Listen to a reading of this article:

Empire managers: Putin invaded Ukraine!

Public: Oh no! What should we do about it?

Empire managers: Greatly increase military spending, work to weaken Russia, and censor dissenting opinions.

Public: Wait, aren’t those things you’ve always wanted to do anyway?

Empire managers: Hush.

Russian propaganda poses a much smaller threat to the western world than the various government agendas that are being rolled out under the justification of fighting Russian propaganda.

Fuel prices are soaring in part because of an economic war the US empire willfully initiated in response to a proxy war the US empire deliberately provoked and westerners are being trained to look at their shrinking bank accounts and yell “Damn you, Putin!”

Only by massive amounts of propaganda would people consent to unprecedented acts of economic warfare which directly hurt them and benefit them in no way shape or form.

As the world slides closer to nuclear war it would be cool if Americans could take a break from a debate about gun laws that will with absolute certainty lead nowhere and seriously discuss whether they want their government waging a rapidly escalating proxy war against Russia.

The spectrum of acceptable debate on US foreign policy ranges from (A) war hawks who insist the US has never done anything wrong to (B) “progressives” who say the US is basically a good faith actor who just makes well-intentioned oopsie poopsie mistakes but should still definitely keep arming Ukraine. Position (B) is the furthest you’re allowed to go away from “the US never does anything wrong” in mainstream discourse. It includes Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy advisor, who smears and dismisses leftists who say the US is acting in a malignant way in Ukraine.

No voice at all is ever given to the (in my opinion correct) position that the US is a tyrannical regime whose immense body count is explained not by accidents but by the desire to dominate the world at any cost. The elimination of this position from the debate is by design.

Sure noble wars can be fought in theory and have been fought in practice. It’s just that you’ve got swamp water for brains if you believe that’s what the US is doing.

Never attribute to conspiracy what can be adequately explained by the inevitable corruption and tyranny of status quo capitalism.

Whatever ends up collapsing the US empire is far less likely to come from Russia or China than from the US empire itself.

A big part of the western nervousness about China revolves around the fact that we’re about to be surpassed by an ancient civilization of non-white people who are indigenous to their land and have never been truly conquered and colonized by Europeans.

If you don’t respect the way China has been able to pull so many of its people out of extreme poverty, and don’t get why such actions would cause such unified support for their government, it’s simply because you lack an adequate understanding of the anguish of extreme poverty.

I’ve met some cute kids in my time but nobody’s as adorable as westerners who talk about Chinese people being propagandized.

The Chinese government exerts a lot of power over its population, but it also takes responsibility for the way it uses that power. The USA’s rulers exert a comparable amount of power over its population, but they never take any responsibility for what they do with it.

Can’t believe Mohammed bin Salman is sullying Saudi Arabia’s name by meeting with the president of the United States.

Putin should try staging a few mass beheadings and dismembering a Washington Post reporter with a bone saw to get on America’s good side.

Many empire apologists aren’t actually defending the empire, they’re just defending against the suggestion that everything they believe about their nation, their media, their government and their world, is a lie.

The most impressive feat of engineering this century has been of the ‘social’ variety: funneling mainstream political attention into agendas which don’t inconvenience the powerful in the information age where the ravages of capitalism and imperialism are right there to be seen in plain sight. 

The social engineering necessary to keep politically inclined people fixated on agendas that either won’t lead anywhere or which trouble the powerful in no way, even as we entered an unprecedented age of information access, is one of the most awe-inspiring human achievements in history.

________________

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50 responses to “The US Empire Will Be Defeated By The US Empire: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix”

  1. peter mcloughlin Avatar
    peter mcloughlin

    Empires do bring about their own destruction because they persue power, but power is an illusion.
    https://patternofhistory.wordpress.com/

  2. Frank Thompson Avatar
    Frank Thompson

    “Sure noble wars can be fought in theory and have been fought in practice. It’s just that you’ve got swamp water for brains if you believe that’s what the US is doing.”

    Putin ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine for economic benefit (conquest of wheat exporting territory and natural gas reserves) and to re-constitute the Tsarist/Soviet-Russian Empire.

    No matter what the U.S. and Russian propaganda say, the Ukrainians are on the right side, .

    You may try to change my mind.

    1. Lotta trouble to deal with for some extra wheat and gas. And I’d say there’s a better chance Biden suddenly develops a statesmanlike demeanor reflecting moral character, high intellectual aptitude, and oratorical giftedness than there is of Putin being a delusional Tsarist-wannabe.
      So I suppose the scrapping of nuclear arms agreements, the refusal to abide diplomatic accords, eight years of dirty war, and NATO expansion and aggression have escaped your notice. As has the coup of ‘14 and the nature of the government put in place.
      Well, can’t say I didn’t waste some time on a “no matter what” type of mind today!

