Even when you are present at a certain location, actively participating in events taking place, you may not be aware of what you are bringing about. Especially in revolutionary situations. You may be a disgruntled citizen opposing the government, lending your voice to an uprising, not knowing where …
Blog posts : "In English"
Rutte's 'Daddy' is filing for a divorce
The day before yesterday the Trump administration filed a ‘Strategy Paper’ which has received plenty of attention. When I wrote my last essay, published yesterday, I hadn’t read it yet. But the policy related to Europe, Ukraine and Russia laid down in that paper confirms the shift away from NATO…
Staring in the barrel of a gun
Let’s try to find some common ground on which alliances are worthwhile defending, and which are treacherous. Ignoring all the nuances for now, there are two basic approaches to forming partnerships. Those who are based on ‘Win-Win’, and those which are ‘Tribal’ in nature. Clearly this is not…
Uncharted waters
The world is changing rapidly. To predict the future is becoming even more difficult with every passing day. Even the near future may hold serious surprises. Various high-ranking officials with access to ‘classified’ information, one step ahead of the crowd, may be caught off guard. Some countries…
Bloodthirsty maniacs
Europe is not a country, and never has been. The Roman Empire came closest to uniting Europe in a territorial sense. Other imperialists tried, notably Charlemagne, and his successors, the Kingdom of Spain, Napoleon and Hitler, but in the end they were even less successful than the Romans. Serious cu…
It will hit you like a ton of brics
As you will have guessed, the spelling error in the title, if you noticed the missing 'k', is on purpose. Yesterday I was watching videos shot at a 2025 technology fair in China, with large numbers of 'humanoid' robots. Most 'serious' commentators in our part of the world are dismissive about those …
What do they want?
To settle a conflict, you need to know what the parties involved want to get out of the negotiations. The stated goals may *not* be what they are after. As described on these pages parties often seem to hide their true goals, introducing absurd demands to *prevent* a settlement, so as to have an exc…
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Planned violence is a different beast when compared to a spontaneous eruption of violence. To retreat from a spontaneous eruption of violent behaviour is much easier, though it shouldn't be made *too* easy if there was no objective cause. Not some well rehearsed 'Sorry' and some phoney tears in fron…
Thank you, may I have another one?
People like me are the representatives of what is called the reality-based community. Which is defined as people who believe that solutions emerge from our judicious study of discernible reality. From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed a new breed of 'leaders' and staff emerged from the shadows. …
Let's talk about 'Root Causes'
In recent essays on this blog I wrote about the root causes of human behaviour in the context of this path towards war which we are on. I argued that human beings tend to find 'logical' explanations for choices they made subconsciously, which is not my personal intuition talking, or some kind of exo…
A plausible theory
As we look at behaviour we reject, for whatever reason, we ask *why* that individual, or those people, act in that way. We will not be able to change their behaviour, or adopt our own response to avoid becoming a victim, unless we understand where that behaviour originated. Though I frequently refer…
They don't care
In my previous essay I commented on a growing group of people who simply reject logic, arguments and facts, and how that came about. And why I blame myself, and people like me, for failing to communicate clearly, and timely, why these people were mistaken, and dangerous. I did my very best, and ther…
Talk to the Hand
People in general avoid debate these days. At best they compare notes, but increasingly they engage in 'power-play', in shouting matches, and trickery to make opponents run for cover. Or, if the opponent is a person of 'standing', they shy away from debate, while planning to destroy the 'other'. Min…
Buyers' remorse
When you are rich, you can afford to buy stuff you do not need, but want anyway. However, if you keep buying stuff you do not need, or insist on throwing good money after bad, you won't *stay* rich. Back in 2014 Victoria 'Fuck the EU' Nuland addressed a meeting hosted by Exxon, where she bragged abo…
Stick to your guns
Let's go back to where it all began. On September 9th, 2001, airliners were used to hit the 'Twin Towers' in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth aircraft didn't reach it's designated target, and crashed into a field. It was the 'New Pearl Harbor'-event they had been praying for at t…
End it, and start over
In practical terms, evolution is an ill understood concept. Let me explain. Darwin didn't 'discover' evolution, but he wrote about it, convincingly, in an academic environment which was still largely loyal to the concept of divine creation, and an all powerful God. Accepting evolution as the 'driver
The Phoenix rising
Slavic folklore is the birthplace of stories about the Phoenix, the Firebird, rising from its ashes. A symbol of divine and worldly power. The Zhar-Ptitsa in Russian, with spelling variations in other Slavic countries. It is also a 'brand name' for an American muscle car produced by 'Pontiac', which…
Is this even a strategy?
What happens if an irresistible force hits an unmoveable object? History teaches us that, in such a case, the days of the irresistible force are numbered. Which is not an argument for war, pretending to be an unmoveable object. There may be peace and quiet in the world between unmoveable objects on …
The tip of the iceberg
A perfect storm is brewing for Zelensky and his sponsors. The situation along the frontlines is hopeless, while the uncovered coruption-scandal is only the tip of the iceberg, with much more to come. Both balls are rolling, and I wouldn't know how they can be stopped. Or where they are bound to go a…
Trouble in Paradise
There are many reasons why people move from one country to another. I was born in the early fifties, in post-war Europe, when the mantra was: 'Never again!' Yet many fellow countrymen had seen enough after two world wars within the span of forty years erupting on European soil, and left. The US, Can…
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