The Game Is Afoot

MIRANDA      Oh, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in ’t!
- The Tempest, Act 5 Scene 1, William Shakespeare

It is safe to say we are no longer in Kansas, Toto.  Sometime last October, the Central Communist Party of China robbed the world of its past and created a fork in the road to our future.  Whether that is for the better or worse is the question we must now address.

The China most of us have known our entire lives is finished.  Either by internal upheaval, or external shunning, or both, the Maoist regime is not long for this world.  This is certainly for the better.  China's fate is sealed and we need not waste too much time on it, but to say "good riddance."

Our primary issue now is the cause of this situation.  No, it's not a virus - that is just product of the Original Error.  No, the error we must address was committed by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger in 1972, and perpetuated by the Bush Crime Family (BCF).

The Western corporate interests had cast their gaze upon Japan, and saw that it was good.  In the aftermath of World War 2, Japan was a smoking ruin barely out of its feudal age.  The geopolitical Chess Players saw an opportunity for cultural hegemony that would at once neutralize a powerful adversary, and offer a vast supply of cheap labor.

The Players set about building Japan in their own image.  At first, it was mini parasols for their Mai Tais on the beach, but slowly the manufacturing industry built up to cars and electronics.  In fact, the Players were so successful in rebuilding Japan that by the late 1960s, the country challenged the financial power of Western corporate elites.

Something had to be done.

The Players hatched a plan to move their operations to China.  A billion staving peasants led by a powerful and highly corrupt elite offered the perfect playground.  Here was an unending supply of cheap, mind-controlled labor and a leadership that could itself be led around by the nose with a little cash.  It also served as a buffer against the Soviet Union, and was a powerful influence in Asia.  One octopus, many tentacles.

Keep in mind that the Fascists and the Communists were mortal ideological enemies.  We should also note that China has evolved into a hybrid of Fascism and Communism.  The State owns all political and financial power, while fostering a racial superiority complex and fantasies of global domination.

After facing off against China in Korea and Vietnam, and seeing it cozy up more and more with Russia, the Players needed to control such a powerful force and sway it to their side - like a Master calling a dog to heel..

Kissinger, a crypto-fascist, was made National Security Adviser to Nixon in 1969.  In that position, he stage managed some of the most egregious violations of human rights of the 20th century across Southeast Asia and South America - no small feat in a century full of Hitlers and Stalins.  Having proved his usefulness and his complete lack of conscience to the Players, he was advanced to greater responsibility.

Nixon, a rabid anti-Communist and fresh off a re-election campaign that swept the nation out from under the Democrats, was easy to convince.  In 1972, he spent seven days touring prospective sites for new plants and discussing China's role in avoiding labor rights and workplace safety regulations that had made US products so expensive to produce.  Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai had no problem throwing his people under the bus, and even Mao Zedong gave his blessing to the rape of his nation, as long as he enjoyed plenty of perks for he and his cronies.

In the position of SecState, Kissinger was tasked with solidifying diplomatic relations with China, a country that had been virtually sealed off from the world since the Cultural Revolution in 1966.  He engineered the deals that would be consummated by the US Senate and would allow US corporations, then just emerging as global forces of their own, free rein to exploit Chinese workers with near-impunity and with almost no regulation.

And thus was born the Age of Globalism.

China's legendary corruption would allow the Players to use it as the global hub for manufacturing.  China, for its part, would farm out assembly work to Southeast Asia, while sucking up vast quantities of resources across the hemisphere.  The Players could deploy their financial tools all across the region and reap profits coming and going.

For their part, the US mega-corps would handle marketing and finance.  With innovations like Just-In-Time delivery, the products finished in China would essentially be inventoried in transit, eliminating the need for expensive warehousing, and creating an endless pipeline of gee-gaws and widgets to markets across the globe.

The US government sent out hordes of Economic Hitmen, who arranged dollar-denominated loans to emerging economies, which in turn would buy greater and greater quantities of gee-gaws and widgets, and service the debt with more dollars.  This effectively made the US dollar the global must-have currency and propelled US mega-corps into realms of profits unseen since the Dutch East Indies Company in the 1600s (exploiting the same region of the world too).

In the US, politicians became more and more corrupt themselves.  They found it expedient to sell America's research and development to China, since there were almost no labor or environmental restrictions.  The politicians grew fabulously wealthy and greedy.  Gangs like the BCF, the Clintons, the Obamas, the McCains, the Pelosis, and the Bidens fell all over themselves to sell secrets to China for a piece of the pie, while placing their spawn on boards of directors to ensure the correct amount of cash was being allocated.

They sent unsecured information to their private servers or GMail accounts, where it was easily passed off to Chinese interests.  Those interests in turn laundered profits, aid payments and grants through layers of Western banks and shell corporations, and then made sizable donations to various Foundations, where the money entered the waiting pockets of the Players.

We pause here to give credit where due.  It was the BCF who designed and implemented this intricate system, and was the reason Godfather GHW was first made CIA Director, then Vice President, then President, then head of a dynasty of presidents, governors and policy makers that would make a Kennedy green with envy.

The politicians received kick-backs from the vast piles of cash handed out in the form of aid and grants to "developing" nations.  Favored Central Party apparatchiks headed up corporations that secretly vacuumed up other companies, and themselves became fabulously wealthy.  The growing power, wealth and global influence excited the CCP elites and they pushed further and faster despite warnings from their Western Masters.

The corruption grew exponentially, and it started becoming obvious to anyone willing to look at it.  The Players used their media assets to create Conspiracy Theorists.  Anyone who saw through the thin veil covering these activities was labelled and marginalized to prevent the rubes from waking up.

At the same time, all of humanity was commoditized for the Players' amusement.  Our taxes were handed out as "aid" (USAID) and "grants" (science mega-projects like CERN and Global Warming).  Significant amounts of cash were kicked back to the Players.  Anyone useful who wanted to join the Players had to seal the deal with a heinous crime - say abusing children.  This ensured silence and allowed the Game to roll on unabated in spite of the increasingly visible corruption.

The ease with which the Players fleeced humanity, the effectiveness of their media tools and the strength of their internal bonds made them lower their guard.  They got sloppy and increasingly saw themselves as untouchable.  Their hubris made them weaker at the moment they perceived themselves to be at their peak of power.

The Players, though, needed an insurance policy against the masses.  They needed a means to hit the pause button if too many rubes started to smell the rot.  The most effective tool in the box was bioweapons, but global bans on such research made R&D problematic.  They were, however, easily transportable, almost undetectable, and if you had the cure, you were invulnerable.

So, they turned to China again.

The gross corruption and complete lack of regulation in China allowed the Players to operate bioweapon labs with impunity.  No oversight, a compliant and well-controlled population, and a national media that never asked questions presented the ideal environment to study, develop and weaponize viruses and bacteria.  Even the patents could be quietly filed and maintained without oversight, since the CCP would never bite the hand that feeds it.  China's well-established shipping and logistics as a manufacturing hub gave it nearly unlimited access to all regions of the globe.

then the unthinkable happened.

The Players lost control of the 2016 elections in the UK and US.  In the ensuing chaos, the established pecking order among the Players got tossed.  They panicked and each faction thought they had the most to lose and the best solution.  Competing crime families began jostling for greater power and control.  All the infighting led to hasty decisions and sloppy execution.  All efforts to subdue and destroy the competing factions were ineffective, and time was short.  The rubes were waking up.

The dominant Players decided it was time to hit the pause button.  A plague was distributed during the military games in southern China:

"The 2019 Military World Games, officially known as the 7th CISM Military World Games and commonly known as Wuhan 2019, was held from October 18–27, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China."

During the Games, the various blocs would receive vials of the virus that could be easily stashed in all the gear they were shipping around with no customs interference.  The virus was to be released simultaneously throughout the world, thus obfuscating the source.

It appears to the keen observer that something went terribly wrong.  The virus was released too early and practically on the doorstep of the Wuhan Virology Lab.

Even worse, the world (us rubes) did not respond as expected.  A global population, increasingly distrustful of standard authority systems, and wary of the media mind-control, did not respond to the installed triggers.  No one panicked, and instead began questioning and researching.  The non-standard information outlets that had developed over the years became the trusted sources.

The early release in Wuhan and failed attempts to hide or dismiss it allowed the world to react quickly by shutting borders and setting up medical responses.

