the FBI for having wiretapped them during the Vietnam War, in their communications with North Vietnam, communist Czechoslovakia, the KGB, and so on. Now they didn’t like that, and they wanted to make sure that nothing like that ever happened again.
So the point of FISA from the standpoint of the left was to keep that from happening again. The point of FISA from the standpoint of the FBI etcetera was never to be in a position to be sued again.
David Samuels: Right. A judge signed it. So now it’s legal.
Angelo Codevilla: Right. What the FBI etcetera demanded was preauthorization. We will not do any wiretapping unless it is preauthorized. Unless we are ipso facto clean.
Now the objections to FISA were primarily of a constitutional kind, mainly that wiretapping for national security was an inherent part of presidential power. The president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. And that was a true objection.
I however made a different objection, although I agreed with the constitutional objection. I said that pre-authorization, pre-clearance of wiretapping, would be an unendurable temptation for people in the agencies to do whatever the hell they wanted. They would be exempt from the prudence that the fear of being sued would impose.
My objection caught the eye of the American Bar Association at the time, which organized a debate on that subject at the University of Chicago Law School, with me on one side, and a local law professor by the name of Antonin Scalia on the other.
Scalia took the position that the danger, which I described, which he found real, was minor compared to the need to get the agencies doing their job vigorously. We see how the future turned out.
I must note that Scalia is a southern Italian. And I am a northerner.
David Samuels: When you saw the Snowden revelations about Stellar Wind and these other collection programs which then were retroactively legalized—what was your response?
Angelo Codevilla: “What else is new?”
David Samuels: Along with the impetus of 9/11, do you feel that the technology itself fundamentally—
Angelo Codevilla: Sure. Technology itself increased the possibilities. And it would have taken real self-restraint for people to say, “No. We could do this, but we won’t.”
David Samuels: We fear the future threat to the constitutional order.
Angelo Codevilla: We ought not to have such powers.
David Samuels: Please remove me from temptation, said no one, ever.
Angelo Codevilla: Well as a matter of fact, Christians do “lead us not into temptation” all the time.
David Samuels: You do say “lead us not into temptation,” but I am not aware of the Christian prayer that says “please take away the chocolate cake while I’m in the middle of eating it.”
Angelo Codevilla: Well, St. Augustine said exactly that, you know, “Lord make me pure, but not yet.”
***
Are Assange and Snowden heroes or villains?
David Samuels: I was an early and avid supporter of Julian Assange, who is now the devil for both the Democratic and Republican elite factions and appears to have vanished into a dark hole. But I have always defended him, because I felt that at the heart of his project, and no one else’s project, was a fundamental insight into how information was controlled and moves in the modern surveillance state, and how to confront it using the actual tools that are now in play.
When people said, that’s not journalism, I have always looked at them and said, “Yeah, it is. Or at least, it’s more like journalism than most of what passes now for journalism. It is a method for making public the fundaments of how the country is actually being governed.” I don’t know how you’re supposed to have a democratic society without that kind of transparency into the bureaucracies that spy on us and lie about it—and have turned a supine press into these pathetic hand puppets.
If you look at the universe of government bureaucrats and contractors and all the rest, there are now well more than a million Americans with some form of top secret or higher security clearance. Now I can accept that something is properly a secret if only five people know it, or if 40 people know it, or even 400 people. But there is no such thing as a secret that is shared by 1 million people. That is an anti-democratic exercise of power by a bureaucracy.
Angelo Codevilla:I agree with everything you said, up until the time you got to numbers. Because military operations involve a lot of people. Some intelligence operations are essentially military operations which put people’s lives at risk. The line must be drawn where the military is involved.
However, every word you said concerning Julian Assange, I agree with. Every last word.
David Samuels: Did you understand Edward Snowden to be a knowing Russian agent? As someone who was used and manipulated by the Russians?
Angelo Codevilla: I do not know. What is fairly clear is that Snowden entered government service with the idea of doing something like what he did, which certainly removes him from the category of whistleblower. He is certainly no innocent.
But regardless of his motivation, I am glad that he existed. And I’m glad that he did what he did.
The United States does not suffer, and has never suffered, from a lack of knowledge about the rest of the world on the basis of which to make foreign and defense policy. OK? And that is a fundamental fact. And because of that, all the fancy arguments that you must sacrifice this and that for the sake of intelligence, I think are false.
David Samuels: One of the minor scandals that startled me in the late Obama/early Trump interregnum was the unmasking scandal, which struck me as much more significant than people seemed willing to credit at the time. I mean, the fact that someone leaked an intercept to David Ignatius may be a crime, but it was hardly news to me. I mean, people leak stuff all the time. That’s how Washington works.
What struck me as much more significant was the defense that “oh, actually most of these unmasking requests came from Samantha Power, in her job as U.N. ambassador.” And then it turned out it wasn’t her sitting at her desk all day long unmasking hundreds of names of U.S. citizens. It was someone she deputized in her office. She didn’t even know about these requests, or most of them, or so she claimed.
It was news to me that ordinary low-level bureaucrats and political appointees now sit at their desks all day reading raw intercepts targeting American civilians, collected under the pretext of gathering foreign intelligence. A 26-year-old assistant can sit there all day long reading your email, based on the three-hop rule. I don’t think that’s what—
Angelo Codevilla: What the authors of the FISA had in mind.
David Samuels: Authors of FISA, authors of the U.S. Constitution, you can pick your authors. Yet that has became normative reality, right?
Angelo Codevilla: Look. Most people who have a title in Washington don’t do their work. There’s always the chief assistant to the assistant chief, they’re the ones who do the work. And so yeah, they get deputized.
David Samuels: So now we have this surveillance apparatus that Snowden, James Risen, and others have detailed, which provides daytime reading material for bored 26-year-old assistants, which means that material can easily be repurposed for—
Angelo Codevilla: Any purpose under the sun.
David Samuels: That is a very powerful weapon for this bureaucracy to have.
Angelo Codevilla: That’s the point.
***
When Jeff Bezos Has Dinner With the CIA
David Samuels: The guys working in the White House whether under Obama or Trump aren’t writing the code for their surveillance systems. Neither are the nice people at the CIA. They’re all writing checks to Silicon Valley.
I saw the other day that Jeff Bezos, who’s one of the most dedicated champions of democracy and the free press in America, the guy who says that democracy dies in darkness, I saw that his company, Amazon, provides all the data storage for the CIA. Now as a reporter and as a citizen, that makes me confident—
Angelo Codevilla: Ha, ha.
David Samuels: —that Jeff Bezos’ newspaper, The Washington Post, is reporting without fear or favor every day on Jeff Bezos and all these CIA and DoD contracts with Amazon, because they have such a strong incentive to make sure that everything’s on the up and up. And by the way, Amazon is definitely not listening in on your private conversations through the listening devices—in the form of digital assistants like Alexa, Echo speakers, and doorbells with spy cameras in them—that it is installing by the millions in American homes.
Angelo Codevilla: May I give you a quick answer to your larger question?
David Samuels: Yes.
Angelo Codevilla: It depends on who goes to dinner with whom. That’s how Washington works.
David Samuels: That can’t be your answer, so let’s take it from the top. There is a company called Amazon, which now has monopolistic position A, in the field of books and all printed material distributed in America, and B, in a whole host of other industries ranging from diapers to blow-up pool toys. It looks like a classic monopoly trust. You have Google, which has a near-monopoly over the search function, the leading portal to most information on the internet, and holds a monopoly on search advertising. You have Facebook, which controls 78% of entries onto the internet now through their platform. So, you have these three monopolistic companies, right, one of which also owns the only major newspaper in Washington, D.C., and which control the movement of information throughout the entire society.
Now, another arm of Silicon Valley controls storage and access to the information that the government agencies gather on the society. And all of the money earned from both these pursuits flows back to these people, who are richer than any class of people in America since the robber barons. They got so rich by sucking out the life’s blood from five dozen different industries that employ people and destroying the 20th-century press, which played a key role in maintaining our democracy.
Now I look at that, and I say the power is out there. You look at it and you say no, my lad. It’s about who has dinner with who in Washington.
Angelo Codevilla: Oh no, no, no. You misunderstand me. The ruling class transcends Washington. Part of it is in Silicon Valley, it’s in every major university town in America. It’s in Sacramento. And then you ask, what is it that ties it together?
David Samuels: Right, the poor associate professor of gender studies with his or her little espresso machine.
Angelo Codevilla: The poor associate professor of gender studies, number one is not so poor. Number two, she gets her living from the same partisan connection that Jeff Bezos does. She is part of the same party as Jeff Bezos, who has God knows how many billions.
David Samuels: A large fortune.
Angelo Codevilla: But his power as you have pointed out substantially consists of his connection with government. Although I must say one thing contrary to an absolutist view of the ruling class. That the four major trusts that you mentioned are in large part—have in large part grown naturally, organically. They’re securing themselves by government power. But the government did not force anybody to shop with Amazon.
David Samuels: Ah! As a matter of fact, Google and Facebook secured their monopolies and their ability to commit massive and ongoing copyright violations thanks to a little-known provision of the Communications Decency Act, which was passed by Congress in 1996 in response to a series of moral panics that engulfed America at around that time. Those included the McMartin nursery school witchcraft case—
Angelo Codevilla: Oh ho ho ho ho. I remember that.
David Samuels: There was a generalized hysteria about pedophiles running nursery schools and satanic rituals involving small children. And this became part of a hysteria so significant that Congress had to pass a law. And the law specifically targeted this phenomenon which was almost entirely imaginary, even if in a few specific instances it might have also been real, as is always the case. Except for the Jews baking matzo with the blood of Christian children, of course. We didn’t actually do that.
Angelo Codevilla: You didn’t?
David Samuels: No. Matzo tastes bad enough as it is.
So the Communications Decency Act was set up to prevent pedophiles from sharing pictures of child sexual abuse over the newfangled internet. In response to which, two farsighted members of congress, Ron Wyden and Christopher Cox, who fancied themselves experts on the digital frontier, wrote into the Communications Decency Act a section stating that internet providers shall not be considered to be publishers and that if you provide internet service or platforms or hosting you are not subject to any of the liabilities that traditionally attach to publishing information.
Now, all of a sudden, thanks to the wisdom of the U.S. Congress, two classes of publishers were created. One class, traditional publishers, had to spend a lot of money on fact checkers, editors, lawyers, and other people because they could be held legally responsible for the information that they published in their newspapers. Another class of publishers, internet publishers, like Google at the time and Facebook as it emerged, were free from all of these potential torts. So Facebook or Google could put up any damn thing they wanted—
Angelo Codevilla: Yeah, except the fact that Google and Facebook supposedly exercise no control.
David Samuels: That’s clearly a lie, especially now. They are obviously not the telephone company.
Angelo Codevilla: Very interesting. At which point, one can challenge that exemption.
David Samuels: Except it’s now too late. They ate the 20th-century American press.
Angelo Codevilla: Let me give you the tiniest, tiniest glimmer from the margins, the very, very remote margins, of all of this, so you can understand my perspective. Q: There is a dream that unites progressives and bureaucrats and wealthy technologists. And where does that dream come from?
A: It’s a dream peculiar to this class. Other classes have been united by different dreams.
Q: Is it a substitute for religion? A: Yes.
When I started working for the Senate, some folks at the agency figured out that I wasn’t a run-of-the-mill staffer. So I was visited by one of the old boys who took me up to the director’s office—the director wasn’t there at the time. He took me up via the director’s elevator, he had a key. And showed me all around and was very, very clubby with me. Then they took me to his house, which is overlooking the Potomac, with these large wolfhounds sitting about. And essentially, he said the equivalent of “all this could be yours.”
David Samuels: My son, if you play the game.
Angelo Codevilla: If you play the game. I said to myself, “Hmmmm, what did the Lord say to all this?”
But it really is a matter of who has dinner with whom. I have worked in Washington long enough to know that people would sell their souls for invitations to be at certain tables. To be allowed to speak with this person or that. In the end, it’s all social.
And how do you become social? You express the same thoughts, you have the same tastes. You vacation in the same places. You love the same loves, you hate the same hates.
David Samuels: This is a very Italianate explanation.
Angelo Codevilla: No, it’s not. You have the wrong idea about Italy. I’m from Northern Italy. I believe this is a hardheaded explanation of a soft but powerful reality.
David Samuels: These are all people who are connected to the power of government.
Angelo Codevilla: Either physically, i.e. economically, or emotionally—power. The dream of sharing power. The gender studies professor not only gets her money eventually from government, but she dreams of being part of a world-transforming enterprise.
David Samuels: Here, I agree with you. There is a dream that unites progressives and bureaucrats and wealthy technologists. And where does that dream come from?
Angelo Codevilla: It’s a dream peculiar to this class. Other classes have been united by different dreams.
David Samuels: Is it a substitute for religion?
Angelo Codevilla: Yes.
David Samuels: Is that its primary emotional charge?
Angelo Codevilla: Well, I don’t know about primary. Look, the primary element is, as we Christians were taught, pride. That is the sin of sins. There is nothing that moves human beings quite so much as the desire to be on top of other human beings.
David Samuels: It’s interesting. I’m a Jew. But there are things that are lacking in our tradition, just as there are things that are very well developed in our tradition. You know, decent food can be lacking in our traditions.
Angelo Codevilla: However, not in Italy.
David Samuels: Oh, my God. The Jewish food in Italy is fantastic.
Angelo Codevilla: The Jewish food in Italy is fabulous.
David Samuels: I see that more as a reflection on Italy than the Jews.
***
Henry Kissinger Meets the Demon Emperor
David Samuels: Judaism as it has existed for the last 2,000 years is an exilic tradition. The religion took the place of both the rituals in the Temple and the state itself. It was all ritualized. So for a 2,000-year-old tradition that’s remarkably elaborated and rich and subtle in so many areas, you have remarkably little discussion of political power—including the sins related to power, the proper ways to exercise power, all that was outside the experience of these people because they were politically powerless. Religion took the place of statecraft.
Israel hasn’t necessarily helped. Why do Jews want political power? To keep themselves from being exterminated. Why does a Jewish state want a strong army? Because if you don’t have one, people are going to wipe you out. In the Middle East, that’s a pretty ironclad rule. These are not very subtle or complicated ideas.
Angelo Codevilla: But there are plenty of Jews in Europe who are very well acquainted with the theory and practice of exercising power.
David Samuels: Of course, but—
Angelo Codevilla: But these Jews were not real Jews. I mean, they were not religious Jews. They happened to be Jewish but they were primarily socialists or whatever.
David Samuels: Or Henry Kissinger.
Angelo Codevilla: What a fraud.
David Samuels: He is an egomaniac and he is highly manipulative and he is a flatterer and a courtier. But Henry Kissinger sure ain’t dumb.
Angelo Codevilla: Oh no. He’s very smart. Very smart.
David Samuels: And one has the sense, that if he had really spent the time working on a biography of Metternich, that it would have been fantastic, too.
Angelo Codevilla: Yes! Look, the man never had time to be a scholar. He was taken up immediately into the world of conferences and power. And he navigated it masterfully.
David Samuels: Plus, he had the emotional capacity to get down on his knees and pray to Jesus with Richard Nixon after five whiskeys. And you look at Trump and you’re like, that’s what’s needed here too. Right?
Angelo Codevilla: What would Kissinger do with Trump? Who knows. This man Trump is something else.
David Samuels: I have a name for Trump: The demon emperor. Because I feel like he’s like a figure that you’d find in some Chinese chronicle, right? There was a time of terrible chaos, social disintegration, and then a Mongol invasion. They breeched the Great Wall and did this and that. And in those moments, the Demon Emperor would arise and take power. He had the head of a pig and the body of man, and he was known for his vile excesses and the terrible rampages that he’d go on, and his desecrations of ancient scrolls. Everyone bemoaned him.
But there was a certain virtue, at times, in certain moments, to having the demon emperor around. Yes, he raped 150 virgins in surrounding villages and all their families were very upset and there’s no reason he should have done that, and he defiles the very ground he stands on, and indeed, no one of noble birth would consent to marry his daughter. At the same time, he defeated the Mongols.
So, the real question isn’t whether Trump is vile, but rather what has he actually done, aside from being vile?
Angelo Codevilla: Putting a parenthesis in the conversation, talking about Chinese epics. Are you familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
David Samuels: No.
Angelo Codevilla: You should be. This is a book that describes the tradition between—or rather I should say the end of the Han Dynasty around 200 A.D. The book was written over maybe 200 years. And it is partly prose, partly poetry. And it’s considered one of the great classics of Chinese literature. The Chinese government a couple years ago did a—condensed it into 95, 45-minute TV episodes. Beautifully acted, with gorgeous costume. With English translations that read something between Shakespeare and Thucydides.
Captivating.
I started watching it, I couldn’t stop. I mean my poor wife was left alone. And it conveyed as deep an insight into Chinese character as I’ve ever seen. To get Westerners to empathize with Chinese characters takes some doing. And you can download it, it’s free. The Chinese government has made sure you can download it for free.
***
The Progressive High Church Mass
David Samuels: Where does the ethos of a class come from?
Angelo Codevilla: Here I speak with the prejudices of an academician. Because the ethos of the academy changed, evolved. And what drove the change was the growing contempt of professors for our civilization. And you Jews ought not to feel that you are any less the enemy of these people than we Christians.
I should say the defining feature of the ruling class is a certain attitude. And that attitude developed in the academy, and that attitude became uniform throughout the country because of the uniform academy. The uniformity of the academy transformed itself into the uniformity of the ruling class.
David Samuels: Because that was the institution that credentialed the otherwise uncultured American masses?
Angelo Codevilla: It credentialed the mind and the habits. The habits of the heart. It credentialed the habits of the heart. The habits of conversation. The habits of work. The habits of logic. The habits period.
Can you imagine a bright kid coming in contact with that kind of intellectual fraud? The smartest ones will say, “hey, I don’t want to be part of this.” He’ll do something else. He won’t be taken in. Which means that this class will continue to degrade itself.
David Samuels: Just as it would be wrong to understate the importance of who has dinner with whom in Washington, it would be wrong to understate the extent to which the class you dislike is moved by an idea: The rational scientific functioning of the bureaucratic state. That’s their God. I may find this attachment emotionally bizarre, but that doesn’t make it any less real.
Angelo Codevilla: You’re saying the same thing in two different ways. Why is it that they have dinner together? It is that they believe that they share something terribly important. And that is precisely what they believe to be their stewardship of all things good.
Once upon a time, thus moved, they believed that they were holier than thou. Now they simply believe that they’re trendier than thou. In other words, they share the most valuable thing, which is not devotion to God but devotion to their own corporate mission. Their own corporate status. Status and mission. Status being the priests of the salvific religion of science and progress.
David Samuels: Yeah, that’s right. There is a monkish sense of devotion.
Angelo Codevilla: You’re going far too far with using the word “monkish.”
David Samuels: They exist! These people exist.
Angelo Codevilla: Oh no, no, no. They exist but they’re very few.
I taught in Boston for many years. And believe it or not, I put my kids in the highest-ranking schools in Boston, and I had to go to a parent meetings and school celebrations. And these were, in fact, secular masses. With, including, believe it or not, the breaking of bread.
Bread! Simple bread, passing it around. There’s a kind of faux simplicity. You have fake Puritans too.
David Samuels: Now the idea of the worship of the corporate bureaucratic state, right? You have a religion that is capable of attracting, if not the adherence of the majority of the country, then maybe 40% of them.
Angelo Codevilla: No, no, no, no, no. Not 40%. This is an elite attraction. Which attracts people who naturally, very naturally, want to rise above others.
Again, as a kind of professor, I came across hundreds of young people who very naturally ask the question, how can I rise in life?
David Samuels: That is my job. I am young, I am supposed to rise.
Angelo Codevilla: I am supposed to rise in my life, how can I do that? And I in good conscience explain to them that the paths are there and the ladders are being provided. And they will take you to these places. You will, however, have to adapt yourself to the mindset of these folks.
Now, if you insist on being independent minded, don’t bother. But if you do insist on being independent minded, also realize that these ladders will not be available to you.
A lot of kids will come and tell me how much they enjoy my classes and how much they like the ancients, the way I taught the ancients. And I said to them: “Look. There is no future for you in following the likes of me. I cannot give you the kinds of internships and prospects for employment and writing that others can.”
David Samuels: But they also were successful it seems to me, in inculcating parts of their faith in what you would describe as their client base. Right?
Angelo Codevilla: No, no, no, no, no. Clients, certainly not.
David Samuels: They win elections in some places.
Angelo Codevilla: Sure, they win elections. Not through faith but through pure clientelism. And don’t forget, especially nowadays, more and more nowadays, by fostering hate, by fostering resentment against others. If you are on our side, you’re on the side of the good. But more important than that, on the other side are people who hate you.
This is especially true with regard to blacks. They want to put you back in chains! What utter nonsense.
David Samuels: Jews are subjected to the same kinds of disciplinary activity. Don’t you understand that the right wingers are all secret neo-Nazis who are planning to pack you off to the gas chambers? I’m an FDR-type liberal, but I find those attempts to trigger some fearful reflex to be incredibly demeaning and offensive.
Angelo Codevilla: People believe mistakenly that Jews are especially smart. American Jews have proven to be dumb, politically. What is political stupidity? Political stupidity means not knowing which side your bread is buttered on.
Jews have taken to believing the leftist propaganda that the Christians are somehow their enemies. Where in fact, there is no group that is friendlier to Jews in America.
The more Christian you are, the more let us say pro-Jewish we tend to be. And why? Well for this very simple reason. That if you read the Bible, you don’t grow up rooting for the Philistines.
David Samuels: American Jews come primarily from Poland and from Russia, where the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches often played a very nasty political role and also preached a pretty harsh supersessionist doctrine. They were not friendly to Jews. Now that’s very different from American Protestantism, and also American Catholicism.
Angelo Codevilla: The Christian faith has always been an outgrowth of Judaism. That’s not contention, that is a fact.
David Samuels: Any group that has a scar, you can press on the scar and profit.
Angelo Codevilla: Well, yeah. But Jews are supposed to be smart.
David Samuels: It’s embarrassing to be the object of this kind of primitive manipulation. And both sides do it. You know how they really talk about you, you know what they say behind your back. They’re gonna make your kids bow down to Jesus! Now vote for me.
Angelo Codevilla: Working on the Hill, I would see these Jewish lobbyists breaking their heads against the left. Whereas if they’d gone to conservatives, they would have been greeted with open arms and gotten exactly what they wanted.
***
The Cruxification of Jonathan Pollard
David Samuels: You were working on the Hill when Jonathan Pollard was thrown in jail for life to cover up the crimes of Aldrich Ames and others.
Angelo Codevilla: Oh, that’s a really big subject.
David Samuels: Would you say that the treatment of Pollard happened independently of the fact that he was a Jew?
Angelo Codevilla: Oh heavens, no. No, no, no. Since you’re asking this question to me, you obviously have read that I did what I could to champion his release. Having nothing to do with the fact that he was a Jew, and everything with the obvious falsehood of the accusations on the basis of which he was sentenced.
David Samuels: Right.
Angelo Codevilla: He certainly committed espionage. And rightly merited prison for a couple of years. Instead he got a life sentence. Which ended up to be 30-something years. Why? Certainly not on the basis of the indictment. I mean, he was accused and pleaded guilty to precisely what he did.
What I know, which a lot of other people did not know, is that given his clearances, he could not possibly have done the things on the basis of which he was sentenced. It was simply impossible for him to do that. And every time I pointed that out to people in intelligence, they would make an argument which was untenable. Mainly that the revelation of facts in reports is tantamount or can easily lead to the revelation of sources and methods.
Nonsense! The compartmentation of American intelligence is premised precisely on the notion that this is not possible. Or extremely difficult. And although it is theoretically possible, one would have to show precisely how it did happen. And nobody even tried to do that.
Furthermore, Pollard was sentenced on the basis of a memorandum, which is yet secret. For our judicial system, to sentence anyone on the basis of any secret proceeding is about as un-American as anything yet.
David Samuels: Have you read that memorandum?
Angelo Codevilla: Hell no!
David Samuels: Did anyone ever offer you a summary of its contents?
Angelo Codevilla: Well, sure! But it had been only in the most general terms, to which I would say, oh? Show me how that’s possible.
You know, if somebody says, well and by the way, the snowballs in hell were not melting. I’d say, what? How is that happening?
David Samuels: How do you understand his treatment?
Angelo Codevilla: Oh horrible, horrible.
David Samuels: No, I’m asking why.
Angelo Codevilla: Why? Well, OK. The CIA has all kinds of social-political prejudices. The first thing I learned that I did not expect to learn when I went to my job on the Hill was just how controlled and defined by certain social norms the CIA is. That it is a kind of club that secures itself through co-option. And that co-option involves the furtherance of a whole bunch of prejudices.
So, the straightforward political prejudices are, in no particular order: liberalism, prejudice in favor of the Arabs. You probably are not aware of the corporate prejudices that existed in the favor of the Soviet Union. And they were very, very powerful at CIA, as opposed to DIA or NSA.
To give you an example of these political, pro-Arab prejudices and how they work, when specifically relevant to the Pollard case: When Israel bombed Iraq, the CIA came to us and they formed this committee, and railed at the Israelis for having spoiled this wonderful relationship we had with this wonderful man, Saddam Hussein. I remember at the time sitting next to Pat Moynihan who gave me the elbow and chuckle.
I would say that the majority, by far, of the intelligence committee, laughed at—this is Bobby Ray Inman. And they were cheering on Israel. Hey, bomb more!
But CIA was coming to notify us that in fact they were cutting off the flow of certain intelligence to Israel. And they were doing so in great anger. Now these items of intelligence which were being cut off were precisely the items of intelligence that Jonathan Pollard supplied to them.
David Samuels: They were hurt!
Angelo Codevilla: They were hurt! They were hurt and they took it out on Pollard. How far did this attitude which I just described blend over into anti-Semitism? I don’t know.
David Samuels: Right.
Angelo Codevilla: But if I were a Jew, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for me to think that it did. And even though I’m not, I sure would have my suspicions.
So that’s the essence of my attitude, attitude and subsequent involvement, such as it was, in the Pollard case. I mean I saw number one, that the reason for the CIA’s anger was wrong. And in fact, the United States had every reason to cheer what the Israelis did. And most Americans did, as a matter of fact. And later on, the subsequent administration thanked the Israelis for having done precisely what they did.
So the CIA was wrong in that regard. And they were doubly wrong in convincing that imbecile, Caspar Weinberger, to write that un-American memorandum. And that judge should be damned by his profession for having paid attention to it. You don’t sentence people on the basis of a secret memorandum. You just don’t do that in America.
David Samuels: The basis for his sentencing is still classified. So who can say for sure if his sentence was unjust.
Angelo Codevilla: Well, no. We can say. It doesn’t matter that it’s classified, because it alleges something that couldn’t possibly have happened. You can classify it, but that doesn’t make it any truer or any likelier to be true. In fact, it makes it less likely to be so.
***
Secrecy and the Rule of Law
David Samuels: Now this opens up the last subject that I wanted to talk about at some length. Which is, what happens when secret intelligence becomes the basis for actions within the domestic sphere. This seems to me like a gathering storm cloud over this country and the freedoms that most of us still believe are ours.
Angelo Codevilla: Right, quite so. Two things happen. The first bad, the second worse.
The first is that policy or action made on the basis of information that is not generally available tends to be bad policy. Secret policy doesn’t get the kind of scrutiny that ordinary policy does. And the people who make it do not themselves feel the necessity to be as careful at all that they do as they otherwise would be. So you get sloppy policymaking. You get people riding hobby horses. Not thinking through what they’re doing. And you end up with unintended consequences.
The second is that policymaking on the basis of information not generally available allows one to cut out one’s opponent, allows one to make policy partisan. More partisan than it would otherwise be.
David Samuels: Would you say that the Iraq War was an example of that?
Angelo Codevilla: Yes, in the following way. And we’re talking of course about two Iraq wars and then the criticism applies to both in a different way.
The first Iraq War, that is the original invasion of Iraq, happened because the president was under entirely reasonable pressure to do something serious, something definitive, about terrorism. And he concluded in his heart of hearts that overthrowing the regime would have been most vocal in its advocacy of anti-Americanism, and anti-American terrorism, would eliminate one of the major sources of terrorism, and also send a healthy message to other regimes that were in their own ways fostering terrorism.
But, when the subject was moving about inside the highest levels of government, great resistance was encountered to this. And the Bush administration found itself searching for a rationale for that invasion that would minimize opposition from within the government and the ruling class in general. And they sent up a whole bunch of trial balloons in that regard, and the trial balloon that got the least resistance was the trope about the weapons of mass destruction. About which the evidence was always terribly sketchy. But they found that to be the most bureaucratically tenable explanation, and so they went ahead with it. That was a mistake made intramurally, which compromised the eventual support of the larger population.
So much for the first Iraq War. The second one, being the occupation, that was decided in an even less transparent manner. We know that there was intense lobbying on the part of CIA and State for the occupation. And lobbying by the Saudis for that same course. How all that interacted and how George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice and friends soldiered all of that out and came to that particular decision, we still do not know. And they ain’t about to tell us.
And so, we ended up with an occupation which would ostensibly be for the purpose of democratization, but which number one, shied away from democracy because everyone involved realized that democracy meant that the Shia ruled. So as a fact, the day-to-day effort of the occupation, the one that cost so many American lives, had nothing to do with democratization. It had everything to do with preserving a role for the Sunnis.
The U.S. government never fought that war with the intention of crushing the Sunni opposition. They never fought that war with the intention of crushing the people who were shooting at Americans. And then ended up, in fact giving up on that war and paying those very people, in what was otherwise known as the Surge.
A whole bunch of idiots, Fox News conservatives count the Surge, the so-called Surge, as a great success. Great success in what?
Again here, this is as good an example as you will find of the wages of making policy in a nontransparent manner.
David Samuels: There was one quote, I forget who it came from, but it came out of an interaction of one of the reasonably high-up war planners in the Defense Department and a journalist for, I think it was, The Atlantic. And the quote was that power creates its own reality. So it doesn’t matter what we say, because even if it’s not true now, by the time we’re finished we will make it true. And therefore there is no real difference between statements that are true or false, as long as we make them.
Do you have the sense that a similar attempt to manufacture reality was at play in what at this point are the still-unknown interactions between the CIA, the FBI, and the Obama White House with regard to the surveillance of Donald Trump’s associates, and the attempt to suggest some vast Putin-Trump conspiracy to game American elections, and whatnot?
Angelo Codevilla: I don’t think that it went that far. Or I should say, I don’t think the people involved thought about it that deeply.
David Samuels: I would agree.
Angelo Codevilla:I think what you had was a small pooling of resources to tweak the news cycle with regard to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, which then turned into something very major.
David Samuels: After the election.
Angelo Codevilla: After the election. It was, like Watergate, a minor attempt to gain marginal advantage. Which then, unintended by the people involved at the time, became something very big, which escaped everyone’s control.
I believe that there are a whole bunch of people in Washington right now who are quaking in their boots because the House Intelligence Committee has shaken loose some of the documents involved. Because in the long run there are no secrets in Washington. And one can then wonder about the quality of the people who imagined that the things they did could remain secret.
It really was a marvel. The idea was that if we all say it together long enough and we shout it loud so nothing else can be heard, then it will become the effective truth, Machiavelli’s verita effettuale. But I mean, there is a limit to this. I have some close personal friends who are more on the left, and I said to them: OK. Where’s the evidence? Who did what when to whom? Where are the quids and where are the quos? What’s going on here? And all they could say is, “Well, the investigation is going on.”
What is not clear is just how much of the reality will come into the public’s consciousness.
David Samuels: Whose fault is this?
Angelo Codevilla: The fault here is not of Democrats on the left. The fault here is of Donald Trump and his friends who have refused to enforce the most basic laws here. The most obvious one is Section 798, (18 U.S. Code), the simple comment statute. Now anybody in the intelligence business knows that this is the live wire of security law. It is a strict liability statute. It states that any revelation, regardless of circumstance or intent, any revelation period, of anything having to do with U.S. communications intelligence is punishable by the 10 and 10. Ten years in the slammer, and $10,000 fine. Per count.
Now the folks who went to The Washington Post and The New York Times in November and December of 2016 and peddled this story of the intelligence community’s conclusion that Trump and the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, these people ipso facto violated §798.
Considering these matters are highly classified, and that the number of the people involved is necessarily very small, identifying them is child’s play. But no effort to do that has been made.
David Samuels: But doesn’t that failure in turn point to what is, to some extent, the root of this entire drama, which is that Donald Trump seems unfamiliar with and temperamentally at odds with the executive function that he has now assumed?
Angelo Codevilla: That’s certainly true. But you have to go beyond Donald Trump, to Republican power holders in general. These people far more than Donald Trump would be inclined to forbear for the sake of comity with the ruling class. And what kind of comity are we talking about? We’re talking about social comity. Because if you follow the law in this case, you end up putting former directors of CIA, FBI etcetera behind bars. They, and a whole bunch of their subordinates. Maybe a dozen people here would end up behind bars.
David Samuels: We’ve come to accept that certain classes of people are in fact above the law.
Angelo Codevilla: We have come to accept that.
The election of 2016 was precisely about whether anyone in America is above the law. The reason why so many people did not vote for Hillary Clinton is the feeling that she and her ilk were above the law, were acting as if they were above the law, which happened to be entirely true. Now the fact that the Trump administration is acting according to the same premise, i.e., that some people are above the law, is evidence that the revolution that the voters wanted in 2016 has only just begun.
***
Conclusion
It’s interesting to read the opinions of others. Especial if they come from the Washington “beltway”. It’s almost like they are a completely different “animal” than what the rest of us are. I suppose it goes along with my belief that the super elite have evolved into something other than what the rest of us are. They are another creature entirely. It’s not that they are clueless. For they indeed have intelligence. I just wonder if they have scruples and understanding. That’s all.
But that’s just me.
One thing is for certain, they think that they are better than you and I. They are driving the United States into a massive war that does not have an exit. It’s crazy, it’s dangerous, and while they might be intelligent, they sure are out of touch with man’s humanity.
And his humility.
That frightens me.
But they seem oblivious to it all. It’s like people coloring a coloring-book with crayons inside a large RV that is being driven by a drunk madman. These fools haven’t a clue as to what dangers are being toyed with. Sheech!
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It’s an exciting time. If you can ignore the howls of fright, and fear, from the oligarchy in the United States you can clearly see that the world is uniting and coming together. Roadblocks have been set aside. nations are unifying, sharing resources, and working together for the mutual benefit of all. And it’s long overdue.
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Key to this is the BRI. And all the nations that are connected to the BRI will profit handsomely. But here (in this article) we will concentrate on the main lines or corridors between the big three; Russia, China and Iran. Of course, everyone else near by stands to profit and benefit from all of this. Indeed, it’s a real exciting time.
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Here’s some “meat” as to what the BRI contains. Noting that much is still left out, the roads, the bridges, the tunnels, the high-speed rail lines, and the local community infrastructure. Indeed the scope of the BRI project is vast, just vast. It’s sort of like a major effort to go to the moon, kind of “vast”.
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The following is an article titled “How Eurasia will be interconnected”. I was written by Pepe Escobar. I edited it to fit this venue, and all credit to the author. You also might want to visit the UNZ where most of his articles reside and where there are many other articles of great interest.
The extraordinary confluence between the signing of the Iran-China strategic partnership deal and the “Ever Given” saga in the Suez Canal is bound to spawn a renewed drive to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and all interconnected corridors of Eurasia integration.
"Ever Given" saga in the Suez Canal
EverGiven is one of the largest container ships in the world. The ship is owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha, and is time chartered and operated by container transportation and shipping company Evergreen Marine, headquartered in Luzhu District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
In April 2021, it blocked the Suez Canal for days leading onto weeks, and put a halt to most sea-traffic using the canal.
Iran-China strategic partnership
The Iran-China bilateral 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed in Tehran by foreign ministers Javad Zarif and Wang Yi on 27 March 2021.
While specific details of the agreement are unknown, the joint statement released on signing refers to strengthening political and parliamentary ties, the recognition and pursuit of mutual strategic interests, increased cooperation in defense training, equipment, technology, and intelligence, increased cooperation in counterterrorism and counter-narcotics, and expanded economic ties, especially in finance, mining, energy, agriculture, and infrastructure.
Infrastructure includes ports and railway networks and is linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
This is the most important geoeconomic development in Southwest Asia in ages – even more crucial than the geopolitical and military support to Damascus by Russia since 2015.
Multiple overland railway corridors across Eurasia featuring cargo trains crammed with freight (the most iconic of which is arguably Chongqin-Duisburg) are a key plank of BRI. In a few years, this will all be conducted on high-speed rail.
The chongqing duisburg railway.
ChinaandEurope: Reconnecting Across a New Silk Roaddigitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1129&context=facpub
Chongqing Duisburg BELARUS GERMANY POLAND Venice Athens GEORGIA ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN Colombo TRANS-EURASIA RAILROADThe 11,179-kilometre rail line is the most important connection to Europe.
Launched in 2011 by a joint venture with Germany, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia, the rail goes from the city of Chongqing in southwestern China to Duisburg,Germany.
The key overland corridor is Xinjiang-Kazakhstan. (As shown in the map below.)
And then onwards to Russia and beyond outbound to Europe.
The other overland corridor traverses Central Asia and Iran, all the way to Turkey, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. It may take time – in terms of volume – to compete with maritime routes, but the substantial reduction in shipping time is already propelling a massive cargo surge.
The Iran-China strategic connection is bound to accelerate all interconnected corridors leading to and crisscrossing Southwest Asia.
A visual comparison of maritime travel compared to rail travel.
Crucially, multiple BRI trade connectivity corridors are directly linked to establishing alternative routes to oil and gas transit, controlled or “supervised” by the Hegemon since 1945: Suez, Malacca, Hormuz, Bab al Mandeb.
HegemonyHegemony (UK:, US:) is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others.
In ancient Greece (8th century BC – 6th century AD), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of a city-state over other city-states. The dominant state is known as the hegemon.
In the 19th century, hegemony came to denote the "Social or cultural predominance or ascendancy; predominance by one group within a society or milieu". Later, it could be used to mean "a group or regime which exerts undue influence within a society".
Also, it could be used for the geopolitical and the cultural predominance of one country over others, from which was derived hegemonism, as in the idea that the Great Powers meant to establish European hegemony over Africa, Asia and Latin America.-Wikipedia
Black Ops for the Ever Given Blockage in the Suez Canal?
Informal conversations with Persian Gulf traders have revealed huge skepticism about the foremost reason for the Ever Given saga.
The Ever Given, the 200,000-ton cargo ship that became stuck in the Suez Canal on March 23, was finally freed Monday after blocking the waterway for nearly a week, according to the Associated Press. The ship garnered international media attention and has become the subject of online conspiracy theories.
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Merchant marine pilots agree that winds in a desert storm were not enough to harass a state of the art mega-container ship equipped with very complex navigation systems.
The pilot error scenario, induced or not, is being seriously considered.
Then there’s the predominant shoptalk: stalled Ever Given was…
No wonder cynics, addressing the whole episode, are asking, Cui Bono?
Cui BonoCui bono? (Classical Latin: [kui̯ ˈbɔnoː]), in English "to whom is it a benefit?", is a Latin phrase about identifying crime suspects.
Itexpresses the view that crimes are often committed to benefit their perpetrators, especially financially. Which party benefits may not be obvious, and there may be a scapegoat.
-Wikipedia
Persian Gulf traders, in hush hush mode, also drop hints about the project for Haifa to eventually become the main port in the region. This would be in close cooperation with the Emirates. It would connect via a railway to be built between Jabal Ali in Dubai to Haifa, bypassing Suez.
Back to facts on the ground, the most interesting short-term development is how Iran’s oil and gas may be shipped to Xinjiang via the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan – using a to-be-built Trans-Caspian pipeline.
Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCP) is a proposed pipeline which would transport gas from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan across the Caspian sea via an undersea pipeline.[1] It is also known as the South Caucasus Pipeline Future Expansion (SCPFX), due to its connection with the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline. It is similar to the proposed Trans-Caspian 2 Gas Pipeline.
In May 2019 a pre-FEED (front end engineering and design) study began for a plan to build two Trans-Caspian pipelines. The first pipeline would follow an expanded SGC route (South Caucasus Pipeline, Tanap and Tap) to a final destination of Italy. The Trans-Caspian 2 Gas Pipeline would follow the White Stream route from the Georgian coast, entering the EU in Romania and reaching western Europe via existing pipelines in Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Slovakia and onwards.
- Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor
That falls right into classic BRI territory.
Actually more than that, because Kazakhstan is a partner not only of BRI but also the Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU).
From Beijing’s point of view, Iran is also absolutely essential for the development of a land corridor from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea and further to Europe via the Danube.
It’s obviously no accident that the Hegemon is on high alert in all points of this trade corridor…
“Maximum pressure” sanctions and hybrid war against Iran;
An attempt to manipulate the Armenia-Azerbaijan war;
The post-color revolution environment in both Georgia and Ukraine – which border the Black Sea;
NATO’s overarching shadow over the Balkans;
It’s all part of the plot.
Now get me some Lapis Lazuli
Another fascinating chapter of Iran-China concerns Afghanistan.
According to Tehran sources, part of the strategic agreement deals with Iran’s area of influence in Afghanistan and the evolution of still another connectivity corridor all the way to Xinjiang.
And here we go back to the always intriguing Lapis Lazuli corridor – which was conceptualized in 2012, initially for increased connectivity between Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
Lapis Lazuli corridor
LapisLazuliisan international transit route openedin 2018 linking Afghanistan toTurkeyviaTurkmenistan, Azerbaijan andGeorgia. The name “Lapis Lazuli” isderived from the historic route that Afghanistan'slapislazuliand other semiprecious stones were exported along, over 2,000 years ago, to the Caucasus, Russia, the Balkans, Europe, and North Africa along the ancient Silk Road. The initiative will serve to reinforce the Afghan Government's Infrastructure and Connectivity Development, Energy, and Private Sector Development National Priority Programs. The Lapis Lazuli corridor is funded by the Asian Development Bank. Currently, the transit project’s budget is estimated at $2 billion.-Wikipedia
Lapis Lazuli, wonderfully evocative, harks back to the export of an array of semiprecious stones via the Ancient Silk Roads to the Caucasus, Russia, the Balkans and North Africa.
Now the Afghan government sees the ambitious 21st century remix as…
Departing from Herat (a key area of Persian influence),
Continuing to the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan,
Via a Trans-Caspian pipeline to Baku,
Onwards to Tblisi,
And through the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi in the Black Sea,
And finally connected to Kars and Istanbul.
This is really serious business; a drive that may potentially link the Eastern Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.
Since Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea in 2018, in the Kazakh port of Aktau…
…what’s interesting is that their major issues are now discussed at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), where Russia and Kazakhstan are full members.
Iran will soon be;
Azerbaijan is a dialogue partner;
and Turkmenistan is a permanent guest.
Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea ...Publish Year: 2019
Author: Rizal Abdul Kadir
Published: Apr 25, 2019
After twenty-two years of negotiations, in Aktau on August 12, 2018, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan signed the Convention onthe Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. The preamble of the Convention stipulates, amongother things, that the Convention, made up of twenty-four articles, was agreed on by the five states based on principles and norms of the Charter of theUnited Nations and International Law.
The Iranian Caspian Sea Canal
Construction of a navigable channel linking the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf is underway. It is expected the project will be completed in the 2020s.
The project is particularly interesting for Russia due to the cold spell with Turkey, but European and post-Soviet states will also benefit from it.
But it seems the US is worried about this alternative to the Suez Channel.
"The West and Turkey have directly or indirectly tried to block the waterway [from being created]. As a matter of fact, the United States imposed sanctions" on companies that have been involved in the project, economic analyst Alexei Chickin wrote.
-Sputnik News
One of the key connectivity problems to be addressed is the viability of building a canal from the Caspian Sea to Iran’s shores in the Persian Gulf.
Another issue is the imperative transition towards container cargo transport in the Caspian.
In SCO terms, that will…
Increase Russian trade with India via Iran
As well as offering an extra corridor for China trade with Europe.
Now, with Azerbaijan prevailing over Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh flare up…
…while finally sealing a deal with Turkmenistan over their respective status in the Caspian Sea…
… impetus for the western part of Lapis Lazuli is now in the cards.
The eastern part is a much more complicated affair, involving an absolutely crucial issue now on the table not only for Beijing but for the SCO: the integration of Afghanistan to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
And then…
In late 2020, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan agreed to build what analyst Andrew Korybko delightfully described as the PAKAFUZ railway. PAKAFUZ will be a key step to expand CPEC to Central Asia, via Afghanistan. Russia is more than interested.
