Deep appreciation for your work Karl. Your synthesis of major contributors-- b, Pepe, Alistaire, Simplicius...-- along with your transcripts of key leaders (mostly Russian) and then your own insights and analyses are beyond impressive and put you in a role that is desperately needed as we struggle to understand, navigate and share our own perspectives among ourselves and hopefully with others.
you mention 2026.. it is interesting as andre barbault mentions the interesting astro configurations that suggest something positive by around this time... so that is an interesting coincidence... i hope you are both right about that!
pepe really has this nailed at the end of his first article - "The War on Terror has been debunked; it is now dead. But get ready for serial wars of terror by a Hegemon unaccustomed to not owning the narrative, the seas, and the ground."
Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said this before him.
Well, I am admittedly a self-confessed patient in this context. Ever since my mother took me to a library as a little boy, I began to dream. This was the result of reading countless novels of all possible genres. The most terrifying page of a novel was always the last page. Because in my mind I was wandering in a world that was not yet finished and the story was not over. I often tried to think the story through.
As a result, I asked myself questions to which I had no answers and which, for the most part, no one could answer satisfactorily.
What would a world be like without money and other means of payment as a yardstick for all activities? Only the availability of resources sets limits. What if people did what they had developed talents, skills and love for? The purpose of all work would be the aforementioned love and the resulting striving for more and perfection. Do we really have to spend our limited biological lifespan on surviving or should we find a way to live in contentment?
What does this have to do with the state of the past and the here and now? The answer is: "Everything."
We need to regain respect and appreciation for the profession and vocation of the philosopher. For it is they who think the unthinkable and transcend all boundaries of what can be thought and said.
Everyday problems and tasks need to be solved. Yes, certainly. But if we don't have a vision, then we will forever remain in the insect cycle. Being born - eating - producing offspring - dying. That is not satisfactory, at least for me.
Human potential is substantial and is best tied to the quest for Harmony which is found via cooperation. Western philosophy is being supplanted by Eastern philosophy which implies an evolution in behavior and stronger cultural norms. There's more work to do.
Yes. And we're doing our part here; let's keep going.
Philosophy is not just a body of work, much less a finished one. It involves recognization of the need to question, in an ongoing process of dialogue, or better yet, polylogue. The powerful quote by Mill you dug up is a strong case in point.
Saw a report today that Ukraine intel (CIA run fully funded subsidiary) had meetings with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib this past July! Turkiye suffering Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib is problematic and shows Turk alignment with US terror regimes. If Turkiye had any concern for Palestine it would stop the US use of their large base at Adana!
Pepe makes good point: seems US is using radical Wahhabi-Sunni against the Shi'a and non radical Sunni. That is Radical 1/3 if Iraq, Saudi Arabian and GCC royals against much larger, less Jihadi populations. Why Saudis were drawing to Israel? Imagine the Resistance is opposed by US, Israel and Wahhabis!
Will Israel-US genocide on Palestinians push radical Wahhabi away?
The "War OF Terror" coinage was by me and shared with Pepe six years ago. We have a curious relationship as we read and promote each other's work but rarely communicate directly. I chat with Dr. Hudson far more than with Pepe. There was a recent Cradle article that dug deeper into the terrorist relationships that I fail to find at the moment.
IMO, geopolitical power is what drove the Saudis to "like" the Zionists. Think of all the arms the Empire provided to the Sauds over the last three decades. Russia and China's rises are very recent in comparison, although it's clear that Russia's joining OPEC+ influenced Saudis. Then Russia's helping Syria was the clincher in turning that around somewhat. The big deal was getting the Sauds to cease funding Wahhabi Madrasahs--the US didn't even try that since it uses those forces. Also, Ansarallah's ability to defeat the Saudi military on the ground and via its drones and missile threats to its oil industry was also a big factor in changing its complexion. The fact that the vaunted Imperial weapons failed miserably was yet another factor.