The infection pattern clearly implicated Wuhan as the epicenter and citizen journalists began digging before the cover-up could be effected.  The Players hastily triggered Iran, Italy and New York to deflect attention.  It was too late, though.  All the pieces weren't in place yet and the Plan was exposed.

And let's not forget that the US and other navies have been particularly hard hit, while the Chinese navy seems unscathed.  Seems the PLA ordered heavy doses of Vitamin C in the early going, knowing that the chemical is a strong anti-viral and is what brought the COVID-19 virus to the lab's attention in the first place.

Additionally, it appears that the use of hydroxychloroquine as a remedy, negating the need for expensive and protracted vaccine development, was not supposed to get out.  The cheap, tested and easily available drug was for the Players, not the rubes.  We were supposed to wait, pay and die while the Players lollygagged around "developing a vaccine."  Someone in the chain had let the cat out of the bag and the Players have been scrambling around trying to distract the rubes from this simple cure, but it's too late.  The honest doctors picked up on the cure and have been administering it with surprising success, given the way these things normally progress.  The cure went out in weeks, not years.

So here we are.  The Old World has passed away.  That was the intention all along - crash the global economy and cause the rubes to cling to authority out of sheer dread.  What has upset the apple cart is that there is at least one, possibly more, factions looking to use the chaos to take over the Family Business.

The power struggle within the ranks of the Players is a primary issue, but what complicates things is that the rubes aren't panicking - well, except for the toilet paper bandits.  We quietly retreated to our homes, pulled our kids out of the indoctrination centers, stopped listening to the Mockingbird Programming, and picked up some hydroxychloroquine on the way home.

The Weapon was triggered before the Plan had been fully implemented.  At that point, the Players were playing catch-up with the rubes, trying desperately to distract the rubes and get them back in the corral.  The Geezer Media has adopted a policy of contradicting everything.  They are recycling carefully staged video segments of death and destruction.  The Players are constantly hammering their "vaccine" cure.  They are constantly floating their "track and trace" programs.  Every conceiveable tool has been pressed into service to stuff the genie back in the bottle.

It's not working.

The world has two clear paths from here.  The end of globalism will lead either to a new cultural nationalism that rejects the Players and adheres to real community and self-reliance, or it will lead to a new feudalism of competing warlords and their herds of serfs.  The former seems very bright and promises what may be a new Golden Age, while the latter is dark and foreboding and dooms humanity to servitude for centuries.

Whither from here?

John McCain Takes It In The Rear

Related to nothing in particular, I find it rather peculiar that three US Navy ships - all high-tech destroyers - have been put out of service in the past few years.  One of them, the USS Cook, was shut down and mock-strafed a dozen times in the Black Sea in 2014.  The other two, USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain (har!) both collided with merchant ships this year.  The Fitz in the Sea of Japan last June, and now the McCain (har!) in the Strait of Malacca over the weekend.

These three incidents don't include the USS Antietam, which ran aground in Tokyo Bay, and the USS Lake Champlain, which hit a South Korean fishing boat, both earlier this year.  And let's not forget the USS San Francisco, a nuclear submarine that hit an undersea mountain (according to the Navy) back in 2005.

Any one of these in isolation seems like a accident, even command incompetence.  But   But six of the US Navy's prize toys in the past 12 years, and all but one in the Pacific Ocean?  And all having catastrophic navigation failure, with the Cook's entire weapon system down, as well?

Now, my aunt worked for the Secretary of the Navy for decades in Washington, D.C.  My dad was a merchant marine for a time in his youth.  My uncle was a reactor tech on a nuclear submarine for a decade.  I worked in the offshore petroleum industry for a decade, as well.  I've seen the bridges of a lot of ships, both US Navy and merchant.  I know the RADAR and GPS systems, the automated avoidance systems, and the trained crews who can spot a floating pelican a mile away in 20-foot swells.

This sort of thing just doesn't happen.  The global shipping network is every bit as sophisticated as the one used for aircraft.  Ships regularly ping satellites to both get their position, and to broadcast it to the global network.  In recent years, the ship autopilot does most of the work, tracking other vessels and adjusting course to maintain safe maneuvering distance.  In busy shipping lanes, such as the Sea of Japan or the Strait of Malacca, electronic buoys put out reference signals that ships use to align their course and maintain a fairly wide berth with other vessels.

In the case of the Fitzgerald, the ship was T-boned by a merchant ship, causing (get this) half a billion dollars in damage and requres the ship to be dry-towed back to the States for repair.  The ship cost $1 billion brand-spanking new, complete with that new-ship smell and everything.

Early reports on the McCain (har!) say that it sustained damage to the rear port quarter after colliding with a merchant oil tanker.  So, um...did she back into the tanker?  I'm just trying to imagine a scenario in which it would take damage in that location.

In all three cases, the only thing that can explain these "mishaps" is for the ships to be completely blinded and their computer guidance systems shut down.  In the case of the Cook, the ship's defensive system crashed and it was unable to track and/or respond to an old Russian bomber making a dozen strafing passes directly over the vessel in the course of half an hour.

There are only a few ways these things can happen:

1) Gross Negligence - this is obviously the preferred story of the US Navy.  While certainly not good, one gets the impression that there is an easy fix - fresh leadership and some public floggings to raise morale.  The Fitz' commander has been blamed for the incident and is now pushing a pen.  The Cook was deeply hushed up, but some reports had a significant number of crew resigning once they docked.  The McCain (har!) is still fresh, but odds are favoring this excuse.  The Strait of Malacca is busy and relatively narrow at some points, but traffic is fully automated through the area and thousands of vessels pass through every year without incident.

2) Equipment Failure - without access to the procurement logs, it is a safe bet that at least some of the electronics on all three vessels were manufactured in China.  If I were China, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to put back doors into every chip and board I supplied to the US Navy.  Imagine that scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where Kirk broadcasts a remote code and turns off the opposing ship's shields.  Also think about Boeing's tech that allows ground crews to take remote command of aircraft in emergencies.  Jamming satellite signals would also be quite effective.

3) EMP Weapon - use of a MASER or GASER of sufficient power and portability would make an effective weapon against even hardened computer cores.  One good blast and the entire ship's electronic system would be fried beyond repair, thus blinding (at minimum) and rendering harmless modern naval weapons.  Considering these toys were fairly well advanced under the 1980s Star Wars program in the US, it's not inconceivable that China and/or Russia have mastered them by now.

When taken together, there is a preponderance of issues with the 7th Fleet in the Pacific.  With two previous black eyes this year, however, it seems rather unlikely that it is a leadership problem.  That would be remedied after one incident, but certainly after two, and it is rather inconceivable that three in the span of six months would occur due to gross negligence.

The one caveat to this thinking is that the US Navy is corrupt and mismanaged from the top down to the Oilers and Stokers.  If that is the case, then the US is hardly able to project force in its own territorial waters, much less 10,000 miles away.

It is no secret that China is a tad upset with the US meddling in the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan, both locations with significant petroleum deposits and both disputed by neighboring countries.  Options 2 and 3 both allow China the opportunity for some mischief in order to make a point.

In Option 2, Chinese chips and/or boards could be hacked through carefully hidden exploits that allow mirroring the ship's systems back at headquarters.  The problem I see with this option, though, is that it might work once, maybe even twice, but I imagine the Navy has scoured their computer cores looking for such weaknesses and would have remediated the problem by now, or at least recalled vulnerable vessels for a refit.  It is conceivable that China's vaunted "quantum computing" systems can get in and out without a trace, but it seems that technology is still too young to account for all six incidents spanning the last 12 years.

That leaves Option 3.  If you are not familiar with MASERs and GASERs, click the links above to catch up.  They are hardly new technology, but making them portable would be a major advancement, as would space-based systems if atmospheric distortion could be compensated for to maintain beam coherence.

A bit of lead shielding might stop even a fairly powerful MASER (microwaves), but a GASER (gamma rays)?  Gamma rays hitting any metal would create a shower of X-rays inside a shielded compartment - one of the main issues with astronauts passing through the Van Allen Belts on the way to the Moon.  With sufficient power and focus, a GASER could fry a computer core almost instantly with little or no concomitant damage, unless a human happened to be standing in the precise line of fire.

On that last note, there is the issue of seven dead and dozens injured on the Fitz, and as of this moment, a dozen injured and 10 missing on the McCain (har!).  Quickly hiding sailors with severe radiation burns would be first order of business in an incident like this, if one was trying to hide the cause.  Certainly, the US Navy would be highly motivated to hide such an attack, as it wouldn't want enemies to learn of such weakness, much less the folks back home who think all these toys are protecting them.  In fact, the latter motive might be a higher priority to keep those tax dollars flowing into the war biz.