This can become a classic case of the evolving BRI-EAEU melting pot.
Crunch time – serious decisions included – will happen this summer, when Uzbekistan plans to host a conference called “Central and South Asia: Regional Interconnectedness. Challenges and Opportunities”.
So everything will be proceeding interconnected:
A Trans-Caspian link;
The expansion of CPEC;
Af-Pak connected to Central Asia;
An extra Pakistan-Iran corridor (via Balochistan, including the finally possible conclusion of the IP gas pipeline) all the way to Azerbaijan and Turkey;
With China deeply involved in all these projects.
Beijing will be building roads and pipelines in Iran, including one to ship Iranian natural gas to Turkey.
Iran-China, in terms of projected investment, is nearly ten times more ambitious than CPEC.
Call it CIEC (China-Iran Economic Corridor).
In a nutshell: the Chinese and Persian civilization-states are on the road to emulate the very close relationship they enjoyed during the Silk Road-era Yuan dynasty in the 13th century.
INSTC or bust
An extra piece of the puzzle concerns how the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) will mix with BRI and the EAEU.
Iran, Russia and India have been discussing the intricacies of this 7,200 km-long ship/rail/road trade corridor since 2002.
INSTC technically starts in Mumbai and goes all the way via the Indian Ocean to Iran, the Caspian Sea, and then to Moscow.
As a measure of its appeal, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Oman, and Syria are all INSTC members.
Much to the delight of Indian analysts, INSTC reduces transit time from West India to Western Russia from 40 to 20 days, while cutting costs by as much as 60%.
It’s already operational.
But not yet as a continuous, free flow sea and rail link.
New Delhi already spent $500 million on a crucial project: the expansion of Chabahar port in Iran, which was supposed to become its entry point for a made in India Silk Road to Afghanistan and onward to Central Asia.
But then it all got derailed by New Delhi’s flirting with the losing United States “Quad” proposition.
Mike Pompeo (USA) with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India).
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India also invested $1.6 billion in a railway between Zahedan, the key city in southeast Iran, and the Hajigak iron/steel mining in central Afghanistan.
This all falls into a possible Iran-India free trade agreement which is being negotiated since 2019 (for the moment, on stand-by).
Iran and Russia already clinched a similar agreement.
And India wants the same with the EAEU as a whole.
Following the Iran-China strategic partnership, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Mojtaba Zonnour, has already hinted that the next step should be an Iran-Russia strategic cooperation deal, privileging…
What Moscow is already seriously considering is to build a canal between the Caspian and the Sea of Azov, north of the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the already built Caspian port of Lagan is a certified game-changer.
Thisisbecause one of the twocanals connecting the Caspian Sea to the outside worldistheVolga–Don Canal, which links the Caspian Sea with the Sea of Azov. Russia hasused the Volga–Don Canal to move warships between the Caspian Sea andtheSea of Azov.
-Russian dominancein the Black Sea: TheSeaofAzov
Volga–Don Canal.
Lagan directly connects with multiple BRI nodes.
There’s rail connectivity to the Trans-Siberian all the way to China.
Across the Caspian, connectivity includes Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan and Baku in Azerbaijan, which is the starting point of the BTK railway through to the Black Sea and then all the way from Turkey to Europe.
On the Iranian stretch of the Caspian, Amirabad port links to the INSTC, Chabahar port and further on to India. It’s not an accident that several Iranian companies, as well China’s Poly Group and China Energy Engineering Group International want to invest in Lagan.
What we see in play here is Iran at the center of a maze progressively interconnected with Russia, China and Central Asia.
When the Caspian Sea is finally linked to international waters, we will see a de facto alternative trade/transport corridor to Suez.
Himalaya Silk Road
Post-Iran-China, it’s not far-fetched anymore to even consider the possible emergence in a not too distant future of a Himalaya Silk Road uniting BRICS members China and India (think, for instance, of the power of Himalayan ice converging into a shared Hydropower Tunnel).
Himalaya Silk Road to the BRI.
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As it stands, Russia is very much focused on limitless possibilities in Southwest Asia, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made it clear in the 10thMiddle East conference at the Valdai club.
The Hegemon’s treats on multiple fronts – Ukraine, Belarus, Syria, Nord Stream 2 – pale in comparison.
21st Century Geopolitics
The new architecture of 21st century geopolitics is already taking shape, with China providing multiple trade corridors for non-stop economic development…
…while Russia is the reliable provider of energy and security goods, as well as the conceptualizer of a Greater Eurasia home…
… with “strategic partnership” Sino/Russian diplomacy playing the very long game.
Southwest Asia and Greater Eurasia have already seen which way the (desert) winds are blowing.
And soon will the masters of international capital. Russia, China, Iran, India, Central Asia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Korean Peninsula, everyone will experience a capital surge – financial vultures included.
Following the Greed is Good gospel, Eurasia is about to become the ultimate Greed frontier.
…if left unencumbered.
The United States has a say…
The problem with the BRI is that it links Europe to Russia, Persia and China and permits local currency use instead of the USD and oceanic maritime trade. Over a period of time, the value of the USD will decrease due to it no longer being the global currency, and in order to maintain it’s value the United States would have to revert back tot he “gold standard”.
Which shouldn’t be a problem. Right?
I’m sure that the United States has 30 trillion dollars worth of gold stashed here and there. Somewhere. <\sarcasm>
Of course, it is in the best interests of the United States to prevent any kind of prosperity, or changes at any level from occurring in Asia. Any and all changes will have a negative effect on America at all levels. The only way that America can maintain it’s “rules based hegemony” (The USA makes the rules, and you either follow them or be destroyed) is for it to be the dominant and preeminent ruling structure on the globe.
Here is a couple of links to thorough, in-depth analysis </sarcasm> of this situation from America;
Nah. They pretty much say the same tired old thing. China is doing this because it is evil and wants to ensnare the world like a spider trapping a fly in it’s web. Yada, yada, yada.
The only way to stop this is militarily
And that, in itself open up a “whole can of worms”.
Rick0Sheaon April 10, 2021 · at 5:56 pm EST/EDT
I watched an excellent documentary on war a fews years ago. They talked about wars going back thousands of years to the present. When an army is going to attack, all the plans and logistics are carefully put in place. Once all the preparations have been made the only thing left is to trigger it off. The instigators do not want to be seen as the aggressors so they fabricate (false flag) something so they claim they were attacked first — and off they go. The war they planned and wanted so bad is underway.The Russian military would see all this unfolding – it’s on rails. But what could they do? The USA won’t be deterred. The only way this could have been avoided that I can see is that if the USA feared a nuclear war with Russia to the extent they would not take such ridiculously dangerous chance.
Here’s a great article by John Paul Roberts that is certainly worth a read regarding the sum total of military options that the USA has…
In Continuation of a Conversation with Paul Craig Roberts
Andrei Martyanov • April 7, 2021
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Here are few numbers, we’ll start with two: 447 million and 4.67 billion. These two numbers speak volumes, and are in the foundation of the America’s decline and increasingly irrational behavior which may, quoting Bachman Turner Overdrive’s famous hit, get us to the point of a proverbial ain’t seen nothing yet.
The first number is a population of European Union, while the second one is a population of Asia.
Second place in this count is taken by Africa, around 1.37 billion, and the third–by Latin America and Caribbean with respectable 659 million which is considerably larger still than the population of the European Union. The Northern America’s population is around 371 million, which in the larger scheme of things doesn’t look that impressive. In fact, it isn’t.
The history of colonialism—I deliberately omit here this qualifier “Western”, there were all kinds of colonialisms—as related to classic capitalism was more than just about exploitation of colonies for the benefit of metropole.
While images of extraction of natural resources from colonies and shipping those to metropoles are correct, they do not form a complete picture.
In the end, colonies were viewed as markets where metropole would sell its products. The larger the colony, the more numerous its population was, the larger was the market for products manufactured in metropole.
This all made a complete, however often bloody, economic sense in the times of a good ol’ industrial capitalism when metropole would get resources from colony and turn them into finished product and then will ship this finished product, with a huge value added, to be sold in colony.
For Native Americans who sold Manhattan to Dutch in 1626 for allegedly, and hotly contested by historians, $24 worth in finished goods, whatever was offered was a huge value for them because they could not produce those items, be that, as mythology states, shiny glass bids or whatever else much more technologically advanced Dutch would offer them.
That is how it worked more or less for centuries.
The more and better items one produced the richer one would become.
That is until FIRE economy and simulacrum of the post-industrialism were revealed to the world by people most of who would have difficulty passing a general contractor exam, not to speak of getting industrial engineering degree.
FIRE economyA FIRE economy is any economy based primarily on the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors.
Finance, insurance, and real estate are United States Census Bureau classifications. Barry Popik describes some early uses as far back as 1982. Since 2008, the term has been commonly used by Michael Hudson and Eric Janszen.
It is New York City's largest industry and a prominent part of the service industry in the United States overall economy and other Western developed countries.
-Wikipedia
Fast forward to May 2000 to the passage of House Resolution 4444 China Trade Bill. In one of the most profoundly mindless and ignorant statements of America’s foreign and economic policy, Bill Clinton proclaimed that:
“Today the House of Representatives has taken an historic step toward continued prosperity in America, reform in China and peace in the world. If the Senate votes as the House has just done, to extend permanent normal trade relations with China, it will open new doors of trade for America and new hope for change in China. Seven years ago, when I became president, I charted a new course for a new economy—a course of fiscal discipline, investment in our people and open trade. I have always believed that by opening markets abroad we open opportunities at home. We’ve worked hard to advance that goal of more open and more fair trade since 1993, all the way up to the landmark legislation I signed just a few days ago to expand trade with Africa and the Caribbean Basin.”
Cringeworthy in its sheer falsity and insufferable pathos…
…the economic equivalent of Chamberlain’s “Peace in Our Time” 1938 proclamation, after signing the Munich capitulation to Hitler…
…Clinton’s declaration rattled even those who otherwise wouldn’t even pay much attention to the economic affairs of the United States.
China, wasn’t upset; why would it be?
Both NAFTA and China’s accession to the WTO served as a massive vacuum cleaner sucking the life from American industries and, to be sure, these weren’t banking or financial consulting “industries” which were being shipped abroad.
American manufacturing started to leave its own shores.
America started to lose its only tool which was and even today remains the only valid mean to an end of economic prosperity—manufacturing capacity.
A concept which is beyond the grasp of most American economists and political pseudo-scientists most of who today wear Chinese tailored suits, carry iPhones manufactured in China and use laptops and PCs assembled there as well.
To be sure, America still produces some things—civilian aircraft, as an example.
But since the whole Boeing 737 Max affair, which can only be described in strongest profanity, the shining from the polished outward façade of Boeing is largely gone and the stalwart of the American commercial aviation has de facto lost competition to its EU rival Airbus.
Cars?
Sure. America still remains competitive at manufacturing trucks.
The rest?
America’s sedans are not competitive and lose out to Japanese and Korean car makers both domestically and internationally, enough to take a look at Ford losing Russian market to Asian, Russian and EU automakers, with the last Ford Focus plant closed in Russia recently.
In other, rather startling development, America’s main soft power export, Hollywood is losing its piercing power in China and in Russia.
In fact, it is not just losing it, it already lost it.
Hollywood’s “values” of a radical feminism, anti-male misogyny and promotion of the sexual deviancy are hardly in demand in largely conservative Chinese and Russian societies.
Sure, there are some items which the United States manufactures today which are in demand, or, if one gets to the reality of it all, forcefully imposed on customers—America’s hugely overpriced and dubiously effective weapon systems.
This is what remains of once America’s mighty industrial plant which could produce anything from socks and kitchen combines to good combat and excellent commercial aircraft.
Today this capacity is no more, since it is China who is the world’s consumer goods main manufacturer, and the only way the United States is capable to secure any market for its weapons is to retain Europe, NATO that is, as its main customer and vassal.
NATO will gladly (if not, color revolutions are a good tool for convincing those who have doubts) “buy” America’s weapons and “defense” of Europe…
… but America needs Europeans to believe that hordes of democracy-hating, only two-gender accepting, backward bearded Russian Ivans are ready to pounce to deny Europe her favorite values of a complete sexual depravity…
… her cities, also known as dirty multicultural cloacae…
…and declining economy for the reasons only Americans know…
So, to convince those 447 million EU’s residents that they need America’s protection and weapons, America needs Russia to get into the war in Ukraine.
And if it will end up with utter destruction, and it will if Russia really decides so, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and, likely, Ukrainian statehood, so be it.
Americans never really cared how many aborigines die, as long as it works for the US bottom line.
Or, if one may, a condition of American condition…
… which is deteriorating steadily because not only the United States increasingly has very little of substance, that is of high value added, to sell to the world…
… but forming economic and military monster of Eurasia removes the United States from its (grossly exaggerated to start with), self-proclaimed status of global hegemon…
…to the status of, at best, one of the few big shots on the planet.
At worst, the United States is removed from Eurasia as a viable competitor and is relegated to a status of a regional power…
…still powerful relative to its continental neighbors…
…but not having a shot at this second number of 4.67 billion.
This is a big chunk of population and customers.
Now imagine if the United States loses EU.
Suddenly 4.67 billion become 4.67 billion + 447 million = 5.117 billion, it is 65% of Earth’s population.
It is a huge majority of world’s population and, most importantly, population much of which can pay for goods, unlike it is the case with gigantic population of Africa.
Moreover, this population is concentrated within a single continental mass which is insulated from the United States by two oceans.
The United States cannot allow this consolidation of the market to happen and the loss of Europe, Washington’s thinking goes, is tantamount to capitulation.
So, the United States must hold on to EU, or whatever it will become once EU inevitably collapses, and NATO remains the only tool to drive European weaklings into submission.
Making Russia obliterate Ukrainian Armed Forces is a perfect way to scare Europeans into abandoning any attempts to economically compete with the United States and deny them access to Russia’s energy.
Considering an extremely low level of Western scholarship in the field of practical geopolitics and its pseudo-scientific offspring—geoeconomics…
…which failed for the last 30 years to come up with even the fuzziest description of the emerging world…
… it doesn’t matter if the United States “retains” Europe or not anymore.
The reasons for the utter failure of those “academic” predictions and resulting policies are numerous but few of them are worth focusing on.
Europe is not anymore a crucial trade partner for Russia and mutual trade plummeted in the last few years. The trend will continue and it is not only due to America’s pressure, albeit that too, on EU but is a result of Russia steady change of both economic model and her reorientation towards Asia which is now largely complete. Russia simply doesn’t need anymore many goods she used to buy in the EU. The policy of import substitution on average is a success and Russia economically insulating herself from the West will continue.
A much-discussed pipeline of Nord Stream 2 is, actually, not a crucial economic project for Russia anymore. Russia can absorb losses if the project eventually sabotaged by the United States and its European poodles such as Poland, but for Germany, and EU in general, this sabotage will result in catastrophe, due to European greens’ suicidal energy policies which make European goods costs extremely energy-dependent. In realty, America’s attempts to sabotage Nord Stream 2 are primarily directed against EU in general, and Germany in particular, not against Russia per se.
The United States lost the arms race. America’s weapons acquisition process and military doctrine-mongering cannot be viewed anymore as a normal, that is logical and justified, process. While still being able to produce some state-of-the-art platforms and enablers, such as signal processing, combat computer and communications networks, recon assets, in terms of actual weapons the United States begins to lag behind Russia not just in years but in generations. As recent, February 2021, Congressional Budget Office report on missile defense admitted, the United States is defenseless against salvo of combination of new Russia’s cruise missiles and that there is nothing to stop them. There isn’t. US air defense systems lag behind Russian ones dramatically and the gap only grows with Russia’s S-500 getting into serial production and the latest S-350 already being deployed into the first line units.
The United States simply cannot develop modern supersonic anti-shipping missile and the US Navy is forced, incomprehensibly, to buy Norwegian Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile—an underwhelming subsonic missile which is no match for modern high supersonic and hypersonic strike weapons Russia deploys, and is not survivable in modern air defense and ECM environment.
Lastly, the intellectual level and the level of awareness of modern American elites is in a precipitous decline, which inevitably resulted in the embarrassment of America’s last elections, especially scandalous debate between two geriatric candidates in 2020, which paraded the US as Springeresque tawdry TV show. Resultant loss of a legitimacy and yet another confirmation of the America’s position as a non-agreement capable entity hardly serve as boosters for America’s already tarnished reputation as a big-mouth bully and its elites being uncultured and uneducated.
The United States already fails to meet a number criteria imperative for the status of superpower, among which a military one is crucial.
If some American military “strategists” still exercised a suicidal idea of fighting Russia conventionally in Ukraine in 2014, today in 2021 such an idea is downright mad, because the United States cannot win conventional war in Russia’s vicinity and any US force will be annihilated.
This leaves the United States only two options:
Indeed, believing its own propaganda, try to unleash mayhem in Ukraine, provoke Russia into a direct military operation and then introduce whatever the force US and NATO will muster into the theater of operations. Any such plan is bound to fail miserably because not only such a force will be annihilated but participating NATO nations will face the possibility of their military installations destroyed by stand-off weapons. That raises the possibility of US escalating to nuclear threshold which means that the United States may cease to exists as a country. This is an undesirable plan and majority of US policy makers, bar some severe cases of psychological Russophobic disorders which are numerous in the current Administration and America’s elites, understand what it means. So, while not completely impossible, a probability for such a plan being implemented is fairly low. Not to mention the fact that for the US to fight conventionally around Russia will require assembly of the force which will dwarf whatever was assembled for the First Gulf War. There, the United States had almost 6 months to do so.
So, what’s left realistically is to push Ukraine into the suicidal campaign with Russia being designated aggressor before even the first shots are fired. What the United States does not recognize is the fact that this unties Russia’s hands who already has an overwhelming escalation dominance not only over Ukraine, but whatever might be attempted in terms of “support” for irrational regime in Kiev. Russia has many options, the United States has one—it needs war in Donbass, which, Washington’s thinking goes, will allow to drive Europeans into submission, which allegedly should allow the United States to save her hegemonic status. It will not even if Europe is driven into submission.
United States today has the only one resource left which allows it to stay relevant—virtual reality of both money “printing” press and of the media propaganda which is increasingly ineffective.
One could hide America’s decrepit cities, mass riots, destruction of the education system, incompetence of political and military top echelons, suicidal social practices and breakdown of law and order, aggravated by huge lines to food banks for only so long.
Now it is in the open and even subjugation of Europe and, allegedly, opening Europe’s markets to those few items the United States can still provide for its clients there…
… does not change the fact that the United States as it exists today has no future with or without Europe…
…and that it still has to recon with China’s immense manufacturing capacity…
…and Russia’s advanced military might…
…which drive unification of the Eurasian market whether the United States unleashes war in Ukraine or not.
Even without EU this market dwarfs whatever the United States will be able to “salvage” in order to avoid relegation to a lower league.
It cannot stop a process which was ongoing for years now…
…once Russia, after, the bloody coup in Ukraine…
… understood that there is nobody to talk too in the combined West…
…which apart from losing its military and economic power…
… started to disintegrate from the inside due to Western societies becoming increasingly totalitarian…
…and unable to face the reality that we still live in the highly industrialized world which needs energy, industrial plant and weapons which will defend them.
Both China and Russia seem to accumulate all that and with it the fate of the United States is sealed.
Bill Clinton may have thought that he “charted the new course for a new economy” in 2000, too bad for him, and the US, the “new economy” turned out to be an old one.
What?
You didn’t think that jeans, smartphones and rocket engines grow on the trees, did you?
But let us go back to the collision of warships. Why would a diversity-admit junior officer open fire on China? Proximately, because he is frightened and panicky. A bit more remotely, because he has been told over and over and over that the Chinese are dangerous and aggressive and want to do terrible things, seldom specified. The military tells them this because you cannot prepare the troops for war by telling them that there is no reason for it.Why would a President allow a war, knowing (if in a lucid moment) that it would produce absolute unshirted havoc in the economy even if it didn’t go nuclear? He wouldn’t. That is, he wouldn’t all at once choose Armageddon. But he couldn’t afford to seem soft on China, not with the midterms looming, so he couldn’t back off. If in the ensuing shootout the Navy got trounced, he most assuredly couldn’t drop the matter, and would have to double down. So, of course, would the Chinese for the same sorts of reasons. Off to the races.Deeper in the forest of causation is that the pathologically aggressive, amoral, manipulative, and crafty tend to rise to power. We select as rulers those who are least fit to rule. In America this is often done a bit differently, with the unscrupulous and powerful choosing cardboard leaders whose strings they can pull. The effect is the same.Why would war seem reasonable? Because Americans have never seen one, and believe their forces to be invincible. If you think that you can’t lose a fight, why avoid one? And because those in comfortable circumstances know that a war in Asia would be fought by the lower economic classes, about whom they care nothing and don’t much like. American elites do not fight. Note the list of draft dodgers during Vietnam: Bush II, Cheney, Bolton, Trump, Biden.These men, knowing almost nothing of the military, war or, very likely, military history, are quickly hijacked mentally by the Pentagon. The firm handshake, the steely gaze, the clean shaven, confident, and patriotic warriors (if only via Powerpoint) are impressive to pols who…well, you know…haven’t done that. They project strength and realism, without necessarily having either. Listening to them, you can easily get a sense of being accepted into a special, manly club. They say that America has the most powerful, invincible, best trained, tra la, tra la, and if you haven’t been there it is easy to believe. The Chinese? A cakewalk. Iran? Coupla weeks.Another reason for easily blundering into a war poorly understood is the very low quality of American government. Congress and the President are chosen by popularity contests, not according to competence. A congressman who worked his way up the political ladder in Wheeling or Baton Rouge knows state politics. He is unlikely to know anything about the first Island Chain or what a terminally guided ballistic missile is. A friend in a position to know estimates that ninety percent of the Senate do not know where Myanmar is. No one without a grasp of geography has more than a child’s understanding of military, economic, or strategic reality. But they vote on these things.Sez I, we are well and truly screwed. But there is little we can do about it.
Conclusion
You all can believe what you want. I know full well what is going on. If China is surrounded by peaceful and successful trading partners, then China will be safe and secure from conflict, invasion or NGO-sponsored “color revolutions”. Like Switzerland, like Germany, like Italy, and like Finland are today. Its a belief in the win-win possibilities of long term planning, cooperation and leadership by merit.
And nations that make physical things, that provide physical services, and that partner for joint success for their peoples will invariably be more successful, and longer lasting than ones that retain their existence on supporting a small patricidal oligarchy leadership that makes nothing of substance, but trades in invisible vapor ideas, and numbers on large elaborate spreadsheets.
But, you know, the United States is ruled by idiots.
And no matter how much we can reason, we can pray, or we can justify our actions and ideas and thoughts, the wildcard of an insane morn like Mike Pompeo with his finger on the military operations is a serious and real danger….
…as opined by this commenter…
A. Daneon April 11, 2021 · at 9:24 am EST/EDTWhat will happen next?
In June, During the NATO exercise Defending Europe 21, the Ukro NAZIs or Turkish controlled head-choppers will launch a falls flag attack.
This could be a chemical weapon launched against Ukrainian soldiers, claiming that the attack was launched by the Donbass militia, and that the chemical weapon was supplied by Russia.
The western MSN will blame Russia for the aggression.
While Russia is busy defending itself against the unjust accusations from the so called international community, the NATO exercise will go live and invade Donbass, claimed as humanitarian intervention.
The only way this can be avoided is if the US really fears a nuclear attack on American soil.
As soon as the first falls flag attack occurs in Ukraine, Russia should launch a nuclear weapon on American soil.
A good target will be the HAARP facility located in desolate Alaska. The facility is operated by the private Global Elite, and hated world wide for its clandestine operations.
When the facility is reduced to rubble, and nuclear radiation is traveling the northern hemisphere via the Jet stream, the western MSN will go into hysteria, calling for a ceasefire.
Mass demonstrations against war and COVID Lock Down will quickly turn into Riots and civil war, devastating every major city in Europe and America.
If the NATO do not stop its invasion of Donbass by then:
Russia will send missiles against every NATO Command center located in Ukraine and Poland.
And then hell will break loose:
China will attack US Navy vessels in the South China Sea and invade Taiwan.
North Korea will attack South Korea.
Nationalist in Japan will attack US deployments in Japan.
The Philippines will attack US assets like Al Qaeda in the region and invade Indonesia.
The Taliban will attack US and NATO deployments in Afghanistan.
India will enter into war with Pakistan.
Iraq will attack the US deployment in Bagdad, and northern Iraq.
Iran will attack US-NATO vessels in the Gulf, ending all oil supply to the west.
Yemen will attack Saudi Arabia.
Somalia will attack all ships in the bay of Aden.
Egypt will close the Suez Canal.
Syria will launch an attack against Turkish troops in Northern Syria.
Russia will shoot down every Fighter jet and drone entering Syrian airspace.
Lebanon will attack Israeli forces in the Golan.
Hezbola will attack Israel from Gaza.
Libya will launch attacks against Turkish troops in Libya.
Armenia will launch major attack against Turkish forces in eastern Anatolia.
Greece will attack Turkish transgression of Greek airspace and Turkish vessels near Cyprus.
Civil war will erupt in the Balkan, Serbia will retake Kosovo, and enter war with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Civil war will erupt in Spain, and Catalonia will secede from Madrid.
Paris will enter into chaos, and Macron will flee.
Al-Qaeda will launch a major attack on French troop in West Africa.
Venezuela will attack US navy vessels in the Caribbean sea.
Argentina will invade the Falkland Islands.
American Patriots will storm Washington for real. The National Guard protecting DC will defect.
CIA and FBI Agent will be hunted down by American Patriots. Many states will secede from the US.
Most western government will be forced to step down. The EU and NATO will disintegrate.
All Nordic Nations will enter into a Nordic defense Alliance.
As the American Fascist Empire collapses, the multi polar world will be reborn.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my BRI sub-index within my China index…
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Naval Aviation is a small club. As it should be. Here’s a great write up of the experiences of Paco and his experiences with the A-6 Intruder.
This guy flew “shake n’ bakes” in pursuit of “crispy critters”. Or at least that’s what we used to call it decades ago… “in the day”…
It's a great read. All credit to him for his autobiography, note that this was edited to fit this venue. The original article was found on The War Zone.
Confessions Of An A-6 Intruder Pilot
Strap in alongside veteran pilot Francesco “Paco” Chierici for a trip back in time when A-6s still rocketed through canyons in the black of night.
It may not be as well known as its maker’s point-nosed, swing-wing counterpart, the F-14 Tomcat, but Grumman’s A-6 Intruder was also a movie star and served as the backbone of the carrier air wing’s all weather, deep strike capability for decades. The all-business A-6 was capable of doling out a very heavy punch far from its home at sea and it was most at home down low, deep in the weeds, barrelling through enemy territory under the darkness of night.
One A-6 pilot, Francesco “Paco” Chierici, flew the blunt-nosed attack jet during the twilight of its career and is about to share exactly what it is like to strap into the ‘flying drumstick’ and take it over hostile territory, down deep and dark ravines, and into the history books as it began to fade from the Navy’s inventory once and for all.
Paco’s experiences at the controls of the Intruder are especially noteworthy as he would go on to fly higher-performance aircraft, transitioning into the F-14 and later becoming an aggressor pilot in the F-5—areas we will discuss in part two of this series. So, suffice it to say, with thousands of hours in fast jets, Chierici has plenty to compare the A-6 to.
Francesco “Paco” Chierici
Paco has thousands of hours in fast jets, with the A-6 being the first fleet aircraft he was assigned to fly.
This tell-all feature also comes just as Paco released his first novel, Lions Of The Sky. If what you are about to read is any indication, his novel should be outstanding and we look forward to reviewing it soon.
So, without further ado, let’s climb the intakes and step into the side-by-side cockpit of Grumman’s legendary deep strike phenom, and launch on alongside Paco on a ride to remember.
So ugly you had to force yourself to be fiercely proud of it
I’ll never forget the first time I walked up to an A-6. It was huge compared to the TA-4 Skyhawk jet trainer I had most recently flown. Nearly three times heavier. Two engines, versus one. Whereas the TA-4 was sleek and spindly on its tall landing gear, the Intruder was beefy and serious. The TA-4 looked nimble, the Tomcat was movie-pretty, the Intruder looked like what it was—a war club.
The cockpit of the Intruder was radically different as well. The visibility over the big bulbous nose wasn’t as good as the Skyhawk, but the side glass went all the way down to my hip. It was insane, you could practically see underneath the plane without even rolling.
USN
The instrument panel was much more serious, as well. It was absolutely filled with screens and switches. It was clearly a huge step up from the trainers I’d spent the last few years mastering. Now it would be less about the flying and more about the mission.
The biggest difference in the Intruder cockpit was the seat to my right, though. The Bombardier/Navigators (BNs) sat just below and aft of the pilot, but basically beside us. It was initially irritating to give up half of the cockpit, sacrificing visibility and primacy, to the BN, but I soon discovered that the camaraderie in that cockpit was unlike anything I would ever experience again. We would literally high-five after rolling off-target and spotting the bomb hit.
It was awesome.
Bill Abbott/Wikicommons
The Intruder’s unique side-by-side seating layout
One of my favorite stupid-pilot tricks was asking the BN to check the right side just before coming into the overhead break. While he was looking out, I would disconnect his G-suit hose just before break-turning at 6.5Gs. I got Gradymon Hackwith to pass out a couple of times. He would punch me in the arm until I rolled into the groove and he was forced to let me fly the ball to landing.
I would be laughing so hard there were tears.
The exterior of the Intruder was dominated by its giant nose. The plane was quite obviously built around the enormous terrain-following radar. We also had an extremely prominent refueling probe permanently jutting out from where the radome met the lower part of the windscreen.
The plane was kind of like a bulldog, so ugly you had to force yourself to be fiercely proud of it.
USN
A heavy hitter
One of the great things about the Intruder was its punch. During its heyday, it was second only to the B-52 in payload. That was remarkable because she was only 54 feet long with a wingspan of 53 feet, as compared to the BUFF, which is 159 feet long and 185 feet wide. Also, she was launching off of a 1,100-foot carrier, whereas the BUFF rumbled down a two-mile runway before it was able to claw itself into the sky.
Without any modifications, the A-6 could carry 28 MK-82 500-pound bombs. If the gear doors were removed, it was an even 30. That was 15,000 pounds of ordnance on a plane that only weighed 27,000 pounds empty. Fill her up with gas and we were launching off the deck in 300 feet, zero to 160 knots, at 60,000 pounds of gross weight.
That was quite a ride.
USN
One of the advantages of having such an aerodynamically challenged airframe was that she didn’t handle much differently fully loaded than when she was clean. Alright, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but in all honesty, she was a dream to fly low, fast, and laden with weapons.
The wing root, where the wing attached to the fuselage, was enormously thick. We could fly all day (and night) with a serious bomb load-out at low-level and pull five Gs or more. The Intruder was impervious.
The addition of the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) pod—which happened well before my time—enabled the A-6 to transition from a mere heavy-hitter to a precision striker. Whereas before there were two basic modes of delivery, the pilot doing a visual dive and the BN using the radar to drive the plane to a bomb release point, the FLIR introduced a level of precise aim-point fine-tuning that was completely unique at the time.
In the target area, the BN would transition from the radar picture to the FLIR. Using the laser and the crosshairs in the FLIR picture he would fine tune the information the pilot used to arrive at the proper delivery point. Those capabilities enabled the Intruder to precisely deliver iron bombs and laser-guided bombs in almost any weather conditions and at night.
USN
A-6Es releasing thousands of pounds of Mk82 Snakeye bombs.
A dark wizard by your side
The Intruder was unlike any other plane I flew in that it was built with the other crew in mind—the BN. The A-6 was an all-weather, low-level, day/night, medium attack plane. Basically, a bad-ass bomber that could fly at treetop level through the enemy’s backyard and drop tons of ordnance.
To accomplish that mission we had an amazing terrain following radar—again that big ugly thing on the nose. We also had a super-capable FLIR gimbaling pod under the chin. The FLIR pod didn’t add anything to the appearance, it looked like a wart on a witch’s chin, but it did add precision to the already impressive payload.
The BN was responsible for using the radar to navigate through steep valleys and canyons using the raw returns. The pilot used computer-generated information on the screen in front of him to hand fly the plane along the general path the BN laid out. Once the target area was penetrated, the BN would activate the FLIR ball. He would ‘laze’ the target, both for accurate ranging regardless of what weapons were delivered, and as a target designator for laser-guided ordnance. He would also slew the crosshairs of the FLIR to sweeten up the final phase of targeting. The pilot would again follow the computer-generated guidance on our screens derived from all of the BNs efforts, flip the Master Arm on, and then pickle off the weapon.
USN
We would routinely do this at night, though the mountains, in the clouds and rain, and at 200 feet and 420 knots. There was zero automation, the pilot hand-flew the plane at all times. But to me, the craziest aspect was that the BNs stuck their heads in the boot covering the radar and FLIR screens through the whole mission.
The boot was essentially a shroud with a padded hole where the BN would stick his face. It shielded the cockpit from the light of the radar so it wouldn’t blind the pilot during night flying. But when using it, the BN couldn’t see what was going on outside in the real world. So we would be flying through steep ravines at seven miles a minute at night as low as we dared, I would be glancing nervously at the granite cliff wall I could barely make out and the BN was stuck with his head down, arms spinning dials and switches like some dark wizard, immersed in his virtual world of radar returns and seemingly oblivious to the violent yanking and banking as we jinked through the low-level route.
The flying became even more aggressive once we entered the target area and executed any number of dynamic weapons delivery pops, all while the BN kept his head glued in his boot.
Craziness.
Because of that dedication to the mission and the simple fact that the Intruder was designed to be optimized by the BN, the community was as flat as any I’ve ever seen. Meaning that there was almost no greater weight placed on whether someone was a pilot or a BN. This was definitely not true in the fighter communities, where pilots considered themselves far superior to anyone, whether they were in aviation or not.
USN
An accidental fighter pilot
I was as close as you can be to an accidental fighter pilot. As a kid, I built plane models and hung them from the ceiling of my room in a huge Battle of Britain dogfight. But as I got older, I drifted away from the romance of aviation.
I didn’t grow up around planes. No one I knew was a pilot. I wasn’t one of those kids who washed Pipers at the local airport for gas money. Fortunately, I needed money to pay for college and I joined the Navy ROTC. What began as a means to an end morphed into an opportunity of a lifetime.
As a Midshipman, I was exposed to all of the communities that were available to me after graduation. After a couple of years, I was strongly inclined to pursue Naval Aviation and then something decisive happened the summer before Junior year. I got a back-seat ride in an F-14 with VF-51 and it was love at first flight. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else after I got a taste.
I was obsessed.
In the spring of our senior year, we received our community assignments. All the graduating ROTC and Naval Academy kids were ranked, then the slots were given out in order. It was, and is, extremely competitive to get aviation and I was beyond thrilled to receive my dream shot.
Hundreds of SNAs—Student Naval Aviators—gathered in the Cradle of Naval Aviation—Pensacola, Florida—that summer and we churned our way through the sausage factory that was flight school. I made it through all the fail points: academics, physical training, and primary training in the T-34. After all that I was selected for jets.
I went through intermediate training in the T-2 Buckeye, where I saw the carrier for the first time, and finally advanced flight training in the TA-4J Skyhawk. After carrier qualifying in the Skyhawk, I had finally completed the multi-year odyssey that began when I was first smitten.
The winging ceremony was an emotional, momentary personal victory. I was finally a Naval Aviator sporting wings of gold.
Little did I realize that the real work was about to begin.
Francesco Chierici
A young Paco standing in front of his mount.
The night is dark and full of terrors
The A-6 was super honest to land. It had a great combination of wing sweep, responsive engines, and drag which allowed for quick and fine corrections while flying the meatball.
Near the completion of training, we would carrier qualify, day and night. It was a big deal, our final exam. In the Intruder community, we would go to the boat for the first time with a fellow student, a BN that was our classmate. I was lucky enough to go with my good friend Gradymon. It was an intense experience for both of us, but especially for Grady since he had never seen an aircraft carrier from the air. The first time the BNs ever got to land on a ship was with a fellow knucklehead student (who routinely disconnected his G-suit hose at inappropriate times) piloting him.
Those guys were either crazy or brave as shit.
USN
The day landings were awesome and similar to the landings I had done in the T-2 and TA-4, but the night landings were going to be a completely new ballgame for me. It was going to be a huge comfort to have Grady by my side. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it up that night.
We spent the evening on the USS Ranger, having dinner and waiting for our turn to climb into a jet. The plan was for us to hot-switch into a plane that our classmates were currently flying. After their last night landing, they would be chained to the deck. With the engines still running, we would switch crews one at a time until Grady and I were safely strapped into the still running jet. Then we’d get fueled up and taxi to the catapult to take our turn at six night traps.
We tracked our jet as she went around the pattern, successfully landing five times. After she took off for the last time, we made our way up to flight deck control to await the last landing and the hot-switch. There were multiple TVs and a window facing the landing area.
I’ll never forget watching my jet on the TV as she was about to land. I leaned over to tighten my chest strap and she hit the deck and caught a wire. As I stood up, I could see her through the window. One moment she was decelerating with both engines howling at full power, just as normal. The next, the pilot and BN ejected, the jet angled out of the landing area toward a row of parked F/A-18s, slammed into them, then flipped into the water.
One of the F/A-18s snapped out of her chains and flipped into the water as well. Another was impacted so hard it also snapped its chains and spun 180 degrees, managing to barely stay on the deck. I stood there in Flight Deck Control with my hands still on my straps, my jaw hanging open.
The Intruder I was supposed to climb into and fly my very first night carrier landings had just broken its tailhook, smashed into three Hornets, and flipped into the sea.
Welcome to naval aviation!
USN
At home in the weeds
In the Intruder, flying nap-of-the-earth was our bread and butter. We did it during the day, free and loose, darting down the tiniest riverbeds and through the slightest cracks we could find. During the night and in bad weather, we also flew low and fast, but in a much more prescribed manner.
The low levels we flew were delineated in a huge manual, which contained the lat/long fixes defining the routes themselves. For the most part, the routes were ten miles wide, five miles to each side of the center-line running from fix to fix. A ten-mile corridor actually gives a pilot a tremendous amount of leeway to find the most tactically relevant course through the terrain, as well as the most fun. So, even the same route was not always the same.
Night low levels were a different beast. To become night proficient, a pilot and BN crew would have to complete three steps within a week. First, they would have to fly a route in the dome simulator. Then they would fly the same route during the day, and finally at night. This gave the crew two opportunities for the BN to familiarize himself with the radar picture before flying the actual route in darkness.
Once you were night low-level qualified, you could then fly any route, day or night.
Unknown
A-6 Intruder rocketing through a very deep canyon as seen from the BN’s position.
Nuclear chariot
One of the missions the A-6 was initially designed for was nuclear delivery of the B61 tactical nuclear bomb, affectionately known as the ‘dial-a-yield.’ There was literally a rotating switch inside a panel where the ordnancemen could select from .3 to 340 kilotons for when the bomb detonated. It was an incredible amount of power in a weapon that measured only twelve feet by one-foot and weighed just 700 pounds. By comparison, ‘Little Boy’ which was dropped on Hiroshima, weighed almost 10,000 pounds and had a defined yield of 15 kilotons.
It was chilling to imagine that something so diabolically versatile and powerful could be carried on a small jet and weigh less than an AGM-88 Hight-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM).
The main method of delivering the B61 was through a specific maneuver selectable in the computer, the LABS-IP, which stood for Low Altitude Bombing System – Initial Point. To practice this delivery, we would ingress to the target at low-level, usually at 480 knots, and once reaching the target area, we would accelerate to 540 knots.
DOE
B61 and its components.
At a certain distance from the target, which the BN was constantly fine-tuning through the radar and FLIR, the computer would command the pilot to pitch up. We would get guidance on our primary instrument commanding us into a 4G pull and we had to correct the horizontal flight path as well. Despite the Gs, we had to be as smooth as possible because at some point during the pull, 50-75 degrees nose high, the computer would release the weapon into a massive loft. The pilot would then keep his pull through a Half Cuban Eight, ending the maneuver heading in the direction they came from, at 200 feet, pedaling as fast as they could go.
The bomb would be lofted as high as six miles into the sky, and depending on the programming for the specific target, a parachute would open allowing the B61 to float toward earth, thus giving the delivery aircraft valuable time to race away before detonation.
The procedures called for each crew to close one eye at the time of detonation, in case the flash caused blindness. We used to joke that the pilots would close both eyes and the BNs would keep theirs open, since their jobs were done.
It was a heartless crowd.
I came into the fleet just after Gulf War I, in the summer of 1991. The Cold War was done, and we had just shed the onerous nuke delivery mission. I was one of the first pilots in my squadron not to have to go through the two-month drudgery of getting my ‘Nuke Cert.’
FAS.ORG
The Navy was out of the tactical nuclear bomb delivery business by the early 1990s.
Joining the fleet
I joined VA-155 the day they triumphantly flew in from their Gulf War cruise. The Silver Foxes were heroic in the conflict. They flew the first-night sorties into Bagdad at low-level, attacking vital military targets as surface-to-air missiles flew in all directions overhead. Throughout the forty-day air campaign, they were instrumental in completely demolishing Saddam’s military. Tragically, they lost one plane in combat in the waters just off Kuwait.
After combat ended, they partied their way home through various exotic ports of call, drunk from all their death-defying exploits. I remember swelling with pride as I stood in my khaki uniform on the flight line and watched them fly in.
The next six months, on the other hand, sucked as bad as any in my Navy career.
USN
VA-145 A-6E on the ramp in 1992.
I was the first new pilot the Foxes had gotten in over a year. They were all heroes and I was just the FNG (F’n New Guy). It was almost impossible to penetrate the camaraderie they had naturally forged. It took a few of the older guys rotating out and an additional influx of new guys, including a bunch of my classmates, for us to finally feel like we belonged.
The Foxes ended up being an amazing experience for me, filled with incredible adventures and great people.
The work-ups for our first cruise were instrumental in building the new collection of Foxes into a cohesive squadron. The experienced aviators trained the new guys well and we quickly bonded into an effective unit.
It was during this early stage of my fleet career that I first experienced the shattering pain of loss. Air Wing Two lost a Tomcat during a night mission while we were all at NAS Fallon. And much closer to home, my good friend Grady and his pilot Dewey, fellow Silver Foxes, perished in a low-level training accident.
Of the twenty-plus friends I lost during my career, Grady’s was one of the most difficult to endure. We had come up through the RAG together as fast friends. I had flown with Grady more than any other single BN in my brief career. We rejoiced when we were both assigned to VA-155 and looked forward to three more years of fun and flying.
The sudden shock of his death shook me to my core, damaging my confidence for months.
USN
Intruder’s place in the Air Wing
When I cruised on the Ranger, we were the last of the all-Grumman Air Wings [read all about this unique arrangement in this past post of ours]. There were a number of other NSFW and non-PC terms that were used to reference the absence of the new kid on the block, the F/A-18 Hornet.
Air Wing Two was composed primarily of two squadrons of Tomcats and two of Intruders. My first squadron assignment was with VA-155, the Silver Foxes. Our sister squadron was VA-145, the Swordsmen.
Air Wing Two on the Ranger was basically the last of the old-school air wings. The division of labor was absolutely clear, if you needed the skies swept of enemy jets, the Tomcats took to the air. If you needed bridges demolished, buildings leveled, hardened bunkers penetrated, ground-armor destroyed, troops-in-the-open decimated, or SAM sites taken out, then the Intruder was on the job.
Though in the competition between Top Gun and Flight of the Intruder movies, the f^@%!*g Tomcats clearly won the battle. But the long list of accomplishments achieved by the Intruders in Air Wing Two during the first Gulf War clearly overshadowed their more glamorous Grumman brethren.
USN
Ranger with its Grumman Air Wing.
All that gas
Most of my career was spent operating in the Persian Gulf where we had ample Air Force tanker support, but I flew a handful of tanker hops where we would strap four 2,000-pound drop-tanks and a centerline mounted D-704 refueling-pod, which aside from containing the retracting hose and basket, held another 2,000-pounds of gas.
The most fun tanker hops were the daytime yo-yo missions where you would launch before the fighters and strikers, meet them a couple hundred miles from the carrier along their strike route, give them almost all of your gas (18,000-20,000 pounds of give!) and then race back to the carrier for a solo shit-hot break.
The most rewarding tanker hops were when you were assigned as a recovery tanker for the last event of the night. Your job was to orbit overhead and be prepared to offer emergency gas to the planes that were coming down to land in the event they boltered (missed all the wires) or were waved off.
During Blue-Water ops, when we operated beyond the range of possibility to divert to a land-based runway, it was particularly challenging and a massive responsibility. Carrier-based jets are fuel-critical from the moment we start our engines. When we fly far enough out to sea where calling ‘uncle’ and landing on a runway isn’t possible, every ounce of gas becomes precious.
