THE CAPTIVE MARKET

        As part of the Wealth-Transfer going under the guise of enforcing 'Fair Trade' through Tariffs (which are only the New Right's version of the New Left's policy of imposing Economic Sanctions), at least two dozen countries beginning tomorrow will embargo, suspend, or otherwise limit package deliveries to the United States. India is the largest economy involved, although American consumers will also find themselves unable to purchase products from Japan, South Korea, most of the European Union, Canada, Australia, and a few others. 

       I think that it needs little explanation that part of the transition into the Great Reset involves limiting consumer choice. It's not simply about creating a permanent  Overclass who'll control the means of production and distribution, a Permanent Underclass who'll have consumption controlled is part of the program too.

       None of that will matter, of course, to the True Believers or the Denialists, who'll gladly settle for such conditions---just as long as the Democrats aren't the ones doing it. Too, as the New Right's version of Christianity teaches us, wealth is a sign of Divine Favor and Alphas are the Chosen People. After all, Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings, and if you can't get things, then you don't deserve to have them. 

      For example, this time of the month, I usually shop online. I was thinking about things that I get from overseas buyers. Not to get too personal here, but it is a microcosm of how others will be effected. Often, I purchase books online. Some of them are fairly specialized or not translated into English---getting them from Canada or Europe will be next to impossible now. India has several companies that specialize in reprints of works no longer available, but they're closed to the US now too. Oh well, we still have Internet Archive (for now), but not to worry. Elon Musk has promised an upcoming AI app that will serve as a Universal Encyclopedia, and WEF ideologue Noah Yuval Hariri has even proffered a project to do the same for the Bible and religions in general. Who needs to read and think for themselves when a group of Elites can do all of our thinking for us?

     Another product that comes from these countries are things like precision tools and, I remembered that I get razor blades from Europe. Oh well, who needs to shave anyway? All of the movers and shakers these days wear beards.

         Many I know among the Fair Sex buy things online from Europe like cosmetics, soaps, hosiery, and various other feminine accouterments. Other people whom I know buy nutritional supplements, cookware, and other specialized items not manufactured or not available in the US. Speaking of cooking, what about spices, herbs, and other agricultural products which aren't even produced here? People who own firearms also purchase things like ammunition and gun parts from foreign companies. Many readers, I suppose, could add things to this list. 

        All of these things tie in with the broader Great Reset goals being implemented by the New Right; such as closing Borders, siloing databases on all Americans, hostile Government takeovers of key industries and paramilitary seizures of major cities and transportation hubs, digital currency, etc. The impact of these Trade Policies likely will, however, be met with the same apologies or apathy that these other crimes routinely are met with and accepted as the New Normal. Sadly, this is what American has sunk down to in a single generation.

        

WHITE HOUSE ESTABLISHES MILITARIZED POLITICAL POLICE

        Although most Americans probably can't remember this far back, less than a year ago, 81-year old Uncle Joe Biden occupied the White House. There was non-stop talk in the Media Cartels about Biden's age and mental fitness for Office (his policy decisions, not so much). The Wall Street Oligarchs forced him out of power in favor of a 79-year old, who, unlike Biden, is in peak mental and physical health, a specimen of Alpha virility and---

      Oh.

      Well, anyway: the Head-of-State was unveiling to the Corporate Media more of the Official Narrative to what passes for American Journalism to parrot to the public without question. The topic for the day was touting the alleged 'successes' of Martial Law in the District of Columbia. Trump issued a series of Decrees 'Executive Orders' in front of live network coverage---all quite fitting for America's Reality-TV based Culture. Much to the delight of the Media, Trump formally announced that Chicago would be the next site of a Military takeover. 

      Chicago is an interesting choice. Geographically and in terms of population, Chicago is about the size of Gaza, which---as we've all learned---is being dealt with by Israel. The Conservative-Industrial Complex and their Overlords in the World Economic Forum consider Israel a model Democracy; and, of course, like both Gaza and Washington, Chicago is also targeted as a future Smart City. Elon Musk, it should be noted already gained the contract for operating Chicago's Mass Transit System. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel was the top recipient of Musk Money before Elon became a Woke Republican. 

