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 s…
Blog Posts
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…
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…
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, …
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…
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. ‘Culture…
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…