by Naresh Jotwani for The Saker Blog
This post attempts to dig a little deeper into the dynamics of ‘the empire’ and ‘the resistance’. In particular, we examine the specific psychological drives at work. Surely the Saker community understands these issues very well, but another honest perspective can still add value.
Then there is the somewhat distracting effect of naming specific individuals or groups, when our interest is in specific human traits. Suppose someone says to me, ‘My neighbour Bob is a very greedy person’. Then my mind turns naturally to Bob, rather than to greed. Our talk veers to Bob, or to other greedy persons – but not to greed. After all, Bob is the subject of that sentence, not greed.
Our subject here, however, is greed and rapacity – not any specific individual or group. No effort will be wasted to identify specific individuals or groups who are consumed by greed or rapacity. Suffice it to say that, at any given time, there are plenty such among Homo Sapiens. The point is that a mind consumed by greed is diminished, its powers of discrimination being totally enslaved to greed. So it serves no purpose to even attach a name to such a mind!
Also, terms such as ‘capitalism’, ‘free markets’ et cetera usually mean different things to different people. But if we speak in terms of the basic human drives at work, greater clarity may well emerge from the ensuing discussion.
***
War is said to be the continuation of diplomacy by other means. But then what is the deeper goal of diplomacy – behind the publicly traded and often misleading verbiage?
We look for an answer based solely on observed human nature – without any fig-leaf of ‘cover story’ based on ideology, history, economic theory, political theory or other blah blah blah.
History shows that human nature has the potential to be both sublime and ugly almost beyond belief. Sages have said that the two evil genies of greed and lust, once they are ‘out of the bottle’, are inimical to the development of discrimination and wisdom – and therefore to the attainment of durable peace. In recent centuries, it is the first of these two evil genies which seems to have dominated global diplomacy.
[Unlike in the time of Henry VIII, today the second evil genie does not have much direct effect on how ‘the empire’ behaves. ‘Trophy wives’ and other discreet service channels exist for those with the moolah, and awkward matters are easily hushed up. Even then, a mind consumed by the second evil genie is incapable of sound and rational decisions. So this genie must also have a strong indirect effect on how ‘the empire’ behaves – for example, by exposing decision-makers to blackmail. But such shadowy matters are necessarily speculative, and are therefore left out of further discussion here.]
So we narrow our focus to greed, to which we must add rapacity – since historically rapacity has driven many a wannabe ‘world conqueror’. A rapacious person need not be greedy; he or she may well enjoy throwing around or sharing the loot; conversely, a fearful greedy person may not be outwardly rapacious.
***
It is time now to turn our attention to the modern – or ‘high tech’ – instruments of greed and rapacity. Clearly, financial power is the preferred instrument of sophisticated ‘raiders’ today.
So what exactly is financial power? How come person X has it but not person Y?
To get to the answer, we consider an example of financial power at work. Our cast of characters here is: banker B, company C, hedge fund manager M.
M decides to ‘make a hit’ on C, not too different from a mob hit. With money borrowed from B, M short-sells C and hammers down its price, making it difficult for C to raise capital. Perhaps M also arranges some bad publicity for C. Then, again with borrowed money, M executes a hostile takeover of C at its lowered price. Under the new ‘efficient management’, M strips C of its assets, leaving it crippled by debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. M – or another hedge fund manager – then makes more money from C’s bankruptcy.
Huge profits and commissions are made by B and M, with no mercy shown to anyone formerly making a decent living from C. The whole episode is not unlike a pack of wolves attacking a prey.
To create another example of financial power, we only have to make C into a country. B and M now merge into a gang of banks, hedge funds and diplomats; the gang is backed up by threats of military power, and joined by readily available disgruntled elements within the target C.
To raiders and marauders, there is no fundamental difference between a company and a country; they are just two types of prey.
So what do these examples tell us about the make-up of financial power?
We learn that its main elements are: Easy access to finance, sharp eye for juicy and vulnerable prey, contempt for the prey, single-minded focus, skill in financial number-crunching, tight networking, secrecy, shamelessness, and mastery over the legal system.
