Starting WWIV, the Second Cold War - Alcyonenews

Main menu:

Miscellany

Posted February 21, 2025

Starting WWIV, the Second Cold War

I heard it first from John Foster Dulles, the then US Secretary of State. It was he, I think, who invented the “silent canons warfare”. “There are means other than the guns with which to occupy a country”, said he as I recall it.

This was shortly after WWII when “war-philes”, led by Churchill, “enemized” Russia, an “Ally” until then. They wanted really no less than to carry on Hitler’s core plan to eliminate “Bolsheviks before spreading all over Europe.” But the people at large were busy mourning the war dead, nursing the war-maimed, and rebuilding their homes. And they were determined to make WWII the “Last War”. All came together and the war plan flopped. But not for good.

The Dulles doctrine saved the day for the War-philes. The ensuing “Cold War” got underway and lasted about half-a-century. Some human slaughtering happened, as the Korean and the Viet-Nam hot wars, but people resisted and managed to put out the hot war flames. This was achieved because the people faught against the wars rather than aiming for the “enemies”. The popular cry: “LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” did not specify the nationality of the “kids”.

The Cold War was sold as being a “peace-maker”, as a means of achieving peace without killing the “enemies”. The prototype war was waged by the women of Athens who withheld sex from men until they would end the “30 years war” with Sparta. That was a cold war with a warm end in bed after giving love a chance.

The Cold War was ruthlessly fought 24/7. The “Free World” was lead by the USA, the target’s bullseye being Russia. The primary weapon was Propaganda, the secondary was embargo. The Free World played the “Godless Commies” mantra and eventually, Pope John Paul II led the assault that resulted in the “Free World” triumph.

Embargoes are the ultimate tariff. They are meant to starve the “enemy” and drive them to surrender. Tariffs are meant to compel the target to surrender something. Frequently they backfire. At the end of WWI, the victors imposed the “Made in ...” labelling of industrial products, expecting to discourage purchase of “Made in Germany” goods and divert the customer to “Made Elsewhere” stuff. Germany answered by offering “better” goods at better prices and won the market because people shop for value.

In the general case, Tariffs are imposed to shore up industries that cannot survive the international free market. International trade is meant to use a nation’s surplus to fill other nations deficit in that item. This may have morphed into a leapfrog affair, but this does not matter much. What matters most is trade imbalance which may enslave nations. Equally perilous is the manipulation of the supply/demand situation, done to undeservingly enrich nations and/or to elicit a market surrender. In that usage, trade becomes as threatening as a cannon is.

I write this inspired by Donald, the Tariffic Trump. At this stage of history, he is the canary in the mine shaft. This in the sense that his presence, like the canary’s death, is an omen of bad things to come. His existence manifests that things have gone critically rancid. He is now spouting threats in all directions, playing the “benevolent terrorist” role. The world shivers as the he laughs in the face of the peoples’ ”leaders”, pleading for mercy.

The Trump did not just happen. Was he to somehow evaporate, another of his kind would emerge. He is the product of “leaders” usurping our trust and selling out our dignity for money to buy votes that would prevent the philosophers displacing the kings at the helm of the society ship.

Back in 1950's McCarthyism menaced the USA. It was Cold War Propaganda backfiring on the USA with McCarthyism causing lots of pain to many. Eventually Joseph Welch fired a fatal salvo to Senator Joseph McCarthy:

"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last?"

We are being pulled hard into the Black Ages, bound to be harsher than the Dark Ages as Orwell has argued. The challenge is to avert this happening. Pilgrimages and liturgies to Trump are impotent and demeaning. We have to “cancel” the regime caused by the insatiably vote-hungry politicians, those who masquerade themselves as “duly elected leaders”.

For as long as the conditions that produced Trump remain intact, Trumps will reoccur.

We would be ill-advised to think that the millions who “elected or support” Trump are inept or of a vile predisposition. Most of them, I will dare guess, see him as the only St. George in town ready on his mount to lance the fire-spitting Dragons. Orwell spoke of the Dragons coming but we missed the point and found him amusing instead of prophetic. Let’s focus on whatever produced the Trump. If we succeed in dealing with that, Tariffic Trump will Crumble.

Above all we need Free, truly free, Speech, for without it, what needs be done will remain undone.