“No hard feelings; we are all playing the same game; we all use the same tricks.”
If I heard correctly, the CIA provoked around 200 wars since WWII... It will take a long time for the 'Axis of Evil' to catch up with our 'liberal democracies'...
Organized crime legally runs the Russian government; in the US organized crime maintains substantial influence. The case of Sergei Magnitsky for which the US placed sanctions on Russia that potentially were the main cause for Putin's 2014 invasion of Ukraine, this case highlights the difference: a legally run business enterprise is at any time subject to being stolen by oligarchs, and if a lawyer like Magnitsky uses the rule of law to expose the corruption, he will not only be imprisoned, tortured, and murdered, but he will also be framed as the criminal for questioning power. In this sense, "authoritarian democracy" is an oxymoron; coerced consent doesn't qualify as consent. If a Russian attends a protest just to watch, they do so in terror. Terror is not the state of a citizen living in a democracy.
There's a nuanced difference between the West and Russia in terms of the concept of sovereignty. The West doesn't seek to expand territory, but it does arm and fund a preferred side in a conflict because it could benefit from a particular political system governing a particular territory. Russia on the other hand seeks long-term partnerships with dictators and cannot fundamentally interface with democracies. It seeks territories that have a subordinate status and those territories, resources, and people would all be subjects of the goals of the empire once conquered. It's wrong to see this as equivalent because if they were, there wouldn't be a source of conflict.
Glad to know I'm not the only one. I, too, along with Vée Ellebée was struck by your remark: "It is fair to conclude that as long as humanity remains captivated by a rationalist-materialist worldview, the same types of individuals and the same state systems will continue to lead it." "Captivated" perfectly describes the phenomenon, since rationalist, materialist systems are truly impossible to understand because they simply boil down to the nonsense of "just there" ideologies. However, they capture the mind and either injure it sufficiently or perhaps lock it down completely such that the truth is effectively suppressed from practical realization.
Another excellent (journalistic) contribution. The realpolitik approach is very surprising to me, as I think I remember the chapter 8 on conspiracy thinking in The Psychology of Totalitarianism accurately. To paraphrase Mattias' approach there, most terror events in this world since Brutus or so seem to reflect the ideologies of empires rather than real conspiracies, right?-)
Practically speaking, the recent history of Chechnya also explains why Putin went along with or even welcomed the so-called war on terror after the empire officially dialed 911. Empires usually allow the spectre of terror to appear on stage when the aim is to create fear and thus consent for more wars and more control over the population. This is what chaos artists like Zbig "Rambo III" Brzeziński and Heinz "Die Hard I" Kissinger probably meant when they spoke of world order. Incidentally, the result of their heirs legacy today is a destabilized and (once again) war-torn Europe.
"No hard feelings; we are all playing the same game; we all use the same tricks." That's right! As always, the role of Tucker Carlson and the like (whom btw I like very much) is missing in this game. This is the classic role of the journalist. Which is basically to repeat things that don't make much sense and keep doing it until that nonsense makes sense to the majority. Freud's nephew Edward Bernays would have called it Propaganda.
Practical example: Tucker on Nordstream and “the” Germans (and their alleged sexual habits):
"Keep this up! I mean that is not healthy in any way. If you're so called ally destroys your country for generations, which is what the Biden administration did, when it shut the Nordstream pipeline. And you don't even feel you can say anything about that. It's like some dude is in the process of raping your wife but you're too embarrassed to mention it. I mean that's really what that is: You're a sick fuck!”
Now, there is a profound cognitive bias here that is quite prevalent in the world of so-called alternative media. It is the fact that the Nordstream pipelines are actually R U S S I A N infrastructure, majority-owned by Russian national “gas station” Gazprom. But of course neither German politicians nor Putin are “sick fucks” too embarassed to mention it, but they are realpolitikers who, like an American president, also have to deal with their own population first. So people should know that it was the German government that was under public pressure NOT to close Nordstream until the Bornholm bubbles went viral in the media machinery and this pressure quite miraculously fizzled out with a big bang. And this despite the fact that even one of the four pipelines was not officially destroyed and could immediately supply gas to European companies. Is it a "rationalist society" that takes reality only for granted when it appears on everyone's screen?
Now, simplify the image. Focus on Nicholas II, shift your aperture to go deeper into the image. Who did he represent? Rasha – Russia – the Universal Body and the Origin of Supersymmetry (dark matter). “Any image that does not embrace male and female is not a high and true image,” Solovyov. What is philosophy? The reclamation of the feminine God principle, it is only through Divine Sophia that the heart is healed. And we can’t have that, now, can we?