      Not that the legality of such things matters, but the White House actually does have a quasi-legal authority for putting Washington under Martial Law. There really is none for Chicago. As we've said though, this doesn't matter too much, since as Chairman Mao noted "All political power comes through the barrel of a gun."

         Trump also signed another Decree which criminalizes desecration of the US flag, long ago proposed by Bush Sr., and which has been struck down repeatedly by the Courts. The President then went on to complain that "They say 'we don't need him. Freedom, freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator.' A lot of people are saying: 'Maybe we like a dictator...When I see what's happening to our cities, and then you send them, and instead of being praised, they're saying, 'you're trying to take over the Republic.' These people are sick." This from the same people who opposed Cancel Culture, supposedly.

         Trump went on to deny that he cared for dictatorial regimes before launching into another of his rather bizarre meanderings, this time accusing China of stocking the Great Lakes with invasive species of fish. Totally not like tales of Corn-Pop, though.

        Trump's plausible deniability about dictatorships---about as genuine as Musk's apologies over his 'accidental' programming of Grok AI to praise the Third Reich--- is another of those I didn't really mean it moments met with a knowing wink-and-a-nod to those who actually are hoping for just such a thing to happen. That deniability ought to be considered against the more troubling Decree signed today establishing what amounts to an American version of the Nazi SS. 

       The Order creates specialized D.C. National Guard units for 'public safety and order,' and further appoints White Supremacist and Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth to 'ensure state National Guards are similarly trained and ready to assist in quelling civil disturbances nationwide.' All of which is quite telling against the backdrop of an Order against Flag Burning and threats to take over other cities. Hegseth is going to be the one dealing with whatever he---or his mentor Doug Wilson---is pleased to term a civil disturbance. Hence, the comparison with the SS: this is a political secret police force. As Hegseth's pastor---an affiliate of Wilson's--- put it in a Washington sermon last week:  “We understand that worship is warfare. We mean that.” 

      These are the same sentiments that we once heard from the likes of ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Hegseth, the fanatic, is going to hold such words as his guiding principle as he trains and dispatches his stormtroopers to deal with the enemy within. If anyone is inclined to doubt this, consider that, at today's Interview, Trump adopted Hegseth's earlier suggestion to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. Symbolically, this represents a semantic shift: from an ostensibly purely defensive role for the Military to one of aggression. Hegseth, in this regard, is following precepts set down by the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, the network of Christian nationalist congregations---heavily financed by Big Tech and other Globalist interests---who state in their own manual that "you will find CREC churches uniformly hostile to the leftist agenda...With regard to economic issues, there is a broad antipathy toward socialism in all its forms and guises. Statist collectivism is one of the great idols of our age, and our churches are overwhelmingly opposed to it." What else is this but a political---not a religious--- statement?

        In short, none of this is about Public Safety or National Security any more than Bush 1.0's Drug War was about Public Safety, or Bush 2.0's shredding of the US Constitution was about National Security. It's about normalizing and mainstreaming a deliberate, Government-orchestrated campaign of sowing division and chaos and offering the Strongman as the solution. Yes, it has been building up to this point for a long time: Bush 3.0 (the Current Administration) is merely doing openly what its predecessors tried to disguise under various pretexts. The Scamdemic proved to the Elites that they had nothing to fear any longer from an effete population, and statistics show that the Public School System (really a Public-Private Partnership in most cases) has done its work turning younger Americans against Constitutional self-government. 

        It's hardly surprising that a political movement that came to power campaigning on arousing the worst elements in Human Nature would ally itself with cultish movements that do the same. Christians need to stand up and speak out against the cultish pseudo-Christianity offered by the New Right and showing it for what it really is.

