REVELATION

30 March 2025

More seriously

FOUR APOCALYPSES FACING MANKIND

The real threats come from a failure to successfully manage public debt, trade, security and climate change. What government has any practical cooperative ways for sorting these things out?

The setup is, we had 7 or 8 billion people living in 195 countries under the global so-called rules based order that was created after the last war. But this has broken down with the result that we get uncontrolled pandemics and fiscal crises and trade wars and hot wars.

It's now a bit of a cliché to remind ourselves that through globalisation and technology, the world has really shrunk down. The easiest way to understand this is to picture a scene with 195 boats on a sea and a set of rules to stop them from bumping into each other. 

But that isn't the situation anymore. Instead, we have one luxury cruise liner with 195 cabins ... where's the captain? Oh, he's doing what suits himself.

Could some of the more active passengers get together and take over stewardship of the ship?

THE BOOK OF A REVELATION.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse come from the Book of Revelation (Chapter 6). Each symbolises a major force of destruction:

1. White Horse – Conquest or False Peace

He brings victory without war, but peace with a price.

2. Red Horse – War and Bloodshed

He shatters peace, leaving the world soaked in blood.

3. Black Horse – Famine and Economic Collapse

He weighs grain on scales — scarcity rules, and the poor starve first.

4. Pale (chloros) Horse – Death, often linked with Plague and Pestilence

He follows silently, and hell follows with him.

The Pale Horse portends mass death from plague, famine, war, and wild beasts. Not just one kind of death — but the sweeping, indiscriminate kind that follows major collapse, "the fourth turning" comes to mind when society breaks down completely. It's the final horseman — the culmination of the chaos brought by the first three.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse ride out in sequence, as seals are broken, heralding the end times.

The Seven Seals

According to revelation, God holds a scroll, sealed with 7 seals, and only the lamb -  meaning Jesus - is worthy to open them. Each seal, when broken, releases a different event or judgment onto the world.

The first four seals release the Horsemen:

1. Seal 1 – White Horse (Conquest)
2. Seal 2 – Red Horse (War)
3. Seal 3 – Black Horse (Famine)
4. Seal 4 – Pale Horse (Death)

The remaining seals bring even more apocalyptic events:

5. Martyrdom
6. Earthquakes, cosmic upheaval
7. Silence... then the Seven Trumpets begin — and it gets worse.

The breaking of seals symbolises the start of divine judgement — a step-by-step unraveling of the world order?

The Seven Trumpets of Revelation

You'll wish you hadn't asked

The Seven Bowls of Wrath

Armageddon

Armageddon comes from the Hebrew Har-Megiddo, meaning “Mount Megiddo.”

It appears in Revelation 16:16 as the place where the final battle between good and evil takes place.

Symbolically, it’s the climactic showdown between the forces of God, good, and the forces of Satan, evil.

After the sixth bowl is poured out, demonic spirits gather the kings of the Earth to fight at Megiddo.

It’s not the end itself, but the last major battle before Christ’s return and the final judgement.

Think of Armageddon as the military climax of the apocalyptic narrative. It seems to me that this is what certain people are pushing for in Middle East, which, after all, is the birthplace of apocalyptic religions.

Armageddon is a literal global mass extermination event you might call it, or at least the final spiritual struggle. However you see it, it is the final moral reckoning of civilisation.

It’s the moment humanity reaches the edge - and divine intervention ends the chaos.

It’s not just a war, it’s the last word before renewal.

It's important to see Revelation as a moral narrative, rather than a material story about conquest, land, resources, plunder. The vertivation is moral, the final showdown between good and evil.

Resumé of he Narrative So Far

1. The Seven Seals – Open the scroll of judgement. The Four Horsemen appear.

2. The Seven Trumpets – Catastrophes escalate: natural, demonic, and cosmic.

3. The Seven Bowls (Vials) of Wrath – God’s final, most devastating judgements.

4. Armageddon – the tipping point.

5. The Second Coming – Christ returns to defeat evil in this great battle.

6. Judgement and New Creation – Satan is bound, the dead are judged, and a new heaven and new earth are revealed.

Conclusion

The story so far is that following the earthquake, we realized that this was a sequence of three apocalypse, flooding pollution and the earthquake and speculated on what might come next.