Your closing question is no, the Fanatic Islamists are allied with the Zionists and the Outlaw US Empire since they are the ones who pay and support them with weapons and logistics. The Turks are also complicit and will need to alter their behavior if they want to join the Saudis in BRICS. Also, the positions held by Russia and China on not intervening in internal affairs is very touchy on this issue as many must learn how to properly behave--it's hard at times to unlearn bad habits.
"The big deal was getting the Sauds to cease funding Wahhabi Madrasahs-"
they have been doing it for how long?? maybe 20 or 30 years! pakistan, and etc. etc.. these whack jobs with their wahhabi death cult ideology need to be put on a leash or cage, as the case may be... that ain't religion.. it is a sickness... i have been saying this for a long time too..
"In the end, all the combined sound and fury of 11 September, the War on Terror, Long War, Operation This-And-That over two decades, metastasized into exactly what “Zbig” feared. Not only has a mere “challenger” emerged, but a full-fledged Russia–China strategic partnership that is setting a new tone for Eurasia."
This bit is really the core failure of US Imperialism. Mearsheimer makes the point in his great book, the Israel Lobby, that the war was not in US interests, but was executed because the Zionists and their lobby had overwhelming influence on the US government (way back then) and they wanted it. Ultimately, the war on terror was nof merely a geopolitical failure. The wars it produced had a tremendous impact domestically. Some of the largest anti war protests in the world occurred in response to the war on Iraq. Many patriotic kids joined the military and were maimed, many turned completely anti government and anti war after the experience. The war on terror depleted the resources of the west and it's populations illusions about its government and wars abroad. One could say Imperialism strategically hobbled itself with the war on terror all for the sake of Israel and domestic arms producers.
Then we come to today. A blood soaked American ruling class, presiding over a genocide of women and children, feels it's last chance is to sell an exhausted, angry and increasingly poor population not one last opponent, but three increasingly powerful opponents, just two of which would be sufficient to defeat Imperialism militarily. It's hard to imagine anyone among the western ruling class can believe this last ditch WW3 could ever be successful.
With no solid base of production to rely on, it wouldn't take long for our masters to realize there is no way to beat Russia/China in a conventional war. Then what? At that point, they can only use nuclear weapons.
Considering the history outlined in this article, can anyone doubt they would initiate a nuclear exchange?
Every western billionaire must be stripped of their wealth and power, every bank nationalized and used for the common good and every political party in the US must be broken up. If the Boeing strike became political and anti war, that would show the way forward. Only the people that actually produce in the west can carry out this task. A hand full of intellectuals can't do it. There needs to be organization of the producing class in the US. That is the only solution. They produce our whole society, now they must produce a new and healthy state for themselves and their children.
An extremely sick state can only be rectified by extreme measures.
Solidarity has always been the key, which is why divide and rule tools are used constantly. My interpretation is somewhat different as I see a connective thread linking the 19th Century's ancien regime with today's "globalists"--Zionism is used as a cloak, as camouflage, to hide the ultimate goal since the Crusades. The dots are being connected in a manner that finally exposes the evil institution and those who promote it. The main problem is that institution has foisted the biggest. most outrageous myth of all time on a very significant portion of Humanity. such that extraordinary evidence must be provided to prove the extraordinary BigLie.
Thanks Karl, you concluding three paragraphs are a brilliant summary, and the actions particularly for odious debts are spot on. I also agree with respect to the time frames; the various western mis-leaders and various enablers are both incompetent and cowardly and lack the ability to back up their bluster. Looking at Starmer's deer-in-the-headlights expression it's clear he's aware that there's no more kicking the can down the road; the City is bust. With the US increasing it's sanctions against all I find it hard not to see diplomatic relations rupturing with a host of nations within the global majority - a very real slap in the face. That should bring a meltdown of "shareholder value".
The various leaders within BRICS who have issues; I expect that as US pressure mounts it's all stick no carrot (cupboard is bare and the agenda of theft exposed) it's a dash to fire exit.
The main problem of the West is that any approach to exploring foreign cultures, societies, arguments, rules of coexistence, etc. is fought and destroyed. Anyone who takes this path of exploration and understanding is made an outcast.
