Tag Archives: Politics

Chaos and consequences: The fall of Dumpty (sequel)

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A quick recap: Ronald Dumpty a.k.a. Dumpster, is now on his second term as President of the Unites States of Alternative Facts. It has yet to be established whether he is only a villain, or possibly also a victim in our story. By now, it is indisputable that he is no hero.

When Dumpty promised to make the USAF great again, he never specified clearly how. Everyone was free to interpret him according to their own wishes; and most people were happy to do so at first. But now things were looking downright scary.

No one expected Dumpty to be perfect. His supporters just hoped that something would get done. This goes to show how important it is to be careful what you wish for. More than some thing got done; things that few could have imagined. It was hard to sell soybeans and plan your life, when tariffs and prices kept going up and down. It was equally hard to feel safe, when Dumpty so clearly loved to stir unrest both inside and outside the USAF. Unwarranted, deadly shots fired at well-meaning US citizens was not how voters had envisaged illegal immigration being stopped.

The signs were there early on. Dumpty was always heading for a fall, even if his first presidency was more of a pilot episode of the real Dumpty show to come. A show that has been credited to Bad Steve and Mad Stephen also known as the Chaos Brothers. They are said to have come up with the show’s concept. Mad has gone on to lovingly nurture it from its budding success during Dumpty’s first term to its full bloom in his second one.

The Chaos Brothers’ concept was – in line with their nickname – built on the idea that chaos was the only way to make the USAF great again. Naturally, they meant great for themselves and their own agendas, but there was no need for Dumpty to know that. He could believe what he wanted as long as he followed the script.

When something doesn’t work as you wish, the Brothers argued, the best course is to blow it to smithereens and build something new. Boom, bang, bang, just like that. To the Chaos Brothers and their cohorts, Dumpty was a dream come true: Someone not too bright but street smart enough to star in their show. A man stuck in a perpetual negative age, who neither fully realised nor cared about the consequences of his actions. All Dumpty could see was the power and the money, not the big picture: the dismantling of the USAF as the world knew it.

Dumpty was a natural at creating chaos by overwhelming everyone with massive volumes of information, claims, and counterclaims to create confusion. It was impossible to discern, whether anything he said was true or truly meant. Dumpty didn’t do peaceful, polite or patient. He did deranged rather than decent. Truth to him was a social game, something fun to play around with.

Dumpty forgot that once everyone learned to mistrust him, nothing he truly meant would be believed either. Nothing lasting has ever been built on a foundation of mistrust.

Dumpty had no use for the ethics and morals of democracies. He was happy to create his own. The word democracy in itself was suspect. It was too close for comfort to the word Democrat. Democrats were bad, bad people, because they opposed Dumpty. Hence it made sense, Dumpty figured, that there was something wrong with the whole concept of democracy too.

Part of a successful chaos plan is the deconstruction of the established government. Dumpty promised something to all different anti-establishment groups, and happily left them to block the centre and fight it out among themselves. Even the Chaos Brothers ended up fighting for power. Bad lost and Mad won. “Things are coming together just fine”, Mad thought at the time.

For a chaos strategy to be viable, a lot of not too bright people have to be in the right places, ready to do their part: To wreak as much havoc as they can. This was where the plan went awry during Dumpty’s first term as President. The second time around, Mad and his cohorts made sure that the right (i.e. totally wrong) people were placed in the right places early on. No smarties would be allowed to obstruct chaos this time.

During Dumpty’s both presidencies the visions of the Chaos Brothers were lauded by the infamous rulers Xee and Pee as brilliant. Some argue that Pee actually helped formulate parts of the original chaos concept. Xee and Pee had long disapproved of the grip the USAF had on the rest of the world. They couldn’t wait to see the USAF dismantle itself. It was like watching a football game where the USAF team was being deliberately coached to shoot at its own goal. It made life so much easier for the competition. “Someone should really give Dumpty a prize for this”, Pee said to his buddy Infantino – and so the FIFA peace prize was born.

Chaos is not a winning strategy in the long run; not in terms of votes. Hence the plan was that no voting would be needed in the future. Sadly, it was starting to look as if that part of the plan was a little overambitious. In fact, the whole chaos concept seemed to be taking on a life of its own once Dumpty was on the roll.

Even Xee and Pee felt a little uncomfortable. Things were moving at such a pace and in so many different directions that the probability of unforeseen, disturbing consequences was rising close to certainty.

There tends to be too much collateral damage, when a leader opts for a strategy of deliberate use of disruption and conflict. People prefer feeling relatively safe. The Chaos Brothers did not bother with safety, except their own. No one else was safe in their vision; certainly not Dumpty.

Which brings us to the realisation that our villain may well be a victim too. A fool, who is being used as a tool. Good, old Dumpty; the Dumpster of all that came before him; the obvious fall guy. Then again, how bad could things really be with all that lovely cryptocurrency at hand?

There is winning, and there is winning at any cost. There is going after something aggressively, and there is undue violence and illegal actions. There is truthfulness, and there is lying. In some cases the line between each of the two may be a fine one, but it can always be found, if one cares to look for it. In Dumpty’s case there was no need to search for the line. Drunk on power, he overstepped so clearly and so often.

In one of those European countries Dumpty considered weak and decaying, there is a brutally realistic proverb: The greedy have a shitty ending. Once again this saying will be proven true. Leaders who abuse their power don’t fare well, when history is written. Dumpty has already had a great fall as far as history is concerned.

Unfortunately, as far as the Chaos Brothers are concerned, things are still on track.