      

        

     

      

CRACKER-BARRELS AND CHURCHIAN CRACKPOTS

       In Upside-Down Clown World this weekend, the driving Media distraction concerns the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain changing its logo. 

         This is supposedly some kind of affront to American Traditional Values, even though the company only became a national chain in 1987; and has previously sponsored such events as Pride Week without any national controversy. Maybe I just don't comprehend the 3D Chess involved in all of this: but it doesn't strike me as the logo change is especially 'woke' or 'bowing to the Liberal PC Agenda' as some have claimed. It does, however, serve as a great distraction for other subversions of American Traditions, like for example, the de facto Nationalization of private companies, or openly flaunting Anti-Trust laws based on Party Loyalty, or officials connected with the Administration funding Christian Nationalist takeovers of communities, or shutting down victims of the Loyalty Vaxx from obtaining compensation, or further weaponizing Secret Police Forces against political opponents, or expanding domestic espionage programs, or expanding the Military takeovers of American cities: a few minor issues like that.

        Regarding the last-mentioned of these: the White House announced that out-of-state brownshirts National Guardsmen would be patrolling the newly-occupied District of Columbia with military-grade weapons. The White House Deputy Chief-of-Staff, White Supremacist Stephen Miller, showed up at the DC Police Headquarters to organize the takeover.  “Miller’s presence at D.C. police headquarters showed how rapidly the White House has become embedded in the machinery of local law enforcement in the nation’s capital. And it highlighted how much the first week of the federal takeover has focused on the topic he has directed most intensely: immigration enforcement,” as the Washington Post, in a rare moment of candor admitted. 

       As we noted here in 2024 about 'immigration enforcement' then being proposed by the likes of Miller:  "The measures that the Republicans are proposing couldn't help but expand the powers of the Police/Surveillance State radically. To prove legal status would almost require some kind of National Identification Papers. Private homes and businesses would be subject to having their doors kicked in (moreso than they already are) on mere allegations. Police checkpoints could re-surface after being overturned by the Courts after some earlier GOP-led 'emergency.' Financial snooping would necessarily expand too: and the Republicans haven't expressed much opposition to (actually many support) a transition to Digital Currency." All of which have since come to pass, although back then the Military takeovers of major metropolitan areas, we admittedly didn't foresee. 

        Miller was one of the architects of Project 2025, which had extensive ties to the Christian Nationalist Movement along with JD Vance who, under the direction of his commander, Peter Thiel, has been coalescing these movements into a United Front. This is another cause for concern because this internal military action is headed by Pete Hegseth, who is affiliated deeply with Christian Nationalism. Since his confirmation, Hegseth has purged the Military leadership, replacing them with others of like mind, under the direction of Vance.

      

        On Thursday, flanked by Federal stormtroopers, the Head-of-State told the Corporate Media that: "I keep seeing about a 30-day deadline, of which we have 22 days left, or something. But if I think we’re in great shape here, that’s one thing, but if I don’t, I’m going to just say it’s a national emergency. And if I have a national emergency, I can keep the troops here as long as I want."

        Of course, it is really a question of what President Trump wants to do: it's a question of what Vance, Hegseth, Miller, and Thiel want to do. What these people want is the overthrow of Democracy and its replacement with a Techno-Fascist/ Christian Nationalist Regime. Just as the State of Emergency started with the phony 'Immigrant Invasion' and has since expanded, the Military Occupation won't stop with controlling crime (a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, but no one will care too much). The end game of course is the establishment of Smart Cities, which Big Tech, with its now symbiotic relationship with the Federal Government, will be more than happy to accommodate in these strategically-occupied areas. The faux-spiritual aspect is to translate these fools into the Gods they imagine themselves to be. 

        Christian Nationalism is not Christian: it is a quasi-religious political cult like French Jacobinism, Bolshevism, or the Nazi State of the last century. We don't hear anything Christian coming out of these people: what we hear is the worship of success and power; ruthlessness and cruelty instead of compassion and love; their actual model of Christianity is the Inquisition and the Witchcraft Trials---all of which were historical blots on actual Faith. 