This is already happening in schools and is being pursued with vehemence at universities. Even the attempt to research and analyze Russian or Chinese facts neutrally and contrast them with Western narratives is fought against. Even with laws that turn into criminal paragraphs. For example, the EU's Digital Services Act.
This system then produces so-called experts on Russia and China who don't have the slightest idea about Russia and China. And it is the same in all subject areas. The result is that "the West" pursues strategies and makes decisions that have nothing to do with reality. We have been witnessing this for many years now.
And thus we condemn Western civilization to destruction. At least on the scale of an era.
Thanks for providing that. I'd read his comments at VK and Telegram. Pepe and I interact in an odd manner where we read each-others work and eventually build on that with a point here, and idea there, or a phrase elsewhere. He was rather restricted when he worked for Asia Times and has really blossomed outward over the last three years once freed from that bondage. The new podcast format suits him very well along with his multilingual abilities. And thanks to you too for your appreciation.
I would have "liked" this comment except clicking that doesn't seem to work for me on substack anymore, no idea why. Pepe's breadth of knowledge is pretty amazing.
I discovered Pepe in the late 1990s when he worked for Asia Times and have followed him ever since. His ability and foresight to move and report from within Eurasia set him apart from all others, and he remains unique.
I never heard of him till a podcast in the last 5-10 years when he gave the clearest explanation I had heard about what was actually going on in Brazil, Venezuela, etc. Anya Parampil also does some excellent reporting on this.
“… the current crop of national leaders who are BRICS+ members contain some who remain unreformed and IMO untrustworthy. “
Correct. But the untrustworthiness goes beyond economic naughtiness, towards toxic sovereignty, anathema to mutualism.
An orthodoxy is a mental coherence of correct beliefs or opinions, and in whichever brain it manifests is essentially incomplete and is represented by a singular, static impression.
Within an orthodoxy there will be beliefs about the nature of the world (which can be empirically tested and changed), and rhetorical superstitions which can’t.
Such superstitions divide types of person from one another on the basis of gender, race, religion, heredity, social dominance, wealth and the like - general categories that can be used to specify in particular to which type a person can be attributed, to which set they belong.
Moral beliefs decide in general what is socially and personally right or wrong, and injunctive beliefs prescribe what a person or group of adherents ought to do or is prohibited from doing.
This is where toxicity arises - followers of the orthodoxy are enjoined to commit harm on others who are deemed to be heretical to correct belief, or of the wrong kind of people. Mandatory social beliefs and habitual actions and interactions are poisonous both within the state and between states, the opposite of Mutualism, whose primary ethical injunction is “Help each other out, don’t do each other down.” at individual, family, community, national and international levels of organisation.
Toxic sovereignty, or poisonous governance contains systematic persistent social inequalities which separate the privileged few who benefit, from the deprived many who are harmed.
The mutualist ethic prevents member countries from interfering with the governance of their fellows, as is enshrined in the United Nations charter.
What then is to be done when one or more of your fellows has toxic governance of an egregious nature, and its harms offend the generally accepted norms of mutualist behaviour?
For instances Zionist genocide on Palestinians; Taliban persecution of women; American belligerence, trouble-making, regime changing, and debt bondage, each manifestations of essentially Imperialist behaviour, unfortunately historically prevalent.
The dilemma is that ‘persuade but don’t act, interfere’ is ineffective in the above emergencies.
The Mutualist international project is obliged to address this seeming paradox, but currently there doesn’t seem to be any way to cut its Gordian knot.
Deep appreciation for your work Karl. Your synthesis of major contributors-- b, Pepe, Alistaire, Simplicius...-- along with your transcripts of key leaders (mostly Russian) and then your own insights and analyses are beyond impressive and put you in a role that is desperately needed as we struggle to understand, navigate and share our own perspectives among ourselves and hopefully with others.
Bottom line, thank you.
you mention 2026.. it is interesting as andre barbault mentions the interesting astro configurations that suggest something positive by around this time... so that is an interesting coincidence... i hope you are both right about that!
pepe really has this nailed at the end of his first article - "The War on Terror has been debunked; it is now dead. But get ready for serial wars of terror by a Hegemon unaccustomed to not owning the narrative, the seas, and the ground."
thanks karl!
