Where Are We Now?

It’s been a while since I wrote anything for the blog for various reasons, but I was determined to, as the saying goes, squeeze one out. Last time I wrote I think Boris was PM and the Ukraine war was in the early stages. Therefore, I will just have general ramble on the state of things.

First, to Ukraine. As predicted, we are seeing a long, drawn-out war of attrition. Both sides’ claims to permanently being on the verge of a stunning victory has unsurprisingly fallen flat. I take no side in the war as I am neither Russian nor Ukrainian, have never visited either country, and I do not intend to do so. One is a police state run by gangster politicians looking to enrich themselves. The other is a globalist hell hole propped up by a fading USA. So, who is winning? The answer is China.

Why is this? China has long been building up to a confrontation with the USA, to move itself from being a dominant local power in Asia to being a global power. China has been practicing what has become known as total war. Here everything is used as a weapon, from economics, politics, diplomacy, culture, money to actual armed combat. The BRICS alliance has been slowly taking shape to rival NATO. China has been buying up US debt for leverage. China has been effectively colonising Africa, building diplomatic relations and webs of patronage and debt. When Mugabe was removed in Zimbabwe, the new leader had to get the okay from the Chinese before he assumed power. There are an estimated two million Chinese in Africa. The BRICS nations have proposed their own currency, a bid to rival or overtake the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

As for Ukraine, China is backing Russia and things are playing out nicely for the Chinese. China eventually wants Taiwan back but doesn’t want to fight a war it might potentially lose. As such, for them it is a win to see USA and NATO countries supplying all their weapons and ammunitions to Ukraine, while damaging their economies in doing so. With all of NATO’s gear chewed up on the Ukraine front, there will be far less to potentially be used against China in the Pacific. Russia being in a drawn-out war also helps them. Russia and China are the largest and dominant members of BRICS. If Russia is ground down and weakened militarily and economically and has to rely on China for financial and military aid, then China gains the upper hand and becomes the outright leading BRICS nation. All this accomplished with China barely lifting a finger.

What is next? Well, it’s likely that the EU, USA and UK will be in recession soon if they are not already. It may then become very difficult to keep providing money and weapons to Ukraine, both financially and politically. You see far fewer Ukrainian flags about now, and public support has already waned, as the media cycle moves on with some other distraction for the populace. Added to this, China has the largest manufacturing base in the world and a billion potential workers. So does India, part of BRICS. If China moves to war production then it’s pretty much game over. It will take a while, but the end result won’t be in doubt. Not for nothing did Trump want to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the USA. Not only economic but physical security is at risk.

Politically, the hellscape continues. Labour, Tories and Lib Dems all have virtually the same policies and are just different strands of globalism. The wrapper may be different, but it’s the same turd sandwich they are going to force you to eat. Mass immigration, net-zero, fifteen-minute cities, never-ending war, the list goes on. I can’t pretend to be interested any more. For those who are, the Tories have committed political suicide by ousting Boris for having cake on his birthday. Loathsome as he is, he delivered an 80 seat majority and would likely have won again against the dour and dreary Starmer. Here in sunny Wales, the Welsh government under the Dear Leader Drakeford continues to make a mess of just about everything. If ever you want an argument against public ownership, just look at Cardiff Airport. Add to this the local council digging up every road to install cycle lanes that hardly anyone uses and staging a war against cars, and you get the picture. Needless to say there are then stories of town centres dying as shops close. If only there was some link between the two?

More troubling is the de-banking of Nigel Farage. Big banks and corporations never seem to cease their endless drive to be more woke and progressive. Latest in a long line of these things was Farage being refused banking services, seemingly for his political views. He is not the first as many have pointed out. Financial services have been withdrawn from the likes of Tommy Robinson (not his real name) and Milo, to name but two. This is more insidious as it is aiming to enforce ideology and silencing dissent. It is moving towards the idea of a social credit score, which is already employed in China.

The next potential step then is the launch of central bank digital currencies. For anyone unfamiliar with this and wondering why it is such a big deal, digital currencies can be programmed. This means you could be stopped from spending altogether, or not be able to buy certain products or use certain suppliers. This linked to a social credit score would be highly effective in coercing people to behave in the way the state or corporations want. For example, you live in a fifteen-minute city but you’ve been caught leaving too many times. Social credit score docked, you can’t spend any money for the next two weeks, forcing you to stay in and reduce your ”carbon emissions.” That’s just one example. Donations to rival political parties could be curtailed, sending money to individuals deemed troublesome could be stopped, or your money would be no good at the local boozer. Take your pick.

It is rather ironic to see those who don’t like Farage either openly cheering this on, or writing apologist articles in the media. “They’re a private company and can do what they like.” Now where have I heard that before? Oh yes, about Twitter before Elon Musk bought it. It was the same justification used for banning accounts for wrongthink and badspeak. As usual these people are short sighted, either wilfully or ignorantly. What can be done to someone like Farage can also be done to you. And you never know when a corporation or organisation will change hands, and then the boot is on the other foot. “This could never happen to anyone I like.” Wait until you or someone you like is suddenly on the wrong end of the ever-shifting social justice narrative and becomes a thought criminal. Just look at J. K. Rowling.

Along similar lines we had the joys of Pride month (which now seems to be every month) and the Bud Light fiasco. Companies seem quite content to trash their brand and sacrifice their profits on the altar of woke. Why? The best thing to read on this is the Book Corporate Cancer by Vox Day. Relatively short and about £4 on Amazon. He suggests that the original mission of the organisation or company gets subsumed by woke as woke employees and a woke board get appointed. No care or thought is then given to what the company is supposed to be doing, as long as the political and cultural messages is delivered. Hence, we have films that lose hundreds of millions at the box office, TV shows with low ratings, and companies selling products no-one wants to buy.

What next? I think likely a recession across the UK, EU and the USA later this year. The hike in interest rates will push it that way, along with spending being reined in as people can’t keep up with prices. A UK and US election are not far off. I can’t summon up any enthusiasm for either. Here we have no-one to vote for. In the US I think Trump will be the Republican nominee, but the election rigging issue has not been dealt with, so I suspect history will repeat itself. It will be interesting to see if the rise in the “far-right” across Europe continues. The Ukraine war will rumble on for a while yet. Until next time, frens.
 

© Jonathon Davies 2023