The summer of 2017 in the Northern hemisphere is kicking in. For us Finns, midsummer equates slow news seasons mostly because people are spending their vacations from mid-June till the end of July. That surely doesn't mean that the world comes to a standstill. We have to stay alert. Just recently, the local security police (SUPO) has issued a heightened terror warning. This means that we have reached threat level two in four tier system. So far there has been no terror attacks. In a way, we are lucky to remain in the periphery of Europe, out of harms way; whereas central parts in Europe, such as London, Paris and Berlin will most likely have to endure the failure of the security state.
However the political whammies continue to drive us insane. This accounts indeed to the expected volatility of mental states and world view. The economy shows some upbeat, yet all the financial systems are manipulated that wealth can be sucked out of the working men and women at all stages. Once again the people have been misled. In Finland, the government played some of us like a fiddle and staged a fake splintering of one of the coalition parties in order to promote the pro-EU integration, spending and military union above sovereign rights. The new splinter started by calling themselves the New Alternative but soon changed its name to Blue Future, blue like the EU flag. It was a PR nightmare but fortunately people are asleep and plundering can continue until IEDs ravage the local capitals every week.
The EU has succeeded in integration terrorism part of Europeans daily lives. This doesn't mean that there was no terrorism before the EU when there was indeed a lot. Although, this time around, the fear and anxiety are starting to tear the people's trust to society apart. Add to that poor economic situation, and we'll have a mess on our hands. I hardly see a way out of this calamity. I feel it has to pay its due course and hubris needs to settle the score. We have to endure the scorn of indifference. Since many individuals will have hard time digesting the reality once it strikes them, I'm somewhat concerned about many poor souls who will figuratively eaten alive by the coming change. What about food, what electricity, water, money? Have you thought about it or has it always been a given in your life? Can we prevent the state of decay or can we accelerate the society's descent into looting lawlessness versus orderly anarchy?
We can indeed worry about it later once it happens. Our ability absorbs and absolve bad news will be tested soon. Some will no doubt find it a relief. I'm positive most of us can adapt quickly yet soon everybody is going to need an update of how the world works. Big masses will eventually find out new names and reliable sources for their information needs. New and old ideas will find new owners and users.
There will more twists and schemes ahead. It seems that the situation in Syria is once more growing more explosive as the US decided to attack the Syrian air corps. This incident did not delight the Russians who vowed to stop US helping IS. The situation in Mosul is desperate as civilians are held as human shields by the Daesh occupiers. Qatar debacle has been rerouted to long term freezing of relations as the Saudis make rearrangements in their own power structure. ISIS militants also cling to the Philippine city of Marawi in a geopolitical move to destabilize Duterte. Indonesia is facing similar scenarios. The Korean saber rattling will mostly likely continue although some pressure was relieved because the new South Korean president is pro-peace.
In Europe, terror attacks and violence will become everyday nuisance. It will remain a part of big city life. To tackle this threat, EU will develop more integration and boost military and intelligence cooperation. This will lead to loss privacy and other civil rights but won't stop terror since mass surveillance is inefficient and intel agencies work hand in had with extremists against the common enemy – the public.
In US, we can witness the disintegration of the political system. Nothing gets done. Police violence and counter-protestor riots will harm the public's trust in the system. Confrontations will continue as it will serve as political theater for the masses who'll rally their own against the wrongdoers. There will be many individuals who'll profit from this indignation and lack of civil manners on both sides of the political spectrum. More literal theater intervention to stop the figurative Trump assassination memes from spreading to corrupt further minds.
Let's cool our minds in the freezing Antarctica where something bigger than icebergs is about to shock the world. It's shock therapy time.
Treachery is in the air. Apparently some people made a choice to put their career first and loyalty second. In short, the smallest coalition govt party, True Finns (perussuomalaiset), has splintered into two groups after the bigger coalition govt parties said that they would not cooperate with the newly elected controversial party leader and MEP Jussi Halla-Aho due to his ideology and thought crimes. The newly splintered group called New Alternative (uusi vaihtoehto) comprised of former party leader Timo Soini's ideological entourage and with the 21 and counting members of this fresh parliamentary group the coalition can form a narrow majority government and push through the highly coveted social and healthcare reforms (sote) and new county administration layout (maakuntauudistus). It remains to be seen whether the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party and the New Alternative can pull through all the stops and form a functioning lame duck government. The opposition parties call for new elections due to mistrust over the new conditions within the splintering.
Moral outrage 101: Some people interpreted these hand signs as Nazi salutes at the True Finns convention
All in all, the Centre Party wants to solidify its rule for the next 20 or so years with the new county administration reform which would, in layman's terms, introduce 10–18 new counties, a completely new layer of administration with unknown statutes and powers. The National Coalition Party is aiming to privatize more and more of the public built infrastructure to party connected business insiders and foreign service providers. The healthcare reforms would boost private healthcare providers access to lucrative markets whereas all the non-profitable healthcare would be still in public control. My estimate is that the mainline True Finns like the longstanding populist party leader Timo Soini wants in on this financial action and by supporting these reprehensible actions to short sell our countries' assets, he intends to land a lucrative retirement plan like many previous ministers within the government.
Counter coup within True Finns to save career and future revenue
The new True Finns leader Halla-Aho enjoyed merely three days of leadership until the clic within the party decided splinter. Foreign minister and former party leader Soini didn't refer his own actions as abandoning the party he helped to rise to power. The party under Soini's lead was mired with flirting with racists as many members had expressed the unthinkable and had made some unsavory and undignified remarks of people of foreign persuasion. However, this was only a public image problems and didn't seem to warrant any concern out of the coalition partner who recently had to denounce cooperation with one of the racists who rose to party leadership positions thus triggering the unfortunate chain of events which will most likely lead to demise of everyone involved.