Sadly, these qualities define the new standard of human excellence and achievement. Self-proclaimed ‘top business schools’ churn out wannabe raiders and marauders by the thousand.
The thrust of ‘the empire’ today comes from such financial raiders and marauders – not the brave and valiant armies we read about in history. Evidently there is no unified command structure among these raiders and marauders; and of course no higher vision either guides them or binds them together.
It should be a no-brainer that a society relying on such unmanly and slimy tactics cannot attain lasting happiness – but of course a brain consumed by greed would not get that.
Physical and political power today is an essential backup to financial marauders, somewhat like lawyers and bouncers employed by casino owners. Taxpayers pay for that backup – in money and in broken lives – while the ultra-rich live behind layers of security.
Bad enough as that sounds, it gets even worse!
Even while availing full protection of law and the armed forces, the ultra-rich do not pay taxes in any country. Instead, they ‘invest’ in government debt. The difference is this: Taxes are paid out to the common pool, whereas a creditor retains legal claim over the principal and interest. Also, sovereign debt instruments are safe and readily marketable; default is highly unlikely, since taxpayers can be forced to pay.
Evidently, the 1% would rather ‘own’ everything around them than be fellow-citizens of the 99%. That they share the planet with the other 99% is a fact they would rather not face up to, while operating without emotional or cultural bonds with any community on the planet.
***
This is how ‘the empire’ is attempting to expand – through financial and legal shenanigans, supplemented by military force against weaker opponents. It is not true to say that ‘All options are on the table’; the option of peaceful coexistence is absent.
But the seemingly headless ‘empire’ does face a dilemma – ‘expand or bust’.
This is a deadly dilemma to face, and the strain has lately been showing. The incredible scale of ‘quantitative easing’ seen recently is a sign of desperation.
Both psychological and financial reasons underlie the ‘expand or bust’ dilemma.
Psychologically, a paranoiac wannabe conqueror – a bully, in simple words – cannot stand any sign of autonomy in potential prey, viewing that as an existential threat. After all is said and done, truth remains an existential threat to untruth. Further, a bully cannot afford to lose face among peers and potential victims; that is bad for future business. So the option of making a wise course correction is necessarily ‘off the table’.
Financially, ‘expand or bust’ arises from the fact that today’s financial shenanigans are Ponzi schemes. With artificial fiat money created in HUGE quantities, and asset bubbles forming as a result, a ‘musical chairs’ game of bad money chasing sound assets is in progress. Everyone wants genuine assets in exchange for phony ones, and is desperate not to be left behind – creating, in effect, a ‘free-for-all in deception’ as a basis for ‘progress’!
Victory achieved through deception is necessarily short-lived. And, after every defeat, the marauders have no choice but to double down. Therefore, in either case, there is no lasting benefit for these ‘one-trick ponies’. Indeed, the only way any individual can justify playing this game on that side is with the aim of bailing out before ‘all hell breaks loose’.
Underneath the greed and the rapacity, therefore, there is insecurity. Indeed there should be, since the model is not sustainable in longer term. The planet will not support ever-growing Ponzi schemes; and in adversity the marauders will turn on one another.
It helps to recall that much of history is driven by delusion.
***
If this is ‘the empire’, then what is ‘the resistance’?
Clearly ‘the resistance’ comprises those who resist the raiders and marauders in one way or another. There may be several different motives behind the resistance, for example:
(a) Ongoing defense: A society is actively defending itself against ongoing attack.
(b) Proactive defense: A society has the time to implement suitable defenses.
(c) Wisdom: That is, ‘This cannot be in everyone’s overall long-term interest’.
(d) Compassion: That is, ‘We cannot stand by while communities are being destroyed’.
We must remove (a) from this discussion, since an ongoing battle cannot be captured in the abstract language of such a discussion. We can only wish that the righteous defenders have the strength and wisdom to overcome the threat to their way of life.
As for (b), (c) and (d), what are some of the options available?