We know that all the President’s horses and all the President’s men won’t be able to put Humpty together again. But can they do so with the United States of Alternative Facts, or will the Chaos Brothers and their cohorts win?

We will just have to wait for the next season to see. The clock is ticking; the time to save the day is running out. No one is safe. Not even those, who think they are.

Disclaimer: As is the way in the United States of Alternative Facts, all the above may or may not have happened. Who is to say, if it did or didn’t. You get to decide.

Dear America,

Would you marry someone, who has the mentality of a criminal? Someone you know to be a bully. Someone, who has been caught lying regularly. Someone, who breaks promises, agreements and laws as if they didn’t exist. Someone, who has no problem with outright blackmail or even violence, if that’s what it takes to reach the wanted results.

Would you hire such a person to work for you, or go into business with that person? Would you want someone like that as your boss or closest colleague? Would you want someone like that to befriend your children?

If you wouldn’t, why in heaven’s name would you elect a man, who fulfils all of the above criteria, your President? America, how did you let this happen?

This is just biased slander, you may say. Our President is a dealmaker, who will Make America Great Again. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, you might add.

Let’s take a step back. In fact, let’s go all the way back to April 4, 1949; to the day NATO was founded after World War II. The treaty itself was signed in Washington, and it has served your interests, America, from thereon. You entered the treaty because you recognised the threat posed by the Soviet Union to Western democracies. A threat that once again became evident as Russia unlawfully invaded Ukraine in 2022.

You do remember, don’t you, that Russia was the driving force of the Soviet Union and that Vladimir swore to Make Russia Great Again long before Donald entered the picture. Vladimir would love nothing more than to grab a bite of your NATO allies and preferably you too. Donald may see this as one of the many inconvenient details that he is a master at forgetting, but you shouldn’t.

It’s clear that Donald has fallen hard for Vladimir. Like attracts like. If it was only the two of them, I would wish them happy. They deserve each other. But Donald doesn’t represent only himself, he represents you too, America.

Everyone has the right to change their mind. Even in a marriage that has lasted 75 years as NATO has. But the parties still have a prenuptial agreement signed and sealed. Promises have been made, including the future aid promised to Ukraine.

Donald is now breaking your promises by the dozen. It is nauseating to watch as he withholds promised aid and intelligence support from a country that is fighting against an invader that NATO, with you in the forefront, has considered a common foe for the past 75 years.

Not to mention the way he harasses Greenland and the Danes. It is an example of bullying and greed at its purest: barely veiled threats and muscle-flexing to gain something that never belonged to you and that no one wants to give to you.

America, you have essentially elected your own Vladimir. Vladimir has invaded your thinking more successfully than he ever managed to do in Ukraine.

You may say that Russia is not something Americans should worry about anymore; it’s Europe’s problem. I disagree. Unless you are ready to give up on democracy? If so, who am I to stop you. But before you do, please ask yourself: Do I really want America to become like Russia?

Just as Vladimir has done before him, Donald is all set to extend his presidency past its present term and to remove the need for future elections. He is taking over the army, FBI and CIA as we speak; or at least making a determined effort to do so. He is making sure no one will investigate his or his friends’ doings. His “team” even ensured that bad cops are free from public scrutiny in the future. These are all facts. You can track the nominations and decisions online, if you don’t believe me.

The similarities between Donald bullying Canada financially and Vladimir attacking Ukraine physically are more than fleeting. Actually, Donald is taking it a step further; he is coveting land all the way from Greenland to Gaza.

The way he is going, he may even try to mess with the Fed, thus singlehandedly upending the world economy. Banking is based on trust. Seriously, who would dare trust a Fed guided by Donald’s capricious hand? The financial gain you seem to be focusing on is only a hairsbreadth away from turning into unimaginable losses.

I can understand that it is hard to face the facts. It is often hard to leave a spouse that treats you badly too. When bad things happen, you may tell yourself that this is just an aberration; that things will soon get better. Why would they? Does Donald look like a man ready to change? It’s time to face reality.

Is this what the Founding Fathers envisaged, when they signed the Declaration of Independence: Musk firing employees summarily, aid withdrawn without proper process, treaties and promises broken, allies bullied? Is this something they would have condoned? Were their ideals based on pure monetary gain – preferably their own?

You may say that America has paid enough. Europe has paid just as much as far as Ukraine is concerned. When one totals the military, financial and humanitarian aid given to Ukraine, the sums paid by both parties are close to equal. Assuming you are willing to use the real, documented numbers – not the ones dreamed up by Donald. The only difference is that Europe is still keeping the promises it made, while you are now breaking them.

Or maybe you just don’t care anymore? If so, that is your prerogative. I just wonder what life without trust looks like? I think you should too. Do you really want your children and grandchildren to grow up in an environment, where a criminal mentality is just fine as long as there is something to be gained financially?

America, when Ukraine finally sees peace, it will be at a cost higher than it should have been – all because of you. This became abundantly clear to the whole world, when JD and Donald bullied Zelenskyy in front of the media – demanding a thank you from him, while they were actively working with Russia against the Ukrainians’ rightful efforts to preserve their nation.

Just as they are working to get a real estate deal in Gaza. All in the name of peace.

America, it is time to update The Star-Spangled Banner. Let’s face it. You are not the “land of the free and the home of the brave” anymore. You are fast becoming the land of the greedy and the home of the bullies.

Using our power to make a difference

If you are into the concept of democracy, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Those of us who might be in a position to make a difference, yours truly included, are too comfortable and lazy to do what it takes to safeguard democracy. Others have totally lost faith in their ability to affect political change.

