Self Sufficiency in the Second Cold War
: history, July 17 2024 ▶
The half decade behind our backs shows, that self sufficiency is one of the most important things any country should strive for. Let me remind you some events:
- the man-made, semi-lethal pandemic quickly showed how dependat we are on the global workshop - China. Many governments finally had to admit the fact, that in times of crisis the Globalism falls apart faster than a tower of cards. Their decade-long agenda collapsed. The brain washing campaign had to switch the focus from the globalist fairy tale to testing the limits of their citizens obedience. Countries selfishly hoarded resources, cooperation and coordination were non-existent. Supply chains were brought down - intentionally or not, it really does not matter. Conclusion - you can trust only on what you can fully control.
- on 24 February 2022 the Russian patience exploded in the form of an invasion of a sovereign (on paper) country. The fools like me expected a quick victory, especially when 2 weeks later the tank column reached 60km from Kiev...and they just stopped and turned back. Russians put the most incompetent, badly equipped and inexperienced troops to hold the line. Then I knew something was fishy. The goal was not the Ukrainian defeat (or whatever dumb stuff they came on the TV with). The US goal was to bring down Europe (secondary - inflict as much damage to Russia as possible), Russian was to cut oligarch's money-lifeline and shift country's dependency to the east (secondary - push NATO's no-mans-land back to the west). Foreign military aid was negligible back then, but sky-rocketed at US command. EU puppet politicians stripped-naked the mediocre troops we have, leaving own armies inadequate and incapable to fight, plus a hefty cut from the taxpayers money to indulge the masters from the other side of the ocean. Of course the pre-COVID-crumbling EU economy could not sustain anything of this magnitude, so ECB just continued printing money. The "official inflation" was media-pampered to 3.5% - I do not need to explain to anyone here what a blunt lie that is.
- on 26 September 2022 US decided to test grip over Europe by blowing-up Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The test was successful. Every EU-involved country played dumb ("see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil") and stopped any investigation (or undermined it to a farce state) - any real outcome would lead to the "state funded terrorist attack on their own soil" conclusion. The response for such thing is only one. Nevertheless this was a cold shower for the declining powerhouse of Europe - Germany. Definitely not the first time their ally (and occupator still) intervenes brutally in their affairs. The entire industry, production of electricity and home-heating is reliant on natural gas. Although attempts were made to mask the Russian gas imports with third-party fig leaves, the price difference, combined with the lack of capacity killed whatever competitiveness was left. The German government could not pick a better time to shut down the last 2 nuclear power plants. One may say "yeeah, but the DAX index is record high" - sure it is, driven primarily by international companies, shifting all production (and profit) abroad. Meanwhile, despite the incredible sanctions imposed, the Russian economy is rising steadily.
- spring 2023 - Russia is advancing steadily from several directions on the front. The intensity of the fights is going down. Some western countries start to question the goals and the outcome for Ukraine. Unofficially the war is already over. But the dividing lines in the world are already set, and set to stay that is.
- on 09 June 2024 the treaty between USA and Saudi Arabia to use $USD in all petrol deals expired. Some experts say this is the beginning of the end for the $USD, but I think the petro dollar died when Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping on the 04 February 2022 and announced, that there are no limits to their strategic partnership. Although BRICS cannot just move away from the dollar, prominent steps are being made - plans for own currency, independent exchange system.
- 13 July 2024 - a brainwashed kid tried to assassinate Donald Trump the other day, basically winning the elections for him. Trump does not want (and economically cannot afford) to follow the line that democrats held with Putin. He will officially end the war as soon as possible. Even, in some unlikely turn of events, where he is not the new president, whoever assumes the position will face the bleak perspective of total collapse - war on several fronts, rising internal friction, loss of allies (Europe is already changing).
Is the Second Cold War already here? Indubitably!
The first one was characterized by two utterly different regimes, physically and politically separated by clear borders. It led to unprecedented technological leap for the entire world. Western countries, especially US, lived in a rigged prosperity for generations. USSR lost it, not realizing that if they do not "shift" their problems to the future, and dump all the burden to the new generations, they cannot keep up.
This Second Cold War will be a total mess. The dying Europe is on its own now. USA and its semi-vassal, UK, will soon face extreme internal problems, due to the century-long cultural and population replacement. BRICS has no rules - it is held together by the handshakes between dictators, whose fellow citizens can turn on them at any given second. Other small alliances are being made, vulturing around the big ones to benefit from the highest bidder. Structures above governments (WEF, IMF, World Bank, WHO, European bureaucrats, a small non-islamic state in the middle east, etc.), under different (and often insane) false pretexts, will waste no time to impose their dystopian desires - regardless how ruthless or harmful they may be. The islamic fanaticism in the heart of Europe has never been stronger, since the times of the Umayyad Caliphate (~7th Century AD). The virtual battlefield is a completely new war dimension. The raise of the weaponized AI, alongside the ordinary bot activities is turning Internet into a wasteland. To tackle this, the major "players" above are creating their own, sometimes physically separate, networks - the only protection from the backdoor-rigged software.