You said it yourself in your title, this is not a war over appearances, therefore it is a war over appearances! – involution. Laughter is what differentiates us from the anti-Christ. Vizhu ochi tvoi izumrudnye...
Wonderful substack! Thank you for this, Mattias! It almost made me cry.
That last quote is exactly why I don't believe we are actually on the brink of World War III. Putin will not take this step and no NATO country will take this step. I'm not sure about China and I'm even less sure about Israel. But the time has not yet come for them either and hopefully it never will. But it is terrible that so many civilians have to suffer these chess games until the chess players have achieved their goals or at least let go. And I am so glad that Putin is so relaxed about it, because I think the West has really led him by the nose and disappointed him in his attempts to bring Russia closer to the West (as he has now done with BRICS).
Much love from Austria from me, who is still grateful for our neutrality and upholds it,
Thanks Mattias, enlightening as to the history of Eastern Europe. President Putin, for all his criticisms and faults and vile hatred by the Western Elites, as a strategist - is simply brilliant. He knows geo-political chess better than anyone. But as you point out, he is also very familiar of European traditions and is not against them (spent years in Dresden working as a translator and I believe in Berlin as well). This has helped him build empathy with the West, which is why the few who oppose Western approach to these wars understand this (Scott Ritter, Colonel Douglas MacGregor) because they too are brilliant strategists - and understand that they need to understand the other side. How did we get to a place where diplomacy has evaded the basic strategic principle of understanding your opponent? You don't need to "like him" or "support him". Laws, policy and diplomacy, are not based on feelings, they are based on strategic interests, and equality under the law. We are so far off there, it is crazy. My biggest fear until January 21st is that the oligarchs will in fact assassinate President Putin and boy will that be bad for all. I sincerely hope and pray that I am wrong. President Trump needs to sit down with Scott Ritter to understand the Russians and he needs to do it stat.
Informative read. I think the US deep state NeoCons want a NATO conflict with Russia, but got caught short by Putin's hypersonic mirv med Range Ballistic Missile which they have no current viable defense for. Putin basically said in a speech yesterday that he's not taking the bait and will wait to negotiate the end of a War that would never have started without US CIA fostered Ukrainian regime change in 2014. The US Deep State and military industrial complex have Ukrainian blood on their hands. It remains to be seen if Trump's administration will succeed in reigning in the rogue power elites of the US, but he will try. As for Putin, he's obviously no saint, but will probably welcome a return to normalized relations with th US and Europe.
The real problem as you so astutely pointed out, is the Toletarian bent of the World Economic Forum, United Nations, European Parliment, and a laundry list of NGO's who do want a system of world governance administrated by self-annoited elites like themselves.
This made me investigate what rationalism is. It is exemplified by the character Dr. Spock in Star Trek--emotionless, calculating, and based on facts. Another example is the character Sheldon Cooper in "Big Bang Theory" TV series, but his cohorts constantly pressure him to be more relational and try to use his feelings to relate better in the world.
Dear Mattias, although this was a fascinating read as usual, I'm not quite sure this time what your point is. Of course, undeniably, the West as well as Russia know and apply all the tricks in the propaganda textbook, as well as many of those in the false-flag manual. Of course there is corruption in the highest ranks of Western countries as well as Russia, including their heads of state. No one in their right mind ever suspected differently. That is just deeply human and permeates all of history. I'm therefore not quite sure why in this essay the Chechens played such a central role in your musings.
Moreover, your very first paragraph holds a misleading premise: Western countries didn't just "authorize" Ukraine to "use" long-range missiles supplied by them, they actively guided those missiles into Russia via their satellites and IT experts. So we have entered the phase of open acts of war by the US-led West committed against Russia and its territorial integrity. Wouldn't you agree that this is a much more important point to ponder than all the following reflections on truth and corruption in times of open war?
So, you are saying a rationalist-materialistic world view leads to extreme top-down control, as opposed to what other type of world view? The description of the old Chechnya council seems to be a rational system. And, all cultures are materialistic, being human is a material experience. It is the clever members of a group that exploit the tribe for extra resources, including the wily Shaman or Church leader. The use of technology is the same game in a very sophisticated form. The problem I believe is society is not pushing hard enough for laws that protect their freedom and privacy. Speaking truth is not enough, truth speech needs to be a legal priority.
Very insightful perspective into a pretty opaque reality.
