A pretty nice summary of a possible next phase of the collapse of America. It makes a heck of a lot of sense.

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…

…and then some MM discussions.

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?

Do You Believe in Magic?

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:

  1. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT),
  2. A “command” economy,
  3. Universal Basic Income (UBI, “helicopter” money for the people), and
  4. 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.

We all witnessed the effects of the crash of 2009.

Thousands of the “well heeled” lost millions of dollars to the “bigger fish in the economic ocean”.

Yet, if they had kept their money in those sinking stocks rather than withdraw, they would now have exponential returns for their initial investments.

Why?

Because markets do actually fluctuate.

I also don’t believe that events as bad as The Great Depression can truly be called a collapse in any sense of the word.

When I say collapse, I’m referring to situations such as post-WW2 Germany, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and the like.

When you literally have to pay for a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow full of bills because of hyperinflation, THEN you have economic collapse.

US Economy Collapse: What Would Happen?

There's a difference between crisis and collapse

The U.S. economy’s size makes it resilient.

It is highly unlikely that even the most dire events would lead to a collapse.

If the U.S. economy were to collapse, it would happen quickly, because the surprise factor is a one of the likely causes of a potential collapse.

The signs of imminent failure are difficult for most people to see.

Most recently, the U.S. economy almost collapsed on September 16, 2008.

That’s the day the Reserve Primary Fund “broke the buck”—the value of the fund’s holdings dropped below $1 per share.

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>

For example, the Federal Reserve can use its contractionary monetary tools to tame hyperinflation…

…or…

…it can work with the Treasury to provide liquidity (as during the 2008 financial crisis).

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures banks, so there is little chance of a banking collapse similar to that in the 1930s.

The president can release Strategic Oil Reserves to offset an oil embargo.

Homeland Security can address a cyber threat.

The U.S. military can respond to a terrorist attack, transportation stoppage, or rioting and civic unrest.

In other words, the federal government has many tools and resources to prevent an economic collapse.

MM Comment.

Sure it can try. But does it still have the actual ability to do so?

What Would Happen If the U.S. Economy Collapses?

If the U.S. economy collapses, you would likely lose access to credit.

Banks would close.

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.

Demand for the dollar and U.S. Treasury’s would plummet.

Interest rates would skyrocket.

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.

But what will actually happen?

No one knows.

The Elites have their ideas…

Here’s a ten year old article from Salon, and they pretty much nailed it in regards to what is going on. If anything, they were too optimistic.

From Salon 2010…

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.

This is in process.

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.

In process.

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.

In process.

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…

How Do We Prepare for Economic Collapse?

From the SHTFblog…

Thankfully, history can give us some advice here.

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?
  • Gasoline Containers – Everybody will need them, and very few have them.
  • 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.

Do you want more?

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Fourth Turning Crisis Scenarios for the 2025 event; a scary look into the future.

According to the “Fourth Turning”, the year of 2025 will be the point in time where a major “turning point” or crisis will occur. Historically that means a serious war on American soil.

As 100% of the previous fourth turnings were [1] deadly serious wars that [2] occurred on American soil. They also [3] used the most lethal technology, and military forces of the time.

This article embraces this historical fact and extrapolates possible scenarios out from it.

These are ugly, ugly scenarios and I personally hope that none of them come true.

  • A crisis event on American soil.
  • Deadly serious event that costs the lives of Americans and wrecks the economy.
  • Uses the most lethal technology of the time.
The ruling class has gone too far in accumulating the wealth of the nation through the capture of regulatory, political, financial, and communication structures. They know what is coming. They are not pretending that all is fine. They have their very own safe houses all set up far, far away from the strife that is barrelling down towards them.
The ruling class has gone too far in accumulating the wealth of the nation through the capture of regulatory, political, financial, and communication structures. They know what is coming. They are not pretending that all is fine. They have their very own safe houses all set up far, far away from the strife that is barrelling down towards them.

As a review, for those of you who are oblivious what this is all about, the “Fourth Turning” is a theory that predicts social turmoil upon an 80 year cycle.

  • Social turmoil.
  • The possibility of social upheaval.
  • The possibility of a major HOT war during the crisis period.

The work was written around 1995, and EVERYTHING that was predicted has come to pass. This prediction also predicts for a major crisis event to take place in the 2025 time period +/- 2 years.

The article is about the “peak” of the Fourth Turning – A crisis period.

This article discusses a very specific event that takes place in the midst of the Fourth Turning. It is the “peak” or most dangerous time. It is known as the “crisis”.

If you want to read about the social upheavals and changes leading up to this crisis, you can read about it in another post. It opens up into a separate tab for your reading pleasure.

The Climax of the Fourth Turning in 2025.

A nuclear nightmare.

Here, we talk about the “crisis” that will be the “big event” of this “Fourth Turning”. As such, and I am sorry to say, that there is a very strong likelihood that it will result in large-scale nuclear weapon detonations on American soil.

Yes.

You read that correctly.

There is a strong likelihood that large-scale nuclear weapon(s) will be detonated on American soil around the Fourth Turning crisis event.

There are numerous reasons why I hold this belief. But the biggest, I suppose, is the pro-war faction in the United States government.

You see, the United States now believes that we should improve our nuclear warfare fighting capability so that we can use it.

After all, with all those proxy wars the United States is fighting now, (eight in total as of 2019) that we should be able to field and use nuclear weapons freely without worry of retaliation. (After all, what’s all this nonsense about going to battle against Turkey and “our allies” the Kurds?)

 John  Bolton, openly advocates a first-strike policy against nuclear-armed  enemies, and the Pentagon, after decades of careful disarmament, wants  to spend $1.2 trillion to upgrade its nuclear arsenal. 

If you’ve felt a  new shiver of nuclear fear over the past year, you’re not alone: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its “Doomsday Clock” to within two minutes of midnight — closer than it has been since the height of the Cold War.  

 - This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like  

You see, according to the military and political planned deep within the bowels of Washington, America can use “low yield” tactical nuclear weapons on a sovereign foreign nation, and aside from some “political squawk”, nothing bad will come of it.

No one ever fights back. Right?

In December 2016, the US Defense Science Board – a semi-independent  group that advises the Secretary of Defense – warned that “the nuclear  threshold may be decreasing owing to the stated doctrines and weapons  developments of some states.” 

Therefore, the DSB recommended DOD should  “provide many more options in stemming proliferation or escalation; and a  more flexible nuclear enterprise that could produce, if needed, a rapid, tailored nuclear option for limited use should existing non-nuclear or nuclear options prove insufficient.” This would involve “lower yield, primary only options” for strategic warheads on long-range ballistic missiles. 

- The Terrifying Nuclear War Game the US Shouldn't Play  

Now along with this attitude, is the strong belief that if America fields “low yield” nuclear devices that it will NOT result in devastating nuclear retaliatory strikes. That is considered inconceivable, as “everyone knows” that the United States is the strongest and most powerful nation in the world.

There wouldn’t ever be any repercussions.

It’s inconceivable.

In the United States today is the strong belief that if America fields “low yield” nuclear devices that it will NOT result in devastating nuclear retaliatory strikes. That is considered inconceivable, as “everyone knows” that the United States is the strongest and most powerful nation in the world. No one would dare strike back.

America still thinks that it is the only dog in the barn-yard. But, you know, the rest of the farm animals are getting mightily tired of the dog bullying everyone around. Especially as the dog is getting old, has arthritis, and other problems. One day, another animal might just say that enough is enough.