In the civilian world, MASERs and GASERs require lots of support equipment, large power sources and heavy cooling apparatus.  With a little tinkering and bottomless budgets, though, who knows what could be achieved.  Messing up tracking and navigation systems would be a major priority for someone trying to shut down the most feared navy in the world.  The inability to maneuver and target effectively renders such a navy harmless.  Not something you would want to get around.

Better to make it look like incompetence, shuffle some faces around to look like people are getting their wrists slapped, and work like hell to try and develop some kind of defense.

I happen to think this morning's incident with the McCain (har!) was a message, purposely louder than the five previous ones, given the name of the vessel and the identity of the loudest War Hawk in the US Congress (John McCain of Arizona - party loyalty unknown).  It is also of note that the Strait of Malacca is the primary waterway between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, running between Malaysia and Sumatera, directly into the northeast coast of Singapore.  Also, this incident occurred just as the US and South Korea are beginning war games.  Three otherwise curious fingerprints on a clear message.

Taken on the whole, it seems reasonable to conclude that China has a pulsed-energy weapon that can scramble hardened computer cores.  While the Trump Administration makes all kinds of noise on the public stage, China is quietly sending messages through action, by targeting US Navy vessels around its coastal interests by knocking out their navigation (and presumably targeting) systems seemingly at will.

If all this speculation is correct, we should see the US tone down its war rhetoric in North Korea and quietly back down from the South /China Sea and Sea of Japan challenges to China's hegemony in the region.

If not, we can assume that the US Navy is completely hollowed out and/or they are a lot stupider than any of us previously thought possible.

Both Sides Against The Middle

The insanity continues apace.

Here in Jakarta, it has taken an especially hard twist.  In the recent governor election, incumbent Ahok lost to challenger Anies.    What makes it a highlight of global insanity is that the winner ran on a religious platform, saying that Ahok ( a Christian of Chinese descent) was unfit to govern because the Koran says that Muslims cannot be subordinate to non-Muslims.  He, of course, completely misinterprets the lines in question while at the same time accusing Ahok of blasphemy for a statement that has been categorically shown to be false.  Even the Minister of Religious Affairs said that Ahok's comments were mistranscribed - probably on purpose - to discredit the reformist governor.

Where it gets really fun is that Ahok came into office as Vice Governor to the current president, Jokowi.  When Jokowi won the presidency, Ahok ascended to Governor and subsequently won re-election.  Ahok has been roundly praised for cleaning up Jakarta, clearing out slums, upgrading the mass transit system, and rooting out corruption.  Indeed, though many people grumble about actually having to follow the law now, the city has improved quite a bit in the past five years.

Anies, on the other hand, is allied with Prabowo, a man widely seen as corrupt and desperate to take the presidency for himself (he lost to Jokowi in a hotly contested election two years ago).  In the time honored tradition, the ruling political parties raid the State treasury for funds to drive political campaigns, only Ahok has put a triple lock on the Treasury door, with one of the keys being held by the KPK, or Corruption Eradication Commission.  This means all expenditures must be approved by the use of three separate passwords, whith the governor holding only one.

Anies ran on a religious platform, but many people view him as a return to the bad old days of rampant corruption in the Regional government.  Despite Anies wearing his religion on his sleeve, photos made the rounds of social media of drunken parties following his victory - a scandal.  Anies also used a State helicopter to tour his domain, something that Ahok and Jokowi have both eschewed during their tenure, preferring to endure the same traffic issues everyone else does.

Ahok has gone one further now.  During the campaign, Anies adopted a "me too" echo chamber, saying that he would do anything Ahok promised to clean up the city.  This included shutting own one of the most notorious night spots in the city.

To understand the subtleties of this particular challenge, one must understand that the military is widely viewed as having an iron-fist grip on the country's drug trade, and Prabowo (major supporter of Anies) is a former general in the army.  Thus, the gauntlet that has been thrown is a challenge to Anies' loyalty and honesty in a very interesting and low-key manner.

In other developments, food stalls have been returning to areas previously cleared out by Ahok, who thought sidewalks should be uncluttered for pedestrian comfort and safety - a novel idea in Indonesia, where food vendors take advantage of public spaces for rent-free operations.  Also, public employees, who have been forced to punch a clock and actually perform their duties under Ahok, are starting to show up late or not at all for work.

Naturally, a great number of people, who have enjoyed the modernization and efficiency introduced under Ahok, are just a bit worried about what's to come.

There is no doubt now that Prabowo and his Gerindra party will launch another major offensive during the 2020 presidential campaign.  The governor of Jakarta is generally acknowledged as a major stepping stone to national leadership

In effect, this all appears to be a strong political assault on Indonesia's populist revolt, which began in 2010, and a return to the oligarchical rule of yesteryear.

Though this counter-revolt is dressed in all the finery of religious zealotry, it is actually the front of a major shift in Indonesia's demographic composition.  The country's middle class explosion of the past 20 years has allowed an entire generation of Indonesians to be educated overseas.  Combined with the internet and social media, they have become increasingly enamored of truly open and democratic societies elsewhere.

This new generation is much more lenient on drugs (especially marijuana), less controlled by religion, and are far more affluent than even their parents could have imagined.

In other words, it is a mirror of the 1960s, and even more so of the Millennials among their Western counterparts.  In a country where Islam has dominated the social and political landscape for centuries, this is a direct and existential threat to the Powers That Be.  The old control buttons and levers aren't working and they are trying to clamp down to retain their privileged positions.

The problem is, Indonesians are growing accustomed to having disposable income and being able to travel abroad and shop for prestigious brands and drive their own cars, as only the richest folks could do just a short time ago.

Jokowi and Ahok are the crest of a huge wave of change coming to Indonesia, and Anies and Prabowo are the breakwaters trying desperately to slow the tide.  It is the classic case of the rock and the hard spot, with a large, sparkly diamond of middle class affluence resting tenuously in between.

Though it hasn't risen to the level of prominence that the Trump and Le Pen candidacies have, Indonesia's power struggle is nonetheless significant, as it is the premier economy of Southeast Asia.  It is significantly tied to other economies, like Sourth Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, all of which are on center stage in the massive tug-of-war between the East and West.  The West would obviously feel more secure with an Indonesia that is socially backward and mired in internal corruption.

If Indonesia were to become a major player in regional politics, as it easily could with its vast natural wealth, it would likely align more tightly with China - a prime trading partner - than with Western interests.

Enter Mike Pence, the US Vice President, who recently visited Indonesia.  Coincident with his visit (ahem), Freeport-Macmoran secured an export license that has been in bureaucratic limbo for years pending the outcome of various major lawsuits.  Freeport operates some of the largest gold mines in Indonesia and it isn't hard to imagine the Veep promising to buy up the exports to keep them out of Chinese hands, not to mention the silver and other strategic raw materials that are a bonus of gold mining.

No matter how you slice the pie, things are getting rather interesting here in the archipelago, not just because of the imminent threat to and by North Korea, but also because of the ideological clash that is shaping up in these parts.  Witness Duterte's rather blatant threats against Islamic terrorists in recent days.

For those tracking the political tides of the world, Indonesia bears a close watch, as the incoming Anies administration in Jakarta will be a bellwether of currents in the entire region.  The major concern to Western interests is keeping a strong relgious influence over this government and preventing Indonesia from joining the Shang Hai Accord countries (BRICS).  Indonesia's wealth would greatly benefit the BRICS, and Indonesia itself would benefit from cheaper loans, better trade deals and infrastructure support from China and Russia.

That giant sucking sound is a helluva lot of people holding their breath.

If A Butterfly In Washington

We have to start off with apologies for vanishing for a couple of days.  Between a sudden bit of bad news and a burst of activity, this week became reallly busy really fast.

I don't know if it is the Trump Effect or just first-of-the-year budgets, but work has picked up dramatically in the opening weeks of 2017.  I've booked more hours in two weeks than I did for all of the fourth quarter of 2016, and I've been living out of the back of an Uber.  I leave the house at just before 6a, and don't get home again until 8:30p.

Not that I'm complaining.  Last year was a complete wash out.  As I look back on it, I've come the suspect that the world was seemingly resigned to a Clinton administration and was prepared for the worst economically.  However, the Trump election appears to have kicked everyone in the butt, either in anticipation of economic renewal, or out of sheer panic that old markets are drying up.

