How the World has Changed Lately - Dmitry Orlov
A lot of prognosticators have been been busily prognosticating something or other for the new year, based on a belief that any given year is somehow distinctly and significantly different from any of the previous ones. Of course we all know that a timestamp is just a measurement of time to some specific precision, and any appeals to numerology smack of the occult—something that the Fathers of the Church once called "calendrical heresy."
Yes, the Earth does orbit around the Sun (overruling objections from the Globalist Flat Earth Society) and there are some interesting geometric points along its path called solstices and equinoxes, but that's about it. And, yes, there are some rituals connected with these interesting points, such as wishing everyone a "Happy New Year!" But as far as predictions, I'd be happy to leave that to the astrologers... except that some of my leaders have been clamoring for a forecast of some sort, and so I'll try to oblige.
A few things have changed in the world of late that seem very important to know about. Unfortunately, these things cannot be explained to a great many people because they lack the basic concepts in their heads that are needed to understand them. Instead, their heads have been filled with various other synthetic concepts and beliefs that are of dubious consequence. For instance, a great many people seem to think that "globalism" is a thing. Sure, if globalism is the ideological conviction that the Earth is a globe rather than, say, a dodecahedron, then, sure, I believe in globalism. People believe all sorts of things—reptiloids, insectoids, human DNA-editing vaccines, Bitcoin, the Great Reset... You may believe whatever you want, but I am not really into any of that.
Instead, I'll just make some observations about how the world has changed in the last 1.5±0.5 years (I believe that's the right time window). These are irrevocable, irretrievable changes of the "you can't squeeze the toothpaste back in the tube" variety. I think that they are fairly obvious, and I apologize for wasting your time if you do so too, but a great many people seem to have missed them, so I'll mention them.
First, financialization has died. That is, the idea that it is possible to decouple the financial realm from the physical economy, letting the former surge ahead while the latter is allowed to languish, has drive its practitioners into a state of insanity (permanent or temporary—we don't yet know) but that is simply not how the world works. Along with financialization has died the concept of a post-industrial economy where nations can stay rich based on some sort of mutual back-scratching, producing nothing tangible and just exchanging services. Throw in all the "virtual" and "digital" stuff: that's all just there to distract you while the real world crumbles around you.
The only economy that matters any more is a real economy of mining, energy production, scientific research and development, manufacturing and large-scale infrastructure projects, with sufficient social spending to support these activities. Nations that have all of the above and handle them as national priorities are surging ahead (after scaling back while massacring their parasitic sectors such as international tourism). Nations that have gone all in on globalization, financialization, post-industrialism and virtualization are at best treading water; most of them are drowning in debt. Granting the transnational corporate fox the run of the national henhouse is a suicidal move.
Second, the last dying embers of Western imperialism have finally been quenched. Western imperialism survived the two 20th-century world wars by handing the imperialist baton to Great Britain and then to the United States (with Great Britain holding to bits of its former greatness thanks to a special relationship with the US). And so we have had half a century, give or take, of a sort of Anglo empire where the English language and American cultural influences infected much of the planet, with Western (mainly Anglo and Northern European) elites calling the shots.
The USSR served as a sort of counterweight to it, imposing a level of sanity while helping national liberation movements around the world, but after it failed in 1990 the West went into a sort of maenadic trance, eventually coming out of it with a permanent hangover.. Just look at the brain-dead kernel of that former imperial might now: Great Britain. With Northern Ireland about to pop off and remain in the European Union, the United Kingdom dissolves; and with Scotland doing the same via a new referendum, Great Britain will be no more. The rump of England plus Wales will then become the Kingdom of England, as it had been prior to 1707.
And look at who is the putative king of this kingdom: a clown by the name of Boris Johnson, whose cabinet is made up entirely of Oxford graduates, each sillier than the next! That's what's left of the brain trust of a once mighty empire. And King Boris I of England, though a clown, is an improvement over his shameful predecessor Theresa May, a ghastly mental inadequate. Compared to Theresa, the Granny Queen they keep locked up in the attic looked positively hot to trot. And that is by now the best that this pathetic remnant of a once mighty empire has to offer!