"The look when you betray the party you created to secure job as foreign minister." / Former True Finns leader Timo Soini flip-flop supreme
People can complain all they want. Halla-Aho is a condemned thought criminal under Finnish law and he paid the fines for the 'hate speech' he expressed. That said I feel, even though just before the True Finns party convention in early June, it became public knowledge that the conservative candidate had indeed had an extramarital affair, that Halla-Aho was in this case the more honest person of what he thinks and feels. And being overtly racist in some remarks was apparently too much the coalition partners who expressed there was too deep an ideological gap even though the actions might be more discriminating than words.
Saying mean stuff is worse than getting hands dirty
Racism, hate speech and thought crimes are very much a daily topic in the Finnish media. Recently, it was made public that the Finnish police had a private Facebook group where certain members had made racist and unbecoming remarks for public office. The moral outrage was luckily short lived but will most likely lead to an internal review by the police administration. That said, it was rather embarrassing for the police force, who by the way, is supposed to monitor 'hate speech' online, to commit some of the crimes themselves. It is true that online conversation lacks tact and is mired with racist and bigoted views. Add to that incendiary and falsified reports of fake incidents, hearsay and rumors of refugee or immigrant crimes home and abroad and that'll make a fine cesspool. Unfortunately, some opportunists like to give credit for spreading this muck to the Russian government. This kind of counter intelligent agent and pundits want to spread in turn their own biased anti-Russian views which could also be seen as 'racist' in nature.
So far the splintering and the demise of True Finns hasn't been credited to Russians colluding to weaken the Finnish democracy but to this narrative to form it will take time before some columnists figures out Putin's telepathic brainwashing powers were behind this hatchling of a crisis.
True Finns media platform Suomen Uutiset asks: Halla-Aho or Soini?
Currently, it seems that the media is for the most part rejoicing that the racist bunch was overthrown and betrayed by their party comrades. Although, some are still very concerned about the credibility of the lame duck government and how can the New Alternative splinter cell enjoy any kind of mandate in this new context. It must be highlighted that the New Alternative has twice the support as the remaining True Finns when it comes to counting the members' vote count in the previous election. The New Alternative as a name is indeed a sloppy joke since ideologically it is old, corrupted and for sale, and all those qualities can hardly be called new or alternative. Morally the govt couldn't be more bankrupt. It is also unfortunate that at the moment the economy has taken a positive turn which in turn makes it harder to pursue more austerity and advocate selling state property.
The Finnish mentality wants to project positive image and therefore partnering with a thought criminal was a no-no. The best kind of corruption is hidden and kept out of sight. Shoot the messenger. The prime minister Juha Sipilä has had a bad spring. First, he wanted to the public news service YLE to portray him and his actions in a more favorable light, and after that in early June, a local monthly newspaper Seura shed light into how he became a millionaire through insider collusion and 'organized crime' where public property and assets are sold below their true price to insiders who can later sell the assets with huge profit. Sounds like public and private sector cross over in organized crime defrauding all of the countries tax payers.
All we can say at this point is that the future looks uncertain. It is unlikely that the social and healthcare reforms riddled with legal problems can pass this year adding more pressure to the govt coalition. It is a real mess, similar to UK. Globalists have once more taken advantage. Can we fight back in time?
Immigration vs. EU-integration
The old praetorian guard is willing more or less to follow the establish coalition policy whereas the newly elected True Finns were highly critical of EU and its pro-immigration policies. It is to be noted sincerely that the True Finns even under the new leadership were willing to continue the old plan were it to be followed. It seems that the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party wanted to alter the policy at this point to accommodate deeper EU integration led by Germany.
Anti-immigration stance gained quickly lot of popularity and fervent opposition after 2015 refugee crisis brought masses of asylum seekers into Scandinavia. The overreaction was bigger than anticipated. It is expected that this negative trend will continue even after the next election, but at this point it is still too early to see whether there is a possible snap election next year.
Not the perfect match off. Even though this ongoing delicate situation in the Arabian peninsula is hardly the biggest concern right now. In the south, the war in Yemen continues, cholera is spreading and prospects look grim. Yemen seems to have become Saudi Arabia's equivalent for Soviet campaign in Afghanistan – going awfully wrong whilst costing too much for comfort.
I've been thinking about the motivations behind the latest high tensions with Qatar. As campaigns in Syria are dwindling, the removal of Assad was a failure. We can see the Saudi outreach of foreign policy in the Middle East fail, whereas their grip on global terrorism exports and bribing Western politicians is as strong as ever. Saudis are making a terrible mistake if they think they can force Qatar to join them. If this is merely a ploy to prop up oil prices, they may prolong the inevitable. The Saudi model, as seen in Venezuela with stricken oil revenue, is not viable. Buying high priced assets on foreign soil is not going to cut it. We can witness China being at it, while propping up their home economy with creative bookkeeping and collecting assets abroad. Alas, at least China is dynamic in their view of building infrastructure which will be more concrete than empty paper promises.
Qatar and Iran on friendly terms since Syria plans bust?
Qatar is in many ways similar to Saudi Arabia, but fortunately they have smaller population and therefore more sustainable economy. At the moment, this latest escalation seems to have forced the Qatari to look for new global partners as the bullying neighbor tries to force them to join them. They can trust Turkey, with Muslim brotherhood connections. Iran can use the soft approach as can Russia to appease the situation. US has military base in Qatar and most likely wish that this will be the case in the future although they have many bases in the region.