Countries are up for grabs by leaders who are ruthless enough to ignore all rules as they forge on relentlessly towards absolute power.

The Russian people excel at outsourcing power. They have totally given up on the concept of making a difference. They do not see themselves as political actors. This “Putin has the power, makes the decisions, they have nothing to do with me” way of thinking allows ordinary Russians to go on with their daily lives without any concern for e.g. the war against Ukraine, the efforts to eradicate the Russian opposition and the discrimination of many minorities. According to the majority, it’s all Putin’s doing. They themselves have no say and therefore no responsibility.

Democracy is not dead in America – yet. However, unforgivably many politicians are too comfortable and too lazy to even try to make a difference although they could. The Republicans have all but outsourced their power to Donald Trump, who will grab it and twist it out of recognition. Despite this, many of them maintain that they have nothing to do with Trump’s outrageous behaviour. In addition, too many voters have lost faith in their ability to affect meaningful political change.

Will this laziness and loss of faith result in the loss of the unity, democracy and rule of law that their forefathers fought for?

Where is the EU, when all of this is taking place? It is slowly waking up to the fact that many of the world’s problems may spill over into its lap sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, EU members are no strangers to ignoring a problem until it gets out of hand. It’s the “too comfortable and lazy to react in a timely fashion” effect all over again.

At times, I feel like I am watching a political reality show that seems to be moving unstoppably towards a tragic ending.

The Chinese have always had an eye for playing the long game. I can’t help but admire the ingenuity of it, as I watch Xi Jinping meet key political players all over the world; creating expectations, hope, fear and overall confusion.

As the saying goes, when you realise you are in deep s…, don’t move. This is probably China’s goal: to ensure that as many players as possible stay put and just allow the long game to play out. By the end of the day, the rest of us will find ourselves in the position of bystanders. The force will not be with us anymore – we will have given it away.

Giving power away is not always bad. My first image above is of George Washington surrendering his resignation as wartime leader; and thereby ensuring that the country’s future leader was decided by democratic vote. Something that an increasing amount of key world leaders are keen to avoid these days.

I wish to end this blog on a positive note, so I include a few more pics from my latest trip to New York and Washington. It was a trip of farewell in many ways. However, hopefully not a farewell to the U.S. we used to know – a leading Western democracy.

This trio of pictures serves as a reminder that the angle we view things from changes the picture we see. It is also a reminder that what once was destroyed can be rebuilt with time and effort – even though it will never be the same.

My final picture is a reminder of the fact that, while man can strive towards the skies, nothing rivals the beauty of nature. The need to safeguard our environment is one more reason not to give away our power to make a difference.

My AI assistant (by courtesy of WordPress) kindly gave my feedback on this blog. It suggested that I should add some examples on how to make a positive difference. Sadly, I am still struggling with the how myself. My first step has been to admit to myself that I am part of the problem. I think we all need to find our own way from there. Where there is a will, there is always a way.

Trust, hope and wishful thinking

Trust is all too easily misplaced, often shattered, and very difficult to regain once lost. It is key to all successful relationships, be they romantic, working or political ones.

There is a fine line between trust and hope.

There are very few things any of us can truly trust will happen (death being one), even if we place our trust in some sources, people, or actions in the hope that we have not misplaced it.

Blind trust is nothing more than a disaster waiting to happen. Whether you trust that a violent spouse will stop hitting you, that an employer, who never gave you a raise, will finally see your value, or that democracy and human rights will soon thrive in Russia; you are  trusting and hoping against reason, which is just wishful thinking bordering on self-deception.

So much trust and hope has been lost lately in the Western world.

We may have trusted that adherence to the rule of law would remain a constant cornerstone of Western democracies –  but that was before Donald Trump.

We may have thought that the world stood a chance of agreeing globally on measures needed to solve climate change issues and promote peace on Earth – but that was before the pandemic taught us that borders could be closed as easily as they were opened, and the war in Ukraine taught us that wars could start and escalate out of control at our door step with little warning.

The loss of trust and hope is a global phenomenon. It is felt all over. African countries are left vulnerable as China, Africa’s largest creditor, tightens lending taps. Suddenly, we are back to “every country for itself”.

The outpour of solidarity and concrete help to countries that face aggressive wars or natural disasters may still give us some hope. But our trust in a brighter future and global co-operation has suffered severe set-backs as hard-fought agreements aimed at safeguarding human rights and peace are being ignored as if they never existed.

We tend to hope against hope, when the alternatives are too gruesome to be considered.

Many Floridians were reminded of this the hard way recently as they hoped that hurricane Ian would not make its way to their home or business; that if it did, it would not be too bad; that even if it was bad, they would be fine because they had survived hurricanes before and were well-prepared; and even if the worst was to happen, they would get the aid they needed. In all too many cases none of these hopes have come true.

I listen to my friends pondering the Russia-Ukraine war, hoping that the Russian people will soon realise  that Putin is not to be trusted. As if most Russians didn’t realise this already. They just aren’t prone to wishful thinking. They see no better alternative in the horizon, so they gravitate towards the known “evil”. It is what they have always done. The Russian people are not prone to rebellion, they are fatalistic. They have seen time and time again that little good comes out of trying to rebel. They do not trust the West anymore than they trust Putin.

I listen to the Western media celebrating the successes of the Ukrainian army and speculating on what a dreadful loss this and that is to the Russian army. Personally, I just see losses on both sides. In addition to the lives lost one both sides, the Russians (and those Ukrainians, who have ended up under Russian rule) are fast losing even the remnants of their human rights. There is no peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war in sight.

