A productive society cannot afford the level of lies we are told on a daily basis. In which ‘productive’ refers to things, goods which require a production process. Not ‘talk’, or investments in the production of all kinds of fiction. Though the time between an idea and a product which is ready to g…
Blog posts : "In English"
The benefits of conditioning
This is not going to be a popular essay among those who demand full, unrestricted individual liberty. For themselves. Nor among the people who promote a ‘Rules Based Order’, where the ‘Rules’ change like the weather. But this blog is not set up to cater to popular demand, so let’s go.
Condition…
No more Mr. Nice Guy!
Individuals, groups and countries which feel strongly that they have been bullied, cheated, taken advantage of for years, may suddenly snap. In some cases they never complained out of fear of all the push-back which was sure to come their way if they did. Or they only complained to likeminded people…
Multi-Dimensional Chess
In a multipolar world, the leadership of a country will be expected to ‘play’ on multiple boards simultaneously. For anyone interested in world affairs, this is an impossible position if he, or she, wants to offer fitting predictions about developments with a sizable impact. If you take yourself ser…
The devastating consequences of being distracted
Many decades ago I did a test which gave the impression that it was about peripheral vision and motor skills. But it was actually about my ability to focus on what was important, and what was not, as the researcher kept offering all kinds of distractions. From talking and asking stupid questions, to…
Confusion will be my epitaph
The title of this essay refers you to the dominant line of a King Crimson song named ‘Epitaph’, also the name of their best known album. The band had, and has, a pretty large ‘Cult’-following. Covers of the albums and the music itself ‘suggested’ an abundance of drugs, in particular LSD. A bit like …
No country for old men
A couple of years ago, during Trump’s first term, I had a discussion with a much younger former colleague, and friend of mine who has a great ‘philosophical mind’, about the work of Ayn Rand. I’d read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as a novel when I was around nineteen years young, ages ago, and because of our ta…
You've ain't seen nothing yet
Though I’m not a pacifist, I reject shaping the world through planned, or provoked violence. In addition, any claim that violence was ‘unprovoked’ deserves our attention as a possible ‘Red Flag’. A claim to innocence which is entirely undeserved. As the oldest in a family of three children, I know w…
What do these people want?
Most people, by far, want safety, security, and prosperity, though practical definitions vary. The assumption that democracy is the best way to create such an environment, is patently false. History tells us that democratic countries were not, by definition, peace loving, gentle, safe places where e…
Venezuela went to the Dogs
In a flawless military operation, Uncle Sam removed Nicolas Maduro and his wife from the seat of power in Venezuela, and declared himself the proud owner of the largest proven oil reserves on the planet. While there are those who believe that the CIA first bought the Generals and Maduro’s political …
A few words about 'Root Causes'
Unless you have been mesmerized by this story that Putin is seeking to restore the Russian Empire, and expand it, you *must* have come across those signals coming from Moscow that they are willing to sign a ‘Peace Deal’, if the ‘Root Causes’ are addressed, and taken out of the equation. Now, I grew …
The Hive-mentality
Within the context of the human experience, to ‘rally’ around a flag is as un-cultured, as simple-minded as it comes. ‘Hive-mentality’. Biologists may speak of a culture when they study animals who flock together, but a ‘cultured’ human being has an entirely different meaning. ‘Cultured’ refers to s…
I'm not with Stupid
On the last day of 2025, I thought about all the lives lost in all those wars which marked the first twenty-five years of this century. And all the displaced people these wars had caused. Invariably those wars had been ‘designed’ by ‘ThinkTanks’, and a political class residing in a NATO-member-state…
If you want peace, you have to prepare for war
The ‘Art of War’ has been studied and taught for ages. By those who sought to avoid it, and by those who sought to defeat their ‘age old’ enemy. And by those who turned ‘professionals’, either as analysts, soldiers, or weapons manufacturers. It was generally considered typical for the male-side of t…
Let's revisit Bucha
In the spring of 2022, shortly after Russia launched its ‘Special Military Operation’, negotiators for Ukraine and Russia concluded an agreement to end the armed conflict in Istanbul. These negotiations were closely monitored by host Turkey, and Israel in the background. Boris ‘Brexit’ Johnson flew …
Your best friend taking the love of your life
Betrayal is as old as humanity itself. ‘On Line’ I’m being blasted by ‘Friends of Ukraine’, and Ukrainians dedicated to fighting the Russians, as a ‘Friend of Putin’. In fact, many use very unsavory language, add my ‘name’ to lists of people they hate, and some are actively promoting deportation, us…
Kupiansk has everybody talking
Even though the Russians, including Putin, assured the world that they are still in control of the city of Kupiansk, most ‘mappers’ and commentators pay tribute to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive which brought back large parts of the city West of the Ozkil river under Ukrainian control. Zele…
Plugging for war
Born shortly after the end of the Second World War, in which my parents, grandparents, extended family, and the family of my wife were the ‘good’ people, resisting the rise of fascism, actively, or passively, I tried to figure out how I would have responded. Would I have been one of the ‘good’ guys?…
Nothing to fear, but fear itself
Fear is a mechanism which puts the brakes on our actions. When judging the fears of others, we categorize them as ‘reasonable’, or ‘irrational’. It is not my intent to lecture you on the neurological and psychological origins of fear, but this is interesting stuff, since this impulse is driving us, …
The sound of silence
First they came for Jaques Baud, Nathalie Yamb and Diana Panchenko. This ‘frame’ is the echo of the world famous ‘confessional’ poem composed by pastor Martin Niemöller, written in 1946, *after* the war. It describes how everybody kept silent as the Nazi’s first arrested the communists, because the …