One powerful option is so-called ‘soft power’ – that is, spreading honest explanations through the internet and other media. This is akin to immunizing minds against deception. People should not think that non-predatory mechanisms of commerce cannot be devised.
Institutional, commercial and legal mechanisms must be designed to resist hostile takeovers and avoid debt-traps. Of course these mechanisms may be criticized as being against ‘free and open trade’. Such self-serving propaganda must be countered firmly, and proper models of fair and beneficial commerce established.
A hostile takeover is possible only if the relevant laws make it possible. The model of ‘publicly traded joint-stock company’ seems devised for financial skullduggery. A ‘cooperative society’ works on the basis of ‘one member-one share-one vote’, enabling grassroots control.
Every society needs effective defense mechanisms against hostile raids and debt-traps. For this, it is imperative for it to be economically competitive. That is the challenge of the times.
The so-called ‘finance capitals’ of the world must be exposed clearly for what they are: capitals of phony money and shameless financial skullduggery. These ‘phony money capitals’ have no organic ties even to the society in which they function and flourish.
SWOT analysis is needed within a society, and also on the adversary – so that proper economic strategies can be devised. This is what successful football managers do for every match!
***
It is time now for a simple question. The answer is based on common sense, and as such it should be obvious to anyone without too many university degrees or think-tank experience:
Who protests the most in the village square about his or her impeccable pedigree and character?
Now look around the ‘global village’ and see who is protesting the most.
Related reading:
(1) At Davos recently, the Chairman of a large global bank was interviewed on RT (link). The Chairman put forward a point of view which, presumably, is that of a typical banker. Surprisingly, the interviewer let him off far too lightly on many key points. The response here brings out the points on which the Chairman could legitimately have been pressed for more honest answers.
(2) This post here is a plausible exploration of how debt and money originated, some 5000 years ago.
It is too late for anything much of societal defence. Unless you live in one of the ‘lucky countries’ who have been innoculated by empirslust torture your fellow citizens will not wake up until the very end…ie…Armageddon. The eyes of almost all of mankind in the West and Western hopefuls are blind with the lust for more and with the fear of losing it all…the eye of a needle they cannot pass.
All one can do is prepare. Store food. Fox you liver and GI teact up by consuming silybum marianum and Kefir. You have been poisened by the foid you eat. You are in no shape to survive what is coming. You are in a fragile state. Sitting on the edge of your own mortality just waiting for the last little push that sees you fall over the edge. Zero resilience describes you.
The US is a swamp full of vermin and plague. The US has been innundated these past 6 months. The snow will melt and flood out the US food bowl. Heavy rains will continue right through Spring and into Summer. Mosquitoes, fleas, bacteria, fungi, biruses will be unchecked. Disease and death await. Almost all this years livestock prodginy have been killed or maimed. Meat will be scarce. The grain silos have in the main been lost to floods. What remains will mostly be consumed by vermin andyeasts. Clean potable water is mostly no more. Every stream and aquifer has been polluted. Your life depends on understanding the above…and luck…good luck.
Europe has lost it crops. Grain exporters like Austrail have been smashed by severe drought. The breadbaskets are almost all devoid of potential. You have to think and fast.
Armageddon comes.
Oh dear, such pessimissim, let’s all just off ourselves now……………everything dies, humans too………….well not really dies, the chemical composition is still there, just in a different form………….and from the ashes/dust, new life forms in a billions of years cycle. Not sure about the humans that think we live forever…………..can the universe take that?
“… Meat will be scarce. …”
At least that one can be neatly fixed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalism . Armageddon is coming anyway, so what the heck … while the supplies last……..
There is one major problem with what you are suggesting: Mad Cow Disease. Do not fool yourself though, thinking that this is cow problem only. It is my understanding that people of Polynesia as well as populations of Caribbean Islands had/have this problem because of the Cannibalism.
Just to explain: Cows exhibited this problem because their owners fed them “feed containing bovine refuse from slaughter houses”.
So, going back to Polynesians: it is a documented fact that they had the same problems.