USN
An A-6E Intruder about to tank from a KA-6D Intruder. The KA-6Ds were uniquely configured with an internal hose and drogue system and were notoriously hard worn with extreme limits on their flight envelope due to being passed around from deployment to deployment. By the time Paco was flying Intruders, the A-6E carrying a refueling pod was the common ‘buddy tanker’ setup.
Once the night missions are complete and it’s time to land, the jets have enough gas for maybe two attempts to catch a wire. Throw in some weather, a pitching deck, a dark night and the knowledge that you either are landing safely on the ship, or ejecting into the frigid ocean, a pilot can get so tense that they practically suck the seat cushion up their butt.
Everyone I know has had a ‘night-in-the-barrel,’ a night where they had difficulty beyond normal catching a wire. And after every miss, the tension became more intense. You knew that five-thousand people were watching your every failed attempt, including your peers, your CO, the Skipper of the ship, and most likely the Strike-Group Admiral.
As the recovery tanker you were the last line of hope for a strung-out pilot who had already failed to land a few times. His, or her, nerves were surely shattered and confidence was in their boots. On the last pass before the troubled plane would need to refuel, the recovery tanker would drop down to shadow, or ‘hawk,’ the jet.
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You would have to maneuver yourself to time it perfectly so that if the jet failed to land once again you would be just in front of them at 2,000 feet. Then that shaky, panicky pilot could spot you immediately as they cleaned up and climbed to your altitude right behind you. Then they would have to perform an activity just slightly less challenging than landing on a carrier at night, they would have to plug their refueling probe into a basket dangling into the slipstream fifty feet behind the tanker at night, maybe in bad weather, at 2,000 feet. Or, they were going swimming. And the reward for a successful plug and refuel was another look at the boat.
Yay.
I know a guy who had to go around so many times he plugged the hawking tanker three times. After he finally landed, he was so wrung out he had to be helped from the cockpit.
And after all the drama was complete for the night, the recovery tanker had to come in and land. And there was no one hawking you with extra gas if you couldn’t make it aboard.
I didn’t love flying tanker missions and thankfully I didn’t have to fly many, but the yo-yo, and especially the recovery tanker missions were always gratifying.
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Ranger into the storm
By the time our workups were complete and we headed out on my first deployment I felt very comfortable in the Intruder and in the squadron. There was an undeniable thrill about leaving on my first deployment. It felt very grown-up, even though I was barely twenty-five. I was a junior officer, though we had had enough new guys where I wasn’t an FNG anymore. I had been in the squadron for over a year and become a Landing Signals Officer (LSO) as well, which was a fantastic position of responsibility and a job I thoroughly enjoyed.
After multiple detachments to Fallon and working from the Ranger I also felt extremely comfortable as a member of the Air Wing. Many of my friends from flight school ended up in the same Air Wing, scattered throughout the Tomcat, Intruder, Prowler, and Hawkeye squadrons. It was one of the closest Air Wings I was a part of, with great friendships and camaraderie across all the squadrons.
We pulled into Yokosuka, Japan. I climbed Mt. Fuji after a big night at the O-Club, which ended up being more of a challenge than it should have. Many of us spent five days partying in Tokyo, which was amazing. The ship left Japan for Busan, Korea, spending a few days at sea so the pilots could all fly at night.
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Ranger pulling into Yokuska in 1992 with Paco and VA-155 onboard.
At sea, each pilot is required to get a minimum of one night trap aboard the ship every seven days. One of the lesser-known pains of leaving port after four to five days of hard-charging was climbing into the cockpit for a night ‘re-qual’ all exhausted and hung over.
It was in Busan, on our second day of a planned four-day visit, where the cruise ratcheted up in intensity. The entire Strike Group was emergency recalled to their ships. We were pulling out immediately. Saddam had repeatedly violated the terms of the 1991 Cease Fire agreement. The powers that be demanded a US carrier on scene in the Persian Gulf to keep the dictator in check. The Ranger and her Strike Group sped away from the Korean Peninsula with great urgency.
It seemed there was action to be had again.
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Leadership was so intent to have a carrier presence as soon as possible that Ranger was sent directly through a Category 4 typhoon while en route. All of the other ships in the Strike Group were sent far south in the Indian Ocean to skirt around the massive storm, delaying them by many days. The Ranger rocked like a cork for three straight days. All non-essential activities were suspended, inside and out. The galleys closed and the only food available was sandwiches and cereal.
The ship was rolling so steeply that when you walked along the passageways it felt as if you were walking on the walls at times. We stuck our flight boots under the edges of our mattresses so we wouldn’t roll out of the bunk beds.
I’ll never forget watching the TV footage of the flight deck. During the peak of the storm, the Ranger, an 80,000-ton displacement, 1,000-foot, Forrestal class supercarrier with 70 aircraft on board, was hitting the waves so steeply that we were taking green water over the bow. Not sea spray, not splashes. The bow of the huge ship, with an entire Air Wing worth of airplanes exposed and chained to the deck, was digging into the oncoming waves so deeply that it was briefly submerged.
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Needless to say, after we came out the other side, the planes were a mess. Our incredible maintainers had a week to perform a miracle. They essentially had to rebuild a third of the planes that had been bathed in corrosive salt water. It was one of the most incredible feats of dedication I witnessed in my career. Those guys worked around the clock untill they dropped so that when we arrived in the Gulf we would have up jets to cross the beach with.
The transit from Korea to the Gulf was an amazing feat in itself. The Ranger steamed over 7,000 NM in undertwo weeks. A trip that would normally have taken three weeks, plus a port call in Singapore, to accomplish.
Sound asleep over Iraq
I’ll never forget the excitement that was building those last few days before we relieved the Independence on-station in the Persian Gulf. The other new guys and I were certain we were going to leap right into combat missions. My new BN, Pauly B, and I were tasked with planning the first mission in country. This was a huge honor and responsibility—or so I thought.
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Ranger relieving Independence on station in Persian Gulf in 1992.
Pauly and I stayed up for two days straight planning a 25-plane mission that involved three KC-135 Air Force tankers and two laps around Southern Iraq. I was so spooled up I couldn’t sleep the night before. Pauly and I briefed a packed ready room full of aircrew from the entire Wing. We were putting Saddam on notice, the Ranger and Air Wing Two were on station and we were ready to play.
The brief ended in the early afternoon and Pauly and I grabbed a quick dinner. We dressed and launched as the sun hung low on the horizon. I was fielding massive waves of excitement and trepidation as we flew toward the tanker rendezvous on the Saudi/Iraqi border. Not only was I leading my first mission in-country, but I had never before tanked off the feared KC-135, known as the ‘Iron Maiden.’
It certainly didn’t help my nerves that night was falling rapidly. If I failed to tank, I would have to return to Ranger in shame. If I damaged the basket by being ham-handed, the entire evolution could be scrapped.
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An A-6E approaches a KC-135E equipped with the dreaded Iron Maiden. The basket, which is attached to the KC-135’s boom via an adapter, is made of metal instead of the softer materials found on other hose and drogue systems. This makes it far less forgiving and it can even wheel around in turbulence and smash into the aircraft causing damage. Hence its other nickname—The Wrecking Ball.
Fortunately, I was able to fight my way through the ordeal and get my gas.
Once the whole package had tanked, Pauly conducted the roll call and we were off, heading into Iraq for our first lap.
I’ve had never seen anything as black as western Iraq. There wasn’t a light on the ground for a thousand miles. It was a moonless night and the stars were the brightest I had ever seen, but they provided no illumination of the earth below. I felt as if we were flying into a black hole.
The Intruder had a basic autopilot, just heading and altitude, and I engaged it once we were on the correct heading. After two sleepless nights and the excitement of the mission and stress of meeting the Iron Maiden under such intense circumstances, I was absolutely drained. My eyes blinked longer and longer until I actually fell asleep in a combat-loaded A-6E Intruder flying through hostile territory while leading a strike package.
Not one of my prouder moments. But as it turned out, Pauly B was dead asleep right next to me, too.
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I still get shivers thinking about how long we would have flown on that heading. How far we would have gone. We were pointed directly at Syria, which surely would not have appreciated a U.S. Navy strike package coming close to its border. Ultimately, we were saved by chance, though it nearly gave me a heart attack.
While I was sleeping on a hard ejection seat in a cramped cockpit as deeply as I’ve ever slept in my life, our ALR-67 radar warning receiver (RWR) began a high warble. We had been locked up by a radar. I woke with my heart in my mouth disengaged the autopilot and jinked hard.
I looked down at the ALR-67 screen to determine the direction of the radar and saw that we had been locked up by one of the F-14s in our group. The RIO came up on the secure radio and quickly apologized. It was one of their new guys screwing around with his radar. He hadn’t meant to lock us up.
Pauly and I looked at each other, realizing we had both been asleep and that we had just dodged a virtual bullet. We were wide awake, but it only lasted fifteen minutes before exhaustion set in again. We worked really hard telling dirty jokes and stories for the next four hours till the terror of the night trap was enough to bring us fully awake again.
The remainder of our four months in the gulf was a series of similar patrol missions punctuated by port calls in Dubai. Though I never saw any action in Iraq, I did achieve a measure of detente with the KC-135’s Iron Maiden. She never bit off my probe or shattered my canopy, I never ripped off her basket.
How to kill MiGs in an Intruder
At its prime, which unfortunately coincided with its retirement from service, the Intruder could carry just about every piece of air-to-mud ordnance in the US inventory. And, the AIM-9 Sidewinder.
Being a frustrated fighter pilot, I devised a game plan for how I would get the first Intruder air-to-air kill should any Iraqi MiG-29 be so foolish as to come at us. If we were flying a counter-radar mission our standard loadout was an AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) missile and an AIM-9 Sidewinder.
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Silver Foxes’ sister squadron, the Swordsman, seen carrying an AIM-9 Sidewinder during a mission over the Persian Gulf in 1992.
My plan of record was to go nose-to-nose with the Fulcrum, wait till he got to three miles on our nose then shoot the HARM in his direction. The big missile with a huge smoke trail would spook the Iraqi fighter into break turning just in front of me. When he was close enough, I would fire the Sidewinder for the victory.
In the folly of youth, I thought this was an excellent plan and no so secretly hoped an unwitting MiG-29 would come poking around. Thankfully it never became an issue. Though I still like to think it might have worked.
The glory!
Intruding into Somalia
As we were nearing the end of our time in the Gulf, another global hot-spot flared up and Ranger was, once again, tasked with being on-station. In early December of 1992, the feeble government of Somalia completely collapsed and the warlords were battling each other for primacy. The thugs were stealing farmers’ crops immediately after harvest and the country was on the verge of massive starvation. The United Nations was sending in relief but the warlords were stealing those supplies, as well.
The Ranger and Air Wing Two skipped our last port call in Dubai and made for the coast off Mogadishu at high speed. It was exciting to plan for a new mission in a new country. We were initially tasked with providing high cover and close-air-support for the U.N. personnel. The threat to us was minimal, ground fire from technicals—civilian pickup trucks modified with heavy guns. There was also a slim possibility of shoulder-launched SAMs, though none had been reported in the area. For the most part, we expected to operate with impunity, so long as we stayed above the range of the heavy guns.
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USS Ranger taking part in Operation Restore Hope in 1992.
The Commander of the Air Wing set the floor at 5,000 feet for normal operations and as low as we wanted for special circumstances. Those included low, fast fly-bys called ‘shows of force’ designed to strike fear into the hearts of bad actors on the ground below. We would come in at 50 feet and 500 knots, sneaking in from behind their position. It was a hugely effective and non-lethal tactic.
We were briefed that the biggest threat to our health was the diseases on the ground in the event we ejected. Since the Somalia visit was unplanned, none of us had received the proper inoculations. I’ll never forget our flight doc briefing the ready room about two additions to our flight gear. Two pre-filled syringes loaded with a cocktail of who-knows-what designed to keep us reasonably safe should our boots actually hit Somali soil. If we punched out, the moment we landed we were supposed to yank out the syringes, pop the tops and inject ourselves straight through our G-suits into the meat of our thighs.
What a trip.
By this time, the various squadron crews in the Wing had become very close. The E-2 Hawkeye guys were not allowed to cross feet-dry. One day, while we were telling them about the incredible views we were enjoying as we flew, they told us they couldn’t see us on their radars after we were a certain distance inland. Naturally, we devised a code word so we could break the 5,000-foot deck and fly low, where the Intruder was meant to be.
Whenever we flew with all junior officer crews, we would skim over the Somali heartland marveling at the change in topography. We saw giraffes and camels and strange chimney-like structures that, after some time, we determined were actually massive anthills. It was depressing to see fertile farm fields filled with water and crops, but devoid of farmers. They were starving because the warlords stole their harvest, not a lack of production.
My most enduring memory from the three weeks over Somalia was flying high cover for the amphibious landing. My BN and I began orbiting at 0400 in the pitch-black directly over the landing spot on the beach, loaded with laser-guided bombs. The BN scanned the shoreline with his FLIR, ensuring there was no opposition while dozens of landing craft came ashore disgorging trucks, APCs, and Marines.
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VA-155’s sister squadron seen flying over Somalia during the Ranger’s mission there in 1992.
Over the course of a couple of hours watch the empty beach fill with troops and machinery in an orderly manner and organize into a massive formation. As the sun peeked over the horizon, the headlights came on and the mechanized columns snaked away, dispersing in various directions into the countryside. It was an impressive and slightly emotional display.
A few days later, the Ranger and her Strike Group were released from Operation Restore Hope and we proceeded to Perth, Australia for our first port call in over six weeks.
Six quick interesting thoughts on flying Intruders
1) The Intruder was super fun to fly low and fast. It was like a Cadillac, smooth, powerful, and stable, with great visibility.
2) There were a number of landmarks along low-level routes that were traditional check-in-the box items. For instance, a derelict red pickup truck rusting away high in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. My personal favorite was checking the price of unleaded gas on a station marquee just before Winnemucca, Nevada when flying to Fallon.
3) We had the Pickle Barrel bombing patch. To earn it the pilot had to literally drop a Mk-76 ‘Blue Death’ practice bomb into a barrel on the Boardman, Oregon target range on his first visual delivery of the month. Only one chance every month.
Took me forever to get that damn patch.
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4) We had a not-so-stealthy manner of doing awesome fly-bys of the Officer’s Club, which was on the beach at NAS Whidbey Island. Coming back to base you could request an “Intruder Attack.” If the pattern was clear, it was generally approved. Ostensibly, we were conducting a practice bombing run on the valuable assets of the base. In reality, it was a license to do a 200 foot, 420-knot run right over all your buddies heads at the club.
Everyone would come out to watch. It was truly awesome.
5) Even though we had spin/departure procedures in the event of out-of-control flight, in reality, all the pilot had to do was release any pressure on the stick and rudders. The giant nose was an Earth-seeking magnet. Eventually, you ended up pointed at the dirt and the plane was flying again.
6) When we flew through clouds and rain at night, as we often did in the Pacific Northwest, we would frequently get arcing blue static electricity across the windscreen called Saint Elmo’s Fire. What was unique to the Intruder was that the refueling probe sticking up prominently between the windscreen panels would also be affected, developing a bizarre cone of blue static electricity pointed aft.
Retiring the Intruder to conquer the Cat
Shortly after returning from the ’92-’93 cruise, VA-155 was decommissioned. It had been planned for a long time so it was no surprise, but it still stung.
Most of the junior officers were dispersed into other fleet squadrons. I was lucky, I got to go to our sister squadron in Air Wing Two, VA-145 The Swordsmen. I showed up for work in April of ’93 only to discover that the Swordsmen had just been put on the chopping block, as well. VA-145 was to be decommissioned five months later, at the end of September.
The nice thing was that they were a good squadron whom we were familiar with and we all flew our butts off in those few months together. The challenge was that now there would be another thirty pilots on the streets looking for a home.
I had not-so-secretly always wanted to fly the Tomcat since my backseat ride as a Midshipman. I spent many weeks putting together a bulletproof transition package to submit to the board, which was ultimately approved. I left for the east coast RAG (Replacement Air Group training squadron) in September of ’93 as excited for a move as I had ever been.
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Going through a RAG the second time was almost stress-free, even though I was completing the full, new-guy syllabus. The basic systems were almost identical—thank you Grumman Iron Works—so the academic portion was fairly rote. But quite obviously, despite sharing a huge amount of DNA, the Tomcat was a significantly different beast than the Intruder. And I was absolutely thrilled to the core!
The power differential even in just the F-14A-model with the TF-30 engines was so insanely superior I didn’t stop smiling for three months. The B-model with the F110 engines was just ludicrous.
During my B-model demo hop I was flying in the Whiskey areas, about a hundred miles east over the ocean. The RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) had me go down to 200 feet, accelerate to 450 knots, then pull 4 Gs till I was straight up as I plugged in full afterburner. The plane had no tanks nor rails—slick as a newborn—and she leaped into the sky like a Saturn-5 rocket. Maybe 30 seconds later I was rolling over to level at 50,000 feet while still doing 250 knots.
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The air-to-air mission was also completely new to me. But I found it intuitive and creative in a manner that felt very natural. I loved working with the RIO to solve the angles for the long-range intercepts and missile employment and I had waited my whole life to dogfight in the visual arena. If I had been half as skilled at dogfighting as I was enthusiastic, I would have been pretty good.
All in all, I enjoyed the three-year head start in flying fleet jets over my classmates immensely, but all of that came to a screaming halt when it came time to bring the beast aboard the ship, especially at night.
I already had a couple hundred fleet traps in the Intruder and I was an experienced LSO. The ship didn’t intimidate me, in fact I had been the Top Nugget – the best new guy – on my first cruise. But landing the Tomcat was a completely different, and quite humbling, affair.
Where the Intruder was instantly responsive to power, angle of attack (AOA), and glide slope corrections, the Tomcat was anything but. The TF-30 engines had a nasty lag, which made power corrections a combination of guesswork and experience. The wings stuck out to 20 degrees in the landing configuration, which was much more than the Intruder. Combined with a massive, flat fuselage designed in itself to provide significant lift, the airframe had a tendency to float and decelerate when power was removed.
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Lastly, the Tomcat had a massive hook-to-eye distance meaning that as the pilot sat far head, at the very tip of the jet, maneuvering to keep his eyeballs on the glide-slope, sixty-three feet behind him was a hook which hung about fifteen feet below. With even the slightest movement of the nose, the hook could move many feet at the end of that moment-arm causing the pilot to either catch a 1-wire or completely miss all the wires even if he could still see the meatball in the center.
In short, the F-14 was a huge challenge to land aboard the ship, much less to do it actually well consistently.
Bombcat’s brain trust
A few of my former Intruder peers and I were drafted into VF-213, the Blacklions, after the Tomcat RAG to help them spool up their air-to-ground program. As much as I’d always wanted to be a ‘fighter-guy’ flying nothing but BFM and air-to-air sorties at supersonic speeds, it was my experience in air-to-ground that brought me to the ‘World Famous Blacklions.’
VF-213 was in the process of integrating the LANTIRN targeting pod with the Tomcat and eager to get smart on air-to-mud tactics. The LANTIRN was a massively capable FLIR pod that was easily mounted on a shoulder station. It proved to be an immensely capable pairing between off-the-shelf technology and a legacy air-superiority fighter that extended the F-14’s service life for another fifteen years. With the LANTIRN pod the F-14 became the most capable platform in the Navy to deliver LGBs, far exceeding the F/A-18C’s targeting capabilities, speed, loiter time, and range.
Also, the Tomcat looked a billion times more badass.
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Having a thorough background in delivering ground ordnance and weaponeering certainly made for an easy integration into the fighter Ready Room. We former A-6 folks were welcomed and tasked with sharing best practices with the rest of the squadron. But I thirsted for BFM missions more than anything.
Anytime I could get in the air for some high-aspect air combat maneuvering, I was happy. So, I made sure to include an off-target aerial engagement scenario at the end of the bombing hops whenever I could get away with it.
The age of the Intruder had come and gone
The newest jets I ever flew in the Navy were Intruders in VA-155. We began receiving newly winged SWIP (System Weapon Improvement Program) jets as soon as I checked in on board. Many had come right out of the factory, then diverted into the program to upgrade them with new wings and digital integration. I flew jets that had barely ten hours on them, with none of the paint worn off and all of the labels for the buttons and switches still visible.
Yet even with the upgrade in capabilities, the Intruder was not survivable in the modern battlespace. With the advent of the newest Russian SAM systems, the sanctuary of low-flight was removed. The Intruder could carry a massive bomb load, but modern warfare demanded precision over quantity. Anyone could carry LGBs at that point and the introduction of GPS-aided JDAM made delivering ordnance precisely in any weather almost as simple as entering GPS coordinates.
The mission the Intruder had been designed for and had excelled at, all weather, day/night, low-level delivery of tons of ordnance, had disappeared.
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A huge thanks to Paco for sharing his incredible experiences with us. And make sure to pick up a copy of his new book, Lions Of The Sky.
Do you want more?
I have more in my Happiness Index under my Aviation Sub-Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Today I woke up at the crack of dawn, made my self a nice stout coffee (after I washed my face) and ate it with some buttered baguettes. It’s a nice little routine that I have, especially since I found a bakery that makes these kinds of bread instead of the soft and sweet “sponge cakes” (style breads) that are irritatingly common throughout China these days.
Sweet breads are not my favorite, though. Bagels are. And finding a proper bagel in China is an exercise in futility.
My old dog was snoring and barking in his deep doggie dreams. His little doggie paws were making padding moves and he was softly barking between his snoring.
It was a nice lovely and calm morning.
I sat down, fired up my computers, sat down (after I measured my blood pressure) and checked my email, as the dawn was lightening up. I could feel the fresh ocean breeze carry the fragrances of the local flowers, and the birds were singing their morning songs. It was calm and pleasant.
Uncle MM has left me some bars of gold…
What do you know!
My long lost great uncle Metallicman has died without any heirs. And I am the closest relative. Who would have figured?
What are the odds?
What’s more, he’s got a couple of billion dollars in the bank and I was contacted to see if I was his long, lost relative.
My goodness. Imagine that!
My name is Fabian Artoro, an asset management brokerage consultant. I am contacting you on behalf of my late client who worked as an independent engineering contractor in a gold mining company in my country, the Republic of Ghana.
He was my client until his sudden demise on the 24th of April 2018, fatal car crash, his wife and their only daughter were all involved in that car crash along Kumassi express Road.
Sadly, all occupants of the vehicle, unfortunately, lost their lives. My client had funds, a huge amount in one of the financial institutions here and it is in the process of being confiscated by the state as unclaimed funds...
I’m sure it is legitimate.
Don’t you?
Well, After checking my normal (tap, click and move on) websites, and finding out that they are all parroting the same-old, same-old nonsense, I moved on. You do get tired of the same spiel day in, and day out.
What am I talking about?
Well, I am talking about this…
First up, your daily dose of Anti-China…
It’s been a daily top-line item in my feeds since 2016.
Reminds me of the movie “Battleship”. Nice CGI, by the way. And yeah, this was the entire plot and story line behind it. Don’t you know…
Well that was about as useful as giving a dolphin a pair of crutches.
So then it’s off to MM, and I check the comments. Ohhh baby!
MM Comment Section
Right there at the top of my comment “awaiting approval” list is this piece of insulting passive-aggressive bullshit.
I see you’re still doing the bidding of your new country comrade, it’s dishonest to hide the fact that you are a round-eyed Chinese operative…apparently there is no such thing as a retired intelligence officer.
I am too old for this nonsense.
I’ve lived in China for nearly two decades and no one has ever used the term “comrade“. I guess this jackass never got the memo. He’s probably still talking about how groovy the Mod Squad is, and fondling his “love beads”.
I’m dishonest? Even in prison they told me that I “couldn’t lie worth shit“. I can’t. So I just don’t try. I tell you it straight. You either take it or not. It really makes my life simpler. What you see is what you get.
“Round eyes” sounds pretty fucking racist to me.
Idiots abound in this world.
Sometimes I wonder if they really believe what they say, or that they want to live inside a rotten world-line template. This “fellow” is certainly making his MWI topographical map “interesting“.
Here’s a MM secret; if you want to have a nice calm and happy life, make others happy. If you want to have a problem-some, and tumultuous life, then spend your time making others miserable.
Anyways, it’s 7am and I could use a beer.
Do you “feel” me?
Beer and pancakes.
The rest of the world is not my problem. You all will see what the fuck is going on in your little neck of the woods soon enough. Especially this piece of shit (will).
Anyways…
I am sorry that I have been so busy with all these other issues lately. But I do “feel” a need to start post more MAJestic related stuff, and that means OOPART stuff as well.
Which leads me to this mystery…
The Aiud Mystery in Transylvania
Yeah. Aiud is in the Transylvania region of Romania. It in the state of Alba. It’s that triangle shaped region in the map below.
The Transylvania region of Romania.
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Of all the hundreds of websites about this mystery object, not one single one bothered to look up Aiud on a map. They just cut and paste from other websites.
Slothful. Lazy.
Money-grubbing. Greedy.
“For-profit” oriented assholes.
Doesn’t anyone ever just do things because they WANT to do it? Jeeze!
Anyways, in 1974, in Romania, East of Aiud, (in Transylvania) a group of workers, on the banks of the river Mures, discovered three buried objects in a sand trench 10 meters deep.
In sand, near a river, implies that the river eventually covered these items and buried them in silt. Then later, when the river became smaller or changed it’s path, the silt remained as sandy soil.
Of the three items, two of the objects proved to be Mastodon bones. These dating from between the Miocene and the Pleistocene periods. The third object — the Aluminum Wedge of Aiud, also known as the Object of Aiud, is a mysterious wedge-shaped block of aluminum metal.
The mysterious aluminum object was discovered by chance in 1974 at a depth of 10 meters at a quarry by the banks of river Mures near the Romanian town of Aiud. The artifact weighs approximately 2 kilos (length: 21cm; width: 12.5 cm; thickness: 7cm).
According to researchers and engineers it appears very similar to the feet fused on modern landing gear found on aircraft with vertical landing and take-off.
For conventional investigators it appears as a hammer head.
In its vicinity researchers found two mastodon bones(extinct large tusked mammal species that lived between 10,000 and 80,000 BC). Based on the findings next to the object it can be assumed that the object is at least 10,000 years old.
-HistoryDisclosure
Because it is out of place, it is considered an OOPART.
After all, contemporaneous belief is that Mastodons were unable to fabricate tools, let alone precision manufacture of aircraft components. They didn’t have opposing thumbs, don’t you know. Let alone the fact that those enormous tusks of theirs would get in the way of precision manufacturing…
That goes as well for the local humans at the time. They are considered to be primitive.
Early humans. (Romanticized.)
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So what the heck is a pawl from a landing gear doing with some mastodon bones near a river in Romania?
Dating the object
According to conventional history the artifact should not exist since aluminum was discovered in 1807 and wasn’t produced in any usable form until after 1886.
A subsequent dating analysis (I haven’t been able to find details on the dating technique used) on the artifact indicated that it was at least 200,000 years old.
This date apparently came from the geological evidence where the bones and pawl were found. When the “front end loader” excavated the trench (or what ever equivalent did so in the 1970’s in Romania) the soil, and the mastodon bones indicated a very approximate date sometime within the Pleistocene.
Mastodon, (genus Mammut), any of several extinctelephantine mammals (family Mammutidae, genus Mammut) that first appeared in theearlyMiocene (23 million to 2.6 million years ago) and continued in various forms through the Pleistocene Epoch (from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).
-Mastodon | Description, Distribution, Extinction, & Facts ...
Depending on the particular dating of the bones, we can assume that the pawl was contemporaneous with the bones in some way. Which could mean that the primitive humans picked up this pawl at some point in time, and were using it to smash open Mastodon bones for food.
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Obviously they weren't using it on one of their aircraft, or it just suddenly "fell off" some aircraft speeding along two million years ago, eh?
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The dating (on the Mastodon bones) would be somewhere between 23 million years ago and 11,700 million years ago. Which is a (phew!) long span of time.
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So I’m not in agreement with the dating of the trench, the location, the bones, or anything else. Except to say that the aluminum predates the discovery, manufacture and utilization of aluminum in that form and shape. Thus making it an OOPART.
However, a conjecture…
Perhaps primitive man found this aluminum pawl, and found a use for it. It is very useful for cracking open bones to get at the marrow.
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If we go ahead with the idea that perhaps a primitive human or pre-human picked up this aluminum pawl in it’s travels…
…and thinking that it is a nice “stone”, being light and easy to carry (5 pounds), with a nice pointed end…
…that shows abrasions on the pointed ends and sides…
…which makes this scenario likely…
…then we can date this part as used as a tool by the pre-humanoids in that region at that time.
The oldest handmade stone tools discovered yet predate any known humans and may have been wielded by an as-yet-unknown species, researchers say.
The 3.3-million-year-old stone artifacts are the first direct evidence that early human ancestors may have possessed the mental abilities needed to figure out how to make razor-sharp stone tools. The discovery also rewrites the book on the kind of environmental and evolutionary pressures that drove the emergence of toolmaking.
Chimpanzees and monkeys are known to use stones as tools, picking up rocks to hammer open nuts and solve other problems. However, until now, only members of the human lineage — the genus Homo, which includes the modern human species Homo sapiens and extinct humans such as Homo erectus — were thought capable of making stone tools. [See Photos of the Oldest Stone Tools]
Ancient stone artifacts from East Africa were first uncovered at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in the mid-20th century. Those stone tools were later associated with fossils of the ancient human species Homo habilis, discovered in the 1960s.
-LiveScience
So…
This aluminum pawl could be 2.3 million years old.
Humans during the Pleistocene
Let’s have Caleb Strom explain what “humans” were like during this time. (From here.)
Theevolution of anatomically modern humans took place during the Pleistocene. In the beginning of the Pleistocene Paranthropus species were still present, as well as early human ancestors, but during the lower Palaeolithic they disappeared, and the only hominin species found in fossilic records is Homo erectus for much of the Pleistocene.
-Pleistocene - Wikipedia
The Pleistocene epoch is a geologic epoch which began around 2.6 Mya (Million years ago) and came to an end around 11,700 BP (Before Present). It is characterized by lower sea levels than the present epoch and colder temperatures. During much of the Pleistocene, Europe, North America, and Siberia were covered by extensive ice sheets and glaciers. The Pleistocene was an important time because it was when the human genus first evolved.
The Pleistocene ( PLYSE-tə-seen, -toh-, often colloquially referred to as the Ice Age) is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the world's most recent period of repeated glaciations.
The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleīstos, "most") and καινός (kainós (latinized as cænus), "new".
-Wikipedia
The flora and fauna today also more or less reached their current form during the Pleistocene. Most Pleistocene animals and Pleistocene plants also exist in the Holocene. Furthermore, the Pleistocene epoch was the last geological epoch in which humans had relatively little impact.
While parts of the world were dryer – such as central Europe, which was mostly covered in tundra, other parts of the world were wetter and greener.
Many of the animals common today were also common in the Pleistocene. Deer, big cats, apes, elephants, and bears could all be found in a Pleistocene landscape. There were also animals that were common which have since gone extinct, such as mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths , and pre-human hominins .
Europe and Asia had significant populations of African fauna. Cave paintings and paleontological finds in Europe reveal that rhinoceroses, lions, and hyenas were all common at that time in southern Europe. The island of Sicily was also inhabited by a dwarf elephant species until surprisingly recent times. Northern Europe was covered in glaciers and inhospitable, while central Europe was tundra. Southern Europe, however, contained forests and was inhabited by numerous species of megafauna, most of which have since died out.
Another important development on the Pleistocene timeline was the emergence of the human genus: Homo. Humans probably evolved out of bipedal apes, such as the Australopithecines and Ardipithecus Ramidus . These early bipedal apes are classified as hominins. Hominins first evolved near the end of the Miocene epoch (25-5 Mya) in south and east Africa. Other than their upright posture and bipedalism, these hominins were not significantly more human than previous apes.
Their skeletons indicate that they resembled modern apes such as chimpanzees and their use of tools was limited or absent. At the beginning of the Pleistocene, however, a new type of hominin appeared. These hominins were taller, more dependent on upright locomotion, and had larger brains, which allowed them to excel in tool use over any previous hominin. These hominins belong to the genus Homo and hominins in this genus are simply called humans.
The earliest human species was Homo Habilis . The first examples of this species appeared about 2.3 million years ago. They used simple flake tools which were made by taking rocks and striking sharp flakes off other rocks – which could be used as cutting tools. Homo Habilis was more technologically inclined than its hominin predecessors, but it was still closer to earlier and more ape-like hominins than modern humans.
Homo Habilis
The next earliest human species is Homo Erectus . The first H. Erectus evolved around 2 million years ago and the last of them did not die out until sometime within the last 100,000 years. Archaeological and paleontological evidence suggest that they may have been the first humans to use culture as a wholesale approach to adapt to their environment. They were more advanced tool users and were also much taller than previous hominins, about six feet (1.83 meters) tall. They were also the first humans to leave Africa. By 1 million years ago, H. Erectus had spread to both Europe and Asia, bringing humans for the first time to these regions.
Homo Erectus
The earliest humans were universally hunter-gatherers. Their use of technology to interact with their environment made them very adaptative – so that humans eventually found their way into every possible environment on the planet: forests, grasslands, deserts, even tundra.
For most of the Pleistocene, humans did not significantly impact their environment. There were no more than a few hundred thousand individuals at a given time and their ability to transform the landscape was limited by primitive technology and limited social organization.
This all changed with the emergence of Homo Sapiens (modern humans) in Africa and Homo Neandertalensis (Neanderthals) in Europe.
Neanderthal
Anatomically modern humans first evolved in Africa around 200,000-300,000 BP. After the emergence of anatomically modern humans, something happened, perhaps a rewiring of the human brain , that led to the emergence of modern behaviors like art, blade production, long distance trade, and more efficient, organized hunting, among other abilities.
This change in behavior caused humans to have a significantly larger influence on their environment than in previous times. This can be seen in the fate of most megafauna, especially in the New World. Megafauna extinctions occurred around 40,000-50,000 years ago in Australia and around 13,000 years ago in North America. Both occurred shortly after the appearance of humans on these continents.
…
Obviously, Homo Neandertalensis (Neanderthals) are unlikely to have mined ore, smelted it, studied how to create alloys, formed it into aircraft components, and machines it for use in aircraft.
Thus we have an OOPART worthy of investigation.
Homo Neandertalensis (Neanderthals) are unlikely to have manufactured this aluminum pawl object.
An investigation ensues
So of course, if you are part of a construction crew and you dig up some bones, and other odd objects you call the authorities. And if the bones or objects look old, you call in the experts from the local museum, college or university to have a look.
Thus the object was sent to the archeological institute of Cluj-Napoca.
After the investigation and study, the block was donated to the History Museum of Transylvania, to be rediscovered and analyzed many years later. (I cover that later on.) Its weight turned out to be 5 pounds, and its approximate measurements are 20 x 12.5 x 7 centimeters.
There are two holes of different sizes.
The object has two arms like features.
Traces of abrasion can be seen on the sides of the object and at its lowest point.
Dr. Niederkorn of the institute for the study of metals and non-metallic minerals located in Magurele, Romania, concluded that the object is comprised of a alloy of an extremely complex metal.
He was not exaggerating.
Twelve different elements combine to form the Aiud Object. It consists of: 89% aluminum, 6.2% copper, 2.84% silicon, 1.81% zinc, 0.41% lead, 0.33% tin, 0.2% zirconium, 0.11% cadmium, 0.0024% nickel, 0.0023% cobalt, 0.0003% bismuth, and trace of galium.
Furthermore, this strange object is covered with a thick layer of aluminum oxide, which lends credence to its antiquity.
"After the analysis of this aluminum oxide layer, "specialists" have confirmed that the object is a minimum of 300 to 400 years old."
But that’s a bullshit guess.
The generation of aluminum oxide depends on the environment and the particular alloy that is being used. Unless you have that exact alloy of aluminum and put it though accelerated life testing, in the environment in question, it is IMPOSSIBLE to determine the age of anything.
Accelerated life testing
Accelerated life testing? What is that?
Well, it’s a common enough and fundamental aspect of engineering product design, but unknown to most other people. it is a way of estimating the life of a product due to environmental concerns. It’s a pretty handy and mature method for determine the life of a given object, or going backwards, the age of an object.
So here’s some basic links for the interested explorer…
But what we really want to determine is the accelerated life test due to corrosion. In that case similar, but more specialized tests must be conducted…
Anacceleratedcorrosiontest is a cyclic climate test for determination of thecorrosionresistance of various types of coatings. In an acceleratedcorrosiontest, corrosion, corrosiontest, corrosion, degradation or failure of materials and products are inducedwithoutchangeincorrosion mechanism (s) in a shorter time period than under normal conditions.
-What is an Accelerated Corrosion Test (ACT)? - Definition ...
www.corrosionpedia.com/definition/1503/accelerated-corrosion-test-act
Different alloys of aluminum oxidase differently. Some alloys are great for marine environments, while others are not that great, but have better strength characteristics. Further complicating the issue is the environment. Exposure to a dry environment is quite different from sitting with in a bog or sandy soil.
The ONLY way that you can accurately test for the oxidation characteristics of a new alloy is to perform extended life testing on a sample of the aluminum alloy within a simulated environment. Otherwise your estimates on aging through oxidation are all wrong.
The Aluminum Pawl. Note the two holes clearly shown.
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Many people have things to say about this object and opinions on dating it.
No one is saying that the aluminum pawl is recent. Aside from making them look silly in the eyes of their contemporaries, it’s obvious that this chunk of metal is old. Really old. The level of corrosion on the object far exceeds any kind of contemporaneous aluminum corrosion. It’s just simply very extraordinary and unusual.
And because of this there are numerous statements being made…
The fact that this strange metal object was found alongside Mastadon bones does cause one to wonder and raises many issues.
And...
Other specialists claim that the object could be 20,000 years old because it was found in a layer with mastodon bone. Perhaps this particular specimen lived in the latter part of the Pleistocene.
And...
Some researchers suppose that this piece of metal was part of a flying object that had fallen into the river. They presume that it had an extraterrestrial origin. Other researchers believe the wedge was made here on Earth and its purpose has not yet been identified.
Ah…
Some have speculated that this object is part of an Aircraft
It looks like a badly corroded locking latch from the retraction mechanism of an aircraft’s undercarriage, but that can’t be….surely?
Can it?
The retraction mechanism of an aircraft’s undercarriage.
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These mechanisms come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. But the closest thing to explain the operational features and functions of this aluminum pawl is the aircraft retraction mechanisms in contemporary aircraft.
I mean it’s more likely that this item was the part of some kind of landing gear mechanism than say a “frying pan”, a “pick axe”, a “railway train wheel”, a metal frame for a window”, a “water pipe” or an “anvil”.
Which makes one wonder what is one doing 2.5 million years ago, being used to break up the bones of a mastodon.
Primitive man would use stones and heavy objects to break open the bones of hunted animals to obtain the marrow inside of the bones.
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Could it have ended up down amongst bones that were deposited thousands of years ago by chance? It just happened to fall off an aircraft, that just happened to be flying a few million years ago, and it just happened to fall into the remains of a dead mastodon.
I guess it could.
Anything is possible.
And while it is possible, it is not probable.
The simplest explanation is probably the closest to the truth.
Whilst it is likely that the philosophy was posthumously attributed to him, as it was based upon common medieval philosophy, it seems to be a result of his minimalist lifestyle.
Occam's razor is more commonly described as 'the simplest answer is most often correct,' although this is an oversimplification. The 'correct' interpretation is that entities should not be multiplied needlessly.Researchers should avoid 'stacking' information to prove a theory if a simpler explanation fits the observations.
Occam's razor is the process of paring down information to make finding the truth easier.In science, it is getting rid of all the assumptions that make no difference to the predictions of the hypothesis. If you have a few hypotheses that could explain an observation, it is usually best to start with the simplest one.-How Occam's Razor Works | HowStuffWorks
Or in other words, look for the simplest explanation, and then go from there. You add and include or discount and discard theories that fit or don’t fit the investigation that you are performing.
Landing gear.
Names on a landing gear
I call it a pawl. But who knows what it’s actual role was.
pawl. (pôl) n. A hinged or pivoted device adapted to fit into a notch of a ratchet wheel to impart forward motionor prevent backward motion. [Perhaps variantofpale or pole, or from French pal (from Old French; see pale1 ).]
-Pawl - definitionofpawlbyTheFreeDictionary
It’s actual use name would be better described differently.
The specific names used on the various elements of an aircraft landing gear mechanism.
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Perhaps instead of a pawl, I could refer to it as a “drag strut to trunnion link walking beam“. Do you think that it would make things clearer?
Aiud in Romania
Ok, well let’s review where it was found. maybe some of you might want to hop on a plane and investigate for yourselves. You know, like Anonymous Jane did regarding the fuselage in The Fuselage embedded within the rocks of Victoria Falls.
If you do, I would be more than happy to post some of your pictures and info here. This is, after all, a collaborative effort.
Location of Romania. (This is for you Americans out there. The rest of the world pretty much knows where Romania is on a map.)
Map of Europe.
As far as where the town is, you need to look on a map. Here is a Romanian political map showing the location of Aiud. It is in the Alba (or Alba Lulia) state, which looks like a triangle.
A map of the various political regions of Romania.
And within this state we can find the location of Aiud in Romania.
A map of Alba, within Romania clearly showing the location of Aiud. “X” marks the spot.
Romania in the Miocene and the Pleistocene
Of course, a few thousand to a few million years ago Romania didn’t look like it does today. There was a lot of water there. With the Carpathian mountains creating a line of islands that interrupted a much larger Black Sea. If the dating was a million years ago, then we can say that the proto-humans who found and used this pawl were not all that far from the shorelines or feeding rivers to the Black Sea.
Palinspastic map for the Late Miocene with indication of palaeobiogeographic units (modified after Popov et al., 2004). Pannonian area emended after Magyar et al. (1999).
Outlines are drawn after palaeogeographic reconstructions or sediment distributions.
Faunas of freshwater systems fringing the Eastern Paratethys and the Italian 'Lago-mare' assemblage do not form a homogenous palaeogeographic entity. They are based on too many localities to be clearly indicated on the map. The Illyrian Region is only poorly supported by the analysis and represents the expiration of the Middle Miocene faunas of that region. Its incorporation into the present framework is only tentative.
Abbreviations: CPMCentral Peri-Mediterranean Dominion; NA-North Aegean Dominion; CA-Central Aegean Dominion; SAA-South Aegean-Anatolian Dominion; 1-Lower Tagus (w); 2-São Teotónio (l); 3-Duero (l); 4-Madrid (l); 5-Teruel (fl); 6-Baix Llobregat (b); 7-Alcalà de Xivert (u); 8-Cabriel (l); 9-Ayora (u); 10-Valencia (u); 11-Granada (l); 12-Spanish 'Lagomare' (b); 13-Palma (b); 14-Bresse-Valence (f); 15-Lower Rhône (m); 16-French 'Lago-mare' (b); 17-Torino hills (b); 18-Volterra (b); 19-Casino (b); 20-Velona (l); 21Cinigiano-Baccinello (l); 22-Sicilian 'Lago-mare' (b); 23-Bełchatów (l); 24-Turiec (l); 25-Pannon (b); 26-Dacia (b, l); 27-Kherson-Odessa region (b); 28-Black Sea depression (b); 29-Rioni Bay (b); 30-Kura Gulf (b); 31-Jazvina (l); 32-Kamengrad (l); 33-Posušje (l); 34-Sarajevo (l); 35-Kosovo (l); 36-Metohia (l); 37-Skopje (l); 38-Stanintsi (w); 39-Katerini (b); 40-Thessaloniki (b); 41-Strimon (b); 42-Limni (w); 43-Markopoulo (l); 44-Athens (l); 45-Gythio (b); 46-Kythira (b); 47-Naxos (u); 48-Heraklion (l); 49-Rhodos (l); 50-Kefalos (fl); 51-Kos (east) (l); 52-Mytilini (fl); 53-Denizli (b); 54-Cumaovası (l); 55-Dumlupınar-Siçanli (u); 56-Behramkale (u); 57-Marmara (f).
Environments are characterised as: b-brackish; f-fluviatile; fl-fluvio-lacustrine; l-lacustrine; m-marginal marine; w-wetlands; u-unknown.
History of Aluminum
This pawl is puzzling because pure aluminum was not readily obtainable until the middle of the 19th century.
Aluminum is not found freely in nature, but is combined with other minerals.
The manufacturing process requires 1,221°F (660.32°C) degrees of heat. Only in the last 100 years or so has the technology existed to successfully separate the materials from the mineral bearing ore.