The Globalists lost when the people and their respective countries/aliances, realized that the only way to survive is to become self sufficient. Or at least as much as possible. A state, doing the opposite, is clearly rotten to the core - it will either perish or lick the revolutionary wounds.
Self sufficiency is really hard to achieve. By some economical statistics, the "best countries" in this aspect are ... Sudan and Cuba. Of course this is absurd as they measure the export/import rates only. So I started making some general list, what might be the full plethora of "independence-requirements":
- Territory - if a country is too small, non of the other requirements can be fulfilled. I think the smallest size matches UK, 243 000 square km. There are 78 countries bigger than that.
- Location - no land-locked country has achieved greatness in the human history. Switzerland is the most prosperous such, but they fall of the chart in many other categories. Also, if a country is literally destroyed once per year by a hurricane/earthquake or the winter last 8 months, or the average temperature is above 20C it cannot really compete.
- Population and demographics - you are getting nowhere without a lot of (young, healthy, educated) people. China, India, USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria ... but I would put Germany as the best on the list (19th place with 84 million). I think any country below 20 million cannot achieve neither economical nor technological significance.
- Variety of natural resources - there is not a single country to have them all, but the more - the better. Russia, USA and Brazil lead the chart here and Qatar can be given as a really bad example. If you rely on the export of just one thing, sooner or later the history teaches you a harsh lesson. Diversification of all imports should be prioritized.
- Food production capabilities - if you take the pure amount of agricultural production - again the biggest countries take the lead, but that's a bit misleading. France, Australia and Argentina are good examples. When a vast territory of the country is just dry/frozen desert, this does not necessarily mean it cannot sustain the needs of the population.
- Industrial power - this includes also the capability of keeping up with the technological progress and innovate. USA is the absolute leader so far. China has twice as many patent application and immense manufacturing capabilities, but with 4 times the population. US also leads by GDP by far. The work attitude is also very important as any extremes lead to other problems.
- Defence capabilities - a tough one also. The main powers are obvious leaders here, but that does not matter in our list, as in case of global nuclear war we are all dead. Defense spending of USA is unsustainable and under-funding as Russia is questionable. South Korea and Turkey are good examples.
- Cultural resilience - the ability of the local population to withstand cultural/religious/ideological/racial takeover. In Europe there are many states, soon to crumble under the pressure of alien invasion, leftist/eco extremists (clueless about communism/ecology), forced DEI, misunderstood tolerance. China on the other hand has no remorse whatsoever to crush any such activities at will. Defending your own culture is a key element of the self sufficient society.
Is there a single country to achieve such sustainability? No.
Is there an alliance to get it? Also no. Both NATO and BRICS fail on many points.
Some speculations: Argentina/Colombia if you eradicate the crime with a magic stick, or a warmer, conservative Canada.
The War is Over
: history, August 05 2023 ▶
I should have written this 3 months ago, mid-April, as at this point it was day-clear - the real Russo-Ukrainian war is over! "What are you talking about, you dumb idiot - the fighting still goes on, even now!" you may say (understandable, as west of Kiev the incredible brain-washing continues). I am saying that way before the so-called Ukrainian counter offensive, all parties of significance - Russia, US and China - knew the outcome and agreed this farce has to end. Neither sanctions, nor Leopards, Bradleys, Storm Shadows or other fabled super-weapon could have turned the tide. Russians are just too many and fairly well prepared to defend. Yes, they took massive losses. So what? Trading 1 for 2 (3,4) works perfectly for the Russian doctrine. The counter attack halted to a standstill just days after it started - for the past two months the individual, fruitless skirmishes can hardly be classified as an active war. Both Russia and Ukraine wait for US to push the "peace talk" button on the puppet.
In April 2023, US politicians finally realized they need a graceful exit. None of them could explain to the voters how the State is bankrupt and "the annual" raise of the debt ceiling is needed to prevent catastrophe, and, at the same time, pouring massive funds to the war effort in a country, most of their people cannot identify on the map. President Zelensky believed just too much in his significance, and went on a tour, extorting westerners here and there, ultimately to get major bitch-slapping at the NATO meeting in Vilnius, 12 July 2023. Allies made it clear: "Ukraine is not that important for us to start a full-blown war with Russia, know your place peasant!". Have you heard from him since? No?