It is probable that this whole move against terrorism loving Qatar will only embarrass everyone in the conflict. Saudis can afford buying up their way to UN human right council leader seat and women's right council while at it, so buying EU and US politicians to agree with their arguments to confront Qatar, Iran, NATO rogue Turkey and most of BRICS nations won't be an issue. It must be said at this point that for the most part BRICS countries have weakened and that SCO and Silk Road cooperation have strengthened. Countries like Brazil and South African are grimed with political problems that truly affect this partnership.
However the global situation is now more dynamic than ever. The blocks are moving nicely and aligning to accommodate new partnerships. Big alliances are quiet loose and whereas bilateral relationships can work on per issue basis. Monarchies seem not be dynamic enough to brainchild a move to more stable and productive society. We can already witness places like Europe descending back towards feudal society.
Old west in decline & demographic end of the line – Nihilism and solipsism pave way to nonexistence
In essence, we lack faith. That has become our cultural heritage. The lack of over generations bigger than life tradition. How can the western tradition overcome future obstacles in the now? Old ways of thinking won't suffice. From top to bottom approach will not work anymore. Passive obeisance will not cut it to get handouts from the state. It is more likely that the old power in high places won't see change and more so won't be acknowledging it until it hits them where it hurts. I wonder if the obeisance in exchange of compensation is the reason these wealthy monarchies can lobby their ways into our ways of life.
These are all good questions. Spreading awareness and people putting their skin-in-the-game will be the only change we can hope for. Let's spread the word and reform this shared society of information. Energy is in constant change.
What can we do about it? How can we contribute to a positive change? Politics seems inundated with trivial matters. All I can see is bickering and political deadlocks above which the superstate conducts all the business as usual.
Many things are whirling in my mind at the moment. I can sense some relief at least that the Qatar ultimatum has not ended in a shooting show off perhaps because the Iranians, Turks and Russian have voiced their concern and are betting the Saudis chicken out. However, the future looks bleak for satirist, who all of sudden, yet not surprisingly have found out that what was called the news has been promoted or relegated into satire class. Some of this news can be whisked away as bad journalism and ludicrous opinions. But lately things, all things Trump in particular, have really made news consumers uncomfortable since the abundance of fake news is making the narratives crumble and resurrect the next day.
Social media mix – the abyss goes both ways
I can only blame at this point the social media and its savvy users who have successfully inserted their own narrative into the mix. This trend has lead to a mass confusion: the news have become the laughing stock and deservedly so. The business got used to lowering standards and were suddenly challenged by former disgruntled peers or lay persons who took to themselves to set the record straight.
Yet again we see, to prove my point, that the media has been unequivocally biased in UK against leftist Corbyn. Like we saw in US with Trump, the pompous establishment made a fool out of itself. May is in dismay and this does not bode well for the country which seems to be willing to open all the floodgates to suppress dissent, monitor all and everything online and quietly support our Western allies later turned out to be extremist terrorists. No govt will change that, that deeper layer of power structure. In US, we see a similar power struggle and no wonder we see senile senator McCain act confused in the Comey hearing. By the looks of it, unfortunately, I feel like I've entered a parallel universe when it came to see what local papers here in Finland wrote about the hearing. There was a striking difference. Trump was lying; therefore Comey was telling the truth. That seemed to be the main issue, even though local coverage had to admit that the Russiagate was going nowhere after Comey lackluster testimony. I feel this charade ended up netting many own goals forcing NYT to retract Russia articles.
The Russia did meme is still being widely used and will remain as a throwback to this moment in time. CNN, with a particularly awful track record, is indeed one of the main cited sources by the local press and it shows. We could use a critical eye. Alas it's not going to happen any time soon.
But the Kafkaesque trip is only beginning. I've been following Canada's regression and financial calamity for a while. Bill C-16 is the shot heard around the world. I've also invested some time to listening Joe Rogan's interview of Bret Weinstein and the disintegration of Evergreen State Collage. Then there's the case of Reality Winner and the odd negligence by the part of the NSA giving her security clearance. Internet really tore a new one for Kurt Eichenwald because of his tweeting slip up. CNN has canned two hosts who were 'threatening' the president. Sounds like nightmare PR even though these outbursts might the last moments for the channel in the limelight.
The Weinstein interview was very interesting. At this point, peer reviewed science has become another laughing stock. What is more alarming, is that, according to Weinstein and other authorities in this scene, many post-modernists advocate for denouncing the scientific method and deduction as tools of patriarchy or white supremacy. Indeed, logic and facts are bigoted. This is beyond insane. This leads to ludicrous "scientific" opinion pieces.
All of these highlights are mere side attractions and the big wheels behind the scenes grind. The markets are kept up but for how long. Fake growth won't be helping us anymore. This trend has been going on for some time ever since 2008 financial crisis. The Dutch deep state insider Ronald Bernard heeds warning: debt is death.
Living in a dystopia feels fuzzy and warm. However, with the fear of sudden terror attacks, taking a stroll on a busy city street might be the last thing you want to do. We are comfortably numb until the next shoe drops or the grim reaper thins the herd close to us.
With all the inter-connectivity in real life thanks to cyber technology, it is not unthinkable that a far away event snowballs into a big problem on the other side of the globe. A real butterfly effect yet the trigger is not so innocent after all.
What an odd turn of events? Today, that is. On June 8th 2017, we are at a cross-section. Where to from here?
In UK, the Tory struggle to be re-elected and force a 'hard' Brexit. Unfortunately for the PM May, recent terror attacks and bad PR has given the Labour Party a slim chance to claim majority of MPs in this snap election. If the conservatives, still leading most of the polls, should lose, the whole Brexit situation would become even more nastier a mess. Media is in defense mode. Protect the assets.