    2. The time for talking with US imperial proxies like you is over. Z!

  3. We are about to go from Globalization to “Wanker-ilization”. It happens when people are used to borrow easy money and suddenly the prices double-tripled but the budget to survive still the same. In common dialect you will be shaking your hands more than usual. Facial masks are optional to cover your anger and the feeling of being dumped.

  4. This is what you call complete control of the battlespace. Tos-1 Thermobarics firing at the horizontal. It does not get more dominant than that.
    https://www.bitchute.com/video/hmfPCXHVaHDv/
    Imagine, the helpless side that is taking the punishing hellfire is the one our Western Narrative is telling us is winning the war. Or, as Beau of the 5th would have his 1.2 million followers across all media platform believe, the Ukraine dead that are piling up in the Donbass trenches are the “anvil that will break the Russian hammer.”
    It is a pathetic path my nation has chosen. That we have the capacity for evil I’ve known since boyhood, but I never would’ve believed my country would almost unaminously be in favor of hiding behing humans shields, so we could watch them suffer thousands of miles away on our comfortable behalf. What sniveling and self-righteous cowards we’ve become.
    On a lighter note, this is the coolest park I’ve ever been in. You’d hardly notice once your down in it that there is a huge city on either side of it, one stairwell away. Brought to courtesy of modern day China, EASILY the greatest civilization humans have produced.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6W-xiyZsJg
    And arguably history’s most peaceful based on their record, and it is a record that goes back deeper into history other than perhaps anyone else but Lucy.

  5. Pause Four Paws Avatar
    Pause Four Paws

    Why am I unable to post here?

    1. Pause Four Paws Avatar
      Pause Four Paws

      Posting with a link appears to be a problem.

      1. I’ve had trouble too but only when the link was the last item. So now I sandwich all links with text, and I don’t think I’ve had a problem since.
        Hope this helps. Good luck to you.

  6. thank you caitlin. i always enjoy reading your perspective and i resonate with it.
    one thing. it’s not just in the 21st centruy that america has manufactured consent. every war we’ve ever fought has been for empire and to benefit the rich. i’m not sure it’s possible to fight a “good” war. maybe, but i dought it.

  7. You so sane. Its so beautifully stark in comparison to the lunacy.
    What was thinking about anyway???
    I guess they never taught it in school, and just went for the alpha male /female
    /President/One God dogma of a Unipolar world.

  8. A fun game RE: “Putin should try staging a few mass beheadings and dismembering a Washington Post reporter with a bone saw to get on America’s good side.”

    Just insert the country and atrocity (or two) of a US ally! For example: Putin should try shooting the face off of an American journalist and systemically strangle an entire swath of displaced Muslims to get on America’s good side.

  9. 68th Bilderberg Meeting to take place 2 – 5 June 2022 in Washington, D.C., USA

    WASHINGTON, D.C. 2 JUNE 2022 – The 68th Bilderberg Meeting will take place from 2 – 5 June 2022 in Washington, D.C., USA. About 120 participants from 21 countries have confirmed their attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia, labour and the media has been invited. The list of participants is available on bilderbergmeetings.org.
    The key topics for discussion this year are:

    1. Geopolitical Realignments
    2. NATO Challenges
    3. China
    4. Indo-Pacific Realignment
    5. Sino-US Tech Competition
    6. Russia
    7. Continuity of Government and the Economy
    8. Disruption of the Global Financial System
    9. Disinformation
    10. Energy Security and Sustainability
    11. Post Pandemic Health
    12. Fragmentation of Democratic Societies
    13. Trade and Deglobalisation
    14. Ukraine