Spending a billion per day in aid and sanctions turned from "ineffective" to "dangerous" as more and more people on the Old Continent started questioning why their taxpayers money fuel this US-initiated debacle. Europe's economy is in the trash - thousands of companies go bankrupt each month, hundreds withdraw to safer/cheaper havens like China and the Americas. War donations may work for US and its vast military-industrial complex, but it is not the same for Germany - scraping the bottom of the barrel, unable to provide the sustenance for its own army. Angry voices from the high-ranking officers and ministers rose. The media was switched to start pushing the "we will seek peace, Russians bad" agenda.
Democrats are losing ground by the day, incapable to handle the gender-racial-corpo mess they created. Their policies receive heavy backlash from the normal population. Unless another major election "adjustment" is undertaken, Mr. Trump is sure to win the chair next year.
A huge problem of finding "volunteers" to fight for Ukraine appeared. Local men understandably did not want to become a cannon fodder for their marionette government and the American ambitions, ran away years ago. Now you can see them lying on the beaches in Bulgaria and Greece, waiting for the inevitable peace-treaty. Mercenaries and the so-called "willing soldiers" (often sent by their own government) are not stupid, nor unlimited. In the early 2022 the unofficial rate was ~$3K, but now rumors claim almost double. Seems like nobody wants to face the old, drunk, poorly equipped russians in combat. My incompetent opinion is that there are almost no native fighters in the Ukrainian army.
President Putin had so much fun in the last months, fully confident of reaching his own objectives (not the announced ones, you dummy, check the previous article), that he asked his "cook" to stage a fake coup, just to check if any subversive element will dare to join. Side quest - relocated the toughest mercenaries on the other flank of the enemy, while everyone still scratch their heads. Come on guys, taking Moscow with 20K-no-air-support army. Really? But the clock is also ticking for the Russian President. Some drones hit the capital, ships getting attacked in the Black Sea and this cannot be. Also forced to put special decrees to keep his own military staffed. On the other hand, one of his biggest personal projects, BRICS, goes so well, the entire world started questioning the petro-dollar and its eternal hegemony.
As I write this article, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia a peace talks have started...without Russia being invited. 40 countries will try to create some scenario, where The West will come out as a generous peacemaker, nobody will even ask Ukraine what they want or how to compromise with their territory (Crimea is out of the question) - that is more than clear, Russia will receive the plan and will later accept it, after adding some changes. If this round is not successful, next will come in less than a month. There will be no victor or defeated. Everyone will be a "winner". Most of the sanctions will be lifted by the same time next year. Quietly. Some new Bosnia-of-the-east will appear on the map. A government will change, as local people "miraculously" learn how much money it stole and the real blunders behind its war efforts. People will fall from windows. Advanced NATO military equipment will pop-up on the black market. Arms producers are living their wet dreams. How convenient, isn't it?
This war ended, next one (Africa) is just around the corner.
War Changes, Sometimes
: history, February 15 2023 ▶
Fallout 4, ending scene
"War never changes" - just an year ago I could not agree more with this immortal quote from Bethesda's brilliant game. Then the insane happened and proved me wrong. A war, not meant to conquer land, but to destroy the unipolar world and change the balance of power. Maybe Mr.Putin is correct after all - this is a "special military operation". The more I think about it - the more it makes sense.
To make things straight from the beginning:
- I do believe that this war is wrong and the dispute could have been solved via diplomacy.
- it is a conflict between US and Russia - Ukraine just happens to be the (expendable) stage.
- Russia and Ukraine are corrupt, lawless dictatorships/oligarchies and no normal person would prefer to live there instead of Central/Western Europe/Japan etc.
- the mainstream media, on both sides, performs a brain-washing propaganda campaign like never before.
- being against the war, questioning the pro-Ukrainian narrative or media does not make you pro-Putin.
With this out of the way - let's start.
A very brief history of the events so far:
late October 2021 - President Putin recognizes Nord Stream 2 will never happen, as being intentionally stalled by the German government. Although the roots of this conflict are way back in the post-Soviet era, this was the last straw, before Russia finally decided to invade. About 8 years earlier, another similar project, "South stream", followed the same twisted fate - just months before being operational it had to be re-routed through Turkey.
11th February 2022 - President Joe Biden issues warning to any Americans who remain in Ukraine to leave. Despite being a clear signal for an upcoming escalation, I still did not believe that the Russians will actually cross the border. Could this have been a lucky US-intelligence guess? I doubt it. Russia had numerous similar military exercises in the past. Yes, some signs are stronger than other, but no analyst will overreact with "war coming 100%" and, even so, no general will take this seriously enough to deploy forces (a carrier-ending mistake). Russia unambiguously warned US. Meaning the Ukrainian leadership plus all NATO countries, possessing some military power, knew at least 2 weeks in advance. Remember how the whole world played "surprised" on 24th Feb? I do. They lied to us even before the actual events have even began.
24th February 2022 - Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine. Another lie - this time from the other side, using the historical hatred for German National Socialists to mobilize the support from the local population.
