Saturday Commentary and Review #74 (truncated version)
On the Ground With the #Convoy, RUS/CHN Alliance vs. USA, White Boys Can't DEI, Klaus Schwab: Nazi Scion?, Boomer S. Thompson the Drug Consumption Machine
Note: apologies for this weekend’s truncated format, but I am ridiculously busy
As I sit and type this out, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is about to sick his dogs on the #Convoy that has occupied a tiny part of downtown Ottawa, Canada. After getting “the call” from President Biden’s team, the border between the USA and Canada along the Ambassador Bridge was cleared out relatively easy. It speaks volumes that this was given priority over the demonstration in the nation’s capital. Nevertheless, it is about to get SHUT DOWN.
What the clever people are focusing on is the use (or misuse) of government power by way of an emergency decree to shut peoples’ bank accounts down if they were found to have donated to the #Convoy. This application of financial sanctions raises all sorts of red flags regarding rights and freedoms. The ease with which banks have so far agreed to play ball with Trudeau is rather frightening. Why?
Trudeau could have used local police forces, or he could have called in the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police), or even the army. But instead, financial instruments have been deployed with the flick of a switch. This is how easily the government can effectively unperson people these days. Where in the USA governments have relied on the private sector to cancel people (unpersoning) with the allowance of plausible deniability, Trudeau here is doing it OVERTLY.
Giles Hoffmann recently joined the #Convoy and has written an insightful article on its impact and relevance.
Events are also fluid in Eastern Europe where the temperature has significantly risen these past 48 hours, and where Donbass rebels have announced an evacuation of their own citizens to the safety of Russia.
I am, of course, following events but will say little for now (as everyone is talking about it). Instead, I am sharing an interesting piece that looks at the financial side of the larger conflict, and argues the case that Russia and China are effecting the de-dollarization of the globe, which would devastate the American economy to usher in a multi-polar world.
It’s important to torture you, my dear readers, with dispatches from the New Religion (what Wesley Yang refers to as “The Successor Ideology”). Here is an unhinged screed lamenting the lack of universal adoption of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) by white men. Consider this your black comedy for the weekend. We can laugh about how silly it is, but one needs to accept that they are still hashing out the tenets of this new faith, one which continues to increase its hold over our lives.
I had a Jewish friend who asked me sincerely if George “Dubya” Bush was going to usher in a Neo-Nazi regime in the USA because he read a book that mentioned how Dubya’s grandfather had business ties to Nazi Germany. In light of the predominance of neo-conservatives in the Dubya Administration, it was hilariously off in its misplaced worries.
Tying people to Nazis only matters if those people being tied run afoul of the current acceptable narratives and uses. Ukraine’s armed forces have a literal Neo-Nazi battalion ironically funded by a Jewish billionaire oligarch. This is largely ignored by western media for the simple fact that these Neo-Nazis are doing the bidding of the West against the greater perceived enemy, Putin and Russia.
The very fun site Unlimited Hangout reveals current bete noir of the anti-authoritarian types, the WEF’s Klaus Schwab, as being the son of a rather more unsavoury than average Nazi.
I first read Hunter S. Thompson when I was 19 and found him rather funny. 5 years later I tried to read him again and was left with the impression that he was a one-trick pony. To me, he is someone that you grow out of, like you with certain types of music when you’re on the wrong side of 40.
To the boomers, he is an icon. He was gonzo journalism. He was also a complete shit.
In this article, Thompson’s writing methodology is described. What seemed to happen is that he became the story, with the actual events peripheral to the image he burnished over time as the unstoppable drug consuming machine.
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I read fast, comment even faster. In this post you're saying this conflict in Ukraine is used to destabilise the dollar's grip on the economy, on the other hand, in the comment section of the Airport Open Thread you mentioned that the US wants to impose strict sanctions in order to further cement their dominance in Europe and cripple the Russian economy significantly. The question remains, who's the most probable victor in this conflict, who is most likely to succeed in economic warfare?
The white boys can't DEI article was yet again a painful and hilarious experience. The example of the company picnic was telling, I'm not American so I find that cultural habit quite bizarre. I've worked in offices for nearly 20 years - public sector, small businesses, multi-nationals. There's a certain type of female middle manager I've encountered who does a lot of extra curricular stuff but manages to get away with being a bit shit at their actual main job.