    List of participants, including all western secret agencies, coming to the Bilderberg Meeting 2022 in Washington, DC. It is not about the people’s names but corporations pulling the strings.
    Achleitner, Paul M. (DEU), Former Chairman Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG; Treasurer Bilderberg Meetings
    Adeyemo, Adewale (USA), Deputy Secretary, Department of The Treasury
    Albares, José Manuel (ESP), Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation
    Altman, Roger C. (USA), Founder and Senior Chairman, Evercore Inc.
    Altman, Sam (USA), CEO, OpenAI
    Applebaum, Anne (USA), Staff Writer, The Atlantic
    Arnaut, José Luís (PRT), Managing Partner, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut
    Auken, Ida (DNK), Member of Parliament, The Social Democrat Party
    Azoulay, Audrey (INT), Director-General, UNESCO
    Baker, James H. (USA), Director, Office of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense
    Barbizet, Patricia (FRA), Chairwoman and CEO, Temaris & Associés SAS
    Barroso, José Manuel (PRT), Chairman, Goldman Sachs International LLC
    Baudson, Valérie (FRA), CEO, Amundi
    Beurden, Ben van (NLD), CEO, Shell plc
    Bourla, Albert (USA), Chairman and CEO, Pfizer Inc.
    Buberl, Thomas (FRA), CEO, AXA SA
    Burns, William J. (USA), Director, CIA
    Byrne, Thomas (IRL), Minister of State for European Affairs
    Campbell, Kurt (USA), White House Coordinator for Indo-Pacific, NSC
    Carney, Mark J. (CAN), Vice Chair, Brookfield Asset Management
    Casado, Pablo (ESP), Former President, Partido Popular
    Chhabra, Tarun (USA), Senior Director for Technology and National Security, National Security Council
    Donohoe, Paschal (IRL), Minister for Finance; President, Eurogroup
    Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), Chairman and CEO, Axel Springer SE
    Dudley, William C. (USA), Senior Research Scholar, Princeton University
    Easterly, Jen (USA), Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
    Economy, Elizabeth (USA), Senior Advisor for China, Department of Commerce
    Émié, Bernard (FRA), Director General, Ministry of the Armed Forces
    Emond, Charles (CAN), CEO, CDPQ
    Erdogan, Emre (TUR), Professor Political Science, Istanbul Bilgi University
    Eriksen, Øyvind (NOR), President and CEO, Aker ASA
    Ermotti, Sergio (CHE), Chairman, Swiss Re
    Fanusie, Yaya (USA), Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security
    Feltri, Stefano (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, Domani
    Fleming, Jeremy (GBR), Director, British Government Communications Headquarters
    Freeland, Chrystia (CAN), Deputy Prime Minister
    Furtado, Isabel (PRT), CEO, TMG Automotive
    Gove, Michael (GBR), Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Cabinet Office
    Halberstadt, Victor (NLD), Co-Chair Bilderberg Meetings; Professor of Economics, Leiden University
    Hallengren, Lena (SWE), Minister for Health and Social Affairs
    Hamers, Ralph (NLD), CEO, UBS Group AG
    Hassabis, Demis (GBR), CEO and Founder, DeepMind
    Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation
    Henry, Mary Kay (USA), International President, Service Employees International Union
    Hobson, Mellody (USA), Co-CEO and President, Ariel Investments LLC
    Hodges, Ben (USA), Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, Center for European Policy Analysis
    Hoekstra, Wopke (NLD), Minister of Foreign Affairs
    Hoffman, Reid (USA), Co-Founder, Inflection AI; Partner, Greylock
    Huët, Jean Marc (NLD), Chairman, Heineken NV
    Joshi, Shashank (GBR), Defence Editor, The Economist
    Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies Inc.
    Kissinger, Henry A. (USA), Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc.
    Koç, Ömer (TUR), Chairman, Koç Holding AS
    Kofman, Michael (USA), Director, Russia Studies Program, Center for Naval Analysis
    Kostrzewa, Wojciech (POL), President, Polish Business Roundtable
    Krasnik, Martin (DNK), Editor-in-Chief, Weekendavisen
    Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Chairman, KKR & Co. Inc.
    Kravis, Marie-Josée (USA), Co-Chair Bilderberg Meetings; Chair, The Museum of Modern Art
    Kudelski, André (CHE), Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group SA
    Kukies, Jörg (DEU), State Secretary, Chancellery
    Lammy, David (GBR), Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, House of Commons
    LeCun, Yann (USA), Vice-President and Chief AI Scientist, Facebook, Inc.
    Leu, Livia (CHE), State Secretary, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
    Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chairman, Umicore and Mediahuis; Chairman DSM N.V.
    Liikanen, Erkki (FIN), Chairman, IFRS Foundation Trustees
    Little, Mark (CAN), President and CEO, Suncor Energy Inc.
    Looney, Bernard (GBR), CEO, BP plc
    Lundstedt, Martin (SWE), CEO and President, Volvo Group
    Lütke, Tobias (CAN), CEO, Shopify
    Marin, Sanna (FIN), Prime Minister
    Markarowa, Oksana (UKR), Ambassador of Ukraine to the US
    Meinl-Reisinger, Beate (AUT), Party Leader, NEOS
    Michel, Charles (INT), President, European Council
    Minton Beddoes, Zanny (GBR), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
    Mullen, Michael (USA), Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
    Mundie, Craig J. (USA), President, Mundie & Associates LLC
    Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD)
    Niemi, Kaius (FIN), Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat Newspaper
    Núñez, Carlos (ESP), Executive Chairman, PRISA Media
    O’Leary, Michael (IRL), Group CEO, Ryanair Group
    Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), Chairman, TITAN Cement Group
    Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute
    Pierrakakis, Kyriakos (GRC), Minister of Digital Governance
    Pinho, Ana (PRT), President and CEO, Serralves Foundation
    Pouyanné, Patrick (FRA), Chairman and CEO, TotalEnergies SE
    Rachman, Gideon (GBR), Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, The Financial Times
    Raimondo, Gina M. (USA), Secretary of Commerce
    Reksten Skaugen, Grace (NOR), Board Member, Investor AB
    Rende, Mithat (TUR), Member of the Board, TSKB
    Reynders, Didier (INT), European Commissioner for Justice
    Rutte, Mark (NLD), Prime Minister
    Salvi, Diogo (PRT), Co-Founder and CEO, TIMWE
    Sawers, John (GBR), Executive Chairman, Newbridge Advisory Ltd.
    Schadlow, Nadia (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
    Schinas, Margaritis (INT), Vice President, European Commission
    Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Former CEO and Chairman, Google LLC
    Scott, Kevin (USA), CTO, Microsoft Corporation
    Sebastião, Nuno (PRT), CEO, Feedzai
    Sedwill, Mark (GBR), Chairman, Atlantic Futures Forum
    Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), MEP, European Parliament
    Sinema, Kyrsten (USA), Senator
    Starace, Francesco (ITA), CEO, Enel S.p.A.
    Stelzenmüller, Constanze (DEU), Fritz Stern Chair, The Brookings Institution
    Stoltenberg, Jens (INT), Secretary General, NATO
    Straeten, Tinne Van der (BEL), Minister for Energy
    Suleyman, Mustafa (GBR), CEO, Inflection AI
    Sullivan, Jake (USA), Director, National Security Council
    Tellis, Ashley J. (USA), Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs, Carnegie Endowment
    Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital LLC
    Treichl, Andreas (AUT), President, Chairman ERSTE Foundation
    Tugendhat, Tom (GBR), MP; Chair Foreign Affairs Committee, House of Commons
    Veremis, Markos (GRC), Co-Founder and Chairman, Upstream
    Vitrenko, Yuriy (UKR), CEO, Naftogaz
    Wallander, Celeste (USA), Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
    Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chair, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
    Walmsley, Emma (GBR), CEO, GlaxoSmithKline plc
    Wennink, Peter (NLD), President and CEO, ASML Holding NV
    Yetkin, Murat (TUR), Journalist/Writer, YetkinReport
    Yurdakul, Afsin (TUR), Journalist, Habertürk News Network
    Zeiler, Gerhard (AUS), President Warnermedia International