America spent millions of dollars on NED, which actively went into China, into Hong Kong, on Chinese soil. They taught and trained the anti-government forces there. They taught them how to perform "soft violence" to provoke the mainland Chinese. They paid protestors, and gave them the skills to build bombs, and target maps and a strategy. 
The US involvement in the HK "Democracy Now" movement.
All of which was caught on video. With Trumps advisors caught on film (with a clear audio track) in the HK Marriot hotel explaining how to conduct the riots and how to destroy the subway stations. The Chinese have videos of the teaching and training classes for the insurgents, and the NED even has the gall to have their members on LinkedIN boasting about their involvement in HK.

China did nothing. 

Though, if the roles were reversed, it would be a different story. If China sent advisors to train the BLM and Antifa on how to bomb bus stations, trains, airports and destroy all public transportation. And they were caught on film and broadcast on all the Conservative networks, with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity talking about it 24-7. It would be a catastrophic error in judgement. Don't you agree?

But China did nothing.

So America believes that it can go about launching all sorts of military, quasi and semi-para military operations all over the globe and no one will ever raise a finger to stop the empire expansionism.

Snow ball strike from the movie "A Christmas Story".
(Limited Yield) Snow ball strike from the movie “A Christmas Story”.

It can be Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, the Ukraine. It can be anywhere from Venezuela to Turkey. No one will or can stop us. Right?

China will do nothing. Right?

Russia will do nothing. Right?

No one will fight back. Russia and China won’t ever work together against the USA. Right?

Right?

Ralph fights back against the schoolyard bully. The scene is from the 1980's movie A Christmas Story.
Ralph fights back against the schoolyard bully. The scene is from the 1980’s movie “A Christmas Story”.

The belief is that the US can launch a few “low yield” nuclear weapons and no nation would dare strike back. The USA can deploy Marines in Hong Kong or Taiwan, and China won’t do anything.

It’s inconceivable. Don’t you know.

I am not the only person that believes this. Read John Paul Roberts excellent article on the pre-nuclear  holocaust  preparations that America is currently engaged in. 

Are You Ready To Die? 

And since it would be inconceivable, the military and the United States government officials are today, far more likely and prone to using “safe”, “tactical” nuclear weapons to further their agendas.

And these are dangerous agendas.

These are agendas that are BLIND to the idea that the rest of the world might put it’s collective foot down and say “ENOUGH!”. And launch a retaliatory strike in full force, not only against the military forces on their territory, but rather at the American homeland, the American cities, and the American people who allowed these morons to get anywhere near nuclear launch codes.

This map should scare the living Dejesus out of you. It shows how Washington DC and the political establishment views the use of low-yield nuclear weapons against Asia in the assumption that no one would strike back.
This map should scare the living Dejesus out of you. It shows how Washington DC and the political establishment views the use of low-yield nuclear weapons against Asia in the assumption that no one would strike back.

I argue that if the United States, for what ever reason, launches and detonates any kind of nuclear weapon (low-yield, small backpack, tactical strike, or strategic nuclear), that there will be a FULL SCALE retaliatory response aimed at the Untied States.

Any use of nuclear weapons in Asia will result in the complete destruction of the United States.

This, I argue is the 2025 crisis what we should prepare for.

...
                                                            
The  second reality we have failed to understand is what a nuclear  detonation and its aftermath would actually look like. In our  imaginations, fueled by apocalyptic fictions like The Road and The Day After, the  scale and speed of nuclear annihilation seem too vast and horrific to  contemplate. 

If nuclear war is considered “unthinkable,” that is in no  small part because of our refusal to think about it with any clarity or  specificity. 

In the long run, the best deterrent to nuclear war may be  to understand what a single nuclear bomb is capable of doing to, say, a  city like New York — and to accept that the reality would be even worse  than our fears. 

- This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like 

Most articles on the internet today, when discussing nuclear conflict on American soil, do so under the assumption that it would be a small “terrorist nuke”. A small nuclear weapon, roughly the size of the atomic bomb used against Japan in World War II.

I disagree, and this post does not cover that scenario.

And when American military planners contemplate the use of nuclear weapons it is along the lines of tailored tactical responses for set specific objectives. It’s always with “surgical” precision and “contained” destruction. Never taking into account the strong possibility of “unleashing the dogs of war” against us.

They never take into account that the rest of the world thinks of America as a big loud-mouth bully that one day will get it's comeuppance.

Here we consider a “slap back” response up to an all-out MAD-level (Mutually Assured Destruction) response to the United States. It assumes that we initiate the actions though our military use of “low yield” nuclear weapons in Asia. As such, we look at a large super-power unleashing modern large-capacity nuclear munitions, using hyper-glide technology against an unsuspecting America.

Though, at that, many basement computer nerds think that a nuclear war is winnable and not all that bad...

"A nuke is a big bomb, but not that big. Most of DC would survive, a lot of radiation poisoning though, and as you can see from the occasional floor shot, most of our congress is out of the building at least and most of the time... "

We consider them releasing this onslaught within minutes after the USA detonates a”low yield” device in Asia. Which means, that nuclear detonations over coastal cities by SLBM MIRVs will detonate within minutes of launch.

Minutes.

Two minutes after the SLBM launches off the USA coast, the red lights will light up at NORAD and they will scramble to contact the American leadership. Five minutes later Washington will be erased from the surface of the globe.

Thus obliterating the leadership of America in one fell swoop.

These scenarios assume that the leadership in both Russia and China are not idiots. That they have anticipated the use by America of a tactical "low yield" nuclear weapon, and have positioned submarines and other systems for an immediate kill-level response that would detonate on American soil within minutes.

Perhaps, you the reader disagree. Maybe you think that the rest of the world are idiots, and only Americans are smart. Good for you. Then.

A quick reminder.

While the United States has been very busy funding conventional military operations around the globe, strategic nuclear missile forces have taken a back seat to the realities of global proxy wars without nuclear strike-back.

Once a missile launch is detected, I am comfortable knowing that it will be detected via satellite and the knowledge relayed to SAC HQ. That is…

…unless the Chinese and the Russian hunter-killer satellites don’t take them out.

REACT console
Missile Combat Crew Commander, Capt. Kenny Gibaldo, (left) and 2nd Lt. John Butler, Deputy Crew Commander of the 320th Missile Squadron, simulate the launch of a Minuteman III using the REACT console in a Launch Control Capsule at Missile Alert Facility Hotel-1.

People!

People!

Five minutes is not enough time to react to nuclear destruction. Whether or not the United States strategic forces are aware of a launch means nothing when hyper-speed technology and delivery weapons are used.

Fundamentals

According to the “Fourth Turning”, we can expect a major critical event to take place around 2025. As shown in the following illustration…

Here are the next few years before the Fourth Turning is expected to reach a crisis point. The astitute reader should realize that the event is scheduled immediately after the 2024 election. Historically, this will mean that a progressive democrat will take over the Presidency. In that event, we can expect a full -on gun conscification effort that would be the result of a mass-shooting event. Democrat presidents always have mass-shooting events int he first six months of their presidency. Then they unlease the anti-gun narrative to a fever pitch. The event that was supposted to really work this last time was the 2016 Los Vegas shooter, but of course it wasn't HIllary Clinton at the Helm it was Donald Trump..
Here are the next few years before the Fourth Turning is expected to reach a crisis point. The astute reader should realize that the event is scheduled immediately after the 2024 election. Historically, this will mean that a progressive democrat will take over the Presidency. In that event, we can expect a full -on gun confiscation effort that would be the result of a mass-shooting event. Democrat presidents always have mass-shooting events in the first six months of their presidency. Then they unleash the anti-gun narrative to a fever pitch. The event that was supposed to really work this last time was the 2016 Los Vegas shooter, but of course it wasn’t Hillary Clinton at the Helm it was Donald Trump..

We should note that it immediately follows an election. An election that historically will follow the following features…

  • Typically a democrat is elected after an eight-year Republican presidency.
  • Democrats historically tend to get America into proxy wars or full scale wars as need be.
It is well known that Democrats love to drag America into wars.