In the Middle East tensions are rising. First of all, the situation in Qatar is reaching a climax. The 24 hour ultimatum given by the Saudis is about to end. After that we can expect action. Qatar is preparing its military to respond.
Yesterday's ISIS attacks in mainland Iran play into this latest crisis between the Sunni and Shi'a states in the region. Iran blamed to retaliate Saudi Arabia. Iran's willingness to aid Qatar might have provoked this hidden cell to attack the Khomeini monument and storm the parliament building in Tehran.
In the US, the 'yped Comey senate intelligence 'earing is about to take place. So far all the revelations have turned out to much ado about nothing. Reality Winner's latest NSA leak can hardly sway the public view of this charade. Trust in conventional media and party politics in dipping even more. I'm positive that Comey won't rock the boat since he was indeed protecting the Clinton's misdeeds.
As for the Asian front, North Korea is up and at it with even more ballistic missile tests really testing nerves of local superstates and oversee antagonists.
Basically today is like any other day. Although tensions are rising all over the world, most of it is hype and will dissipate eventually when we stop paying any attention to it. Some of these turn of events are intertwined, but because they appear to happen simultaneously the public consciousness cannot adapt in time to react and respond with deeper thought. Prepare for a bumpy ride.
Oh boy, what a shot! The other day I was listening to Activist Post contributor Vin Armani's show on Periscope and he had on his show the most interesting guest G. Edward Griffin who is well known for his historical documentation on the birth of onerous central banking entity Federal Reserve - The Creature From Jekyll Island. According to Griffin, instead of focusing on different groups or collectives, we should prop up and support individualism and free inalienable human rights aka the Natural law presented by the likes of Mark Passio. Griffin is indeed part of the older guard of pioneering intellectuals who promote anti-globalization and totalitarianism. Even though these days he is not as prominent as he used to be on the scene, Griffin makes something appearances in video interview and alt-media documentaries. Here is he on James Corbett's YouTube channel dismantling alt media lore on JFK.
However, framing the whole political dichotomy as a battle between the individual rights and collectivist rights is a difficult task for various reasons. First of all, few people know about the concept of collectivism in the first place. Secondly, people think they what individualism means, but in this context it's not about consumerism. It is more or less about depicting a structure of society one could call as anarchism or volunteerism where as some would call it the ultimate free market capitalism for all social interaction based on consent. This would inevitably throw a monkey wrench in the discussion, since there is a lot room for misunderstanding. For some individuals, it seems that anarchy and free markets don't mix, at least not inside their cramped minds. Unfortunately, for many, anarchists seem to equate with Antifa hooligans and rabble. That is the sorry state or the frame from which the fruitful discussion should begin.
The political left and right, liberal and conservative are mere distractions in this fight. My group versus your group. That is how the primitive mind likes us to associate. Therefore, we must stay cautious and be weary not fool yourselves into the numerous ideological and cognitive pitfalls in our path.
Democracies are for the most part collectivist states. Statists see people's right deriving from the state entity itself and therefore it can take away or grant privilege to certain parties. This is the way many countries around the world work even though they pledge to protect the UN human rights. Individualists see human rights as a priori in nature or god given rights, yet there is obviously some room for interpretation. The Natural Law principles as depicted in many works such as the Bible would include the inverted golden rule: Don't do to others what you wouldn't want to be done unto you and so forth. This is depicted in libertarian thinking as well for instance in the non-aggression principle. However, one must not be fooled by labels and titles, since many people calling themselves libertarian are nothing but opportunists. The collectivist thinking likes to label people and treat them as members of the group. Whereas this is very much understandable is does not compute to imbue these group traits or profiles onto individuals and give them moral value. Saying things like men are bad because they are men, or whites are racist because of white privilege is just straightforward stupid. Gross generalization always leads us astray.
It is more or less about the philosophical constitution of a society that the question of individualism versus collectivism touches. We have come to think ourselves as members of certain groups and in group members do get preferential treatment. This is of course natural when we think about our tribal ancestry. Calls for more segregation are a throwback towards a more primitive society.
Saudis eyeing military intervention to thwart Qatar
I can think many reasons why. The terrorism reason is a bogus one in the sense that other Gulf states sponsor Sunni terror as well. Maybe the levity towards Iran is the main reason. However this move might have other motives behind it. For instance, bullying Qatar and a brief military confrontation would inevitably raise oil and gas prices. In the long run, Saudis think they might be able to extort Qatar to relinquish any positive plans towards Shi'a Iran.
It is either us or the terrorists. Your favorite collectivist choice.
Saudi Arabia could also conquer the nation and annex their natural resources, although it goes without saying that this plan would be extremely high risk and could endanger the West's support to the cruel regime. In that sense, I think the Saudi can afford to go morally broke because it's not like they care to get their hands dirty as long as oil revenue is secured. Nevertheless, a military conflict would risk global economy and a risk of contagion to neighboring regions. I can already see pivot towards Iran.
Qatar 2022 World Cup host duty on the line
Now it seems, according to CNN, that Russian hackers are to blame. MSM is going for broke. Let no crisis go to waste. CNN's track record after London Bridge fabrication is not improving at all.
CNN: Russian false story behind Qatar crisis! Are Russians also behind the fake Omran story & thousands of fake Syria stories as well?! pic.twitter.com/dLCGiA0Ndr
One academician told the local news here that Saudis want Qatar to choose between them and Iran. I can see that this is indeed the case. It will be difficult though to put terror genie in the bottle and for this reason I expect that Saudi et al have to make a decisive and symbolic move to cut one head of this Hydra as a litmus test to prove they are serious about quelling terrorism.