We identified fout potential future apocalypses at the start of this piece - debt, trade war, hot war, climate change.

For those running the world, it seems that these troubles can only be seen in eschatological terms:

Divine revelation through sacred texts

A moral struggle between good and evil

A final judgement or apocalypse at the end of time

Eschatological — meaning they focus on how the world ends, and why it must.

In the final article of this series, we shall try to understand how the three monotheistic religions developed such a harsh narrative, how it emerged from perhaps the world's harshest region, and consider ways of combating a mindset which, on the face of it, seems to be leading us to planetary destruction.

[End]

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NEXT UP FOR EXODUS

30 March 2025

Earthquakes rock South East Asia

That makes three plagues that have visited S E Asia in fewer than six months - floods, pollution, earthquake. 

We talk frequently about WW3 Armageddon. Before that comes, we are facing Exodus ... what could come next?

Climate Change

Heatwaves & Blackouts. April's 40°C normally. If the grid goes down, so does the air-con.

Dengue Fever Surge 

Special Mosquito Operation.

Cyber Plague

A cyber attack could easily knock out the energy and banking systems - no WA messages, no air-con, no ATMs, no QR codes. Could happen anywhere actually...

Political Quakes

The geopolitical tectonic plates are moving...BRICS is calling.

นั่นคือ 3 ภัยพิบัติใหญ่ที่ถล่มเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ในเวลาไม่ถึงหกเดือน – น้ำท่วม, มลพิษ, แผ่นดินไหว

เรามักพูดกันถึงสงครามโลกครั้งที่สาม อาร์มาเก็ดดอน

แต่ก่อนหน้านั้น เราอาจต้องเผชิญกับ เอ็กโซดัส... แล้วอะไรจะตามมา?

การเปลี่ยนแปลงสภาพภูมิอากาศ

คลื่นความร้อนและไฟฟ้าดับ เมษายนอุณหภูมิปกติ 40°C ถ้าไฟดับ เครื่องปรับอากาศก็จอดตาม

ไข้เลือดออกระบาด

ปฏิบัติการพิเศษจากยุงลาย

โรคระบาดไซเบอร์

แฮกเกอร์อาจโจมตีระบบพลังงานและธนาคาร – ไม่มีข้อความใน WA, ไม่มีแอร์, ไม่มีตู้ ATM, ไม่มี QR Code

ที่จริงแล้ว เกิดขึ้นได้ทุกที่...

แรงสั่นสะเทือนทางการเมือง

แผ่นดินทางภูมิรัฐศาสตร์กำลังเคลื่อน... BRICS กำลังกวักมือเรียก

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HOW THE CULTURE WAR WAS LOST AND WHY IT MATTERS

29 March 2025

 Talk about ramming the message down everyone's throat!

Wokeness was awareness of social injustices and especially racism. But the existing residents didn't want boat people and the illegals and think people should earn a place in the world through merit, not through features over which they have no control, like race or ethnicity or religeon or orientation.

Religion religion.

When you think about the methods that wokeness employed, which are mainly about making locals feel ashamed for their past, The Woke were essentially trying to humiliate a people; and were forcing a people to use an alien language that effectively silenced them (self censorship if you prefer); and pushing through quotas for the meritless; and diversity that discriminated against, and was at the expense of, existing "native peoples".

And look at the results: lots of companies and individuals and governments were forced into adopting unnatural and unpopular and dogmatic policies, making them less competitive or effective; and into what's called "virtue signalling", which was done not because anybody believed in it, but just for PR and marketing. And if the woke were the good guys, that meant the majority were the bad guys, and so it was very divisive, controlling and intolerant.