For decades after it was first identified by British chemist Sir Humphry Davy in the early 1800s, scientists and tinkerers tried, and mostly failed, to find a good method for separating aluminum from everything else that stuck to it.
France’s Emperor Napoleon III was an early proponent of aluminum. He hoped the lightweight metal could be used to produce weapons and armor, giving his soldiers an edge in battle. The emperor funded the work of Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, who found a chemical method for obtaining pure aluminum, but it was still a slow process. An often repeated story goes that Napoleon III, frustrated with progress on aluminum, had much of France’s stock melted down and turned into cutlery. He and his honored guests used aluminum utensils, while everyone else at the imperial dinner table made do with gold.
In 1884, when the Washington Monument was completed, it was capped with a large casting of aluminum. The capping ceremony and the dedication of the monument “were given front-page publicity in the nation’s newspapers and the aluminum point or apex was creditably described,” according to a 1995 article published in the journal of the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society. “Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people who had never before even heard about aluminum now knew what it was.”
At the time, a pound of aluminum was worth $16 ($419 in today’s dollars).
Two years later, a commercially viable method for extracting aluminum from ore was discovered, and by 1889 the price had fallen to $2 per pound. Within 10 years of commercial refining, it plummeted to just 50 cents a pound.
The modern method of obtaining aluminum was discovered simultaneously by two young scientists working independently on different continents.
In 1886, two men, both 22 years of age — one working in Ohio and the other in northwestern France — developed the modern method for producing aluminum metal.
American Charles Martin Hall went to work after being inspired by a lecture at Oberlin College in which his chemistry professor pronounced that the discoverer of a practical way to produce aluminum “will bless humanity and make a fortune for himself.”
Frenchman Paul Héroult was working on the same problem.
At nearly the same time, the two men hit upon the same answer: electricity, and lots of it.
Still used today, this is how their method works: Alumina from bauxite is dissolved in another mineral, cryolite, at 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. The molten mixture is poured into a specially designed vat, and vast amounts of electricity are passed through it. The process causes aluminum metal to condense at the bottom of the vat.
The two men fought over ownership of the process they developed to smelt aluminum from bauxite ore. Héroult filed for his patent six weeks before Hall, but the American was able to prove (thanks possibly to notes kept by his sister, Julia Brainerd Hall) that he had actually made the discovery a few weeks before his rival. Ultimately, the two men settled their dispute and became friends.
In 1888, Hall co-founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Co. to produce aluminum. The company later became the aluminum giant Alcoa. The following year, Héroult scaled up the process in France.
The two men died the same year, in 1914, both age 51.
The development of the Hall-Héroult process, as it came to be known, was a major milestone in the Industrial Revolution. But it has also carried an environmental cost: The electricity needed produces large quantities of greenhouse gases. Aluminum production alone is responsible for about 1% of global emissions, according to estimates.
The availability of aluminum at the turn of the 20th century spurred on the age of flight and the Space Age.
Uses for Aluminum
The strength and light weight of aluminum is perfect for aerospace applications.
Aluminum allows designers to build a plane that is as light as possible, can carry heavyloads, uses the least amount of fuel and is impervious to rust. In modern aircraftmanufacture, aluminum is used everywhere. The Concorde, which flew passengers atover twice the speed of sound for 27 years, was built with an aluminum skin.
-Historyof Aluminum in the Aerospace Industry | Metal Super…
27% of all aluminum consumed occurs in the transportation industry, according to Aluminum Leader. This chemical element in the boron group is characterized by a silver-white color and soft, ductile texture. While it’s used in many different applications, one of the most common is aerospace. In fact, aluminum is one of the most common materials used in the construction of airplanes. So, why is aluminum used for this purpose instead of steel or other materials?
Some of the first airliners weren’t made of metal, but instead were made of wood. Although cheap and readily available, wood has a serious flaw that made it hazardous in airplanes: it rotted. There was one instances in which a wooden airliner crashed, killing everyone on board. The cause of the crash was later found to be rotten wood. This prompted manufacturers to quickly phase out wood in favor of metal.
Aluminum is the perfect material to use when manufacturing airplanes, thanks in part to its unique properties and characteristics. It’s strong, lightweight, predictable and inexpensive. Steel and iron are both stronger than aluminum, but strength alone isn’t enough to justify its use in aerospace manufacturing. The problem with steel and iron is its weight. Both of these metals are much heavier than aluminum — and too much weigh restricts an airplane’s ability to takeoff and fly.
It’s estimated that up to 80% of the materials used in modern-day aircraft is aluminum. The Wright brothers used a steel engine in their early-model Flyer plane, which was not only heavy but lacked the power necessary for takeover. As a result, they acquired a special engine made of cast aluminum, which allowed their Flyer-1 to takeoff with ease.
There are several different types of aluminum used in aerospace engineering, some of which include the following:
Aluminum 2024
Aluminum 3003
Aluminum 5052
Aluminum 6061
Aluminum 7075
Note: the number refers to the aluminum’s “grade.”
Of course, aluminum isn’t the only metal used to manufacture airplanes. Carbon-alloy steel is often used for his application as well. When carbon is added to steel, it becomes stronger and more resistant to rust and corrosion. Titanium is another metal that’s commonly used in aerospace engineering. It’s strong, lightweight, and naturally resistant to corrosion. Some companies alloy titanium with iron or manganese to construct the frame and engines for airplanes. These use of these metals, however, is typically less than that of aluminum. Aluminum isn’t the strongest metal, but it maintains a perfect balance of strength and low weight that make it ideal for airplanes.
The metal used and subsequent study
The object was taken to the Archaeological Institute of Cluj-Napoca for metallographic analysis where it was discovered that it was made from a complex alloy consisting 12 different elements.
It was then taken to a laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, to verify its composition, showed that the artifact was constituted mostly by aluminum (89%), with the minor participation of 11 other metals in specific proportions.
The thick layer of oxide of a millimeter of thickness that covered of even form to the block helped to date the antiquity of this in about 400 years. However, the geological layer in which it was found (Pleistocene) suggests that it already existed some 20,000 years ago in the past.
Florin Gheorghita, had the opportunity to examine the report and the analysis carried out under the direction of Dr. Niederkorn of the Institute for the Study of Nonmetallic Metals and Minerals (ICPMMN), located in Magurele, Romania, stressed in that it is composed of an extremely complex metal alloy.
Gheorghita states that the alloy is composed of 12 different elements, of which the percentage of aluminum volume (89%) has also been established. It also identified the presence of copper (6.2%), silicon (2.84%), zinc (1.81%), lead (0.41%), Laguna (0.33%), zirconium (0, 2%), cadmium (0.11%), nickel (0.0024%), cobalt (0.0023%), bismuth (0.0003%), silver (0.0002%), and gallium (in trace amounts).
People! these are extremely odd material and unusual combinations to have in an aluminum alloy. To say that it is unique is putting it mildly. What kind of mad scientist thought up this combination?
As I have often stated previously, factories don’t just throw what ever alloy of aluminum together and use it. Like steel, copper, bronze and zinc there are specific alloys that are regulated world-wide and used for certain purposes. Thus, by comparing the alloy composition of this object with available alloys “on the books” we can identify many aspects of this object.
We can identify it’s function.
We can identify what nation made it.
We might even be able to identify what smelter factory made the billet.
Isn’t industrial forensics fascinating?
Aluminum-Copper Alloy
The first thing that we note is that it’s most important alloying element is copper.
And from from this we can help determine what the possible function of the pawl was.
Copper has been the most common alloying element almost since the beginning of the aluminum industry, and a variety of alloys in which copper is the major addition were developed.
Most of these alloys fall within one of the following groups:
Cast alloys with 5% Cu, often with small amounts of silicon and magnesium.
Cast alloys with 7-8% Cu, which often contain large amounts of iron and silicon and appreciable amounts of manganese, chromium, zinc, tin, etc.
Cast alloys with 10-14% Cu. These alloys may contain small amounts of magnesium (0.10-0.30% Mg), iron up to 1.5%, up to 5% Si and smaller amounts of nickel, manganese, chromium.
Wrought alloys with 5-6% Cuand often small amounts of manganese, silicon, cadmium, bismuth, tin, lithium, vanadium and zirconium. Alloys of this type containing lead, bismuth, and cadmium have superior machinability.
Durals, whose basic composition is 4-4.5% Cu, 0.5-1.5% Mg, 0.5-1.0% Mn, sometimes with silicon additions.
Copper alloys containing nickel, which can be subdivided in two groups: the Y alloy type, whose basic composition is 4% Cu, 2% Ni, 1.5% Mg; and the Hyduminiums, which usually have lower copper contents and in which iron replaces some of the nickel.
In most of the alloys in this group aluminum is the primary constituent and in the cast alloys the basic structure consists of cored dendrites of aluminum solid solution, with a variety of constituents at the grain boundaries or interdendritic spaces, forming a brittle, more or less continuous network of eutectics.
Wrought products consist of a matrix of aluminum solid solution with the other constituents dispersed within it. Constituents formed in the alloys can be divided in two groups: in the soluble ones are the constituents containing only one or more of copper, lithium, magnesium, silicon, zinc; in the insoluble ones are the constituents containing at least one of the more or less insoluble iron, manganese, nickel, etc.
The type of soluble constituents formed depends not only on the amount of soluble elements available but also on their ratio.
Available copper depends on the iron, manganese and nickel contents; the copper combined with them is not available.
Copper forms (CuFe)Al6 and Cu2FeAl7, with iron, (CuFeMn)Al6 and Cu2Mn3Al20 with manganese, Cu4NiAl, and several not too well known compounds with nickel and iron.
The amount of silicon available to some extent controls the copper compounds formed.
Silicon above 1% favors the FeSiAl5, over the iron-copper compounds and (CuFeMn)3Si2Al15, over the (CuFeMn)Al6 and Cu2Mn3Al20 compounds.
Similarly, but to a lesser extent, available silicon is affected by iron and manganese contents. With the Cu:Mg ratio below 2 and the Mg:Si ratio well above 1.7 the CuMg4Al6 compound is formed, especially if appreciable zinc is present. When Cu:Mg > 2 and Mg:Si > 1.7, CuMgAl2 is formed.
If the Mg:Si ratio is approximately 1.7, Mg2Si and CuAl2 are in equilibrium.
With the Mg:Si ratio 1 or less, Cu2Mg8Si6Al5, is formed, usually together with CuAl2.
When the copper exceeds 5%, commercial heat treatment cannot dissolve it and the network of eutectics does not break up. Thus, in the 10-15% Cu alloys there is little difference in structure between the as-cast and heat treated alloys.
Magnesium is usually combined with silicon and copper. Only if appreciable amounts of lead, bismuth or tin are present, Mg2Sn, Mg2Pb, Mg2Bi3 can be formed.
The effect of alloying elements on density and thermal expansion is additive; thus, densities range from 2 700 to 2 850 kg/m3, with the lower values for the high-magnesium, high-silicon and low-copper alloys, the higher for the high-copper, high-nickel, high-manganese and high-iron contents.
Many of the cast alloys and aluminum-copper-nickel alloys are used for high-temperature applications, where creep resistance is important. Resistance is the same whether the load is tensile or compressive.
Wear resistance is favored by high hardness and the presence of hard constituents. Alloys with 10-15% Cu or treated to maximum hardness have very high wear resistance.
Silicon increases the strength in cast alloys, mainly by increasing the castability and thus the soundness of the castings, but with some loss of ductility and fatigue resistance, especially when it changes the iron-bearing compounds from FeM2SiAl8 or Cu2FeAl7, to FeSiAl5.
Magnesium increases the strength and hardness of the alloys, but, especially in castings, with a decided decrease in ductility and impact resistance.
Iron has some beneficial strengthening effect, especially at high temperature and at the lower contents (< 0.7% Fe).
Nickel has a strengthening effect, similar to that of manganese, although more limited because it only acts to reduce the embrittling effect of iron. Manganese and nickel together decrease the room-temperature properties because they combine in aluminum-manganese-nickel compounds and reduce the beneficial effects of each other. The main effect of-nickel is the increase in high-temperature strength, fatigue and creep resistance.
Titanium is added as grain refiner and it is very effective in reducing the grain size. If this results in a better dispersion of insoluble constituents, porosity and nonmetallic inclusions, a decided improvement in mechanical properties results.
Lithium has an effect very similar to that of magnesium: it increases strength, especially after heat treatment and at high temperatures, and there is a corresponding decrease in ductility. Zinc increases the strength but reduces ductility.
Hiduminium
The Hiduminium alloys or R.R. alloys are a series of high-strength, high-temperature aluminium alloys, developed for aircraft use by Rolls-Royce (“RR”) before World War II.
The name Hi–Du-Minium is derived from that of High Duty Aluminium Alloys.
In 1934 the Reynolds Tube Co. began production of extruded structural components for airframes, using R.R.56 alloy supplied by High Duty Alloys.
A new purpose-built plant was constructed at their works in Tyseley, Birmingham.
In time, the post-war Reynolds company, already known for its steel bicycle frame tubes, would attempt to survive in the peacetime market by supplying Hiduminium alloy components for high-end aluminium bicycle cranks and brakes.
The Duralumin alloys had already demonstrated high-strength aluminium alloys. Y alloy‘s virtue was its ability to maintain high strength at high temperatures. R.R alloys were developed by Hall & Bradbury at Rolls-Royce, partly to simplify the manufacture of components using them. A deliberate heat treatment process of multiple steps was used to control their physical properties.
Hiduminium Alloy range
A range of alloys were produced in the R.R.50 range. These could be worked by casting or forging, but they were not intended for rolling as sheet or general machining from bar stock.
Low-creep forging alloy for rotating impellers and compressors
R.R. 59
Forged piston alloy
The number of alloys expanded to support a range of applications and processing techniques. At the Paris Airshow of 1953, High Duty Alloys showed no less than eight different Hiduminium R.R. alloys: 20, 50, 56, 58, 66, 77, 80, 90. Also shown were gas turbine compressor and turbine blades in Hiduminium, and a range of their products in the Magnuminium alloy series.
R.R.58, also Aluminum 2618, comprising 2.5 copper, 1.5 magnesium, 1.0 iron, 1.2 nickel, 0.2 silicon, 0.1 titanium and the remainder aluminum, and originally intended for jet engine compressor blades, was used as the main structural material for the Concorde airframe, supplied by High Duty Alloys, it was also known as AU2GN to the French side of the project.
Later alloys, such as R.R.66, were used for sheet, where high strength was needed in an alloy capable of being worked by deep drawing. This became increasingly important with the faster jet aircraft post-war, as issues such as transonic compressibility became important. It was now necessary for an aircraft’s covering material to be strong, not merely the spar or framing beneath.
R.R.350, a sand-castable high temperature alloy, was used
In terms of composition, Y alloy typically contains 4% of copper and 2% of nickel. R.R. alloys reduce each of these by half to 2% and 1%, and 1% of iron is introduced.
So in comparison with the Pawl, we see that it’s composition in not a Y-alloy in the Hiduminium alloy family. The material used in the Pawl is an “aircraft structural grade aluminum alloy“, but it is not in common use as far as I can determine.
The copper percentage used, and the other alloying elements tells us that the material selection of this part migrated towards the need for ease of machining and finishing. And a look at the complex shape of this part, with curved, and convex surfaces, reinforces this conclusion. This part was cast, and then machined to exacting tolerances to match it’s complex geometry.
This particular grade of material is designed for high temperature applications. And since it is designed to pivot inside a mechanical mechanism, it appears that it is associated with either an engine component or landing gear.
So at least we know what it is not. It is not a hammer or utility part from a tractor. These parts tend to be made out of steel, or iron.
And we know what it is; it is a part used in an aircraft. It’s unique and complex geometry tells us that this was a structural component that fit within a mechanism with other precision parts. The presence of a machined hole tells us that there was a pivoting function of this item, and the presence of the second hone on the concave surface indicates that it mated with another part in some kind of sub-assembly geometry.
Abrasions on the surface
In 1995, a Romanian researcher, Florian Gheorghita, came across the artifact in the basement of the History Museum of Transylvania. The wedge was tested once more. This time in two different laboratories: the Archaeological Institute of Cluj-Napoca and an independent Swiss laboratory.
The tests confirmed the results reached by Fischinger and Niederkorn.
Gheorghita wrote in the Ancient Skies publication where he asked an aeronautical engineer about the artifact’s studies.
The engineer pointed out the configuration and hole drilled in the wedge and claimed that a pattern of abrasions and scratches on the metal led him to believe that it was part of an airplane landing gear.
For the Statists
Since this pawl is evidently an aircraft part, and the use of aluminum in aircraft began in the 1930’s, it is possible that this is part of a contemporaneous aircraft strut that somehow found it’s way to Romania over the years.
And somehow, it aged unusually rapidly, with surface corrosion of a substantial amount to a substantial degree by sandy soil.
And the design of the strut was somehow very elaborate and unusual for the aircraft pointing to some kind of advanced experimental design, for after all it wasn’t until the 1990’s that custom aluminum forgings of complex curved geometry started to find it’s way into mass production.
And it was truly a coincidence that it wound up in a batch of mastodon bones.
You can believe this narrative if it makes you feel better.
Conclusion
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck and tastes like a duck… it’s a duck. The only thing is that the particular species of a duck is new and unknown.
A machine, probably an aircraft, lost a part of it’s retractable landing gear around one million years ago near the Black Sea. The local proto-humanoids at that time, probably a species similar to Homo Habilis found the part and decided that it made a great hand tool. They used it to smash open the bones of the mastodons that they hunted at the time, and in the excitement of eating and engorging themselves forgot about the item and left it with the carcass.
Then, sometime in the 1970’s, the remains of the meal with the aluminum pawl was unearthed together during the construction of a road.
Who flew the aircraft, or what it was doing when it lost it’s part is unknown.
I do not know if it was “little green men”, articulated mastodons, or an unknown species of proto-humans who manufactured this part. What we do know is that they knew their metallurgy, they were able to design, and machine adeptly, and had the ability to fly in aircraft that encountered high temperature extremes.
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Russians are chess masters and the Chinese have Go, while the U.S.of A has Monopoly. Simple really.Posted by: Michael McPherson | Apr 6 2021 20:46 utc | 25
This is perhaps the best article that I have read in a while…
I really liked this:
"Socialism versus capitalism? No, it is a long time since the U.S. was a capitalist economy; it’s hardly even a market economy today. It has become, more and more, a rentier economy ..."
Looking at the stock markets and asset prices in general, they are completely disconnected from fundamentals – so much for “market efficiency” and “price discovery” under US-led “capitalism”.
The U.S. “democracy” is also not much of a democracy, but more of a corporatocracy and corrupt plutocracy.
You know, the world doesn’t have to be an either or between socialism/capitalism, and that we can take the key ingredients from both – perhaps what Professor Hudson means by a mixed economy, perhaps something along the lines of what China is trying.
"the U.S.of A has Monopoly" - like that, very apt! That simple analogy encompasses the American plutocracy's mindset of non-productive rent extraction, seeking to control every part of the world, and goal of winner-takes-all hegemony.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Apr 6 2021 21:11 utc | 27
There can be other flavors and variations.
Delicious Chinese flavors and food.
Alastair Crooke
April 5, 2021
The U.S. will ignore the message from Anchorage. It is already testing China over Taiwan, and is preparing an escalation in Ukraine, to test Russia.
Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (c. 500 BCE) advises that:
“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands; yet the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself … Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will; and does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him”.
This is the essence of the Chinese resistance economy – a strategy which has been fully unveiled in the wake of the Anchorage talks; talks that silenced any lingering thoughts in Beijing that America might somehow find some modus vivendi with Beijing in its headlong pursuit of primacy over China.
Although earlier there had been tantalising glimpses of déshabillé, the full reveal to China’s tough stance and rhetoric has only been permitted now – post-Anchorage – and the talks’ confirmation that the U.S. intends to block China’s ascent.
If it is assumed that this ‘resistance’ initiative constitutes some tit-for-tat ‘jab’ at Washington – through sinking Biden’s Iran ambitions, as revenge for America loudly crying ‘war crimes’ (‘genocide’ in Xingjian) – then we miss wholly its full import.
The new great Eurasian partnership.
The scope of the Iran pact by far transcends trade and investment, as one commentator in the Chinese state media made plain:
“As it stands, this deal (the Iran pact) will totally upend the prevailing geopolitical landscape in the West Asian region that has for so long been subject to U.S. hegemony”.
So here is the essence to ‘a clever combatant moving to impose his will’ – there is no need for China or Russia or Iran to go to war to do this; they just implement ‘it’.
They can do ‘it’ – quite simply. They don’t need a revolution to do it, because they have no vested interest in fighting America.
What is ‘it’?
It is not just a trade and investment pact with Tehran; neither is it simply allies helping each other. The ‘resistance’ lies precisely with the way they’re trying to help each other.
It is a mode of economic development.
It represents the notion that any rent-yielding resource – banking, land, natural resources and natural infrastructure monopolies – should be in the public domain to provide basic needs to everybody – freely.
This new way of governance is one where any rent-yielding resource should be public domain, and given to the people for free.
The alternative way simply is to privatise these ‘public goods’ (as in the West), where they are provided at a financialized maximum cost – including interest rates, dividends, management fees, and corporate manipulations for financial gain.
‘It’ is then a truly different economic approach.
To give one example:
New York’s Second Avenue Subway extension cost $6 billion, or $2 billion per mile – the most expensive urban mass transit ever built.
The average cost of underground subway lines outside the U.S. is $350 million a mile, or a sixth of New York’s cost.
How does this ‘it’ change everything?
Well, just imagine for a moment: the biggest element in anyone’s budget today is housing at 40%, which simply reflects high house prices, based on a debt-fuelled market.
Instead, imagine that proportion at 10% (as in China).
Suppose too, you have low-cost public education.
Well then, you are rid of education-led debt, and its interest cost.
Suppose you have public healthcare, and low priced transport infrastructure.
Then you would have the capacity to spend – It becomes a low-cost economy, and consequently it would grow.
Another example:
The cost of hiring R&D staff in China is a third to half the comparable cost in the U.S., so China’s tech spend is closer to $1 trillion a year (in terms of purchasing power parity), whereas the U.S. spends just 0.6% of GDP, or about $130 billion, on federal R&D.
At one level therefore, this ‘it’ is a strategic challenge to the western eco-system.
In one corner, the debt-driven, hyper-financialised, yet stagnant economies of Europe and the EU – in which strategic direction and economic ‘winners and losers’ are set by the Big Oligarchs, and in which the 60% struggle, and 0.1% thrive.
And, in the far corner, a very mixed economy in which the Party sets a strategic course for state enterprises, whilst others are encouraged to innovate, and to be entrepreneurial in the mold of a state-directed economy (albeit, with Taoist and Confucian characteristics).
Socialism versus capitalism?
No, it is a long time since the U.S. was a capitalist economy; it’s hardly even a market economy today.
It has become, more and more, a rentier economy since leaving the gold standard (in 1971).
This forced U.S. exit from the ‘gold window’ facilitated the U.S. via the resultant global demand for U.S. debt instruments, (Treasury bonds), to finance itself for free (from out of the entire world’s economic surplus).
To all my sisters and brothers I say drastic change is in the air as Nature is informing us on many levels of our standing on the precipice of annihilation (not in 30 years but currently), and the only hope for humanity is a quantum leap in consciousness. There is no time to waste. On the world stage, “Us versus Them” is becoming obsolete while “united we stand, divided we fall” increasingly will be forced upon us by momentous forces infinitely more powerful than our illusive technology and weapons that only threaten self destruction while delaying action to save us from our follies and foibles. If we are to survive as a species, we must all strive to develop a cooperative and holistic view of life encompassing all other beings and species, the ecosystem and its vulnerabilities, and the stability of the climate system. We must refrain from conflict resolved through violence, otherwise we are finished. Any discussion of geopolitics must be framed by that awareness.Posted by: norecovery | Apr 7 2021 4:36 utc | 67
The Washington Consensus ensured additionally that the inflows of dollars to Wall Street from around the globe would never be subject capital controls, nor would states be able to create their own currency, but would have to borrow in dollars from the World Bank and the IMF.
And that essentially meant borrowing from the Pentagon and the State Department in U.S. dollars, who ultimately were the system ‘enforcers’, as Professor Hudson notes.
The shift in the U.S. financial system to being an entity that that prioritises ‘real’ assets, such as mortgages and real estate that offer a certain ‘rent’, rather than to invest directly in speculative business ventures, also means that debt jubilees are verboten. (The Greeks can recount the experience of what that entails, in grim detail).
The point is that – at the economic plane – the U.S., hyper-financialised sphere is fast shrinking, as China, Russia and much of the ‘World Island’ turn to trading in their own currencies (and do not buy U.S. Treasuries).
In a ‘war’ of economic systems, America therefore starts on the back foot.
Halford Mackinder argued a century ago that control of the ‘Heartland’, which stretched from the Volga to the Yangtze, would control the ‘World Island’, which was his term for all Europe, Asia and Africa.
Over a century later, Mackinder’s theory resonates as the two leading nations behind the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) transform this into a system of inter-relations from one Eurasian end to another.
It is not so new, of course.
It is simply the revival of the ancient trade-based economy of the Eurasian heartland, which finally was collapsed in the 17th century.
Alastair Macleod notes that commentators usually fail to understand ‘why’ this flourishing in West Asia is happening:
“It is not due to military superiority, but down to simple economics.
While the U.S. economy suffers a post-lockdown inflationary outcome and an existential crisis for the dollar – China’s economy will boom on the back of increasing domestic consumption … and increasing exports, the consequence of America’s stimulation of consumer demand and a soaring budget deficit”.
There, explicitly said, is Sun Tzu’s point!
“Opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself”.
There is in Washington (and to an extent in Europe too), a faction entertaining a pathological emotional desire for war with Russia, largely stemming from a conviction that the Tzars (and later Stalin), were anti-Semitic.
Their emotion is one of hatred and anger, yet it is they who largely are responsible for bringing Russia and China together.
This, and America’s proclivity to sanction the world, has given China and Russia their opportunity.
The underlying point however, is that – even for the EU – the Rimland periphery is less important than Mackinder’s World Island.
There was a time when British and then American primacy outweighed its importance – but this may no longer be true.
What is actualizing here is the greatest challenge yet mounted to American economic power and technological supremacy.
Yet this economic Realpolitik is but half the story to China and Russia’s launch of a ‘global resistance economy’. It has a parallel geo-political frame, too.
It is to this latter aspect, most probably, that the Chinese official referred when he said that the Iran deal would…
“totally upend the prevailing geopolitical landscape in the West Asian region that has for so long been subject to U.S. hegemony”.
Note that he did not say that it would upend Iran’s relations with U.S. or Europe – he said the whole region. He implied too, that China’s initiatives would free West Asia from American hegemony.
“The Middle East was a highland of brilliant civilizations in human history. Yet, due to protracted conflicts and turmoil in the more recent history, the region descended into a security lowland … For the region to emerge from chaos and enjoy stability, it must break free from the shadows of big-power geopolitical rivalry, and independently explore development paths suited to its regional realities.
It must stay impervious to external pressure and interference, and follow an inclusive and reconciliatory approach to build a security architecture that accommodates the legitimate concerns of all sides …
Against this backdrop, China wishes to propose a five-point initiative on achieving security and stability in the Middle East:“Firstly, advocating mutual respect …
Both sides should uphold the international norm of non-interference in others’ internal affairs.
… it is particularly important for China and Arab states to stand together against slandering, defamation, interference and pressurizing in the name of human rights … [the EU should take note]
“Second, upholding equity and justice, opposing unilateralism, and defending international justice …
China will encourage the Security Council to fully deliberate on the question of Palestine to reaffirm the two-state solution …
We should uphold the UN-centred international system, as well as the international order underpinned by international law – and jointly promote a new type of international relations. We should share governance experience … and oppose arrogance and prejudice.“Third, achieving non-proliferation …
Parties need to … discuss and formulate the roadmap and timeframe for the United States and Iran to resume compliance with the JCPOA.
The pressing task is for the U.S. to take substantive measures to lift its unilateral sanctions on Iran, and long-arm jurisdiction on third parties, and for Iran to resume reciprocal compliance with its nuclear commitments.
At the same time, the international community should support efforts by regional countries in establishing a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.“Fourth, jointly fostering collective security …
We propose holding in China a multilateral dialogue conference for regional security in the Gulf (Persian Gulf) …“And fifthly, accelerating development cooperation …”.
Well, China has spectacularly made its entrance in the Middle East, and is challenging the U.S. with a resistance agenda.
FM Wang, when he met with Ali Larijani, special adviser to the Supreme Leader Khamenei, framed it all in a single sentence:
“Iran decides independently on its relations with other countries, and is not like some countries that change their position with one phone call”.
This single comment encapsulates the new ‘wolf warrior’ ethos: states should stick with their autonomy and sovereignty.
China is advocating a sovereigntist multilateralism to shake off “the western yoke”.
Wang did not confine this political message to Iran.
He had just said the same in Saudi Arabia, before arriving in Tehran.
It was well received in Riyadh.
In economic development terms, China earlier had linked Turkey and Pakistan into the ‘corridor’ plan – and now Iran.
How will the U.S. react?
Will There Be A Global Resistance Economy?
Wrong question, imo.
If China is nattering about it then it's a fact on the ground.
The question now is "What will the Totalitarian Capitalist do to nip it in the bud?"
One of the reasons advanced for the Iraq Fake War was that Saddam had declared his intention to side-step the US$ in conducting Iraq's oil transactions.
The trouble with China is that it plans ahead in 5-year & 10-year chunks so the idea of a GRE isn't something Xi dreamt up yesterday afternoon.
If he's nattering about it; it means that all the physical and bureaucratic infrastructure is in place, and is probably already processing transactions.
I wondered why Scum Mo panicked by chopping CGTN off at the socks after hearing about China's 13th People's Congress in early March and assumed it was because his idea of a long-range plan is "Who are we going to screw tomorrow?" or "No, sorry, we're discussing the future and the meeting is Top Secret so you voters/shitkickers aren't invited!"
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 6 2021 20:33 utc | 23
How will the USA react?
It will ignore the message from Anchorage.
It will likely press on.
It is already testing China over Taiwan, and is preparing an escalation in Ukraine, to test Russia.
For the EU, the Chinese entry into global politics is more problematic.
It was trying to leverage its own ‘strategic autonomy’ by erecting European values as the gateway to inclusion into its market and trade partnership.
China effectively is telling the world to reject any such hegemonic imposition of alien values and rights.
The EU is stranded in the midst.
Unlike the U.S., it is precluded from printing the money with which to resurrect its virus-blighted economy.
It desperately needs trade and investment.
Its biggest trading partner, and its tech well-spring, however, has just told the EU (as the U.S.), to give up on its moralising discourse.
At the same time, Europe’s ‘security partner’ has just demanded the opposite – that the EU strengthens it.
What’s to be done?
Sit back, and watch … (with fingers crossed that no one does something extremely stupid).
China, in turn, was definitely 3rd world when the Qing dynasty fell. 40 years of "capitalism" did nothing whatsoever to improve China's economy. And even at the beginning of Deng's "market" reforms, China was a very different place - economically and infrastructurally - than it was in 1949.What Crooke writes about is exactly what Hudson has repeatedly spoken to: the original goal for economists was reform. Reform of economies away from the stranglehold of feudal/aristocratic rentiers towards economic goals that benefit everyone. The feudal/aristocratic interests have only been replaced by banksters - and thus the Russia/China/Iran response is as much defensive as it is reform. They're being attacked politically and economically by the bankster classes because all 3 of those nations have, in the recent past, booted out their oligarchs.Russia booted out its aristocrats in 1917 then Putin brought the "privatization" oligarchs to heel 2000-2006.China booted out its capitalist/warlord oligarchs in 1949, then booted out the socialist bureaucrats in the 1980s.Iran booted out both its king and British American oil interests in 1979.Is it any wonder these nations are hated and feared by the banksters worldwide? And their existence gleefully used to justify outrageous sums spent on "defense" by the MIC profiteers?Posted by: c1ue | Apr 7 2021 16:56 utc | 91
Conclusions and some thoughts
What is going on now is historic. It’s not a matter of one nation fighting another. Instead an entire way of doing things is being up-ended. China has shown the way, and it is no wonder that the United States is blocking videos out of China, and news out of China, and whenever it discusses anything about China it is so darn negative.
Look at America today.
EVERYTHING is for profit. Everything. From drinking water, to getting arrested for having too much money inside your wallet. Even Adobe has changed from…
"Save PDF as..."
to
"Save PDF as long as you have a "membership" just pay this monthly fee...
For a fee, don’t you know.
People! This is all FUCKED UP!
China’s way of doing things is WORKING.
America is nearly 30 trillion dollars in debt. That’s an impossible number. If you mined all the gold on the entire planet, you would never have this kind of money.
How can this situation arise?
But creating debt out of “thin air”; out of nothing. And that has been the pyramid scheme for all these many, many decades. People who make nothing, and provides no services end up being fantastically engorged with wealth, while those who make and create things, and provide tangible services end up in poverty or as debt slaves.
It’s not a sustainable model.
In the mean time we must re-organize our societies and get rid of the parasites that try to end our world even before the next big asteroid. What China and Russia is doing is clearly the way forward.I think however "capitalism" and "socialism" is 20th century vocabulary of limited relevance in the present situation. It is not "left" vs. "right" anymore (if it ever was).Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 6 2021 20:43 utc | 24
China, a nation of meritocracy understands this.
And so you are seeing the result…
The wealthy oligarchy, sitting on top of their big imaginary fortunes are demanding that the world engage in a hot (probably nuclear) war rather than they succumb to the ultimate reality that is approaching “on the tracks”. Indeed it’s going to be one fuck of a “train wreck”.
Is the greater public ever going to get a clear view of the difference behind the "rules based order" of the West (we own the money system and make the rules) and the negotiated International law based order?Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2021 17:05 utc | 4
And the rest of the world is starting to jump on the “bandwagon” and trade in their own currencies backed in solid tangible items. Those nations that will refuse to do so will see their piles of money evaporate in value. And thus a great economic explosion is looming in the future, and the ONLY means to prevent it is for the Untied States to nuke the fuck out of Asia.
We will see what will happen.
That is my take as well. Plus the message that China possesses an incredible sense of social solidarity and flexibility. The switches in production to meet emergency pandemic components from masks to complex ventilators to food distribution chains - that is an extraordinary tale of a great civilisation facing an immense stress test and emerging wiser and stronger.Most interesting is the synchronicity between the small and large capitalist sector with the public sector. THAT is the economy that the west was deluded into abandoning and still detests and undermines with every ounce of its effort.Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 7 2021 5:40 utc | 72
I for one welcome a world without all those psychopathic leeches charging fees and taxes and regulations on everything that you do. It was totally refreshing when I moved to China, and those who have never had this experience is in for an amazing ride!
Good for Iran; and China, Russia, and Asia will benefit as well.
My main fear is a wounded USA over reacting itself into a war...
A bully usually needs a good whupping to stop bullying; in the case of the US, it may bring out the worst, to avoid losing face on the world's stage....and yes; they're that sick, IMHO...
The positive in all this is that, I believe, both Russia and China know the US better than the US knows them...Posted by: V | Apr 7 2021 6:06 utc | 76
Picture Time
For all of you don’t have a clue as to what I am talking about, and instead drink the “electric Kool Aide” from the American media, and who are fearful of living like those “dirty, filthy Chinese” here’s some pictures that I took with my Metallic-Camera.
The main objective of China’s Government is the rejuvenation of China.
In part demonstrably evidenced by the determined efforts made for the betterment and the well-being of its population.
Which is reflected in the credibility and high level of trust the Chinese people place in their government.
These concepts don’t exist in the west.
In the US, the “world’s model for everything”, a virus epidemic is seen through lenses of profiteering by large corporations.
With sick people not being humans in need of assistance but merely a new lucrative “market” – for those with money to pay.
An American hospital is not a place for healing the sick but a kind of barnyard filled with cash cows to milk.
This is one fundamental reason underlying America’s chaotic and hopeless approach to dealing with the epidemic.
Zhuhai. A view from my front yard.
But don’t you all worry. According to this article written in 2016, China is going to collapse any day now (LOL)!
And we can clearly see this from a MM point of view, like here…
A pretty typical Chinese factory. This is a brake operation. Note the slave and child labor that you hear so much about in the American and UK media. Oh, and don’t forget the nets that are used to prevent people from jumping off the tops of the buildings! LOL!
But…
For some years now I've been looking for a decent currency to live my life with. We seem much closer now with the Digital Yuan. And as you say, if somehow it were banned by the world and refused exchange in other currencies (which seems impossible even to imagine), I'd be happy to cash it all in within China.Bitcoin never became a currency - it may or may not end up highly priced at a collector's value but it seems improbable that it could settle enough to become a usable mainstream currency. It could be a wealthy person's trading counter, perhaps. But like all such tokens, it remains vulnerable to fads.But I don't want to leave my last word with bitcoin. The last word, quite possibly for the entire world, may well rest with the Yuan.Posted by: Grieved | Apr 7 2021 1:57 utc | 55
Let’s take a look at just what is actually going on in China today. You know when the cost of housing is less than 10% of your income, and the TOTAL taxes and fees for being a citizen is less than 3%, you have the ability to save and live a stress free life.
It manifests like this…
When your rent or housing cost is less than 10% of your income, it’s easy to save money; and as a result life isn’t all that stressful.
AH.
Socialism does not mean the government owns everything.
It means the government owns the things that everybody NEEDS to have work well. Those things you don't want some needy jerk exploiting to make themselves rich or powerful with.
And those socialized things should be at nominal cost or free, to enable EVERYBODY to do their best in life.
If you want your culture and society (as a whole) to do well, you have to enable them with all the necessities.
You can have either "unproductive parasites" or you can have "a healthy body politic", not both.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 6 2021 20:32 utc | 22
But there’s more than what meets the eye. Instead of a “live your life as you see fit as a lone wolf” in America, the Chinese look hard and expect their children to grow up to be useful productive members of society. Here’s a pre-Kindergarden where infants are learning social interaction, basic spelling and language skills and proper social manners.
This is quite different from what American Public Education provides.
This is a Chinese pre-Kindergarden. Here’ the kids learn to socialize and learn their language skills early on.
There’s change in the air.
You can feel it.
To all the others who have read or are interested in the summation by Larry Romanoff over at the Saker called, Dealing With Demons.It's a lengthy review of the coronavirus as it hit China and the world. It's basically a forensic report on 2020, with about 160 footnotes to media and authority sources - the piece itself is a reference to bookmark, and the stories linked are probably a world of fascination.For those of us intensely following the situation, many of the facts and summaries presented are not new, but everyone will find something previously unknown in Romanoff's magisterial story.And it is a story, immensely readable, merely long - so make coffee or pour a drink and find a quiet hour, and there in that mere one hour you will have the real story of 2020, and the true picture of China.~~One thing - I had originally heard the translation of Xi's rallying call to action as the virus being a "Devil", not a Demon. The obvious connection seemed compelling with the "foreign devils" that plundered China of old and that still at every opportunity now attempt to exploit it. Maybe it's a nothing, maybe it's everything, in China's response of total mobilization, as if under attack. Romanoff doesn't go there, although he may have in earlier reports of this pandemic that he has dealt with so well (he's had great articles on the pandemic at Unz).~~For me, the venality and mean-spiritedness of the US establishment becomes so clear that I have to correct a previous speculation I made recently. I wondered - here in these threads, I think - if the hardening of Chinese diplomatic language was somewhat calculated and aimed at preparing its own nation for military conflict with the US.But I see now from Romanoff's report the extraordinary effort made by the Chinese people to help the US, in the spirit of goodness, even as the US media was being fed the lies to demonize China, and to turn the US populace into a majority population that hates China.And the Chinese people are well aware of this. And now that the dust has settled for them, it is a clear picture for them to reflect on regarding the US and say, "fuck 'em - never again will we help those people."So the real change came first, as the Chinese nation opened its heart to the US, and was trashed and slandered in return.
And the Chinese diplomatic language is simply reflecting the overall feeling of 1.4 billion citizens of this planet who now understand with great finality that the US is beyond the pale.Posted by: Grieved | Apr 7 2021 4:38 utc | 68
And you know, nothing says it’s time to close out this article than a movie. Here’s one that I took while I was on a trip to a factory the other week.
The movie…
Do you want more?
Ok, then.
Here’s a MV in Cantonese.
I have more posts in my International America Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Hows’ that for a mouthful? Yeah, it’s a long title, but it has to be. You know with what “news” has actually become over the last few decades, most Americans are the most ignorant and uninformed people on the planet. Sure they have tons and tons of media outlets… but all the outlets originate from one or two main sources. And those are all controlled by the United States government.
Sad to say.
Anyways…
Grab a glass of wine and some delicious pizza and listen to a little story that I want to tell…
Pizza and wine go together nicely.
Firstly, for those of you that are unaware of the background, here’s a brief overview…
The Trump Administration was engaged in a hybrid war with China that included carpet-bombing of Chinese food and livestock with bio-weapons (8 strains). HERE.
It was planned to be a minimum of 8 years in duration, and 2020 was the year that was to “kick off” the “hot” (shooting) portion of the war. HERE.
The Coronavirus was a really devilish plot using and A-strain to inoculate four “friendly” nations, and the B-strain to attack four “enemy” nations. HERE.
Tin foil hat stuff, eh?
Nah.
Let me tell you all a nice little story…
When Donald Trump was elected there were some high hopes that a “businessman” would be able to conduct global and international trade and relationships from a business point of view with China. That is, as opposed to a political viewpoint as was displayed by the Obama administration when it was in Washington. Many nations, specifically China, believed that America would (finally) join the rest of the world in being a reasonable partner in trade and a steward for the planet.
That did not happen.
Instead, he staffed his administration with “hard Right” neocons and went on a ‘war footing” regarding China. Publicly, it was a series of “failed negotiations” and an increase in tariffs on Chinese made goods. Privately it was a complete “hybrid-war” gearing up for a “hot war” event that was to be “kicked off” in late 2019.
The idea was to to create all kind of stresses on the Chinese people, and then when the nation was at it’s weakest, America could invade under the pretext of saving “democracy” all “for the people”.
The public actions are well known. that included tariffs, censorship, attacks on Huawei, etc. This includes the “pro democracy” (NGO-sponsored) “color revolutions” in Hong Kong, and the military incursions to destabilize the Uighur population in Xinjiang.
The non-public actions are not that well known. These included carpet bombing of Chinese livestock with bio-weapons agents, the use of drones to hit remote villages, the destruction and suppression of chip-making equipment to China, interruption of precious mining operations, behind-the-scenes manipulations and black-mailing of “friendly” national leaders, and military probes into Chinese territory and systems.
Now, around 2019 China received word that a “big event” was planned to occur on or during CNY (Chinese New Year), and whether they knew exactly what it was, or how it would manifest, they knew something was up somehow. So once they received word, they immediate began reconnaissance efforts.
These reconnaissance efforts are just now coming to light…
The following article is from The Drive. Reprinted as found, and all credit to the author. Edited to fit this venue.
Mysterious Drone Incursions Have Occurred Over U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery In Guam
It's yet another reminder of just how vulnerable highly strategic assets, even air defense systems, are to low-end drones.
Earlier this year, it came to The War Zone‘s attention that a series of bizarre and highly concerning events took place in the late Winter of 2019 at Andersen Air Force Base on the Island of Guam.
Map of Guam.
As we understand it, between late February and early March of last year, the massive installation experienced repeated incursions by unmanned aircraft. The aircraft that appeared to be extremely interested in one highly sensitive area of the highly strategic base. This area of interest is the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery that is tasked with defending the island from ballistic missile attacks.
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The incursions, which were said to have occurred in late March and early April 2019, had been observed by personnel manning the guard towers that loom over the highly secure THAAD area. This area, situated towards the northern end of the air base, is often referred to as “North West Field.” Andersen itself takes up the northern and western reaches of the entire island.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery, showing the deployment of the radar module and the launcher tubes.
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The intruding craft were described as “quadcopter-like” vehicles with bright spotlights that flew from over the water and then across the North West Base area. They flew at not much higher than treetop level, about 20 to 30 feet above the ground. On a number of nights, the craft would make multiple incursions in the very early morning hours. They would show up, disappear, then come back a few hours later.
Quad rotor drone with camera.
The spotlight that shone down from the craft made it hard for personnel to make out a detailed description of the craft, although estimates range from being three to five feet in diameter largely based on the size of the spotlight.
The craft would maneuver dynamically, appearing with the spotlight on, then disappearing, just to reappear moments later over to one side or another with the spotlight on, which was unsettling to those that witnessed it.