    1. No Palestinians? I’m shocked!

    2. A who’s who of evil men and women that will meet once again – and forever more! – in the 9th circle of hell.
      Lmao … One can only wish. Pepe Escobar has an inside contact that believes the Bilderbergers and the Davos crowd are just the water carriers for the real power. Meaning, Klaus Schwab is a gofer boy.
      http://thesaker.is/bilderberg-does-china/
      It’s a helluva a thing to consider. If my theory is correct, that all the captured and privatized nation-states of the West are nothing more than hired muscle for the true movers and shakers, and then you add Pepe’s theory into the mix, then it surely means these upcoming elections in 2022 are unlikely to lead to the first tiny baby steps toward meaningful and lasting change.
      ;–)

      1. Everyone was betrayed. The dark lord does not share power and the US-UK Fourth Reich is not Sauron neither Melkor but a minion. It might be your neighbor and you will never know.
        “The world is changing. Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of the United States of Aggression and Great Britain? To stand against the might of The White House and Westminster and the union of the two towers? Together, Lord United States of Aggression, we shall rule this Middle-Earth. The old world will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machinery of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fist of our European minions. We have only to remove Russia and China who oppose us.” Three Rings for the US-UK-EU Nazi-kings under the sky, Seven for the Nazi-lords in their halls of stone seizing the Russian central bank’s foreign-exchange assets, Nine for the mortal men in command of the Secret Agencies doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord in Rome on his dark throne In the Land of the Unipolar world where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

        1. A consortium of several extraterrestrial species covertly rule this planet. This “secret” is actually well known to all except the humans who basically function as a source of entertainment for these overlords. The whole concept was laid out in a documentary called “Cabin in the Woods” which the humans perceived to be one of their so-called “horror flicks.” This whole war between Russia and the US is just part of a plot twist subtitled “Looks like we’re gonna need a bigger bomb.”

  10. “Russian propaganda poses a much smaller threat to the western world than the various government agendas that are being rolled out under the justification of fighting Russian propaganda.”
    True, but the problem is much worse I think. What if you are genuinely interested in diplomacy and peace? You have to investigate how the other side sees you and what their issues are. Once you do this our own elites attack you for “being on their side” when all you are doing is trying to get to the truth of what is going on. You have to start with the point of reference that you do not know. You listen to what we are saying, then you listen to what they are saying. If you are diligent you listen to what others or anyone that seems to make a good point is saying on the issue. This is when you get attacked. All because you were interested in the pursuit of truth, diplomacy, and peace. Think about that for a second. Your own elites will attack you for trying to be on the side of truth, peace, and diplomacy. They will accuse you for “being on the other side” when all you are doing is gathering information and trying to formulate an opinion. Let that sink in.