26th February 2022 - in just 2 days Russian forces are in the Kiev's suburbs. At this point all opinions were divided into either "the war will end soon" (foolish me) or "this is the beginning of a very long struggle".
1 March 2022 - some major Russian banks are expelled from the SWIFT system - so far the only measure that actually hurt the Russian economy.
27 March 2022 - the offensive halts. Ukrainian forces start pushing back in some areas. My predictions were all wrong and at this point I dismissed all official statements and really started thinking heavily on the root cause and the purpose of the war. Obviously this was NOT the standard land/resource-grabbing conflict. Something way-bigger was happening here.
3 April 2022 - Russian forces withdraw from the entire north front, basically abandoning their primary goal to capture the capital and remove the government. The so-called "Butcha massacre", where supposedly dozens of civilians are massacred, receives an extensive media coverage. Later dismissed from numerous sources, but already played its role in the propaganda campaign.
13 April 2022 - the Russian cruiser "Moskva" is sunk after taking 2 missile hits. Nobody doubts that Ukrainian forces are (if not directly commanded from) receiving weaponry and ample intelligence data from US, including "advisors" on site.
21 September 2022 - Russia announces partial mobilization. 2 months before that, Wagner Group starts recruiting prison inmates.
26 September 2022 - a clandestine bombing puts Nord Stream 1 out of the game and heavily damages Nord Stream 2 pipelines. Russians were blamed immediately. Just days after the incident everybody "forgets" about it.
08 December 2022 - ex-German Chancellor Merkel openly admits peace with Russia was never an option: "The 2014 Minsk agreement was an attempt to give time to Ukraine."
Since August 2022 there is a stalemate. The minor victories here and there are getting overblown by the media on the respective side. Billions of aid are still pouring into the endless money pit. President Zelensky is making regular tours in Europe and US to collect the monthly arms-supply and to ask for the next. The requests are getting bigger and bigger by the day. The tone of his speeches is bold and often impudent. First it was ammunition, then came the anti-tank missiles and reconnaissance drones, then long-range artillery and rockets, then tanks, now planes. For the latter UA officials received a straight and decisive "no-no". UK, US and some others agreed to send tanks, but only the time will tell if these are not just empty promises. As I write this, The Netherlands and Denmark just announced they will not supply Leopards to Ukraine. 
Germany was pushing back for months (considering the deficit in its own military), then some internal coalition-deal happened, and the Chancellor Scholz complied. I hope he made a good bargain. Big Media repeated a thousand times how Russia is low on shells, rockets, tanks, etc. - at the same time the war is not advancing in any direction. On the contrary - today Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO, announced UA is using more war supplies than the Alliance can produce. The economy of war shows it is "somehow not viable" shooting a 50K-drone with a 2Million-worth rocket.
We witnessed some mind-blowing acts of insolence, hypocrisy and plain stupidity. Poland, with their centuries-old hatred for everything Russian, are willing to lose an arm and a leg, but to make a small dent in their big rival. Stoltenberg said it was Russian's fault after all, when a misconfigured Ukrainian missile killed 2 polish farmers. Ursula von der Leyen, one of the biggest failures of the German political scene and currently (somehow!) President of the EU Commission, stuns with her US-servitude and devotion to implement the most insane globalist's agenda with a zero-thought for the people of the Union. Another German "political star" - the foreign minister Annalena Baerbock - broke the "stupid-o-meter" twice, smashing live with "we will send weapons to Ukraine, no matter what the voters think" and "we (EU) are in an all-out war with Russia". Russian blunders are also numerous and the magnitude matches the opposition, but ... lies, deception, corruption and low-level-stupidity are expected from a dictatorship, aren't they?
"Ukraine has biological research facilities which we are now concerned that Russian forces may be seeking gain control of. So we are working with Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach."
The casualties are as follows (source Norwegian Chief of Defense for the lack of better), killed and wounded:
- Civilians: 30K+
- Ukrainian forces: 100K+
- Russian forces: 188K+
Strange how these numbers stopped being updated since December 2022. More or less at this time the media suddenly lost interest of the war - the brain-washing decreased a bit - from "by-the-hour-feed" to random articles and casual news reports. Till this moment only some "pro-Russian fringe-journalists" and former military expressed the idea, that for Russia this war is as existential as for Ukraine and it is naive to think, that the second (I would say 3rd) most powerful country in the world will be victorious. Currently there are US officials to admit such development is possible and how negotiations are the reasonable way to go.
The duration of this war would have been way shorter, if most of the world's dominating powers had no profit out if it. As clear as daylight is the big loser - the European Union.
