Goodbye 2023

2023 has been a tough year for the world and indeed all those who value freedom and liberty. Inflation still remains high and despite some manicured data the recovery has been relatively sluggish. Illegal immigration is destroying America.

The Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the killing of over 1200 Israelis has earned the noteriety of being the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. At present Israel is focused on rooting out Hamas, saving whatever hostages are still alive and defeating the Islamist insurgency centered on  Gaza. It is a daunting task especially in a world where the global media appears indifferent to the country's need to defend itself and defeat those, whose sole motivation is the eradication of the Jewish state.

Our Institutions continue to show obvious signs of being broken. The pathos of the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT provided evidence of the word games that each would subscribe to, in selectively handling the threat to Jewish students on their campuses. A diabolical moral equivalency has been applied that would certainly found no home in the halls of academy if another victimized minority were in the cross-hairs of a group rage.

In Nigeria we saw the massacre of Christians as radical Islamists continue their hostile demonstrations in many of the Western cities ,with the knowledge that the rule of law has been compromised by a groupthink of guilt-ridden toleration that has rendered common sense obsolete.

2024 will hopefully be better however that may just be my own wishful thinking. Elections will colour the political land scape of the United States and the UK (plus others) and these will likely bring out the worst elements of deceit, obfuscation and double talk. There will be more of the nasty.

Greatest Naval Battles of All-Time

 My Thoughts

My Book Navigating the Chaos

 

My Answers to quick Quora questions?

 Why has China been unable to diversify its economy away from exports?

It still has too much top down control of the economy which reflects a reluctance to fully trust the market. Entrenched business interests working in tandem with the government have not embraced the broader mechanism of market feedback. Such continued thinking weakens economic diversification and innovation.

Why couldn't Feudalism continue after the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution brought about a mass movement directed towards urbanization. It also created a more flexible labour market. In short it reduced the domination of the Agrarian economy and the entrenched population base that were necessary for Feudalism to continue. In a further sense it helped spread the ideas of economic liberalism and the individual liberty that are anathema to the rigidity of Feudalism.

If Canada and the US stopped trading between each other what would happen?

It would devastate the economies of both. The US in particular relies on Canada for raw material. Canada would be crushed by the lack of revenue as the US makes up 75% of the countries import and export market. In addition Canada is the US’s 2nd biggest trading partner (just behind China). If trade broke down between these North American nations the US would likely have to rely on imports from far less reliable global sources. Inflation would wreak havoc with the country as supply lines would be stretched and greatly reduced in efficiency. The environmental effect would also be negatively impacted.

Do you think South Africa's genocide case against Israel has merit?

No. Its just a ploy by the ANC brass to ingratiate themselves with various elements of the Arab world, some of its BRICS partners and the radicals in its own party and the EFF. That way they can take pressure off themselves for their mishandling of both the South African economy and its electrical power system. Cyril Ramaphosa is running a government that is riddled in corruption and failing the bulk of the population.

What were the key factors leading to the collapse of the Roman Empire?

 My answer in Quora.

There were a number of factors (not just one). These include the devaluation of the currency, the outsourcing of security to third party mercenaries (barbarian troops who extracted large sums of money and land payments for their services), migration of foreign tribes westward into the Empire (Visigoths, Huns, Franks, Vandals etc), a falling work ethic, poor leadership, the splitting of the Empire into the wealthy East and the poor West, internal strife, the dilution of the notion of the responsible citizen, and conflicting ideological/theological struggles as Christianity replaced paganism.

It is worth noting that the Western Empire collapsed almost a millennium before that of the East Byzantine Empire (476 vs 1453 AD). Many of these factors listed above are more relevant to the West. The East was weakened by the Arab invasion, conflicts with the Crusaders and ultimately the rise of first the Seljuks then Ottoman Turks. There was also considerable infighting between the various Byzantine royals.

If you see any of these analogous trends in today’s contemporary world, Be concerned. Very concerned.

My Podcast with Tammy Peterson

Thank you very much Tammy Peterson. I really enjoyed this.