  11. ~ Harvest for the World by The Isley Brothers ~

    Dedicated to the elitist group, who has taken us to the
    very edge of nuclear armeggeddon – The MIC: the Military/Industrial/Congressional complex.

    I’d wish that each and every one of you miserable mutherfuckers, went straight to hell…but something tells me you’re already there…aren’t you?

    Nobody who really mattered to you, ever really loved you…cared about you…listened to you…met your needs…or saw the real you…RIGHT?

    My suggestion to you: SCREW THEM ALL TO HELL!!! Come on…say it…I know damned well you’ve got a volcano of FUCK YOUs!!!, stashed away, deep down inside…

    Do something really scary…Learn to simply like yourself a little bit….who knows…with a bit of practice, you might even learn to do something *really scary*: LOVE yourself.

    I can promise this: learning to love yourself (and this gorgeous little hunk of a water world) is something far more intimidating than launching nukes on a really bad day….but the rewards are unimaginable.

    Take my word on it: IT’S A GORGEOUS WORLD…let’s not blow things when we’ve just barely begun…come on…take a chance…ask for help…

    Let’s meet on the other side of your pain…that’s where the adventure really begins!

    You are worth it…believe me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-v6gFWQYF4

    (Please note: the title is “Harvest FOR the World”…
    not…”Harvest OF the World”.

  12. Ted Christian Avatar
    Ted Christian

    You really shouldn’t use phrases like “with absolute certainty“ when you’re talking about what the US government won’t do. You’re speaking from a rationale framework and look who you’re talking about. But I hope you’re right about the latest antigun jihad fading, because I’m in the US and acquainted with the gun demographic and if the government tries to ban assault rifles again it really may be a tipping point, and not in a chants and signs kind of way.

    The Chinese and Indians rising out of poverty in such numbers so quickly may well rank as the greatest achievement in history, but I don’t think “China has been able to pull so many of its people out of extreme poverty” so much as it has to some extent freed itself from its feudal and communist, ie collectivist, past and allowed its people to pull themselves out of poverty. Technology brings the possibility of universal material security, and the Chinese and Indians are simply using it. That they look slightly different from me is immaterial. Ideally, everyone would just be happy that more of us are living better lives, but sadly some of us are hateful monkeys. On the down side, I traveled in China some years ago and my biggest takeaway was that if the Chinese increase their per capita resource consumption to the level of Americans the planet seems pretty well screwed.

    And yeah the machine can definitely gull some masses. It no shit appears a lot of people are more concerned about picking their gender than dying in a nuclear holocaust. Perhaps if they knew what radiation does to your complexion …

  13. Vera Gottlieb Avatar
    Vera Gottlieb

    I have often stated in comments that the US will not go under because it was attacked from outside but it will go under because it will have imploded. A ‘melting pot’ that is getting closer and closer to boiling over.

  14. It’s a bit repetitive that you always bitch about the United States of Israel but fail to mention the kangaroo court you live in. Look at all the sycophant politicians in NATO countries filling up their pockets. How about a change of tune…

    1. Vera Gottlieb Avatar
      Vera Gottlieb

      I agree with your point but…it is the US that has been the shit disturber almost since it’s inception. Check out Wikipedia…how many years the US has waged wars and how many years it has had peace.

      1. I’m not up on the various Chinese, Indian or other far Eastern empires, but all of the “Western” ones from the Persians, Babylonians, Hellenic and up to the Roman Empire always ended up destroying themselves from within through endless internecine struggles and civil wars long after all outside competitors were exterminated.
        ~
        Rome had such a long line of emperors because the aspirants would knock each other off after a dysfunctional reign of just a couple of years. Rome was eventually split into an Eastern and a Western Empire with the remnants of the West so persistently attacking the East that it ultimately fell to the Muslim Ottomans. Even the de-facto empire called the Catholic Church was rife with internecine conflicts, there being three simultaneous claimants to the papacy on several occasions–the popes being as much warlords as “men of God.” The medieval progenies of the old Roman Empire, starting with Charlemagne’s spawn continued within the same bellicose template into the modern age. After more than two millennia with internecine war as the standard operating procedure, why would we stop?
        ~
        Basically WWI was the last major family squabble amongst the European empires, which exterminated most of them as bona fide empires, with the Russian, Austrian and German all being genetically related and functionally ended by war’s end. The British and French empires were finally functionally terminated after WWII, with the USA picking up the pieces (and even the wars inherited from the fading powers, e.g., Vietnam). Based on historical precedent, the American Empire is just about at its expiry, or sell-by, date. Again I ask, why would anyone, including America’s founding fathers, expect the use of mass murder in the form of wars to stop as a means of determining who holds the ultimate power in a society? People will stop over-eating to improve their health and lifespan long before they’ll give up group violence as the arbiter of power. Of course, that’s not gonna happen either!
        ~
        Absolute power will always attract endless conflicts to seize it, and the struggle to control the dying “Empire of Lies” or “Empire of Chaos” will continue within whatever emerges from it in the aftermath. We sure have enough warring factions within our present borders to keep the violence going. What amazes me is how many tales in our history focus on literally biological brothers murdering or warring with one another to seize total power in the kingdom or empire. With all the “diversity” forced upon the empire in recent years, I’m afraid it will be more of a war, or a set of wars, between identity groups, some newly invented, rather than the classical settling of “family business.”