On October 12, 2016 longtime Putin ally Vladimir Zhirinovsky openly threatened nuclear war if Hillary Clinton is elected, saying:

Americans  voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for  peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for  Hillary it’s war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and  Nagasakis everywhere. 

…and…

I’m forced to remind myself that these are the same people who think  that “inclusion” means shutting down free speech, who believe that the  US should not have borders, who promote transsexual reading hours in the  grammar schools, and who fiercely desire to start a war with Russia. 

-Kunstler

…and…

Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria is about as relevant to the life  of the average American as Late Bronze Age incursions into Syria by the  Hittite king Suppiuliuma I. But for days now, President Trump has been  called a coward and a traitor—not only to his own country, but to the  valiant Kurds, who as far as the left is concerned, might as well have  fought with Washington at Yorktown.

Putin Bad: The Democrats Embrace Neoconservatism

Only the depleted discourse of an utterly bankrupt ruling class could  construe support for endless war, expressed in the puddle-deep  sentimentality of “muh Kurds,” as courageous, while opposition to the military-industrial complex and its misadventures is craven and worthy of the worst names that posterity can find.
 
The meltdown over the Syria crisis and the simultaneous Tulsi-Clinton  dispute, have driven home the strange truth that the Democrats have  become neocons. 

While the Republican party remains split between a  dissident, non-interventionist base and an increasingly illegitimate,  out-of-touch neoconservative Old Guard, which after three years is still  scrambling to defend its prestige in a “revolt” against Trump, the  Democratic party is almost totally in the interventionist camp. 

-American Greatness
  • Modern warfare is quite advanced, and involves all sorts of high-technology.
  • The world is evolving, and former isolated smaller nations are now aligning with strong super-power nations.
  • Every crisis, of the previous three “Fourth Turning” crisis’s has involved full-scale warfare on American soil.

With that in mind, I have taken the liberty to make some assumptions regarding the next crisis which is due to occur in 2025. These are my opinions, and please let it be well understood, that I do not wish any of this to occur.

There is no escape from the Fourth Turning.
There is no escape from the Fourth Turning.

The assumptions

The following assumptions have been made, even though there are a significant number of variables in play.

  • The 2024 election will result with a Democrat president. (A historical norm.)
  • The new president will implement all sorts of progressive initiatives. Many of which will result in higher taxes, more rules and regulations and gun confiscation. (Well. Duh!)
  • Unlike President Trump who wants to disengage the USA from foreign wars, proxy wars, and empire policing efforts, the democrat President will do the exact opposite and will resemble Presidents Obama and Bush Jr in that regard.
  • The Neocon donors to the democrats will demand further involvement in additional proxy wars. The democrats in power will oblige. (It’s the price you pay for all that cold-hard cash.)
  • American forays towards the next proxy war will not be an isolated event limited to a singular nations, but will involve an alliance with a major global super-power. (Surprise! and this fact alone will spell doom for many of the cherished beliefs that Americans hold so dearly.)
  • The super-powers involved might include either Russia, China, both and a consortium of numerous other interests.
  • The normal NED / CIA operations against a sovereign nation will be considered an act of war. (Or at the minimum a serious contributor.)
  • Nuclear weapons will be unleashed upon the United States.
Putin and Xi are essentially dictators who have no fear of elections every two years. They are serious men in possession of nuclear missiles, capable of destroying the world. They are both serious, serious people. They are in their positions of power through merit. Not though mob rule. They will tolerate the CIA / NED interference with Hong Kong, and the Muslims only so far. If the United States decides to push too hard, they WILL strike back... at American cities. IN FULL FUCKING FORCE.
Putin and Xi are essentially dictators who have no fear of elections. They are serious men in possession of nuclear missiles, capable of destroying the world. They are both serious, serious people. They are in their positions of power through merit. Not though mob rule. They will tolerate the CIA / NED interference with Hong Kong, and the Muslims only so far. There are however, absolutes that they will not tolerate. One of which is the use of “small” nuclear tactical weapons detonated on Asian soil. If the United States decides to push too hard, they WILL strike back… at American cities. IN FULL FUCKING FORCE.

There are various reasons why nuclear weapons would be used against America. But we will limit the reasons to the following;

  • To destroy the civilian population centers of America rendering it neutered to the effect so that internal civil strife can “eat it alive” unfettered by federal and state governments.
  • To provide a “double tap” to smash all and any technological, research and industry might that might oppose efforts elsewhere in the world.
  • To send the United States “back to the middle ages” to a point that it would not be able to recover as a viable nation for at least fifty years.

Welcome to 2025. It’s a truly scary scenario.

Nuclear War is no picnic

For those of you younger than 50 years old, here is a quick review about the dangers of a nuclear bomb. It is a nasty device, and if the blast and the light/heat doesn’t kill you, the poisonous radiation will.

 In front of me is a strange amalgamation  of '60s-era flip switches and modern digital display screens. It's the  control console for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile or  ICBM.

On  an archaic display screen in the center of the console, three large  letters blink in rapid succession. "EAM inbound," says my deputy  commander and the second member of the launch crew. An emergency-action  message is on its way, maybe from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maybe from  the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, maybe even from the president.  We both mechanically pull down our code books, thick binders swollen  with pages of alpha-numeric sequences, and swiftly decipher the message.

After  nearly four years of pulling ICBM-alert duty, this process is  instinctive. I deliberately recite the encrypted characters to ensure my  deputy is on the same page, literally and figuratively, as six short  characters can effectively communicate a wealth of information through  the use of special decoding binders. "Charlie, Echo, Seven, Quebec,  Golf, Bravo, six characters ending in Bravo." My partner concurs,  scribbling in his code book. 

-Death Wears a Snuggie

Here’s an article talking about a very tiny-tiny suitcase nuke that a terrorist might create and detonate in the center of New York City. (It is difficult to find MAD scenarios on the internet.)

Near  the center of the blast, the suffering and devastation most closely  conform to the fictional apocalypse of our imaginations. This is what it  would look like within a half-mile of Times Square: Few buildings would  remain standing. Mountains of rubble would soar as high as 30 feet. As  fires raged, smoke and ash would loft into the air. The New York Public  Library’s stone guardians would be reduced to pebble and dust.  Rockefeller Center would be an unrecognizable snarl of steel and  concrete, its titanic statue of Prometheus — eight tons of bronze and  plaster clad in gold  — completely incinerated.
                                                            
Within  a half-mile radius of the blast, there would be few survivors. Those  closest to the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki have described  the horrors they witnessed: People with ripped sheets of skin hanging  from their bodies; people whose brains were visible through their  shattered skulls; people with holes for eyes. Sakue Shimohira watched  her mother’s charred body crumble into ash as she tried to wake her.  Shigeko Sasamori’s father cut off the blackened husk of skin all over  her face, revealing pools of pus beneath.
                                        
As  the fireball travels outward from the blast, people, buildings, and  trees within a one-mile radius would be severely burned or charred.  Metal, fabric, plastic, and clay would ignite, melt, or blister. The  intense heat would set gas lines, fuel tanks, and power lines on fire,  and an electromagnetic pulse created by the explosion would knock out  most computers, cell phones, and communication towers within several  miles.
                    
Traveling  much farther than the fireball, a colossal pressure wave would hurtle  forth faster than the speed of sound, generating winds up to 500 miles  per hour. The shock wave would demolish the flimsiest buildings and  strip the walls and roofs off stronger structures, leaving only their  naked and warped scaffolding. It would snap utility poles like  toothpicks and rip through trees, fling people through the air, and turn  brick, glass, wood, and metal into deadly projectiles. A blast in Times  Square, combined with the fireball, would carve a crater 50 feet deep  at the center of the explosion. The shock wave would reach a diameter of  nearly 3.2 miles, shattering windows as far as Gramercy Park and the  American Museum of Natural History.
                                        
All this would happen within a few seconds. 