In my lifetime of just over half a century, I do not recall such a major shift in social, political and economic winds.  I might compare it to the 1980s, right after Reagan was elected and there was a bump in excitement after the Democratic Carter administration, that also nearly ran the world into economic ruin.

One thing I will say about Democrats is that they are masters at killing business.  But I guess that's to be expected from a party that vehemently defended slavery, gave the world a central banking system, introduced the personal income tax, and expanded two regional European conflicts into global catastrophes.  Someone really should put those bastards out of our misery.

If you're Republican, don't feel too smug.  Your party is only a hair's breadth better because occasionally you manage to get a candidate that lowers taxes and deregulates everything, which kicks entrepreneurs like myself into gear.  I think it's more by accident than design, since nothing having to do with government is for the betterment of us real people.

To see just how demented and slimy the Republicans can be, just look at John McCain.

Whatever Trump is achieving, even in these past few weeks before officially taking office, is re-introducing a peculiarly American form of mercantilistic capitalism that has got the Chinese literally shitting their britches.  Folks in the States may be a bit distracted to see clearly see what's going on, but here in Asia it is readily apparent.

The US swung suddenly and violently from literally kowtowing to Chinese dominance, to the polar opposite of not taking any guff off the kids in Beijing.  Even something as seemingly benign as Trump taking a phone call from the president of Taiwan has set off a fire-storm of panic in the gilded halls of the Forbidden City.  In short, the Socialists are profoundly spooked at the re-emergence of Fascism.

Lest the reader be confused at this point, one would do well to poke back into our archives, where we talk extensively about the basic philosophical similarities between Socialism and Fascism, with the differences being little more than who gets to sit closest to the salt at the Bildergerg dinners.  The bit that looks like Capitalism is where government deregulates the playing field so the little guy has much more equal footing with the massive global corporate interests.

In any case, the Chinese are quickly asserting themselves to get as much damage control in place as they can before the Trump Era begins.  They have been sailing their warships all over the South China Sea in a geopolitical form of flexing on the beach.  They have overtly threatened the US if anyone so much as breathes in the general direction of the One-China Policy.  They have signaled their "desire" to participate in any infrastructure rebuilding in the States.  They have also been calling Putin daily to invite him for some chow at the palace, desperately afraid that Russia will start moving in a Westerly direction, since they clearly know that Russia is only their buddy because the US has been such a bunch of horse's patoots for the past two decades.

At any rate, gotta run.  I'ts 4:30a and time to shower up and order Uber.  I will get back on schedule next week, when I have the weekend to get my posts prepared.  In the meantime, be sure and follow our Twitter feed @RadioFarSide for dispatches on important headlines affecting the Sino-American situation and thanks for your kind patience.

And to my beloved sister, who passes away suddenly in her sleep, I am happy that your pain is ended and that your passing was without unnecessary drama, but your absence is sorely felt and your laughter will be profoundly missed.  Slan agus beannach mo dheirfiúr.

Some Random Thoughts On Politics

• Perhaps if Ben Carson changed his slogan to "Doctor Who," he might get a lot more attention.
• Donald Trump is the ultimate expression of US culture: he is a walking corporate brand; he is the embodiment of all that is saccharine with that country.
• The Bush/Clinton dynasties have pretty much plumbed the depths of talent in their gene pools; voters have decided they no longer need comic relief, and so Jeb! is dying on the vine; Hillary, on the other hand, is the manifestation of Democratic ideals of slavery, socialism and just pure ornery meanness.
• Cruz is nothing more than the vanguard of the Canadian invasion of America; it is a long-simmering war between the two countries, based primarily on the fact that Canada got more coastline from the Indians, but America got the prime tourist beaches.
• I still think Marco Rubio will be a 'dark horse' compromise nominee and will ultimately be POTUS, I base this on the fact that his name kind of sounds like Marco Polo, and so folks think of him as adventurous, and able to introduce pasta, coal and asbestos to Western civilization.
• Edward Snowden had to seek political asaylum in Russia from prosecution as a traitor, while Hillary Clinton will likely be the Democratic party nominee, yet they are both guilty of the same crime of letting secrets out. As Mel Brooks says, "It's good to be da king."
• I have only voted for POTUS one time, and that was for Ross Perot, who was the template for Donald Trump, but with a much funnier voice.
• Barak Obama's legacy appears to be that he was such a bad president, the anti-establishment candidate finally won (not since Reconstruction has that happened); That's a long way down; Remember when he was first elected, he was nearly canonized at the same time.
• Pope Francis I lives in a walled city with an immigration policy that only allows passports to be given to Nazis fleeing persecution, and with probably the single largest Treasury on Earth; yet, he dares to comment on US immigration policy and how folks need to give to the poor?  'Let not your right hand know what your left doeth' has gone too far.  Someone please get control of that left hand and quick!
• Does anyone else get the feeling that the UK is like a prom date who keeps teasing with "yes, no, maybe" when it comes to copping a feel at the end of the night?  This Brexit thing has gone on for years and is just completely pointless, unless to tease the EU a bit and show a little power play.
• Indonesia is playing the same game as the UK over TPP, only it has its hand out to China and the US to see who will offer the richest purse for a peek at the goodies; reminds me of the famous quip generally attributed to Churchill, "We have already determined what you are, Madame, we are now haggling over price."
• Have you ever noticed how China operates?  It makes a few incendiary remarks, and then sits back while everyone else fights about it.  Classic divide and conquer strategy, or more appropriately: 分而治之
• The only country on Earth that has a tax system as evil and insidious as the US is Eritrea, and until just recently, the US condemned it for its tax system; a classic case of "do as we say."  Eritrea is near Sudan and Ethiopia in East Africa; Says to me that the US tax code has Third World status.
• Since the world is into wall-building right now, I say we put a wall around the entire Middle East, pull out all foreign militaries and interests, and let them sort things out;  This shit has gone on for far too long and has sucked up far too many of the world's resources over something as meaningless as whose religious books are more nonsensical; when they've finished beating, battering and beheading each other and have got things all sorted out, they can come out to play with the rest of us again.
• In 1969, NASA landed two men on the Moon with equipment less sophisticated than your microwave oven, yet in 50 years the world hasn't been back?  Yup, either the Moon landings were bullshit, or the reasons for not going back are bullshit.  Either way, someone has shoveled an enormous pile of bullshit on the world and guess who gets to clean it all up?
• The US supreme Court (under Article III of the US Constitution) was only supposed to have six justices.  President FDR added three more to overcome the Court's resistance to his New Deal legislation; Justice Scalia's death is a first step in correcting this problem, as long as a new justice is not nominated.
• The US Congress doesn't even trust itself; In the 1960s, the Senate passed a rule that no justices, supreme or otherwise, could be selected in an election year, since politicians are far more untrustworthy at that time than in non-election years.
• It is said that for a hunter to be truly successful, he must become the hunted; thus, Russia has become the global savior and the US has become the dreaded evil empire.
• Suppose there were no countries, just a global collection of home towns and the only international law was that no one could become leader or ruler except in their home town; the towns could all compete for immigrants based on the standard of living and amount of personal freedom each offered; hell, entrepreneurial types could custom design home towns down to the laws of the community and sell property based on how cool it would be to live there; oh, and media outlets in each home town could only be owned by people who lived there, so there would be no global mega-media conglomerates competing to brain-wash folks - propaganda would be limited to each town and wouldn't have much hope of manipulating masses of people.
• Economics is not a science; it is a natural function, just like an individual's bathroom habits; what is a science is how the few manipulate economics to impoverish the many.
• Rulers, leaders, charlatans, and magicians all depend on the ignorance and gullibility of their audience; this means that being educated is the best protection again these kinds of trickery; being educated does NOT mean being an "expert" - those are what we call one-trick ponies; remember Rain Man?  Dustin Hoffman's character was a one-trick pony.
• Al Sharpton announced he would "flee the country" if Donald Trump was elected; it would be worth a Trump presidency to see that happen; I might even move back if Sharpton was gone.

The Final Solution

Have you noticed anything?  Do you see it also?  The world changed last week, and if you weren't looking, you might have missed it.