       

        

WEF LEADERSHIP CHANGES AND THE NEW ORDER

       Following the retirement of WEF strongman Klaus Schwab and the installment of a Reactionary Government in the US, the de facto Government of the Collective West has undergone some leadership changes of its own. As we predicted here, Schwab was succeeded by Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the effervescent power by Nestle's Global Agricultural Cartel. Brabeck-Letmathe appointed the equally jovial CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink and Andre Hoffmann, the head of a shady Swiss banking consortium tied to Big Pharma, as 'Interim Co-Chairs.'

      There have been some changes too on the WEF Board of Trustees. This is significant because, as the Base of Power in the Western Hemisphere, the changes represent a shift in strategy and focus. It must always be remembered that the Oligarchs are not ideologues. They have no interest in what form of Government rules their respective territories, so long as those Governments are subservient to their interests. These sorts of changes actually reflect the direction that the Oligarchy desires to steer the respective states under their control; much as any other Corporation selects managers for various purposes.

      The Board's new composition is heavily weighted now with representatives of Financial Cartels and Big Tech and less weighted to Geopolitics than it was under Schwab's last year in office. If we compare this change to the recent changes in the US and EU Deep States, the trend of Globalism becomes obvious and apparent. As the Western Powers move rapidly into the Accelerationist Phase of the Great Reset, the priorities are less about international boundaries and Global Governance Structures (which have become very well established in the West), and more about moving these societies into things like Central Bank Digital Currency and establishing the Global Control Grid. 

     It should be recalled that shortly after the Inauguration, our nominal Head-of-State addressed the Administration's bosses in Davos, and assured them that the Great Reset would go on as planned. The 2025 WEF Agenda highlighted the expansion of the Digital Police State, and a day later, the White House obligingly erected a $500 billion dollar project to do exactly that. This, of course, refers to the Stargate Project, run behind the scenes by Bill Gates and heavily fast-tracked by Gates' hand-picked Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum. The Interior Department has regulatory control over things like appropriating Federal Land, access to Critical Minerals and Water Rights, waivers of environmental regulations---all things that Big Tech needs to ram these projects through. Thanks to WEF Young Global Leader Elon Musk and his DOGE gangsters, Burgum can operate with little to no transparency or oversight. 

     Likewise, the Treasury Department, headed by Soros henchman Scott Bessent  has been spearheading the drive towards establishing Digital Currency and Digital ID, another of the WEF's main agendas. Bessent worked closely with Musk in practically wiping out any Federal investigative oversight over big financial cartels, and threw open the Treasury Department to Musk for data-mining. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, another WEF member and former PAC-bundler for Hilary Cllinton and Barack Obama, formerly co-chaired Trump's White House Transition Team, and is considered one of Trump's top Cabinet advisors.

     The Denialists, of whom we spoke in our previous article, insist that there is no Uniparty---despite all of these former Democrats and WEF people inhabiting the current Administration. "Look at how divided we are!" they exclaim. It should be duly noted that the Democrats' current favorite for 2028 is also a WEF Young Global Leader who was conspicuous as a Scamdemic tyrant: and that their leading contenders for positions in this year's elections are all heavily tied to the Deep State. The Great Reset Agenda is not going to change if the Democrats are allowed back into power; just as it remained unchanged when they left. 

     Wishful Thinking aside, however, the changes in the WEF's focus should not be overlooked. They are clearly moving towards an Accelerationist model, and they have stated goals---mostly in the 2030s---of when they hope that things like Central Data Banks, Smart Cities, Digital Currencies, etc. will become the Status Quo. They mean what they say; and whether or not people want to believe it or not isn't going to change the Oligarchy's intentions. In fact, they count on willful ignorance as one of their main strengths. Our main strength, however, is awareness of they're doing. 