Supposedly, there was a concerted effort to identify, track, and down the mysterious craft, but it doesn’t seem that those efforts were successful based on our understanding of events.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
This information was highly interesting if not downright alarming, but we had to find hard evidence that at least something similar did indeed happen during this timeframe.
We got just that straight from the U.S. Air Force.
The United States will compete, deter, and win in the #IndoPacific.
The #THAAD system I visited on Friday, is one of our most advanced missile defense systems. It enables the defense of #Guam against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
#TaskForceTalonpic.twitter.com/g8C2b602aT
— Archive: Dr. Mark T. Esper (@EsperDoD) August 31, 2020
The War Zone was able to confirm that at least one of the incidents described above did occur through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), by which we obtained a copy of the relevant entry from the Air Force’s 36th Security Forces Squadron’s internal crime blotter. The is unit is part of the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base.
The entry describes the “possible drone” as being of an
"unknown color and size, [with a] bright white light."
Army personnel at “THAAD Tower #2” had radioed in at
"2315," or 11:15 PM to report "a bright white light was seen from [their] LOCATION hovering over a field and quickly disappeared."
"Tower #2 personnel were unable to provide any further description,"
.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery. Showing the missiles in the pre-launch configuration.
The “JET PATROLS” that are referenced in the document are not aircraft, but are Jungle Enforcement Teams of the 36th Security Forces Squadron.
…the blotter entry continues.
"At 2318, JET PATROLS were in the vicinity conducting covert operations. None of the JET PATROLS were able to locate the suspicious white light."
The Air Force describes the teams as being
"tasked with preventing security breaches, apprehending poachers, and securing the perimeter around the jungle."
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing a launch.
The team’s personnel move silently through the jungle that permeates much of the base at night and have unique human tracking skills. You can read all about this specialized security force in this official media release.
Interestingly, the 36th Security Force Squadron’s blotter lists this incident as
which implied that there was at least one other similarly classified drone incident at Andersen Air Force Base before this one by that point in the early 2019 calendar or fiscal year.
Radar for a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Another FOIA request confirmed that there was a “2019-1” blotter entry, but the Air Force withheld information about that event citing privacy and law enforcement exemptions.
Agencies typically withhold records for law enforcement reasons because of a potential risk of exposing sensitive tactics, techniques, or procedures, or because of an ongoing investigation.
It is then doubly interesting that the March 2019 incident near the Army’s THAAD battery at North West Field was not also subject to the exemptions.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) forwarded a separate FOIA request regarding this incident, any other similar occurrences around the same timeframe, to the U.S. Army. The War Zone is still awaiting a response to that request, as well as another one to the Guam Police Department. We inquired directly to the 36th Wing and INDOPACOM, but never got a response.
A general diagram showing how a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery operates.
We found this information to be highly troubling for a number of reasons.
The most important is that this craft was able to penetrate its way over an air defense system that is tasked with defending the highly strategic island from ballistic missile attacks.
In other words, that THAAD battery is largely what stands in the way of a country like North Korea from holding the island at imminent risk.
The system is even capable of shielding against a lower volume barrage from a peer state competitor, such as China.
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Guam would be near the top of Beijing’s targeting list during a conflict with the United States and its growing ballistic missile arsenal has been developed largely to deny the U.S. the utility of its regional bases during the open stages of a conflict.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
The thing is that destruction of enemy air defenses (DEAD) is not defined by a platform, it is a mission.
Traditionally we associate the objective of destroying enemy air defenses with standoff cruise missile attacks and ‘wild weasel’ fighter jet operations, but DEAD can be carried out by a team of special operators with some well-placed explosives or via a barrage of naval gunfire.
Even carefully deployed malware that targets the software that an air defense system and its mechanical component run on could potentially be destructive enough to be considered a DEAD method.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing the inception stage.
With that said, America’s preeminent adversaries in the entire region would make taking out the THAAD battery on Guam a top priority during a conflict or even as part of a limited demonstration of force.
Why barrage it with ballistic missiles or attempt a cruise missile launch from a forward-deployed submarine or even a clandestine commando raid when you can just fly a drone loaded with explosives into it?
A diagram of an ICBM showing and indicating interception stages.
And no, you don’t need some high-end drone system to do this as real-world events have highlighted many times over.
Somewhat more sophisticated types can be launched from longer distances and can even home in on radar or other RF emissions sources, like THAAD’s powerful AN/TPY-2 Radar and data-links, autonomously, beyond just striking a certain point on a map.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Simply put, ‘shooting the archer,’ in this case an advanced anti-ballistic missile system that protects America’s most strategic base in the entire region, via a relatively cheap drone is both an absurdly obvious and terrifyingly ironic tactic—the U.S. can shoot down ballistic missiles, but the critical systems used to do so remain extremely vulnerable to the lowliest of airborne threats—cheap drones.
For those that follow our work, this is not news. The U.S. military was dangerously aloof when it came to the threat posed by low-end drones.
We spent years highlighting this threat while seeing the U.S. military do very little to actually counter it, that is until ISIS was constantly dropping bomblets from drones or just flying explosive-laden drones into allied positions during the Battle of Mosul, Iraq.
U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery showing the three points and opportunities for interception.
The radar unit of a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
In the meantime, it’s abundantly clear that even America’s most capable air defenses are vulnerable to the most meager of aerial capabilities—commercially available drones.
If anything else, this is yet another, but possibly the biggest example of just how misplaced the U.S. military’s priorities had become when it comes to investments in air defense over the last two decades or so.
The components of a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery minus the launcher truck module.
You can read how the Pentagon let its short-range air defense (SHORAD) capabilities wither on the vine to an appalling degree while concentrating on higher-profile, ‘sexier,’ and drastically more lucrative weapon systems in this past feature of ours.
The Pentagon’s appalling lack of vision regarding the emergence of this threat has made quickly ramping-up efforts to counter it that much more of a scramble, which is ongoing now.
The radar and command and power modules for a U.S. THAAD Anti-Ballistic Missile Battery.
Still, America’s potential enemies are already a step ahead, working on swarming low-end drone concepts that will overwhelm most countermeasures currently in the works.
A comparison of three anti-ballistic missile batteries deployed by the United States; the Patriot, Thaad, and Ages.
In the meantime, the events on Guam in 2019 serve as maybe the most outstanding reminder of how the Pentagon’s fixation on high-end threats, and the huge gold plated weapons programs that are put into play to counter them, have left even those very capabilities remarkably vulnerable to far less advanced attacks.
As to quote the character from “Laugh In”… “Very Interesting…”
So what does this mean?
Well, strangely…
…immediately before the bio-weapons attack on CNY 2020 there were incursions of a reconnaissance nature on Guam investigating the THAAD missile batteries. These incursions were visible. They intentionally turned on flood and spot lights and were not secretive. Which is a very UNUSUAL way to conduct reconnaissance operations.
One must wonder what was actually going on.
Who operated the drones? Was it the Chinese? Or an American operation that was testing the defenses? Was it someone else?
Where were the drones controlled from? Was it from a civilian located on the South end of the island, or was it from a submarine or some other vehicle?
Why did the drones turn on the lights? Was it to be noticed, or was it to take quick photographs?
Why isn’t the American military concerned? Perhaps this event is really nothing to worry about. You can trust the United States government, right?
The thing is, however, this is not the only event leading up to the 2020 CNY bio-weapon attack on China. Throughout 2019, American bases, and Naval ships were being probed.
Such as described in this article. Reprinted as found. All credit to the writer, and edited to fit this venue.
Navy’s Top Officer Says ‘Drones’ That Swarmed Destroyers Remain Unidentified
A series of bizarre events off Southern California in 2019 remain unexplained according to the Chief of Naval Operations.
At a roundtable with reporters today, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Michael Gilday, the U.S. Navy’s top officer, was asked about a series of bizarre incidents that took place in July 2019 and involved what only have been described as ‘drones’ swarming American destroyers off the coast of Southern California.
American destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill
The War Zone was the first to report in detail on this series of mysterious events after the incident was originally uncovered by filmmaker Dave Beaty.
Asked by Jeff Schogol of Task & Purposeif the Navy had positively identified any of the aircraft involved, Gilday responded by saying:
“No, we have not. I am aware of those sightings and as it’s been reported there have been other sightings by aviators in the air and by other ships not only of the United States, but other nations – and of course other elements within the U.S. joint force.”“Those findings have been collected and they still are being analyzed," Gilday added. "I don’t have anything new to report, Jeff, on what those findings have revealed thus far. But I will tell you we do have a well-established process in place across the joint force to collect that data and to get it to a separate repository for analysis.”
At the time of writing, it is unclear if Admiral Gilday was referring to the Department of Defense’s Navy-led Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), created last August to examine “incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace.”
A Senate-requested report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena is expected later this year. Representatives from the UAPTF could not be reached for comment.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85)
A preliminary response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) inquiries indicates that the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) possesses documents about the incident and that they are intermingled with records from several other agencies. This would make sense as the UAPTF was established within ONI, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Schogol also asked if there was any suspicion that the aircraft described as drones were “extraterrestrial.” Gilday responded,
“No, I can’t speak to that - I have no indications at all of that.”
American destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill
The War Zone has reached out to the Navy, Coast Guard, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further details regarding the drones flying near Navy destroyers in 2019. Members of the intelligence and armed services committees in both the Senate and the House were asked for comment, as well. While at least some elected officials indicated they were aware of the issue, none were able to make a statement at this time regarding the encounters off the coast of Southern California two years ago.
So What is going on?
Well, you know that throughout the Pacific in 2019, drones were “buzzing” and observing United States military operations. They studied defense operations, ship capabilities, and base operations.
This all occurred simultaneously while the Trump Administration was ramping up a “war stance” towards China.
2010 – 2016 Obama setting up bases that surrounded China.
2017 – 2019 Trump media march for war, color revolutions, tariffs, and induce famine inside of China.
2020 was to be the year for actual military operations, kicked off by a full-scale bio-weapon attack with R0=20% lethal COVID-19B strain. (Not the “safe” American R0=0.01% COVID-19A strain.)
Also simultaneously during this time period was a complete restructuring of the American military…
Combined we see a picture that is quite disturbing.
A Washington DC establishment desirous of a “Hot War” with China. Not only one of the largest nations on the planet, but the home of most of the factories, technology, and and military on the planet.
A realization that China has Intel that indicates activities that might happen in the future. Somehow they found out about the CNY plans a year earlier.
Scanning and recon of American Naval forces, bases and defenses in the South Pacific right before the CNY 2020 Bio-weapon attack.
A politically focused restructuring of the military.
An over emphasis in American technical superiority, and a discounting of the basic physical standards of the military.
One cannot help to remember stories about similar events in the past and how they all turned out.
I am reminded of Babylon. Not the city written about in the Bible, but the much later incarnation. The Babylon of the Islamic Empire. It was the center of all society, technology, and manufacturing in the ancient world.
But it was ruled by self-absorbed fools.
And out from the East came a “rough and tumble” people that DID.NOT.PLAY. They wanted to align with the Islamic nation, they wanted to expand but incorporate the nation and peoples in with their society.
Nope!
Says the self-absorbed Babylon ruler drinking his wines. Singing his songs, dancing with his friends…
The following is from HERE. All credit to the author, and reprinted as found and edited to fit within this venue.
The Mongol conquest of the Abbasid Caliphate culminated in the horrific sack of Baghdad that effectively ended the Islamic Golden Age.
The Islamic Golden Age—from the 8th to the mid-13th century—was one of the greatest periods of human flourishment in knowledge and progress, with Baghdad as its focal point.
A truly global repository of human knowledge, this Arab-Muslim imperial capital also welcomed—indeed encouraged—scholars from across the known world. As its wealth and fame grew, more and more scholars and engineers were drawn to the city from all over civilization.
But in January 1258, a vast Mongol army reached the city’s perimeter and demanded that the caliph—al-Musta’sim, the nominal spiritual authority of the Islamic world—surrender.
History of Baghdad: The Greatest City in the World
If you can imagine the shock waves, were London razed to the ground tomorrow, you’d be getting close to the horror that was about to accompany the Sack of Baghdad in 1258.
Founded 500 years earlier, Baghdad’s population had reached one million within a century, making it the world’s largest, most prosperous, and celebrated city. If one thinks of London in 1897—the year when Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee—the English city on the Thames was by then the largest and most important city on earth. In 1897, London was peerless in the world, with nowhere else coming close to matching its power and influence. It was the capital, and the fulcrum, of the British Empire.
A Devastating Moment in History for Muslims in the Middle East
For many historians, the arrival of the Mongols into the heart of the Muslim faith and empire is the single most devastating moment in the history of the Muslim Middle East. It’s easy to see why—and hard to argue otherwise—because the Sack of Baghdad would mark the end of the Islamic Golden Age.
Rather than submit, the Abbasid caliph challenged the Mongols to attempt to storm his city, if they dared. The nomadic army from Asia—led by Hulagu Khan, one of Genghis Khan’s grandsons—did indeed dare. Doing what they are most famous for, the Mongols thrashed Baghdad. In 10 days of unremitting violence and destruction, Baghdad and its inhabitants were completely and utterly vanquished. Almost without exception, the population was either put to the sword or sold into slavery. The River Tigris ran red—to cite one of the most over-quoted, and overwrought phrases in history—with the blood of slaughtered men, women, and children.
After this, every building of note in Baghdad—including mosques, palaces, and markets—was utterly destroyed, among them the world-famous House of Wisdom. Hundreds of thousands of priceless manuscripts and books were tossed into the river, clogging the arterial waterway with so many texts, according to eyewitnesses, that soldiers could ride on horseback from one side to the other. Of course, the river turned from red to black with ink.
Who Were the Mongols?
The Sack of Baghdad fits, like a hinge, almost exactly in the middle of two defining dates in the history of Islam, from the founding of the faith in the year 622 to the end of the last caliphate in 1924. Even by the standards of the day, the destruction was shocking, and the results long-lasting, if not permanent. The Mongols’ name during this period in history was a byword for destruction. Who were they and where did they come from? Is there any reason to think that they were any more destructive than other peoples at the time?
The Mongols, an ethnic group, originating in north and central Asia, were typically pastoral peoples, whose nomadic lifestyle inevitably brought them into conflict with more settled populations. Probably the best example of how settled peoples tried to restrict their otherwise free movement is the Great Wall of China. The wall was essentially built to hold back incursions of their Mongolian neighbors to the north.
This preference for nomadism over a settled existence is central to the view of the Mongols as especially destructive. As one writer put it, while Muslims built cities—Baghdad and Cairo, for example—Mongols destroyed them. Does this mean that the Mongols were inherently more ruthless or violent than Muslims or crusading Christians? Not necessarily. Rather, it shows that their priority, in terms of conquest, was for land, for grazing—for space even—rather than for cities and confinement.
As one writer put it, while Muslims built cities—Baghdad and Cairo, for example—Mongols destroyed them.
One thing that came out of the Mongols’ lack of interest in seizing cities was their enhanced mobility. Often living on a diet of mare’s milk—or blood, if the mares were not lactating—Mongol custom meant that they never washed their clothes. This, along with a heavy fat diet—both milk and meat—no doubt accounted for the Mongols’ reputation as a very smelly, as well as scary, foe.
The Fierce Mongol Warriors
Contemporary chroniclers tell us that Mongol warriors were most comfortable in the saddle, literally, it seems. If they had to move more than a hundred yards, or so, they’d jump on a horse and ride. Also, all warriors owned numerous mounts, allowing them to cover larger distances than more traditional cavalry found in the Near East and Europe. While they rode light into battle, the Mongols used harnessed oxen to pull their heavier and more cumbersome possessions from place to place.
An important facet of the Mongol way of war and conquest was their use of terror as a tactic. The banging of metal pots and the rattling of bells was the usual way of announcing the start of a battle. This created such a din that defenders of a city under siege would find it almost impossible to hear their officers’ commands.
Whenever they entered new territory, the Mongols would offer the local rulers an opportunity to surrender. But in the language of many a salesman, this was a one-time offer. For those foolish enough not to surrender immediately, conquest and destruction without quarter would be their lot, and the people of Baghdad knew this.
Setting the Scene for Catastrophe Before the Sack of Baghdad
In 1206, just 52 years before the Sack of Baghdad, the Mongol Empire was formed and led by the legendary Genghis Khan. Khan is originally a Mongolian word that means military leader, or sovereign, a king, in English. Being accepted as the Great Khan effectively elevated Genghis to the status of an emperor. His grandsons now ruled the Mongolian Empire. In addition to Hulagu Khan, who led the attack against Baghdad, there was Kublai Khan, conqueror of China, and Mongke Khan, who became the Great Khan and sent his brother Hulagu to Baghdad.
Hulagu marched at the head of perhaps the largest Mongolian army ever assembled, consisting of as many as 150,000 troops, with Baghdad one of several goals for this mission. First, Hulagu was told to subdue southern Iran, which he did. Next, he was to destroy the infamous Assassins.
A breakaway Nizari-Ismaili-Shia sect, founded in the 11th century, the Assassins had achieved infamy for the political assassinations—hence, the term we use today—carried out by certain of their number. Although it was known that the Assassins were based at the castle of Alamut in northwestern Iran, many of their adversaries thought they were somehow invincible because of the stealth they typically employed. Hulagu Khan proved this was not the case. After destroying the Assassins and their castle fortress at Alamut, Baghdad was the next stop on his list.
The majority of Hulagu Khan’s men were Mongolian warriors, but the force also contained Christians, including soldiers led by the king of Armenia, Frankish Crusaders from the Principality of Antioch, and Georgians.
The majority of Hulagu Khan’s men were Mongolian warriors, but the force also contained Christians, including soldiers led by the king of Armenia, Frankish Crusaders from the Principality of Antioch, and Georgians. There were also Muslim soldiers from various Turkic and Persian tribes, and 1,000 Chinese engineers—artillery specialists, who were always in demand when the need arose to reduce walls to rubble.
The Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasids—the third Islamic caliphate to rule the Muslim Middle East since the death of Muhammad—had risen to power in 750, after overthrowing their rivals, the Damascus-based Umayyads. Taking their name from one of Muhammad’s uncles, Abbas, the Abbasids quickly took control of almost all Umayyad lands, and so found themselves ruling over an enormous empire that covered the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, Syria, Iraq, Persia and beyond to modern Afghanistan.
A new Abbasid caliphate deserved a new capital, which they established in Baghdad, in 762, and immediately built it into an imperial city worthy of their greatness.
A new Abbasid caliphate deserved a new capital, which they established in Baghdad, in 762, and immediately built it into an imperial city worthy of their greatness. Within a couple of generations, Baghdad had attracted some of the world’s greatest scholars. Alongside Persian scholarship and cultural traditions—and Arab authority—one saw people from other parts of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Numerous Jews and Christians also pursued studies there.
Baghdad: A City of Learning
Among the greatest of them all was founded by the early Abbasid caliphs. Called the Bayt al-Hikma—or House of Wisdom—this was the place that the best scholars and professors aspired to reach—not just Muslims from the Islamic world. Imagine if you will, all of America’s Ivy League Colleges rolled into one; add to those the science and technological power of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, and Berkley, then add Oxford and Cambridge to the mix, and the world’s great non-English-speaking universities. It comes close to what the House of Wisdom was like—except it was even more influential.
Imagine if you will all of America’s Ivy League Colleges rolled into one; add to those the science and technological power of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford, and Berkley, then add Oxford and Cambridge to the mix, and the world’s great non-English-speaking universities. It comes close to what the House of Wisdom was like—except it was even more influential.
There were two distinct sides to scholarship in Baghdad. One was translation work, with texts from India, Persia, and Greece gathered in huge numbers. Texts originally composed in Persian, Sanskrit, Greek, Syriac, and Chinese were all eagerly rendered into Arabic. Combined with this extensive translation work, however, was a wealth of original scholarship, funded and encouraged by the caliphs. The arts and sciences alike were covered, so that advances were made in almost every imaginable subject, including mathematics, medicine, astronomy, physics, cartography, zoology, and poetry.
A Weak-Willed Caliph in Thirteenth-Century Baghdad
In the year 1242, al-Musta’sim became the 37th caliph in the Abbasid line. Baghdad’s glory days were behind it. By this stage, the Abbasid caliphs were largely figureheads, propped up by outside forces. If they were important at all, it was as the inheritors of Islamic orthodoxy and as beacons of cultural greatness, but not as a political power to be obeyed nor a military force to be feared. Indeed, the Abbasids already were in the habit of paying an annual tribute to the Mongols. Despite this, the city was still large and prosperous.
A weak-willed, even dissolute character, al-Musta’sim was happier hanging out with musicians and drinking wine than he was ruling…
Alas for Baghdad, the court of history doesn’t rate the caliph as the greatest of his line. A weak-willed, even dissolute character, al-Musta’sim was happier hanging out with musicians and drinking wine than he was ruling an already weakened empire. In 1251, the Abbasids sent a delegation to pay homage on the coronation of Hulagu’s brother, Mongke, when he became the Great Khan, but this was no longer considered enough.
Mongols Demand Submission by Abbasid Caliph al-Mustasim
Mongke insisted that the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim come in person to Karakorum, the 13th century capital of the Mongol Empire, in the north of modern Mongolia, to fully submit to Mongol rule. The Caliph al-Musta’sim refused to do so. The final showdown between the Mongols and the Abbasids was set. With the Mongol horde marching on Baghdad, a clash was inevitable, although this wouldn’t be the first encounter between the Abbasids and the Mongols.
In the recent past, the Abbasids had managed a couple of small-scale military victories against Mongol forces; however, these were soon overturned and weren’t part of any trend of a militarily resurgent Abbasid Empire. Their days of martial glory were long gone. Adding fuel to the fire, al-Musta’sim is said to have slighted Shia Muslims by various acts and decrees. He should have known better, as his grand vizier, or senior advisor, was himself a Shia Muslim. This vizier is said to have sided with the Mongols, encouraging their takeover of the city, perhaps imagining that he’d be given control of Baghdad by a grateful Hulagu. If this is what he thought, he didn’t know anything about Hulagu.
A Difficult Decision for the Caliph to Surrender to the Mongols
The caliph was faced with a choice between surrendering to the Mongol leader and presumably saving his city, or building up his army, and riding out to meet the invading warriors in combat. It likely never crossed the caliph’s mind that he should probably surrender rather than send threats to Hulagu. Al-Musta’sim discovered a third option: Doing nothing.
Baghdad was surrounded, and al-Musta’sim realized too late that the Mongol army was far larger and stronger than he’d been told. The rest of the Muslim world wasn’t about to rush to his rescue either. The siege of Baghdad began on January 29, 1258. The Mongols quickly built a palisade and ditch and brought siege engines, such as covered battering rams that protected their men from the defenders’ arrows and other missiles, and catapults to attack the city’s walls. At this stage, al-Musta’sim made a last-ditch attempt to negotiate with Hulagu and was rebuffed. Al-Musta’sim surrendered Baghdad to Hulagu five days later, on February 10. Adding to the distress of those inside the city, Hulagu and his horde didn’t make any attempt to enter the city for three days.
A Glimmer of Compassion for Baghdad Christians
Late in life, Hulagu became a Buddhist. At this moment, however, the only sign of compassion he showed was towards Baghdad’s Nestorian Christian community. Nestorianism was a form of Christianity that church authorities had declared heretical in the 5th century. It stressed that the divine and human aspects of Jesus’s nature were separate. Many Nestorians had moved to Persia, where they’d lived ever since. Hulagu, upon entering Baghdad, told the Nestorians to lock themselves in their church and ordered his men not to touch them. What was the reason for this act of kindness before the bloodbath that was to follow? Simply that Hulagu’s mother and his favorite wife were both Nestorian Christians.
Mongols Execute Baghdad Notables
About 3,000 of Baghdad’s notables—including officials, members of the Abbasid family, and the caliph himself—pleaded for clemency. But all 3,000 were put to death without compunction…
With the Nestorians secure, Hulagu allowed his army an unfettered week of rape, pillage, and murder to celebrate their victory. About 3,000 of Baghdad’s notables—including officials, members of the Abbasid family, and the caliph himself—pleaded for clemency. But all 3,000 were put to death without compunction; all, that is, except for the caliph. He was held prisoner for a little while longer, perhaps in part so that he could see the full extent of what befell his capital.
Estimates of the death toll range from 90,000 at the lowest end to one million at the other. Apart from being a conveniently round number, the population of Baghdad was around a million, and the historical record tells us not everyone was killed. Whatever the actual number, it included the army that had dared resist Hulagu’s advance, and the civilians, who had no choice either way. Men, women, and children down to babes in arms were put to the sword or clubbed to death. Little mercy was shown unless it was of a quick rather than a lingering death.
Death of a Caliph
The Caliph al-Musta’sim was forced to watch these murders and the plundering of his treasury and palaces. Hulagu taunted him that, with so much gold and so many jewels, he’d have been better off spending some of these riches on building up a bigger army. As for how the caliph met his end, one account says he was locked in his treasury, surrounded by his wealth, and left alone to starve to death. As colorful as this account is, it doesn’t sound likely, given the widespread looting that took place, nor is it corroborated by any sources.
A more plausible account, as reported by several chroniclers, goes like this: Hulagu had been warned by his astronomers that royal blood shouldn’t be spilled onto the earth. If it were, the earth would reject it, and earthquakes and natural destruction would follow. If we consider his record, one might not think Hulagu an especially cautious man. However, in this case, he plotted the safer course. The caliph was rolled in carpets, which would catch any blood spilled, and then he was trampled to death by his cavalry. For the first time since the death of Muhammad, 636 years earlier, Islam had no Caliph whose name could be quoted in Friday prayers.
Destruction of the City of Baghdad
If you’re looking for an example of a city razed to the ground, Baghdad in 1258 would be a good choice.
Apart from the human casualties, there was the destruction of the 500-year old city itself. Fires were set so that the fragrant scent of sandalwood and other aromatics was smelled up to 30 miles away. If you’re looking for an example of a city razed to the ground, Baghdad in 1258 would be a good choice. After a week, Hulagu ordered his camp out of the city, and moved upwind, away from the stench of rotting corpses.
Hulagu left Baghdad a broken and depopulated city. Even if those left alive had wanted to rebuild, they lacked the numbers, the resources, and the skills to do so. The death and destruction were such that it would be more than a decade before anyone from Baghdad performed the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. In attacking Baghdad, Hulagu also destroyed the network of canals that irrigated the arable land thereabouts. Famine and plague followed the Mongol horde to Baghdad as elsewhere. Their scorched-earth tactics make it easy to see why they’re often tagged with a reputation as the most destructive of all the great empires.
Conclusion
All things taken into account, and the knowledge that history tends to repeat itself…
…it seems that the entire United States is Hell-bent on duplicating the fall of the “Golden Age of Islam” and the destruction of Baghdad.
Which is a bitter-sweet thing. After all, there are many great people in the United States, and it is a beautiful land, with some wonderful cities, some great food, and basically decent culture. Taken a a whole.
But…
On the other hand…
Can you imagine what happens if the United States does NOT correct it’s posture. That it does not correct it’s desire to rule over the world. That it does not change it’s social structure, it’s ownership by corporations, and it’s basic inequalities. What if it implements “The Long Telegram” and it is successful in doing so; where the entire world becomes like Detroit or Baltimore and ruled by a 0.001% of psychopathic individuals under a global plutocracy?? Can you just imagine it?
Burrrr!
I get shivers just thinking about it.
Ugh!
It’s time to think about something else. If any one asks. I’ll be jammin’.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
So the big questions are:
Can Russia deter the US by reacting below the threshold of an open military clash? My personal reply is that it is still possible but, sadly, this is becoming less and less likely with every passing day.
Does that mean that this conflict can turn into WWIII with nukes and all? My personal reply is that that this scenario is becoming more and more likely with every passing day.
Bottom line: thank you again, “Biden” -voting Dem doubleplusgoodthinkers! Thanks to you only 100+ days into the new admin we are back on the edge of a nuclear precipice! In the words of Putin “you did not listen to us then, listen to us now!”. But, of course you won’t. Nothing short of a nuclear mushroom will wake you up from your delusions… If that happens, only blame yourselves!
So these are my thoughts for the day.
Now I invite you to share yours!
Kind regards
The Saker
I once encountered a homeless man in California, near Stockton. He tried to sell me a discarded plastic model that he obviously found in a trash bin. He was scruffy, dirty, and unkempt. His hair was long and matted, and his clothes were unwashed and tattered.
We, my wife and I, were walking down the side of the road, and we were going to go under a road near this sort of walk-way viaduct. He was to our right, sitting on the raised pavement. He shouted at us, but not irritatingly so. He just wanted to get our attention. And he did just that.
Now this plastic model was (in it’s self interesting), it was a discarded model of an American world war II half-track personnel carrier. I would guess that about half the pieces were gone and missing. The rest were still attached to the sprues that held them.
He was very adamant about selling it to me. He said that he would give me a good price. Only $20 he said.Keep in mind that this was in the late 1980’s when plastic models could be bought for under $5.
He told me that it was going to become valuable. His reasoning was that it represented the fundamental makeup of God before Satan took over people’s mind through computer modems. Damn! Those pesky demon signals sent via telephone modem…
…!
After that encounter, I became convinced that everyone inside of California were about five bottles short of a six pack of beer. I actually wondered whether there was something in the water…
And while I continued to do business, work and live in California, I made it a point to get the heck out of there as soon as I could. I reasoned that if I could encounter such a fruit case, that there must be many others, and as such, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them, and the area.
This little event, that happened so very long ago, reminds me of America today.
Every now and then you come across these little glimmers of clarity. You are exposed to these little events, or encounters. They make you pause and think. And as such, they pretty much “spell it all out” to you “as plain as day”, that things are more than just a little amiss.
These events cause you to stop. To think. To make reappraisals.
The best analogy I’ve seen is they’re like a monkey with a hand grenade. You can’t reason with it and it’s dangerous.
One such “red flag” moment is “The Longer Telegram”.
Which brings me to this next article. Completely reprinted, and all credit to the author. It was edited to fit this venue.
By Martin Sieff. Written on April 1, 2021.
The Longer Telegram reflects the intellectual, moral and emotional bankruptcy of what passes for “thought” inside the Washington Beltway, Martin Sieff writes.
The now famous – and ludicrous – Atlantic Council “Longer Telegram” on China, unintentionally has made a global laughing stock of the Atlantic Council.
But it still deserves careful consideration as an example.
An example of the pathetic (and infantile) intellectual pretensions of Washington’s geo-political supposed “elite.”
And their ever-fresh infantile wonk need to be “tougher”, “bigger” and “better” than their childhood heroes such as George Kennan and George Marshall.
Francois-Marie Arouet – Voltaire – shredded the remaining pretensions of the thousand-year-obsolete Holy Roman Empire in his day (the 18th century Enlightenment) by pointing out that it was not Holy, nor Roman nor even an Empire.
Similarly, the “Longer Telegram” that purported to lay out a new US National Strategy towards China is not a telegram at all.
The title of course comes from George Kennan’s now revered (as secular American Scripture) “Long Telegram” of 1946 to Secretary of State James Byrnes. And as such, it was eagerly seized upon as the blueprint for the containment of the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War.
Kennan in fact condemned US global policies of confrontation, militarization and destruction of democracies around the world from the 1950s on as a travesty of what he had advocated. He lived long enough to condemn the US expansion of NATO throughout Central Europe in the 1990s as the greatest catastrophic US policy decision of the post Cold War world, as I heard him say in person.
But no matter.
The Atlantic Council…
…part of the heart and soul of the US neoconservative/neoliberal think tank foreign policy establishment in its age of infantile regression…
… must have its Pacifier or Baby Comforter to reassure itself that it will still Run the World (at least in its own imagination) half a century from now: And that is the purpose of the “Longer Telegram.”
For the Longer Telegram of course is not a telegram at all.
Telegrams are ludicrously obsolete in our modern high tech world of the 21st century. We Veteran Foreign Correspondents have never bothered to use them for 30 or 40 years or so.
The very Executive Summary of the Longer Telegram gives that aspect of the game away.
Since when has anyone ever heard of any telegram having an “Executive Summary”?
The entire point of telegrams for the 150 years of their practical existence from around 1840 to 1990 was that they were terse and succinct to save money on the cost and speed of transmission.
The Longer Telegram is not only not a Telegram: It is not terse or succinct at all.
It ponderously, pompously and slowly lays out a policy for a [1] generations-long [2] global-wide [3] confrontation with China.
With eventual aim of imploding China.
As well as destroying China’s unity, prosperity and industrial power.
Its ultimate aim in fact is to do what the British and French Empires…
That war unleashed a nightmare century of slavery, drug addiction enslavement, humiliation, misery, massacre and death on the Chinese people.
Chinese leaders are understandably enraged at “The Longer Telegram”.
Whose neocon/neolib authors coyly elected to remain anonymous.
Again childishly trying to echo Kennan’s initial anonymity as “X”.
A reminder of his later 1947 article on Soviet foreign policy published in “Foreign Affairs” magazine.
In fact, the 2021 Longer Telegram bears all the marks of a misshapen monster designed by committee.
However, Beijing should not fear the Longer Telegram for its most crucial and salient characteristic is that is delusional, worthless nonsense.
The global unified alliance of the United States and the nations of Europe and Asia against Big Bad China is never going to happen.
The United States in the Golden Age of Joe Biden (and Kamala Harris) is too chaotic, too confused, too divided and its leaders too ludicrous to ever bring it about.
The Longer Telegram is a misshaped Frankenstein baby born of the inbred Washington Deep State Establishment.
America’s insane 18 main (of course there are hundreds of others) so-called “intelligence ” agencies (an obvious oxymoron but let that pass) are embracing it.
So are the bipartisan performing baboons of Congress…
…and their multiple thousands of staffers…
…and so of course are the enormous defense contractor corporations from whom all greenback blessings ultimately flow.
Most revealing of all, the Longer Telegram reflects the intellectual, moral and emotional bankruptcy of what passes for “thought” inside the Washington Beltway.
The Beltway Establishment can no longer even manufacture any plausible new justifications, myths or downright lies…
Lies to con the American people into pouring out the remains of their rapidly disappearing and stolen wealth…
…and sending their precious children off for more to die and have their limbs blown off …
…in yet more decades of needless, meaningless global wars.
Instead, the rotting skeletons of arguments made in a different place…
… for a different world…
… three quarters of a century ago must be dusted off and pulled off their dust-covered shelves to be recycled …
Yes. recycled for the totally different circumstances of the 21st century world.
Since Washington, as I have previously pointed out, is now run by Liberal Zombies whose ideas really died 50 years ago.
Thererfore, it should be no surprise that the apologies for “ideas” and “strategies” they frantically reach out for should be pacifiers for babies and zombie ideas exhumed from their long-forgotten graves as well.
Ouch!
Is the greater public ever going to get a clear view of the difference behind the "rules based order" of the West (we own the money system and make the rules) and the negotiated International law based order?Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 20 2021 17:05 utc | 4
So yeah. Washington DC has embraced a make lots-and-lots of war mentality. The entire Washington bureaucratic machine is gearing up for a nice long… generations long… conflict. And they are “chomping at the bit” to make it happen. They want it to happen to China. But they will accept a war with Russia. And they want it to happen soon.
Are they crazy or what?
The globe is changing, and what does America want to do?
They want to press the “reset button”, throw the world into chaos, and then use the enormous American military to “straighten things out” so that America will emerge from a global conflict as the sole remaining super-power.
This belief that it is possible is borne out of ignorance, wishful thinking, and decades of echo-chamber activities. It WILL NOT end up well.
Check out this article. All credit to the author. Reprinted as found and edited to fit this venue.
US diplomat George F. Kennan wrote a “Long Telegram” from Moscow in February 1946, which was the basis for the US containment strategy toward the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Now in 2021, the Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council released “The Longer Telegram” to suggest a “new American China strategy” which is full of Cold War mentality and smearing of China.
“The Longer Telegram” was written by “Anonymous,” or “a former senior government official with deep expertise and experience dealing with China.”
The report can be regarded as the remnants of the Trump administration trying to seek confrontation with China. The core ideas of the report are in line with the Trump administration’s China policy.
However, it is very inappropriate to release it anonymously.
Chinese people, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese leaders share common interests.
The US attempt to separate Chinese people from the CPC is doomed to fail.
If the US wants to justify itself by attacking Chinese leaders, it would be harming Chinese people’s interests as well. In the end, the US’ overall interests will be harmed.
The anonymous report’s core ideology and methods are seriously misleading.
The author, whoever he or she is, lacks a deep understanding of China’s current situation. Such people claim to be “China experts,” but they lack an understanding of China’s national conditions.
They can only talk about China through imagination.
The report’s policy recommendations are obviously distorted.
US anti-China forces are still instigating a new Cold War and ideological confrontation, trying their best to contain China as well as to engage in a “color revolution” against China.
Is the US trying to take external intervention measures to shake the CPC’s rule and change China’s political system? This would be exactly “self-defeating.” A “color revolution” against China would never succeed.
The Atlantic Council is an establishment think tank, but it has proposed an outdated cliché.
Some of the US elites have realized the previous US policy toward China was not successful, and they may want to make some adjustments.
However, they are like a drowning man desperately clutching at a straw.
They have completely misunderstood the current major interests of the US.
They also failed to learn from the failure of the US’ China policy in history.
This is a tragedy.
What is surprising is that there is a market even for such a “new American China strategy.”
This shows the extent to which the US policy circle has been poisoned.
The report is a collection of lies.
It is against the times.
The fact is that Chinese people share common interests with the CPC and Chinese leaders.
From a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society to the second largest economy today, which achievement was not reached under the leadership of the CPC?
Can the US achieve poverty alleviation the way China did?
Without the decision of the CPC and Chinese leaders as well as Chinese people’s support, how can China perform outstandingly in the COVID-19 fight?
The improvement of Chinese people’s lives and the promotion of China’s international status are due to the CPC’s leadership.
This is generally accepted by the Chinese people, but is also exactly what Westerners cannot understand.
For another example, during the financial crisis, China’s 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package was also due to Chinese leaders’ decision. The US cannot understand why China has the ability to make such a bold move. Neither can the US understand the unity between Chinese people, the CPC and Chinese leaders.
If these American political elites can make an objective comparison between China and the US with a rational and balanced mind-set, they would understand that ordinary Chinese people share common interests with the CPC and the country’s leaders.
In the US, however, this is not the case.
The interests of American leaders and people are not always consistent. We hope the Biden administration can formulate a relatively healthy overall foreign policy, instead of being led by the distortion and misjudgement of the report’s anonymous author.
The report attacked the CPC, but it has no right to do so.
Just take a look at Trump during the COVID-19 fight – where did he lead the US to?
Thus, many US political elites have a malicious starting point and intent.
They hope China will eventually be thrown into chaos.
And this is exactly what the Chinese people will never agree to.
Many American political elites’ mentality is still stuck in the so-called threat of Communism.
This is very unhealthy.
The world has long entered the 21st century and they should not stay in ideological opposition as it is a stupid, dangerous and short-sighted behavior.
These people have completely misread the times and China.
Opinions like “The Longer Telegram” will completely ruin the positive and constructive hopes of the new US administration’s China policy and overall global policies.
Yet, the “Longer Telegram” is the American policy paper.
Yes. It is the De Facto policy of the Untied States against China today. And as such it is provocative and dangerous. For it establishes the ideas that…
The Chinese province of 台湾 is an American protectorate.
That China has no authority over it’s city of 香港城市.
That America can send military troops, NGO’s and “humanitarian aid” to the Chinese province of 新疆.
That sponsoring a “color revolution” in the Chinese province of 西藏 will not have consequences.
American military warships, battle carriers, and nuclear armed aircraft can travel freely along the Chinese coast, and it will not be provocative.
Like I have said before…
What kind of Kool Aide are these morons in Washington DC drinking? Do they actually think that the rest of the world would ACCEPT this nasty, disgusting and belligerent attitude?
The Biden Administration is committed to accelerating the worst elements of the “hard imperial” practices of military encirclement of China while also advancing the “soft imperial” practices, Matt Ehret writes.
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Going into the March 18 diplomatic talks between U.S. and Chinese delegates to discuss the long-term strategic interests of the two nations, China projected a largely positive hope …
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…that the days of military aggression, trade wars, sanctions and interference into China’s affairs which characterized much of the past 8 years…
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…might finally be coming to an end.
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They had some reason to make their hopeful assumptions.
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After all, the U.S. State Department press releases announced that the meetings would …
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“highlight cooperation that promotes peace, security and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world.”
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And so, the Chinese certainly hoped that the sanctions imposed under Trump’s watch might be rolled back by the new administration.
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And that the new team might respect China’s sovereign right to pursue its economic interests.
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All without being seen as an opponent to the decaying western empire.
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They have understandably gotten quite tired of dealing with the constant unipolar intimidation…
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…as has been so common since Obama’s Asia Pivot was first announced in 2012.
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In response to the pressure of a dying empire attempting to insecurely impose its will on a growing nation which will soon find itself as the economic leader of the world…
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China has responded consistently with class and restraint calling for cooperation and dialogue.
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At various times over recent years, China has offered the USA and other western nations (desperately in need of real economic development), opportunities to cooperate…
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…on the Belt and Road Initiative,
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…space research
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… and other sectors of win-win cooperation citing these domains as being inclusive of all and beneficial to all participants.
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The fact that the Chinese have made these offers isn’t surprising.
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The USA is economically bankrupt.
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It is sitting upon a derivatives-fueled hyperinflationary bubble ripe to blow.
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America is devoid of any significant manufacturing capacities it once enjoyed.
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And it is militarily over-extended beyond belief.
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So it isn’t as if cooperating on the BRI isn’t in the interests of the USA… as a sovereign nation.
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But the USA isn’t really a sovereign nation state these days.
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It’s something else.
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This sad fact slapped the Chinese delegation across the face.
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The moment U.S. representatives Anthony Blinken and Andrew Sullivan opened their mouths during the keynote remarks and spewed nothing but belligerent poison at their Asian counterparts.
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Blinken began his condescending chastisements of China’s disruptive influence to “international rules-based order”.
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He condemned China for its alleged cyber-attacks.
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Read about how the CIA is able to fake the origin of malware and cyber attacks in the Snowden Vault 7 Release. HERE.
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As well as the apparently vicious treatment of Uyghurs…
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… Hong Kong…
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… Tibetans….
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…and Taiwan.
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Sullivan followed suit promoting the importance of the anti-Chinese “Quad” (often dubbed the “NATO of the Pacific) …
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… and then virtue signaled “American ingenuity” and leadership.
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Virtue signaling is the conspicuous communication of moral values and gooddeeds. The term has negative connotations as it is commonly used to denote virtuousactions and statements are motivated by a desire for social status and self-satisfaction. Virtual signaling is often used as a form of persuasion.-12 Examples of Virtue Signaling - Simplicable
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Using the best newspeak available to an American diplomat these days, Blinken condemned the “might makes right” outlook which has caused so much injustice over the years and which apparently guides China thinking, saying:
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“The alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all, and that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us.”
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Of course, one might be confused by this claim since China has only one foreign military base in Djibouti.
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And has started no new wars in generations…
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As well as has lifted nearly a billion people out of poverty…
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… but that’s only because you don’t receive quality CIA briefings like Blinken and Sullivan do.
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Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi’s responses provided a sobering sledgehammer of reality…
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…as both statesmen took the opportunity to spend 42 minutes laying out in stark terms the scale of hypocritical poison in extolling democracy abroad while not being able to win the support of its own population citing BLM.
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Jiechi also contrasted the USA’s obsessive use of regime changes and wars across the world in defense of the Washington-run “rules based order” …
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…with China’s track record in [1] ending extreme poverty, [2] winning the support of its citizens and [3] building great infrastructure projects abroad.
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Calling out the disingenuous intention behind the U.S. delegation’s organization of the talks, Jiechi stated:
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“isn’t this the intention of the United States – judging from what, or the way that you have made your opening remarks – that it wants to speak to China in a condescending way from a position of strength?
So was this carefully all planned and was it carefully orchestrated with all the preparations in place?
Is that the way that you had hoped to conduct this dialogue?
Well, I think we thought too well of the United States.
We thought that the U.S. side will follow the necessary diplomatic protocols.”
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Jiechi continued:
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“So let me say here that, in front of the Chinese side, the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.
The U.S. side was not even qualified to say such things even 20 years or 30 years back, because this is not the way to deal with the Chinese people.
If the United States wants to deal properly with the Chinese side, then let’s follow the necessary protocols and do things the right way.”
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In the ensuing days of meetings, it should not come as a surprise that very little in the way of serious conflict resolution occurred.
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In fact, the only solid points of agreement which the U.S. side would permit involved two joint protocols.
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Protocols that fall perfectly into alignment with the Malthusian closed system objectives of the Great Reset agenda attempting to reign in a post-nation state world order in the wake of the oncoming economic meltdown.