One of the most significant changes in geopolitical relations in the past 50 years flew right under the RADAR and landed smack in the middle of the Western Banking Establishment's lap.  Russia, China and now India have made a gas deal that will take the US and the dollar out of the energy business in Asia.  In other words, three of the hottest economies on the planet just thumbed their collective nose at Western hegemony.  It was amazing to watch.

Most of us alive today don't remember a time when the US was an agrarian, second-class economy.  In fact, if you were born anytime during the 1950s or later, you've never known a world were the US wasn't a black hole of power and resources.  That old world just ended.  There is indeed a New World Order, and the neighborhood bully just got kicked out of the club.

What brought the US to prominence, beside being the last man standing after WW2, was that it meant business.  It created thngs and exported things and created wealth.  In recent years, however, it has been a net importer, a debtor and has all but lost the innovative edge that made her name.

You may have not been aware that the US has spent several decades shutting down coal, oil and gas production, preferring instead - and at great risk as the 1970s showed - to use everyone else's energy reserves.  But, as the Western Banking Establishment has grown increasingly panicked, suddenly all those oil, gas and coal fields that were shut in under the guise of ecological concern are now open for business and the country is ramping up production in a huge way.

At one time, the world was happy to take the US jobs and money, and were willing to take the BS that went with it.  In recent times, though, the US has devolved into a militaristic mercantile empire exporting only bombs and debt, and the world has grown weary of it.

Instead, they now look to Russia and China as the economic powerhouses and perceive that those countries are far more legitimate because they bring business without egregious strings attached.  There are no agendas besides pure economic benefit - no ideological ham-fisted Agenda 21s or Pax Americana or nation building/regime change to go with the forced indebtedness.

Furthermore, everyone except the poor duped Americans themselves see quite clearly that Obama is a self-serving, illegitimate occupant at the reins, and see even more clearly that he does not run the country.  They know very well that the banksters and corporate interests set the agenda in the US, and that the country's political and legal systems are nothing more than mafioso enforcement schemes to protect the "too big to fails".

Now Russia and China have entered into an energy agreement that shuts the Western oligarchs out of the deal.  Soon, India will join because pipeline routes will be able to come right around any Western-controlled puppet states.  This is the foundation of a new and quite seperate financial system that will force the Western banksters to their knees, or provoke them into rash military response, which will make plain to the world the illegitimacy of the empire, whose ideology is based solely on greed and avarice.

Empires don't crash and burn.  They fade over decades, centuries, and even millennia (c.f. Rome).  The US empire will not crash.  The dollar will not go up in flames.  It will slowly fade away into obscurity and people find viable alternatives and adjust to new paradigms.  The greatest mistake the US could make at this point is military adventurism, though that is likely what will happen, given the inbred stupidity controlling the country.

There is only one real answer that the American people can give now.  Don't vote.  Stay away from elections in droves.  This vote of "no confidence" is the only thing that can force the cockroaches into the sunlight and show them for what they are.  There is no political solution at the polls, and by not voting, the oligarchs will be forced to retain power without consent and thus expose their despotism.

Not voting en masse is the only peaceful means left to expose and debunk the power-mad slime.  They have horrific weapons that make open conflict and revolution untenable.  They control the judiciary and legal processes with unflinching fists.  They even control the electoral process to the point that voting is pointless.  The outcome is predetermined.  Therefore, NOT voting is the only way to answer tyranny without force or immoral acts.  The only way they maintain the illusion of legitimacy is by getting folks to the polls, thus fooling the rubes into thinking that their minions were selected democratically.    Without the pretense of fair and open elections, they can not claim any semblance of legitimate power, and will be forced to keep power by open aggression.  At that point, they have lost without a shot being fired.  They would have no legitimacy either in the domestic nor global arenas.

As George Carlin rightly said, you only have the right to complain if you don't participate in the fraud.

All The World's A Stage

Yes, folks, the roar of concern over our long silence on the Far Side has been heard!  We apologize for yanking the rug out from under everyone, but unfortunately, we have yet to discover circumventions to the Laws of Physics, though we are trying furiously!

As we described the situation in one recent response to a long-time reader, we are busy putting all our rants and raves into action.  On top of that, everything we've examined and fretted over here in this column is now coming into reality, so there seems little point to reiterating what can be found in copious amounts in our archives.

As we have previously mentioned, our latest project has been starting up Indonesia's first international-standard theater, as well as several large galleries, a museum, and all the ancillary things attendant to them.

A theater is an incredibly complex series of interlocking technologies married to highly specialized architecture to deliver a spectacle for the eyes and ears.  Cable trucks as big around as a man carry signals to lighting instruments, communications, sound, and rigging, and any mistake in judgement could kill a person.

Consideration like having the systems isolated from the internet because nasties like StuxNet infect the control systems of theaters that support incredibly large loads over people's heads.  A misfire or miscommunication among any of the myriad parts could end up in disaster, as the experience at the Apollo Theater in London a few months back will attest.

Most people are blissfully unaware of how complex putting on modern stage shows can be, and really, that's the point.  The audience is supposed to be amazed and enthralled, not thinking about how that massive chandelier was hung over their heads.  All of the effort and machinery are supposed to be invisible or the illusion is lost.  Yet, somewhere in all that mix, someone has to worry about the safety and security of that 3-year-old in the 24th row who is staring in wide-eyed amazement at flying Disney characters - not on TeeVee or the movie screen - but in real life.

Among our copious responsibilities is knowing the dizzying intricacies of the theater's innards.  If a single cable ceases to function properly, it is our responsibility to know where that cable originates, where it terminates, and the precise path it takes in between.  We must know precisely how much load and stress can be applied to any given spot on the stage or in the rafters.  We must know the precise measurements of every function of every system in the venue.

Add to that the various social and political concerns of being GM of such a place - it's unique position in Indonesian history - and the desire to inform, educate and entertain large masses of people, and one can begin to appreciate the demands on the time of an individual.

Despite the demands and stresses of managing such an effort - still in construction phase - we would not have it any other way.  We have always maintained that when one does the thing one loves the most, there is no such thing as work.  There is only joy.

Some letter writers to us on the Far Side have asked why we don't have columns on Malaysia Air or the Ukraine situation.  The simple answer is that our answers are contained in the archives.

Malaysia Air is a distraction.  It is an operation planned and executed to do one thing - keep you from looking at the Big Picture.  The Ukraine is little more than the dying crash of Western hegemony and the rise of the New East.  These are topics we have explored at great length within these pages.

The Malaysia Air mystery is designed to soak up headlines and column inches, distract the minds, and hold attention off other - more important - events.  There is something in this story for everyone, conspiracy theorist or not.  If there is in fact a real flight with real people involved, then our heart goes out to them for their suffering.  But we are unconvinced to the extent that we have followed the story at all.  It is not a cause, but a symptom of a much larger story being played out on the world's theater, with its attendant million moving parts.

The Ukraine story is also a symptom and part of the kibuki theater of global politics.  Not to make light of the suffering there, but the people of the Ukraine must at some point see that they are being manipulated in a crass and cynical game of geo-pissing.

The Western oligarchs set into motion back in the 80s a plan to crater the Soviet system, rearrange the Mid-East to their liking, and ensure that none of them could mount a serious challenge to Western hegemony.

They had not counted on China having its own agenda.  Instead, they were supposed to be infinitely grateful to the banksters for having unloaded tons of toxic debt within their borders.  They had not counted on the Russians experiencing a moral and religious reawakening and cleaning house of the mafia corruption, as Putin has done.  They had not counted on the internet becoming a means of circumventing the official media and mind-numbing distractions of network TeeVee.  In short, they f^cked up.

Once they realized what they had done, the various factions within the bankster class began fighting amongst themselves trying either to salvage the original plan, or scavenge for any amount of power and wealth as could be grabbed in the collapse.  The dominant group, myopically and pathetically wedded to their 40-year-old plan, are moving as fast as they can to complete it, though nearly all the assumptions of their plan - all the million variables - have changed, and it is no longer viable.

Thus, the Ukraine, and Libya, and Syria, and Iran, and Afghanistan, Egypt, et cetera ad nauseum.

The collapse of Empires is a dangerous time, but as the Chinese say, there is opportunity in chaos, or as their Western counterparts would say, Ordo ab chao.

As the audience, we have three choices: 1) we can sit passively and be enthralled like a 3-year-old in the 24th row; 2) we can seek to understand all the miles of cabling and systems integration of the theater we call the world/ or 3) we can ignore the bastards, refuse to buy a ticket and go set up our own show elsewhere.  We here on the Far Side stand firmly in the Option 3 camp.