Power 1: USA
The biggest fear on Capitol Hill was that Russian's cheap natural resources may combine with Europe's industrial and technical power. The post-Soviet decades saw the emergence of a major economical player. Bigger EU countries subdued the smaller ones and forced them to cooperate. The influx of well-qualified, cheap and motivated (hungry) workers from the former Eastern Europe, mixed with the capital and entrepreneurship of the westerners (a capital US donated to maintain the fancy facade during the 60-80s) proved to be very successful. Russia wanted to join-in and put on the table everything the vast Motherland had to offer. Europe accepted and hugged Russia with the loathing of the smelly relative you need to split the inheritance. Nobody turned down the oligarchs, as they were buying-out London and the other major cities.
Power 2: Russia
The Crimea annexation had strategic military purposes, also ~70% of the population there are Russians. "Unjustified" according to international diplomats, "needed" for Russia. When Putin saw his neighbor being prepared for the same scenario as Libya and Egypt (Euromaidan - 21 November 2013) he knew there will be no peace. The invasion was showing muscle to US/EU. Showing a pseudo-liberal, CIA fueled, "flower revolution" cannot fly in his domain. The sanctions that followed, had some actual impact. Unrest started, not among the ordinary people - President's support was all time high - but in the oligarch's circles of power. Putin knew his days were numbered unless he cuts their economical lifeline. THAT is THE MAIN reason behind his actions on 24th February 2022. About 30 wealthy "businessmen" committed "suicide" since, sometimes taking their entire families with them (browse wiki for a comprehensive list). He is not crazy or stupid, not greedy for land or resources - Russia has both. He needed a change inside his own country, so radical, only a lasting war can do. It was not the poor leadership or the heroic Ukranian defense who stopped the advance towards Kiev on 24-27th February. It was the plan to have a long conflict. Do you seriously believe, if Russians wanted to stomp a smaller country, they cannot do it in month? Yes, everything will be in ruins, a million will die (just like in Iraq 1990-91) and it will be over. Again - not the goal here, therefore the statement "special military operation". Putin understands the Russian soul. People are used to live in hardship, under miserable conditions, but will not accept to be humiliated as a nation. It will take time, years, decades maybe until Russia learns to get along without the western pittance, develops own tech, relies on native banks and escapes from the petro-dollar, then it would worth it. He predicted the sanctions - they hurt the country, but also, on a larger scale, the oligarchs. Europe sacrificed its economy to pretend not buying stuff from the invader - at the same time India is re-selling Russian oil products like never before. Turkey's "3rd parties" are suddenly able to deliver gas on a massive scale. Ships are being offloaded in neutral waters, then other ships appear in the European harbors with tons of oil. The same sanctions, US is pushing down to EU for implementation, are being avoided with legislative gymnastics - in reality US kept its important ties with Russia (diesel, fertilizers, etc.). In some way, indirectly (or maybe not), USA and Russia seem to play this strange "waltz" together.
Power 3: China
Tianxia ("all under Heaven") appreciates anything, which costs money to their primary adversary. At the same time receives cheaper raw materials. Add the free lesson on "how to invade your neighbor without starting a nuclear war" coming just at the right time. What's not to like?
Power 4: Corporations
Having gathered enough speed during the COVID times, the next major crysis was an absolute godsend for the big companies (a lucky coincidence, right?). They just continued hiking the prices, blatantly lying to the end-customers. The money windfall went straight into the pockets of the big bosses. This time they did not even bother to fool the employees on why not even a fraction of the profit was shared - that's how deep we are in the corpo-feudalism! The War in Ukraine was to blame for everything. Suddenly, every single resource on Earth was dependent on this country, every trade-route, every industry. The multi-national cartels made so much money, some of them even dropped the masks. British Petroleum (BP) said "Fuck it!" and killed their eco-projects to go for the big cash. No wonder - crude oil is at pre-COVID prices and somehow the gas station is still selling you fuel for x2 what you used to pay in 2019. Putin's fault of course.
Power 5: EU
Europe is the silent victim in this war and deserves its fate on 100%. US is draining the continent by imposing the globalist-climate-liberal agenda. Its loyal puppets (on key positions) are following any command, regardless how preposterous it might be. It is a public secret that the two, economically most powerful countries, dictate all decisions. The others shut up and execute (or else...!). In the meantime, every single day, dozens of companies go bankrupt or leave for greener pastures (China/America), thousands of illegal aliens drain the social systems and raise the crime rate to unseen heights, insane eco-standards kill any meaningful business, nonelected and unaccountable bureaucrats drown the countries in a swamp of institutional rules.
I can thank you hundreds of times – but hundreds of "thank you" are not hundreds of tanks. We must speed up! Time must become our common weapon, just like air defense, artillery, armored vehicles & tanks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
20 Jan 2023, Ramstein, Germany
When all weapons are "donated", who will pay and to whom the resupply?
Who is fighting right now in the Ukrainian forces?
What happened with the investigation of the terrorist attack on Nord Stream pipelines?
How many oligarchs have to die so President Putin decides to end it?