The Chinese are credited with the understanding that even if you are aggressively furthering you own agenda, you should try to do it without actively provoking deep enmity in your counterparts. Cornered enemies are the worst possible enemies. They have little to lose. I find myself acting like the regularly battered wife in search of a why; wondering whether we (the West) did something to provoke the war in Ukraine. Let’s face it, the West has a tendency towards off-putting self-righteousness at times. Can the war really be attributed to a psychopath leader strong enough to convince millions of people that several wrongs make a right?

I opted for the latter explanation as I watched the reactions of the crowd that gathered in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate the (forced) annexation of four Ukrainian regions to Russia. Many in the crowd could be seen applauding in all seriousness as Russian Putinist actor Ivan Okhlobystin gave the performance of his life as MMFM  a.k.a. Mad Man Frothing at the Mouth. Some additional cheers may have been added when editing the Twitter clip, but the crowd was definitely not protesting.

Okhlobystin, who is famous for quotes like “I would happily put all the gays alive in an oven”, called for a “holy war”, whipping the crowd into action with pearls like: “Fear old world! Deprived of true beauty, true faith, true wisdom; operated by madmen, perverts, satanists! Be afraid, we are coming. Goyda (a cry for immediate action), goyda !!!”.

To be clear, the old world in this scenario is the Western world.

While most of me was appalled by the performance, there was a small part of me that was having a quiet laugh. To a Finn Okhlobystin’s “goyda, goyda” call sounded like someone with a severe head cold hollering “koita, koita” i.e. try, try. Which seems apt, as it’s what the Russians have ended up doing in Ukraine without much success.

Your guess is as good as my guess, when it comes to what happens next. If the Red Square celebrations represent the truth of Russia today, the country is careening towards total unreason. It is ironic that Putin has described the war in Ukraine as a fight against the Nazis. This is not a case of the pot calling the kettle black. It’s the black pot calling the kettle a black pot.

I am in mourning. I mourn a – presently  bygone – world that I had high hopes for; hopes that I am rapidly losing. Yet I recognise that this is not the time to lose hope –  if we do, more will be lost.

We need to continue to do what we can to ensure that the democratic values prove resilient and that global co-operation in key matters is not endangered because of mistrust and fear.

At the same time we need to recognise that each country has its own set of values and a right to build its own future as its people see fit as long as it doesn’t endanger others. I have some trouble buying into the idea that it is up to the West to plan the future of post-Putin Russia. It is up to the Russians to do so. The only thing others can do is aid them in ensuring that such decisions are freely made based on freely accessible true information, not guided by fear and misinformation.

Knots, knits and opinions

We all have opinions, whether we recognise them or voice them. They are there from the day of our birth. Some things we like, some things we don’t. Our opinions can be based on facts or feelings, but they are still opinions: our personal take on what those (perceived) facts or feelings mean.

Which is why it was a day for the history books, when I found myself in such a relaxed state during our summer holiday that I was unable to come up with a single opinion on anything.

My mind just decided to take a break. Not even the sunset (which was beautiful in hindsight) could move me to have an opinion. It was almost startling.

There we sat at our cosy dinner table, my partner in life and I, watching the sun set over “our” lake. We had bought, prepared and eaten early potatoes, all sorts of vegetables, and muikku (a.k.a. vendace, a species of freshwater whitefish); all straight from nearby farms and lakes. We had topped our meal off with delicious, just-picked strawberries. We were well-fed and well-rested.There was no need to think or speak. We just cherished the moment with our minds blank in the best possible way.

The war in Ukraine, climate change, Finland’s entry into Nato, the latest coronavirus news, the rising inflation numbers and interest rates, the promise of a cold winter with insufficient heating due to gas supply issues, recession speculations, rise of populism, not to mention the never-ending power struggle between the superpowers – nothing – not a single opinion on any of these was forthcoming.

Moments like this are as fleeting as butterfly stops. I hope you have had a chance to enjoy a few of them amidst all that is going on in the world.

Reality has a tendency to catch up with you, whether you wish it or not. My favourite newspaper made sure of that. It provided me with an in depth article on all the crises looming in the horizon. The list seemed endless: debt crisis, housing market crisis, commodity crisis (including but not limited to energy crisis), Euro-crisis, China- crisis (political and financial), and a recession for the history books. All of this on top of the war in Ukraine.

Reality even invaded our balcony as we returned to Helsinki from our holiday refuge. Instead of butterflies, we could count helicopters on the deck of USS Kearsage, a 257 m (843 ft) long, nuclear powered Wasp-class amphibious assault ship that slowly slipped past us into the port of Helsinki.

Talking about wasps: I sent one of the photos above to a friend. His answering text said it all: “Not half as scary as Nancy Pelosi”.

To a political outsider Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan looked like she was stirring up a hornet´s nest that might just create the butterfly effect that puts us en route to chaos. There is a time and place for everything. The whys of this particular trip remain obscure.

Pelosi has had an impressive career. Does she really need to top her CV with “Started World War III”? To paraphrase an old saying : With friends like this, who needs enemies to feel unsafe.

To continue with sayings: Life truly is like a box of chocolates. Over and over again you bite into something sugar/chocolate-coated without really knowing what you will find inside. My first taste of Nato tells me that I will probably not love it, but I will still keep it on the menu to ensure that I get enough sustenance to survive.