     

       

THE DENIALIST DILEMMA

       A number of us who frequent online sites which have a heavily Christian and Conservative focus have known for some time that the Republican Party which has emerged since 2020 has gone off in a radically wrong direction. Neocons and assorted fringe-groups have been a problem for a long time; but since the commencement of this decade have succeeded largely in hijacking the Populist element and turning the once-Conservative Movement to their own sinister purposes. The influx of cash from interested Oligarchs, the ceaseless energy of fanatics, and the organizational abilities of Big Tech and avaricious CEOs brought about the current incarnation of 'Conservativism;' which, as we often have stressed, is really only Reactionary Liberalism. 

      The rank-and-file supporters of the current Administration essentially fall into three general categories. The first group are the ideologues: the Christian Nationalists, Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Red Pills, Techno-Fascists, Anarcho-Capitalists, etc. This group actually can be challenged, since their support for the New Order rests upon a given set of beliefs. The second---and probably largest group---are people who have reservations about the direction of our leadership but support it because they don't see a viable alternative. This group likewise is open to solutions and discussion.

      These types have always been around most political movements. However,a third group has emerged; and it started appearing during the 2024 Campaign. It has taken on a growing presence since the Inauguration, and mostly on 'Christian Conservative' sites. This group I term the Denialists. 

      The Denialists, as group, react to unpleasant facts about the Republican Leadership, not by defending or debating them, but simply denying that the issues even exist. When one, for example, points out the Police-State level militarizing the police and the thuggish actions of ICE, the Denialists will respond by saying that it's simply Liberal Media hype. When one points out that DOGE was conducting a full-scale purge of the Government with absolutely no oversight or accountability, the Denialists will insist that DOGE has been wholly transparent about its activities; and that all of DOGE's claims should be accepted as unquestioned fact. When one points out that there are more Globalists in this Administration than there were in the last one, the Denialists will insist that simply isn't true. The catalogue of these examples could go on; and I've seen these and many more while engaging on these types of sites.

      Denialism is a phenomenon that we've heard of historically, most recently in the context of previous attempts at Techno-Fascist Authoritarianism like the Third Reich. Accounts from people who visited Germany previous to the Second World War remark upon it frequently. "Yes, there are Labor Camps, but Hitler promised Full Employment, and people need to be trained." "Of course the Gestapo is suppressing crime, that's what Hitler promised to do. Those tales of targeting political opponents are just Western Media hype," and so forth. Like the Denialists of today, the rationalizations and palliations to excuse what the Leadership is obviously doing often reaches absurd extremes. I've literally seen people say that Musk's obvious Nazi Salute was no different than reaching for something on the cupboard shelf; or that Vance's association with Red Pills, Techno-Fascists, and Christian Nationalists means nothing since a lot of us follow people that we don't agree with. One even recently stated that that the Administration wasn't suppressing pro-Palestinian dissent because some Media outlets are still allowed to express it.

      The thing that makes Denialism even more irrational is that, not only do they deny what are plain facts: they deny their own leaders' explicit admissions and stated goals. Some Denialists claim that they're being hopeful and optimistic; but when one's optimism isn't based on Reality: that's not optimism, it's Fantasy. 

    I suppose that the best course of action to take with Denialism is to ignore it since its practitioners have chosen to opt out of Reality, but it's still a dangerous trend that we should be aware of. The particularly discouraging and confounding part of of the phenomenon is that many of the most prominent of them are people who've, in the past, opposed the very things that they overlook now. They do, in other words, have a following; as always it's best to try the spirits and by their fruits you shall know them. 

