When my daughter living in France asked me today what I thought about the war with Iran I had to tell her I don’t believe anything being reported by anyone. That said I wasn’t fooled when they attacked Iraq and I suspect they/Trump have/has no idea if Iran has nukes or where they are hidden if they do. So the boasting about success reminds me of “Mission Accomplished”. “These are the best of times, and the worst of times”. Now is the time to wake up and throw off the unrepresentative representatives who are leading us by the nose to a future of pay more and get less, and telling us to like it.
Shin_Kage, I think everyone shares your goal of trying to arrange some version of financial stability / security in a world of increasing instability /insecurity. Many propose a specific asset class (gold, Bitcoin, etc.), I tend to think owning what the majority owns is safest because gold and BTC can be restricted in various ways, while openly restricting owning a house would likely trigger regime change.... that said, diversity and flexibility are Nature's secret of successful adaptation / evolution.
As for narrative control of wars, prior to Vietnam governments issued blatant propaganda and it was mostly viewed as more or less accurate. Once camera crews joined combat patrols, the stage set collapsed. Now there are more limits on what embedded journalists get to experience.
Narrative control is more sophisticated nowadays. The "leaks" are now the "trusted" mechanisms for narrative influence. Of course the "official statements" are untrustworthy, but for sure you can trust the "leaks".... um, well, maybe not....
AI Slop is now a major problem, as fake explosions etc. can be fabricated and distributed globally in a matter of minutes. The incentive--to make money by issuing fake clips that go viral--is extremely perverse.
No matter how good the intelligence gathering may be, it remains difficult to assess the mindsets and intentions of leaders. We're prisoners of our own experience, and so it was difficult for middle-class Americans to understand the contexts and convictions of Ho Chi Min, Saddam, and so on. Their worldviews and experiences were so different from bourgeois Western bureaucrats and leaders that it was easy to mischaracterize where they were coming from.
In other words, there are many ways to generate fog, some intentional, some not.
It might be interesting to throw in financial institutions and the variety of products, alongside indices, FX rates etc as tools thatau provide additional information.
We can also zoom out and look at basics like Iran is a resource rich nation once controlled by the West, and the change in that greatly upset intell and financial institutions in Washington. The nuclear weapons, like WMDs previously is an excuse to return to that state.
The only thing that matters to me is, is there a way a can financial position myself to benefit from a new state, or change in state as we have zero ability to influence the overall direction of our leaders.
Anyone think we're seeing a sort of political civil war amongst the political puppets in DC? Or perhaps it's pure pantomime to distract?
You also need to ask what role the various intel groups played in all too many incidents. Given your experience and knowledge of history, I'm surprised you left out one of the main actors. That of the UK's(they are no longer part of the EU). The US, Israel and the UK's assets are woven together through out the middle east, and many other parts of the world. Also keep in mind that ANY communication that isn't properly encrypted has to be considered compromised. There is a dark joke that goes around in certain circles; "Well, I could tell you whats actually going on, but then I'd have to kill you". Given that government intel groups function as expected(no matter how many billions are thrown at them) they tend to tell their political masters what they want to hear, rather than what they need to know. With the usual results. Coupled with a lap dog media, the only wonder is that things aren't even worse.
It isn't?? :) These days, since they've lost the much greater control of the information flow that they once had, the idea is to flood so much distortion, deflection, mis dis and malinformation through out the world, that it takes someone with either a great talent, or decades of experience to sort the signal from the noise.
I've gotten to the point where I wonder if it matters if I know what is really going on. I can do very little about anything "out there".
I do what I can to prepare for the worst on my little plot of land (well, I rent it from the county (property taxes)).
That's all I can do.
I do watch what the clowns are doing at the circus "out there". It is entertaining. I don't get angry very often anymore. What's the point? Eventually, the circus will come to my little town and destroy it, but there is naught I can do about it.