Chocolates come in many forms. Often the surprises they offer are delightful. While Pelosi was traipsing around Taiwan, we went to Fiskars; a picturesque village in Southern Finland known for combining design, art and architecture in a unique and inspiring way.

Pelosi and reality were once again forgotten, when we browsed the exhibition “U-joints: Knots&Knits”. U-joints is an ongoing research project and exhibition series by Andrea Caputo and Anniina Koivu. The exhibitions examine the functional and aesthetic relevance of this crucial design component.

Knots and Knits is the fourth chapter of the project. The exhibition was a piece of art in itself as well as in its details. It gave the viewer a new perspective on design.

I leave you with this thought: We may have managed to tie our world in knots, but hope still remains that we can continue to knit something beautiful out of it. Just look at all the ingenious things we have designed so far.

Please don’t let me be misunderstood

The futile hope expressed above is shared by many. Songs have been sung about it, most notably by Eric Burdon and the Animals in 1965.

Sadly, misunderstandings are not on a downward trend. The modern Western world, as we have come to know it, is becoming increasingly postmodern. The focus is more on values, rights, symbols and identities.

To better understand these changes, I googled my way through various “philosophy for dummies” articles and revisited some books I had read years ago.

I started with scepticism. Sceptics (too) come in many forms depending on the time and the culture. To make a long story short I will quote Wikipedia: “Philosophical sceptics are often classified in two general categories: Those who deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the suspension of judgement due to the inadequacy of evidence.”

In theory, it could be said that Donald Trump’s former counselor Kellyanne Conway was just taking a philosophical approach to the matter, when she defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s false statement about the attendance numbers of Donald Trump’s inauguration by stating that Spicer gave alternative facts.

Along those lines, we could even argue that she took philosophy to a higher level, when she later referred multiple times to a non-existent Bowling Green massacre. In terms of ultimate scepticism: Who is to say what is existent and non-existent?

Don’t get me wrong – despite my philosophical forays, I am still a firm believer in reason and knowledge. Kellyanne Conway’s untruths are still fiction not fact.

But the more we communicate, the more evident it becomes that philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein got it right, when he argued that the logical structure of language draws a limit to meaning and thereby to the the expression of thought. To simplify in the extreme: We will always be misunderstood and misunderstand because we each think in our own, subjective way. There is no language and use thereof that everyone would understand alike. Language and the use of it is always relative.

When we combine this limitation with an increasing focus on the individual and on values, rights, symbols and identities instead of more quantifiable issues, the possibilities for misunderstanding become almost limitless.

The more we discuss things that Wittgenstein considered undiscussable due to the limits of language, the more we venture away from sense to nonsense. The issues themselves are not nonsense, but any statement about them is, if Wittgenstein is to be believed.

No wonder we tend to exist in our own, Internet-facilitated bubbles these days. As we discuss the undiscussable, it helps that we at least start off on the same page whether in terms of religion, values, rights, symbols or identities.

At this point I have to stress that in many parts of the world people are either still fighting to survive in a material sense or fighting to get themselves and their opinions heard. Postmodernism is a luxury that is not affordable to all. No wonder Western ideals seem foreign and even naive to many – not only outside the Western world, but also within it, which should not be ignored.

I myself struggle at times to buy into broadly defined, high-flying programmes for the betterment of mankind, or demands for a wide range of services to meet the individual needs of all and sundry.

I am stuck back in the modern world; bemoaning the lack of reason, knowledge, practicality and cost-efficiency, and worrying about financing.

To avoid misunderstandings – programmes that aim to contain the negative effects of climate change are a necessity, not something I would consider high-flying.

The refrain of my theme song starts off with “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good.” It seems at times that our postmodern Western world is positively drowning in good intentions.

Maybe the nature of our intentions is the only thing that truly matters in the long run? Which would lead us into the nightmare of defining good and evil.

First we would have to decide, whether to approach the matter through religion, ethics, philosophy or psychology. The mind boggles – there are so many branches and trees that is impossible to see the whole forest.

Maybe I should go with Spinoza, and define good as something we certainly know is useful to us and evil as something we certainly know hinders us from possessing anything good. Or maybe not – I can just hear Putin defending his war in Ukraine to the Russian people in terms of Spinoza.

So maybe I will just go with the idea that evil actions consist of elements related to unbalanced behaviour involving e.g. expediency, selfishness, ignorance and neglect. Good intentions would in turn consist of elements like compassion, moderation and humility.

As you can see, I am making choices. There is no absolute as far as good and evil goes. There  is my choice and your choice. Which makes it easier to understand why Finland’s and Sweden’s good intentions may not always be considered good in Turkey. Compromises have to be made.

Unless we fully understand this, there is no way for alliances to work in an increasingly postmodern world: A world in which people in their respective bubbles are boosting each others belief that their own definition of good is the right one.

To take this a full circle. Was Kellyanne Conway, and by extension Trump,  just a philosopher with good intentions? Well, pigs may farm, if Orwell is to be believed, but they have yet to fly.

But Kellyanne was onto something. In an increasingly postmodern world everything is subjective. This inevitably affects politics too.

People find it harder and harder to get down from their high moral horses, and cope with the idea that there is a whole world out there that doesn’t see things their way. The question is, where will this fragmentation lead us?

Putin probably looked at the Western world and saw the fragmentation – a weakness as far as he understood. A costly misunderstanding. He never saw the underlying strength. In a postmodern world that focuses less on the material, independence and the right to chart your own path becomes the one thing people are ready to support and defend to the extreme. It is not about countries anymore, it is about each one of us personally.