    2. Ricardo Jorge Avatar
      Ricardo Jorge

      Toda Europa, vivió durante 70 años sin guerra (debes recordar que tuvo guerras desgarradoras durante más de mil años), en estos momentos, al parecer todos olvidamos el desastre que realizó la OTAN en Yugoslavia, donde se bombardeo y utilizó, uranio empobrecido, que trajo consecuencias a la población. Europa podría ser soberana, y uno de los polos de este nuevo mundo que está en formación, e inexorablemente se producirá. Pero no, no pudo ser, tenemos la élite de líderes más mediocres que dio esta ínsula en cientos de años. Ver Europa, colonizada y vasalla, es penoso. Recordemos que dio al mundo: filósofos, pintores, escultores, escritores, científicos etc. en gral., engrandeció al mundo. Ahora somos una colonia, que se subió al loco tren sin frenos, que nos impuso eeuu.

      1. Tiene razon.

    3. she already mentioned several times the Australian is ruled by Washington

    4. pretzelattack Avatar
      pretzelattack

      what country are they sycophants to? oh yeah, the USA. and btw why don’t you read more before you insult the host, she has called out Australia numerous times. It’s a bit fucking repetitive that the US engages in so many wars, almost always based on lies.

  15. “Whatever ends up collapsing the US empire is far less likely to come from Russia or China than from the US empire itself.”

    Not only that, but this collapse almost seems to have been engineered by design from the inside. Just like the provocations to war in Ukraine were deliberately and inexorably ratcheted up to ensure overt war and continuing escalation of the conflict, domestic dissension on multiple fronts, and a plethora of needless economic shocks have been administered to instigate a break up of this precariously diverse society where everybody already carries a grudge. Changing third-rail social policies like the abortion laws and opening the borders to all comers can only serve to inflame the situation. Mandating a cashless society and the imposition of a strictly digital currency administered by a single central bank, which some are saying is just a few months beyond the horizon, will be another monumental culture shock which many will oppose. The atmosphere of war fever against Russia fostered by both the government and the media, fanatically bolstered with bald faced lies, is more dangerous than smoking at the gas pump and tossing your still smoldering butts under your car.
    ~
    This is the Shock Doctrine in full flower in the US of A. It’s almost as if some powerful force operating in the shadows wants to deliberately deconstruct both Russia and the American state so they can refashion them both to their own ends. What Kissinger suggested about keeping Russia and China apart seems to be exactly one purpose of such machinations, only the intended approach is not to make friends and influence people (in Russia), but to conquer that country, annex it into a rebuilt, rebranded global American state, more like a corporation than any democracy you’ve ever known, and vanquish China through isolation and attrition. No one would ever “hate us for our freedoms” ever again because we would no longer have them. I think such a scenario is all a fool’s errand, but quite possibly the objectives of the rogues presently ascendant in the American power structure.

    1. Quite! It doesn’t take a genius to know that the more cash you put in circulation, the more inflation you get. It’s kinda basic. Everybody knows that. Yet, as the Fed was printing trillions of dollars for “Covid relief” (in reality Covid bailout), did any paper say (including the ones specializing in economics): “Wait a minute here! This is gonna lead to inflation!”
      Nope!
      And then they slapped sanctions on Russia without modelling the boomerang effect?
      Come on… This looks like the modelling of the University of Washington’s School of Medicine in the early days of the scamdemic that were wildly off the mark. And then we learned it was financed by Bill Gates, just like London’s Imperial College, which issued the same modelling hysteria.
      And we’re supposed to believe this is organic?
      The fact that these guys didn’t know that printing trillions would lead to inflation and slapping sanctions on Russia would lead to more inflation is just as believable as the flying exploits of Santa Claus and his reindeers or the Holy Spirit in dove’s clothing descending upon Jaycee’s supporters on Pentecost.
      And yet the crocodile choir endlessly chants in tears: “It’s all Putin’s fault!”
      Of course, as usual, in a country directly run by Mammon “(in God we trust”), the only relevant question behind the shit-stained fan is cui bono…

