So I have decided to write a series of posts on my substack exploring theses on the world crisis. You can join my free weekly newsletter at jeffrich.substack.com, and I would encourage all readers of the blog to do so.
Category: the real world today
Money is the root of all collapse today
‘Money/, So they say,’ sing Pink Floyd in Dark Side of the Moon, ‘Is the root of all evil today.’ And money makes the roots of the multipolar world, the power of great states, and the grand illusions of Western dominance in the world.
Virtual Reality State: news media, power and the Twitter files
If such fundamental deceptions, such as the USA President is 'a Russian agent' or Ukraine is 'the beacon of democracy', becloud the voting public, how secure are our political institutions, our halls of public reason, or our means of public choice?
Who is winning the war in Ukraine and what are the stories of this war?
I have produced three episodes of the podcast/channel on the state of play of the war in Ukraine. How do we make sense of the events leading up to the war in Ukraine, and throughout the year of 2022? There have been many news stories, many podcasts and many channels looking at the unfolding events in Ukraine from day to day, In these episodes, however, I step back from the daily news cycle, and explore what it means for us as ordinary citizens looking on at these distressing events and wanting states to find their way back to diplomacy and dialogue.
Stockholm Syndrome or Stanford Prison Experiment – Interpreting the 2022 Victorian election
Victoria, like many post-democratic societies of the so-called West, is not a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. It is trapped in a Stanford Prison Experiment.
What if Russia Wins?
So, it seems reasonable at least to ask: what will happen in the West if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?
Podcast 51 (14 April 2022) War and Peace and the Conflict in Ukraine
War is terrible. War is troubling. War poses difficult questions for us all. This war in Ukraine, which is spreading globally through sanctions, bans, social media and slogans, presents those questions too. This episode of The Burning Archive responds to a listener question that just might help us get closer to peace, and that make… Continue reading Podcast 51 (14 April 2022) War and Peace and the Conflict in Ukraine
Ukraine Crisis Shows Fault Lines of Multipolar World
We are not entering World War III, I think, I hope, I insist on believing. But we are entering the final phase of the Hundred Years Cold War of the Anglo-American Powers against Russia. My forecast is that the system of power that has led this war will collapse, perhaps surprisngly quickly, but likely over five to ten years. Seven great fault lines are cracking open during the Ukraine crisis that will shape the social, political, cultural and international orders we navigate through.
Flowers of the Mind 21
The last phase of the Hundred Years (mostly) Cold War. Kingsnorth on the dead liberal order and post-democratic societies. Decisions made in anger will collapse the Western media-theatre state. Letter to Prime Minister of Australia on situation in Eastern Ukraine. Marina Tsvetaeva on poets with and without history.
Flowers of the Mind 20
Descent into post-democratic crisis. John Ionnadis on saving democracy from the pandemic. Canada leaves the democratic nations - an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Australia. Security crisis in Ukraine and the end of the Cold War - who really wants to invade Europe? The Russian Anxiety and our responsibility to refuse it
Flowers of the Mind 19
American elites wag the dogs of war as the post-democratic theatre burns. Liz Truss in Moscow: the disgrace of the British State. Journalists behaving like spin doctors and government propagandists again. Isabella of Castile and the Spanish Empire. The strangeness of the children of Ash and Elm. The uncontrollability of the world, and the true words of John Donne on public health rulez, OK?
Letter from Melbourne: mirror to the post-democratic world
Things are very serious here in Australia. There is a mental health crisis. We have endured a state of emergency since March 2020. Normal rules of government decision making have not applied. We have pursued a medical utopia of COVID Zero at stunning cost. It is really something that should never happen again, and hopefully, at the right time in the right way by the right people, will be deeply investigated and reflected on.
Podcast #16 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island, Part II
Is Eurasia rising after the fall of Kabul? The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. America's capitulation in Afghanistan has provoked an humanitarian disaster, an imperial crisis, and a change in the balance of power between great states in Eurasia. The crisis is still unfolding but… Continue reading Podcast #16 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island, Part II
Dr Cogito endures Melbourne’s fifth … and sixth and seventh… lockdown
I am reposting this post from maybe May or June. In Melbourne now all the weeks bleed into one. Do not forget us, world - we were a people with soul once, and a few of us can still find the courage to resist. **** Dr Cogito, a persona I know who inhabits the ghost… Continue reading Dr Cogito endures Melbourne’s fifth … and sixth and seventh… lockdown
Report from a besieged city (Melbourne)
And again, now in September, I repost this act of refusal to submit to despair. ***** Alas three months later, another report from the besieged city of Melbourne - locked down, its people "fleeing the Qin." **** Today 12 February, Melbourne and all the citizens of Victoria have been thrown, with eleven hours notice, again… Continue reading Report from a besieged city (Melbourne)
The Looming War of the American Succession
In 1700 Charles II, King of Spain and Emperor presiding over a vast global empire, died without a child and without a clear successor. His death triggered a great war over geostrategic control of the possessions of the declining Spanish Empire by rival dynasties and rival great states. France and Spain were diminished, and the… Continue reading The Looming War of the American Succession
Podcast #15 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island
The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. America's capitulation in Afghanistan has provoked an humanitarian disaster, an imperial crisis, and a change in the balance of power between great states in Eurasia. The crisis threatens not only American prestige in the world but some of the… Continue reading Podcast #15 – Imperial Crisis in Afghanistan and the World Island
Podcast #14 – Afghanistan and the end of America’s 43 Year War
I have released a special episode of The Burning Archive podcast on the situation in Afghanistan. It is available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify. In this special episode, The Burning Archive makes some fast history, and reflects on the meaning of the capitulation of the American Empire in Afghanistan. There are eight quick takes… Continue reading Podcast #14 – Afghanistan and the end of America’s 43 Year War
The World Island vs The Atlantic
This year, 2021, may be remembered as a pivot year in world history. Not because of the pandemic. Not only because of the protracted crisis of the American republic. But because of the changed balance of power in international relations brought about by the decrepitude of the American Atlanticist Alliance and the strengthening of the… Continue reading The World Island vs The Atlantic
The fall of the American Empire’s Potemkin Province
Thus , in a few blitzkrieg weeks, after the Americans declared they would "draw down their civilian footprint" to meet a publicity deadline of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Taliban have exposed American power and control in Afghanistan as a projection of illusion, a Potemkin Province of an anxious empire in decline.