 - This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like  

Modern Nuclear Weapons

But we are not talking about small ultra-tiny portable nuclear weapons. We are also not talking about the same kinds of bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945.

We are talking about something quite different.

We are talking about massive city-reduction weapons using high-technology and specifically designed ultra-lethal nuclear weapons. But not just “city reduction” weapons. These are massive weapons that will turn an entire State into a glassed-over desert.

Oct 26, 2016 · Russia unveils massive Satan 2 ICBM capable of destroying France or Texas in a single hit.  Russia has moved to update its nuclear arsenal with an extreme-range, massive payload ICBM designed specifically to defeat anti-missile systems. Capable of traversing the planet's poles and blowing up Texas in one hit, meet the RS-28 Sarmat, or Satan 2. 

- Cold war redux? Russia unveils massive Satan 2 ICBM 

Yes, you read that right.

The Soviets have fielded full MIRV equipped ICBM’s armed with high-capability nuclear weapons capable of wiping out Texas in a single strike.

The damage of a single MIRV hype-glide RS-28 ‘Satan 2’ Russian nuclear weapon aimed at the center of Texas.
The damage of a single MIRV hype-glide RS-28 ‘Satan 2’ Russian nuclear weapon aimed at the center of Texas. The image is to scale. This is but one warhead in a missile that contains fifteen (x15) warheads.

People, this is serious business.

This is not MOAB, or “suitcase nuke”. This is a lance forged in Hell and would totally redefine the geography (not to mention the social, cultural, and physical) makeup of the United States.

Russia unveiled its new  super-heavy, MIRV-equipped ICBM this week. The ‘Satan-2’ (that’s its  NATO codename), has a reported throw-weight of 10,000kg, and can carry  up to 15 separate warheads. 

MIRV is an acronym that stands for Multiple  Independently targeted Reentry Vehicles. MIRV-equipped missiles can  deliver multiple nuclear weapons  to a single target area, or blanket a large area with separate  detonations. 

Historically, MIRVs have been seen as potentially  destabilizing because they give a decisive advantage to the country that  can strike first and eliminate its opponent’s land-based missile silos.

The  stats on the RS-28 demonstrate this is a missile that means business, and media outlets controlled by the Russian government have stated that a  single missile is large enough to destroy Texas or France. 

We could  quibble with the definition of “destroy,” but we won’t — any time a  government drops 50MT of nuclear weapons on you, you’re going to have a  really bad day. 

- Russia unveils its new class of RS-28 ‘Satan 2’ nuclear missiles 
Russia would launch it's ICBM that has the technology to avoid ABM tchnology. Then it would launch individual warheads, each aimed at a specific city. To the people on the ground it would look like this with lines of fire streaking from the sky towards the cities nearby.
Russia would launch it’s ICBM that has the technology to avoid ABM technology. Then it would launch individual warheads, each aimed at a specific city. To the people on the ground it would look like this with lines of fire streaking from the sky towards the cities nearby.

Lead ups

Now, back to the Fourth Turning.

Keep in mind that the United States will be in the midst of a great “unraveling”. It will seem like it is teetering and tottering out of control. And well, it will be.

For ten years leading up to the 2025 event, the United States will be in the middle of social and political upheaval.

2015 through to 2025

As crazy as everything seems under a Donald Trump presidency in 2019, now imagine that same level of craziness, except that a radical progressive Marxist democrat is in office, with full support of the mainstream press, the judicial branch, the agencies, and the military. The domestic scene in the United States will be unbearable for most of the nation.

Again, this scenario predicts a democrat president in 2024. Thus, prior to any international activity, the United States would be quite busy involved in converting America into a progressive democrat Marxist “utopia”.

Something along the lines of maybe…

  • Cambodia under Pol Pot.
  • China under Mr. Mao.
  • The Soviet Union under Stalin.
  • Cuba under Fidel Castro.

You know, socialist utopias following the traditional model. Though, not everyone will be on board with this vision, and thus civil strife will start to manifest. America, already a police state, would become a very contentious place to live.

Hard line gun disarmament will be under-weigh as well as other progressive initiatives (which were well planned, just “waiting in the wings” since 2014.)

After every high-profile shooting in America, Leftists immediately, and predictably, begin their calls for gun control. With the measured constraint and careful consideration of Bill Clinton in the Champagne Room at Fuzzy Holes Gentlemen’s Club in Little Rock, they self-righteously and repeatedly demand that we “do something!” You can probably list some of the meaningless blather they shout at us reflexively, such as “If not now, when?,” “The NRA has blood on its hands!,” “Nobody needs an assault rifle to shoot a deer!,” and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Despite all their hysterical nonsense, they usually have enough presence of mind to also say, because they have been trained to so do, that “nobody wants to confiscate your guns,” or “no one is talking about banning guns.” If you’re really lucky you’ll hear one of these would-be authoritarians say the following (and this is my personal favorite): “I support the Second Amendment, BUT…”
After every high-profile shooting in America, Leftists immediately, and predictably, begin their calls for gun control. With the measured constraint and careful consideration of Bill Clinton in the Champagne Room at Fuzzy Holes Gentlemen’s Club in Little Rock, they self-righteously and repeatedly demand that we “do something!”

You can probably list some of the meaningless blather they shout at us reflexively, such as “If not now, when?,” “The NRA has blood on its hands!,” “Nobody needs an assault rifle to shoot a deer!,” and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Despite all their hysterical nonsense, they usually have enough presence of mind to also say, because they have been trained to so do, that “nobody wants to confiscate your guns,” or “no one is talking about banning guns.” If you’re really lucky you’ll hear one of these would-be authoritarians say the following (and this is my personal favorite): “I support the Second Amendment, BUT…”

The disruptions would tend to get ugly, and when domestic squabbles get too clamorous, a democrat presidential solution is always to bring America into another war.

He’s making a point here. Ten years ago we were told that these 50  troops would be there for 30 days, and we’re still there. And you know  what is amazing is that you have the American left, which ostensibly  opposes all use of the military. They actually don’t. 

Democrat leaders  don’t. They’re in on this game like everybody else. Just like they are  the original segregationists but have gotten away with not being seen  that way. 

They are huge warmongers.

They profit incredibly from it. 

Their public position is anti-war.  Their public position is anti-military. But look at all the political  donations they get from — they supposedly hate Wall Street. They  supposedly hate the big banks because the big banks screw the average  little guy, American consumer. 

Yet look where all their donations come  from. The big banks, Wall Street, military industrial contractors and so  forth. A gigantic scam. 

-Rush Limbaugh

At some point in time, I predict early on in the first year of the 2024 democrat president, the following events will transpire…

  • A mass-shooting event (within the first six months) followed by massive gun disarming efforts. There will be zero efforts to maintain any legal constitutionality in this matter.
This is as predictable as the Epstein death in prison. Everyone knew that he was going to be killed, and that any "investigation" would go nowhere.
  • A rapid mainstream press war stance against a super-power or an ally of a superpower. This will be in the first year.
  • One or two “international incidents” which will serve as an excuse to deploy troops.

The rush into yet another proxy war is hard to predict. However it is likely that no time will be wasted in this effort.

"Hours after the bombs go off in cities, these fires continue to build up and they create firestorms that feed on themselves. They get so hot that everything in the city becomes fuel for its own destruction. The energy released becomes much greater than the weapon itself," Dr. Mills explained, drawing parallels to the way fire consumed the city of Dresden during the World War II. From each of these 100 detonations, massive firestorms would engulf whole cities and churn five million tons of black carbon into the stratosphere.
“Hours after the bombs go off in cities, these fires continue to build up and they create firestorms that feed on themselves. They get so hot that everything in the city becomes fuel for its own destruction. The energy released becomes much greater than the weapon itself,” Dr. Mills explained, drawing parallels to the way fire consumed the city of Dresden during the World War II. From each of these 100 detonations, massive firestorms would engulf whole cities and churn five million tons of black carbon into the stratosphere.