      1. https://www.anhinternational.org/news/how-bad-was-it-reflecting-on-the-last-two-years/
        ~
        “Anyone who continues to broadcast the idea that C19 ‘vaccination’ saved the day should look more closely at these data. Vaccination is intended to stop community transmission and this just hasn’t happened. Nor did deaths drop following vaccination despite successive variants losing pathogenic strength and authorities claiming the vaccines were protecting people from severe disease and death. The net excess mortality post-C19 injection roll-out actually considerably exceeds that of the pre-rollout period (note area under the curves before and after roll-out) — when the virulence of the early viral variants was considerably greater and naturally-acquired immunity much lower.”
        ~
        At minimum, excess mortality data strongly indicates the jabs didn’t work. Combined with relevant issues discussed in this article, particularly the elephant in the room (injuries), one could logically conclude the jabs are counterproductive.

    2. “Mandating a cashless society and the imposition of a strictly digital currency administered by a single central bank, which some are saying is just a few months beyond the horizon, will be another monumental culture shock which many will oppose.”
      ~
      Oppose and defeat…or kiss any semblance of human autonomy goodbye.

      1. What puzzles me is seeing a WEF apostle come up to me with a loaded syringe and say: “We want to reduce the world population, so we’re gonna vaccinate you against this disease so that you don’t die and we’ll try to make it mandatory for everybody till we’re blue in the face so that nobody ever dies anymore from that shit or any of the new stuff we’ll come up with, like moneybox, poppycox and all the rest of it”.
        Err… Can you repeat that please?
        And then when I look at the figures, as you point out, more people have died after the vaccination began than before and in spite of the virus gradually degenerating into a mild flu. Talking about propaganda, this is a masterpiece of taking the eyeballs out of your eyes to feed you bullshit :o)

    3. Our rogues gave the Vietnamese the Phoenix program, produced Shock Doctrine eco-warfare, shock & awe physical destruction, the war “on” terror (wars of terror), and now it seems, as you suggest, the Shock Doctrine is being applied domestically. For kicks we also get a new Phoenix program, wrapped in the garb of domestic “terrorism,” brought home to the delight of closet fascists otherwise known as Democrats.
      ~
      https://brownstone.org/articles/a-helplessness-people-weary-and-traumatized/
      Reading between the lines on Rove’s “we’re an empire now” comments, the author states:
      “The days when journalists, or for that matter, any element of the body politic set, or heavily conditioned, the agenda for this government are over. We have achieved, and will assiduously use, the information warfare weapons at our disposal to effectively knock you silly, and render you, your colleagues, and by extension, the vast majority of Americans into a state of learned helplessness. We have decided that working with you and the public you claim to be fighting for is inimical to our own caste’s desires and goals and we thus will inflict as much trauma upon you as we deem necessary to bring you to heel and achieve our ends”.

      1. Even though I do agree with the general perspective of the article, the author shouldn’t have put the sentence you quote between inverted comas since it’s only his personal interpretation of Karl Rove’s famous “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

        The author explains that “if we analyze these words in the broader context of the administration’s embrace of shock and awe and full spectrum dominance in the realm of ‘defense’ policy we might translate them in the following way” and then writes the paragraph you quote, which is therefore speculative but the inverted comas give the casual reader the impression that Karl Rove did actually say that. Which, let’s face it… he didn’t. Even though he might very well think so indeed :o)

        1. In such a case, I’d say the casual reader who came to that false impression was being far too casual with regard to the 8 words which preceded the “translation.” No?

  16. Gas prices make driving impossible for some Americans now. Six dollar a gallon gas is hard to afford on a minimum wage. What to do?

    Stay home and enjoy some Russian movies? Check out the Mosfilm channel on You-Tube. The other day I watched ‘Vladivostok’.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm5U4zqpahzyNXBv5ZT51Jw

    Could someone tell me why Nika told Karavayev to meet her at home? Any women here care to explain what she was up to.

    * It is the end of the world as we know it. Americans need new activities that don’t use gas now.

  17. BB Benderhaus Avatar
    BB Benderhaus

    We are not fighting Russia. Ukraine is fighting Russia. Hey, what about that Johnny Depp trial. I followed every minute. It was riveting.

    1. When a nuclear flash lights up your horizon for America supplying weapons to Ukraine, remind yourself America is not at war.

      Then bend over and kiss it goodbye.

  18. “The social engineering necessary to keep politically inclined people fixated on agendas that either won’t lead anywhere or which trouble the powerful in no way, even as we entered an unprecedented age of information access, is one of the most awe-inspiring human achievements in history.”
    Agree. Perfectly stated.
    Battling over scraps tossed overboard by the neo-liberal yachting class, the role of the American intelligentsia has been reduced to that of squawking seaguls. They might crap on the boat from time to time, but they will never impede it’s progress in the slightest, let along sink it.

