The Second Act of the Geopolitical Drama Has Already Begun

Editor’s Note: Certain disparaging remarks contained in this article may be offensive or disturbing to readers.*

Women love to say that men never grow up, and, even well into old age, are like children who regularly change their toys.

Typically, these adult children devote themselves to various affairs that are often useful to society. And only in old age, sometimes well into old age, are some unfortunate enough to fall victim to dementia. It is not nearly as pleasant as it is portrayed in illustrations, where a dapper grandpa, sitting on the floor, plays around with a toy car. Grandpa might play, of course, but he becomes dependent on others and requires their care.

The news report by NBC that stated that Putin was personally involved in cyberattacks against the United States is evidence that precisely such grandpas fill the ranks of a number of U.S. agencies, especially intelligence agencies.

In fact, this is a remarkable story: NBC reports that it received the information from “diplomatic sources and spies working for U.S. allies.” In other words, the Americans have no direct proof. But the propaganda machine has already reported that the investigation was successful.

The British, whose Member of Parliament Ben Bradshaw tried to scare everyone yesterday with the notion that Russian influence had predetermined the outcome of the Brexit vote, do not have any proof either. Bradshaw believes that “not only was there [Russian] interference, now proven, in the American presidential campaign, [but also] probably in our own referendum last year. We don’t have the evidence for that yet, but I think it’s highly probable.”

And he is also certain that “…there are already serious concerns in the German secret service that Russia is already interfering in the elections coming up.” Meanwhile, his colleagues are laughing at him.

And on Dec. 10, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reuters reported that the CIA had concluded “with high confidence” that Russia was involved in cyberattacks during the election and helped elect Trump. Trump himself, of course, called the CIA’s statements ridiculous, but then an uneasy conscience, as we all know, betrays itself.

Put simply, the situation is already reminiscent of the behavior of a small child who has soiled his pants with an unknown, instantly appearing, foul-smelling substance and blames anyone and everyone other than himself for it.

It is not the Americans and the British who are everywhere in their own countries, but rather poltergeists and gangsters — the Russians. And this situation would be positively hilarious were it not for one feature of the propaganda: given the excessive repetition, it is not only those for whom it’s intended that start to believe it — that is, ordinary people — but also the high-level officials who produced it.

These ideologies migrate from such news into the work of experts, who then write books that are read by high-ranking officials who make powerful decisions.

For example, it turns out that Trump’s relations with China are guided by the utterly salvational books of Peter Navarro, who pushes the thesis that China is to blame for all of America’s failures over the past 25 years. Navarro is an economic adviser who sends Trump advice via email since the two do not know each other personally.

Propaganda proved to be particularly dangerous in the years preceding the world wars. The Germans, believing in their own strength after 1871, decisively shoved the world into World War I, and the children who survived the bloodbath shoved the world into World War II. *Further, in 1904 the Russians were mopping the floor with the slant-eyed monkeys in the hills of Manchuria.

So, a great war becomes inevitable once someone decides that his army is able to quickly, and with little bloodshed, defeat the foe created by the imaginations of propagandists. But this is the second stage.

The first stage is the creation of an enemy through the demonization of the other. This is precisely what the West has collectively been engaged in: creating an enemy that Trump — whose priority is to modernize the army and defense industry — will crush in the second act of the geopolitical drama.