This ship is going down. The west has already lost the war in Ukraine, but they don't want to acknowledge it yet. At least, that is my analysis of the present situation. But allow me to introduce you to my background to expose my 'bias'. I am the 'victim' of a classical Dutch 'Beta'-education, as it was called, which had 'Math' at its core. My college education, five years after elementary school, taught me the basics in a wide variety of 'disciplines'. This broad spectrum of knowledge was once considered necessary background for people bound to play a leading role in companies, the country, the military, and point the way forward in science. Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, three foreign languages, English, French, and German, and Dutch, were compulsory, and tested at the end of the fifth year through a formal, country-wide, centralised exam. In addition, Economics, History, Geography, and Biography were part of the curriculum, and tested if you failed to score sufficiently by the end of the last year.
On the sidelines there were mandatory sports, music, arts and 'civics' classes. The latter in those years entertained heated debates on all kinds of political issues, while my rather enlightened college featured a 'school parliament' in an advisory role, with elected members from each of the higher classes, who had to present their ideas in class before the vote, which was not compensated in any way. That particular educational system died one year after I took my exam to move on to higher education, and serving my country in the military, as every young men was still drafted back in those days. In my case, I extended this service to bridge a gap while I was waiting for a job opening in civilian life, and I served as a lower rank officer before starting the career I had set my eyes on. During that career, and while serving in the military, I never stopped learning, and the more I knew about history, psychology, sociology, philosophy, systems and organisation, and the mechanics of the stuff I was working with, or had to research as an officer, either presented in formal courses, or through voluntary education by reading books, or enlisting as a student out of curiosity, the more I understood that 'experts' were often missing large parts of the picture, which left them clueless when their best efforts came to nothing.
What I'm trying to illustrate by telling you this, is that I'm no 'expert', but someone with a very broad perspective, looking at various problems from a wide range of angles. I cannot claim to be the 'go to guy' when you want to know what the military are up to in Ukraine on either side. I have no 'in depth' knowledge of how 'Financial Markets' operate, and thank God that I stayed out of politics, save from 'dipping into' office politics, which was bad enough. I prefer practical people, actually producing stuff, and/or skilled at serving clients. Preferably without killing or maiming people who do not belong to their 'customer base'. Or producing stuff to sell to people who are longing to kill their fellow man.
Now then, why do I claim that this ship we're on is going down? Because all these busy 'experts' lack the wherewithal to understand how their actions fit into the 'Bigger Picture', or work to frustrate the efforts of others. Our western society is filled to the brim with people 'acting' in line with their personal agenda, even if they claim to be working for the benefit of others, the company, or a country. They lie, cheat, feed 'narratives' which they know to be a lie, and if they pretend to be on the same page as the people they are working with, you cannot trust them to switch sides the moment they see an opportunity elsewhere. They will make promises ('Not One Inch', or 'As Long As It Takes'), and they will sign 'Treaties' and 'Accords', without the slightest intention to comply.
It goes without saying, or so I hope, that this 'system', aptly labeled the 'Empire of Chaos' by its critics, me included, may surprise everybody every now and then by doing something which actually advances the prospects of winning, within a narrow perspective, but usually all their actions are self-defeating, and poisonous. The 'Biden-Administration' is set to fall into its own sword, with 'Hunter's Laptop', 'FTX', and all the 'Election-stuff'. But the 'Republican' side within the 'Warparty' is as corrupt and clueless, so that train has left the station. 'Great Britain' is being flushed down the toilet by inapt, selfish clowns and greedy monsters, pleased to set the whole world on fire if we do not fork over everything we own. And Europe is ruled (well, exploited, rather) by a mix of vicious closet-neo-nazi fanatics posing as 'Democrats' who want to kill Russians, taking revenge for losing the previous world war, or simply because it is in their nature, and on the other end of the spectrum those self flagellating religious fanatics serving the 'Climate-Church', determined to deindustrialise Europe, while poisoning society with 'gender-debates' dislodging every human being from his 'self', exploiting the resulting state of utter confusion and dependency.
Any attempt to predict how the 'Empire of Chaos' will interact with the real world is futile. I take my cues from sources which appear reliable, telling me the Ukrainian army is suffering unsustainable losses, while the western nations throw around huge amounts of money to buy weapon-systems and ammunition, which are not produced in the quantities needed to stay in the fight, and no emergency transformation to a war-economy will change that before the Russians destroy what is left of Ukraine, or so it seems to me. Worse, the money is used for 'kickbacks' by greedy politicians, and the weapons supplied pop up all over the place, in criminal gangs in Finland, and with terrorists in Nigeria. Moreover, switching from a pseudo 'Free Market', but producing nothing, and buying everything from countries no longer interested in our 'Mickey Mouse' fiat currency controlled by 'Wallstreet' and the 'London City', to a rigidly controlled 'Sanctions' driven 'Market' which makes the Soviet systems look liberal by comparison, but without (acces to) production facilities and affordable energy, is going to kill the goose which has laid the golden eggs.
That would be bad enough, but in order to 'Save the Planet' farmers and horticulture are encouraged to stop producing, while fishermen are buried under rules which make it impossible for them to operate and make enough money to sustain their business. At the same time the borders and immigration-controls are taken down to flood Europe with people from all over the world, mainly from war torn countries we 'served' to encourage the people to 'liberate' themselves. Meaning, somehow, that you should obey when someone tells you to stay inside your home, avoid meeting other people, and wear a mask at all times, until its time to role up your sleeve for an experimental 'vaccine' which doesn't 'vaccinate', while the government is paying the bills with money taken from the printing-press.
Now, even my college-level education would have been enough to tell me this set-up is a recipe for disaster, and my extended education and 'on the job' experience tell me this disaster will not take long to materialise as a full blown ordeal. Although it is impossible to know which 'blow to the head' will kill the Beast. Or maybe the Beast has a final 'play' in mind which will simply terminate every single one of us, 'Saving the Planet' by terminating humanity.
When did we lose our mind?
“How did you go bankrupt?"
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”
Ernest Hemingway, 'The Sun Also Rises'.