The dirty origin of the criminal "War on Terror:"
https://www.unz.com/article/israel-did-9-11/
Putin once said:
"If you have visions, you should see a doctor."
Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said this before him.
Well, I am admittedly a self-confessed patient in this context. Ever since my mother took me to a library as a little boy, I began to dream. This was the result of reading countless novels of all possible genres. The most terrifying page of a novel was always the last page. Because in my mind I was wandering in a world that was not yet finished and the story was not over. I often tried to think the story through.
As a result, I asked myself questions to which I had no answers and which, for the most part, no one could answer satisfactorily.
What would a world be like without money and other means of payment as a yardstick for all activities? Only the availability of resources sets limits. What if people did what they had developed talents, skills and love for? The purpose of all work would be the aforementioned love and the resulting striving for more and perfection. Do we really have to spend our limited biological lifespan on surviving or should we find a way to live in contentment?
What does this have to do with the state of the past and the here and now? The answer is: "Everything."
We need to regain respect and appreciation for the profession and vocation of the philosopher. For it is they who think the unthinkable and transcend all boundaries of what can be thought and said.
Everyday problems and tasks need to be solved. Yes, certainly. But if we don't have a vision, then we will forever remain in the insect cycle. Being born - eating - producing offspring - dying. That is not satisfactory, at least for me.
Human potential is substantial and is best tied to the quest for Harmony which is found via cooperation. Western philosophy is being supplanted by Eastern philosophy which implies an evolution in behavior and stronger cultural norms. There's more work to do.
Yes. And we're doing our part here; let's keep going.
Philosophy is not just a body of work, much less a finished one. It involves recognization of the need to question, in an ongoing process of dialogue, or better yet, polylogue. The powerful quote by Mill you dug up is a strong case in point.
Pepe cited Mill. But yes, we need to keep discussing and evolving.
Global War of Terror! Good on Pepe!
Saw a report today that Ukraine intel (CIA run fully funded subsidiary) had meetings with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib this past July! Turkiye suffering Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib is problematic and shows Turk alignment with US terror regimes. If Turkiye had any concern for Palestine it would stop the US use of their large base at Adana!
Pepe makes good point: seems US is using radical Wahhabi-Sunni against the Shi'a and non radical Sunni. That is Radical 1/3 if Iraq, Saudi Arabian and GCC royals against much larger, less Jihadi populations. Why Saudis were drawing to Israel? Imagine the Resistance is opposed by US, Israel and Wahhabis!
Will Israel-US genocide on Palestinians push radical Wahhabi away?
The "War OF Terror" coinage was by me and shared with Pepe six years ago. We have a curious relationship as we read and promote each other's work but rarely communicate directly. I chat with Dr. Hudson far more than with Pepe. There was a recent Cradle article that dug deeper into the terrorist relationships that I fail to find at the moment.
IMO, geopolitical power is what drove the Saudis to "like" the Zionists. Think of all the arms the Empire provided to the Sauds over the last three decades. Russia and China's rises are very recent in comparison, although it's clear that Russia's joining OPEC+ influenced Saudis. Then Russia's helping Syria was the clincher in turning that around somewhat. The big deal was getting the Sauds to cease funding Wahhabi Madrasahs--the US didn't even try that since it uses those forces. Also, Ansarallah's ability to defeat the Saudi military on the ground and via its drones and missile threats to its oil industry was also a big factor in changing its complexion. The fact that the vaunted Imperial weapons failed miserably was yet another factor.
Your closing question is no, the Fanatic Islamists are allied with the Zionists and the Outlaw US Empire since they are the ones who pay and support them with weapons and logistics. The Turks are also complicit and will need to alter their behavior if they want to join the Saudis in BRICS. Also, the positions held by Russia and China on not intervening in internal affairs is very touchy on this issue as many must learn how to properly behave--it's hard at times to unlearn bad habits.
