Now that winter is well and truly here, it is worth taking a fresh look at Britain’s energy crisis, to see how well (or poorly) the UK is contending with winter cold.
No rational anything these days. From my rabbit hole perspective it sure looks like intentional destruction of western economies with desired obliteration of small businesses and the middle class.
IMO we are under assault from a globalist agenda fueled by a genocidal infused hatred for useless eaters being implemented in the guise of plandemics, AI totalitarian digital caging and climate change absurdity with governments supposedly in alignment and not bashful about broadcasting their strategies.
The manufactured war in Ukraine exemplifies this multi-pronged attack on so many fronts.
How intentional the destruction is remains a question. Keep in mind that Russia and China are also peering into the economic abyss--and arguably one or both economies will crash and burn before even Europe will.
Keep in mind also that economic turmoil never works out to the benefit of the political and economic elites. Chaos benefits chiefly the revolutionaries and the radicals (which, even in the most generous flavor of the globalist narrative, rules out the WEF and Davos, as they are by definition the establishment to be overturned).
Is China not the poster child and desired controlled populace example wished for by the globalists? Look at the chaos now in play from absurd totalitarian covid zero policies. What to believe these days? How other countries are suddenly restricting Chinese visitors through inane tests for virus or antibodies.
Perhaps the elites aren’t as coordinated, fearsome or intelligent as they so want the world to believe? Sure for every critical thinker there are probably 3000 zombies, but healthy survivors of this agenda will prove to be a God believing force willing to give it all not to comply.
Not sure how chaos will benefit the US revolutionaries when it comes to that. Isn’t violence what the left is blatantly egging on in so many arenas? Conservative anger is simmering, chasms wider with each day.
"Perhaps the elites aren’t as coordinated, fearsome or intelligent as they so want the world to believe?"
This has always been my view of things. In particular I question the degree of coordination among the political and economic elites of various nations. Where I differ from those who argue a globalist "Great Reset" thesis is that I am not convinced there is either the coordination or the centralized planning such a thesis requires.
Where others see conspiracy, I see confluence of motives.
Which is not to say the actions taken by those in government are benign or even well-intentioned--the empirical data is fairly conclusive against that argument. In every country we have seen governments seize or attempt to seize greater power and control over the citizenry.
Yet we also see countries turn on each other in a variety of ways that run counter to a coordinated globalist plan.
Early on in the pandemic, just before Italy announced its first lockdowns, Austria banned entry into the country from Italy, in clear violation of the EU's Schengen Area travel policies, which called for unrestricted movement among EU member states. That stance was repeated by most EU member countries in short order, and was NOT a policy orchestrated from Brussels. As is so often the case, the EU policy-making bodies in Brussels were several steps behind the national governments in reacting to the hysteria of those early days.
We saw the same thing here in the US, when states such as Michigan and cities such as Los Angeles impose coercive restrictions in clear violation of the law. We have had plenty of governors and mayors and county judges willing to get in touch with their inner fascist as a result of COVID hysteria. What we have not had is cooperation among those same fascists to impose that level of control at the national level--the fascists in Washington DC had to make their power grabs on their own.
However, such power grabs in times of crisis are an historical norm. Abraham Lincoln greatly expanded federal power to prosecute the Civil War (and did so illegally). Woodrow Wilson used WWI to normalize military conscription (Lincoln attempted it during the Civil War but without much success); the military attempted after WW1 to continue conscription in peacetime, but it wasn't until 1940 that the US resumed the draft in response to early German victories in WW2.
With the pandemic, an opportunity arose for authoritarians in government everywhere to seize greater power, and most everywhere authoritarians took advantage of it. Again, the historical record is quite clear on this point. Yet the authoritarians in each country devised and crafted their COVID pandemic power grabs without regard for other countries--which is a primary reason so many global supply chains were ruptured and remain ruptured even today. A coordinated global power grab this was not; there is a crucial distinction between a coordinated global power grab and coincidental national/state/local power grabs in that the authoritarians in each polity don't give a tinker's damn about the authoritarians in any other polity.
As for chaos benefiting US revolutionaries--remember that in the US currently the radicals are the mainly conservatives and the libertarians, not the liberals outside of the progressives and their Antifa footsoldiers--who have never attempted to foment violence outside of progressive enclaves. And, as we have seen in places such as Kenosha, Wisconsin, the conservatives are increasingly willing to push back against Antifa violence.
If the political violence truly goes nationwide, it will be the conservative and libertarian elements who will be most energized by it, as rhetoric about "watering the tree of liberty" will gain new traction and relevance. Yet most conservative militia groups are only locally organized, and should the political violence become a true civil war, it will not be Democrat vs Republican, and may not even be Texas or Florida against the US. The violence will be anarchic, as will be the outcome (once national authorities are so eroded in influence as to be unable to hold the violence back they will fade into irrelevance).