Oh and make no mistake, the democrats greatly want another proxy war, and they are not getting it under Trump. But once he’s out of the picture, it will be business as usual.

…They think.

"In leading Australia China Business Council for a decade, I saw first hand China's primary and dominant focus is internal - on the welfare of its people, on the betterment of their lives, not on global conquest - as cold war apologists would have us believe. And it has delivered in spades, bringing 850 million of its people out of poverty at the same time as fueling global growth.  

It is the United States that has 800 overseas military posts when China has just 1. It is the United States that is threatening to "totally destroy and obliterate" Turkey. It is the United States that is funding disruption in HK. It is the United States that created the fiction of weapons of mass destruction. 

Australians need to see beyond the US strategies to extend its global hegemony at any cost and focus on the reality of Chinese history and engagement."

-Duncan Calder

This post describes the scenarios when the aligned super-powers decide to snap-back at the United States.

For, the rest of the world is "de-coupling" from the United States and forging strong relationships with Asian nations instead. 

The mainstream American media is not reporting on this trend, and Americans are now oblivious at how badly they are perceived, and how out of touch with the rest of the world they are becoming. 

There are four scenarios.

  • Limited Strike. A “warning shot”. A do not mess with us, warning in bright flash technicolor. This situation is one in which America might still be able to retain a kind of national sovereignty.
  • A controlled, and yet limited nuclear strike. A “friendly” slap in the face warning to stop all war-like action or face obliteration. All major cities will be crippled beyond repair. Local authorities would take over and the Federal government would be hardly functional at all. Most of America will revert to a time before the Internet, and would consider themselves lucky to have clean water, and electricity that works once or twice a week.
  • A nuclear response. This is a “slap back” nuclear response on American soil, if America decides to unleash nuclear weapons in any proxy nation. This is the best-scenario version or the most probable outcome. If America is lucky, it might resemble a radioactive North Korea with a Democrat President declaring himself Marxist utopia ruler for life.
  • The Fuck-you Response. This is the “double tap” nuclear response that is intended to send America back to the dark ages. It is designed to allow for the indigenous peoples outside of the cities to balkanize America into smaller, easier to manage third-world “shit holes”. An America after this strike would look like Somalia on a bad day. If America is lucky and fortunate, America would fracture into tiny “third world” nations with would require 75 years to even begin to negotiate on the global table.

Knowing what I know, I would say that the probability of response to be around 80% the “Fuck You” response, and about a 10% chance for the “Nuclear response” and the “Limited Strike” responses respectively.

I argue this based on what i know about democrat presidents. They make decisions based on emotion, not reason. The other nations realize this.

On October 12, 2016 longtime Putin ally Vladimir Zhirinovsky openly threatened nuclear war if Hillary Clinton is elected, saying:

Americans  voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for  peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for  Hillary it’s war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and  Nagasakis everywhere.  

Why Russia?

While China or other nations might be the target of American proxy wars towards distraction. There are two elements here that are coming to the forefront. It’s all very simple really.

  • The election of 2024 will be a Democrat President. (This is a historical norm.)
  • Since 2016, the Democrat narrative has been “Russia! Russia! Russia!
  • Democrats tend to start large wars, historically speaking.

While it is obvious to everyone that it’s all a concocted narrative aimed at defeating Donald trump and the conservatives, there is no evidence that this narrative is dissipating. Thus, we can expect that the narrative will “take on legs of it’s own” and start to “walk”. This would be dangerous with the rabid ultra-progressive wing demanding that the USA “do something” about Russia.

And what is the government going to do?

Sanctions?

More likely than not a movement of military forces, and subversive NED / NID activity internally. This alone will be enough to trigger a nuclear conflagration.

I argue, and it seems more likely to me, that the Russians are already seeing this scenario in their future, and the moment a military event (troop movement, weapons detonation, or nuclear launch) on their territory, you can expect a Russian response. And, I dare say, Russia will not wait and then react. They will have a plan in place and actions to take.

Automatic full-scale nuclear detonations the very second that the USA tries anything. There will not be a gradual phase-in and tit-for-tat activities. I’m telling you, the Russian reaction will be the pincer event for the rest of the world – a world absolutely fatigued of American arrogance and bellicosity.

Russia will strike first, and will do so in a way that the entire American leadership will be taken out within minutes.

Some notes on the nuclear detonations

This study does not assume one nuclear warhead per city.

Here, the assumption is city devastation by clusters of 1 MT to 5 MT nuclear payloads. These payloads are delivered in clusters of targeted strikes. The clusters are to spread the glassed-over devastation over a wider area, and render nearby areas uninhabitable for centuries.

It assumes groups of three or more nuclear warheads (1 MT) targeted to obliterate specific urban areas completely. The idea is to eviscerate entire swaths of infrastructure and render the population poisoned and unable to recover. Which is the expected norm with both Russia and China.

Los Angles under the effects of a trio of three high-density, high-magnitude nuclear hydrogen bombs detonated in such a way as to render the entire realestate worthless for centures to come.
Los Angles under the effects of a trio of three high-density, high-magnitude one megaton nuclear hydrogen bombs detonated in such a way as to render the entire real-estate worthless for centuries to come. Black represents completely flattened area with glassed surfaces. The grey area represents complete radioactive and reduced rubble and debris that resembles the moons surface. All other areas will be poisoned by radiation, knocked flat by the impact of the wind, burned to a crisp by the raging fires, and completely uninhabitable.

Now, you can easily see on the map above that the use of one megaton nuclear weapon, in a cluster of three such warheads, would devastate a large city like Los Angles. The thing is, that most of the weapons used by superpowers are not that small. They are, instead, much larger.

  • The ICBM RS-28 ‘Satan 2’ carries fifteen (x15) 50 megaton nuclear weapons.
  • The SLBM R-29RM carries six smaller 500 kilaton nuclear warheads (1/2 a megaton).

In the following scenarios, we will assume small SLBM launched by submarines. Each target shown would be a cluster of three 500KT to 1MT nuclear detonation.

These scenarios are based on Typhoon "boomer" submarines (Project 941 Akula) launching SLBM R-29RM SLBM armed with six 500 kiloton nuclear munitions aimed at two cities per missile (three warheads per city).

For example, one Typhoon "boomer" would launch  20 R-39 (NATO: SS-N-20) ballistic missiles. Each missile could target two cities, with three nuclear warheads each. Thus one sub could totally and completely destroy 40 cities; launching 120 nuclear 500KT nuclear weapons.

Let’s look into these responses in detail.

[1] Limited Strike.

Here we have a limited strike.

Note, for purposes of simplicity, I refer to a “single warhead” as a single target of three smaller low-yield nuclear weapon detonations. The maps can be used to assume a single warhead in the 10 megaton range, if you would prefer.

Comparative weapons sizes and footprints. The images in read are the tiny nuclear weapons the the United States used to end the war with Japan. The large weapon on the right is the size that is fielded by the Russians in their RS-28 Satan 2 MIRV ICBMs.
Comparative weapons sizes and footprints. The images in read are the tiny nuclear weapons the the United States used to end the war with Japan. The large weapon on the right is the size that is fielded by the Russians in their RS-28 Satan 2 MIRV ICBMs.

This is the scenario that most Americans assume would be the worst possible scenario that America might need to confront.