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These included 1) a joint program to coordinate more closely on fighting global warming via green finance and green energy grids and 2) coordinating on COVID-19 vaccination programs.
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Nothing which China is doing that relates to [1] actual scientific and [2] technological growth, [3] long term conditionality-free banking or [4] poverty extermination was permitted by the U.S.-side for reasons which should be obvious to the informed reader by now.
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While Blinken did announce in the post-conference press release that space cooperation between the two powers was discussed…
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… it is a fact as true as gravity that the imperial technocrats running the Biden White House are so ideologically opposed to the sort of open-system programs which space cooperation creates that Blinken’s remarks are sure to remain dead words.
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What is clear coming out of the Alaska meeting is that the Biden Administration is committed to accelerating the worst elements of the “hard imperial” practices of military encirclement of China…
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…while building up the QUAD military alliance on the one hand…
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…while also advancing the “soft imperial” practices of pulling China into unbreakable de-carbonization treaties and medical health regimes controlled by supranational technocrats on behalf of the Anglo-American oligarchy.
Shortly after Mr.Biden characterizing Mr.Putin as a killer and more, Mr.Putin invited Biden for a public and live online discussion, saying that it would be beneficial for both the N.American as well as the Russian people.
This morning we find this bluntly devastating shot across the bows from the Russian Foreign Affairs ministry.
The final sentence, not included in the image, reads as follows: “Responsibility for this lies entirely with the United States.”
Setting this in context, the contrast between Mr.Lavov’s ongoing visit to China, and the so-called ‘strategic’ meeting between the United States and China at the end of last week, cannot be more stark.
At the very same time, Mr.Putin and Mr Shoigu are taking the air on the Taiga in Siberia. I wonder if the western governments have figured out why now?
“ Vladimir #Putin is spending the weekend in #Siberia. The President together with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu enjoys walking in the #taiga forest and riding an all-terrain vehicle. Also, Sergei Shoigu showed the President his workshop.”
In the next few hours we will receive Mr.Lavrov’s translated speeches from his China visit. Some of it is already published.
Take a look at what Mr.Lavrov described as ‘dynamic cooperation“:
“We regard the new era of Russian-Chinese relations, which you have mentioned, primarily in the context of the broader situation on the international stage.
It is undergoing a very deep transformation and the strengthening of the new centres of economic growth, financial might and political influence.
Regrettably, the objective trend for a rise of a truly multipolar democratic world is being hindered by some Western countries led by the United States...
... which would like to preserve their domination of the global economy and international politics at all costs and to force their will and their demands on each and all.
In response to this, Russia and China are promoting a constructive unification agenda.
We want the architecture of international relations to be fair, democratic, capable of ensuring stability and based on broad interaction of states and their integration associations, just as we are doing together with our Chinese friends by promoting integration in Eurasia.China is a truly strategic partner and a like-minded country for us.
Our cooperation on the international stage is having a stabilizing effect on the global and regional situation.
Russia believes that our dialogue with China based on trust and mutual respect should provide an example for other countries, including those that are trying to develop ties with Russia and China on different principles that are not based on equality.
This is not acceptable to us or our Chinese friends.
We will continue developing our foreign policy constructively and flexibly, showing readiness for compromise but exclusively on the basis of mutual respect and a balance of interests.”
There is however a twist in this lovely tale and it is the one of economic influence and we know now which direction both Russia and China (and a host of other countries) will take in the short term.
They will remove the sanctions weapon from the hands of the United States including Europe.
Let’s take a look at a few more of Mr.Lavrov’s comments.
“The US sanctions risks need to be alleviated by switching to alternative currencies and moving away from using the dollar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.”
“The minister said the US is aiming to limit the technological development of Russia and China, so the two countries need to strengthen their independence.”
“According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the US and other western countries are no longer capable of using classical diplomacy and only resort to one tool on the international arena: sanctions.”“We must form the widest possible coalition of countries that will fundamentally oppose this illegal practice,” the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.”
As geopolitical watchers and analysts, we’re always looking for the signals that frequently just go up in smoke. This time however the signals from Russia and China are not going up in smoke but being presented in pictures in photo essays, and in clear language.
From the last few days we can learn a few things:
China and Russia are friends and will remain friends and will work together where their interests coalesce. Their interests coalesce right here in Lavrov’s words: “….. architecture of international relations to be fair, democratic, capable of ensuring stability and based on broad interaction of states.” If that statement confuses you, in short, it means right across our world.
Sanctions will be removed as a weapon.
The petrodollar is on its last legs.
The clock for the final battle is ringing. The only weapons remaining that will be allowed to the failing hegemon will be NATO (which, according to many of our serious analysts, is a paper tiger) and the ability to use nuclear and conventional weapons. I will not comment on that as I am not qualified in the field.
The ability of the current and failing hegemon to do damage economically, is being curtailed. We can look forward to a different economic reset, with countries taking their power back using their own currencies and other alternatives. (This is not the reset from the WEF). Then we will see what happens to the sphere of weapons because they may become a last resort.
On a humorous note, it looks like the Russian Foreign Affairs ministry has resorted to photos with captions, hoping they can reach the failing hegemon with pictures, because there is such a great problem to reach them with diplomatic words. The growth of the adult coloring book industry in the West may have been the deciding factor lol.
It is fascinating to compare the recent Biden comments to President Putin and Putin’s response, to what is happening in Alaska between the US and China.
It cannot be a coincidence that the messaging from both Russia and China, is the same. And it is clearly, deal with us on fair terms or Go Pound Sand.
There is a seeming coordination of messaging.
If you consider President Putin’s comments translated in this video, you will hear Putin say with nuance of course, that the US was founded first in an experience of direct genocide on Indian tribes and then they continued with a cruel period of slavery.
He says that to this day these early formative experiences accompany the zeitgeist, both internal and external, of the United States.
Mr.Putin goes further to say that the US is the only country that ever attacked another with nuclear weapons, citing Japan being a non-nuclear state.
He calls it clearly an extermination of a local population that had no military sense.
Mr Putin ends with saying that the US will have to deal with Russia and Russia will only deal in those aspects that have benefit for Russia herself, and the US will have to reckon with it.
Subtext:
You have no moral standing in the world any longer.
Your history is brutal.
You are still operating in this brutal historical context.
Go pound sand as this will not be allowed any longer.
From the Chinese side, after Blinken tried the usual litany of US complaints against China (cyber attacks, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Taiwan, and China is threatening global stability), Yang Jiechi for a whole 15 minutes called the US racists at home and warmongers abroad.
He said in front of the Chinese side, the US side is not qualified to speak to China from a position of strength.
He told in no uncertain terms that the US actions harm the interests of the peoples of the two countries as well as world stability and development and “should not be continued.”
The U.S. side made unreasonable accusations, which was not in line with diplomatic protocol, therefore China made the required response.
There is no acceptance of the newly minted ‘rules-based international order’ among the Chinese diplomats.
Subtext:
You should not be allowed to continue with your meddling.
This is because you have no more moral standing.
This is in the eyes of anyone.
Your purported ‘strength’ is dissipating in your hypocrisy.
An interesting issue of course, that went mainly under the radar, is that at the moment that the Chinese/US so-called ‘strategic’ discussion started in Alaska, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Mr Lavrov will be visiting China, specifically their delegates to the Alaska meeting, the Chinese diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi, a day or two after conclusion of the meetings.
This short sitrep should convince you that the AngloZionist empire is being told in no uncertain terms to get on with pounding sand to dig the imperial grave with evidence that this message is being coordinated.
It is a message from Russia and from China simultaneously.
Shortly after penning this short piece, some commentators are already noticing that the empire is now going to have to deal with ‘sledgehammer diplomacy’.
They have established a firm foundation for an alternative system which is open for anyone to join and which respects all participating nations.
China and Russia have made it absolutely clear that they recognize the sad fact that…
…the oligarchy in firm control of the western alliance…
…is adamantly intent on burning all possible diplomatic avenues of cooperation and dialogue…
…as the Hindenburg of the western financial system continues to careen towards a fiery oblivion.
It didn’t take long for the behaviorist zombies and NATO-philes managing the recent U.S. color revolution to undo any remnant of hope that some form of sane foreign policy might emerge from the U.S. establishment.
All hope is gone.
Nothing could be worse than the neocons running much of Trump’s foreign policy thought many of the leading members of both Chinese and Russian intelligentsias in recent months.
However, with the recent barrage of sanctions launched upon both Russia and China this week…
…in coordinated fashion by Canada, the USA and EU…
… preceded by accusations by America’s leading geriatric hologram that Putin is a soulless killer…
… it has become clear that unless a great systemic change occurs in the west, there is no hope for dialogue or cooperation.
This was made absolutely clear in the malicious ambush set up by the U.S. State Department which attempted to publicly attack and shame the Chinese in Alaska on March 18.
The fact that the results of the March 23 meeting between Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi in the South China Guanxi Zhuang Autonomous Region resulted in a renewed joint statement on Global Governance should come as no surprise.
Calling for a tightened bond of brotherhood between the two nations, Yi stated that Russia and China must
“act as guarantors of justice in international affairs”
and stated that
“China is ready to promote the international system established by the United Nations, protect the world order based on international law and abide by universal values such as peace, development, justice, democracy, equality and freedom.”
While the Five Eyes and other NATO-phile lap dogs of war sing the praises of the “rules-based order”…
… China and Russia have made the point repeatedly this week that the only international order they will adhere to…
…is the one that involves all nations and not merely the handful of imperial hypocrites among the Trans Atlantic pushing for a unilateral world government.
While these same self-righteous unipolarists self-adulate each other in their echo chambers…
… the victims of IMF-World Bank debt slavery…
… humanitarian bombings…
… drone assassinations…
… CIA-MI6 run regime changes…
… and color revolutionary conspiracies directed ultimately at Russia and China look hopefully towards the multipolar alliance as the only pathway to a future worth living in.
While praise for the UN Charter has confused some who naively believe the world body itself to have been the product of the unipolar world government agenda 76 years ago…
… there is a more nuanced reality to be discovered.
When one actually takes the time to read the charter and study the battles waged during the time of the UN’s creation, it becomes clear that the leaders of Russia and China know exactly what they are doing.
The UN charter which they defend firmly establishes respect for the sovereign of each nation state as a primary objective of the world organization…
…and grants members of the Security Council on whose body both Russia and China sit, power to veto any military decision.
Additionally, the charter mandates economic justice for all and mutual interest as primary goals of the organization.
All of these things stand in direct opposition to the sort of thinking coming out of the dystopic minds of Davos luminaries and “rules-based orderists” trying to manage the new world order today like gods of Olympus.
This during the meeting, Lavrov and Yi added the important component of economic liberation from the U.S. dollar hegemony…
…to the discussion…
…and made scientific and technological cooperation the driving force…
…of the new economic/security system that needs to be brought online in short order.
On these points Lavrov stated:
“In addition to strengthening cooperation under the UN framework on the immediate end to unilateral coercive measures, China and Russia should also take the opportunity to enhance their scientific and technological innovation and improve their national strength in response to the sanction.”
Lavrov alluded to the necessary new financial architecture that needs to arise out of the multipolar alliance by
“promoting settlement by local and other international currencies that can replace the U.S. dollar so as to gradually move away from the western controlled payment system”.
This last point reflects a process that has already been well underway for some years…
…implicitly as both Russia and China have begun managing their payment systems increasingly outside of the U.S.-controlled SWIFT system…
In his speech, Lavrov made the point that today China has become Russia’s largest trading partner, and after the Power of Siberia is completed, Russia will become the #1 supplier of energy to China.
As of 2020, $107 billion of trade occurred between the two nations with 25% of that total occurring in local currencies.
This is a huge step up from the mere 2% in 2014-16.
While the western governments are locked under the control of a Malthusian-minded priesthood ideologically committed to the deconstruction of civilization under a green financial dictatorship, the China-Russian alliance is founded upon sturdier stuff.
Premising their self-interest not upon the projection of power, and intimidation of the weak…
… China and Russia have recognized that the only pathway to a viable future is located in the power of creation (aka: breaking free of zero-sum thinking).
The leaders of these nations know that if resource scarcity press upon the potential to sustain the lives of people…
… it is better to inspire creative ideas, and unleash new discoveries under a dynamic of scientific progress…
…rather than cut down the population to adapt to those limits which computer models attest is our carrying capacity.
Already both Russia and China have established a firm foundation for an alternative system which is open for anyone to join…
…and which respects the developmental pathways, political systems and cultures of all diverse participating nations.
This harmony of the parts with the greater good of the whole is possible because the practice is founded upon a discoverable principle of Natural Law.
A law which has found the human species in a living universe where both freedom, law and duty all co-exist.
This coherence of the whole and the parts once animated the minds of statesmen of the west who authored such foundational documents as the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), Declaration of Independence (1776), the U.S. Constitution (1787) and UN Charter (1945).
This principle of statecraft was invoked by such great men as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Charles DeGaulle and John Kennedy (to name a few) who each in their own way defended the General Welfare…
…while simultaneously upholding the unalienable rights of the individual to the chagrin of the financier oligarchy.
These men did this via the use of strong federal power to [1] build great projects, [2] regulate private finance all while [3] amplifying the power of private enterprise and [4] individual rights of each citizen.
Before the bipolar days of the Cold War brainwashed the majority of citizens into believing they had to plug themselves into either a “communist” or “free market capitalist” cage, this system was known around the world as “The American System of Political Economy”.
Sadly, this pre-condition for human survival has long been forgotten in the west.
It is now Russia and China who are leading the “guarantors of justice in world affairs”…
…as both nations have united in co-constructing the first lunar base together,
…advance asteroid defense systems (which deal with an actual threat to our planet unlike those fake crises advocated by fear mongers at Davos and London),
…and are working on overtime to extend the New Silk Road across Africa, Asia, Latin America …
…as well as the Arctic in the form of the Polar Silk Road.
Whether or not the west is capable of rediscoveries its lost better traditions at this late date remains to be seen.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
"Trying to wade through the muck that passes as news today IS a fools errand."
A “sheeple” is a person who has very strong, visceral, and vibrant emotions about a subject that they have NO FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE about. That is how you can define what a “sheeple” is. It is an easily manipulated person that follows various “shepherds”, and listens to their “pied piper” song and dance. Even to their deaths.
In American, and conservative media you can often hear the term “sheeple” bantered about commonly. It tends to be a disparaging title directed towards others who seemingly, and mindlessly repeat narratives without thinking.
In conservative media, “sheeple” tends to represent everyone else outside of the “conservative news media”. It’s a rather catch-all phrase that is used to describe anyone else who believe anything else other than the conservative narrative.
In liberal media, while the term “sheeple” is used, the more common phrase is to “avoid the electric kool aide“, which refers to both the Reverend Jim Jones group suicide (by drinking poisoned Kool Aide punch), and the 1960’s counter-culture practice of lacing kool aide with LSD.
Combined, it features the words “sheep” and “people” to describe a human that maintains herd-like concepts of self.
As interesting as this is, the fact is that people of all political alignments qualify as sheeple. It’s not just “the other guy”. Probably you too, dear MM reader. It’s so very easy to get snookered in; sucked in a heavily promoted lie. (I’ve been sucked in. Many times in fact. So do not get too hot and bothered about it. It happens.)
"Simply put, the collective West--led by the America and the Anglosphere--resembles a civilization of paranoid schizophrenics, whose delusional ravings will drive them towards world war--total war."
Moreover, the method to determine whether or not you are a sheeple is very simple.
Here is the litmus test;
A "sheeple" is a person who has very strong, visceral, and vibrant emotions about a subject that they have NO FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE about.
For instance…
Buying a used car
You buy a used car. After two months the motor dies, the transmission fails, and the bumper falls off. You get angry about this. And when you go to talk to the man who sold you the car, and he refuses to talk to you. Instead he responds that "all sales are final".
You get angry at him. Your anger is real, and full of anger and emotion.
Not a sheeple. Just a man who is angry at a man who swindled him.
Eating at a restaurant
You go into a restaurant, and order the "blue plate special". After you pay for the meal and leave, you notice that your stomach starts to churn. By the time you get home, you are vomiting uncontrollably. You spend the entire night on the toilet, and the next day your spouse has to cart you off to the hospital to have your stomach pumped.
You are angry at the restaurant, and vow never to eat there again.
Not a sheeple. Just a man who is angry at a restaurant that poisoned him.
Dating a person
You go on a date and that person is rude, obnoxious, and has terrible body odor. They refuse to pay for the meal, and makes a big "scene" inside the restaurant, and then afterwards demands sexual favors when you are clearly repulsed by them.
You are angry at this person and vow never to repeat this mistake ever again. From this moment forward, you never date anyone who even remotely reminds you of this "date from Hell".
Not a sheeple. Just a person who had a bad experience on a data and vows never to repeat that mistake ever again.
Reading about Slavery
You read an article about forced sexual slavery in a particular nation. Then two articles later, you read about how they are injecting malware into your computer. The next day the newspapers describe how they have caused the deaths of thousands of innocent cats and dogs, and how their children are trained to lie, cheat, and trip people.
You are angry, and whenever you calm down, there is yet another article that keeps your anger alive and fresh.
You are a sheeple. You are angry about something you have read, NOT at what you experienced.
Unless you have experienced the events that generate your anger personally, you are being manipulated by those that own the media companies that you use.
Summary
The 0.1% of the population that own 99.999% of the media use it to manipulate.
The manipulations turn normal thinking humans into creatures that maintain herd behaviors.
There are many, many variations on their techniques and on the subjects so utilized. The techniques are honed after decades of utility, and supplanted by artificial intelligence for improved efficiency.
No one is immune from these manipulations.
Most people are unaware that they are being expertly manipulated.
The most dangerous and effective manipulations are those that we WANT to BELIEVE.
The only way to guard from these manipulations is to perform a self check…
Self Check
Have you lived in the nation that you are angry about? (Yes / No)
Have you personally met a person that described to you a situation (that they experienced) that you are specifically angry about? (Yes/No)
Have you shared a meal, been to a hospital, or dated a person associated with the issue you are angry about? (Yes / No)
Is the beliefs that you hold about an issue from personal experience, or from something you read, or watched on the internet? (Yes / No)
Be very careful in what you read about.
The world is filled with evil, and powerful people that take absolute pleasure in manipulating people for their own gain.
Examples
Let’s take a look at an article found on “Free Republic”.
Forced COVID-19 Vaccination Widespread in China, Sources Say
4/4/2021, 3:16:34 AM · by SeekAndFind · 10 repliesEpoch Times ^ | 04/03/2021 | Frank Yue
Mounting evidence shows the Chinese Communist Party has been imposing vaccinations upon the public, despite concerns over efficacy and health implications. A female netizen named Duan Da Dan posted in Chinese on social media site Weibo on March 31: “I’m really annoyed that my employer forces me to receive jabs even if I’m planning to get pregnant. [They] never consider the possible impact on the fetus.” Another internet user claimed in Chinese-language Weibo post on March 30 that she had contracted hives twice, meaning she suffers from allergies. However, she was upset that her employer was pressuring her every day...
Of course, most people reading this article would believe it. As they have nothing to compare it against.
.
“forced vaccinations are widespread”
“sources say”
“posted on a social media site”
“upset her employer is pressuring her every day”
Damn those evil Chinese!
Further, if they are inclined to hold an anti-VAX stance, they would be infuriated that the evil Chinese would be so aggressive about forcing people to get vaccines.
Um. Yeah. Sure. What ever you say.
Let’s do a sanity check.
I’m here in China.
And the vaccinations take place inside the malls.
So, here’s what the vaccinations in China actually look like. It looks like a normal, everyday visit to the mall. This is a mall next to my house. The vaccinations are being conducted on the fifth floor, right off the elevator. It’s free for everyone (Chinese residents that show their ID card, and non-residents that have a residency stamp in their passport.) between the ages of 18 and 60.
I suppose that exceptions can be made if you are older or younger, but you will need to consult with the doctor first.
Here is a short video I took of the line on the fifth floor (from the fourth floor) for the vaccination process. You can see the people clearly lined up, calm. Patient. Unhurried.
You can also see the instruction cards (those three white rectangular marquis). On the other side would be the QR code that would automatically link your ID with the hospital and then log in your vaccination with your social scoring. ,You can see the registration counter and the injection area off to the right.
Do you see evil Chicom police forcing innocent people to get injections? Do you see people freaking out and “demanding their rights”? Do you see the horrors and anger that is so characteristic of how the Chinese are portrayed in American media?
Doe it resemble anything, at all, like the images you get in your “mind’s eye” regarding what China is like?
Are there crowds of hungry, starving, angry people? Is it dirty, filthy and disease ridden? Is the air so full of smog and filth? What about the infrastructure? Is it falling down? What about the police and military presence? Do you see police dogs, anyone with an AK-47?
I wish that I would have gotten a picture of one of those cute roving robots that are all over the place. But that’s the luck of the draw don’t you know. They respond back to you. If you go up to them you can see what they see on the video and they will ask you if you need anything. Then they will answer using your actual name! I guess the face recognition and the AI enables them to converse to you as a person.
And here’s another…
And for a strong comparison, let’s compare what my FIRST HAND, up front and personal video with what is written inside the American media…
"Chinese Communist Party has been imposing vaccinations upon the public, despite concerns over efficacy and health implications. "
Does the video, in any way what so ever, reflect what was written in America? Does the videos show people being coerced, being forced, or being made to do anything that they don’t want to do?
Can't see the videos? Then you can download a ZIP file of them HERE.
Conclusion
Most Americans are sheeple whether they like the title or not.
If you find yourself getting upset with something that you cannot verify with your own two eyes, or touch with your hands, or smell with your nose, then you are being manipulated.
If you believe those manipulations, then you are a sheeple.
Dangers of such manipulations
You might end up believing…
The President “has your back” if you decide to riot in Congress.
The United States is capable of fighting and winning World War III.
Using a 3G cell phone will not only give you brain cancer, but it will cause gasoline pumps to explode.
Social Security deductions from your pay are put in a “lock box”.
Unless you update your computer software with the new government approved version, the Y2K will rampage through your house and kill you.
Pizza is a vegetable. Coital silver supplements will give you a healthier life. And most vitamins are fake.
Eating a hamburger will turn you into a drooling moron though mad cow disease.
Using an e-cigarette will cause you to die of vaping.
Angry Zombie Killer Wasps (imported from China) will kill you.
Florine in your water is a way of altering your precious bodily fluids.
Senator Sessions is going to throw Hillary Clinton in jail, he has a plan with his enormous mind that is playing 54-d strategy.
The economy is roaring. Unemployment is way down, and America leads the world in satisfaction.
Do you want more?
I have more posts that might be of interest. Go ahead and check out my Happiness Index here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
There is a lot of changes that are set in motion. Many long-overdue changes are coming to America, and those that have been doing quite well do not want change. They want to fight change, and they will go as far as to start a nuclear World War III to guarantee that their lives never change.
Here we are going to chat a little bit about the root, and the source of much of the problems in America today…
… the American system that permits people, and companies to become fantastically wealthy while all the time making everyone around them much poorer.
…
The American Promise
In America, the media narrative is that this is a good thing. A “lone wolf”, “hard working” person can “pull himself up by his bootstraps” and become successful. Look at Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. See! Normal people. Everyone can do it.
Ah. The American promise…
The American Reality
Nope.
That’s not how it works. Maybe it used to be that way some two hundred years ago, and maybe as recent as seventy five years ago. But today, it’s a hopeless proposition. There are too many layers of government regulation. Too many powerful companies. The “little guy” has too many hurtles to overcome.
Leaving only the existing wealth structures in control and in power.
It’s the American reality.
The problem with America
This situation where only the wealthy have the vast bulk of the money has created far too many problems. And if left unchecked will generate many more to come. Including, eventually, the potential end of the world as we know it today.
For instance, to keep the people from rising up in revolution, you need [1] propaganda and [2] control of the media, you need [3] armed and strong militarized domestic police forces, you need [4] distractions which tend to mean [5] wars and chaos, and you need to [6] constantly decrease the standard of life of the rabble so that you can maintain your own power.
And isn’t that what we have been observing?
American income distribution
The chart of the income distribution for America today greatly resembles what it must have been in France before the French revolution, and in Russia before the Russian revolution.
The poor got much poorer.
The middle class disappeared.
The super-duper wealthy become stratospheric wealthy.
Which brings me to an article. It was written back in 2014, and back then the alarms were a ringing and the sirens were screaming, and the lights were flashing, but few paid attention…
In a new Pew poll, more than three quarters of self-described conservatives believe…
“poor people have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything.”
In reality, most of America’s poor work hard, often in two or more jobs.
The real non-workers are the wealthy who inherit their fortunes. And their ranks are growing.
In fact, we’re on the cusp of the largest inter-generational wealth transfer in history.
MM Comment
This was written in 2014. The cusp has passed and now America is at this state, firmly entrenched within this condition; firmly put in place. Rock solid and immovable.
The wealth is coming from those who over the last three decades earned huge amounts on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, or as high-tech entrepreneurs.
It’s going to their children, who did nothing except be born into the right family.
The “self-made” man or woman, the symbol of American meritocracy, is disappearing. Six of today’s ten wealthiest Americans are heirs to prominent fortunes. Just six Walmart heirs have more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined (up from 30 percent in 2007).
The U.S. Trust bank just released a poll of Americans with more than $3 million of investable assets.
Nearly three-quarters of those over age 69, and 61 per cent of boomers (between the ages of 50 and 68), were the first in their generation to accumulate significant wealth.
But the bank found inherited wealth far more common among rich millennials under age 35.
This is the dynastic form of wealth French economist Thomas Piketty warns about. It’s been the major source of wealth in Europe for centuries. It’s about to become the major source in America – unless, that is, we do something about it.
As income from work has become more concentrated in America, the super rich have invested in businesses, real estate, art, and other assets. The income from these assets is now concentrating even faster than income from work.
In 1979, the richest 1 percent of households accounted for 17 percent of business income. By 2007 they were getting 43 percent. They were also taking in 75 percent of capital gains. Today, with the stock market significantly higher than where it was before the crash, the top is raking even more from their investments.
Both political parties have encouraged this great wealth transfer, as beneficiaries provide a growing share of campaign contributions.
MM Comment
The reader is asked to put a clothespin to their noses as some politics is bantered about. It's the same nauseatingly "Wonderful Democrats", and "terrible Republicans". Ugh.
Both are members of the Uni-party. They are identical.
But Republicans have been even more ardent than Democrats.
For example, family trusts used to be limited to about 90 years. Legal changes implemented under Ronald Reagan extended them in perpetuity. So-called “dynasty trusts” now allow super-rich families to pass on to their heirs money and property largely free from taxes, and to do so for generations.
George W. Bush’s biggest tax breaks helped high earners but they provided even more help to people living off accumulated wealth. While the top tax rate on income from work dropped from 39.6% to 35 percent, the top rate on dividends went from 39.6% (taxed as ordinary income) to 15 percent, and the estate tax was completely eliminated. (Conservatives called it the “death tax” even though it only applied to the richest two-tenths of one percent.)
Barack Obama rolled back some of these cuts, but many remain.
Before George W. Bush, the estate tax kicked in at $2 million of assets per couple, and then applied a 55 percent rate. Now it kicks in at $10 million per couple, with a 40 percent rate.
House Republicans want to go even further than Bush did.
Rep. Paul Ryan’s “road map,” which continues to be the bible of Republican economic policy, eliminates all taxes on interest, dividends, capital gains, and estates.
Yet the specter of an entire generation who do nothing for their money other than speed-dial their wealth management advisors isn’t particularly attractive.
It’s also dangerous to our democracy, as dynastic wealth inevitably accumulates political influence.
MM Comment
America is not a democracy. It is a military empire that is run by a global oligarchy.
What to do? First, restore the estate tax in full.
MM Comment
His solution; the same-old, same-old. More taxes. More regulation. Bigger government.
Not what is needed; a complete structural overhaul on the entire American government-society system.
Second, eliminate the “stepped-up-basis on death” rule. This obscure tax provision allows heirs to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the increased value of assets accumulated during the life of the deceased. Such untaxed gains account for more than half of the value of estates worth more than $100 million, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Third, institute a wealth tax. We already have an annual wealth tax on homes, the major asset of the middle class. It’s called the property tax. Why not a small annual tax on the value of stocks and bonds, the major assets of the wealthy?
MM Comment
All the solutions are the same-old, same-old. More taxes to go to government. Not any systematic changes to the entire way the system operates.
We don’t have to sit by and watch our “meritocracy” be replaced by a permanent aristocracy, and our democracy be undermined by dynastic wealth. We can and must take action – before it’s too late.
MM Comment
It is too late. America has a permanent aristocracy where the vast wealth is either concocted out of thin air, or by dynastic wealth.
But you know…
China is taking notes…
Let’s open up the dialog with this comment that I found in my e-mailbox…
In China, the CCP draw from the experience of the first 30 years of opening up, and [has] concluded that:
1) China endorsed the part of the free market logic that encourage individual innovation and that rewards hardwork.
2) However, China will not allow the ultimate outcome of a free market economy. As it is one where a handful of billionaires will eventually take control of the market, killing competition, and dictate the price and distribution chain of supply and demand.
The world has been controlled by the Western set of rules for far too long. These rules were set up at the time they are working towards Western advantages.
The collapse of the USSR and the drop in standard of living and life expectancy in Russia is widely studied in China and experienced is learned.
Now, China will open up further to counter US strategy to form a war alliance against China.
Instead, China is strategically beginning a dual circle economy build on food security, financial security, economic security, and national security. As well as a discussion on the evil doing of privatized capital and western capital across the world.
The CCP armed with Mao theories of how to run a country with serving the people as the party motto is far more down to earth than the capitalists who control western politicians.
When Xi came to power, he openly pledged that the SOEs sector has to become larger, and stronger.
In contemporaneous China, any large scale businesses are require to sell to the government 1% of their share. Now with this 1%, the government representatives will sit in a broad of director meeting, and have the power to stop any plan that threaten the security of any sector of the Chinese economy or society.
Therefore, if it only involved expanding product ranges, improve services, opening a few more outlets, they are totally free to do so.
...
Cheers
<redacted>
And perhaps that will give you all some perspective why America must DESTROY China, and why there is no-room for co-habitation. It’s all or nothing with America. For once the rest of the world sees that the American emperor has “no clothes”, the fall of the empire will only be minutes away.
And it’s all pretty depressing. Anyways, I’m tossing this idea out to you all. That the idea of “what America stands for” is wealth accumulation by the super-rich, for themselves, and everyone else is just a herd animal to service them. Being so fantastically wealthy they not only own most of what you eat, use, and read, but they also control your government, and as a result you have zero influence on what your government is doing.
Pot-holes need fixing? No problem, your government is going to bomb the shit out of Yemen! Now, don’t you feel better?
Taxes too high? No problem, the government is going to reclassify the taxes in a fee, and then make it mandatory for you to pay that fee or else you will go to prison. There! Don’t you feel better?
Can’t find work? No problem. You can enlist in the military, get on welfare, or donate blood. The news says that the economy is roaring and that everything is just “hunky-dory”. So you must be lazy. Don’t you know!
Conclusion
This exhausts me. This situation is not sustainable. The question and the big unknown is when will it all fall down?
I have no answers.
I think that I need to go out, eat some fine delicious food, quaff some brews, and go a whoring. Life is too short not to have fun.
And that is my definitive opinion on this subject.
Do you want more?
I have more posts elsewhere. I don’t know what this will file under. But you can probably find others like it here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Happy Easter everyone. I hope that you are spending time together with loved one, relaxing and chilling out. For the Metallic-family, we went out and visited a couple of new malls, and ate some fine delicious Thai food, and some mild Hunan food. With wine and beer. Of course.
Later on, it’s a nice long relaxing afternoon with some silly and easy to watch movies to chill to. Please let’s dust off this crazy movie and pop it in the VCR. Listen to the tape a whirl, and watch the movie with a bowl of chips and a chill out attitude.
The Background
The Evil Dead series, both in the cinematic and television forms, has a marvelously delirious history. An original film financed on a shoestring budget that plays its horror-centric tone mostly straight but with a few chuckle inducing moments, a sequel that is in essence a remake of the original and was originally supposed to follow the plot of the third film, said third film that goes off in a completely different direction, and now a TV series, 22 years later, that makes no reference to the third installment for legal reasons, therefore technically continuing the story of the first film but unquestionably borrowing the slapstick, overly comedic identity of the third movie. Few popular franchises can claim to having a developmental history has complicated and hard fought as Evil Dead, although one would struggle to consider that a virtue. All that being said, Army of Darkness, which premiered in 1992 but was only released wide in February of 1993, is arguably the most interesting, unique and important entry.
Ash – Our legendary demon-slaying, lady-killing, chainsaw-wielding, S-Mart employee. Oh, and he also accidentally invented breakdancing by slipping on milk curd.
Sheila – She knows that the best way to catch a man’s eye is to slap the snot out of him. She also knows that the best way to keep a man is to bear him male children, and not to have syphilis.
Arthur – Noble born leader of the blighted lands, a real goody-goody two-shoes.
Wiseman – One of the worst things about the dark ages is that the world was filled with all sorts of evil spirits, fantastic monsters, and eldritch magic. The Wiseman’s job was to know the weakness of every possible supernatural peril. “Silver weapons, running water, garlic, a charm made from the toe of a saint” – those sorts of things. Everybody else knew that the old freaks were just making it up as they went along, but nobody cared, so long as the wards worked.
Duke Henry – Red haired and bearded leader of the northern kingdoms.
Bad Ash – Created after Ash swallows a tiny version of himself, then grows two heads, then splits into two people…oh forget it, he’s an evil and rotting version of Ash. Turned into a firework.
Little Ash’s – These miniature menaces terrorize Ash for a while. Some get stomped, one gets eaten.
The Army of the Dead – Hundreds of skeletons that are chopped to bits, blown apart, or crushed.
The Plot
The Army of Darkness is a remarkably silly movie. And it is just perfect to watch on lazy Easter Afternoons.
The beginning of “Army of Darkness” makes a slight adjustment to the end of Evil Dead 2. Originally, Ash is sucked through the wormhole, gets dumped out somewhere in time south of the Renaissance, blasts a flying Deadite, and is immediately worshipped as a delivering saint by a group of medieval warriors. Here we have Ash mistaken as part of Duke Henry’s army, the force that Lord Arthur has just routed from the field of battle. Poor Ash finds himself a prisoner of Lord Arthur, locked in a stock and told to schlep it along.
Back in those days there were not any federally-funded maximum security prisons. Heck, there were not even any small continents or large islands so that a country of Queen-loving citizens could banish their criminals (and the criminals’ children, and their children, and so on) to lifelong incarceration upon the too-big-for-an-island / sort-of-small-to-be-a-continent. Lord Arthur’s solution to this conundrum is that the last of Duke Henry’s men are to be tossed into the Pit. Inside the Pit are Deadites. Obviously, Ash does not want to go into the Pit, but that is exactly where he gets pushed. Things look really bad for our hero, but the Wiseman tosses Ash his chainsaw as a Deadite closes in for the kill. Armed with his trusty chainsaw, Ash is more than a match for any demon. The Deadite quickly becomes just plain old dead.
After he climbs out of the pit, Ash recovers his sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, and then berates the unwashed masses of medieval citizenry (nobles, serfs, and vassals). The good Lord Arthur finds it difficult to say no to a man who carries a boomstick and who eats soul-eating Deadites for lunch. The nobleman can only glare as Ash takes up residence in the central keep, and sets about enjoying the service of the serving wenches. Even a surprise visit by a Deadite hag just further cements Ash in place as a royal thorn in Arthur’s royal side.
For his part, Ash effectively tells Arthur and the Wiseman that they can have the Middle Ages. All that Ash wants to do is go home. He does take a break from yearning for 1992 long enough to construct a mechanical iron hand to replace the one he lost in “Evil Dead 2.” He also puts aside his animosity towards Sheila (they had a rough start) and starts making it with the “Doth do maketh my heart warm with thy presence” sort of stuff.
I am not sure why Ash insists on returning to the present. Maybe he wants to avoid cholera, syphilis, and the Black Plague, but he will be doing that at the expense of a lot of quality time that could be spent eating grapes and wenching. Ah, wenching. Out of everything the Middle Ages stood for, I miss wenching the most. If you ever make it to 784 AD, make sure that you sample the wenches.
The Wiseman finally convinces Ash that the only way he can ever get back home is by undertaking a quest to recover the Necromonicon from a haunted graveyard. Now, Ash is an extremely groovy kind of guy, but he has a hard enough time staying out of Deadite-spawned trouble in his own living room. Mucking around in the land of the dead is going to have serious consequences. The first of those is that Ash gets chased around the haunted forest that is near the haunted graveyard by invisible motorcycles. The second issue created by Ash’s foray into the world of spirits, spells, and specters takes place inside an old windmill. A shattered mirror turns into a mob of tiny troublemaking Ash clones! They poke him with forks, drop things on his head, and generally make Ash wish that he had never had children of any sort. Once he gets the little hellions under control, Ash then has to deal with his alternate Deadite ego, Bad Ash.
One boomstick later, there is only one Ash standing. He is a bad-a**, but not Bad Ash.
Ash does finally reach the graveyard and recover the book (after dealing with two cursed imitation tomes). However, he does not correctly take possession of the Book of the Dead. Yep, Ash flubs “klaatu barada nikto.” As a result, the dead are woken from their endless sleep. Hundreds of skeletons assemble themselves into a massive army, with Bad Ash assuming command as the undead horde’s general. Now Lord Arthur has something worse than the proto-Scots and Deadite intrusions to deal with. Social Security was not created until the 20th Century; figuring out what to do about hundreds of the walking dead who refuse to stay in their graves is a big problem for a medieval noble.
Actually, Arthur and Ash decide to solve the problem the way that most problems were solved during the Middle Ages: they will have a battle!
To prepare for the battle, Ash and the other defenders of Arthur’s castle turn to the textbooks that were in the trunk of Ash’s car (the vehicle was also sucked back in time). I must say, Ash pursued some unusual subjects in college. How often does someone get to say, “That semester of ‘Steam Power 101’ really paid off!” in their life? Unfortunately, the hero has to make his preparations for Ragnarok without indulging in the time-honored tradition of pre-battle nookie, because Sheila is whisked away by a Deadite gargoyle. The next time that Ash sees his gentle lady, she is a Deadite witch and a real ball-breaker.
The Army of Darkness that attacks the castle finds itself on the receiving end of exploding arrows, catapult-lobbed bombs, and even a car that looks like the result of an Oldsmobile having sex with a windmill. Bones are crushed by the human defenders, but the walls are eventually breached, and Ash has a final skin-shedding reckoning with Bad Ash. The evil army is routed, and the only thing left for Ash to do is to go home to his own time. There are two different endings to this movie. In one, we see Ash back at S-Mart, defending the customers and employees from a surprise Deadite incursion. In the other, Ash hits the Rip Van Winkle bottle a little too much and sleeps well past doomsday.
I like “Evil Dead 2” more than “Army of Darkness.” Yet, this is an entertaining cult film. You could even call it a gruesomely groovy comedy. The movie is filled with Three Stooges-style slapstick, and the head-bangs and eye-pokes are so well done that I get nostalgic to watch some old Stooges’ shorts. Still, the reason that everybody loves Ash is that he has some great lines, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Stallone and Schwarzenegger action films of the 1980s, and he delivers them with style.
Things I learned from this movie
Ash finds himself thrown back in time and must discover the modicum of generosity he never thought he had inside him by fending off hoards of skeleton soldiers and a hulking evil version of himself in order to protect a small but brave kingdom before returning back to present day.
In ye olde days “public transportation” meant being chained to the nobleman’s horse and dragged along behind him.
Knights often fall for the old “your shoelace is untied” trick.
Department store employees know how to construct robotic limbs.
The difference between an ear and a pancake is academic.
Stonehenge was a public library.
Never mumble the magic words.
Jay Leno’s chin is the product of an unfortunate childhood accident involving a vacuum.
No ex-girlfriend is worth wrecking your car over.
When wrestling a skeleton, always remember that they are vulnerable to the backbreaker.
Stuff To Watch For:
Army of Darkness.
5 mins – You know, “The Gods Must Be Crazy” would have been more interesting if the main guy had found a chainsaw instead of that bottle.
10 mins – That guy obviously suffered from high blood pressure.
18 mins – Pretty cheap for a double-barreled shotgun. Hey, did the barrel length just change?
21 mins – You sound like my grandmother.
26 mins – Detroit?
32 mins – We have gone from “The Amazing Colossal Man” to “Gulliver’s Travels” to “The Manster” and now we are on “The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant.” What is next, “The Birds?”
38 mins – Oops, looks like you found the dreaded Hoovernomicon: The Book of the Suck.
51 mins – For a moment there I was worried that a song was coming on.
53 mins – Skeletal musicians: +1 combat result.
65 mins – Amy Winehouse?
Conclusion
Army of Darkness.
It is, in a nutshell, a melding of two films: an Evil Dead film and a medieval fantasy action comedy. No one in their right mind would seriously consider the movie to be an outright horror film. Granted, it features some ingredients that would be right at home in a horror movie, but so much of what Raimi and company want to provide is far more along the lines of an action adventure story soaked in the sort of slapstick humour Raimi is known for being a humungous fan of.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
A soft landing for America 20 years from now? Don’t bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that by 2025, it could all be over except for the shouting.
The screaming.
The writhing, and…
…the dying.
Despite the aura of omnipotence most empires project, a look at their history should remind us that they are fragile organisms. So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly bad, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed.
It’s typically a long, long, looonnnggg build up.
And then, something snaps.
And it all unravels…
Like an over-wound spring.
We know this from history: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood quite soon for the United States, ending within the next few years.
It’s all going to go “belly up”…
Economic (Health of the Economy)
Social (Social unrest, and a collapse of norms.)
Military (Attempts at creating large wars.)
Industrial (Jump starting the manufacturing base.)
Technology (Investments in R&D, NPD and innovation.)
Financial (Value of the USD)
The following is from the Kuntsler Blog also known as “Cluster-fuck nation”. He usually have some nice and pointed points, but this is a crown jewel. In this observation he talks about the major miscalculation(s) in economic policy inside the Washington DC beltway and how it will manifest in “heartland America” when the entire “deck of cards” come tumbling down.
This is a full reprint, all credit to the author. Reprinted to fit this venue with only minor editing as necessary.
We will start with this article, and the follow up with a second one, back to back…
Clusterfuck Nation
For your reading pleasure Mondays and Fridays
A nation literally falling apart certainly might want to Build Back Better, but it also might want to consider building back differently, consistent with the signals that reality is sending to humankind these days.
For instance, the signals that the old industrial paradigm is coming to an end, and that the furnishings and accessories of it may not be the ones that humankind actually requires going forward.
Alas, the psychology of previous investment tends to dictate that societies pound their capital — if they still have any —down a rat-hole in the vain and desperate attempt to keep old rackets going.
And this is the essence of Mr. Biden’s infrastructure bill; a colossal confection of government over-reach with its thin cake layers, cloyingly thick “social justice” frosting, and its giant cherry-on-top of drawing on “capital” that doesn’t exist.
The main racket is the ongoing effort to replace a transactional economy of individual enterprise with the managerial state (that attempts to allocate all resources and direct markets).
We’ve seen that movie before.
It beats a path directly to totalitarian tyranny, and that is already sickeningly visible in the pre-production activities for the new movie.
With social media assisting government to set up total control of its citizens lives — actually copying the techniques already operating in China.
Some pieces of the bill are just plain tragic.
Like the effort to prop up mass motoring by switching out electric cars for the old gasoline-powered cars that have ruled the land for a century.
It’s an appealing fantasy, of course…
…but the electric car thing ain’t a’gonna happen.
Not at the scale envisioned, not unless the government plans to buy the electric cars and give them away to everybody, and that’s rather a stretch.
First, the whole mass motoring racket is falling apart more on its financial model than on whether the cars move by gasoline or electricity.
Americans are used to buying cars on installment loans, and, with the middle-class withering away, there are ever-fewer credit-worthy borrowers for those loans (for ever more expensive cars).
Soon, as the debt markets wobble, there will also be even less hallucinated capital (“money”) to loan out to this shrinking pool of borrowers.
Second, the decrepit US electric grid can’t handle the charging needs of such a gigantic electric car fleet (and fixing the grid alone would be a trillion-dollar project).
Third, the manufacturing of electric cars depends on scarce rare mineral resources that are not readily available in the US, but controlled by foreign nations.
Fourth, car-making utterly depends on far-flung international supply lines for parts and electronics.
This is occurring at a time when the integrated global economy is cracking up under the strain of desperate competition for dwindling resources and the ill-will generated by that.
More… There are yet more kinks in the electric car scheme but those are enough.
MM Comments.