If Brazil was a miss, Russia and Qatar might be even worse
This will also be seen as a litmus test for the markets. I'm anticipating a noticeable reaction. This could, if escalated, prevent the Fed from making the anticipated June rate hike. Companies investing in Qatar might take a hit if the 2022 World Cup is relocated. I wonder what will happen to FIFA bribes. The future looks uncertain.
This one is really out of Bizarro world. Who would've thought. First of all, what a peculiar yet ominous name for a person to have. Reality Leigh Winner. Well, I guess in US many things are possible including an "activist" NSA contractor leaking Russia election hacking documents to the Intercept and getting caught soon after by the Feds.
I still can’t believe the NSA leaker’s name is Reality Winner.
For some reason, this incident reminds me of Iron Maiden song Fates Warning from 1990 album No Prayer for the Dying, how convenient is that as well with all the #Pray4 hashtags in the wake of recent terror attacks. Weird associations however to be blunt.
For some other reason, this leaked trove of documents include a cyberattack tactic titled as spear-phishing. It has to be mentioned that the leaked NSA report fails to conclusively prove that the Russian govt managed to interfere with the elections by hacking control of one of the voting machine provides which oddly is left unnamed. Nevertheless, for some bizarre reason, once again the aforementioned Iron Maiden album neatly ties into the events of the past few weeks. This must be purely coincidental. One song on the album is called Hooks in You making obvious references via whaling to spear-fishing. Another song is titled Mother Russia. There is some weird synchronicity at play here.
This conveniently ties into both the recent 'hacking' leak and latest terror attacks in UK.
Bring me your daughter to the slaughter. Could be about the Manchester terror bombing or the sacrifice of 'Winner'.
But getting past the coincidences, the reaction of the media to the latest exposé of Russian interference has been a lackluster for some reason.
By the looks of it, it would be no surprise if she were to be sentenced the maximum for leaking classified documents. First of all, what she did was illegal. Secondly, the Trump administration is continuously humiliated by constant leaks and is probably more than willing to make 'Reality Winner' a living example for future leakers. It remains to be seen whether the information she leaked turn out to be a game changer for Russia did it narrative, so far the media seems to look the other way, since it would make them look at other leaks more seriously and that's the last thing they want.
Other than that it is quite obvious at this point that anti-Trump employees within the system can't get away with crimes unless the co-operate with diligence and with prudent counter parties. This also raises the question of purging ideologically non-compliant individuals out of the system as they won't be deemed patriotic enough to serve the President's interests.
Here. Have a listen to Lionel.
Anyway, we do enjoy these leaks as often they give a glimpse of insight we desperately need. As for the Trump-Russia web of misconceptions, it is likely to that the latest leaked information would've already been used if it were anyway capable of proving the wanted accusations. So far, and by the looks it, it is not unfathomable that the CIA couldn't pretend to be the Russian security services and the officials wouldn't be any wiser. Forging evidence and planting hints is way too easy and convenient. I think cyber false flags are the norm. All we can say is thus far the data inconclusive.
I was seemingly intrigued by the Nippon.com report "Child Abuse on the Rise: Exploring the Societal Factors" because we encounter a similar trend in the West, but what is more interesting that in the case of Japan, we have attributed the latest rise in the trend to mass immigration which in Japan in nonexistent.
The article by Nishisawa Satoru starts by:
The number of abuse cases handled by child guidance centers across Japan
topped 100,000 for the first time last year. In this article, the
author speculates why child abuse—including psychological, physical, and
sexual abuse, as well as neglect—appear to be increasing in Japan.
What is noticeable here is that both psychological and physical abuse are taken into account. This definition of abuse also includes neglect which too is on the rise.
Stark rise in child abuse since the 90's
What is noteworthy, as the reporter duly highlights, is the "disproportionate prevalence of psychological abuse" which amounts to a whopping 47.5% of all the reports.
At this point, we might rush to conclusions. What societal phenomena occurred simultaneously to this worrying trend? Can it explain to a degree why children are hit so hard? Have the standards of child abuse been changed or has the public's stance against abuse hardened suddenly? Why so many reports? Easier to report or more abuse or a bit of both.
Sexual abuse
In Europe, the last couple of years saw the rise of sexual assaults which some people would attribute to African and Middle-Eastern migrants. At this point, we can say that this seems to be the case. Child abuse however has been rampant even before the latest migrant wave arrived which is something we shouldn't forget. In US, we can remember Penn State, where people overseeing the abuse got a slap to their wrists. In UK, both in youth football clubs and boarding school there has been rampant abuse of all kinds. AP released this spring a sprawling investigation into US schools and their history on hiding both student on student and staff on student sexual abuse.
We are faced with a plague that is often hushed away. We can all read about UN peacekeepers involved in child sex rings in Haiti and Africa. All we have to show after all seems to be a slap on the wrist. I can say that I feel the situation has deteriorated over the past 20 years even though more and more people are vocal about child abuse and disciplining children with violence. Something is terribly out of place as the bullying on all levels continues.
Bullying and internet culture
One thing I can think of that has changed this past 20 years is the mainstreaming of internet and online interaction. With today's smartphones online misdeeds such bullying has entered a new arena. This has also made anonymous torment more accessibly and allowed the perpetrators to distance themselves out of harms way and to crush whatever empathy had remained when people interacted face to face. School bullying by staff and peers is ongoing, even in my native Finland it resembles something of a national sport and all that officials can do are hashtags these days. In the case of Japan, I can imagine that school context accounts for a major part of the child abuse as does home environment.
Social and political changes
Internet's reach can include both these domains, at home and at school. One major trend, at least in Japan, is the economic downturn that has held the country in its grip and continues to do so today. As parents are burdened with supporting their family, it's understandable that this rat race takes a toll to the psyche of both the adults and children. Extensive working hours and deplorable working culture can therefore account to a number of neglect, and in the case of single parent households, this situation seems to be the norm.