To come back to my blog title – you will probably misunderstand this blog to some extent, but I have realised that this is not necessarily a bad thing. All thoughts are equal when we discuss the undiscussable.

Making and breaking

The signs had been there for some time – and still it was a shock, when Russia started a full-scale war of aggression in the midst of Europe on February 24, 2022. The shock was followed by outrage in the Western world. Then came the need to do something. Anything.

Since Finland has a long border with Russia, my own actions went in two directions. Like so many others, I quickly searched and found ways to aid the Ukrainians financially. Being a Finn, I also immediately looked for ways to prepare for hard times to come; both in terms of economy and security. We Finns like to be prepared for all eventualities.

When this first flurry of activities was over, I sat down and read all I could about the reasons that led to the war in Ukraine. I felt a need to understand, why this happened. It was a need that was shared by many.

Miles of news articles have been written in an attempt to analyse the why’s of the Russia-Ukraine war. There is an abundance of theories.

According to some, Putin is hankering to re-establish the Soviet Union. According to others, he is looking to recreate the Imperial Russia of 1721 or 1914.

Some remind us that Putin has referred to the Christian fascist Ivan Ilyin as his expert on the past. IIyin considered any talk of Ukraine separate from Russia the act of a mortal enemy of Russia. Lev Gumilyov, the anti-semitic co-developer of Eurasianism is also mentioned as one of Putin’s favourite reads.

Others focus on present day mentors such as Kirill, who styles himself as Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus´ (a title that was actually abolished by Peter the Great in 1721 only to resurface in 1917 and 1943). The list of present day mentors is often topped by historian and anthropologist Aleksandr Dugin, who has rhapsodised about an Eurasian empire (including a Turkic-Slavic alliance, which is an interesting tidbit) and espoused fascist views.

The main ideologic thread seems to be ‘Make Russia Great Again’. That being the why, the how often seems to be some form of anti-globalist, anti-Western (as in anti-US) and anti- liberalistic Eurasianism.

All in all this was such a mix of ideologic contradictions that I ended up confused albeit on a higher level with regard to Putin’s goals. Not that it matters. Whatever those goals were at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, there is only one now: to look like a winner at least in his own corner of the world. However many lies and lives it may take.

My history binge did leave me with a clearer view of how privileged I was to have enjoyed a lifetime of peace, democracy and prosperity in my little corner of the world; a world that is full of unscrupulous leaders like Putin, who set little value on anything but their self-aggrandisement.

A thrice divorced friend once commented that it took her a long time to decide to ask for her first divorce. The threshold was high, because it was a jump into something unknown. The second time was much easier as the process itself and most of the end results were familiar by then. By her third divorce she worried that divorce had become a bad habit. A way to solve problems that created new ones.

The parallels to the war in Ukraine are clear. Putin has long been on the path to full-fledged war. No one effectively called him out on his earlier forays into Ukraine. His backing of the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk caused some, but not too many, waves, and the Russian invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea went all too smoothly. Hence war in Europe became a bad habit. One that will create far-reaching negative consequences everywhere, not only in Ukraine and Russia.

Like a wife, who finally recognises her husband for the serial cheater he is, the Western world has finally opened its eyes and recognised Putin for the serial liar he is. The divorce is getting messier by the day. The emotional ties have been broken, but the financial ties are difficult to break.

We each tend to look at the world from our own perspective. It is understandable that the Western world feels that the ‘whole world’ condemns the war Russia wages on Ukraine. In fact it doesn’t. In many parts of the world this is just a war among others.

Some leaders see the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to wage war in their own corner of the world without Western interference. Others see it as a means to justify unjustifiable actions, such as the further exploitation of protected lands that Brazil’s Bolsonaro is pursuing.

Major countries, such as China and India, are performing balancing acts that are embarrassing to watch. Their half-hearted calls for the cessation of violence are a prime example of ‘too little – too late’.

China continues to proclaim itself a great friend of Russia. At the same time it promises humanitarian aid to Ukraine and offers itself up as a peace negotiator. It doesn’t want to be involved and yet it involves itself. China’s strategy is not two-faced; it is so many-faced that one wonders, how the Chinese will keep all faces in line. Nothing would suit China better than to have Russia take the West down a notch and end up totally dependant on China while doing so.

The fact that China only sides with one country – itself – in the long run is not unique. Most countries tend to look after their own interests. But few do it in such a convoluted manner.

I have blogged about China’s treatment of the Uighurs and its forays into mind control, surveillance and social engineering (MCSSE for short). Now I watch Russia going into full MCSSE mode. At the same time China skirts around the truth of the war in Ukraine and edits the information it feeds to its population of 1,4 billion accordingly. Up to this day (the narrative may change) there is no full-scale war in Ukraine as far as the Chinese government is concerned. There is only a Russian military operation related to Donetsk and Luhansk.

I started blogging, when Donald Trump was elected, because I recognised early on that this was a man, who had little respect for democracy and freedom of speech; a man, who thrived on fear and unreason. Still I made fun of his alternative facts. I never thought fake news were here to stay. Sadly, they are actually a key trend (to end all trends?) of our times. In olden days the masses were kept ignorant of any and all facts. Now they are actively fed fully fabricated alternative ones.

It is always a good idea to question and cross-check the things one reads, hears, or thinks one sees. Even those who do their best to check their information get their facts wrong at times.