Cleaned up version...

Wokeness Is Over: How the Culture War Was Lost and Why It Matters

For years, wokeness marched through our institutions, media, and companies like angry marmalade through your kitchen window at breakfast time. It called for justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. But somewhere along the way, it overplayed its hand and now, the tide has turned.

From political backlash to collapsing DEI departments, wokeness isn't just being questioned anymore, it’s being rejected.

The Overreach

Wokeness began with the noble idea of correcting injustice, particularly racial inequality. Just as we thought the problem had been calmed, many illegal immigrants started arriving in europe, and although they were welcomed at first by sheer dint of numbers, they came to be resented by  the host population. 

But the methods employed by government and media to force the welcome became increasingly coercive:

Guilt as a weapon: People were shamed for historical wrongs they didn’t commit and pride in their history was attacked.

Language controls: Everyday language became a political minefield.

Merit was sidelined: Identity, not skill or effort, became the ticket to opportunity.

Forced diversity quotas: These often excluded “native” or majority populations from jobs or positions they might otherwise earn.

Even those sympathetic to social justice started asking: where does this all end?

Virtue Signalling and Corporate Cowardice

As wokeness gained ground, companies raced to outdo each other in public displays of “inclusivity”—rainbow logos, diversity statements, endless HR trainings., name badges with pronouns even. But it was often empty PR, just goody goody marketing with lacking sincerity ... while

behind closed doors, CEOs didn’t really believe in it. They just didn’t want trouble.

That’s the thing with virtue signalling: it's about optics, not outcomes.

The Backlash Hits

Then the pushback began. And it was brutal.

Politics: The 2024 U.S. election was a turning point. Candidates who explicitly ran against woke ideologies gained massive support. Identity politics had finally worn out its welcome.

Corporate retreats: In 2023–24, dozens of Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 firms quietly rolled back DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) initiatives. Budgets were slashed. Roles were cut. The mood shifted from “diversify at all costs” to “back to basics.”

Public opinion: Polls began showing a majority of people were tired of ideological policing. Even young people—once considered the foot soldiers of wokeness—began rebelling against it.

The Fall of Wokeness

So how was it defeated?

Exposure of hypocrisy: From celebrity meltdowns to HR scandals, the woke elite were often caught violating the very standards they preached. This was a rerun of Boris Johnson's covid tea parties.

Cultural exhaustion: People simply got tired of being told they were the problem.

Economic pressure: In a downturn, DEI programs and “inclusive branding” were easy budget cuts. There was no value add, only controversy, argument and division.

What Comes Next?

Wokeness isn’t quite dead, but it’s no longer the cultural juggernaut it was. Its vocabulary still lingers. Its ideas are still defended by a loud minority. But the mainstream has moved on.

People want fairness, yes, but not at the cost of free speech, merit, and national identity.

Maybe that’s the final irony. Wokeness, in trying to unite us under a banner of progress, ended up dividing us more than ever. And then, the public's distaste began to be felt: reason, humour, and a growing demand for real equality overcame scripted slogans.

[End]

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WHY IS EUROPE SO HOSTILE TO RUSSIA?

29 March 2025

Why Is Europe So Hostile to Russia?

By now, it’s clear that Europe’s relationship with Russia is not just strained - it’s deeply emotional, it's fear over reason. Even as the war in Ukraine drags on, many European leaders seem more determined than ever to keep up the pressure, refusing serious peace efforts and doubling down on military support. But why? What lies beneath this hardened stance?

Some of it is history. Russia is a very, very big country that throws an enormous shadow over Europe. Russia has loomed large in Europe’s past—sometimes as a saviour (against Napoleon, against Hitler), sometimes as a threat (the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia). For Eastern Europe especially, fear of Moscow runs deep. In the Baltic states and Poland, memories of occupation and repression haven’t faded.