Are things looking any better in the British Empire 2.0—the Yankee fortress across the Pond? There, they are struggling mightily to replace an orange-headed reality show clown with someone who is likely to serve out a presidential term (or any part thereof) without ever regaining consciousness. For a sidekick they gave him a Jamaican "Matilda"— a grifter who will most likely "take the money and run." Driving the Orange Menace from power has been made difficult by a wave of nostalgia that's gripped half the population who want to continue living well on other people's money. Opposing them is the other half, many of whom feel that it should be possible to continue to live well simply by printing money and handing it out. Neither side will win.
Meanwhile, the money printing will continue until something snaps. It's hard to blame the Washingtonians for their insane money-printing; when life gives you a printing press, you print lemons (or something like that). Now that two-thirds of US government spending is being printed into existence lots of people are starting to say "Won't be long now!" while the question "How long?" hangs in the still winter air and remains as vexing as ever. But if you are rolling along and the road sign reads "Road ends, cliff ahead" what additional information do you need to decide whether to step on the brakes or the accelerator?
Or do you just blow up the car. Previously, whenever the capitalist imperialists found themselves at an impasse they started world wars. World War I killed off lots of European peasantry, making room for post-war industrial expansion. World War II blew up all of that industry, giving Americans the opportunity to make money rebuilding it. In the 1970s that industrial juggernaut started running out of gas (oil, actually). But then barely 20 years later the USSR up and died and vultures from the West flew in to feast on the remains. But now, 40 years later, China is the world's economic powerhouse, Russia is resurgent and militarily invincible, and... it's time for another world war? Sure it is, but against whom?
Attacking China would trigger an inordinately complex and drawn-out regional conflict that could not be sustained without Chinese-made spare parts. Attacking China would also give Russia ample opportunity to turn much of Eurasia into a Russian-held bastion. On the other hand, attacking Russia would just get you killed, and quickly. As Putin put it, in case of war, "we would go to heaven as holy martyrs while the enemy would simply die like dogs, since they wouldn't even have time to repent." Putin also promised to counterattack the centers of decision-making: you order an attack on Russia and—bang!—you are dead, right in your bunker. If in 1941 Russia had the weapons it has today, Hitler would be dead on June 22 of that year, minutes after the first Nazi bombs landed on Kiev.
Let's be clear on this: The Americans know this; the Russians know this; and the Americans know that the Russians know this. In response to silly harrumphing noises by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted a painting of Napoleon retreating from Moscow with the derisive caption "Way to go, tough guys..."
If the impasse in which Western imperialist capitalism finds itself calls for war but the current state of world affairs precludes Western imperialists from starting the next world war, what is the solution? The answer is to start a war against your own people. Tell them that this is because of some virus (a flu virus of the coronaviral variety, somewhat lethal but far more sparing than all of the previous severe flus since the Spanish one a century ago) and go at it, locking them up and destroying their lives and their businesses. Gaslight the population into believing that healthy people can be sick and contagious. Force everyone into a digital concentration camp. Use your control of the media to label anyone who disagrees with this plan a conspiracy theorist.
An ambitious plan of this sort needs a marketing plan to go with it; thus we have something they have called Global Reset. The term is a bit of mere puffery, but if they called it what it actually is—a Local Lockdown—nobody would buy the books. What the plan calls for is shrinking the global (sorry, local) population (perhaps through forced vaccination?) thus making plenty of room for the rich to stay rich while the poor become destitute. Or something like that. Brilliant and very rich people have been working on this plan for decades, and this is what they have come up with. Impressive, is it not?
What can you do about any of this? Well, I would love to tell you, but anything you can do about this would most likely be illegal. And if I were to tell you to do something illegal, then it would be incumbent upon me to also tell you how to get away with it. But the methods for getting away with something illegal tend to be highly individualistic, their effectiveness inversely proportional to their frequency of application. Thus, all I can do is encourage you to think for yourselves and to do your own research. Best of luck and, of course, Happy New Year!