       

THE STRONGMAN WON'T SAVE US

        So this week kicks off with Corporate Media sensationalism and Government-staged photo-ops as the Administration desperately tries to pretend that they're still relevant in European Affairs. We're speaking of course of what the Media calls Peace Negotiations to end the Ukraine Conflict. The US Deep State caused the catastrophe in Ukraine to begin with; they've funded it, they've prolonged it, and anybody who isn't wholly infatuated with the New Right understands that peace or normalizing relations with Russia are the last things any of these poseurs care about. This Administration is filled from one end to the other with anti-Russia 'hawks;' but both they and their bosses on Wall Street know that they'll never defeat Russia and that sustaining Ukraine is a lost cause as long as the war is going on. 

     The whole purpose of these theatrics essentially is to find a way to surrender while making it look like a victory. If they were serious about stopping the conflict, they could have done so by withdrawing support for the Kiev Regime. But too many Globalist Interests---among them many members of the Republican hierarchy itself---who have deep financial interests in salvaging what they can. Of course, too, for public consumption, our Manly Alpha Leaders can't appear weak. To that end, we have this Statement from the White House:

         This kind of thing hardly needs a comment, other than to mention that if Vox Day had been 'elected' President, his messages would have sounded about like that. Many foreign readers may not get the idea here: but this kind of blame-shifting, self-aggrandizement, and stupid peacocking is fairly typical of how anyone in a position of authority in the US behaves. The further up the power-chain one gets, the worse it is. Naturally, too, they have a corresponding contempt for anyone under their authority. Unlike our Founding Fathers, however, Postmodern Americans swoon over people in positions of power; and the more arrogant and overbearing they are, the more that they are admired for it. 

      When the Roman People gave up their Republic and put their Government under the hand of a Caesar, an historian of the period described what happened afterward during the first century of Imperial Rule: "They saw a single lawless will, unchecked by constitutional restraints or ordinary human feeling making sport of the lives and fortunes of men. They saw the sons of the proudest families selling their ancestral honor for their lives, betraying their nearest and dearest and kissing the hand reeking with innocent blood. They saw that for the last several years, with brief intervals, virtue had been exiled or compelled to hide itself in impotent seclusion, and that power and wealth had been the reward of perfidy and self-abasement."

      I like that quote because it also describes so succinctly the situation we Americans find ourselves in today. The power isn't concentrated in a Caesar (for now), but just about every institution in the United States: Government Agencies, Corporations, Schools, the Legal System, the Financial Cartels, the Media---even not a few churches---are run about like that. 

    Many not familiar with American Culture first-hand wonder why we so passively accept the kind of leadership we do. This is the reason why. Anyone who displays talent or ability---or has the manhood to assert his rights against such a System--- ends up like the truly noble among the Romans described above did. 

     

          As Cicero pointed out back then, the people who willingly gave up their freedoms are responsible for the despotism that they ended up getting. Here in the US, we have steadily done the same thing. Just like Caesar didn't emerge in a vacuum, but found a populace "rejoicing in their loss of freedom and dancing in his path with triumphal processions" who would make his ambitions possible. We, in America, have a population primed to bow to any strongman and to submit to his arbitrary will. 

        With Off-Year Elections coming up, it's interesting to note that the Democrats seem to be following the same approach. An analysis of their gubernatorial candidates shows that, just as the Republicans outdid the Democrats in callousness and arrogance in 2024, their so-called Opposition is trying to push that envelope even further. The Democrat candidate for New Jersey Governor was quoted as saying: “Ruthless competence is something we’re all very attracted to, and looking at ways in which we can be more effective, deliver better for people in our states, is also something that I think we’re constantly striving for.” Elon Musk couldn't have said it better himself. 

       As we've said before, our problems are not going to be solved by installing this or that strongman and accepting his top-down solutions. Our problem as a Culture is spiritual, not political. Our Declaration of Independence opens with the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.” But today, we seem to believe that the Powerful are God's Chosen, and that Rights are no more than whatever privileges or favors they deign to grant us. As long as we as a Culture covet personal power over merit, we'll get more of the same. 