But history doesn’t fully explain the near-religious intensity of modern Russophobia. This feels like more than strategy—it’s ideology. The EU has spent decades building a liberal identity around “values”—human rights, democracy, individual freedoms. Russia, under Putin, offers a different model: sovereignty over globalism, tradition over liberalism, state power over woke identity politics. To many in Brussels, though Russia, since the time of Catherine the Great, has been trying to join Europe, but to Europe, this isn’t just any other membership application, it’s a betrayal of fundamental values, just like Turkey's application.

There’s also denial. Europe knows it can’t fight Russia alone. It relies on America, even as Washington is shifting its focus to to Russia as friend and China as commercial threat only. But Europe admitting that might mean reconsidering this war, even negotiating. And that's unthinkable to leaders who have sold this conflict as a battle of good vs. evil: you cannot sup with the devil.

Not all Europeans buy it. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has called for peace talks. Populist parties across Europe, from Germany to Italy, question the point of endless confrontation. But they’re shouted down as Putin puppets, even when they’re just pointing out that Europe is poorer, weaker, and more divided than it was before.

In truth, Europe’s hostility toward Russia may say more about Europe’s own fears... of irrelevance, of division, of a future it can’t control... than it does about Russia itself.

Until that changes, the war - and the destruction it causes - will go on... until Ukraine's total defeat.

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PROTECTION FROM DETECTION

21 March 2025

PROTECTION FROM DETECTION

Outsmarting the Surveillance State

This article is intended for anyone wishing to avoid ISR in the public space.

"ISR is the coordinated and integrated acquisition, processing and provision of timely, accurate, relevant, coherent and assured information and intelligence to support commander's conduct of activities [...on the battlefield]".

If you don't want to be tracked by the surveillance state, this article is for you.

Entire city scammed

This is a report of actual, current, police surveillance activities in Cardiff, UK.

In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence and surveillance, how can we fight to keep our personal privacy? The subject of this article is dodging facial recognition, but facial recognition isn’t just about identifying a face - AI can track you by your gait, your body proportions, even the clothes you wore yesterday.

Where once the bobby on a bike was your friend, now they are hiding in AI-powered surveillance vans parked round the corner, quietly logging biometric markers and behavioral patterns. Once, policing was about community, now it’s about control - the ability to freeze your rights at will, the right to freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom to protest. Need a train ticket to Coventry? Not if the system flags you as a disruptor (this would be a logical next step by the surveillance date).

How to Hide in Plain Sight

For those who value privacy, disappearing from the system requires strategy:

🔹 Stay Off the Digital Grid – Keep personal data off the internet. But if you still need a digital footprint, use apps like Fawkes, Anonymizer or FaceShield to alter your photos at the pixel level, making them unreadable to AI while still appearing normal to humans. AI can be fooled by imperceptible noise added to images, disrupting its training models.

🔹 Modify Your Appearance – Think beyond covid masks, hoodies and fawkes. AI works on confidence thresholds—if your biometric profile strays too far from its prediction model, it simply ignores you. A pronounced limp or slouch can break gait recognition. Smart glasses with infrared emitters can blind AI cameras. Reflectables will have the cameras think twice.

🔹 Clothing as a Weapon – Your wardrobe can be your first line of defense in this game of cat and mouse. Patterns known as "adversarial designs" disrupt AI’s ability to classify people correctly. Some confuse recognition software into mislabeling you as "animal" or "object", rather than a "person- of-interest". Companies like Cap_able and Adversarial Fashion specialise in garments that distort recognition models.

Becoming Invisible Without Vanishing

For those wanting to travel beyond the vanishing point, the fun part is playing with these limits. AI relies on statistical confidence, so shift a few standard deviations outside its comfort zone and you will have put yourself in a different galaxy.

With the right mix of adversarial fashion, digital obfuscation, and physical misdirection, you don’t have to disappear - you just have to render yourself unrecognisable to the machine.

PRIVACY ISN'T DEAD. 

WE JUST HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO CONFUSE THE ADVERSARY.