You might want to have a look at Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by David Graeber. He suggests the barter economy suggested by Adam Smith never seems to have existed
Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a book by anthropologist David Graeber published in 2011.
It explores the historical relationship of debt with social institutions such as barter, marriage,
friendship, slavery, law, religion, war and government; in short, much of the fabric of human
life in society. It draws on the history and anthropology of a number of civilizations, large and
small, from the first known records of debt from Sumer in 3500 BC until the present.
https://libcom.org/files/__Debt__The_First_5_000_Years.pdf
David Graeber – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Graeber
My five cents. You said: How come person “X has it but not person Y”. The answer is actually very simple: personal traits. Some people would say: genetic make up, some others: environment.
It also helps if one happens to inherit the riches. I will never forget one men, who showed me a beautiful glass building as we were driving along the highway somewhere in Kansas. He said to me: “my friend created this empire, only so his children and grandchildren could “drain it all away”. As they say: “easy come easy go”. This is why the 0.001% keep marrying the money.
“Indeed, the only way any individual can justify playing this game on that side is with the aim of bailing out before ‘all hell breaks loose’.”
Correct. And so that is what COG has become.
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/news/local-residents-protest-construction-of-mysterious-att-building/
A ten minute flight. Seal the door. Give the order to turn the keys. Then wait it out as Russians wipe out the local competition, and then the subs sterilize what used to be called the Russian Federation, et al.. Dine on canned caviar and foie gras until things cool down. Emerge into the new New World. Hostile Takeover Complete.
Dear Mr. Naresh Jotwani,
My education and experience have led me to the conclusion that human nature can be divided into two types. I will call them A and B:
Type A people:
– believe that the fundamental motivaters of peoples’ actions is service to their fellow human beings.
– trust their fellow human beings.
– are by nature collaborative.
Type B people:
– believe that the fundamental motivaters of peoples’ actions are fear and greed.
– they do not trust their fellow human beings
– they are authoritarian by nature.
I have found that type A and B people are found in every society. It is part of human nature, but the proportions or Type A and Type B of each society is affected by the prevailing culture.
I have also found that members of each group believe that everybody in the society is like them. They don’t understand that this dichotomy exists, that others may not share their same values.
Separately I have come to understand that human societies, and the institutions within them are ‘complex abstract systems’. These are auto-crative, meta-stable systems, whose stability and creativity are controlled by the constraints that are imposed on the system (like the rules of baseball, that enables baseball to be continuously creative). The auto-creativity is necessary for survival in our highly chaotic and unpredictable environment. Those who don’t evolve, die (Darwinism).
I have also come to understand that the performance of complex systems is proportional to the system’s complexity. The more complex the system, the higher performing (think of the Air Transportation System – extremely complex, extremely high performance).
One of the inviolable rules for such systems to function is that authority must be systemic: i.e. it must be distributed throughout the system, and it must be associated with the role of the person, not with the person himself. Day to day operating decisions are distributed throughout the system. Leadership’s role is to look after the long term health of the system.
Which brings brings me back to Type A and Type B people. Type A people work wonderfully in such organizations. Type B people are deadly, and must be marginalized. Authoritarian people, who act out of greed and fear and who don’t trust others, block decision making within the system, block its creativity and its ability to adjust to the chaotic environment in which we live. (For example, in the 1980s, when greedy people in baseball tried to bend the rules through the use of steroids in order to get an advantage (cheat) they almost destroyed baseball as an industry.)
What is worse, Type A people, who trust others, are always willing to give type B people a chance because they are looking for diversity of skills and characteristics. However, type B people, when they get into a position of authority will only hire people who are a reflection of themselves. Once type B people take charge, it is like a cancer. They can’t be gotten rid of. System decline and death is inevitable.
Western society developed rapidly after WWII, largely because our societal and governing systems were controlled by people of Type A. The economic systems were regulated to ensure fair competition and to encourage the auto-creativity of myriad companies and technologies.
Our western democratic systems, an example of distributed authority where citizens at large chose their leaders, ensured that the societies worked on behalf the public at large. Progress was truly astounding.