Of course, most neocons believe that this will never happen, but if you ask them in private, they would grudgingly admit that a nuclear “strike back” option is possible. But that the damage and causalities could be contained, and at most less than a few million Americans dead.

“Just” a few hundred million dead. It’s a “win – win”.

It’s a win – win!

I personally consider this scenario to be the least likely scenario. Though it is considered to be the most realistic worst-case nuclear scenario by the military “experts” in the Washington “think tanks”.

Limited Strike. A "warning shot". A do not mess with us, warning in bright flash technicolor.  This situation is one in which America might still be able to retain a kind of national sovereignty.
Limited Strike. A “warning shot”. A do not mess with us, warning in bright flash technicolor. This situation is one in which America might still be able to retain a kind of national sovereignty. This is the result from one Russian “boomer” only firing half of it’s payload. You know, to control the situation and prevent escalation.

This scenario would devastate the American industry, the stock exchange, the value of the USA dollar, and rock the government to it’s core. It will also result in a full mobilization of the United State military for a global war footing. No one wants this.

Well, almost no one.

  • This scenario allows the United States to be able to launch a counter strike. Thus, it is very unlikely that any nation would want the Untied States to be able to retaliate from a nuclear strike.

The thing about this scenario is that it is recoverable. Within five to ten years the United States could recover and continue with “business as usual”.

Personally I found the creepiest parts to be the ones in the aftermath  where the struggling survivors have to contend with a government that  pathetically and menacingly still sees itself as ruling something —  particularly the bit where soldiers gun down a farmer who resists their  “taxing” his meager crops. 

- Umbriel from  The Day After traumatized a generation with the horrors of nuclear war  

The problems that I have with this scenario is that…

  • America is able to recover from it and continue “business as usual”.
  • America would still be able to launch a nuclear counter-strike.

[2] A controlled, and yet limited nuclear strike.

This scenario is a larger response to the previous scenario.

It describes a nuclear exchange that has the intention of reducing the United States to a third world nation.

This is the the kind of scenario that has been portrayed in fictional Hollywood movies like "In dawns early light". It's a fictional scenario. Do not ever think that Hollywood represents reality. It doesn't.
While we’re probably not facing a situation like By Dawn’s Early Light in our immediate future, we still live in a world where there are thousands of nukes here in the US and thousands more overseas. And all it takes is one of those falling into the wrong hands to ruin everyone’s day.
We still live in a world where there are thousands of nukes here in the US and thousands more overseas. And all it takes is one of those falling into the wrong hands to ruin everyone’s day. We should never assume that a small tactical nuke would not initiate full-scale MAD-level destruction of the United States.

This nuclear exchange renders all government and social programs neutral.

It zeros all government outlays, and thus risks severe public out-lash from the urban folk that live off the government handouts. It also renders the stock market, financial markets, and industrial base into squashed pablum.

A controlled, and yet limited nuclear strike. A "friendly" slap in the face warning to stop all war-like action or face obliteration. Most of America will revert to a time before the Internet, and would consider themselves lucky to have clean water, and electricity that works once or twice a week.
A controlled, and yet limited nuclear strike. A “friendly” slap in the face warning to stop all war-like action or face obliteration. Most of America will revert to a time before the Internet, and would consider themselves lucky to have clean water, and electricity that works once or twice a week.

An America that survives this attack would still have a very difficult time fighting any kind of global war. Many troops would need to be recalled as their support network of supplies would be rendered inert.

Any overseas military operations would be terribly exposed and subject to capture and destruction.

This scenario would cause America to retract it's global empire building efforts and concentrate on repairing the American infrastructure. This scenario will result in a 25 year long retardation in the global world stage.
This scenario would cause America to retract it’s global empire building efforts and concentrate on repairing the American infrastructure. This scenario will result in a 25 year long retardation in the global world stage.

This scenario would cause America to retract it’s global empire building efforts and concentrate on repairing the American infrastructure. This scenario will result in a 25 year long retardation in the global world stage.

For this reason alone, this scenario is attractive to the rest of the world.

[3] A nuclear response.

This scenario is what might possibly happen when American armed military forces are employed in attacking a nation strongly in line with one of the global super-powers. This is a very ugly and nasty scenario.

This scenario is what would happen if the United States were to employ or dispatch American troops onto the soil of either Russia or China. It would be the result if American troops were to set foot on Taiwan. It would be what would happen if a "low yield" nuclear weapon were detonated anywhere in Asia.
This scenario is what would happen if the United States were to employ or dispatch American troops onto the soil of either Russia or China. It would be the result if American troops were to set foot on Taiwan. It would be what would happen if a “low yield” nuclear weapon were detonated anywhere in Asia.
This scenario is what would happen if the United States were to employ or dispatch American troops onto the soil of either Russia or China. It would be the result if American troops were to set foot on Taiwan. It would be what would happen if a "low yield" nuclear weapon were detonated anywhere in Asia.

It is what would happen if the United States launches a "low yield" nuclear weapon in Iran.

This response is a truly nasty response.

After the strike, or more likely, the numerous strikes the United States will no longer be functional. Any government that exists will hardly be functional. Only the state governments will exist, and they will enact strong levels of independence from the Federal government.
After the strike, or more likely, the numerous strikes the United States will no longer be functional. Any government that exists will hardly be functional. Only the state governments will exist, and they will enact strong levels of independence from the Federal government.

The entire East and West coast turns to desolate glass covered wasteland. The uneducated migrant folk from the South American nations then march up into the United States and start claiming territory as their own.

The American government is rendered inert.

A nuclear response. This is a "slap back" nuclear response on American soil, if America decides to unleash nuclear weapons in any proxy nation. If America is lucky, it might resemble North Korea with a Democrat President declaring himself Marxist utopia ruler for life.
A nuclear response. This is a “slap back” nuclear response on American soil, if America decides to unleash nuclear weapons in any proxy nation. If America is lucky, it might resemble North Korea with a Democrat President declaring himself Marxist utopia ruler for life.

After the strike, or more likely, the numerous strikes the United States will no longer be functional. Any government that exists will hardly be functional. Only the state governments will exist, and they will enact strong levels of independence from the Federal government.

After the strike, or more likely, the numerous strikes the United States will no longer be functional. Any government that exists will hardly be functional. Only the state governments will exist, and they will enact strong levels of independence from the Federal government.
After the strike, or more likely, the numerous strikes the United States will no longer be functional. Any government that exists will hardly be functional. Only the state governments will exist, and they will enact strong levels of independence from the Federal government.

If a federal government were still to exist, it would probably operate out of the Courthouses of West Virginia. And have little to no authority.

[4a] The Fuck-you Response.

This is a “lite” version of the “Fuck You” response. For, I personally believe that if we piss off the wrong nation, that they will come for America and flush it right down into the sewer. They don’t FUCKING CARE.

This is a "lite" version of the "Fuck You" response. For, I personally believe that if we piss off the wrong nation, that they will come for America and flush it right down into the sewer.  They don't FUCKING CARE.
This is a “lite” version of the “Fuck You” response. For, I personally believe that if we piss off the wrong nation, that they will come for America and flush it right down into the sewer. They don’t FUCKING CARE.

Wake the Fuck up!

Now for the last fifty years America has been pushing “democracy” as the reason for the imperial expansion. But it’s all a lie, and while many Americans might believe in it, the rest of the world does not.

They do not like it.

They just bide their time, and when the opportunity comes, they will bitch slap American in a most violent method.

But let me warn the reader about this.  Of all the scenarios, including this one, there is a strong possibility that the nuclear exchange could be much, much worse. It could be global and turn all of the earth into a real cesspool. It could look a lot like this.
But let me warn the reader about this. Of all the scenarios, including this one, there is a strong possibility that the nuclear exchange could be much, much worse. It could be global and turn all of the earth into a real cesspool. It could look a lot like this.