    1. BB Benderhaus Avatar
      BB Benderhaus

      Bread and circuses.

    2. Crap on the boat.

      How is that done. I still don’t know how Amber did it to Johnny in bed. Did she get on the bed and squat. Or did she keep her feet on the floor and and lean her butt over.

      Inquiring minds want to know.

      I agree the American intelligentsia is reduced to a flock of squawking seagulls.

      Students at a sixth grade spelling bee would be less GULL-able.

      1. You have to admire how they operate the knee-jerk Ministry of Truth propaganda though. Just after the verdict came out, I saw a title somewhere, obviously by an Amber Heard supporter, saying: “Republicans support Johnny Depp.”
        Never mind a trial that’s analyzed the cons and pros for days, never mind the respect for the conclusions of a carefully selected jury, never mind democratic justice administered by one’s peers, if you agree with the verdict, you are a deplorable Republican, i.e. a misogynistic, racist, white supremacist, plus all the usual frills: Holocaust denier, science denier and every perversion that may cross Hunter Biden’s mind. No, not Hunter Biden, sorry cos’ he’s, by lineage, on the side of the good guys (TM). But that kind of shit anyways.
        They must think Americans are bulls because it’s the same kind of tactics, waving the same red cloth, that they use in Spain to lure the bulls into committing suicide by torero.

  19. Because the polling for TeamBrandon looks like the surface of the moon, there will be a midnight showing of TriumphDesWillens to bolster their spirits.

    The good news for us is that anyone who can offer a Venn diagram showing the intersection of baby formula availability, low gas prices and support of US military involvement anywhere will be entered into a raffle, with the winner getting a chance to clean up after the movie.

    If there was ever a time when procreation, highway travel and war-mongering could make a fella’s life more ridiculous…

  20. George Cornell Avatar
    George Cornell

    Re Russian influence

    I was fascinated by the way Russiagate played out. It was pushed very hard, so hard that I suspected something greater was up. The outrage peddled was never matched by any actual data. It did not look like the Russians spent as much as Hillary blew during an hour or two.
    But when Mueller presented the findings to the public he looked very much like Earl Warren on Kennedy or a later Colin Powell on WMDs. That forced coprophagic demeanour?

    I read the report. There was laughably little there. The huge swathes of redactions had to be seen in the context of the petabytes of data classified for “ security” each and every month.
    Glaring omissions still rankle. Indeed try asking an Empire flunkie what the Russians actually did and all you get is innuendo too, in the manner of asking some tradesmen for an estimate. The “ it’ll cost you” equivalent?
    1) never shown they changed a single vote
    2) never made clear what the Russians did to cause such alarm, the self-righteous outrage already laughable when it was learned the US had been spying on all Americans, all world leaders including allies, and their personal communications.
    3) despite relentless claims of the dangers they posed, there was never any advice as to how the citizen might guard against those dangers.But how can you advise when you have to make the dangers up?

    And in the years that have passed, what is clear is the absence of clarity. It’s enough to make you think the redactions were simply to cover up that there was nothing of consequence there.
    Death and taxes move over. There is a new kid on the block of Certainty. And that is that every reason given by the State Dept. for any foreign policy initiative is a lie. It’s always something else.
    So it is likely to be in the case of Ukraine. Puppeteering began a decade ago or more, and became glaring with the Nuland-Pyatt tapes and the 2014 coup.
    So some genius, knowing the public won’t send their boys to die in Ukraine, invented a proxy war. More cash for the war machine? You betcha.

  21. Jabba the hut Avatar
    Jabba the hut

    I would include a lot of @s including independent journalists.
    “What @mattduss doesn’t grasp is that Bush sought to overthrow Mideast governments that were outside of US control, while propping up client authoritarians — including Israel, ruler of occupied Palestinians — under the guise of a “Freedom Agenda.”
    Which brings to the light why Prince Salman has been ignoring Joe Biden for months. Late 90s and early 2000 a pact between the US-UK Fourth Reich empire, Israel and Saudi Arabia sought to impose American geopolitical influence on Middle East by military force. A good justification was necessary to take place. Then, someone from the Apollo program came up saying that if they did put the 3 stooges in the moon, then anything would be possible including a controlled demolition to be perceived as an terrorist attack.

  22. is there a correlation between …
    .. the Superior West’s social/political contempt of Russia and China
    .. and ..
    .. Russia and China not having a history of slavery in Africa
    ?

    1. Yes. It’s called the passionate love affair of American luminaries (primarily in media and politics) with double standards and patronizing.

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