However, about 1980 a group of international financial elites managed to compromise the U.S. electoral system, by ensuring that a form of personal power, money, became the deciding factor in picking the political leaders. These, very strongly Type B people, moved quickly to systematically sabotage the electoral system and then to establish their minions throughout the government, security, military, economic, educational and media systems(what has become known as the deep state). And systemic decline immediately set in.
They also moved on Europe, through the device of the Euro to disenfranchise Europeans, and replace national sovereignty with the European Union, an authoritarian organization reporting to these same international financial elites.
The decline of Western Society is directly related to the takeover of societal systems by the Type B (authoritarian) international financial elites. The systems cannot evolve because those that are allowed to make decisions (centralized authority, as opposed to distributed authority), have neither the knowledge nor the information to make proper decisions in a timely manner, as well they make decisions that benefit themselves at the expense of society as a whole. (Thus income inequality began expanding rapidly after 1980).
For a specific example, of what happens when authoritarian decision making replaces systemic decision making, look no further than the Boeing tragedy, where authoritarian managers severely compromised the decision making of a once great company, resulting in the delivery of an unsafe plane, the deaths of hundreds of people, and that may ultimately destroy the company.
Unfortunately, having diagnosed the problem, the capture of our societal systems by authoritarians, I am not sure that I can offer a solution, Because this type of people will never admit their errors, and will never willingly cede their power and privilege. (Just look at how they try to remove Trump from office, because he is not one of theirs, although equally an authoritarian, but at least one who professes to work on behalf of his country).
In nature when auto-creative systems get cancer, most die. For societal systems, this will be a slow painful decline, that at some point will result in a revolution that will wipe the slate clean and begin the development of these complex societal systems anew.
By the way, the clearest indication of how authoritarian a society is is simply its income distribution. Those where inequalty is increasing are likely to be authoritarian. It says all one needs to know about the West’s siren song of ‘Democracy’..
@dh_mtl
You, as almost all totally misunderstand what evolution really means: – The keeping of a specific whole form over time. With time comes change and stasis.
The ‘change’ always happens on a background of an attained state and a relevance to form. The ‘target’ is to retain form as much as possible and integrate ‘change’ into the existing dynamic (which is the expression of form over time). If the change is ‘new’ then the change of form WILL itself require something new, this always comes either out of a reservoir of ‘idle’ or ‘irrelevant’ parts within the form OR outliers which normally would be deleted.
Thus reliance on statistics regarding a society IS always hardening the form by delineating the outliers, the ‘new’ is always exactly that which is NOT the statistical norm if it’s not already part of the dormant reservoir of the form.
Thus your survival of the fittest in the strict sense is not wrong but totally misleading in it’s regular meaning. Furthermore it is always an evaluation of PAST and thus always true, and thus a stupid sentence which stupid people use.
More appropriate would be, we need a configuration of form which balances reservoir (of possible answers) and status quo with the outlying new integrating it into reservoir – a selective process, selection being only possible if there is something to measure against (the conscience of form in case of sociology) and from that defining wanted paths of change (the new as a variation of the old).
Something in other words which this society never possessed because they cannot listen, and because of this becoming wiped out 100% certain. It’s late in the day the harvest is in, winter is coming.
Good article Naresh Notwani, clarifies things by bringing it back to the basic motivation of people.
dh-mtl also pares the issues back nicely by comparing trusting ‘Type A’ people with psychopathic greedy ‘Type B’ people.
Another way this is described is ‘Service to Self (over Other)’ versus ‘Service to Other (who we empathically recognise Self in – common humanity).
That is a dimensional scale and we are all on it somewhere. At the extremes are the pure Hannibal Lector psychopath and the Christ-like saint. Through our lives we can move up towards courageous compassion or slide downwards into greed and destructive lust.
But I’d go further. The 5,000 year history of financial systems that create haves and have-nots, has given plenty of time for ‘bands of thieves’ to organise into tight-knit secret societies.