America can only keep fighting all those proxy wars so long before there is some serious kick-back.

Yes. And when it comes to a nuclear equipped nation, they will not have the same kind of political restraints that Americans might not accept. DO NOT ASSUME THAT THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS LIKE AMERICANS.

They do not.

The Fuck-you Response. This is the "double tap" nuclear response that is intended to send America back to the dark ages. It is designed to allow for the indigenous peoples outside of the cities to balkanize America into smaller, easier to manage third-world "shit holes". An America after this strike would look like Somalia on a bad day.
The Fuck-you Response. This is the “double tap” nuclear response that is intended to send America back to the dark ages. It is designed to allow for the indigenous peoples outside of the cities to balkanize America into smaller, easier to manage third-world “shit holes”. An America after this strike would look like Somalia on a bad day.

This is a very bad scenario.

And would in fact, be what I would assume would happen within minutes of the United States entry into Asia of either physical troops, or a nuclear weapon of any size.

This scenario, as awful as it is, is only the first part of a full devastating strike. This scenario consists of three parts.

  • Knock out of all military satellites.
  • SLBM launch, five minutes to target and complete devastation of American coastal cities, and much of America’s nuclear deterrent capability. Followed by…
  • ICBM launch. (No more than) Thirty minutes to target and complete obliteration of all America.

So, that image; that map shown above is only the first “punch” of a two-part KO punch. Now, we discuss the second part…

[4b] The second part of the Fuck-You response.

Now, if this scenario were to manifest, I dare say that the RS-28 Satan 2 ICBM’s and MIRVs would be called into service. As a result, it is quite possible that the United States might look something like this “love tap” scenario.

 a “super-nuke” nuclear ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) called the RS-28 Sarmat Satan 2 AND a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) called “object 4202“. Satan 2 can reportedly destroy and area the size of France or Texas in one strike. Wow. The Russian HGV is designed specifically to be able to evade European and U.S. strategic missile defense systems, and up to three HGV’s can be carries inside the same Russian RS-28 Sarmat ICBM that does double duty as Satan 2.
Russia has fielded a “super-nuke” nuclear ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) called the RS-28 Sarmat Satan 2 AND a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) called “object 4202“. Satan 2 can reportedly destroy and area the size of France or Texas in one strike. Wow. The Russian HGV is designed specifically to be able to evade European and U.S. strategic missile defense systems, and up to three HGV’s can be carries inside the same Russian RS-28 Sarmat ICBM that does double duty as Satan 2.

Here, we have the [4] Fuck You scenario broken down into two parts. The first is SLBM launches within five minutes of USA detonation of low yield nuclear weapons in Asia. Followed up with this punishing scenario.

But let me warn the reader about this. Of all the scenarios, including this one, there is a strong possibility that the nuclear exchange could be much, much worse. It could be global and turn all of the earth into a real cesspool. It could look a lot like this.

The Day After becomes a genuine horror film as its characters  begin to succumb to radiation poisoning, their hair and teeth falling  out as they shamble through scorched fields strewn with bloated animal  corpses and dead family dogs, swarming with flies. 

Befitting the deathly  pallor, Meyer imbues these scenes with classically gothic imagery: a  bell struck by an unseen hand wielding a brick summons survivors from  the crypts of their shelters; a lighthearted conversation between  Robards and Williams is interrupted by a bandaged woman sitting up into  frame and shrieking; a preacher gives a sermon inside the crater of a  church, a burned crucifix dangling behind him; a young woman sitting in  the pews begins suddenly bleeding from between her legs into her white  dress. 

A bit heavy-handed, maybe—but then, there’s nothing subtle about  apocalypse. And as the end title card reminds us, even this grisly  depiction is still “in all likelihood, less severe than the destruction  that would actually occur,”. 

- The Day After traumatized a generation with the horrors of nuclear war  

In this most horrible scenario, you would be lucky to die in the first few strikes. No one would want to live in the United States after this exchange.

And it would truly be horrible.

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”  

-Einstein (Paraphrased.)

Just look at this map, and this map (I must add) is not nearly as bad as what a pissed-off Russian would do.

The is the Hell Scenario using a combination of Satan ICBM and MIRV's targetting American cities, social, infrastructure, and society, after a crippling blow sequence via SLBM nuclear weapons.
The is the Hell Scenario using a combination of Satan ICBM and MIRV’s targeting American cities, social, infrastructure, and society, after a crippling blow sequence via SLBM nuclear weapons.

Yes. This is our possible future, post 2025.

Like the scene where Cullum’s farmer is given the laughable,  FEMA-sourced advice to just “scrape off” his irradiated topsoil, it’s in  moments like these that The Day After’s actual—and again,  sadly relevant—message makes itself known: Should we be  hit with  nuclear missiles, no one will really know what to do about it. Hell, if  it happens sooner rather than later, we won’t even have the cold comfort  of a president who can offer up some eloquently empty words. 

That’s why, watching it today, the most chilling aspect of The Day After  isn’t the bombs, or their grisly aftermath. It’s all the scenes leading  up to it, as people go about their lives with snatches of news  broadcasts overheard—and ignored—in the background reporting on some  tense, but relatively minute skirmish in Berlin. Even Lithgow’s  politically informed, astutely cynical intellectual laughs off the idea  of escalation, saying he has symphony tickets. The soldiers stationed  around Lawrence’s missile silo joke about nuclear war infringing on  their weekend fishing plans. Robards’ wife sees an alarmist special  bulletin, moans, and says she just wants to go to bed. Even as the world  teeters on the edge, Robards pauses to ask, to no one in particular,  “Do you understand any of this?” Throughout, the threat of cataclysmic  war remains a distant, inscrutable, headache-inducing hum, something to  be switched off as soon as it becomes too complicated to follow. If it  were made today, you could easily cut in shots of people paging  listlessly through Twitter.

 - The Day After traumatized a generation with the horrors of nuclear war   

I know that the reader cannot control the ideas, and the passions of the oligarchy that is aligned with the Marxist democrats in power, However, the reader should be aware that after 2025 +/- 2 years, the entire globe could completely change. With America reverting to a radioactive bronze-age existence.

It is with this sad, sad warning that I leave the reader.

 The  moment a nuclear bomb detonates, several forms of nuclear radiation  instantly permeate the environment. As this pulse of radiation surges  through the bodies of everyone who is outside, or in weakly insulated  buildings, it wreaks biological havoc at the molecular level. By  altering the structure of key cellular machinery and injuring DNA, the  radiation impairs the ability of cells to replicate and repair  themselves. A ground detonation of a ten-kiloton bomb in Times Square  would subject everyone between Murray Hill and Hell’s Kitchen, and from  32nd Street to the bottom of Central Park, to a potentially lethal dose  of radiation.
                    
Within  minutes to hours, most people exposed in these areas would begin to  show signs of acute radiation syndrome: nausea, headache, dizziness, and  vomiting. After several days to two weeks, new symptoms would emerge:  diarrhea, hair loss, fever, seizures, and bleeding in the mouth and  under the skin, which sometimes creates purple blotches on the body. In  the most severe cases, people would become emaciated, delirious, and  incapacitated. Most people with radiation sickness will die for one of  two reasons: because they no longer have enough immune cells to fight  off microbial infections, or because their digestive system is too  damaged to function properly.
                                        
The  radiation released instantaneously by an explosion is only a prelude to  a much more insidious and long-lived threat. Immediately after the  blast, a huge fireball would rise swiftly through the air and begin to  condense into a mushroom cloud, tinted red at first, then white. A  strong updraft and inflowing winds would suck soil and debris, already  bonded with radioactive particles released by the explosion, into the  cloud. Within 15 minutes, a portion of this radioactive dust — mostly  grains the size of salt or sand — would begin to fall directly on the  city. Within a day, some survivors exposed to the dust would begin to  experience itching and burning sensations; within two to three weeks,  lesions would begin to appear. Fallout that is inhaled or swallowed, or  that enters the body through a wound, would be even more dangerous: It  exposes internal organs to a continuous source of nuclear radiation,  damaging tissue in the same way as the initial pulse of radiation from  the explosion itself. 