"The big deal was getting the Sauds to cease funding Wahhabi Madrasahs-"
they have been doing it for how long?? maybe 20 or 30 years! pakistan, and etc. etc.. these whack jobs with their wahhabi death cult ideology need to be put on a leash or cage, as the case may be... that ain't religion.. it is a sickness... i have been saying this for a long time too..
Well prior to 911, likely going back to the 1970s.
Thank you!
Good post. I hadn't read the Cradle article.
"In the end, all the combined sound and fury of 11 September, the War on Terror, Long War, Operation This-And-That over two decades, metastasized into exactly what “Zbig” feared. Not only has a mere “challenger” emerged, but a full-fledged Russia–China strategic partnership that is setting a new tone for Eurasia."
This bit is really the core failure of US Imperialism. Mearsheimer makes the point in his great book, the Israel Lobby, that the war was not in US interests, but was executed because the Zionists and their lobby had overwhelming influence on the US government (way back then) and they wanted it. Ultimately, the war on terror was nof merely a geopolitical failure. The wars it produced had a tremendous impact domestically. Some of the largest anti war protests in the world occurred in response to the war on Iraq. Many patriotic kids joined the military and were maimed, many turned completely anti government and anti war after the experience. The war on terror depleted the resources of the west and it's populations illusions about its government and wars abroad. One could say Imperialism strategically hobbled itself with the war on terror all for the sake of Israel and domestic arms producers.
Then we come to today. A blood soaked American ruling class, presiding over a genocide of women and children, feels it's last chance is to sell an exhausted, angry and increasingly poor population not one last opponent, but three increasingly powerful opponents, just two of which would be sufficient to defeat Imperialism militarily. It's hard to imagine anyone among the western ruling class can believe this last ditch WW3 could ever be successful.
With no solid base of production to rely on, it wouldn't take long for our masters to realize there is no way to beat Russia/China in a conventional war. Then what? At that point, they can only use nuclear weapons.
Considering the history outlined in this article, can anyone doubt they would initiate a nuclear exchange?
Every western billionaire must be stripped of their wealth and power, every bank nationalized and used for the common good and every political party in the US must be broken up. If the Boeing strike became political and anti war, that would show the way forward. Only the people that actually produce in the west can carry out this task. A hand full of intellectuals can't do it. There needs to be organization of the producing class in the US. That is the only solution. They produce our whole society, now they must produce a new and healthy state for themselves and their children.
An extremely sick state can only be rectified by extreme measures.
Keep working, brothers!
Solidarity has always been the key, which is why divide and rule tools are used constantly. My interpretation is somewhat different as I see a connective thread linking the 19th Century's ancien regime with today's "globalists"--Zionism is used as a cloak, as camouflage, to hide the ultimate goal since the Crusades. The dots are being connected in a manner that finally exposes the evil institution and those who promote it. The main problem is that institution has foisted the biggest. most outrageous myth of all time on a very significant portion of Humanity. such that extraordinary evidence must be provided to prove the extraordinary BigLie.
Thanks Karl, you concluding three paragraphs are a brilliant summary, and the actions particularly for odious debts are spot on. I also agree with respect to the time frames; the various western mis-leaders and various enablers are both incompetent and cowardly and lack the ability to back up their bluster. Looking at Starmer's deer-in-the-headlights expression it's clear he's aware that there's no more kicking the can down the road; the City is bust. With the US increasing it's sanctions against all I find it hard not to see diplomatic relations rupturing with a host of nations within the global majority - a very real slap in the face. That should bring a meltdown of "shareholder value".
The various leaders within BRICS who have issues; I expect that as US pressure mounts it's all stick no carrot (cupboard is bare and the agenda of theft exposed) it's a dash to fire exit.
Thanks for your reply. I highly suggest this most recent Hudson/Wolff/Nima encounter, https://michael-hudson.com/2024/09/u-s-foreign-policy-and-economic-shifts-trump-vs-harris-debate-analysis/
That pairing according to Dr. Hudson is to become a weekly staple on Nima's channel.
The main problem of the West is that any approach to exploring foreign cultures, societies, arguments, rules of coexistence, etc. is fought and destroyed. Anyone who takes this path of exploration and understanding is made an outcast.