In no particular order: Skull and Bones, 33rd Order (and higher allegedly) Freemasonry, Bilderberg club, Knights of Malta (high level of), Illuminati, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Bohemian Grove, Council of 200 etc etc.
A map suggests many:
http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/wx5a57af4f.jpg
It only makes sense that bands of thieves would organise secret networks for mutual protection and benefit. As do bikie networks, mafia ‘families’ and street gangs. But when dealing with high intellect ‘creative psychopaths’ such networks can be far more elaborate and self-perpetuating.
The other greed – unbridled lust (one could say that a touch of well-controlled lust is a vital instinct) – can – as Naresh acknowledges, but then puts to one side – act as potent blackmail to keep puppet politicians, CEOs, media and celebrity talking heads all on topic.
Here’s where Julian Assange and Wikileaks revelations of what was in the Podesta emails and DNC emails really comes in. It is why ‘Pi**agate’ became the most verboten term on the Internet and probably jet-fueled the whole Russiagate conspiracy to stop the public looking into alleged paedophile rings of the rich and political elite.
See: https://dcpizzagate.wordpress.com
It is a good summary. I recall watching that website get shadowbanned by Google at the height of the pi**agate controversy.
Gone are the days when illicit affairs, gay sexual orientation could get you blackmailed. But paedophile rings are different. They are what ‘Q’ – which purports to be the Pentagon DIA and NSA ‘patriot’ faction that have split from the CIA-globalist-NWO faction and support Trump – has been pointing millions of ‘anon’ followers to.
See: http://www.qmap.pub and scroll down to alleged photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s Island in the Caribbean, or use the Qmap.pub search function on this topic. No illegal pictures are posted but the implications are creepy.
‘Q’ says this is the ‘Great Awakening’. The MSM alleges Q is right-wing racist. Actually in over 3,000 posts Q has been consistently anti-racist. Very anti-racist.
As to whether the patriot Q faction is for overthrow of Venezuela – Q has been silent. So how much greed still there? Is this nationalist-patriot faction just a lesser of two evils?
Or is as Q said 18 months ago – the liberation of humanity from the vast globalist control system would be long and difficult and involve much smoke cover of apparent preparations for war for ‘optics’ – while negotiations, arrests and change towards peaceful future occurred in background. Q has said some in the globalist-NWO faction have tried to trigger WW-III as they see the net closing from military intelligence good guys in many countries.
There’s no shadow of doubt anymore that Q is really military intelligence advising Trump. See https://www.qproofs.com
Q speaks in riddles much of the time to, as Q says, present truths without breaching national security law. The takedown of the illegal Deep State must be done within the law, as the aim Q says is to restore the rule of law. Hence the Mueller inquiry had to run its full length.
Question for me is whether this is just US constitutional law or includes international law and leaving a country like Venezuela in peace.
Follow http://www.qmap.pub with an open but sceptical mind and draw your own conclusions. Q indicates we’re in for a wild ride now Russiagate has been proven fake and the ‘blockade’ has been removed.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-25/200-million-people-risk-national-weather-service-warns-worse-come-apocalyptic
Given information in the attached article one can expect a lot more strain on the psychosocial fabric of the empire of ruin this year. All hell is going to break loose. Just what types of personality will make it through the coming trial is quite the question. I would think the Saker might consider his domicile specifics. If one struggles now with the burdens and costs of life imagine how strained things will become when basic foods quadruple in price.
There are two articles that made me want to repeat something Lavrov said and I quote the text from the little note:
“The gist of what is happening is the “categorical reluctance of the United States and its western allies to agree that the 500-year-long period of western domination in world affairs is coming to an end.” In his opinion, transition to a new, multipolar, democratic and fair world order will last long, but already now this transition is painful for those who “are in the habit of ruling the world for centuries.”
“They are in the habit of ruling the roost,” Lavrov said.”
Just in case you are wondering what does the 500years mean, I’ll say to you it’s the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
https://www.checkpointasia.net/yolo-lavrov-500-year-long-period-of-western-domination-in-world-affairs-is-coming-to-an-end/