 - This Is What a Nuclear Bomb Looks Like   

Nuclear notes & Conclusion

Nuclear war will devastate America for centuries.

If America is lucky, yes if it is lucky, America might revert to horse and buggy carriages as the primary means of conveyance. Medical treatments can revert as well. Leaving other nations first world status while America is marked on the map as “Keep Out – Dangerous”.

We do not know what the future holds, but here I try to look at what might manifest, given the historical norms with American politics. Given the historical norms, nuclear war is highly likely no matter what the politicians might pontificate.

I pray that this does not happen, but as time moves forward, it is becoming more and more likely each and every day. Most of the oligarchy that exists today has no idea of just how dark and black things can get.

They have raised the stakes of human existence sky-high, and when things tumble, they will crash with a thunderous roar.

“We need to fight for democracy around the world, and use force as necessary to spread the joys of freedom!”

They are oblivious and do not care. And at that, we can guarantee that nuclear Armageddon will most certainly destroy America.

They are oblivious and do not care. And at that, we can guarantee that nuclear Armageddon will most certainly destroy America.
They are oblivious and do not care. And at that, we can guarantee that nuclear Armageddon will most certainly destroy America.

Not Convinced?

For decades, the United States has taken China’s ballistic missile capability for granted, assessing it as a low-capability force with limited regional impact and virtually no strategic value. But on October 1, 2019 during a massive military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing put the U.S., and the world, on notice that this assessment was no longer valid.

One of the nations keenly observing the impact of the American RMA in  the Persian Gulf was China. Chinese military theorists studied how  Marshall adapted Ogarkov’s theories into an American version of RMA, and  responded with a Chinese adaptation, developing weapons specifically  intended to overcome American superiority in critical areas.
One of the nations keenly observing the impact of the American RMA in the Persian Gulf was China. Chinese military theorists studied how Marshall adapted Ogarkov’s theories into an American version of RMA, and responded with a Chinese adaptation, developing weapons specifically intended to overcome American superiority in critical areas.

In one fell swoop, China may have nullified America’s strategic nuclear deterrent, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and U.S. missile defense capability. Through its impressive display of new weapons systems, China has underscored the reality that while the United States has spent the last two decades squandering trillions of dollars fighting insurgents in the Middle East, Beijing was singularly focused on overcoming American military superiority in the Pacific. If the capabilities of these new weapons are taken at face value, China will have succeeded on this front…

One of the nations keenly observing the impact of the American RMA in  the Persian Gulf was China. Chinese military theorists studied how  Marshall adapted Ogarkov’s theories into an American version of RMA, and  responded with a Chinese adaptation, developing weapons specifically  intended to overcome American superiority in critical areas.

 These weapons became known as “shashoujian,” or “the Assassin’s Mac,” derived from the traditional Chinese way of describing a weapon of surprising power. “A shashoujian,” a contemporary Chinese military journal notes,  “is a weapon that has an enormous terrifying effect on the enemy and  that can produce an enormous destructive assault.” More importantly, the  modern Chinese concept of shashoujian envisions not a single weapon, but rather a system of weapons that combine to produce the desired effect. 

There’s more…

 Enter the DF-41, China’s ultimate shashoujian weapon.  A three-stage, road-mobile ICBM equipped with between six and 10  multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads, the  DF-41 provides China with a nuclear deterrent capable of surviving an  American nuclear first strike and delivering a nation-killing blow to  the United States in retaliation. The DF-41 is a strategic game changer,  allowing China to embrace the mutual assured destruction (MAD) nuclear  deterrence posture previously the sole purview of the United States and  Russia.

 In doing so, China has gained the strategic advantage over the U.S.  when it comes to competing power projection in the Pacific. Possessing a  virtually unstoppable A2/AD capability, Beijing is well positioned to  push back aggressively against U.S. maritime power projection in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits. 
For decades, the United States has taken China’s ballistic missile capability for granted, assessing it as a low-capability force with limited regional impact and virtually no strategic value. But on October 1, during a massive military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing put the U.S., and the world, on notice that this assessment was no longer valid.  In one fell swoop, China may have nullified America’s strategic nuclear deterrent, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and U.S. missile defense capability. Through its impressive display of new weapons systems, China has underscored the reality that while the United States has spent the last two decades squandering trillions of dollars fighting insurgents in the Middle East, Beijing was singularly focused on overcoming American military superiority in the Pacific. If the capabilities of these new weapons are taken at face value, China will have succeeded on this front.
For decades, the United States has taken China’s ballistic missile capability for granted, assessing it as a low-capability force with limited regional impact and virtually no strategic value. But on October 1, during a massive military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Beijing put the U.S., and the world, on notice that this assessment was no longer valid.

Words from a time traveler

There’s a fellow by the name of John Titor that claimed to be from a future where scenario 4a & 4b took place. What he had to say was very interesting. Believe it or not. But it’s an interesting read.

They are;

Some Related Links

Russian Yu-71 Hypersonic Attack Aircraft (HAA)/’Nuke Glider’ and Yu-74 Ultra-Maneuverable Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) Nuclear Attack Threats: Can We Defend Against Them?

Russian Low-Observable/Stealth Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (and Possibly Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles?) Under Development: What it Means for Future Warfare and Geopolitics

Russian Low-Observable/Stealth Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (and Possibly Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles?) Under Development: What it Means for Future Warfare and Geopolitics

Hypersonic Missiles Being Developed by China and the United States for World War III (WWIII): Meet the WU-14 Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) and DARPA-Raytheon Tactical Boost Glide (TBG) Hypersonic Cruise Missile

Chinese Develop New ‘Ultra-Thin’, Lightweight ‘Tunable’ UHF Microwave Radar-Absorbing Stealth Material Cloaking Technology for Manned and Unmanned Combat Aircraft and Warships

Chinese YJ-18 (YingJi-18) Low-Flying Subsonic-to-Supersonic Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM): Aircraft Carrier Killer Going Operational

Chinese DF-21D ASBM (Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile): Will it Obsolete U.S. Aircraft Carriers?

Chinese Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) ‘Kill Weapon’ Flummoxes U.S. Navy

SHTF Related Index

This is a collection of my posts related to prepping, SHTF (Shit Hit The Fan), CWII (American Civil War 2), Fourth Turning (Strauss–Howe generational theory) and other posts related to the very sad and sorry tatters that America is today. Actually, I am a little stunned that I have written so much about these matters. But America today is very ill and there are things that really should be said.

Here are the posts.

SHTF and Related Index

The Tale of the Killdozer.
The use of technicals for genocide.
The Climax of the Fourth Turning in 2025.
Why are Americans so angry?
Evolution of the USA and China.
The grim future.
Is it clear enough for you?
SJW
r/K selection theory
Pictures of a gun-free utopia.
Link
Historically, how preppers failed during periods of turmoil.
Universal Background Checks
What is planned for American Conservatives - Part 2
What is going to happen to conservatives - Part 3.
What is planned for conservatives - part 4
What is in store for Conservatives - part 5
What is in store for conservatives - part 6
Civil War
The Warning Signs
Line in the sand
A second passport
Link
Make America Great Again.
What would the founders think?
The Ninth Amendment
How they get away with it
Snopes
Taxiation without representation.
Link
Parable about America
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Democracy Lessons
A polarized world.
Asshole
Types of American conservatives.

Articles & Links

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