I would contend that the way things work everywhere, it today's paradigm, is driven by the intelligence services and "explained" by the politicians on a pretty sloppy directed script, only saved in appearance by the insanely large propaganda machine which is the media.
The key part in all of this is getting people to consent through voting once in a while, so they can bear the blame for what's happening to them, stay divided and figure it out late enough in their life so they won't be able to do anything to change it.
Speaking truth to them may help, but not all of them, not in the state they are in - they need to be given something to do that would get them out of that state, without them having to figure it out. To me, the best option is creating free exchange systems that people could use for supporting their own existence, allowing them to bring meaningful contributions and benefit from the others' contributions. This way, people will re-discover how they could become a society again - as this is what we lost...
Just as with speaking the truth, people don't really understand why engaging in such an "adventure" would be useful to them, so they won't. This is why it is very difficult to start something like this - but maybe it could be encouraged as part of speaking the truth... This way we could start our own narrative that would become a credible alternative to the "official" one...
Fawning? No. But much respect and love for a brave man willing to speak for those without a voice. I know his task has not been easy, far from it. And I suggest you do not assign yourself the job of being the good Doc's vocal representative. Trouble with worm-like trolls like yourself, apart from the hate you attempt to spread, is your overblown sense of self worth demonstrated by your self aggrandisement.
I think you misunderstand what Mattias Desmet was talking about. He was not "speaking for those without a voice". Nothing to do with his podcasts.
He was explaining a fairly minor concept out of the field of totalitarianism, which had been explained by others for over 200 years. Just because you had never heard this before, does not make it new or amazing.
You rant here is totally out of line. You are outraged because I explain to you what Mattias was doing? You seem to be just another groupie, looking for and gushing over whoever is the latest Influencer sensation online. Says more about you having dependency needs than it does about them. There used to be many of your type on here (who were totally uninterested in the topic...just wanted someone to gush over). But they have faded out and presumably found new objects.
“No hard feelings; we are all playing the same game; we all use the same tricks.”
If I heard correctly, the CIA provoked around 200 wars since WWII... It will take a long time for the 'Axis of Evil' to catch up with our 'liberal democracies'...
Organized crime legally runs the Russian government; in the US organized crime maintains substantial influence. The case of Sergei Magnitsky for which the US placed sanctions on Russia that potentially were the main cause for Putin's 2014 invasion of Ukraine, this case highlights the difference: a legally run business enterprise is at any time subject to being stolen by oligarchs, and if a lawyer like Magnitsky uses the rule of law to expose the corruption, he will not only be imprisoned, tortured, and murdered, but he will also be framed as the criminal for questioning power. In this sense, "authoritarian democracy" is an oxymoron; coerced consent doesn't qualify as consent. If a Russian attends a protest just to watch, they do so in terror. Terror is not the state of a citizen living in a democracy.
There's a nuanced difference between the West and Russia in terms of the concept of sovereignty. The West doesn't seek to expand territory, but it does arm and fund a preferred side in a conflict because it could benefit from a particular political system governing a particular territory. Russia on the other hand seeks long-term partnerships with dictators and cannot fundamentally interface with democracies. It seeks territories that have a subordinate status and those territories, resources, and people would all be subjects of the goals of the empire once conquered. It's wrong to see this as equivalent because if they were, there wouldn't be a source of conflict.
Glad to know I'm not the only one. I, too, along with Vée Ellebée was struck by your remark: "It is fair to conclude that as long as humanity remains captivated by a rationalist-materialist worldview, the same types of individuals and the same state systems will continue to lead it." "Captivated" perfectly describes the phenomenon, since rationalist, materialist systems are truly impossible to understand because they simply boil down to the nonsense of "just there" ideologies. However, they capture the mind and either injure it sufficiently or perhaps lock it down completely such that the truth is effectively suppressed from practical realization.
Thank you very much...
Another excellent (journalistic) contribution. The realpolitik approach is very surprising to me, as I think I remember the chapter 8 on conspiracy thinking in The Psychology of Totalitarianism accurately. To paraphrase Mattias' approach there, most terror events in this world since Brutus or so seem to reflect the ideologies of empires rather than real conspiracies, right?-)
Practically speaking, the recent history of Chechnya also explains why Putin went along with or even welcomed the so-called war on terror after the empire officially dialed 911. Empires usually allow the spectre of terror to appear on stage when the aim is to create fear and thus consent for more wars and more control over the population. This is what chaos artists like Zbig "Rambo III" Brzeziński and Heinz "Die Hard I" Kissinger probably meant when they spoke of world order. Incidentally, the result of their heirs legacy today is a destabilized and (once again) war-torn Europe.