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THE ART OF THE DEAL. DO TRUMP'S BUSINESS TACTICS APPLY WHEN TRYING TO REACH A GEOPOLITICAL SETTLEMENT

21 March 2025

1. Top Ten Tactics in Business Negotiations

These are classic tactics used by the stronger side to control the negotiation process and steer it toward a favourable outcome:

1.1 Anchoring High

Open with an ambitious position to define the frame.

Forces the weaker side to negotiate downward from your terms.

In geopolitics: e.g. “End the Fighting - The Must be an Immediate Ceasefire.”, "There must be a Territorial Status Quo - No Further Advances can be Tolerated", "Keep Ukraine out of NATO and Limit its Military", "Sign This Minerals Deal / Hand Over Your Power Stations and The US will Protect You".

1.2 Minimise Objections ("These Are Just Details")

Dismiss key concerns as minor technicalities.

Builds urgency and downplays complexity.

Trump often uses this: "We’ll get it done—no problem."

1.3 Project Confidence and Optimism

Assumes the deal is inevitable and success is certain.

Psychological pressure on the other side to not be the one who “derails” progress.

1.4 Control the Agenda and the Timeline

Set the pace and structure of talks.

Speed does benefit the better-prepared party.

Trump may say, “We want a deal in 30 days—let’s get it done.”

1.5 Divide and Conquer

Split up the other side’s internal factions.

Exploit differences between allies or interest groups.

Classic in geopolitical deals: e.g. Trump has used NATO divisions to push the idea that some states (like Germany) aren’t paying their share, creating splits over how to respond to Russia.

1.6 Use of “Carrots” and “Sticks”

Offer incentives, but also threaten consequences.

“Agree now and sanctions ease. Refuse, and we double down.”

Except Trump doesn't have any sticks, and there is little that Russia wants from him other than an enduring peace settlement.

1.7 Create a Sense of Scarcity or a ‘Last Chance’

Pressure to agree by suggesting the deal window is closing.

“This is your only chance for peace—don’t miss it.”

1.8 Control the Narrative/Public Perception

Shape media and diplomatic messaging.

Make refusal seem unreasonable or dangerous.

Trump might leak to media: “Russia's refusal proves they don’t want peace.”

1.9 Framing Concessions as Generous Compromise

Position minimal concessions as major goodwill.

Pressures the other side to “match” your “generosity.”

Eg the pause in attacks on each other's energy infrastructure is actually no concession at all.

1.10 Repetition and Consistency

Repeat key messages until they become accepted truths.

“Ukraine needs peace. We are offering peace. Russia refuses peace.”

2. Limits of Business Tactics in Geopolitical Negotiations

2.1 National Interests Are Non-Negotiable

In business, everything has a price.

In geopolitics, some things don’t: borders, sovereignty, ideology. This is a really hard one for the West to understand.

2.2 Domestic Political Constraints

Leaders must answer to parliaments, factions, voters - not to shareholders.

A deal that looks good on paper can be rejected by political realities.

2.3 Security and Trust

States deal in security dilemmas and have long memories affecting Trust.

Russia remembers every broken promise, from 1990s NATO "not one inch East", to 2008 Budapest "Ukraine and Georgia will join NATO", to 2015 Minsk I and II, to March 2022 Istanbul, to the Belgorod incursion on the eve of this ceasefire ; Ukraine remembers Crimea.

2.4 Face and Prestige Matter

Saving face, especially for strong leaders, is vital.

Business negotiators can walk away quietl - countries cannot.

2.5 Multilateral Complexity

Geopolitical deals often involve coalitions, not just two parties.

Business logic can fall apart in a cats cradle of conflicting interests.

3. Conclusion: Trump’s Style – Business vs Statecraft

Trump’s negotiating style—high pressure, optimistic framing, ‘art of the deal’ - works well in real estate.

But geopolitics is not a Manhattan property deal. The other side may prefer ruin to humiliation.