And many, more interesting questions await their answers ...
Rinse and Repeat
: history, September 05 2022 ▶
Frodo Baggins, Return of the King
A gamer by birth I was searching something to play. Before my vacation I was quite busy (and tired) at work, so gaming / binge watching were scarce commodities, but, with some free time afterwards, I started to look around. Gamescom 2022 was at its end, same for the school's summer vacation, no knowledge of new titles for months - how hard can it be? Well, 2 weeks later I am writing this article in utter frustration and fear for the future of this world.
Months ago I have uninstalled "World of Warships" (been playing it since release in 2015) - it has become the poisonous mess of unbalanced (Russian) ships, copy-paste content, crazy bugs and idiotic players (pay-to-win mostly). "Dune: Spice Wars" grabbed the attention for a while, but also lacked the depth to keep me exploring. I caught myself watching hundreds of replays of "Starcraft" (24yo game) and "Warcraft 3" (20yo game) - the first still going strong in Korea, which is absolutely amazing! My PC is rather powerful so, at least hardware-wise, there is no show-stopper. I started searching for a game, where I can deep-dive and potentially escape the "desert of the real world" ... and there is literally nothing out there worth playing! Checked Gamescom titles - from bland sequels, through so-deep-in-development-it-may-never-see-the-light overpromising titles, to the casual remakes. Nothing to sustainably grab the attention. Then browsed Steam and EpicGames stores for weeks - same thing - unfinished games, utter lack of creativity, nothing unique, nothing even moderately intriguing. Remakes, remasters, retitles, reskins, retextures. Re-,re-,re-, repeat.
During my vacation had to drive for quite some time, stuck with whatever radio stations consider modern. Sampled songs, remixes, re-edits. Sounds from the 90s-till-2010s, mixed with some electronic garbage, flagged as brand new songs.
Movie-wise the situation was even worse. Sequels to brilliant franchises flopped miserably. "Dune" - a stunning visual success and "Top Gun: Maverick" was a sweet 80s nostalgia (nothing more), but everything else ... oh Lord, give me strength! I have not seen so many shows canceled in their 1st season. Latest drama is the "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" - it costed Mr. Bezos $250mil to obtain the rights alone and another $470mil for making the Season 1. It bombed miserably even before it started, to such extent that Amazon and its daughter company, IMDB, fixed the review ratings and ultimately banned all reviews. The "independent" critics in "rottentomatoes", properly-fed as always, awarded the amazing 84%, but the audience smashed it with 39%. Personally, I do not believe it is that bad, but again - I am not the biggest Tolkien fan so cannot really tell. But what I can tell is I could barely stand "Star Trek: Discovery" (just a few episodes needed to quit; similar results as per Critics/Audience) and "Star Trek: Picard" was just "meh". Watching Patrick Stewart (82yo) struggle keeping his lines was just sad. Vulturing on a rotting corpse, rather than some development of the beloved universe - that's what it was. And many other examples...you know exactly what I mean.
OK, none of this mess is some news. If your IQ is above the room temperature you already have some idea why this is happening. Here I am trying to summarize the problems with the "Modern Entertainment Industry", not necessarily in significance order.
1. Lack of ideas.
It appears that modern screen(song)writes are just empty. "Everything is already done" is not far fetched, but also not always the truth. Unlike tech (where real discoveries nowadays are almost impossible), writing a "entertainment product" is nowhere near as hard, time consuming and expensive. You need (a ton of) talent and motivation. Especially for musicians - Metallica still gathers 50K+ people on their concerts, singing the same songs for the past 3 decades. Can you compare them to a band from 2012 onward? No, you cannot. Any contemporary hit-song is hammered down on a conveyor belt and sold to the highest bidder (one-time-hit performers mostly). Recently, everything is just "sampled" garbage, rinse and repeat. I guess talented people are busy with other activities.
2. Corpo greed.
I remember the big writers strike ~2008 and the aftermath - we were overwhelmed by bullshit movies for years. When the person, who wrote the script, receives a dime and some Hollywood clown "voice acts" for millions, the former surely reconsiders further such endeavors. Greed cuts corners and a brilliant idea ultimately fails due to the low quality or presentation of the end product. It even endangers the people during their work - Alec Baldwin accidentally shot a lady on set, as the company replaced the gun experts with some cheap idiots. In another twist, the Greed does not care about the franchise longetivity, the fans, the ideas, the legacy - they will just make a survey on what will bring the quick bucks and follow its results, regardless if it may end the product's universe or not. The Greed will push out an unfinished game and will cut 3 of the planned 10 episodes (murdering the plot) of you favorite series. The Greed will take money and adjust the movie/game/music video to the narrative of the puppet masters, despite knowing that the majority of the audience will hate it.