"No hard feelings; we are all playing the same game; we all use the same tricks." That's right! As always, the role of Tucker Carlson and the like (whom btw I like very much) is missing in this game. This is the classic role of the journalist. Which is basically to repeat things that don't make much sense and keep doing it until that nonsense makes sense to the majority. Freud's nephew Edward Bernays would have called it Propaganda.
Practical example: Tucker on Nordstream and “the” Germans (and their alleged sexual habits):
"Keep this up! I mean that is not healthy in any way. If you're so called ally destroys your country for generations, which is what the Biden administration did, when it shut the Nordstream pipeline. And you don't even feel you can say anything about that. It's like some dude is in the process of raping your wife but you're too embarrassed to mention it. I mean that's really what that is: You're a sick fuck!”
Now, there is a profound cognitive bias here that is quite prevalent in the world of so-called alternative media. It is the fact that the Nordstream pipelines are actually R U S S I A N infrastructure, majority-owned by Russian national “gas station” Gazprom. But of course neither German politicians nor Putin are “sick fucks” too embarassed to mention it, but they are realpolitikers who, like an American president, also have to deal with their own population first. So people should know that it was the German government that was under public pressure NOT to close Nordstream until the Bornholm bubbles went viral in the media machinery and this pressure quite miraculously fizzled out with a big bang. And this despite the fact that even one of the four pipelines was not officially destroyed and could immediately supply gas to European companies. Is it a "rationalist society" that takes reality only for granted when it appears on everyone's screen?
A French translation ; )
https://dieudonnedard.substack.com/p/le-courage-de-la-verite-dans-la-russie
Now, simplify the image. Focus on Nicholas II, shift your aperture to go deeper into the image. Who did he represent? Rasha – Russia – the Universal Body and the Origin of Supersymmetry (dark matter). “Any image that does not embrace male and female is not a high and true image,” Solovyov. What is philosophy? The reclamation of the feminine God principle, it is only through Divine Sophia that the heart is healed. And we can’t have that, now, can we?
You said it yourself in your title, this is not a war over appearances, therefore it is a war over appearances! – involution. Laughter is what differentiates us from the anti-Christ. Vizhu ochi tvoi izumrudnye...
Wonderful substack! Thank you for this, Mattias! It almost made me cry.
That last quote is exactly why I don't believe we are actually on the brink of World War III. Putin will not take this step and no NATO country will take this step. I'm not sure about China and I'm even less sure about Israel. But the time has not yet come for them either and hopefully it never will. But it is terrible that so many civilians have to suffer these chess games until the chess players have achieved their goals or at least let go. And I am so glad that Putin is so relaxed about it, because I think the West has really led him by the nose and disappointed him in his attempts to bring Russia closer to the West (as he has now done with BRICS).
Much love from Austria from me, who is still grateful for our neutrality and upholds it,
Bettina
Thanks Mattias, enlightening as to the history of Eastern Europe. President Putin, for all his criticisms and faults and vile hatred by the Western Elites, as a strategist - is simply brilliant. He knows geo-political chess better than anyone. But as you point out, he is also very familiar of European traditions and is not against them (spent years in Dresden working as a translator and I believe in Berlin as well). This has helped him build empathy with the West, which is why the few who oppose Western approach to these wars understand this (Scott Ritter, Colonel Douglas MacGregor) because they too are brilliant strategists - and understand that they need to understand the other side. How did we get to a place where diplomacy has evaded the basic strategic principle of understanding your opponent? You don't need to "like him" or "support him". Laws, policy and diplomacy, are not based on feelings, they are based on strategic interests, and equality under the law. We are so far off there, it is crazy. My biggest fear until January 21st is that the oligarchs will in fact assassinate President Putin and boy will that be bad for all. I sincerely hope and pray that I am wrong. President Trump needs to sit down with Scott Ritter to understand the Russians and he needs to do it stat.
Thank you for sharing the history of Chechnya.
Informative read. I think the US deep state NeoCons want a NATO conflict with Russia, but got caught short by Putin's hypersonic mirv med Range Ballistic Missile which they have no current viable defense for. Putin basically said in a speech yesterday that he's not taking the bait and will wait to negotiate the end of a War that would never have started without US CIA fostered Ukrainian regime change in 2014. The US Deep State and military industrial complex have Ukrainian blood on their hands. It remains to be seen if Trump's administration will succeed in reigning in the rogue power elites of the US, but he will try. As for Putin, he's obviously no saint, but will probably welcome a return to normalized relations with th US and Europe.