As the article points out, one the defining factors seems to be the demise of nuclear family, which in itself demonstrably leads to psychological strain as households lose their financial stability: "For instance, because current forms of societal resources and support
for families are predicated on the norm of the nuclear family, they
often do not reach families with problems like those given above." Current economic system was built on the assumption as the nuclear family as a unit, but with more divorces single parent households are struggling to make ends meet in a dwindling economy. The lack of stable psychological role models for both the father and the mother is seen by many psychologists and philosophers as a deteriorating condition on the human race as the moral structure of the society starts to crumble, when positive male and female archetypes are replaced by negative role models. University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson has extensively lectures online depicting the different aspects personality development from distinct psychological points of view.
These things are interesting additions to the rise of individuality and the role of the consumer in our society as a reinforcing negative archetype focusing on self-centered search of comfort and hedonistic mirroring. Nonetheless it would be meaningless not to investigate the deeper of this calculation. There are unfortunately people who cheer for the destruction of the traditional values and world-view and who unwittingly seem to promote harmful ideology. During the years, many have wailed over their depraved views and tried to throw the mantle on the competing ideology. In the 50's America, these people were communists or sympathizers. And some of them were, rightfully so. McCarthyism and FBI red mongering went overboard. However some these ideas were already rooted in the academia. Some people refer to them as the school of Frankfurt. Others call them cultural Neo-Marxists. Later they could be identified as mostly French post-modernists and post-structuralist academia. Jordan Peterson tells that when it become evident that class warfare wasn't happening in the West, social class warfare was turned into identity class warfare. Thus beginning in earnest the era of dismantling the regressive and traditional patriarchy, which went overboard with third and forth wave feminism.
It should go without saying that child abuse and the children as victims are in no way to blame for the treatment. However it needs to be said that more blurred lines have appeared because more people believe that they can control other people by playing the victim. When it comes to verbal abuse, sometimes the fact how the abuse affects the victim mentally plays a big role. It is to be noted that verbally abusing anybody is but in rare case considered a crime, therefore filing a complaint against someone can serve as a signal to end the practice and in some circumstances "hate speech" will lead to termination of employment as a socially acceptable punishment. It is at this point good to notice that these reactions to verbal abuse could be considered as discrimination.
Future: Bill C-16 – misgendering as abuse?
Soon we will reach the watershed moment of postmodernist policy making. In the era of identity politics, cultural appropriation, misgendering and mere disagreeing can be seen as microaggressions and now some legislatures want to classify 'hurt feelings' as abuse. In Canada, the proposed bill C-16 would just do that, instead of giving minorities protection, it would most likely make them more vulnerable to attention.
The politics of language is already very troubling. When struggling with issues like fake news and misinformation, promoting people's subjective feelings as judge, jury and executioner is the ultimate group-think malpractice. As a for a proposed, the wording in C-16 has been touted as 'very unclear' and vague making totally unsuitable for a law were it to have such room for interpretation.
In this case being mean to someone, hurting someone's feelings would be subject to face legal penalty. I can only imagine this to overburden Canada's legal system were even 1% of the "human rights cases" brought to court. Inventing a new very dubious category of psychological abuse would lead to incriminating thought and this very case the scientific consensus or backdrop is not even there. In case of bill C-16, the arguments for it are extremely flimsy and non-scientific. Besides, in my opinion, science and moral code shouldn't mix.
Another point of view to this Canada debacle is whether subjecting children to non-scientific gender-merry propaganda since early age constitutes a misdeed. Unfortunately, the politicians in Canada chose to support bill C-16. There will be a lot of confusion since the progress bill passed.
More exposed abuse - society in disease
Since Trump presidency began, there has a been a visible effort to tackle human trafficking, child pornography and pedophile rings inside the US. It is lamentable however that this effort is undermined by nonexistent MSM press coverage. Human trafficking is a large problem in Europe as well, even though many of the immigrants who pose as migrants are in fact adults when it comes to dental analysis. Nonetheless, many foreigners who are denied asylum stay behind only to work in slave conditions and in worse cases their organs are harvested. All this can be taken into account when considering the vastness of the abuse problem of which I would estimate a major part is kept out of sight.
We can certainly ascertain that the suitable conditions for aggravated child abuse range from crisis zone to industrial Western societies. It is evident that the news headlines decry the sexual emergency of young refugees who abuse the vulnerable when the everyday hushed up lingering abuses continue in our midst. It is hard to say what is more sickening. Each of us is capable of unspeakable evil. Multicultural societies have hard time facing the disparaging sight yet we must not yield to evil and look away from wrongdoing. The case in Japan is clear demonstration of this:
"Two factors account for this upsurge, the first being changes in public
attitudes. It was once the norm in Japan for the community to stay out
of problems involving violence and other abuse within the family,
regarding them as “family affairs.” But today violence is increasingly
seen as requiring societal intervention, even if it is between family
members. Such changes in societal attitudes led to the Act on the
Prevention of Child Abuse in 2000. This in turn triggered changes in
people’s attitudes, resulting in a higher number of abuse reports."
It is indeed harder to intervene in families' internal affairs. I can expect that in multicultural societies some people avoid making a fuss because intervening in others' affairs, especially foreign looking ones, would be deemed racist or not appreciating their cultural norms. This sort of approach could be quite deservedly called political correctness. One thing we can all do is renounce double standards even though we are at times more willing to overlook our own groups transgressions. This again means that at all times we must account for our own prejudices and cognitive biases.