Business tactics help, but must be embedded within diplomatic conflict resolution, realism that recognises that some goals are non-negotiable, and the art of the geopolitical deal especially requires an understanding of historical grievance.

[End]

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EUROPE'S MANY ATTEMPTS TO DISMEMBER AND PLUNDER RUSSIA

19 March 2025

Europe’s Many Attempts to Subjugate Russia

For centuries, European powers have repeatedly launched invasions and attacks against Russia, often under the leadership of a dominant Western power. These assaults have ranged from outright military invasions to economic and political subjugation. Was the motive a fear of Russia, or was it a greed for Russia's resources?

Napoleon’s Grand Failure (1812)

In June 1812, Napoleon assembled the largest invasion force the world had ever seen—600,000 troops—on a mission to conquer Russia. But this was not just a French attack. It was a European campaign, bringing together soldiers from France, Poland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Hungary. Six months later, this grand coalition was shattered by Russian resilience, the vastness of the land, and the brutal winter.

Hitler’s Barbarossa Disaster (1941)

Obsessed with Napoleon’s failure, Hitler sought to avoid his mistakes. In June 1941, he launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion in history: 3.8 million troops, 3,600 tanks, 2,700 aircraft, and tens of thousands of artillery pieces. Again, this was not just a German attack—it was a European assault. Troops from Germany, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium all took part. They too failed, facing the same fate as Napoleon, as Russia’s vastness and resilience broke their campaign.

A Long History of Western Attacks on Russia

Russia has endured major invasions and interventions from the West since the 17th century:

1. Polish-Lithuanian Invasion (1598-1613)

During Russia’s "Time of Troubles," Poland sought to place a Polish king on the Russian throne. Polish forces occupied Moscow from 1610 to 1612 before being expelled by Russian militias.

2. Swedish Invasion (1708-1709)

Charles XII of Sweden invaded Russia but was crushed at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

3. French Invasion (1812)

Napoleon’s doomed march to Moscow.

4. Crimean War (1853-1856)

A British-led coalition, including France, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire, sought to weaken Russia.

5. World War I (1914-1918)

Germany and Austria-Hungary launched a massive Eastern Front offensive, with other European nations contributing troops.

6. Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921)

Poland attempted to carve out territory and create a buffer zone at Russia’s expense.

7. Western Intervention in Russian Civil War (1918-1922)

Britain, the U.S., Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Japan sent troops into Russia. The official narrative claims they supported the anti-Communist Whites, but in reality, their intervention helped stabilise Bolshevik rule. Western powers ensured that the Whites remained weak, allowing Lenin and Trotsky to consolidate power.

8. World War II (1941-1945)

Hitler’s doomed Operation Barbarossa.

The Economic War on Russia

9. The 1990s – A Silent Invasion

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia was not invaded militarily but economically. Western financial interests, acting through their proxies—the oligarchs—seized control of the country. Under Western-backed economic "shock therapy", Russia’s GDP collapsed by 50%, a far worse decline than during World War II. By the late 1990s:

Over 50% of Russians lived in poverty, with 25% in desperate conditions.

Death rates increased by 60%, with an estimated 5-6 million surplus deaths - equivalent to losing 3.4%-4% of the population.

Western banks and institutions effectively controlled Russia’s wealth until Putin began reversing this in the 2000s.

10. Ukraine War (2014-Present): The Latest Western Proxy War

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is not a local civil war but a NATO-backed proxy war against Russia. The West has armed, financed and trained Ukrainian forces, and applied almost 30,000 "sanctions" using them as a tool to weaken Russia. The various tactics for extending Russia are described in a document commissioned by the Pentagon in 2019 that can be found on the internet titled RAND_RR3063.pdf.

The EU is currently attempting to raise €800 billion from its members to rearm and is planning to send an expeditionary force that they call peacekeepers to Russia.

Conclusion

From military invasions to economic warfare, Europe’s history with Russia has been one of hostility, betrayal, and failed conquests. Russia has survived them all.

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