Now, back to work!

The Rover of Destiny

History went through a major shift this last week.  No, none of the  various saviors showed up with angels in tow.  No, the ground didn't shake, unless you live in Texas next to fracking operations.  No, the skies didn't part and in fact comet ISON fizzled out.

There were, however, two major events that have changed global dynamics, though if you only watch main-line media (as in jacking heavy drugs), then the news was drowned out by B-movie stars dying and Obamacare hand-wringing.

The first Big Deal was China launching Chang-e 3.  In case you live under a rock, the Chang-e 3 is an orbiter/lander craft sent on its way to the Moon a couple of days ago.  By the time you read this, it should be entering a low orbit to begin a photo session with Diana (see Greek legend if that reference escapes you).  Later, around February, a rover will drop down to the surface and (likely) soft-land to do a little propecting for minerals and exotic isotopes that could fetch a pretty penny back here on terra firma.

Keep in mind that only the US and USSR has soft-landed on the Moon, and neither of them since the mid-70s.  In fact, you'd think the Moon had a "no trespassing' sign on it the way those two (former) nations have been avoiding it.  A landing will put China in a very exclusive club and the first new member in 40 years.

The other Big Deal is that the yuan passed up the euro on its way to becoming the new global currency.  I'm pretty happy about that, seeing as how I bought a truck-load of them years ago in anticipation of this moment.  What's really important though is that this is first natural (the euro is artificial) currency to challenge the US dollar.  It used to be the mark and franc were fairly desirable in their own right, but the euro tried to go head-to-head and died.  The yuan has risen up from the ranks to take the number 2 spot.

By the way, since you'll likely be doing business in yuan soon enough, the word 'yuan' simply means 'money'.  "Renmimbi" means 'the people's currency' and is the official name of the yuan.  Just so's ya know before you make a fool of yourself in front of your new Chinese bosses.

Back in the 70s, when Japan took a serious run at the title, folks in the US were singing "Take This Job And Shove It" while sporting "Made In America" bumper stickers.  Seems no one cares or has even noticed for that matter, now that China is buying up the world.  Guess those 'Merkans are too busy trying to log on to the Obamacare and food stamp websites.

Talk about a country getting its ass whipped.

That giant sloshimg sound (not Ross Perot's giant sucking sound) is global power and prestige cascading over the international date line on its way east.  Does America seriously think it can challenge China on behalf of Japan over some oil blocks in the South China Sea, when the 'enemy' owns about a third of the US national debt, property and equity?  That new sound you hear is me laughing hysterically thinking about the Chinese flipping the switch on all the electronic gear they built for the US military and shutting the whole thing down without a shot fired.

What will be really interesting is to see what China finds on the Moon.  That nothing has soft-landed there in four decades is a bit strange, considering it is the closest celestial pit stop and is supposedly packed with valuable rare-earth minerals and hydrogen-3 (used for fusion generators).  The Chinese certainly know it, since the Big Daddy of their space program has said as much in the last week.

More to the point, what will they find/not find with regards to the US Apollo program landing sites?  Will they discover the alien technology that the US has hidden for decades?  Will they find Kubrick's signature and Disney's brand?  Will they tell the rest of us, or just use it to keep the US in line?  And does this account for all the recent efforts to establish world parks, no-fly zones and other "keep away" signs around Apollo landing sites?

Stay tuned...this story is just beginning.  In the meantime, do you feel those historic shifts now?

Machiavelli Versus Sun Tzu

In the 50-year history of the Star Trek franchise, one of the most memorable and poignant lines, packed with metaphor and subtext, was Spock's observation that 'only Nixon could go to China' (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country if you're keeping track).

Indeed, 41 years ago, when Nixon went to China to 'open' the nation to global economic participation, he likely had no idea the can of worms into which he was prying.  To the Western mind, it was a vast supply of cheap labor and a billion potential consumers.

China has always been inscrutable and mysterious to Westerners, not unlike a tiger.  The West was ill-prepared for wrestling tigers, especially the US, which was a mere babe in arms when it came to global hegemony.  The Chinese had conquered the world many times before Nixon boarded Air Force One.  His nation had only shown up yesterday in Chinese history books.

In the 40 short years since Nixon's visit, China has gone from a closed, intensely self-absorbed nation to an economic dynamo sitting squarely atop the globe and directly threatening the century-long plans of the 'exceptional' Americans for world domination.

America's weakness has always been its hubris.  From the days of religious refugees spilling out of Europe to seek peace in North America, there has been an underlying current of 'exceptionalism' in American culture.  When America looked in the mirror, it saw a Shining City Upon The Hill, a civilizing force among nations, a power to reshape the world in its own image.  Balancing precariously on this fragile pedestal, the US has applied its resources and ingenuity to casting a New World Order, with itself as Greek god enthroned on Olympus.  More literally, a new Rome stretching forth its hand to own all it touches.

However, as anyone who has played King of the Hill knows, having the high ground is not enough when you occupy the most desirable position.  Being a leader is a fun place to be, with the perks of power and dominance, but there is always someone waiting in the wings to topple you from your throne, and China has three millennia of experience at doing just that.

China, for better or worse, has sat ensconced on the Eastern hemisphere for centuries.  It has been the center of power, learning and economics on this half of the globe since long before the US ever thought to lead the world.  In fact, it is highly likely that Admiral Zheng He was traipsing around present-day California before Christopher Columbus was even born.

Suffice it to say that China has watched empires rise and fall.  Its own ambitions have touched every continent.  Genghis Khan's Mongol empire, seated in Beijing, knocked at the door of Europe and so scared folks that even today, the expression 'Mongol hordes' still infects the English language.

When it comes to business, the Americans have found themselves outmatched.  Unless you have sat across from Chinese at the negotiating table, you will not understand and fully appreciate the word "ruthless".  When it comes to business, the Chinese will slit your throat while bowing politely and offering soft words of praise on your business acumen.  They are able to scale this technique from one-on-one to nation-on-nation.  Where the US bombs its way into hearts and minds, the Chinese buy and trade, and one can infer which method engenders more loyalty.

When Nixon entered China, he saw himself as liberator.  He was going to undermine the Communist system by showing the Chinese the glory of democracy and capitalism.  Forty years later, the US dangles from a rope and China is tying the other end to the tree.  Welcome to Chinese business dealings.  One can be reasonably sure that when Nixon sat down with Deng Xiaoping, he likely wasn't thinking that the culture behind Deng had invented gunpowder, paper money, state lotteries, and even spaghetti and meatballs - all the tools of US hegemony were, in fact, made in China.  'Opening' China to democracy and capitalism was actually throwing Br'er Rabbit into the briar patch.

One of the US's main strengths, being the new kid on the global block, is also its primary Achilles Heel.  Being new to the list of empires gave the US a certain amount of deference and laissez faire on the part of the world, since it had no operating history, no track record, and folks were willing to offer the benefit of the doubt.  However, this advantage was turned to the dark side and was taken over by greed and lust for power.  Blinded by pride, Nixon marched into China to unwittingly unleash the tiger that would turn to maul the supposed trainer.

Empires are like Super Bowl champions, every year there's a new one, and history is no different.  America got its ring, the trip to Disneyland and enjoyed some endorsement contracts, but this season has seen many injuries and the loss of some key players, so another team has risen to dominate the game.

The US team is a new franchise and has only held championship status once in its history.  The new champion China has been around for a while and has won many Super Bowls before.  Within the culture of the franchise, they recognize that you only sit at the top for a short time before being toppled by the next champion.  While you're at the top, you make a little money, store up some wealth, get a few things done, and then wait for the inevitable losing season.

The US has squandered its position because it has no history.  It forgot its Reformation roots of humility and work, and instead of storing wealth for the eventual fall, it went all-in, like a cocky poker player in a Vegas tournament.  When the deal went south, it could do little else but watch as the pile of chips moved to the wrong side of the table.

The mentalities and strategies of the two sides are vastly different.  The US makes blind bounding leaps throwing caution to the wind and over-extending itself in the quest for glory.  The Chinese advance in increments.  They extend a little, secure and shore up, then extend a little more.  The Americans are brash nouveau riche - spoiled and profligate - while the Chinese are ancient dynasties of wealth and privilege.  The former throws money and caution to the wind, while the latter quietly amasses wealth and fortifies position and influence, yielding when the occasion requires it.