No matter how much we decide against it, it seems that verbal abuse including against children is spiraling out of control. This could dubbed as hate speech in some situations. I'm certain that in many countries, the law is unfamiliar with such a term, thus making its use a more pragmatic solution in trouncing the opposition in a discussion. Then again threats of imminent violence, sexual assault, rape or death could also be included in this open category. I'm sure that is illegal by any means in most Western countries. Yet we can expect it to be rampant. Every day you can see somebody on social media calling for the killing of such and such person because they think differently. We certainly have lowered the bar and allowed this to continue. It has reached the point that innocent children browsing the web can't avoid it. Many governments call for censorship first and foremost to combat hate speech, when in fact these officials are more worried about dissent and exposing elite corruption.
Drug policy failure: Rates of overdose and drug related death show similar trends.
It is possible that the illusion of a civil society has reached a breaking point. People seem dissatisfied and promote that sentiment online. The bad news is that indignation and hate are very contagious making it easy to fan up the flames of disheartened minds. I don't how much longer this can go on. At some point in time, we reach the final stop. It is more likely to economic than ideological watershed moment. We can already see that the financial elite and their trickle down models are a load of bull. If it's not self-evident at this point, it should be soon enough: a big part of the population is missing out on economic growth. The lack of future prospects creates despair. No job means no future. Despair is taking hold as a defense mechanism. Then the question is who to blame? Where can we find the otherness that constitutes an aberration? It is easy to attack the weaker party. One of the weaker parties is children. This means we can attribute some of this to the cycle of misfortune. We can then find the true culprit in failed policy and economic structure. One could sum this up: We are in the mess of our own making. The rise of child abuse is a symptom of the societal disease. All in all, this is not at all an original conclusion to this line of thinking. Some people would argue that the times were living now are the best of times. On many fronts, I think they are correct, nevertheless, it is no secret that the West is in moral and demographic decline. It remains to be seen what will serve as an antidote if it even comes to that at some future point.
When surrounding nations cut ties to Qatar, the single Gulf nation is without support in the region. This dilemma among others things is directly reflected in oil and gas prices and speculation runs wild what will happen to this nation now accused of supporting terrorism.
Another interesting fact is that with Qatar's fall from grace both upcoming FIFA World Cup hosts are facing a moral setback. Russia on the one hand is frowned upon because issues like Crimea, purported gay abuse in Chechnya and vehement collusion into US and Europe's internal affairs, Qatar on the other hand, dubiously chosen as the host for 2022 world cup, is taking a beating from the neighbouring countries who accuse the nation of supporting terrorism and, what is even worse, Iran.
I personally have hard time understanding why people think this accusation should be taken seriously. For the time being, Saudi-Arabia where notorious president Trump recently visited, is the main sponsor of Wahhabi terrorism in the world. No doubt about it. Yet Western leaders pander to Saudi assets. Theresa May wants to withhold the 'sensitive' report that is set to condemn UK weapons deals to extremists funding Arab theocracy. And not surprisingly, in the aftermath of Manchester 22 and the recent London Bridge terror attacks, this sensitive information would jeopardize the Tory re-election stunt June 8th.
First of all, let me set the record strait. The objective of this Qatar affair is in Iran. That is the main purpose by all means. Trump talked the talk and now both sunni nations and Israel will expect him to walk the walk. This indeed will please many neocons around the globe and would indubitably lead to a global conflict.
UK would be set to support this plan no doubt. They need first to survive the elections, thwart peacenicks like Corbyn and set aim for more tyranny first by 'creating safe spaces online' and quelling dissent and hate speech. And the bombings and terror incidents won't stop believe me.
Secondly, there is also no speck of a doubt that Qatar is harbouring terrorists and funding sunni jihadi insurgency in places like Libya, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I hope you can remember the time when Qatar gave shelter to infamous Abdelhakim Belhadj, now leader to Islamic state in Maghreb. In defense of him, I should say that during his stay in Qatar, he was deemed by the West as an asset, since he would leave Qatar to fight for NATO in Libya in 2011. Later he was heralded as the hero of Libya by even more notorious neocon senators Richard Blumenthal, John McCain and Lindsay Graham.
During the Libyan war, Belhadj, who had been living in Qatar, returned
to Libya, courtesy of the Qatari Emir, and commanded the operations on
the ground in league with NATO. On 28 July 2011, he organised the
assassination of General Abdul Fatah Younis who claimed to have joined
the ‘rebels’, but who Belhadj accused of overseeing the struggle against
the LIFG during the 1990s.
There we have it. I would be pleased to be given the purported information pointing to collusion with Iran. Let's feast our eyes in this picture of competing pipelines. Let's focus on the rivalry between Qatar and Iran, and the obvious role of Syria in all this.
This plan is obviously one of the reasons for toppling Assad who chose the red option. Unfortunately the project to remove Assad is failing rapidly and now there seems to be a rush for apply a plan B for the region, as Daesh and other jihadis in the Iraq and Syria are being cornered. We can already witness the redeployment of jihadi assets towards new battlefields. One of the focal points is Europe through conventional air travel through Turkey, as the case of Salman Abedi, the assailant of Manchester arena bombing, has tangibly proven. Other node of travel is through Libya. Then again undercover extremists have also infiltrated the masses of immigrants from Turkey to Greece and from Libya to Italy.
Other battlefields where jihadis are needed in the global war on terror include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and now most recently Southern-Philippines.
OPEC's future on the extra time?
As alliances in the Middle East are reorganizing rapidly, the situation remains very tense. We can expect some instability when it comes to oil prices. This uncertainty would boost the prices, thus alleviating the economies of nations such as Norway, Venezuela, Saudi-Arabia and Russia. It is, however, too early to categorize this latest move as a stunt to bolster the last stages of carbon emitting assets such as natural gas, oil and shale. The peak of myth is also being kept in life support even though new sources of raw material is found each year.