And that will be the upending of any WEF/Davos style globalist "Great Reset". Their notion of a reordering of society requires there be a doubling down on supranational governance and control, and while many national leaders are expanding their control, they aren't ceding it to supranational bodies--we're seeing this even in the EU, with countries such as Italy, Hungary, and Poland pushing back and even defying EU policies and mandates.
Economically, "friendshoring" is becoming a thing, where supply chains are being restructured among smaller groups of nations with presumably greater shared values.
Such trends were in their infancy before the pandemic and got a tremendous boost in the aftermath of the pandemic, with more and more countries wishing to source goods and materials from countries other than China. One of the more interesting outgrowths of Trump's renegotiating of NAFTA is likely to be a shifting of US trade currently with China to Mexico, and the Biden Regime has doubled down on Trump's trade protectionism with China, a stance that is being echoed elsewhere, with even Germany making noises about decoupling from China. Globalist trade and economics are not what is driving economic agendas today.
This has to my mind always been the fatal defect in the various theses about globalism and its presumed ascent: globalism depends on the power structures and relationships that exist today, and if those structures and relationship are destroyed, be the destruction planned or unplanned, globalism falls apart at a direct consequence.
Much great food for thought, Peter! You consistently examine topics with knowledge, insight and actual optimism (to a degree) that many stack authors lack. I learn from every read.
I feel there are no apparent conservative blocking mechanisms currently in place - most gutted through crooked left wing maneuvering and GOP malfeasance - to prevent a violent, segregating response from half of this country feeling beatdown, humiliated and extremely angry. Many of these states have blue governments because of majority democratic voting blocks in large cities, whereas in reality the majority of rural residents in huge swaths of land want no part of the authoritarian woke wankery, and conservative anger is on a slow boil.
I look for alternate interpretations of existing data, or for data points that are perhaps being overlooked. To my mind, that is the best way to challenge the prevailing narratives and give people something meaningful to noodle on.
We need more of that in a World of one propaganda narrative after another. Thank you.
Nil bastardum carborundum.
(Which is very bad Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down!")
No rational anything these days. From my rabbit hole perspective it sure looks like intentional destruction of western economies with desired obliteration of small businesses and the middle class.
IMO we are under assault from a globalist agenda fueled by a genocidal infused hatred for useless eaters being implemented in the guise of plandemics, AI totalitarian digital caging and climate change absurdity with governments supposedly in alignment and not bashful about broadcasting their strategies.
The manufactured war in Ukraine exemplifies this multi-pronged attack on so many fronts.
How intentional the destruction is remains a question. Keep in mind that Russia and China are also peering into the economic abyss--and arguably one or both economies will crash and burn before even Europe will.
Keep in mind also that economic turmoil never works out to the benefit of the political and economic elites. Chaos benefits chiefly the revolutionaries and the radicals (which, even in the most generous flavor of the globalist narrative, rules out the WEF and Davos, as they are by definition the establishment to be overturned).
Is China not the poster child and desired controlled populace example wished for by the globalists? Look at the chaos now in play from absurd totalitarian covid zero policies. What to believe these days? How other countries are suddenly restricting Chinese visitors through inane tests for virus or antibodies.
Perhaps the elites aren’t as coordinated, fearsome or intelligent as they so want the world to believe? Sure for every critical thinker there are probably 3000 zombies, but healthy survivors of this agenda will prove to be a God believing force willing to give it all not to comply.
Not sure how chaos will benefit the US revolutionaries when it comes to that. Isn’t violence what the left is blatantly egging on in so many arenas? Conservative anger is simmering, chasms wider with each day.
"Perhaps the elites aren’t as coordinated, fearsome or intelligent as they so want the world to believe?"
This has always been my view of things. In particular I question the degree of coordination among the political and economic elites of various nations. Where I differ from those who argue a globalist "Great Reset" thesis is that I am not convinced there is either the coordination or the centralized planning such a thesis requires.
Where others see conspiracy, I see confluence of motives.
Which is not to say the actions taken by those in government are benign or even well-intentioned--the empirical data is fairly conclusive against that argument. In every country we have seen governments seize or attempt to seize greater power and control over the citizenry.
Yet we also see countries turn on each other in a variety of ways that run counter to a coordinated globalist plan.
Early on in the pandemic, just before Italy announced its first lockdowns, Austria banned entry into the country from Italy, in clear violation of the EU's Schengen Area travel policies, which called for unrestricted movement among EU member states. That stance was repeated by most EU member countries in short order, and was NOT a policy orchestrated from Brussels. As is so often the case, the EU policy-making bodies in Brussels were several steps behind the national governments in reacting to the hysteria of those early days.