Of course he's talking about the Untied States. The rest of the world doesn't really have this problem. In China, for instance, most public transportation is electric, as is a sizable portion of the private automobile market.
Of course, this whole initiative is in the service of preserving a set of living arrangements that is going obsolete…
… namely, suburbia.
The previous investment represented by all the housing subdivisions, commercial highway strips, malls, office parks, and super-highways pretty much drove the American economy since the Second World War.
It’s understandable that we would be desperate to keep it all running.
As well as fix the pieces that are falling apart, because it’s where we put most of our national wealth.
It’s the whole American Dream in one nifty package.
And, it sure seemed like a good idea at the time, in such a big country, with so much cheap land, and all that oil.
But now things have changed and reality is sending us clear signals that we have to live differently.
The effort to oppose reality is apt to be ruinous for us.
A thumping sense of triumph attended the roll-out of the Build Back Better infrastructure bill…
… at least on the Democrats’ side, especially with all the chocolate Easter eggs for “social justice”…
…lodged in the $1.9 trillion basket.
I imagine it will mark the Biden regime’s high point of esprit.
By the time Congress churns through it all, the financial markets will be sending florid distress signals of deepening instability…
And, with Covid lockdowns ending (or even if they resume), warm weather will bring out people angry about one thing or another into the streets.
And a number of pending legal matters — the Derek Chauvin verdict, the Durham investigation, the Hunter Biden case at DOJ, and perhaps the burgeoning and rather sinister new Matt Gaetz melodrama…
… will stir the pot that the American zeitgeist is brewing in.
With plumes of chaos wafting over the land.
By fall, Build Back Better might transmogrify into the ominous question: build back anything?
Clusterfuck Nation
For your reading pleasure Mondays and Fridays
The people pretending to run the world’s financial affairs do.
The more layers of abstract game-playing they add to the existing armatures of unreality they’ve already constructed…
…the more certain it becomes that they will blow up all the support systems…
…support systems of a sunsetting hyper-tech economy that now has no safe lane to continue running in.
Virtually all the big nations are doing this now in desperation.
This is because they don’t understand that the hyper-tech economy is hostage to the deteriorating economics of energy.
Basically fossil fuels, and oil especially.
The macro mega-system can’t grow anymore.
We’re now in the de-growth phase of a dynamic that pulsates through history, as everything in the universe pulsates.
We attempted to compensate for de-growth with debt, borrowing from the future.
But debt only works in the youthful growth phases of economic pulsation, when the prospect of being paid back is statistically favorable.
Now in the elder de-growth phase, the prospect of paying back debts, or even servicing the interest, is statistically dismal.
The amount of racked-up debt worldwide has entered the realm of the laughable.
So, the roughly twenty-year experiment in Central Bank credit magic, as a replacement for true capital formation, has come to its grievous end.
Hence, America under the pretend leadership of Joe Biden ventures into the final act of this melodrama, which will end badly and probably pretty quickly.
They are about to call in the financial four horsemen of apocalypse:
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT),
A “command” economy,
Universal Basic Income (UBI, “helicopter” money for the people), and
the “Build Back Better” infrastructure scheme.
MMT
MMT is the idea that a nation which claims a monopoly on issuing money can “create” new money ad infinitum with no negative consequences.
That is, we can “lend” ourselves money (borrow it into existence) without having to worry about paying it back.
The theory caught on only because that’s what we’ve done for two decades and, so far, it hasn’t destroyed the banking system…
…though debt turned exponential, which is to say ruinous, only recently…
… so we won’t have to stand by long to see how this experiment works out.
Note this: MMT completes the divorce between productive activity and capital formation, that is, prosperity without wealth.
A “command” economy
A “command” economy means that government increasingly attempts to take over economic enterprise.
It does so to replace x-million individual economic choices of freely-acting people in a society with bureaucratic central planning.
MM Comments.
It is usually a complete and absolute failure. The sole lone exception is China, and it really isn't a "command" economy at all. Just a "top driven" one.
UBI
UBI is the primary feature of that because, in a command economy, production is mostly pretend, so you just have to give people money (for nothing).
Remember the old basic operating system of the Soviet Union, stated succinctly as: We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.
Got that?
Build Back Better
The idea behind “Build Back Better” is to renovate the infrastructure of a hyper-tech economy that actually no longer exists.
Why?
Because we are in the contraction phase of an historic pulsation or cycle.
It is leaving us with lots of tech and less production, trending toward zero.
Nobody flogging this slogan actually knows what it ought to mean under the circumstances, which is to go with the flow of the reality of this contraction:
To downsize, downscale, and re-localize all our activities to bring them back into sync with actual productivity…
… that is, raising food, making real stuff, and trading it. Again, it’s the energy dynamic, stupid.
To get to that point, we’re going to shed the massive over-burden of financial game-playing that has pretended to represent our economy.
That means stock valuations and bond prices will vaporize along with the derivative activities concocted for trading gainfully in these now-phantom representations of capital.
If that happens sooner rather than later, we won’t even be able to pretend to Build Back Better the interstate highways, the electric grid, airports, and all the other stuff in the “infrastructure” folder.
Indeed, a lot of that would be malinvestment folly now because we’re nearing the end of mass motoring and commercial aviation as we’ve known them.
If we even have electricity twenty-five years from now, it will come from much-reduced grids on a much more regional basis.
The bottom line for all this is that pretty soon every corner of the country will be on its own amid quite a bit of social disorder and financial wreckage.
So, whatever energy you actually can marshal to Build Back Better, save it for your town or your local community.
And remember, all of the attempts by a national government to control these events…
… and coerce its citizens in the service of that…
… will only lead to a more ineffectual and impotent national government that nobody has faith in…
… confirming the fact…
…that you are on your own.
Yikes!
All things end…
Have no doubt: when Washington’s global dominion finally ends, there will be painful daily reminders of what such a loss of power means for Americans in every walk of life.
Even when the American government tries to distract from the collapse by launching a war.
This little quote was written over a decade ago, in 2010, in Salon…
By 2020, according to current plans, the Pentagon will throw a military Hail Mary pass for a dying empire.
It will launch a lethal triple canopy of advanced aerospace robotics that represents Washington's last best hope of retaining global power despite its waning economic influence.
By that year, however, China's global network of communications satellites, backed by the world's most powerful supercomputers, will also be fully operational, providing Beijing with an independent platform for the weaponization of space and a powerful communications system for missile- or cyber-strikes into every quadrant of the globe.
-Salon 2010
As a half-dozen European nations have discovered, imperial decline tends to have a remarkably demoralizing impact on a society…
…regularly bringing at least a generation of economic privation.
As the economy cools, political temperatures rise, often sparking serious domestic unrest.
Available economic, educational, and military data indicate that, when it comes to U.S. global power, negative trends has aggregated rapidly and are likely to reach a critical mass no later than 2025.
The American Century, proclaimed so triumphantly at the start of World War II, is already tattered and fading and by 2025, its eighth decade, and could (very probably) end up being history.
But don’t worry!
Here’s a number of articles that make the point that there is a significant difference between a collapse and a crisis.
And while not explicitly spelled out directly, it is implied that the worst possible thing that might happen is yet another economic crisis, not an economic collapse.
Economic Depressions vs Collapse
To begin with, I think it’s important to differentiate between economic collapse and economic depression.
A depression is a rather normal part of the market cycle.
As Adam Smith points out in Wealth of Nations, these occasionally happen as the market corrects imbalances within itself.
Maybe there’s some form of bubble akin to the Dutch Tulip Bubble of the 1600s where the price of rare tulip bulbs increased to preposterous levels before people lost entire fortunes when the market corrected itself.
Who knew?
The point is that economic depression is rather normal.
Panicked investors withdrew billions from money market accounts where businesses keep cash to fund day-to-day operations.
If withdrawals had gone on for even a week, and if the Fed and the U.S. government had not stepped in to shore up the financial sector, the entire economy would likely have ground to a halt.
Trucks would have stopped rolling.
Grocery stores would have run out of food, and businesses would have been forced to shut down.
That’s how close the U.S. economy came to a real collapse—and how vulnerable it is to another one.
Will the U.S Economy Collapse?
A U.S. economy collapse is unlikely. When necessary, the government can act quickly to avoid a total collapse.
MM Comment
Nonsense. Compare the US Economy with the Chinese economy.
Most of the CCP government debts are infrastructure = investment. If they need cash, they can simply privatised.
China have a lot of high quality SOEs, they not only make money and contributed to government tax revenue, but their stocks can be used by government to fund social services such as 10% of selected SOEs share are used for age care in China without the need to increase tax.
China Economy benefited from government infrastructure and water redirection strategies, as a result there are new growing opportunities to the economy. Government revenues are healthy with big potential to growth further.
So, no worries with the current china debt level. Beside, the CCP does not give tax Payer money to too big to fail private businesses. when they billed out a private business , they took over the ownership. Last year, there is a private bank become state own.
However, Western debts are given to wall street for speculative activities from real estate to stock markets. These businesses don't pay tax, they only bribe the politicians with campaign money, and enrich those most corrupt politicians with speech fees, book deals etc.
The super rich in the West keep taking from the tax payers by bribing the politicians and not giving back to the society.
So sources of western government revenue become narrower, national and household debt keep rising at radicurous speed. these are real debt with no ability to repay.
So western governmen keep taxing the 99% with yearly rising service fees, council rate, all kind of fines. These policies affect the average people buying power, hence affecting the people buying power. Thus, domestic consumption as one of the major pillars of Western GDP contracted, the economy in trouble.
As rich people don't pay tax, the 99% running out of money. As a result, small and medium sized businesses suffered, tax revenue for government reduced. So trump think that trade war is easy to win, he can raise tax from China, but he failed miserably.
US will collapsed once RMB successfully replace the dollar as world trading currency, when the ability to continue print money without inflation in US is gone, US dollar will collapse, economy will collapse.
Hope the above make sense.
Cheers
<redacted>
Demand would outstrip supply of food, gas, and other necessities.
If the collapse affected local governments and utilities, then water and electricity might no longer be available.
A U.S. economic collapse would create global panic.
MM Comment
Most of the world has expected this collapse for decades and have put in place systems to mitigate any American-centrist collapse. Certainly the five-eyes nations of Canada, UK, NZ and Australia will be negatively affected, but the rest of the world will not be so directly affected.
The USA does not own, run or dictate to the world.
Investors would rush to other currencies, such as the yuan, euro, or even gold. It would create not just inflation, but hyperinflation, as the dollar lost value to other currencies.
If you want to understand what life is like during a collapse, think back to the Great Depression. The stock market crashed on Black Thursday. By the following Tuesday, it was down 25%.
Many investors lost their life savings that weekend.
By 1932, one out of four people was unemployed.
Wages for those who still had jobs fell precipitously—manufacturing wages dropped 32% from 1929 to 1932.
U.S. gross domestic product was cut nearly in half.
Thousands of farmers and other unemployed workers moved to California and elsewhere in search of work.
Two-and-a-half million people left the Midwestern Dust Bowl states.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average didn’t rebound to its pre-Crash level until 1954.
MM Comment
Everything in America today is an illusion. The GDP is artificially skewed in favor of the fantastic wealth held by the 1%. Were they to lose 30% of their wealth, the GDP for the nation could possibly drop to a mere tiny fraction of it's value.
When the curtain comes falling down everything that is fake and an illusion becomes clear for the world to see.
Collapse Versus Crisis
An economic crisis is not the same as an economic collapse. As painful as it was, the 2008 financial crisis was not a collapse. Millions of people lost jobs and homes, but basic services were still provided.
Other past financial crises seemed like a collapse at the time, but are barely remembered now.
1970s Stagflation
The OPEC oil embargo and President Richard Nixon’s abolishment of the gold standard triggered double-digit inflation. The government responded to this economic downturn by freezing wages and labor rates to curb inflation.7 The result was a high unemployment rate. Businesses, hampered by low prices, could not afford to keep workers at unprofitable wage rates.
1981 Recession
The Fed raised interest rates in a bid to end double-digit inflation.
That created the worst recession since the Great Depression. President Ronald Reagan cut taxes and increased government spending to end it.
1989 Savings and Loan Crisis
One thousand banks closed after improper real estate investments turned sour. Charles Keating and other Savings & Loan bankers had mis-used bank depositor’s funds. The consequent recession triggered an unemployment rate as high as 7.5%. The government was forced to bail out some banks to the tune of $124 billion.
Post-9/11 Recession
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 sowed nationwide apprehension and prolonged the 2001 recession—and unemployment of greater than 10%—through 2003. The United States’ response, the War on Terror, has cost the nation $6.4 trillion, and counting.
2008 Financial Crisis
The early warning signs of the 2008 Financial Crisis were rapidly falling housing prices and increasing mortgage defaults in 2006. Left untended, the resulting subprime mortgage crisis, which panicked investors and led to massive bank withdrawals, spread like wildfire across the financial community. The U.S. government had no choice but to bail out “too big to fail” banks and insurance companies, like Bear Stearns and AIG, or face both national and global financial catastrophes.
2020 Recession
It is too soon to tally up the total costs of the 2020 global health crisisCoronavirus pandemic—the crisis is still ongoing. Already we have seen worldwide supply-chain interruptions, heightened volatility and steep losses in financial markets, and sharp slowdowns in the travel and hospitality industries.
How much economic cost should we expect? According to the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and Development, the global economic hit could reduce global growth rates to 0.5% and cost the global economy as much as $2 trillion for 2020.
So what is going to happen?
I am not really all that good in predicting future events. You know, it’s all a very personal event that lies upon your world-line template. But regardless as to what your template map looks like we can make a couple of basic and reasonable statements…
America is deep, deep in debt.
There are no efforts to control this debt, or slow down spending.
This is not sustainable.
Since it is not sustainable, there will come a time when this kind of behavior will end. It might be gradual, or sudden. But it will have to end.
How the nation handles this change in economic policy will depend on may, many factors. Knowing human nature, humans do not like change, and those accustomed to doing things a certain way will have a difficult time adapting.
Gradual Change
If the change is gradual, and those managing the economy are talented, capable and willing…
… the United States economy can contract in a very controlled implosion, will little radical change, and managed in such as way that the United States might experience a simple minor recession.
Significantly, in 2008, the U.S. National Intelligence Council admitted for the first time that America's global power was indeed on a declining trajectory. In one of its periodic futuristic reports, Global Trends 2025, the Council cited "the transfer of global wealth and economic power now under way, roughly from West to East" and "without precedent in modern history," as the primary factor in the decline of the "United States' relative strength -- even in the military realm."
Like many in Washington, however, the Council’s analysts anticipated a very long, very soft landing for American global preeminence, and harbored the hope that somehow...
... the U.S. would long "retain unique military capabilities… to project military power globally" for decades to come.
Sure…
What ever you say.
Wrapped in imperial hubris, like Whitehall or Quai d'Orsay before it, the White House still seems to imagine that American decline will be gradual, gentle, and partial. In his State of the Union address last January, President Obama offered the reassurance that "I do not accept second place for the United States of America."
A few days later, Vice President Biden ridiculed the very idea that "we are destined to fulfill [historian Paul] Kennedy's prophecy that we are going to be a great nation that has failed because we lost control of our economy and overextended."
Similarly, writing in the November issue of the establishment journal Foreign Affairs, neo-liberal foreign policy guru Joseph Nye waved away talk of China's economic and military rise, dismissing "misleading metaphors of organic decline" and denying that any deterioration in U.S. global power was underway.
Ordinary Americans, watching their jobs head overseas, have a more realistic view than their cosseted leaders. An opinion poll in August 2010 found that 65 percent of Americans believed the country was now "in a state of decline." Already, Australia and Turkey, traditional U.S. military allies, are using their American-manufactured weapons for joint air and naval maneuvers with China.
Already, America's closest economic partners are backing away from Washington's opposition to China's rigged currency rates. As the president flew back from his Asian tour last month, a gloomy New York Times headline summed the moment up this way: "Obama's Economic View Is Rejected on World Stage, China, Britain and Germany Challenge U.S., Trade Talks With Seoul Fail, Too."
-Salon 2010
Sudden Change
If those in Washington DC, have been living in isolation bubbles, echo chambers, and have selfish, self-interests at heart rather than what is good for the nation, it is highly likely that there could be a very sudden change. Perhaps one that reaches the limits and boundaries of a catastrophe.
There are far too many variables involved to make accurate predictions. But that doesn’t stop people. And you can find these predictions all over the internet.
Viewed historically, the question is not whether the United States will lose its unchallenged global power, but just how precipitous and wrenching the decline will be.
In place of Washington’s wishful thinking, let’s use the National Intelligence Council’s own futuristic methodology.
Here we suggest four realistic scenarios for how, whether with a bang or a whimper, U.S. global power could reach its end in the 2020s (along with four accompanying assessments of just where we are today).
The future scenarios include:
Economic decline,
Oil shock,
Military misadventure, and…
World War III.
While these are hardly the only possibilities when it comes to American decline or even collapse, they offer a window into an onrushing future.
Economic Decline: Scenario 2020
After years of swelling deficits fed by incessant warfare in distant lands, in 2020, as long expected, the U.S. dollar finally loses its special status as the world’s reserve currency.
Hasn't happened... yet. But that is currently in process.
For many reasons, the Chinese authorities will probably someday stop pegging the yuan to a basket of currencies, and shift to a modern inflation-targeting regime under which they allow the exchange rate to fluctuate much more freely, especially against the dollar.
When that happens, expect most of Asia to follow China. In due time, the dollar, currently the anchor currency for roughly two-thirds of world GDP, could lose nearly half its weight.
Considering how much the United States relies on the dollar’s special status – or what then-French Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d’Estaing famously called America’s “exorbitant privilege” – to fund massive public and private borrowing, the impact of such a shift could be significant.
Suddenly, the cost of imports soars.
This did happen. From the "Trump Tariffs" of 25%, to the costs of shipping in 2021, importing products into the United States is factually much more costly than before.
Unable to pay for swelling deficits by selling now-devalued Treasury notes abroad, Washington is finally forced to slash its bloated military budget. Under pressure at home and abroad, Washington slowly pulls U.S. forces back from hundreds of overseas bases to a continental perimeter. By now, however, it is far too late.
Did not happen. The United States military instead got much larger.
Faced with a fading superpower incapable of paying the bills, China, India, Iran, Russia, and other powers, great and regional, provocatively challenge U.S. dominion over the oceans, space, and cyberspace.
True, and in process.
Meanwhile, amid soaring prices, ever-rising unemployment, and a continuing decline in real wages, domestic divisions widen into violent clashes and divisive debates, often over remarkably irrelevant issues.
True and in process.
Riding a political tide of disillusionment and despair, a far-right patriot captures the presidency with thundering rhetoric, demanding respect for American authority and threatening military retaliation or economic reprisal.
Good call. Donald Trump became President, and Biden continues his neocon ambitions.
The world pays next to no attention as the American Century ends in silence.
Oh, the world is paying attention. It's just that America is viewed as a declining and unstable nation.
Oil Shock: Scenario 2025
The United States remains so dependent upon foreign oil that a few adverse developments in the global energy market in 2025 spark an oil shock.
By comparison, it makes the 1973 oil shock (when prices quadrupled in just months) look like the proverbial molehill.
Angered at the dollar’s plummeting value, OPEC oil ministers, meeting in Riyadh, demand future energy payments in a “basket” of Yen, Yuan, and Euros.
That only hikes the cost of U.S. oil imports further.
At the same moment, while signing a new series of long-term delivery contracts with China, the Saudis stabilize their own foreign exchange reserves by switching to the Yuan.
Meanwhile, China pours countless billions into building a massive trans-Asia pipeline and funding Iran’s exploitation of the world largest percent natural gas field at South Pars in the Persian Gulf.
Concerned that the U.S. Navy might no longer be able to protect the oil tankers traveling from the Persian Gulf to fuel East Asia, a coalition of Tehran, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi form an unexpected new Gulf alliance and affirm that China’s new fleet of swift aircraft carriers will henceforth patrol the Persian Gulf from a base on the Gulf of Oman.
Not happened, and there are no plans for this. What is happening is that China and Iran, with Russia have formed a joint military block.
Under heavy economic pressure, London agrees to cancel the U.S. lease on its Indian Ocean island base of Diego Garcia, while Canberra, pressured by the Chinese, informs Washington that the Seventh Fleet is no longer welcome to use Fremantle as a homeport, effectively evicting the U.S. Navy from the Indian Ocean.
Did not happen. In fact, the United States is pushing for even stronger military presence, and few other nations are enthusiastic about joining the QUAD.
With just a few strokes of the pen and some terse announcements, the “Carter Doctrine,” by which U.S. military power was to eternally protect the Persian Gulf, is laid to rest in 2025. All the elements that long assured the United States limitless supplies of low-cost oil from that region — logistics, exchange rates, and naval power — evaporate. At this point, the U.S. can still cover only an insignificant 12 percent of its energy needs from its nascent alternative energy industry, and remains dependent on imported oil for half of its energy consumption.
Did not happen. Instead, the USA is heavily involved militarily in the entire Middle East region.
The oil shock that follows hits the country like a hurricane, sending prices to startling heights, making travel a staggeringly expensive proposition, putting real wages (which had long been declining) into freefall, and rendering non-competitive whatever American exports remained.
Not happened yet, but 2025 is still four years away.
With thermostats dropping, gas prices climbing through the roof, and dollars flowing overseas in return for costly oil, the American economy is paralyzed. With long-fraying alliances at an end and fiscal pressures mounting, U.S. military forces finally begin a staged withdrawal from their overseas bases.
I would highly doubt it. If anything the last few years has been a nearly insane level of pro-military anti-China, anti-Russia and anti-Iran war-mongering.
Within a few years, the U.S. is functionally bankrupt and the clock is ticking toward midnight on the American Century.
Military Misadventure: Scenario 2014
Counterintuitively, as their power wanes, empires often plunge into ill-advised military misadventures. This phenomenon is known among historians of empire as “micro-militarism” and seems to involve psychologically compensatory efforts to salve the sting of retreat or defeat by occupying new territories, however briefly and catastrophically.
These operations, irrational even from an imperial point of view, often yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the loss of power.
Embattled empires through the ages suffer an arrogance that drives them to plunge ever deeper into military misadventures until defeat becomes debacle.
In 413 BCE, a weakened Athens sent 200 ships to be slaughtered in Sicily.
In 1921, a dying imperial Spain dispatched 20,000 soldiers to be massacred by Berber guerrillas in Morocco.
In 1956, a fading British Empire destroyed its prestige by attacking Suez.
And in 2001 and 2003, the U.S. occupied Afghanistan and invaded Iraq.
With the hubris that marks empires over the millennia, Washington has increased its troops in Afghanistan to 100,000, expanded the war into Pakistan, and extended its commitment to 2014 and beyond, courting disasters large and small in this guerilla-infested, nuclear-armed graveyard of empires.
So irrational, so unpredictable is “micro-militarism” that seemingly fanciful scenarios are soon outdone by actual events. With the U.S. military stretched thin from Somalia to the Philippines and tensions rising in Israel, Iran, and Korea, possible combinations for a disastrous military crisis abroad are multifold.
Washington makes its move, sending in Special Operations forces to seize oil ports in the Persian Gulf. This, in turn, sparks a rash of suicide attacks and the sabotage of pipelines and oil wells. As black clouds billow skyward and diplomats rise at the U.N. to bitterly denounce American actions, commentators worldwide reach back into history to brand this “America’s Suez,” a telling reference to the 1956 debacle that marked the end of the British Empire.
Well things are going on. Most are not reported. There is the enormous Beirut explosion, as well as various other oil related military Mal-adventures.
World War III: Present Situation
In the summer of 2010, military tensions between the U.S. and China began to rise in the western Pacific, once considered an American “lake.” Even a year earlier no one would have predicted such a development. As Washington played upon its alliance with London to appropriate much of Britain’s global power after World War II, so China is now using the profits from its export trade with the U.S. to fund what is likely to become a military challenge to American dominion over the waterways of Asia and the Pacific.
With its growing resources, Beijing is claiming a vast maritime arc from Korea to Indonesia long dominated by the U.S. Navy.
In August, after Washington expressed a “national interest” in the South China Sea and conducted naval exercises there to reinforce that claim, Beijing’s official Global Times responded angrily, saying, “The U.S.-China wrestling match over the South China Sea issue has raised the stakes in deciding who the real future ruler of the planet will be.”
Amid growing tensions, the Pentagon reported that Beijing now holds “the capability to attack… [U.S.] aircraft carriers in the western Pacific Ocean” and target “nuclear forces throughout… the continental United States.” By developing “offensive nuclear, space, and cyber warfare capabilities,”
China seems determined to vie for dominance of what the Pentagon calls “the information spectrum in all dimensions of the modern battlespace.” With ongoing development of the powerful Long March V booster rocket, as well as the launch of two satellites in January 2010 and another in July, for a total of five, Beijing signaled that the country was making rapid strides toward an “independent” network of 35 satellites for global positioning, communications, and reconnaissance capabilities by 2020.
To check China and extend its military position globally, Washington is intent on building a new digital network of air and space robotics, advanced cyberwarfare capabilities, and electronic surveillance. Military planners expect this integrated system to envelop the Earth in a cyber-grid capable of blinding entire armies on the battlefield or taking out a single terrorist in field or favela.
By 2020, if all goes according to plan, the Pentagon will launch a three-tiered shield of space drones — reaching from stratosphere to exosphere, armed with agile missiles, linked by a resilient modular satellite system, and operated through total telescopic surveillance.
Last April, the Pentagon made history. It extended drone operations into the exosphere by quietly launching the X-37B unmanned space shuttle into a low orbit 255 miles above the planet. The X-37B is the first in a new generation of unmanned vehicles that will mark the full weaponization of space, creating an arena for future warfare unlike anything that has gone before.
From 2008 through 2016, American military forces were training to invade islands in the South China Sea, and moneys were spent enlarging military bases in the Pacific.
From 2017 through 2020, it's been war. Mostly "hybrid", but there has been a major biological warfare effort involved against China with 7 strains attacking livestock, and three attacking people. All have failed.
Leaving and resulting a March 2021 Alaskan meeting where the USA told China to "roll over and die", or be destroyed. China responded back with "Fuck you".
World War III: Scenario 2025
The technology of space and cyberwarfare is so new and untested that even the most outlandish scenarios may soon be superseded by a reality still hard to conceive. If we simply employ the sort of scenarios that the Air Force itself used in its 2009 Future Capabilities Game, however, we can gain “a better understanding of how air, space and cyberspace overlap in warfare,” and so begin to imagine how the next world war might actually be fought.
It’s 11:59 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday in 2025. While cyber-shoppers pound the portals of Best Buy for deep discounts on the latest home electronics from China, U.S. Air Force technicians at the Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) on Maui choke on their coffee as their panoramic screens suddenly blip to black. Thousands of miles away at the U.S. CyberCommand’s operations center in Texas, cyberwarriors soon detect malicious binaries that, though fired anonymously, show the distinctive digital fingerprints of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
The first overt strike is one nobody predicted. Chinese “malware” seizes control of the robotics aboard an unmanned solar-powered U.S. “Vulture” drone as it flies at 70,000 feet over the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan. It suddenly fires all the rocket pods beneath its enormous 400-foot wingspan, sending dozens of lethal missiles plunging harmlessly into the Yellow Sea, effectively disarming this formidable weapon.
Determined to fight fire with fire, the White House authorizes a retaliatory strike. Confident that its F-6 “Fractionated, Free-Flying” satellite system is impenetrable, Air Force commanders in California transmit robotic codes to the flotilla of X-37B space drones orbiting 250 miles above the Earth, ordering them to launch their “Triple Terminator” missiles at China’s 35 satellites. Zero response. In near panic, the Air Force launches its Falcon Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle into an arc 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean and then, just 20 minutes later, sends the computer codes to fire missiles at seven Chinese satellites in nearby orbits. The launch codes are suddenly inoperative.
As the Chinese virus spreads uncontrollably through the F-6 satellite architecture, while those second-rate U.S. supercomputers fail to crack the malware’s devilishly complex code, GPS signals crucial to the navigation of U.S. ships and aircraft worldwide are compromised. Carrier fleets begin steaming in circles in the mid-Pacific. Fighter squadrons are grounded. Reaper drones fly aimlessly toward the horizon, crashing when their fuel is exhausted. Suddenly, the United States loses what the U.S. Air Force has long called “the ultimate high ground”: space. Within hours, the military power that had dominated the globe for nearly a century has been defeated in World War III without a single human casualty.
A New World Order?
Even if future events prove duller than these scenarios suggest, every significant trend points toward a far more striking decline in American global power by 2025 than anything Washington now seems to be envisioning.
As allies worldwide begin to realign their policies to take cognizance of rising Asian powers, the cost of maintaining 800 or more overseas military bases will simply become unsustainable…
… finally forcing a staged withdrawal on a still-unwilling Washington.
With both the U.S. and China in a race to weaponize space and cyberspace, tensions between the two powers are bound to rise, making military conflict by 2025 at least feasible, if hardly guaranteed.
Complicating matters even more, the economic, military, and technological trends outlined above will not operate in tidy isolation.
As happened to European empires after World War II, such negative forces will undoubtedly prove synergistic.
They will combine in thoroughly unexpected ways, create crises for which Americans are remarkably unprepared, and threaten to spin the economy into a sudden downward spiral, consigning this country to a generation or more of economic misery.
As U.S. power recedes, the past offers a spectrum of possibilities for a future world order.
At one end of this spectrum, the rise of a new global superpower, however unlikely, cannot be ruled out.
Yet both China and Russia evince self-referential cultures, recondite non-roman scripts, regional defense strategies, and underdeveloped legal systems, denying them key instruments for global dominion. At the moment then, no single superpower seems to be on the horizon likely to succeed the U.S.
Nonsense. As of 2021, Russia, China and Iran have combined for a unified Asia.
In a dark, dystopian version of our global future, a coalition of transnational corporations, multilateral forces like NATO, and an international financial elite could conceivably forge a single, possibly unstable, supra-national nexus that would make it no longer meaningful to speak of national empires at all.
As stated by an American inside of America over ten years ago. Such dated ignorance.
While denationalized corporations and multinational elites would assumedly rule such a world from secure urban enclaves, the multitudes would be relegated to urban and rural wastelands.
In “Planet of Slums,” Mike Davis offers at least a partial vision of such a world from the bottom up. He argues that the billion people already packed into fetid favela-style slums worldwide (rising to two billion by 2030) will make “the ‘feral, failed cities’ of the Third World… the distinctive battlespace of the twenty-first century.”
As darkness settles over some future super-favela, “the empire can deploy Orwellian technologies of repression” as “hornet-like helicopter gun-ships stalk enigmatic enemies in the narrow streets of the slum districts… Every morning the slums reply with suicide bombers and eloquent explosions.”
At a midpoint on the spectrum of possible futures, a new global oligopoly might emerge between 2020 and 2040, with rising powers China, Russia, India, and Brazil collaborating with receding powers like Britain, Germany, Japan, and the United States to enforce an ad hoc global dominion, akin to the loose alliance of European empires that ruled half of humanity circa 1900.
Another possibility: the rise of regional hegemons in a return to something reminiscent of the international system that operated before modern empires took shape.
In this neo-Westphalian world order, with its endless vistas of micro-violence and unchecked exploitation, each hegemon would dominate its immediate region — Brasilia in South America, Washington in North America, Pretoria in southern Africa, and so on. Space, cyberspace, and the maritime deeps, removed from the control of the former planetary “policeman,” the United States, might even become a new global commons, controlled through an expanded U.N. Security Council or some ad hoc body.
All of these scenarios extrapolate existing trends into the future on the assumption that Americans, blinded by the arrogance of decades of historically unparalleled power, cannot or will not take steps to manage the unchecked erosion of their global position.
If America’s decline is in fact on a 22-year trajectory from 2003 to 2025, then we have already frittered away most of the first decade of that decline with wars that distracted us from long-term problems and, like water tossed onto desert sands, wasted trillions of desperately needed dollars.
Duh. It's pretty fucking obvious.
If only 15 years remain, the odds of frittering them all away still remain high. Congress and the president are now in gridlock; the American system is flooded with corporate money meant to jam up the works; and there is little suggestion that any issues of significance, including our wars, our bloated national security state, our starved education system, and our antiquated energy supplies, will be addressed with sufficient seriousness to assure the sort of soft landing that might maximize our country’s role and prosperity in a changing world.
Yup. Forget about a "soft landing". The psychopaths in Washington DC will have none of that.
Europe’s empires are gone and America’s imperium is going.
It seems increasingly doubtful that the United States will have anything like Britain’s success in shaping a succeeding world order that protects its interests, preserves its prosperity, and bears the imprint of its best values.
This was written a decade ago in 2010.
The “knee jerk” reaction is for America to start a war.
Don’t.
China. Does. Not. Play.
The Oligarchy have their ideas…
Certainly the PTB, and the oligarchy skedaddled to their hidy-holes in remote areas of NZ, Canada, and Europe. So that tells me that the oligarchy believe that a collapse is imminent.
So, taking their lead and some common sense, we can take note and prepare…
As Ayn Rand points out throughout her books (particularly in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal), it is production which is true wealth. The person who produces, whether that be food, shoes, holsters, or some other form of tangible good, is the one who holds true wealth. They’re adding something to society, creating something that others need or want.
In the same spirit, I would argue that the person who can provide a tangible service as well also has true wealth. An electrician who can provide light to a building, a plumber who can ensure personal hygiene is a diminished issue, and a doctor who can repair a wound are all examples of people who may not necessarily produce tangible goods (such as in the case of farmers, leatherworkers, and blacksmiths), but they still are able to produce a service that is both wanted and needed.
So, one of the first things that we can do to prepare ourselves for economic collapse is to become capable of producing.
This can be done in two primary ways: by the learning of a new skill or by getting into the business of producing merchandise.
Learning a New Skill
This is part of the reason that I went and became a locksmith. I have more than one job but wanted to have something of a backup plan perchance something should happen to my primary income. Tradesmen are both necessary and (typically) in short supply. Learning a concrete skill seemed to be something that would provide a fairly decent insurance policy should I need to fall back on something else. I’m glad I did, too. We’re a ‘key’ business.
Whether it be plumbing, carpentry, farrier work, or any other kind of trade for that matter, the point is that becoming proficient in a trade is to make yourself proficient in something that is likely to always be necessary. To look at a rather morbid example of such, we can analyze what the Germans did to the Jews throughout the Holocaust. Whether you are reading Schindler’s List, Maus, or The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz, you can see that it was the Jews who knew a trade such as metal polishing, mechanical work, or machining were (at least for a while) kept alive. (Of course, I’m by no means saying that pianists, teachers, and shopkeepers had no value.)
Learning to Produce Products
The second aspect would be investment in a particular merchandise. It involves producing products, starting a side business of some sort, perhaps. True, this often requires increasing one’s knowledge in a particular field, but there are some regions where it is simply the investment that allows a man to produce. As the saying goes, it takes money to make money.
This is where a shopkeeper would fit in. It is because such a man has invested capital into supplies that he is able to produce wealth for himself. Post-economic collapse though, which supplies will help one to produce wealth, however? Well, that leads me to the next topic: bartering.
Barter Society
I think that one of the first things that people need to realize when it comes to economic collapse is that things revert to a BARTER society. Look throughout history, and you’ll see that this is the case. The world doesn’t go to pot and a day later people are walking around and trading gold coins with one another. (I believe Joe Nobody illustrates this point rather well in his Holding Their Own series).
No, people start with trading goods and services for other needed/desired goods and services. Greece proved this with their recent economic collapse within the past five years or so. People traded eggs, milk, and meat for what they needed. I think it’s important to note that the farmer – a producer – was the one that was able to provide this for people as well. HE had true wealth throughout the collapse.
Again, in Venezuela we saw the same thing. People resorted to trading bananas for haircuts. The FIRST thing that becomes of value during an economic collapse is goods and services. True, there will be a very short window in which cash is king until people realize that the paper they have trusted all those years is now truly worthless in every sense of the word, but that window is short.
Barterable Goods and Services
So, after the brief cash window closes, after your world resorts to barter, the question becomes: “Okay, so what do I barter with? How do I get the things that my family needs?”
Regarding goods, I believe that the following is a good list to begin with. These are the things that people are going to need, and that are going to hold intrinsic value post-economic collapse:
Water – Particularly water bottles. These are readily portable, and not so value dense as to be unpractical for trade.
Water Filters – The majority of Americans have less than 3 days of food in their home. That includes water. If people can’t afford their electric bill, post-economic collapse, they are going to need access to safe water, and a water filter provides that.
Ammo– I truly believe that this will be one of the most practical and widely accepted forms of currency. It’s been used before as a currency, and it’ll be used again.
Guns– Value-dense, but there are going to be people who want them to protect their families from post-collapse violence. The demand for guns skyrocketed this year thanks to the riots and government action. What do you think the demand will look like post-collapse?
Food – There will always be a need for food, and – as witnessed by food bank lines – one of the first indicators of economic downturns.
Diapers – Parents go through thousands of these per year and will not have an adequate supply for their kids post-collapse. I believe reusable cloth diapers will be important.
Body Armor – Value-dense, but people will want it. There are record sales of it this year, and that desire will continue in a violent, post-collapse economy.
Coffee – It creates an addiction, and the withdrawal effects SUCK. People are going to want coffee, and there are ways to store it for a long time.
Boots – There will be an increase in the amount of walking the average man does thanks to the unavailability of gasoline. Shoes will wear out and need to be replaced.
Coats – Clothing wears out, new people are always being created, people constantly change size, and people always need it.
Gloves– There will be an increase in outdoor work, and gloves wear out.
Alcohol – Another thing that mankind can’t seem to get enough of. I just wouldn’t broadcast how much of this stuff that you have. People kill for it.
Tobacco – Another addiction that I wouldn’t broadcast you have a lot of. Cigarettes were routinely used as currency among POWs in WW2, and still are used in prisons throughout the world as currency.
Baby Formula – If breastfeeding is no longer an option, people are going to need formula to feed their babies. Parents WILL feed their babies, and there will be a dire need for such. Once again, not something I would advertise that I have a stockpile of.
Gasoline – This will always be needed for vehicles and generators.
Salt – Needed for meat storage since it is very unlikely that people will have access to constant electricity for refrigeration.
Medical Supplies – Crutches, slings, gauze, various first aid equipment and more will be in short supply. People always hurt themselves, and very few of much stored for their own first aid.
Medicine – There will always be a need for medication.
Spare Gun Parts – Guns break, and few have spare parts stored.
Condoms – People are going to realize that now is probably not the best time to get pregnant. If you staple three of them together and sell them in multi-packs, you can create a market for your baby formula as well! (I’m kidding, I’m kidding.)
Eye Glasses – Maybe it’s difficult to get replacement glasses, but reading glasses can be bought in bulk cheaply. It’s one of the most difficult things to get in prison, as the “state issue” glasses make you look like a retired mob boss.
Holsters – The thousands of people who bought pistols to keep in their nightstand will come to realize that they need a way to carry their weapon around with them. Things will be too dangerous to do otherwise, and many forget to buy a holster ahead of time.
When it comes to services, these are the skills that I believe will be in great demand post-economic collapse. It would be wise to learn at least some degree of proficiency in one of them.
Farming – Food production will be vital, and the man with beehives, fields, a garden, chickens, or dairy animals will be able to produce an item that people need on a daily basis.
Ranching – Much different than farming. Whether you know how to manage cattle for somebody else, or have the knowledge to raise them of your own accord, cattle, sheep, goats, and so on are going to need to be cared for to provide meat, leather, hides, and more for people.
Mechanical Work – Vehicles, generators, and more will break down and people will need them to be fixed.
Electrical Work – Wiring solar, pumps for wells, and more will always be needed.
Machining – It is likely that there will still be factories producing, and machinists will be needed for such.
Gunsmithing – Accidents happen, and few trust their own abilities to fix a firearm. Gunsmiths will be needed for such events.
Leatherwork – Primarily for holsters, gun straps, and clothing.
Medical Work – There will be a dire need for such workers post-economic collapse. People will be unable to afford their medications, or regular healthcare services, and thus there will be a drastic increase in acute conditions. Medical workers will be needed to address such, even if it is on the individual barter basis.
Protection – Herds, businesses, neighborhoods, and residences are going to want permanent protection, and will be willing to hire experienced armed men to do so. Knowing how to patrol, set up a perimeter, and dispose of threats will be in demand.
Baking – Knowledge of how to make bread will allow you to produce an item that everyone will need and want post-collapse.
Textile Creation – Whether this comes in the form of knitting, crocheting, tailoring, or so on, there will be a need for items of cloth as clothing gradually wears out, is lost, soiled, or stolen.
Keep in mind that all the above are general lists. Undoubtedly, you will be able to think of both goods and services that will have post-economic collapse value that are not included above. These are simply given to get your mind thinking about some sure-fire ways to be able to barter for what you need in the event of an economic collapse.
What About Precious Metals?
There are two reasons gold and silver have been omitted:
First, the use of precious metals doesn’t seem to come into common use until well after the period of barter transactions.
Second, I believe that precious metals are much more important for wealth evacuation. Let’s take a look at both of these in more detail.
To begin with, seldom throughout history do we see precious metals instantly being reverted to as currency post-economic collapse. Why? You can’t eat them, you can’t drink them, and few understand their inherent value (ask a friend what the current price of gold is to find see). Even fewer can tell if the gold/silver that you are offering them is the real deal or a fake.
Stocking precious metals is now how to survive an economic collapse. People don’t want gold and silver after an economic collapse. They want to be able to feed their families. Gold and silver will not be a readily used means of exchange in such an event.
To further complicate matters, gold is incredibly value dense. As of this writing, gold is a little over $2000 an ounce. That’s a lot of value wrapped up in that little coin. If you need ammunition, and go to buy it from some small-time reloader, do you think he’ll be able to honor the equivalent of an ounce of gold’s worth of ammo? Odds are he won’t even have that much in stock. If we really want to examine the issue, I think that silver would be a better form of currency, precious-metals wise.
Silver is currently around $25/ounce. That’s a much more useable value amount on a daily basis. (If you want to read more, read about the best silver for preppers.) However, what we see throughout history is the reversion to barter, not to the gold standard.
Gold Exception – Wealth Evacuation
If you’ve got to get the heck out of somewhere, and fast, then I believe that gold is where it’s at. Silver is too bulky. A pocket full of gold coins would allow you to “start fresh” somewhere a bit more stable (if you can find such a place). Shoot, we can even look at the US post-Civil War here. Southern money was worth nothing after the war. However, those with gold and silver were able to have something with inherent value that would be redeemable for the new currency.
Again, we can look to the German Jews of the late 1930s. This was a very scary time to be a Jew in Europe. The persecution was very real, and things were heating up. The man who was able to sew gold coins up into the hem of his jacket, and get the heck out of Dodge ASAP was able to arrive at a new and politically friendlier climate with at least some of his wealth intact and under the radar. Baggage is lost and stolen. Clothing seldom is. Thus, I believe that one of the best purposes of gold is wealth evacuation.
How to Survive an Economic Collapse Summary
If you had asked people a year ago if they ever thought the entire world would enact lockdowns and throw refuse people for not wearing a surgical mask at Kroger, they would have said you were nuts. Yet, here we are. Why is it so improbable to think an economic collapse couldn’t be next? All of the warning signs are there? Is it foolish to just ignore them, and pretend that things will always continue on as “normal”?
I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.
Conclusion
So, let’s simplify things.
The statists argue that nothing really bad will happen in the future. At worst will be a recession, but Washington DC will have everything under control.
The “doom and gloomers” are forecasting a complete melt-down of the American society, and it will happen regardless of an American involvement in World War III.
Preppers are fearful for the worst of the worst.
Fourth Turning followers are also fearful for the worst of the worst.
Media Shrills are mindless automatons. They just regurgitate their programming.
Sheeple are oblivious. They know that things are going to shit, but they believe what ever they read. The the “news” says that everything is under control.
Neocons believe that everything will be fixed and turn around once the USA wins World War III.
So what is going to happen?
I cannot tell you all because everyone’s future is different. We all have our own MWI topography maps, and our futures depend on our thoughts, and affirmations.
Would it be too strange for me to allude that the members of each of the groups above will have their own futures play out exactly as their thoughts and actions dictate…
…Yup. That is what it’s gonna be (more or less).
No one is going to be unscathed. We will all experience changes. It’s just that the magnitude of the changes will differ from person to person. The best advice that I can give is to make your immediate environment safe, secure and as stable as possible.
There is no way to predict what will happen for the vast bulk of humanity. All you can do is prepare for your own family and your own region.