Some facts, however, are undeniable: Putin started the war against Ukraine – and he didn’t do it to fight nazis or fascists of any kind. His own actions are the closest one gets to fascism in this war. Putin’s army is bombing civilians all over Ukraine. The people of Ukraine never asked for this kind of help. Even the most hard core Putin fans in separatist Donetsk and Luhansk may have a hard time convincing themselves that all is as it should be.

If the goal is to turn back time, Putin has already succeeded. He has turned back the Russian economy; not all the way to 1721, but some estimate even as far as 100 years back, when all is said and done.

I end up with one final thought – the one that has kept the Ukrainians fighting, and will keep me fighting in my own small way: Democracy and freedom of speech are worth fighting for, whatever form that fight might take. My wake-up call was not the Russia-Ukraine war. I woke up to the need to fight the day Donald Trump was elected.

A moment of hope in Alicante

It happened early in November 2021. For a brief moment, life was sunny and filled with hope. The world seemed to be moving back towards a state of tentative normalcy.

The COVID Omicron variant had yet to surface. Putin had yet to ramp up his rhetoric regarding Ukraine and NATO to its present levels of aggressiveness. China’s ruthless trade war against Lithuania, an example of Tianxia in practice, had yet to make the Finnish news. Even Trump was laying low in terms of international visibility.

Less than two months later, we are back in the cold, be it in terms of superpower politics, COVID statistics or the weather. Finland and Finns are feeling the chill acutely on all fronts.

Let’s, however, focus on the positive. Join me on a trip back in time: to November 2021 and sunny Alicante.

My partner in life and I have long had the habit of heading for sunnier shores in November; a habit that was cut off by COVID-19 last year. This November we finally felt safe enough to pack our bags and take off again. It was our first trip abroad since February 2020, i.e. since ages ago.

On an airport you often feel slightly disconnected from the world. This time the disconnect was greater than ever as we found our way from check-in to our departure gate. Mask-faced crowds marched to-and- fro all around us, dragging carry-on bags along the endless airport corridors like industrious, faceless ants.

We had prepared diligently for our trip. Our vaccinations were in order, our EU Digital COVID vaccination certificates were accessible from all devices, the digital forms required by the Spanish government had been filled well in advance in the app provided, printed copies of all documents were packed into every bag, and we had enough masks to travel for a month instead of the ten days we planned to stay in Alicante. Our chosen hotel advertised many COVID safety measures, including the obligatory use of masks in all public spaces.

In other words, we landed in Alicante in full COVID mode.

For those, who are as unfamiliar with the city as we were upon arrival; Alicante is a historic Mediterranean port. It is the capital of the province of Alicante, which in turn is a part of the Valencian community. The population of the city itself is close to 340,000. Both in terms of atmosphere and location, Alicante is in between its southern counterpart, Malaga, and its northern counterpart, Valencia.

Before the pandemic, Alicante would have been nice but nothing out of the ordinary. Now everything felt new and interesting as we slowly woke up from our COVID-induced hibernation.

Granted, pandemic or not, I am hard put to find a hotel as conveniently situated as Melia Alicante, which sits between a nice beach and a scenic yacht harbour, has a bona fide historic castle looming above it, and still remains within walking distance of everything you might want to see or do.

Even though the COVID situation was good at the time, we preferred to skip public transportation. Alicante is eminently walkable. We took a taxi only when coming and going to the airport and travelling to nearby Elche to see its multiple palm parks.

Due to our sailing background, the Ocean Race Museum was a must-see for us. It tells the story of the Ocean Race, formerly known as the Volvo Ocean Race and originally called the Whitbread Round the World Race. This globe-circling yacht race was first held in 1973.

The museum is – probably somewhat unintentionally – a quick crash course in how our lives have changed since the 70’s due to technology. It highlights the technological advances that have taken place in multiple areas, be it e.g. weather forecasting, navigation, communication, design, materials or construction. It shows us how the speed of everything has accelerated and underlines the fact that the skill sets needed to compete successfully have changed fundamentally. 

A must-see for all Alicante visitors is Santa Barbara Castle. The castle area itself is interesting and the views are to die for in good weather. The castle’s history goes back to the 9th century. It was recaptured from the Arabs in 1248 on the feast day of Saint Barbara.

The castle elevator at the floor of the mountain was closed due to COVID, one more  reminder that times were not fully back to normal. It proved to be a blessing in disguise in our case. There are many scenic routes to the castle. Walking up and down is definitely worth the effort. 

To summarise our moment of hope in Alicante: For a small moment, life was back to nearly normal. Skies were blue, the sun was shining, and we were out and about pretty much like on any other trip: enjoying sights, delicious meals and some really good wines (Alicante has some surprisingly good restaurants) in a cocoon of perceived safety. At the end of each day, we were lulled to sleep by the sound of waves hitting the beach in front of our hotel.

We had arrived in full COVID mode and departed ten days later in a state of relaxed hopefulness.

I keep going back to this moment of hope in my mind and take comfort from it amidst the cold, which is why I decided to share it with you.

There is a Finnish saying, “Paistaa se päivä risukasaankin”, which translates into “The sun will shine into a pile of brushwood too”. May the sun shine into your pile of brushwood, wherever it is – as it did into mine for a moment in Alicante.

From 1984 to the metaversum

Peace reigns in the little city of Tammisaari. Nothing in this idyllic corner of the world brings to mind George Orwell’s iconic novel 1984. Yet my thoughts drift to it.