This is already happening in schools and is being pursued with vehemence at universities. Even the attempt to research and analyze Russian or Chinese facts neutrally and contrast them with Western narratives is fought against. Even with laws that turn into criminal paragraphs. For example, the EU's Digital Services Act.
This system then produces so-called experts on Russia and China who don't have the slightest idea about Russia and China. And it is the same in all subject areas. The result is that "the West" pursues strategies and makes decisions that have nothing to do with reality. We have been witnessing this for many years now.
And thus we condemn Western civilization to destruction. At least on the scale of an era.
And what's at the root of so-called Western Civilization? "The Greatest Myth Ever Sold."
Thanks for this
I'm assuming you've seen Pepe's tweet praising this post: https://x.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/1835343645123530889
The praise is well-earned, kudos!
Thanks for providing that. I'd read his comments at VK and Telegram. Pepe and I interact in an odd manner where we read each-others work and eventually build on that with a point here, and idea there, or a phrase elsewhere. He was rather restricted when he worked for Asia Times and has really blossomed outward over the last three years once freed from that bondage. The new podcast format suits him very well along with his multilingual abilities. And thanks to you too for your appreciation.
I would have "liked" this comment except clicking that doesn't seem to work for me on substack anymore, no idea why. Pepe's breadth of knowledge is pretty amazing.
Lots of reports about likes not working.
I discovered Pepe in the late 1990s when he worked for Asia Times and have followed him ever since. His ability and foresight to move and report from within Eurasia set him apart from all others, and he remains unique.
I never heard of him till a podcast in the last 5-10 years when he gave the clearest explanation I had heard about what was actually going on in Brazil, Venezuela, etc. Anya Parampil also does some excellent reporting on this.
“… the current crop of national leaders who are BRICS+ members contain some who remain unreformed and IMO untrustworthy. “
Correct. But the untrustworthiness goes beyond economic naughtiness, towards toxic sovereignty, anathema to mutualism.
An orthodoxy is a mental coherence of correct beliefs or opinions, and in whichever brain it manifests is essentially incomplete and is represented by a singular, static impression.
Within an orthodoxy there will be beliefs about the nature of the world (which can be empirically tested and changed), and rhetorical superstitions which can’t.
Such superstitions divide types of person from one another on the basis of gender, race, religion, heredity, social dominance, wealth and the like - general categories that can be used to specify in particular to which type a person can be attributed, to which set they belong.
Moral beliefs decide in general what is socially and personally right or wrong, and injunctive beliefs prescribe what a person or group of adherents ought to do or is prohibited from doing.
This is where toxicity arises - followers of the orthodoxy are enjoined to commit harm on others who are deemed to be heretical to correct belief, or of the wrong kind of people. Mandatory social beliefs and habitual actions and interactions are poisonous both within the state and between states, the opposite of Mutualism, whose primary ethical injunction is “Help each other out, don’t do each other down.” at individual, family, community, national and international levels of organisation.
Toxic sovereignty, or poisonous governance contains systematic persistent social inequalities which separate the privileged few who benefit, from the deprived many who are harmed.
The mutualist ethic prevents member countries from interfering with the governance of their fellows, as is enshrined in the United Nations charter.
What then is to be done when one or more of your fellows has toxic governance of an egregious nature, and its harms offend the generally accepted norms of mutualist behaviour?
For instances Zionist genocide on Palestinians; Taliban persecution of women; American belligerence, trouble-making, regime changing, and debt bondage, each manifestations of essentially Imperialist behaviour, unfortunately historically prevalent.
The dilemma is that ‘persuade but don’t act, interfere’ is ineffective in the above emergencies.
The Mutualist international project is obliged to address this seeming paradox, but currently there doesn’t seem to be any way to cut its Gordian knot.
11 Sept 24
Thanks for this Karl. This is substantive realism.
Don "Savage" Firineach.
https://baudrillardstudies.ubishops.ca/baudrillard-and-war/
Who is the (real) enemy? Deterrence vs. what? Any and all revolt/dissent/singularity/symbolic, etc. v. "Globalism" ???