HUMILIATED ALPHAS SPIN ALASKA NARRATIVE

       On Friday Night, a visibly deflated US Delegation left the much-hyped US-Russia Summit in Alaska, having achieved nothing of any substance. After months of bullying Foreign leaders who (sadly like most Americans) wilted or became compliant in the presence of the Alpha Strongman, this time Red Pills faced real leaders who'd handed their immediate predecessors a string of continual defeats. The mortification among the American Leadership was so intense that they left behind sensitive documents which were uncovered by the Press. 

     No wonder they want to defund NPR; that, and the accidental leaking of military secrets earlier this year to a reporter from the Atlantic naturally wants make them control the Media even more than they do. However, we here take the position that hiring competent people to handle National Security issues would be a better option than censorship. 

      Predictably, the fawning pro-Administration Media is trying desperately to shore up the Alpha Image of our leaders. Like the online Manosphere Red Pills from whom they draw much of their inspiration, they've enlisted Evo-Psych Experts to analyze the situation. Anyone who's interested can read a montage of their obsequious flattery here:

      Of course, the Alphas forget that there were other pictures taken which tell a slightly different perspective:

      The Democrat side of the Uniparty has been huffing and puffing too: their Official Narrative is that Trump is selling out to Russia, just like the Official Counter-Narrative coming from the Republicans was that Biden was selling out to China. The reality is, of course, that the only selling-out going on is both sides selling out to Wall Street; but for obvious reasons that won't get any Media discussion.

      For the last few decades, the Democrats have played the same game: marketing their leaders as representing 'American Exceptionalism.' The 'Alpha' archetype adopted by the New Right is simply a repackaged and resold version of that wrapped in Reactionary language. The Political Class in the US long ago gave up on winning in the Marketplace of Ideas, and shifted to the more commercialized and choreographed strategy of selling candidates and narratives. It has worked to great success in controlling the effete American public, but hasn't worked so well with foreign States looking out for the interests of their respective countries. 

      What America fundamentally lacks is that kind of concern for the National Interest. We have devolved into a Culture that is essentially premised on satisfying personal Egotism; a sort of logical extension of the Survival of the Fittest ideology. That concept is reflected in the leaders whom we choose; and the Alpha Philosophy now dominant in our Government is the reductio ad absurdum of it. In Foreign Policy, that translates into expressions of dominance rather than win-win cooperation of mutual benefit to both parties. That the headline cited above stressed the need to appear "in command" and "dominating the meeting" is no accident. It expresses the priorities of both our Leadership and our Culture. 

      It's noteworthy that such language is altogether absent in most of the foreign media. The Russian Media itself has mostly covered texts of speeches from President Putin and focused on the Summit's potential for ending the Ukrainian Conflict. That will depend wholly, of course, on whether or not the White House can be trusted to uphold their end of the bargain. Whatever the White House says is not really relevant anyway: the continuation of the conflict depends upon whether or not their bosses in Davos and on Wall Street believe that continuing the conflict is a cost-effective policy or not. 

     The Russians aren't going to move from their key positions, and---despite what the chest-thumpers over here say---we don't have the power to force the Russians to do anything. Most likely one of two scenarios will play out in Ukraine:

     1. The Elites will offshore their criminal enterprises there and abandon the country to its fate. This is how they dealt with Afghanistan. Or,

     2. They will agree to Russia's terms, and the Elites can go on plundering Ukraine without fear of Russian troops interfering with them. 

    The second is probably the most likely outcome. In Afghanistan, the Taliban wanted the whole country back; in Ukraine the Russians wanted only to secure their borders and to liberate the Russians in East Ukraine and Crimea. Simply ending the fighting without changing the map will---from the Oligarchy's perspective---save them money and protect their investments Their supine Media can be counted upon to inflate the Political Class' egos and portray it all as some great victory for the Exceptional Alpha Supermen. 

      In other words, the Summit was very much all for show. The Oligarchs are going to have to cut their losses and the Uniparty is going to have to spin the defeat into victory; but that won't matter because in America's current geopolitical climate, appearances are everything and substance is nothing.