In parallel with – but perhaps not entirely unrelated to – the many technical aspects of the long decline of industrial civilization, my attention is increasingly captured by the massive global geopolitical shift precipitated by the war in Eastern Europe. I incline to believe that this battle is not a “mere” power struggle between supernational powers, but something which has its roots in ancient history, reaching back to the end of the Roman monarchy and the birth of the Roman Republic. It is no exaggeration to say the we live in ‘interesting’ times.
After a brief period of what looked like democracy — at least by squinting — we are seemingly left with only two forms of governance. We can either have “free market” capitalism ruled by rich oligarchs and unelected interest groups, or authoritarian regimes ruled by an oppressive strongman. There seems to be less and less ground in between the two… It’s like it’s 1984 again, with its two equally oppressive states: Oceania and Eurasia, with only the borders drawn somewhat differently.
In a certain sense, what we are witnessing these days is a war of these two worlds: an existential struggle between almighty capitalist oligarchies vs almighty centralized states. The mass formation psychosis euphemistically called “elections”, held in both types of entities, is nothing more than a weazen fig leaf hanging in front of a war machine of oppression and surveillance. Why, when was the last time you were offered a chance to vote which country to go to war against, or to go to war at all…?
But wait, haven’t we seen this time after time in history…? Well, surprise surprise, with the current geopolitical wrestle we’re seeing right now there is nothing new under the sun…
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