It is worth considering that the stalling of the implementation of the Paris Climate Accord as seen in Trump's thumb down move for the global greenhouse gas reduction and tax scheme agenda plays into this concoction of economic jousting. Nobody can really tell, whether combustible energy sources have any role this next 20 years. In energy production, we can expect them to remain as a stable yet somewhat polluting source of energy.
Deep State Sleight of Hand
Is remains to be seen if the Deep State befuddled its own crises can trick the Trump team to jump the gun when it comes to Iran. Certainly we can expect the military industrial complex McMaster and AIPAC backed Kushner to silver tongue the president into unexpected action. However the internal crisis in Washington, chasing the Russian ghost protocol influence and ever exceeding Pedogate investigations are prone to emerge as the achilles heel of the United States political theater.
I'm willing to bet there needs to be a string of distraction when the push comes to shove. MSM is clearly suffering and being openly ridiculed. Deep State is losing the fear effect of terrorism. Despite all this, it is evident that the divide and conquer strategy is working on some levels where people and groups are being maneuvered to bash one anothers' beliefs. This can be attributed as 'culture wars' and battles can be seen social media such as Twitter every waking hour of every single day. The power to sway public opinion and appear more confident is by no means indication of righteousness these days. The most riveting and vocal demagogues can gather such strength in the field of public opinion and this is something every government is fighting against. I'm not really cheering for bigots to sow the seeds of hate even though at times they are clearly in the right and have the better arguments. It is indeed hard to be inclusive and engage people during these times of extreme divisiveness and opinionated fools.
Could this be the coveted orb of ISIS from the Simpsons?
In the scale of things and all things considered, this Qatar affair is a joke. The Saudis are clearly the biggest supporters of sunni Wahhabi radicals and blaming Iran or Qatar won't change that fact. Many Western nations are willing to kowtow Saudi brutality and human rights abuses in places like Yemen. There is no excuse. Dumb and excited public will most likely fall for it, like it does for other ploys of the deep state. However Qatar is no prize either. They could improve their own human rights situation and correct the record for foreign slave labor and horrific working conditions in the World Cup construction sites.
For better or worse, coverage and what happens after is all that matter. Sad comedian Kathy Griffin's severed head gag succumbed quickly to the negative press covfefe. A quick stroll in the highlights ended in abrupt walk of fame.
Nevertheless covfefe has captivated the hearts and minds of the nation and even abroad the anti-climatic vow to exit Paris climate accord given greenlight by President Trump is seen as continuation of this cusp of US without A albeit a sadder and regressive one. On the one hand Trump promises to ease on coal, on the other hand segregation is very much du jour in US campuses. Amidst this real life dread, neologisms and idiolects spruce up the daily lingo of media ferrets who nervously compete for the attention, the clicks and yikes of the maddening crowd. Social media is rife with abuse and people are more and more bewildered by the social constructs they used to see as reality. These vehement bubbles of effervescent and nascent fiction will eventually reach everyday people when at the grocery store all of a sudden people find out not to be able to purchase their everyday sustenance due to rising inflation.
Where to go next? Who to blame? We can opt out the DNC and Clitonite route of blaming them Russkies of rigging the reality against poor us old minority progressive liberal victims. This isn't simply working and you know it. Nor can we continue blaming the fake news because we rely on it so much. Nor climate change. Nor racism. Nor the negative press covfefe. Nor collusion.
I'm stuck in a moment and I can't get out it. Blame game ensues. Shifting the blame around is getting no nation anywhere. Politicians rarely admit mistakes. That's why most nations end up corrupt because everything is awesome when you're a part of the team.
Is there a deep end anyway? Not to mention a deep state. So far we can enjoy the bread and circuses. A covfefe here, another one there. See.
Another priceless 'covfefe' moment
Covfefe is the perfect cover. It's your everyday confirmation bias. It can be anything you want it to be, whether is 5D-Chess, early symptoms of a stroke or a harmless yet embarrassing typo, it keeps on giving. It's a vehicle for understanding. It's the husk of a word, void of distinct meaning. And what is important, anyone can ponder upon it. No need for degrees, nor experts.
I would be lying if I said I was appalled to see the reaction to the newspeak expression that swept through the social media like a wildfire. So trivial. One more gaffe to the Trump et al résumé and that's it. All the hype, all the glory. The old MSM is living out the Trump turning which will eventually end someday in the not so distant future.
This summer will be tumultuous unfortunately. More covfefe moments as well. I'm waiting to see whether former FBI Comey is willing to commit perjury. Not that the apparatchiks even care. This will be a lingering embarrassment despite the good intentions.
Tonight is full of anticipation. I would be more than happy to witness a spectacular match of world class football. Which side will claim victory? Who will perform like a true MVP?
Certainly for few players this will be the final opportunity to win the coveted trophy during their careers. Juventus goalie Buffon is among those legendary prospects aspiring to carve their names to the history books. Younger starlets such as Argentinian Dybala seem to be motivated to turn the tables for his team. Real Madrid for the other hand seem to hold the favorite position in this match up. Even though the team is missing prolific winger Bale, Ronaldo should in his superb Champions League form be almost unstoppable.
It will be interesting to see the worlds best offensive fullbacks clash against each other, namely Juve's Dani Alves and Madrid's Marcelo, who both excelled in the CL this season.
Other seeming rivalries include Alvaro Morata and Gonzalo Higuain. It will remain to be seen whether Khedira is able to join this fight against his former club.
It would seem that both Juve and Real will rely on their strengths. Juventus will focus on solid defense and rolling counter-attacks where as Real will be forced to keep possession.