Orwell was far ahead of his time, but not far enough. He imagined a world ruled by totalitarian superpowers; a world full of mass surveillance; a world where history was rewritten, alternative facts were introduced as truths, and cults were built around leaders. We saw all of these trends escalating, when the Terrifying Triplets, Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping (identical in mindset, if not parentage), were in charge of the world’s superpowers. Two out of the three still remain in office, and the third is frantically scrambling to get back into the game using every imaginable – and most probably some unimaginable – means.

The Chinese have taken Orwell a step further. Especially those, who subscribe to the Chinese cultural concept Tianxia and envision a world with only one center from which the rulers of different areas derive their power. While the Western world plays around with concepts like ‘back to the 60’s, 80’s, or whatever’, the Chinese play around with the concept of ‘back to a worldwide rule similar to that of the Emperor of China’. The latter lasted for thousands of years.

But even Orwell and the Chinese have yet to imagine a metaversum – a virtual world above and beyond our present one. Talk about thinking out of the box – straight into the Matrix. Kudos to Zuckerberg and those faceless entities behind him. They really think big. Why bother with physical wars, states and borders, treaties and laws. Just take the world population and virtually shift it to the metaversum ruled by you.

And yes, I do understand that the metaverse in itself is nothing new, hence the term metaversum to distinguish between the underlying technology and the content.

My favourite newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, recently ran an article on the rise of companies like Atai Life Sciences, Mind Medicine and Compass Pathways. All of these companies engage in research of psychedelics and the use of them to fight e.g. mental illness. At first glance, this has nothing to do with the topic above. However, the ownership and direction of a company can easily change.

These seemingly separate issues took on a whole new life during a lively family discussion about potential combinations of the metaversum and psychedelics. As the family library used to contain hundreds of science fiction books before its remove to Kindle, some pretty scary alternatives were envisioned. The potential for the trip of a lifetime – in more ways than one – was clear.

As you can see, I am jumping all over the place, combining issues with a free hand. There is a common thread, however. I wonder when we will confess to ourselves that things are slowly, but surely, spinning out of the national and international controls we have set up so far. Even though it is hard to notice in slumbering cities like Tammisaari.

I know climate change is a big issue, and I support every effort to save Planet Earth. But what about its people? Are we doing enough to ensure that they will be free to enjoy the planet we – hopefully – save; or will the world fall on its own digital sword one way or another, while we just watch from the sides and blog about it?

I keep coming back to the totalitarian mantra from 1984: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”. It seems the world is intent on building on said strength. A foundation similar to quicksand.

I feel as overwhelmed as Orwell’s main character, Winston. Democracy seems to be slipping away. Not only due to actions of the Terrifying Triplets and like-minded leaders but also due to actions of multinational companies seemingly beyond democratic controI.

Call me suspicious, but I have stayed out of Facebook aka Meta and I will definitely stay out of the metaversum. Most of my cheerfully facebooking friends will probably not even notice that they entered it.

Privacy, Chinese bots, nice old ladies and a bottle of wine

If I were to ask you, which of the above is a rarity in my everyday life, chances are you would answer Chinese bots. You would be wrong. Colour me surprised, when it dawned on me that my blog’s most loyal fans are Chinese bots.

Or so I assume. I find it hard to believe that there is a rising demand for Niceoldlady blogs among real, live Chinese people. Especially during times, when no new blogs have been forthcoming.

It should be comforting to know that someone still follows me – despite my literary dry spells. Instead it highlights the way China has become obsessed with surveillance of everyone and everything. There is no matter insignificant enough to end up under the radar as far as China is concerned: Proof positive being my blog, which is fun to write, but grantedly insignificant.

To make my Chinese followers visits worth the effort, I have decided to take an in depth look at China. In depth meaning that after reading a few books and googling China, I will write whatever comes to mind and try to sound like I put a lot of thought into it.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean my thinking will be any further from the truth than those thoroughly compiled China analyses that well known international ‘think tanks’ keep churning out at a steady – and costly – rate.

One thing is certain. My blog will be just as factual and comprehensive as the information shared by the Chinese regarding the origins of the coronavirus, not to mention Chinese statistics.

Let’s start with a key strength. The Chinese have something I, and many other Westerners, don’t have: patience.

It may take a few generations, but if you keep moving steadily towards your set goal, you will get there in the end, irrespective of the course changes needed to avoid obstacles on your way.

What is the goal? Where is China heading? In addition to creating a wealthy socialist state, China’s openly stated goal for 2050 has as of 2018 been to become a leading global economic, industrial and political power. In other words, to regain the position that was lost in the 19th century and then some.

To make a long story short, China is heading towards you and me and everything around us. Buying, spying, doing what great powers do – and aiming to do it better than others.

Some claim that the Chinese approach to winning is not your classic ‘go in for the kill’, but more along the line that it is better to leave some scraps to the competition, so that they are tied up in safeguarding what remains and thereby less prone to attack to regain all that was lost. I decided to toss that in here, because the concept has merit, whether the Chinese actually buy into it or not.

I am all for ambitious goal-setting. I also think it is smart of China to focus on artificial intelligence as a means to gain its goals.

But dear Chinese friends, no one is an island. Potential friends are friends no more, when you put them under unauthorised surveillance and try to hijack their intellectual property, knowledge bases, and politics – not to mention blogs.

There you have your answer dear readers – the Chinese bots, the nice old lady, and even the bottle of wine are all part of my everyday life. Privacy, however, is becoming more and more rare. Not only thanks to my Chinese followers, but also thanks to every Tom, Dick and Harry (no genders presumed) serving me cookies and mining my data.

When it all becomes too much – retreat. While the wine works too, I can warmly recommend butterfly photography as a means of escapism.