3. Squeezing the franchise.
Star Wars, StarTrek, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, FIFA, etc - all victims of milking the franchise dry. The Corpo Greed rushes dull, repetitive, numerous spin-offs, just to grab the short-term fruits. In another article I wrote about high-ranking CEOs, who do not see past the quarterly-bonus-horizon. Same applies here. If they notice a decline, they will not try to improve, they will not listen to the community. They will inflate the product with some unnecessary, unwanted, dreary content presenting as "the next big thing", thus frustrating the audience even further. As cheap as possible!
4. Pay to win / watch.
You buy a streaming subscription. Several months later some of the content requires additional payment. Or you buy a AAA-game (~$80) and the multiplayer component introduces real-money-only loot-boxes with premium equipment. Or an "expansion" 3 months after the launch, which basically forces you to spend cash if you want to continue playing. Sound familiar? This is not related to the quality of the product, but is a predatory practice, which destroys people's trust and drives the fanbase away - same result as if the game is bad.
5. Overpromising and and under-delivering.
Games in particular are plagued by this. Regardless if an unfinished game is published due to greed or plain management's stupidity it can destroy a franchise irreversibly. Another example is watching an incredible trailer, then receiving something completely different on your PC/Console/Movie screen. Especially if the game/movie lasted forever to produce and consumed millions in green - you just scratch your head in disbelief where all these money went?
6. Woke "culture" and correctness (I know and I do not care).
We reached the most controversial and significant cause. Recent movies, games, music are deliberately pumped with brutal brain-washing messages, not to the taste of the regular person. Most of the time they have nothing to do with reality - they just follow somebody's sick agenda (the puppet masters). Black people need more recognition (...than white!) - put a black actress as Ariel, the little mermaid. Wakanda is the most advanced country in the world (but surrounded by 3rd World such). We need strong (black) female characters - the next James Bond can be a (black) lady - what a wonderful idea! Not enough LGBTQ stuff on screen - let's randomly throw gay scenes here and there. Oh, it is a children's movie - even better! Our primary political opponent is USSR/Balkan/MidEast/China - the bad guys will always be dumb Russians/Balkans/MidEasterners/Chinese (replace the variable to match the recent enemy). "Refugees" need to be respected more and get all benefits immediately - all trespassers from now on are "refugees" and the actors, women and children of course, match racially the current immigrant influx.
Forcing such foreign "virtues" will always fail, no matter what! People are already pushed too far from the Woke culture (it is "canceling" itself as we see) and will fight against any such "entertainment". We have numerous examples of such fiascos and LoTR is its latest victim.
P.S.
Just I was hitting the "nothing to watch" mood, decided to try "The Boys" - a long-time bench-warmer of my "to watch" list. And, oh boy, was it a good one! A fresh breeze of honest brutality, hard-hitting sarcasm, some soul dive, intriguing and intense story. A twisted parody of the modern Corpo-culture and Marvel/DC pink-unicorn's bullshit. I had so much fun, I can forgive the casual plot holes, pinches of "woke" and cut-backs. Highly recommend it, especially in the light of the upcoming Season 4.
Puppet master's guide - Part 4 - propaganda mayhem
: history, May 18 2022 ▶
noun
Persuasive mass communication that filters and frames the issues of the day in a way that strongly favors particular interests; usually those of a government or corporation (compare agenda setting). Also, the intentional manipulation of public opinion through lies, half-truths, and the selective re-telling of history. See also disinformation; manufacture of consent; public relations.
Oxford Reference
The article is not about the war itself. It is about the reason and the manipulative activities we all are part of. Check the title picture. Happening probably since the beginning of the human history, but now it is way more obvious, as everyone, even the stupidest person, can "express opinion" over the social media. Suddenly you realize the term "being surrounded by idiots" is an understatement. So, people, seeking for a simple answer of a complex problem, are falling straight into the whirlpool of mass propaganda and total brainwashing. If you seriously think, that a one-liner like "Putin did it for resources" or "The maniac just wants war and territory" can explain what's happening - this website is not for you.
Let's get several things straight:
- Russia executes insane propaganda over its population, but so is the Western world. For the "evil empire" (as the US president Reagan refers to Russia) that's pretty much the standard operation mode - so no surprises here. For the Americans - kind-of a daily business also, especially after 9/11. For Europe - not so much. Since 24th February 2022 the people in EU are under the same (or worse) level of disinformation as Russia, China, USA and the rest of the world.
- This war is entirely wrong. Mr.Putin has his own (and probably valid) reasons to start it, but he could have achieved his goals (whatever they might be) by other means.
- Russia is conducting their activities in some tandem with US - if not for something bigger, at least they warned them several weeks before the invasion occurred.
- At this point (18th May 2022) nobody knows what the exact goal of this war is. But a "bonus" objective is the destruction of the EU. The economical harakiri that the powerful EU countries (Germany, France), with the kind push from US and UK, are imposing on the entire union and their own citizens is undoubtedly part of "The Great Reset" and the new world order. In several years, the deindustrialized and weak EU will be no more.