The two sides are like yin and yang.  They are the perfect compliment to each other.  They can not defeat each other, nor can they dominate each other.  They will always return to equilibrium because they can not exist without each other.  In the Chinese view, they are happy to have the flamboyant Americans to hide behind, like a courtier to Louis XIV.  Let the gaudy sun king take all the glory...and the blame.  Meantime, sit quietly behind the throne directing the action and save every scrap that falls from the royal table.  It is the tortoise and the hare writ large.

Indeed, the Chinese and Western banksters are equals, and on the stage of history, it is not the rise and fall of the American empire that is the real drama of our times.  Kings come and go.  Rather, it is the clash of these two hidden powers - the Eastern and Western dynasties - that will be the true action of the play.  Even now, the Eastern bloc is establishing its own system of alliances and finance to compete head-to-head with the mere apprentices in the West.  To add insult to injury, the Eastern dynasties are using the tools of the West against them, like Xiao Lin adepts turning force against itself.  The hapless West keeps throwing empty punches and spends a lot of time on its back staring up at the sky, not quite sure how it got in that position.

For those with eyes to see, it is an epic death match between two fundamentally equal sides - in one corner sits Niccolo Bernardo Machiavelli and in the other Sun Tzu.  Those of us with front row seats will get spattered with blood and body parts, like an audience at a macabre Gallagher concert.  The rock has met the hard spot, the tiger and the bull, and we the world are caught between.  It is not the first time, and won't be the last, but it is the latest event of the season.

It's Rotschildt versus Li in the classic rivalry that has entertained the world for centuries.  Both sides are master manipulators, and both know that empire is just a show to distract from their real plays.  They are adept at avoiding the spotlight.  One side uses the blunt weapons of Machiavelli: the ax, the hammer and the sword.  The other uses the refined weapons of Sun Tzu: deception, stealth and redirection.

Nothing much to do now, but buy some snacks and settle in for a real show.  In the game of empire, these are Princes skilled in the Art of War.

INTERVIEW - Paul Craig Roberts on Radio Far Side

Changing alliances, parallel financial systems, the emerging BRICS nations, Vladimir Putin leader of the free world, the collapse of the Anglo-American empire.  All this and much, much more on this installment of Radio Far Side.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts has been Asst. Secretary of the US Treasury, editor for Business Week and the Wall Street Journal, a syndicated columnist, and member of the Cato Institute.  He has written numerous books on economics and politics and has a worldwide audience for his regular online columns.

Dr. Robers joins Radio Far Side to discuss the sobering but fascinating trends in global events.  From the fall of the dollar to the rise of Russia and China, we explore the Mid-East wars, Germany's next moves, the use of NATO to start a new Cold War, and the deep claws of the Military-Industrial Complex.  Where does Indonesia stand in all this?  What are the likely outcomes of current events over the next few months, and what of the American people caught between opposing allegiances?

Join us for an hour with one of the most respected commentators on economic issues.
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Additional links and information:
Paul Craig Roberts website
Texas Railroad Commissioner Talks Independence 
Break-Up of America?
Fracking and Burning Tap Water
Putin Polls Better Than Obama in US

We thank you for joining us on Radio Far Side.  Don't forget to check out our other great interviews, available on the blogsite tab, Vimeo or YouTube.  If you are so moved, please drop a coin in the BitCoin bucket to help us expand our efforts.  All of our efforts are presented ad-free and without membership fees.

Stay tuned to Radio Far Side for more great interviews coming in the near future!

Sampai jumpa, y'all!

Car Wreck In Slow Motion

The smackdown has begun.

If you line up a couple of dozen headlines just right, you can see the Big Showdown coming.  There's increasing polarization along hemispheric and ideological lines.  The players are lining up for the key play that will decide the next 100 years of life (or lack thereof) on this planet.

The role of we, the audience, have been assigned is to choose sides, shut up and stay out of the way until called upon to throw our lives onto the pile.  We're supposed to buy our gee-gaws and banners, sit nicely in the stands and cheer politely for our side.  We have no role in choosing the plays or strategy.  That's beyond our simple minds and capabilities.

For the most part, we are all dead anyway.  The BurP Gulf disaster poisoned the Atlantic, and Fukushima poisoned the Pacific.  It's only a matter of time before we all start dropping like flies from a myriad of diseases and lack of safe food supply.  It's part of the design to cull the herd.  Those who survive the onslaught of environmental death will be deemed evolutionarily strong enough to breed labor stock for the master race.

You can bet that it those were not contrived events, if the master race didn't have a plan to save themselves, then the media would be absolutely beside itself getting us all riled up to fix things.  But since the silent death is their game plan, we hear only silence and condescending coos from the 'adults'.

"There, there, little useless eater.  Don't be afraid.  Just go quietly," they tell us.  Like the scene in "Saving Private Ryan," where the German soldier reassures his victim as he slides the knife between his ribs.

So, it's very easy to say these things, but what proof do we have that the Great Ideology War is coming?

China and Japan, as of today, have linked their currencies in direct trade.  Up to now, both nations have had to convert everything to dollars before paying each other for deals.  Now, the second and third largest economies on Earth have completely by-passed the dollar and started trading with each other using their own currencies.

This is historic on many levels.  China and Japan have a lot of bad blood between them.  Japan invaded China during WWII and took over a significant part of the country.  Even now, they occasionally get into dust-ups over certain chunks of ocean and some islands that have been trading hands for centuries.

This is just one of several examples over the last couple of years of China moving to create its own world order, seperate and apart from the more glitzy and famous New (very old) World Order.  They have done the same currency move with Russia, and have taken steps to cozy up with southern and eastern hemispheric countries.  In other words, China is positioning the yuan to be a world reserve currency, at least within its sphere of influence.

The US is showing its nervousness and displeasure by announcing that it is beefing up its naval presence in the South Pacific.  The US is deeply worried that China is slowly cordoning off the batteries of Western economic growth by wooing Korea, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.  So far, Singapore is the sole redoubt of Western hegemony in Asia, but the significant Chinese population there could easily sway it the other way, especially if Western economies continue to implode leaving Singapore little choice for survival.

In answer to China's PR campaign, the West has been consolidating its interests in Africa and the Middle East.  Crashing Libya and Egypt were just the beginning.  Iran's closest ally on the Mediterranean is Syria.  There is now an all-out effort to invade and destroy Syria before launching into Iran.  If the West were to go straight into Iran, Syria would open a second front much closer to Israel, and that would be bad.

However, Russia nad China are both lining up on the side of Syria, and both have veto votes on the UN Security Council.  The West is trying hard to get Putin to play ball, but he's not buying it.  The West launched a massive campaign to discredit Putin ahead of the recent elections there, but obviously the Russian people are happy with the direction he is taking things.

Furthermore, China has been making in-roads into the US' traditional ally base with one simple tool...money.  Where the US goes in with strong-arm tactics and makes a few deals with dictators to lock up resources, China goes in with an army of engineers to construct roads and infrastructure, making friends by offering friendship and development, not fear and bombs.  As a consequence, South America and Africa have come increasingly under the sway of China, out of loyalty and respect, rather than fear and loathing.

When you place Fukushima into the context of geo-political maneuvering, it could not have been better timed or placed to undermine eastern economic growth.  Not only did it strike at the heart of any economy - energy - but it has ensured an ongoing poison pill in the heart of an economic engine that has slowly been backing away from its Western masters.

In fact, Japan has been quietly off-shoring its manufacturing and intellectual base.  They have been buying up companies, specifically factories, all over Southeast Asia.  I would not be surprised to learn that Japan has made deals vis-a-vis the 'ghost' cities in China, as part of the recent currency moves.

Interestingly, what seems to be happening at the highest levels is the same game the West used on the Soviet Union.  The USSR, bogged down in Afghanistan for a decade, was hemorrhaging money.  Reagan famously threw into the mix Star Wars and a massive military build-up, causing the USSR to bankrupt itself trying to keep up.

In a twist of fate, the same strategy seems to be in play against the West now.  China is pursuing a massive military build-up, while Russia is supplying Syria and Iran with weapons and political backing.  Concurrently, the US and EU are financially imploding in their attempts to solidify their resource bases in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.  The tables have been turned, and by all appearances, it is working.