The best way to prepare is to be prudent. Be cautious. Be positive, and conduct prayer affirmations that include a GENEROUS listing of affirmations that describe safety and isolation from any looming catastrophes as a result of American mismanagement, evil behaviors, or insanity of one level or the other.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Please kindly help me out in this effort. There is a lot of effort that goes into this disclosure. I could use all the financial support that anyone could provide. Thank you very much.
Here’s a nice charming story. I guess it is a bit dated, but the hopefulness of the 1960’s shines through. Lovely.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING
Ray Bradbury
He stopped the lawn mower in the middie of the yard, because he felt that the
sun at just that moment had gone down and the stars come out. The fresh-cut
grass that had showered his face and body died soft!y away. Yes, the stars were
there, faint at first, but brightening in the clear desert sky. He heard the
porch screen door tap shut and felt his wife watching him as he watched the
night.
“Almost time,” she said.
He nodded; he did not have to check his watch. In the passing moments he felt
very old, then very young, very cold, then very warm, now this, now that.
Suddenly he was miles away. He was his own son talking steadily, moving briskly
to cover his pounding heart and the resurgent panics as he felt himself slip
into fresh uniform, check food supplies, oxygen flasks, pressure helmet,
space-suiting, and turn as every man on earth tonight turned, to gaze at the
swiftly filling sky.
Then, quickly, he was back, once more the father of the son, hands gripped to
the lawn-mower handle. His wife called, “Come sit on the porch.”
“I’ve got to keep busy!”
She came down the steps and across the lawn. “Don’t worry about Robert; he’ll be
all right.”
“But it’s all so new,” he heard himself say. “It’s never been done before. Think
of it – a manned rocket going up tonight to build the first space station. Good
lord, it can’t be done, it doesn’t exist, there’s no rocket, no proving ground,
no take-off time, no technicians. For that matter, I don’t even have a son named
Bob. The whole thing’s too much for me!”
“Then what are you doing out here, staring?”
He shook his head. “Well, late this morning, walking to the office, I heard
someone laugh out loud. It shocked me, so I froze in the middle of the street.
It was me, laughing! Why? Because finally I really knew what Bob was going to do tonight; at last I believed it. Holy is a word I never use, but that’s how I
felt stranded in all that traffic. Then, middle of the afternoon I caught myself
humming. You know the song. ‘A wheel in a wheel. Way in the middle of the air.’
I laughed again. The space station, of course, I thought. The big wheel with
hollow spokes where Bob’ll live six or eight months, then get along to the moon.
Walking home, I remembered more of the song. ‘Little wheel run by faith, Big
wheel run by the grace of God.’ I wanted to jump, yell, and flame-out myself!”
His wife touched his arm. “If we stay out here, let’s at least be comfortable.”
They placed two wicker rockers in the center of the lawn and sat quietly as the
stars dissolved out of darkness in pale crushings of rock salt strewn from
horizon to horizon.
“Why,” said his wife, at last, “it’s like waiting for the fireworks at Sisley
Field every year.”
“Bigger crowd tonight . . .”
“I keep thinking – a billion people watching the sky right now, their mouths all
open at the same time.”
They waited, feeling the earth move under their chairs.
“What time is it now?”
“Eleven minutes to eight.”
“You’re always right; there must be a clock in your head.”
“I can’t be wrong tonight. I’ll be able to tell you one second before they blast
off. Look! The ten-minute warning!”
On the western sky they saw four crimson flares open out, float shimmering down the wind above the desert, then sink silently to the extinguishing earth.
In the new darkness the husband and wife did not rock in their chairs.
After a while he said, “Eight minutes.” A pause. “Seven minutes.” What seemed a
much longer pause. “Six . . .”
His wife, her head back, studied the stars immediately above her and murmured,
“Why?” She closed her eyes. “Why the rockets, why tonight? Why all this? I’d
like to know.”
He examined her face, pale in the vast powdering light of the Milky Way. He felt
the stirring of an answer, but let his wife continue.
“I mean it’s not that old thing again, is it, when people asked why men climbed
Mt. Everest and they said, ‘Because it’s there’? I never understood. That was no
answer to me.”
Five minutes, he thought. Time ticking . . . his wrist watch . . . a wheel in a
wheel . . . little wheel run by . . . big wheel run by . . . way in the middle
of . . . four minutes! . . . The men snug in the rocket by now, the hive, the
control board flickering with light.
His lips moved.
“All I know is it’s really the end of the beginning. The Stone Age, Bronze Age,
Iron Age; from now on we’ll lump all those together under one big name for when we walked on Earth and heard the birds at morning and cried with envy. Maybe we’ll call it the Earth Age, or maybe the Age of Gravity. Millions of years we fought gravity. When we were amoebas and fish we struggled to get out of the sea without gravity crushing us. Once safe on the shore we fought to stand upright without gravity breaking our new invention, the spine, tried to walk without stumbling, run without falling. A billion years Gravity kept us home, mocked us with wind and clouds, cabbage moths and locusts. That’s what’s so god-awful big about tonight . . . it’s the end of old man Gravity and the age we’ll remember him by, for once and all. I don’t know where they’ll divide the ages, at the Persians, who dreamt of flying carpets, or the Chinese, who all unknowing
celebrated birthdays and New Years with strung ladyfingers and high skyrockets,
or some minute, some incredible second the next hour. But we’re in at the end of
a billion years trying, the end of something long and to us humans, anyway,
honorable.”
Three minutes . . . two minutes fifty-nine seconds . . . two minutes fifty-eight
seconds . . .
“But,” said his wife, “I still don’t know why.”
Two minutes, he thought. Ready? Ready? Ready? The far radio voice calling.
Ready! Ready! Ready! The quick, faint replies from the humming rocket. Check!
Check! Check!
Tonight, he thought, even if we fail with this first, we’ll send a second and a
third ship and move on out to all the planets and later, all the stars. We’ll
just keep going until the big words like immortal and forever take on meaning.
Big words, yes, that’s what we want. Continuity. Since our tongues first moved
in our mouths we’ve asked, What does it all mean? No other question made sense, with death breathing down our necks. But just let us settle in on ten thousand worlds spinning around ten thousand alien suns and the question will fade away. Man will be endless and infinite, even as space is endless and infinite. Man will go on, as space goes on, forever. Individuals will die as always, but our
history will reach as far as we’ll ever need to see into the future, and with
the knowledge of our survival for all time to come, we’ll know security and thus
the answer we’ve always searched for. Gifted with life, the least we can do is
preserve and pass on the gift to infinity. That’s a goal worth shooting for.
The wicker chairs whispered ever so softly on the grass.
One minute.
“One minute,” he said aloud.
“Oh!” His wife moved suddenly to seize his hands. “I hope that Bob . . .”
“He’ll be all right!”
“Oh, God, take care . . .”
Thirty seconds.
“Watch now.”
Fifteen, ten, five . . .
“Watch!”
Four, three, two, one.
“There! There! Oh, there, there!”
They both cried out. They both stood. The chairs toppled back, fell flat on the
lawn. The man and his wife swayed, their hands struggled to find each other,
grip, hold. They saw the brightening color in the sky and, ten seconds later,
the great uprising comet burn the air, put out the stars, and rush away in fire
flight to become another star in the returning profusion of the Milky Way. The
man and wife held each other as if they had stumbled on the rim of an incredible
cliff that faced an abyss so deep and dark there seemed no end to it. Staring
up, they heard themselves sobbing and crying. Only after a long time were they
able to speak.
“It got away, it did, didn’t it?”
“Yes . . .”
“It’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Yes . . . yes . . .”
“It didn’t fall back . . .?”
“No, no, it’s all right, Bob’s all right, it’s all right.”
They stood away from each other at last.
He touched his face with his hand and looked at his wet fingers. “I’ll be
damned,” he said, “I’ll be damned.”
They waited another five and then ten minutes until the darkness in their heads,
the retina, ached with a million specks of fiery salt. Then they had to close
their eyes.
“Well,” she said, “now let’s go in.”
He could not move. Only his hand reached a long way out by itself to find the
lawn-mower handle. He saw what his hand had done and said, “There’s just a
little more to do . . .”
“But you can’t see.”
“Well enough,” he said. “I must finish this. Then we’ll sit on the porch awhile
before we turn in.”
He helped her put the chairs on the porch and sat her down and then walked back out to put his hands on the guide bar of the lawn mower. The lawn mower. A wheel in a wheel. A simple machine which you held in your bands, which you sent on ahead with a rush and a clatter while you walked behind with your quiet
philosophy. Racket, followed by warm silence. Whirling wheel, then soft footfall
of thought.
I’m a billion years old, he told himself; I’m one minute old. I’m one inch, no,
ten thousand miles, tall. I look down and can’t see my feet they’re so far off
and gone away below.
He moved the lawn mower. The grass showering up fell softly around him; he
relished and savored it and felt that he was all mankind bathing at last in the
fresh waters of the fountain of youth.
Thus bathed, he remembered the song again about the wheels and the faith and the grace of God being way up there in the middle of the sky where that single star, among a million motionless stars, dared to move and keep on moving.
Then he finished cutting the grass.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
I am sorry that I have been a little slow in releasing these particular kinds of articles, but you know it isn’t everyday where you are located in the middle of ground-zero for World War III. So I’ve been a little side-tracked, don’t you know.
Anyways…
Anyways, as far as this particular MAJestic post is concerned, please keep in mind the limitations that I have regarding the dissemination of information.
While I just cannot divulge any secrets, some of what I CAN discharge has to do with things that are not of a technical interest. Such as history, culture, society, and "the bigger picture".
My role (as was Sebastian's) enabled us some very exclusive access to "understandings".
Nothing that was really of a functional interest to MAJestic specifically. Just general odds and ends and curiosities. And one of these "tidbits" is how our planet in our solar system became populated with life.
This kind of information is not “secret”, “confidential” or “restricted”. It is considered to be an unimportant curiosity that does not matter in the grand scheme of things.
And this is the subject for today. It is a little history lesson.
We are going to talk about what the earth was like when the first organisms started to grow upon the earth. As well as the kinds of attention that this evolutionary process generated in the civilizations that were present at the time (elsewhere in the galaxy).
Ah. You all know that I have a particular interest in history, don’t you?
What I am going to present here is a mix of [1] what I have been exposed to, and I place it all [2] in context to what our present scientists (“experts”) believe. Combined, the two points of view can give the interested reader some real valuable insight into this rarer bit of obscure knowledge about the earth’s history. I also mention [3] some elements of life within the physical that many humans are unaware of, perhaps being alien to the Newtonian understanding of physics.
We are going to talk about about the Ediacaran Period.
This was a long, long, LONG time ago. Around 630 million years ago. Just about the time when the solar system was starting to become interesting to other species within our galaxy.
In comparison, the human species is only around 400,000 years old, and of that most of the time we were all very primitive. In fact the written history is only around 5,000 years old. We are very youthful. Here we talk about the time long before dinosaurs, flies, insects, fishes and trees. We are talking about the time when there wasn't a moon.
That is correct. 630,000,000 years ago the Earth had no moon.
I cover this subject elsewhere.
The earliest extraterrestrial humanoid (Physically-animated bipedal entities that utilize technology to visit the Earth) visitation known (to me personally) to our solar system occurred during the Ediacaran period (630 million years ago).
FYI: This is not “official” MAJestic knowledge. (This information is tangential to our roles and are personal observations that were debriefed, but not relative to our mission parameters. ) In general it is considered to be extemporaneous, non-mission critical information.
The base age of approximately 635 million years ago is based on the U-Pb (uranium-lead) isochron dating method.
Here, strata from Namibia and China was dated using this method.
There is a more or less active debate on the dating methodology regarding this time period. In any event it is far above my head and rather esoteric for my tastes.
The dating method I place here is approximate and based upon our limited understanding of the Earth at this time.
This was a long, long, very long time ago. The reader must understand that fact. Typically when humans think of the past, we tend to think in terms of thousands of years. Officially, civilization is supposed to be less than 10,000 years old.
Civilization, in this meaning, loosely refers to the creation of stable and moderate sized agrarian communities which may or may not have a written language.
But, this particular period of time is far, far older than that.
In fact, it is not 100x older. It is not 1000x older. It is 63,000 times older than what we consider to be the start of bipedal human civilization. It is so long ago as to be incomprehensible.
Please kindly refer to my notes (within the MAJestic Index) and my thoughts on the human ability to understand large swaths of time.
During this time, there were no evolved humanoids or proto-humans on the planet. The life on the earth was quite primitive.
Therefore, any and all the visitations were made by extraterrestrials. These creatures came and visited the earth and left. No one stayed for long. I would consider these visits and excursions to be survey expeditions made by long-extinct space-faring extraterrestrial species.
They had many forms.
The dominant physical form (by a “long shot”) that we, as humans, would recognize was the early variations of bipedal proto-humanoid extraterrestrials.
During this huge swath of time, the Earth was visited at various times by numerous species.
This period of time lasted for 94 million years, and began in the distant past around 630 million years ago. A lot of things can happen in 94 million years.
Again, the reader is reminded that this particular period of time contains 94 million years. That is an amazingly long expanse of time.
Indeed space-faring species developed, thrived and evolved past their physical forms many times during this period.
Obviously, this implies that there were space-faring, extraterrestrial races at this distant point in time so long ago. (None of which originated on the earth. They only visited it.)
During this period some would visit our solar system for various purposes and they would stay for varying lengths of time. All of these visitation(s) were short lived affairs.
Any settlements were temporary and used for scientific study and other short duration activities.
The visits were, of course, by extraterrestrial species of various points of origin, as there was absolutely just the very beginnings of higher order life on the world at this time.
Our solar system
The reader must understand that at this time the Earth was a bare and desolate place. The land was barren rock, and mountains. Sure there was mater and ice on the land masses, and perhaps microbes. But no significant life on the land surfaces. The only life was in the seas.
Our solar system was mostly free of the huge dust disks and debris field of the earlier 3 billion years.
Our star had matured during that time and became much more stable.
But stability is a relative thing; the earth was no longer entirely molten. Indeed, the surface of the earth was cooling and a thick gaseous envelope of various dusty gasses surrounded it.
Outside the Earth, the other rocky planets were also beginning to cool down and life was just beginning to form in the most unlikely of places. This included the smoggy Mars, and Venus, as well as numerous moons of Jupiter (because Jupiter was much closer to the Sun then as it is today).
At this point in time, the earth was just beginning to stabilize enough to maintain ambulatory life.
Previous to this time, it was a hot and desolate place (prior to the Sturtian period around 710 Ma).
Then it began to cool down.
During the early Neoproterozoic (around 850 Ma to 740 Ma) it cooled down sufficiently for early life in the earliest forms to evolve.
There was a pause or “burp” in evolution during the Sturtian glaciation around 710 to 735 Ma, and then a resumed period of growth during the Cryogenian period.
This again was put on hold during the Marinoan glaciation that finally ended around 635 Ma.
It was the Ediacaran period at around the end of the Marinoan glaciation where things started to evolve into life that we understand it to be; significant.
Around the Vendian period (approximately 570 Ma), the first classes and orders of identifiable creatures became recognizable in the fossil records.
Mars, and Venus looked quite different than they do now. The atmospheres were different. The pressures and temperatures were different. Their orbits, and orbitalinclinationtotheecliptic were different as well.
The earth had no moon, and our orbital inclination was different.
I do not know if there was another planet in orbit around the sun that eventually formed the asteroid belt. My personal belief that there wasn’t a planet, and what we see as asteroids are but the remnants of the solar system “frost zone”. Not of a planet that broke up sometime int he distant past.
Jupiter was larger. It was hotter, and it was closer to the sun than it is now.
A number of it’s moons had atmospheres, and there was actually some (short lived) periods of liquid water on key moons.
All the other gas giants, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus also migrated outwards, but their physical changes were not as radical as for Jupiter.
Our Planet
Our earth was indeed a desolate place; however it was not without its charms.
It was marginally habitable, but showed great promise to those races with a long term view point.
Our planet consisted of mostly exposed and harsh rocks and water in a harsh nearly lifeless world. It was, of course, shrouded in toxic gasses under high temperature and pressure. But even in this environment, life spawned. During this time on the Earth we saw the continued emergence of simple organisms and simple creatures.
This time is considered the Neo-proterozoic era.
While nothing really existed on land, most life lived in the (emerging) waters of the earth and along the rocky shorelines. Here is where we have found the first good fossils of the first multi-celled animals on the Earth.
These (over the last few hundred years) were discovered and obtained, and that is how we now know that this was a period of the first native biological life on the earth.
Atmosphere
The world (at that time) was not only bare (consisting of broken rocky surfaces and coarse sand and gravels), but the atmosphere was pretty rank.
While there was an oxygen atmosphere, it was then only 40% of what consider normal today.
Instead the climate was dominated by (poisonous to humans) carbon dioxide and at a level fully sixteen times that of today. It was a time of thunderous storms, damp and dank weather and bleak, harsh rocky surroundings.
Yet, with all that being true, the world was still (considered) marginally habitable for bipedal humanoids. Bipedal humanoids would of needed oxygen masks, protective clothing, and solid reliable shoes to walk about on the planet.
Of course there was be dust and dirt, but it tended to have a granular appearance. The air, while rank, was breathable with filters and oxygen supplements.
The atmospheric pressure was tolerable but outside of what was considered normal for conventional humans.
The temperature varied by location, but for the most part was in the range considered to be marginally acceptable.
There was liquid water (over a large section of the globe); stable land forms, and a total lack of competing contentious native life forms. The earth at that time was a potential oasis that would be viewed as having great future promise by any extraterrestrial who would visit it.
Those species who visited it left their marks in various ways. Some of which eventually spawned higher order organisms unintentionally through careless behavior.
Which makes you wonder... "exactly what kinds of careless behaviors were involved?"
Native Life
It was during this time that the (so called) Ediacaran biota flourished.
Ediacaran biota.
The Ediacaran biota are the somewhat puzzling fauna of the Ediacaran period.
This geological period was from 635–542 million years ago (mya), but the fossil biota was only from 575–542 mya.
This was after a series of ice ages and just before the Cambrian period.
The biota consists of soft-bodied multicellular organisms, probably animals, which left trace fossils in rocks of Ediacaran age.
The biota is quite unusual, and there is no sign of it in the preceding Marinoan glaciation.
The biota appears to suffer a fairly severe extinction event at the boundary with the Cambrian.
Some of the biota may have survived into the early Cambrian.
Then the world consisted of very large and shallow seas.
These shallow seas permitted the growth of various simple organisms.
Simple trace fossils of possible worm-like creatures; known as the Trichophycus became common, as well as the very first sponges and trilobitomorphs (the early ancestors of trilobites).
The creatures of the earth at this time were simple in design and structure.
Throughout the history of the Earth from Cambrian to the present day, soft-bodied creatures are notorious for dying without a trace. The lack of tough structures leave them exposed to waves, winds, and scavengers, causing many of them to completely dissolve after death.
They were the earliest naturally evolving creatures of the earth and consisted of very simple proto-fungi and very simple proto-creatures.
At this time there were no insects, birds, or even flowers. The earth was a land of proto-fungi and small simple creatures.
The reader should consider the land at this time to be rather bare and rocky, with the earliest fungi and simple creatures clustering around the shorelines.
The most significant life form; non-ambulatory, was the various Stromatolite colonies that persisted throughout the planet in the shallow seas. These colonies looked like hard rounded sponge rocks and boulders.
Stromatolite colonies
These colonies grew close to the land and grew in great numbers due to the favorability of the local climate at that time. Some grew to enormous size. Truly, some were so enormous in size that they resembled low submerged islands.
The reader should consider this time to a period of all sorts of boneless ambulatory aquatic creatures such as jellyfish, and sea slugs.
Indeed, may I indulge in a little creative fantasy and suggest that the sea slugs became quite diverse and colorful. Imagine a world inhabited by such creatures. Creatures such as;
Hypselodoris kanga
Acanthodoris pylosa
Cyerce nigricans
Elysia crispata(’Lettuce sea slug’)
Flabellina iodinea
Costasiella kuroshimae(’Sea sheep’)
Glaucus atlanticus(’Blue angel’)
Phyllodesmium poindimiei
Dirona albolineata
Hexabranchus sanguineus(’Spanish dancer’)
I suggest the reader to look up these wondrous creatures and watch a video or GIF of their behavior. For indeed creatures similar to the aforementioned dominated the globe at that time.
Trilobite anatomy.
It was during this period that proto-trilobites came into existence.
We have scant knowledge of these creatures because they were soft shelled, and thus unable to be fossilized.
We can, however, surmise that they appeared similar to that of their later offspring; the trilobites, only with a far simpler biology and soft shell and cellular makeup.
Trilobites were among the early arthropods, a phylum of hard-shelled creatures with multiple body segments and jointed legs (although the legs, antennae and other finer structures of trilobites only rarely are preserved).
They constitute an extinct class of arthropods, the Trilobita, made up of ten orders, over 150 families, about 5,000 genera, and over 20,000 described species.
New species of trilobites are unearthed and described every year.
This makes trilobites the single most diverse class of extinct organisms, and within the generalized body plan of trilobites there was a great deal of diversity of size and form.
The smallest known trilobite species is under a millimeter long, while the largest include species from 30 to over 70 cm in length (roughly a foot to over two feet long!).
With such a diversity of species and sizes, speculations on the ecology of trilobites includes planktonic, swimming, and crawling forms, and we can presume they filled a varied set of trophic (feeding) niches, although perhaps mostly as detritivores, predators, or scavengers.
Consider where they lived…
Ediacara (formerly Vendian) biota.
The Ediacara (formerly Vendian) biota are ancient life-forms of the Ediacaran Period, which represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms.
They appeared soon after the Earth thawed from the Cryogenian period’s extensive glaciers, and largely disappeared soon before the rapid appearance of biodiversity known as the Cambrian explosion.
This period saw the first appearance in the fossil record of the basic patterns and body-plans that would go on to form the basis of modern animals.
Little of the diversity of the Ediacara biota would be incorporated in this new scheme, with a distinct Cambrian biota arising and usurping the organisms that dominated the Ediacaran fossil record.
What was life like 560 million years ago?
Bacteria and green algae were common in the seas, as were the enigmatic acritarchs, planktonic single-celled algae of uncertain affinity.
But the Ediacaran also marks the first appearance of a group of large fossils collectively known as the "Ediacara biota."
The question of what these fossils are is still not settled to everyone's satisfaction; at various times they have been considered algae, lichens, giant protozoans, or even a separate kingdom of life unrelated to anything living today.
Some of these fossils are simple blobs that are hard to interpret and could represent almost anything.
Some are most like cnidarians, worms, or soft-bodied relatives of the arthropods.
Others are less easy to interpret and may belong to extinct phyla.
But besides the fossils of soft bodies, Ediacaran rocks contain trace fossils, probably made by wormlike animals slithering over mud.
The Ediacaran rocks thus give us a good look at the first animals to live on Earth.
Of course, there weren’t any naturally evolved humanoids at this time. Nor were there any animals, rodents, flies or insects.
For the most part, any life that was on the earth existed solely within (or near) the water.
It was an aquatic world.
For all practical purposes, the Earth consisted of land masses consisting of bare rocks, sand, dank clouds and waters of various salinity (some areas were alkaline, while others were rich in various salts).
Kimberella resembled a slug and has often been found near marks that resemble the feeding traces of more modern slugs and snails. Despite its seemingly simple body plan, Kimberella differed enough from the rest of the organisms living alongside it. This indicates that around 555 million years ago, 14 million years before the beginning of the Cambrian, life had started to evolve into various shapes and lifestyles.
Yet, even though there weren’t any significant large mammals around, we did see other kinds of life. Here we saw an emergence of the first native life forms.
Jellyfish World
This period is marked, or the ultimate creation of, a sudden climatic change at the end of the Marinoan ice age.
Here, the temperature started to warm up and huge swaths of glaciers and frozen areas disappeared, and large pools of warm water and regions of comparative stability appeared.
While we have the earliest fossils on record from this geological time period, it is believed that many soft skinned creatures roamed the seas. I like to think of this time period as the age of the jellyfish.
Given the environment and the nature of life, it seems probably that huge groups of various types of jellyfish evolved and swam in the seas of this early earth. And possibly, quite possibly, some of those soft bodied creatures grew to enormous size.
For after all, they were the dominant life forms at that time.
One notable fossil is the Pteridinium. Almost like Charnia, this animal was superficially feather-like with an anchor tethering it to the seafloor. What sets it apart from Charnia is how the lobes across its body are positioned. Unlike most animals today whose bodies can be divided into roughly symmetrical left side and right sides, Pteridinium sprouted its “leaflets” in three different directions. As quirky as it seems, the three-fold symmetry is not unique to Pteridinium and its close relatives. One group of small, rounded animals that resemble sea urchins called Trilobozoa somehow developed the same symmetry. One member of this group called Tribrachidium put a literal twist to this body plan, growing three arm-like structures spiraling out from the center of its body.
The reader should think of images of jellyfish, piles, globs and puddles of organic mobile goo. They should envision that these globs formed families or colonies of creatures and often conjugated together in the warm shallow seas.
Over time, the size and diversity of these groups changed.
However, any visitor to the planet would have been astounded by the great numbers of living organic masses that apparently thrived in the seas at that time.
The Ediacaran period was a time of flourishing soft skin and soft shelled life. The seas were alive with lichen and other forms of simple marine life.
Jellyfish are more or less common today.
They have evolved to fulfill their proper environmental niche in the world and have honed their survival instincts into great diversity of forms and creatures.
At this time, however, the jellyfish were of a simpler design.
They were more benign and less adaptable to change.
Many life forms, and species developed, found a particular environmental niche and then died off.
We do not know what any of them looked like, but we can certainly make our own summations.
There is no doubt in my mind that soft-skinned marine life grew to enormous sizes during this time.
I further believe that there were many such variations of these creatures, which should be considered to be the precursors of jellyfishes and other evolutionary “dead ends”.
This is a picture of a huge jellyfish with a diver next to it for comparative purposes. Obviously there were no humans on the planet at this time. I place it here for a comparative aspect in that native life, especially the dominant native life at that time, can and did grow to enormous size.
Perhaps even the size of a whale or larger!
I am confident that these first jellyfishes or similar soft-shelled creatures were genetically primitive, but I am also confident that they were able to specialize and fill various niches in the ecosystem naturally.
In fact, it is highly possible that these creatures could grow to amazing sizes. Though we do not really know for sure.
In any event, the Ediacara biota bear little resemblance to modern life forms. Any soft skinned creatures would be unrecognizable to most humans today.
What the earth looked like at that time.
The Earth 630,000,000 years ago was a very different place. Not only were the contents of different shapes than what we see today, but the weather and climate were also completely different as well.
The earth had poles at a different location and the axis of rotation relative to the obliquity of the ecliptic was completely different to what we know it to be today.
It was an ocean world populated with soft-skinned native life, and very few land based forms.
Yet this world held promise.
Visitors to our solar system would find that the earth not only held a moderately acceptable environment, but also the planet Mars would appear marginally interesting as well. Mars had a thicker atmosphere, and while the once present oceans were long; long gone there would of still been slight evidence of glaciers and other frozen remnants that would of made visiting this solar system of great interest to extraterrestrial explorers.
Rheotaxis in the Garden of the Ediacaran
The “Garden of the Ediacaran” was a period in the ancient past when Earth’s shallow seas were populated with a bewildering variety of enigmatic, soft-bodied creatures.
Scientists traditionally have pictured it as a tranquil, almost idyllic interlude that lasted from 635 to 540 million years ago. But new interdisciplinary studies suggests that the organisms living at the time may have been much more dynamic than experts have thought.
An international team of researchers from Canada, the UK and the USA, including Dr Imran Rahman from the University of Bristol, UK studied fossils of an extinct organism called Tribrachidium, which lived in the oceans some 555 million years ago. Using a computer modelling approach called computational fluid dynamics, they were able to show that Tribrachidium fed by collecting particles suspended in water. This is called suspension feeding and it had not previously been documented in organisms from this period of time.
Tribrachidium lived during a period of time called the Ediacaran, which ranged from 635 million to 541 million years ago. This period was characterised by a variety of large, complex organisms, most of which are difficult to link to any modern species. It was previously thought that these organisms formed simple ecosystems characterised by only a few feeding modes, but the new study suggests they were capable of more types of feeding than previously appreciated.
Dr Simon Darroch, an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University, said:
"For many years, scientists have assumed that Earth's oldest complex organisms, which lived over half a billion years ago, fed in only one or two different ways. Our study has shown this to be untrue, Tribrachidium and perhaps other species were capable of suspension feeding. This demonstrates that, contrary to our expectations, some of the first ecosystems were actually quite complex."
Read more at; https://phys.org/news/2015-11-earth-ecosystems-complex-previously-thought.html More information: 'Suspension feeding in the enigmatic Ediacaran organism Tribrachidium demonstrates complexity of Neoproterozoic ecosystems' by Imran A. Rahman, Simon A. F. Darroch, Rachel A. Racicot and Marc Laflamme in Science Advances, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500800
Scientists have found It extremely difficult to fit these Precambrian species into the tree of life. That is because they lived in a time before organisms developed the ability to make shells or bones. As a result, they didn’t leave much fossil evidence of their existence behind, and even less evidence that they moved around.
So, experts have generally concluded that virtually all of the Ediacarans—with the possible exception of a few organisms similar to jellyfish that floated about—were stationary and lived out their adult lives fixed in one place on the sea floor.
The new findings concern one of the most enigmatic of the Ediacaran genera, a penny-sized organism called Parvancorina, which ischaracterized by a series of ridges on its back that form the shape of a tiny anchor.
By analyzing the way in which water flows around Parvancorina’s body, an international team of researchers has concluded that these ancient creatures must have been mobile: specifically, they must have had the ability to orient themselves to face into the current flowing around them.
That would make them the oldest species known to possess this capability, which scientists call rheotaxis.
"Our analysis shows that the amount of drag produced with the current flowing from front to back is substantially less than that flowing from side to side," said Simon Darroch, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, who headed the study. "In the strong currents characteristic of shallow ocean environments, that means Parvancorina would have benefited greatly from adjusting its position to face the direction of the flow."
The analysis, which used a technique borrowed from engineering called computational fluid dynamics (CFD), also showed that when Parvancorina faced into the current, its shape created eddy currents that were directed to several specific locations on its body.
"This would be very beneficial to Parvancorina if it was a suspension feeder as we suspect because it would have concentrated the suspended organic material making it easier to consume,"
-Darroch
More information: Simon A. F. Darroch et al, Inference of facultative mobility in the enigmatic Ediacaran organism, Biology Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0033 Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-life-precambrian-livelier-previously-thought.html#jCp
The absence of fast-moving animals allowed microbes to colonize the surface of the ocean floor, then create a layer of secretion wherever they grow. Such a sticky layer allowed the sediment to stabilize and acted as a mold when the animals died on top of them. This age was the Time of the Slime, where the ocean floor was filled with sticky substances. Such a slow-paced life, combined with the lack of predators, is a feature unique to this period. As a nod to the biblical Garden of Eden, some people have referred to this peaceful early Earth as the Garden of Ediacara.
Extraterrestrial Occupation
Now I am going to discuss extraterrestrial species and how they interacted with the earth at this time.
Let it be known that the present species that MAJestic interacts with did not exist at that time.
Here we are discussing (mostly) long extinct species that are known to the extraterrestrial species that we interact with today.
But of which they are themselves unfamiliar with them in any degree of detail that they specifically and selectively choose not to communicate with me about. I cannot say much more than that. Cannot.
At this time, the universe was already mature.
So even though our solar system was still rather youthful, the rest of the universe was quite old.
In fact, the universe was already 11 billion years old when the Ediacaran period began.
What this means is that there were entire life cycles of stars that were born, grew into maturity, and died well before our solar system was even formed.
In fact, there is evidence, from the spectral composition of our sun, that at least four generations of previous stars came before our solar system was berthed. This means that it completely realistic to expect the presence of extremely advanced galactic-wide extraterrestrial civilizations with interstellar transport technology in our region of space.
At this time, there was still consternation regarding specific pockets of unorganized quanta that had naturally formed into non-approved quantum soul archetypes.
But none of that really was a concern to our physical world at that time.
The quanta that surrounding the planet was just beginning to formulate into discrete packets; while some might argue otherwise, and the entire region was open for physical extraterrestrial exploration.
(It had been explored much earlier by discarnate soul orders, but that is not our concern at this time.)
+ + +
The Ediacaran period saw the presence of the very first humanoid extraterrestrial bases on the earth.
These facilities were short duration affairs. Mostly used for scientific inquiry. To imagine what these facilities were like, one should consider what the current human research stations look like in Antarctica.
Scout. Scan. Visit. Sample. Leave.
I am quite confident that the extraterrestrial bases were very similar to those facilities in both form and function.
Essentially,we should realistically consider the base facilities at this time and place to be similar to that consisting of a small cluster of habitats around a secured landing area for the associative vehicles.
None of the bases or communities during this entire huge swath of time (during the Ediacaran period) were ever very large.
Typically, the species operated out of their spacecraft, which at that time, tended to be (comparatively) huge. (Not all, and not the “critical” visits. Just the ones that made the greatest disruption in the quantum envelope that is recorded.) They would then send excursions to the surface and form “base camps” which typically tended to consist of rudimentary structures and facilities.
Typically planetary excursions were very; very short lived affairs. Often lasting less than one month in duration.
Although there were a number which lasted for much longer; perhaps as long as two years in duration. However, in all cases, they could just be considered to be scientific excursions, which were there for the purposes of scientific investigation and inquiry.
For some reason, I have always assumed that these visits required large spacecraft with interstellar propulsive capability. However, I do not know if this was the case for every species. Indeed, for the multi-dimensional and higher order species, they might have utilized other methods that are far beyond our level of understanding at this time.
Typically, one might expect (or more accurately, assume) the base facilities to lie close to the equator for reasons of avoiding the gravity sink of the earth. Nevertheless, when one studies the map of the Earth at that time, one can clearly see a problem with the base placement.
It is my arrogant assumption that the extraterrestrial entities needed to land or walk on dry land, and that they would see ocean landings a barrier.
All of this is assumptive on my part.
The reader should be made aware that the poles (North and South) as well as the equator as determined by conventional historical cartographers are typically incorrectly placed.
The axis of rotation and the tilt of the earth at this time was wholly different than what it is today.
The current maps relative to this time has to be adjusted to take this into account. I hope that I was able to rectify this discrepancy in the maps that I presented here.
There weren’t too many dry land locations near the equator at this time.
That severely limited the location of the bases of operation around a water world swimming full of proto-jellyfish like creatures. In any event, none were involved in any type of colonization or industrial facilities.
That I am aware of.
It is entirely possible that contamination of the native ecosystem by extraterrestrial races contributed to the emergence of life on the Earth at this time.
Contamination refers to any extraterrestrial influence on the biology of the earth ecosystem at that time.
We can be assured that there was some degree of contamination.
There always is.
This is both physical, spiritual and in all ways quantum. But, no one knows for sure the impact it had, if any.
Nothing (physical) remains of whatever visitors occupied the earth at this time.
However, there is the remote possibility that the Baigong pipes in China might be the remains of what once was some kind of industrial facility of some type.
The Baigong Pipes are a series of pipe-like features found on and near Mount Baigong, about 40 km southwest of the city of Delingha, in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.
Associated with these pipe-like features are "rusty scraps" and "strangely shaped stones".
Analysis of the "rusty scraps" by Liu Shaolin at a "local smeltery" reportedly found that they consist of 30 percent ferric oxide and large amounts of silicon dioxide and calcium oxide.
This is what one would expect of fossilized rust buried in sandy soil.
The state run newspaper People's Daily reported on a 2007 investigation where a research fellow from the Chinese Earthquake Administration reported they had found some of the pipes to be highly radioactive.
Skeptics claim that this is a natural formation (of course they would).
According to any measure of anthropological science, there was no way that naturally evolved tool-making bipedal humanoids could of evolved at this time.
In any event, any remains of artificial constructions from this distant past would be altered beyond appearance and would have alternative material constructions.
For a conventional explanation of what this site is please visit; http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4181.
It has a moderately reasonable conventional explanation for the observed formations. Yet, I must specifically stress to the reader that time and geologic pressures alter the appearance and shape of things..
This site could just as well be a natural site as it could be the remains of a very ancient construction. The reader needs to pursue life with an open mind and consider both possibilities.
The only evidence remaining for (supplemented) human observation are the tell-tale quantum level signatures of early visitations in the (local regional) quantum cloud.
In our universe, every time one quantum particle interacts with another one, even if it is just a thought, it leaves a “mark” for all eternity.
Those with the proper tools can read and understand these marks.
And thus have the ability to observe the past as it transpired, in real time.
We know of a number of extremely advanced races that can do this.
But as far as humans are concerned, only our quantum soul bodies have this ability. (Even at that, it is rudimentary.)
Our physical bodies are wholly unable to access these records. Instead, we must utilize the assistance of other, more advanced physical races.
Unfortunately, we as humans, do not possess the ability to read and interpret these signatures.
We only know what is told to us by those whom have this ability.
What they tell us is quite simplistic.
They tell us that the planet was visited and explored by humanoid bipedal entities at this time. We also know that they traveled through various methods, not limited to physical transport. Indeed dimensional transport seemed to be the most common method.
Their past, history, appearance, and other traits that we might find interesting are shrouded in the mists of time.
That includes what happened to the various species whom visited this planet and where they are today.
This is the full extent of what I know about this time.
Summary
Around 650 million years ago, the first extraterrestrial life set foot on the earth and investigated it. Over time there were numerous subsequent visits. During some of these visits a small number of bases or facilities were constructed for various scientific and investigative purposes.
The solar system at that time was still very young, being only three billion years old. There were many comets and orbiting rocky bodies that yet had to be absorbed or collided with the larger planetary bodies.
Mars was not habitable, but both Mars and Venus were more habitable to ambulatory humanoids than they are today.
To this end, this solar system was of interest because of the three possible marginally desirable planets in the system. The Earth, Venus and Mars. Additionally, since the gas giants were closer to the sun than they are now, and hotter, a number of Jupiter moons possessed atmosphere in a gaseous state, and some even had oceans that held water in a liquid state.
This entire solar system held promise.
The earth at that time was mostly bare rock with oceans teeming with soft-shell creatures.
At that time there was no galactic federation that would claim administration for our solar system.
For the Ediacaran Period of nearly 89 million years, the situation was pretty much a stable one. Our solar system was mapped, explored, and systematically ignored by other species.
The vast bulk of time where this occurred was from 600 Ma to around 560 Ma.
They actually found our solar neighbors far more interesting for a host of reasons, and thus at this time just mostly ignored our solar system.
The solar system was still evolving and there were various comets and rogue asteroids that would and did present a threat to any native life in the solar system. This system was considered to be moderately interesting but not worthy of colonization by any of the species who visited it.
It was noted; explored in a more or less cursory manner, and archived.
Very little happened on the earth in the regard to extraterrestrial involvement of a substantive nature during this time period.
Those MM readers who might wonder what life might resemble around planets in the habitual zone of stars around three billion years old, might well learn from this narrative and explanation here.
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
The following are the three volumes of the book(s) titled “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsch. All three volumes are provided in PDF format. They are presented here free and in full PDF text for your learning, enjoyment and understanding. Just click on the link and read.
It’s that simple.
No need to enter a credit card number to prove that you are a human, or to register. You don’t need to do anything. This is a service as these books are getting harder and harder to obtain. Overseas, at least. And everyone is just trying to make a buck or two.
So relax, and enjoy.
The books
These books were brought to my attention by an influencer who recommended them to me.
I find their take a little different from mine, but many of the basic ideas are pretty much the same. Certainly the terms are different, but that is to be expected.
It’s a good read, and there are some differences in belief and understanding between these works and mine. It doesn’t mean that I am right and they are wrong or vice versa, it just means that there are different ways to interpret the same thing.
Hmmm, Ive read all 3 books. Some terrific insights, granted. But “God’s” description of the soul as firmly encased in the body–physically– doesn’t jive with Mr Man’s or my notion/sense of the soul being most definitely elsewhere and connected to the body via consciousness.
So, the author IMHO isn’t really speaking to God at all. But he’s quite the imagination. And the explanation given for the soul in these books is quite detailed. But again, unlike our understanding.
Caveat emptor, I guess. As usual.
-Ultan
Never the less, they are a good read, and I recommend them for the searcher.
About the Trilogy “Conversations with God”
“Conversations with God” is a book trilogy in which the author transcripts the dialog he had with God (the meaning of God is discussed in the book) through the process of automatic writing or channeling.
With over 7 million copies sold worldwide, this extraordinary dialog was a huge hit in the New Age bookstores due to its groundbreaking and hopeful testimonial on spirituality. Accused of blasphemy and wanting to reinvent Christianism, Neale Donald Walsch didn’t make everyone happy when publishing his books. He denies that this transcription has been built on spiritual frustration or on an attempt to get absolution from his past mistakes in his life. He was just laying down questions in his notepad and would get answers filled with wisdom directly through his writing. Friends and family then pushed him to publish his transcripts publicly t o share his experience.
Highly criticized, the author’s statements put the human experience and free will at the heart of the spiritual experience on earth. He also suggests a new definition of God, more like a best friend than a taciturn father figure whose love would come under certain conditions.
With a casual and sometimes humoristic style, these books often bring up questions that we all once asked ourselves: life, love, purpose of life, the Good, the Evil, guilt, Heaven, Hell, power, health, joy, pain, marriage, money, death …
Introduction
During Easter 1992, the Author was having a huge existential crisis. On a personal, professional and emotional standpoint, his life seemed to him like a complete failure.
Accustomed through the years to write down his frustrations in letters (that he would almost never send), he grabbed his old notepad and started pouring in there all his misfortune and decided to address this letter to his biggest bully that was causing all of his problems: God.
Filled with pain and passion, Neale Donald Walsch wrote down his questions, doubts and confusion: “What did I do to deserve this life of constant battle?”
To his surprise, while scribbling the last of his bitter questions, his pen remained floating above the note pad, like an invisible force holding it back. Suddenly, it started moving on its own and answering his questions like it was dictated. In shock but inspired, the author took advantage of the situation and started asking all the questions he had on his mind and took note of every answers given by God by thoughts or feelings, in a very clear and intelligible way…
In the first paragraph of the book, there is a cute anecdote about a Small Candle which helps us understand what is a soul and why it incarnates itself.
The Small Candle anecdote
There was a time when a soul knew it was light. As it was a new soul, it was excited to experiment. “I am the light, it said. I am the light”
But as it knew and said it was light, it wasn’t like experiencing it. In the kingdom where it appeared, there was only life. Each soul was big, each soul was beautiful and each soul was shining an intense light. So, the tiny soul was like a candle in the sun. Amongst the brightest light (from which it belonged), it couldn’t see itself, experience Who and What It Really Was.
So this soul committed to know itself more and more. So committed that one day I told her: “Do you know, little one, what you need to do to fulfil your aspiration ?”
“What, God? What ? I would do anything” said the little soul.
“You have to separate yourself from us, I answered, then you must invoke obscurity upon you”
“What is obscurity, O Almighty ?” asked the little soul.
“It is what you are not” I replied and the soul understood.
So, that is what the soul did: it separated itself from everything and went to another kingdom. In this kingdom, the soul could invoke in its experience any kind of obscurity. That’s what it did.
But amongst all this obscurity she cried out :”Father, Father, why did you abandoned me?”
(then reaching out to Neale Donald Walsch): “As you once did yourself, in your darkest hours. But i haven’t abandoned you. I am eternally faithful, ready to remind you who you truly are, ready, always ready, to bring you back where you belong”
Thus, be the light in the obscurity and don’t damn it.
And don’t forget who you are when surrounded by what you are not. Bless the Creation when you are looking to change it.
And do know that what you will do in the face of your biggest challenge might be your biggest triumph. Because the experience you create is the affirmation of who you are and you want to be.
“Conversations with God” is broken down in 3 volumes:
The first one is focused on personal topics but also on challenges and opportunities one can face in its life.
The second one talks about global matters, geopolitical and metaphysical life on this planet but also on the current challenges it has to face.
The third one deals with the universal truths of the highest order, the challenges and opportunities of the soul after its terrestrial experience.
The Downloads
Click on the picture to download or open up the PDF in your browser. It’s usually pretty fast, though if you are still using a “dial up” modem, it might take a while.
Do you want more?
I have more posts in my Prayer and Intention Campaign index. Here…
You’ll not find any big banners or popups here talking about cookies and privacy notices. There are no ads on this site (aside from the hosting ads – a necessary evil). Functionally and fundamentally, I just don’t make money off of this blog. It is NOT monetized. Finally, I don’t track you because I just don’t care to.
Vladimir #Putin is spending the weekend in #Siberia. The President together with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu enjoys walking in the #taiga forest and riding an all-terrain vehicle. Also, Sergei Shoigu showed the President his workshop.”