We saw the same thing here in the US, when states such as Michigan and cities such as Los Angeles impose coercive restrictions in clear violation of the law. We have had plenty of governors and mayors and county judges willing to get in touch with their inner fascist as a result of COVID hysteria. What we have not had is cooperation among those same fascists to impose that level of control at the national level--the fascists in Washington DC had to make their power grabs on their own.
However, such power grabs in times of crisis are an historical norm. Abraham Lincoln greatly expanded federal power to prosecute the Civil War (and did so illegally). Woodrow Wilson used WWI to normalize military conscription (Lincoln attempted it during the Civil War but without much success); the military attempted after WW1 to continue conscription in peacetime, but it wasn't until 1940 that the US resumed the draft in response to early German victories in WW2.
With the pandemic, an opportunity arose for authoritarians in government everywhere to seize greater power, and most everywhere authoritarians took advantage of it. Again, the historical record is quite clear on this point. Yet the authoritarians in each country devised and crafted their COVID pandemic power grabs without regard for other countries--which is a primary reason so many global supply chains were ruptured and remain ruptured even today. A coordinated global power grab this was not; there is a crucial distinction between a coordinated global power grab and coincidental national/state/local power grabs in that the authoritarians in each polity don't give a tinker's damn about the authoritarians in any other polity.
As for chaos benefiting US revolutionaries--remember that in the US currently the radicals are the mainly conservatives and the libertarians, not the liberals outside of the progressives and their Antifa footsoldiers--who have never attempted to foment violence outside of progressive enclaves. And, as we have seen in places such as Kenosha, Wisconsin, the conservatives are increasingly willing to push back against Antifa violence.
If the political violence truly goes nationwide, it will be the conservative and libertarian elements who will be most energized by it, as rhetoric about "watering the tree of liberty" will gain new traction and relevance. Yet most conservative militia groups are only locally organized, and should the political violence become a true civil war, it will not be Democrat vs Republican, and may not even be Texas or Florida against the US. The violence will be anarchic, as will be the outcome (once national authorities are so eroded in influence as to be unable to hold the violence back they will fade into irrelevance).
And that will be the upending of any WEF/Davos style globalist "Great Reset". Their notion of a reordering of society requires there be a doubling down on supranational governance and control, and while many national leaders are expanding their control, they aren't ceding it to supranational bodies--we're seeing this even in the EU, with countries such as Italy, Hungary, and Poland pushing back and even defying EU policies and mandates.
Economically, "friendshoring" is becoming a thing, where supply chains are being restructured among smaller groups of nations with presumably greater shared values.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/06/friendshoring-what-is-it-and-can-it-solve-our-supply-problems
Such trends were in their infancy before the pandemic and got a tremendous boost in the aftermath of the pandemic, with more and more countries wishing to source goods and materials from countries other than China. One of the more interesting outgrowths of Trump's renegotiating of NAFTA is likely to be a shifting of US trade currently with China to Mexico, and the Biden Regime has doubled down on Trump's trade protectionism with China, a stance that is being echoed elsewhere, with even Germany making noises about decoupling from China. Globalist trade and economics are not what is driving economic agendas today.
This has to my mind always been the fatal defect in the various theses about globalism and its presumed ascent: globalism depends on the power structures and relationships that exist today, and if those structures and relationship are destroyed, be the destruction planned or unplanned, globalism falls apart at a direct consequence.
Much great food for thought, Peter! You consistently examine topics with knowledge, insight and actual optimism (to a degree) that many stack authors lack. I learn from every read.
I feel there are no apparent conservative blocking mechanisms currently in place - most gutted through crooked left wing maneuvering and GOP malfeasance - to prevent a violent, segregating response from half of this country feeling beatdown, humiliated and extremely angry. Many of these states have blue governments because of majority democratic voting blocks in large cities, whereas in reality the majority of rural residents in huge swaths of land want no part of the authoritarian woke wankery, and conservative anger is on a slow boil.
Thanks!
As we have seen with protest movements the world over, people suffer evil only while evils are sufferable--and then they don't.
There is no authoritarian regime that can stand once the people have had their fill of its evil.
The only questions are how long until a population decides they've had enough and what will they do after they toss off authortarianism's yoke.
Yes, and the longer the people allow it, the tighter the noose becomes making it more difficult to remove. Not a question of it, but when?
That was a really good article. I love articles that turn the conventional wisdom on its head.
Thanks!
I look for alternate interpretations of existing data, or for data points that are perhaps being overlooked. To my mind, that is the best way to challenge the prevailing narratives and give people something meaningful to noodle on.