The real problem as you so astutely pointed out, is the Toletarian bent of the World Economic Forum, United Nations, European Parliment, and a laundry list of NGO's who do want a system of world governance administrated by self-annoited elites like themselves.
Dick Minnis removingthecataract.substack.com
This made me investigate what rationalism is. It is exemplified by the character Dr. Spock in Star Trek--emotionless, calculating, and based on facts. Another example is the character Sheldon Cooper in "Big Bang Theory" TV series, but his cohorts constantly pressure him to be more relational and try to use his feelings to relate better in the world.
Dear Mattias, although this was a fascinating read as usual, I'm not quite sure this time what your point is. Of course, undeniably, the West as well as Russia know and apply all the tricks in the propaganda textbook, as well as many of those in the false-flag manual. Of course there is corruption in the highest ranks of Western countries as well as Russia, including their heads of state. No one in their right mind ever suspected differently. That is just deeply human and permeates all of history. I'm therefore not quite sure why in this essay the Chechens played such a central role in your musings.
Moreover, your very first paragraph holds a misleading premise: Western countries didn't just "authorize" Ukraine to "use" long-range missiles supplied by them, they actively guided those missiles into Russia via their satellites and IT experts. So we have entered the phase of open acts of war by the US-led West committed against Russia and its territorial integrity. Wouldn't you agree that this is a much more important point to ponder than all the following reflections on truth and corruption in times of open war?
So, you are saying a rationalist-materialistic world view leads to extreme top-down control, as opposed to what other type of world view? The description of the old Chechnya council seems to be a rational system. And, all cultures are materialistic, being human is a material experience. It is the clever members of a group that exploit the tribe for extra resources, including the wily Shaman or Church leader. The use of technology is the same game in a very sophisticated form. The problem I believe is society is not pushing hard enough for laws that protect their freedom and privacy. Speaking truth is not enough, truth speech needs to be a legal priority.
Very insightful perspective into a pretty opaque reality.
I would contend that the way things work everywhere, it today's paradigm, is driven by the intelligence services and "explained" by the politicians on a pretty sloppy directed script, only saved in appearance by the insanely large propaganda machine which is the media.
The key part in all of this is getting people to consent through voting once in a while, so they can bear the blame for what's happening to them, stay divided and figure it out late enough in their life so they won't be able to do anything to change it.
Speaking truth to them may help, but not all of them, not in the state they are in - they need to be given something to do that would get them out of that state, without them having to figure it out. To me, the best option is creating free exchange systems that people could use for supporting their own existence, allowing them to bring meaningful contributions and benefit from the others' contributions. This way, people will re-discover how they could become a society again - as this is what we lost...
Just as with speaking the truth, people don't really understand why engaging in such an "adventure" would be useful to them, so they won't. This is why it is very difficult to start something like this - but maybe it could be encouraged as part of speaking the truth... This way we could start our own narrative that would become a credible alternative to the "official" one...
Are we going to be able to drain the cesspool in America under Trump?
You are deservedly and widely loved Doc
Well, really, Mattias simply explained some terminology out of the field of Totalitarianism in those 2021 podcasts. It was not a new theory.
You point being? Oh never mind, you useless shill
Fawning? No. But much respect and love for a brave man willing to speak for those without a voice. I know his task has not been easy, far from it. And I suggest you do not assign yourself the job of being the good Doc's vocal representative. Trouble with worm-like trolls like yourself, apart from the hate you attempt to spread, is your overblown sense of self worth demonstrated by your self aggrandisement.
You're crackers.
I think you misunderstand what Mattias Desmet was talking about. He was not "speaking for those without a voice". Nothing to do with his podcasts.
He was explaining a fairly minor concept out of the field of totalitarianism, which had been explained by others for over 200 years. Just because you had never heard this before, does not make it new or amazing.
You rant here is totally out of line. You are outraged because I explain to you what Mattias was doing? You seem to be just another groupie, looking for and gushing over whoever is the latest Influencer sensation online. Says more about you having dependency needs than it does about them. There used to be many of your type on here (who were totally uninterested in the topic...just wanted someone to gush over). But they have faded out and presumably found new objects.
Ironically, the cohort of Mattias-gushers starts to illustrate the very point he was making about unthinking herd behaviour.