When my daughter living in France asked me today what I thought about the war with Iran I had to tell her I don’t believe anything being reported by anyone. That said I wasn’t fooled when they attacked Iraq and I suspect they/Trump have/has no idea if Iran has nukes or where they are hidden if they do. So the boasting about success reminds me of “Mission Accomplished”. “These are the best of times, and the worst of times”. Now is the time to wake up and throw off the unrepresentative representatives who are leading us by the nose to a future of pay more and get less, and telling us to like it.
I guess knowing the truth is too dangerous....
Is it even possible to know the truth?
For whom?...
Thank you for the comments.
Shin_Kage, I think everyone shares your goal of trying to arrange some version of financial stability / security in a world of increasing instability /insecurity. Many propose a specific asset class (gold, Bitcoin, etc.), I tend to think owning what the majority owns is safest because gold and BTC can be restricted in various ways, while openly restricting owning a house would likely trigger regime change.... that said, diversity and flexibility are Nature's secret of successful adaptation / evolution.
As for narrative control of wars, prior to Vietnam governments issued blatant propaganda and it was mostly viewed as more or less accurate. Once camera crews joined combat patrols, the stage set collapsed. Now there are more limits on what embedded journalists get to experience.
Narrative control is more sophisticated nowadays. The "leaks" are now the "trusted" mechanisms for narrative influence. Of course the "official statements" are untrustworthy, but for sure you can trust the "leaks".... um, well, maybe not....
AI Slop is now a major problem, as fake explosions etc. can be fabricated and distributed globally in a matter of minutes. The incentive--to make money by issuing fake clips that go viral--is extremely perverse.
No matter how good the intelligence gathering may be, it remains difficult to assess the mindsets and intentions of leaders. We're prisoners of our own experience, and so it was difficult for middle-class Americans to understand the contexts and convictions of Ho Chi Min, Saddam, and so on. Their worldviews and experiences were so different from bourgeois Western bureaucrats and leaders that it was easy to mischaracterize where they were coming from.
In other words, there are many ways to generate fog, some intentional, some not.
warm regards, charles
It is as you say, and welcome reminded.
It might be interesting to throw in financial institutions and the variety of products, alongside indices, FX rates etc as tools thatau provide additional information.
We can also zoom out and look at basics like Iran is a resource rich nation once controlled by the West, and the change in that greatly upset intell and financial institutions in Washington. The nuclear weapons, like WMDs previously is an excuse to return to that state.
The only thing that matters to me is, is there a way a can financial position myself to benefit from a new state, or change in state as we have zero ability to influence the overall direction of our leaders.
Anyone think we're seeing a sort of political civil war amongst the political puppets in DC? Or perhaps it's pure pantomime to distract?
You also need to ask what role the various intel groups played in all too many incidents. Given your experience and knowledge of history, I'm surprised you left out one of the main actors. That of the UK's(they are no longer part of the EU). The US, Israel and the UK's assets are woven together through out the middle east, and many other parts of the world. Also keep in mind that ANY communication that isn't properly encrypted has to be considered compromised. There is a dark joke that goes around in certain circles; "Well, I could tell you whats actually going on, but then I'd have to kill you". Given that government intel groups function as expected(no matter how many billions are thrown at them) they tend to tell their political masters what they want to hear, rather than what they need to know. With the usual results. Coupled with a lap dog media, the only wonder is that things aren't even worse.
The CIA's goal has always been to eventually get to the point where Americans (and maybe everybody else) think everything is a lie.
It isn't?? :) These days, since they've lost the much greater control of the information flow that they once had, the idea is to flood so much distortion, deflection, mis dis and malinformation through out the world, that it takes someone with either a great talent, or decades of experience to sort the signal from the noise.
Someone like this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_Theory_(film)
I've gotten to the point where I wonder if it matters if I know what is really going on. I can do very little about anything "out there".
I do what I can to prepare for the worst on my little plot of land (well, I rent it from the county (property taxes)).
That's all I can do.
I do watch what the clowns are doing at the circus "out there". It is entertaining. I don't get angry very often anymore. What's the point? Eventually, the circus will come to my little town and destroy it, but there is naught I can do about it.