The EU is in complete financial decay.  It is beyond rescuing now.  The end is inevitable, though the exact landing place and time are still matters for bookmakers in Vegas and Fleet Street.  The Swiss are slowly distancing themselves.  The British are trying to cauterize the blood ties to the tumor.  Germany is pulling the drapes closed while trying very hard to appear engaged.  In fact, if you view Germany as the heart of the EU, then the situation looks just like a living organism, in that the extremities are being cast off in a bid to save the trunk.

Meantime, the US is in the midst of a St. Vitus' dance.  As promised, Ben Bernanke is all but literally taking to the skies to dump dollars on the world in a bid to puff up inflation, and thus face value.  Certainly, the dollar has been on the rise of late as the euro crashes and burns.  But this can only last until folks wise up to the fact that there is no carry value in the dollar.  As fast as you can amass them, they become worthless, much like the Mark in the Weimar Republic.

All this sets up a rally in gold, the likes of which no one has ever seen.  At the moment, it may appear counter to trend, but one must keep in mind that the gold market is the oldest shell game on Earth, and prices are being artificially lowered to, 1) prevent folks from seeing the decay in progress, and 2) to give insiders a chance to load up at bargain basement prices.  As prices drop, us little guys panic and sell off.  When the insiders are satisfied that they have a good chunk of our wealth, then they will pump gold up and trash the currencies into which you converted your metals.

In summary, what we are seeing now is the West panicking and falling into defensive mode.  The New (very old) World Order had a time-table for crashing the world and consolidating power, but there were variables that they either didn't plan for, or didn't gave low odds of happening.  They didn't figure on Russia recovering so quickly or so much, by throwing off the Rothschild banks and issuing state-controlled currency.  They didn't expect China to out-maneuver them by hedging the pile of western debt it had amassed.  They didn't expect a serious and concerted effort on the part of major power blocs to link up in a bid to create an anti-NWO, if you will.

The one economic tool left in the US' box is to repudiate the huge mass of gold bonds it has issued, especially in the eastern hemisphere, since the late 1800s.  Many Asian economies are quietly built on these bonds and pulling the plug is a last-ditch effort to let the air out of the balloon.  This is why you occasionally catch news stories about 'counterfeit' bonds being captured in Italy, the Philippines and elsewhere.  By claiming they are fake and forcefully withdrawing them, the US is trying desperately to pull its gold out from under Asia's feet.  Will it work?  Stay tuned...

What we do know, though we have to discern it from carefully stitching together a dozen loose ends, is that a chess game of monsterous proportions is playing out.  At the moment, the West has backed into defense, while the East is launching a major offernsive on the least protected flank.  Armies and navies are being pushed around the map.  Currencies are being deployed.  Propaganda has been ramped up on both sides.

As pawns, it is difficult for us to get a clear view of the board.  We can see those pieces closest to us, but which way they will go, and which ones will be sacrificed, are hard to discern.  All we can do is extrapolate by knowing what has happened, and what the overall goal of the game is.

Needless to say, whoever wins and whatever their long-term goals are, it will not be pleasant for us little folk.  We are tossed around as human resources, deployed to best advantage for the master race.  The only true and effective weapon we have is to walk away and refuse to take part in this charade.  The only way we can do that is to remove ourselves from their economies and turn off the channels of ceaseless mind-control they use to manipulate our thinking.

What have we got to lose?  We're all dead already.  Just a matter of whether we want to go with our boots on, or with bloody knees begging for scraps from their tables.

The beauty of it is, we don't have to fire a single shot or throw a single punch.  Just turn off the TeeVee and start bartering with our neighbors.  We are suffering already doing their bidding, why not chose our suffering for our own ends?

Call is return on investment.

Puzzles, Riddles and Lunacy

UPDATE: Goro Adachi has just posted a new article that is especially poignant with regard to all the strange goings on these days.  Most people are blissfully unaware of the vast ritual being performed planet-wide right now.  Perhaps this article will help open you eyes just a bit.
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Well, it's been a red letter week.  I got a evaluation summary from one of my classes, which included the comment, "The facilitator is very funny, and very attractive."  Though the comments are anonymous, I am forced to conclude that this individual is very intelligent and has extremely good taste, judging by the extant facts.

One is forced, in an overwrought world, to find a bit of silver lining wherever it presents itself.  Fortunately, that silver lining has yet to be found on my head.

Remember that great song by the Talking Heads called "Puzzling Evidence"?  You should put that on nice and loud while you read.

That said, how can we wrap up a week like this and put a tidy bow on it?  Scanning the week's headlines was such a head-slapper that I hardly know where to begin.  It's like one of those thousand-piece puzzles where all the pieces are the same color.  The one thing I really enjoy about those kinds of puzzles, though, is that you can appreciate the intricate linkages without being distracted by some lame landscape scene.

After months of touting and hand-wringing over the so-called 'iron shield' missile defense system proffered by US death merchants, it was announced that the system would be given to Israel, courtesy the American taxpayers.  Russia immediately launched a test flight of its ICBM designed to fly right through it.

Meanwhile, a year after Usama son of Laden was killed for the sixth time, the FAA has cleared the use of drones against Americans on their home turf.  In Montgomery, Texas (sad to say), they immediately began drawing up plans to arm the damn things.  At the same moment, Judge Napolitano stated that the first American to bring one of those 'Terminator' machines down would be a national hero.

HINT: a bow, an arrow and a coil of good-quality cable attached to the arrow.  Horizontal blade arrangements are very vulnerable.

Oh, here's a rich one...the Iranian navy lent aid to an American merchant ship attacked by pirates.  Yup, these are really nasty boogy men who need to have their country bombed into the Stone Age.

Amazingly, there was yet again no mention of Iceland in all the verbiage on the Eurozone crisis.  Hell, this little island of what?, 300,000 people, who were the test subjects of bankster love, have turned themselves around by simply throwing the bastards in jail and rebooting the banking system...withOUT the Euro-flop.  The nation is now debt-free and enjoying an economic resurgence using a publicly controlled currency issued by the state, which receives income from the minuscule interest rates charged on loans.  What an amazing idea!  Why didn't anyone think of that bef...oh, that's right.  That's the way it used to work.

Detroit, Michigan, once the proud poster child of American industry and ingenuity, it turning out the lights....literally.  They are shutting off street lighting to the outer fringes and trying to herd the handful of people still stuck there into smaller and smaller groups.  Henry Ford, the Dodge brothers and all the rest of those long-dead titans of industry must be rolling over in their unkept and unlit graves.

Not to leave Asia out of the head-slapping festival.  China's housing bubble is about to explode with a really big noise.  Seems it's hard to maintain housing prices for your expanding middle class when you have entire, spanking new cities still empty all over the place.  One note of hope, though.  When the spent fuel storage finally cuts loose at Fukushima, the entire nation of Japan will be evacuated.  Sounds like a tailor-made solution to both problems.  Should be really interesting to see how ancient enemies get along after that.

One item that is truly amazing to watch is the Obama phenomenon.  Three short years ago, he was a demi-god.  He was given a free ride to the White House by crowds of mesmerized zombies who left his rallies in tears, but couldn't tell you what he said.  His name was spoken in reverential tones followed by heart-felt "Amens".  Now a convict, a sheriff and a two-bit lawyer from Tennessee are kicking his butt in an uncontested election.  I'm still waiting for the Nobel committee to rescind his Peace Prize, though.  Even Ghandi and Mother Theresa didn't have THAT much blood on their hands!

An rather exciting development is the complete implosion of the Roman Cult.  Vatican Bank scandals (again).  A missing teenager possibly buried in a mobster's tomb next to the Vatican wall.  JPII had his nifty Pope-mobile, but Benny16 is being pushed around on a dolly.  Talk about propping up your leadership.  Soon enough, Petrus Romanus, the final pope (if you believe prophesies made by Molech...I mean Malachy).  Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.  The College of Cardinals is already making plans to blow a little smoke yet again.

Fear not!  The main distraction is yet to come.  The most militarized peace games ever foisted on the world will soon ignite (the torch) in London.  I hear there's a substantial reward for anyone who captures a picture of Liz2 in a reptilian moment.  This should be a challenge, given the fact that cameras have been banned for this very reason.

Some rays of hope...commercial space exploitation took a giant leap forward this evening (local time) when the Dragon capsule successfully docked with the ISiS.  Hmmm...Dragon capsule, Year of the Dragon, ISiS space station...naw.  How long now before special satellites start beaming corporate logos onto the upper atmosphere?

Also, the BBC is calling for tracking chips to be implanted in everyone, beginning with students in San Antonio schools.

Whatever happened to my beloved Texas?