Back to our main topic - the Propaganda. And more specifically - the one spreading in the so-called bastion of the free speech and democracy - the EU. Get your puppet master's gloves and mandate things to your lackeys (the EU governments):
- first and foremost - all official and established media should be put under your control. Cut off any foreigners. (I had a russian TV among the channels of my provider - it was replaced by Ukranian almost immediately. I used to watch it just to estimate the direction of the current propaganda and not for actual informative purposes) Only one view point is valid and that is yours - no matter the truth! That's a basic principle of the good propaganda since the dawn of time.
- second - smother all debate possibilities on the topic. On "day 1", there is one direction - yep, you guessed it - whatever suits you. Someone may think on "How is such coordination even possible, without prior preparation?" and now we come to the next point.
- whoever questions media's standpoint should be flagged as agent-provocateur of the opposition. Again - it does not matter if your side is right or wrong, if it has moral, historical, rightful superiority. Discredit and mute everyone who opposes you.
- conveniently skip deep historical analysis on everything that led to this conflict. The sheep will not understand it anyway.
- put some dubious data out. It should indirectly refers both sides, but yours should be easily dismissable (Mr.Biden's Twitter followers are mostly fake, Mr.Putin's approval reached 83%, Adrian Bocquet who?, no NATO officers on the battlefield and so on...). People will get lost in the myriad of fake news.
- some may make a parallel between Russian aggression and US "freedom" operations in former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen - nonsense! Obviously the first thing is a barbaric slaughter and the second is spreading the democracy. Look at the previous "PM guides" about lying to go to war.
-Brittanica.com
- turn the lens on the facts (the ones that even you cannot smear or deny). Take a look at the example below. The article came ~24 hours after the Asovstal commander announced surrender. The title translates as "260 Ukrainian soldiers leave Asov steel mill" and the bold text below the picture is "After weeks of blockade, the fighters, some of whom were seriously injured, were taken away by Russian units. They are later to be released as part of a prisoner exchange. The area around Lviv became the target of new air raids". A masterpiece indeed! The best brainwashing is the subtle one (although for any intelligent person that's not so subtle) - here the puppet media does not use "surrender" or "captured". And immediately shifts the topic. For the same story, you can easily find more or less the same description, but with the "proper" use of the word "evacuation". If you can do this with an exemplary, established newspaper as FAZ, imagine what you can achieve with all other second-hand, hungry media.
- nowadays it is not uncommon for any side to use mercenaries. Shush extensive talking about Ukrainians and overblow everything for the russian military (a country that has ~200 ethnic groups). One may find suspicious how Ukranians handle perfectly, in a matter of days, battle equipment they have never seen before (even with interface in arabic) - again, nonsense! Slap one "russian bot" here and there - see - everything is fine now.
- nobody will even notice if you censor, ban/delete accounts or put your own fake news. So why just not use it.
- the time is ripe to create the "Ministry of Truth" - if you have no idea what this is, please read some books (1984) or just watch what Mr.Biden's administration is doing under the term "Disinformation Governance Board".
- some of your weak henchmen may slip (under oath in front of a jury), that you have been going around the international regulations and developing bio-weapons (replace with "bio-laboratories") in the affected country. Nullify the following "cause-and-effect" reasoning, if this might be just one of the many reasons, your adversary attacked.
- promote that this is a war between Ukraine and Russia, and you have nothing to do with that.
- announce plans for cutting all ties with Russia (for your vassals of course). Oil and gas for sure, as soon as possible. No worries - you are the biggest re-distributor of such. Profit awaits! Plus unknown number of russian ships will depart ports with "unknown destination" in their logs. Guess what will happen in the international waters. Suddenly, countries with no raw materials will start exporting huge amounts of both. While Europe commits suicide, you can continue importing fertilizers and diesel with a simple legislative switcheroo.
- being a puppet master is a tough and tiresome job. Get some fun in your daily activities by creating the "opposite of art"-type of musical festival, where the first place is always won by "the victim of the day" - if your chosen country cannot really cut it (come on, do I even have to say this?!) just manipulate the results a bit.
Do not forget the other tools of the puppet master. There is just no better time to rob the people by printing an endless amount of money. War (indirect military help), recovery plans, cutting the dependency on the russian raw materials - all bottomless pits where the money flow unsanctioned and unaccounted for. Additionally put some of your corporations as a "middle man" so you have a cut from every shady deal, every "classified" trade agreement etc.
Dump unknown amount weapons in the hands of a notorious para-military unit. It does not matter how many of them will be further sold to terrorists. The main point is causing chaos, prolonging the war and keeping the industrial-military complex going - hurting the "enemy" comes just as a bonus.