"I believe the best guard against prejudice is a frequent examination of our opinions, and a cool estimate of the arguments opposed to them — You must as Cicero says identify yourself in imagination, first with your adversary and then with your judge — and above all you must have resolution to abide by the result even if it should be adverse to your preconceived opinions." US President John Quincey Adams
I was disgusted to read just now that Sir Niall Ferguson thinks that we need to be frightened of losing the second cold war which apparently must be waged, if that is the right word, between 'the West' and China.
Why must we have a second cold war? Why does the USA have any interests in Asia, much less the UK or Nato?
I have slowly come to agree with another American president, Herbert Hoover, that Chamberlain and Daladier should not have gone to war with Germany and that Franklin D Roosevelt who wanted us to go to war in 1939 deliberately provoked an attack by Japan in 1941. Far better had Lord Halifax been Chamberlain's successor as Prime Minister, not Churchill, and spoken to Germany about the peace that Hitler very much wanted.
I have slowly come to agree with another American president, Herbert Hoover, that Chamberlain and Daladier should not have gone to war with Germany and that Franklin D Roosevelt who wanted us to go to war in 1939 deliberately provoked an attack by Japan in 1941. Far better had Lord Halifax been Chamberlain's successor as Prime Minister, not Churchill, and spoken to Germany about the peace that Hitler very much wanted.
I also see that containment of the USSR was necessary but the cold war was not and could have been ended had we agreed to a unified democratic Germany when it was offered by the USSR in 1955, that Nato should have been wound up in 1991 and the Anglo-Americans are repeating the same mistakes now.
'inverted totalitarianism'
ReplyDeleteInverted totalitarianism is a term coined by the political theorist Sheldon Wolin in his book Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism (2008). It describes a system where democratic structures and language remain in place—elections, courts, media, constitutions—but the substance of power has been quietly inverted.
Instead of an overt, centralized dictatorship (like Hitler’s or Stalin’s), power is diffuse, institutional, corporate, and managerial. The totalitarian control isn’t enforced through a single tyrant’s will; it’s achieved through bureaucracy, surveillance, psychological manipulation, and economic entanglement.
Core Idea
Traditional (or "classical") totalitarianism:
Power is centralized in a figure or party (e.g., Führer, Politburo).
Terror and violence are explicit.
The state mobilizes the masses directly.
Inverted totalitarianism:
Power is decentralized in appearance but controlled by a corporate-state nexus.
Coercion is replaced by manufactured consent, distraction, and economic dependency.
Citizens voluntarily participate in their own domination by consuming illusions of freedom.
How It Works
Managed democracy: Elections exist, but candidates and discourse are managed by corporate media, donor networks, and lobbyists—so “choice” is effectively a mirage.
State-corporate convergence: The government doesn’t dominate corporations; corporations domesticate government.
Privatized control: Instead of state propaganda, endless advertising and infotainment depoliticize the population.
Surveillance capitalism: Instead of mass informants, we carry monitoring devices in our pockets voluntarily.
Consumer obedience: Freedom is redefined as “the freedom to buy” rather than “freedom to act.”
Why It's “Inverted”
Wolin’s idea of inversion is key:
In classical totalitarianism, politics dominates economics.
In inverted totalitarianism, economics dominates politics.
The public sphere withers—not because dissent is outlawed, but because it's irrelevant or drowned out. Attention is the new currency of control.
Real-World Manifestations
Mass media constructing reality through corporate interests.
Psychological warfare via advertising, identity politics, and the narrative of “progress.”
Bureaucratic institutions that neutralize genuine reform.
Citizens enslaved not by force but by desire—the urge for comfort, convenience, entertainment, and safety.
Why It Matters
Wolin argued the U.S. (and much of the West) had already entered this phase by the early 2000s—where democracy was not destroyed but hollowed out. In his view, the state became a permanent war economy, fused with corporate and intelligence powers, administering a population pacified by entertainment and debt.
This form of control is more sustainable than overt tyranny because it harnesses voluntary complicity. People are distracted, numbed, and made to feel “free,” while structural power operates unaccountably.
https://alter.systems/c/cdf5c152-b49a-4e32-b1d5-6b3b85a366e8
The Plot to Seize Russia: The Untold History
ReplyDeleteby Martin Armstrong
ISBN-13: 9781662939631
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Publication date: 06/02/2023
Pages: 660
Overview
"Take care of Russia," Boris Yeltsin said as he departed his presidency in August 1999. These words were directed at current Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin specifically picked Putin as his predecessor to prevent the takeover of Russia.
So, who was Yeltsin warning against? Newly declassified documents from the Clinton Administration prove that there was a plot to rig the Russian election of 2000. These never-before-seen documents confirm numerous attempts to implement pro-Western policies using the Russian oligarchy headed by Boris Berezovsky.
On the other side were the communists who desired a return to the glory days of the Soviet Union. As one of the largest international hedge fund managers, author Martin Armstrong found himself in the middle of perhaps the greatest espionage, or attempt at a regime change for Russia, in modern history.
The Plot to Seize Russia pulls back the curtain to expose the most extraordinary attempt to seize power in modern history, but with the pen rather than armies. These declassified documents reveal a plot that has altered our thinking about the relations between the United States and Russia. The thirst for power comes seething through every line of these papers that alter our perception of reality, change the course of history, and now threaten us with World War III.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-plot-to-seize-russia-martin-armstrong/1143609009?ean=9781662939631