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The militarization of the Western Empire: How the COVID pandemic accelerated the process

The militarization of the Western Empire: How the COVID pandemic accelerated the process thumbnail

 

Donald Trump may not have been not such a warlike emperor as previous Western Emperors have been (and probably will be). But, even assuming that Trump is trying to avoid wars, he cannot oppose the militarization trends of the Western economy that was boosted by the COVID-19 epidemics. 

 

History repeats itself – oh, yes! And sometimes it repeats itself so fast and so ruthlessly that it leaves you out of breath. Think of what’s happening right now: the COVID; the lockdowns, the face masks, the limitations to movements: all that happened in a few months, and the world of last year looks so remote that it could be seen as part of the still ongoing Middle Ages.

And, yet, there is some logic in what has happened. History may surprise you and it usually does (the only sure thing we learn from history is that people never learn from history). But whatever happens in history has a reason to happen. And what we are seeing is not unexpected. We have seen it already, stark clear and unavoidable: it is the militarization trend of a decaying society.

Let’s go back to the Roman Empire, as always the paradigmatic story of a state that preceded us and went through a full cycle of growth and collapse. The Roman world was not so technologically sophisticated, nor so rich as ours, but the basic needs of citizens were the same and the Roman government provided many of them. You may have heard the expression “Panem et Circenses” (bread and circus games). That described two of the services that the Roman state ensured: the shipment of food from Africa to the Roman cities and the various kind of games performed in the amphitheaters.

But there was much more than that. The state built and maintained the roads that connected the different regions of the empire. It built and maintained the aqueducts that carried water to the cities. Then, the main service was security: the government provided an internal justice system that guaranteed a certain degree of social security to the free citizens. The Romans also maintained an urban police (the vigiles) that served also as firefighters. And, of course, the legions were the backbone of the Roman state.

Of course, the Roman state had all the defects that states often have: it tended to harass, oppress, humiliate, rob, and overtax its citizens, But the Romans normally believed that a bad government was much better than no government, so they put up with a lot of stress as long as they could. Unfortunately for them, collapse was unavoidable. As the Empire’s finances declined, the government became unable to pay for the services it had been providing during better times.

The loss of government services in the Roman state was a complicated process that went on for centuries, sometimes gradually and sometimes in bumps. We have evidence that the Roman roads were already decayed so much that they were unusable by the early 5th century. Many aqueducts were in ruin by that time and that probably contributed to the depopulation of large cities: nobody can live in a city without working sewers. The last gladiatorial game in the Colosseum, in Rome, is recorded in 438 CE. Wheat was still shipped to Rome from Africa until ca. 450 AD, but no later than that date. The loss of the supply of food was the last straw that sent the Empire to the dustbin of history a few decades later.

But note an important detail: During the declining phase, the Roman government gave maximum priority to maintaining its military potential intact. The data are incomplete, but the Western Roman troops kept increasing in numbers up to the end of the 3rd century and the sum of the armies of the Western and Eastern Empires kept growing for two more centuries. And to that one has to include the cost of the gigantic defensive walls that must have been a tremendous burden for the state’s finances. As decline continued, the Western Empire was reduced to a giant machine that collected taxes and produced legions.

The result was that the Western Empire was often able to put up a decent fight: even during the final stages of its decline. Just think of the last ragtag Roman army that managed to defeat Attila’s Huns at the battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451 AD. It was at the same time the last battle and the last victory of the Empire.

Now, let’s move forward of about 1,600 years and we are in our times. The modern Western Empire has many points in common with the old Roman Empire although, of course, the range of services the state provides nowadays is much larger. Just think that the Romans had nothing like our public education system, not our public healthcare service. But, like the Roman state, modern Western states provide food, water, transportation infrastructures, security, and entertainment. And, of course, a heavy military apparatus supposed to defend citizens from external invasions.

Today, the West is in a situation similar to that of the Roman Empire at the start of its declining phase. With the economy declining because of the gradual depletion of natural resources, the Western governments can’t afford anymore to provide the services they had been providing earlier on. You don’t have to think that the imperial elites are especially smart, but they understand perfectly well the difficult situation of the Western Empire: it can keep existing only as long as it manages to exploit resources located in faraway places that are hugely expensive to control. Crude oil in the Middle East is a good example. And they face a giant and growing power: the Eurasian block, much better placed in terms of still available resources within its local sphere of influence.

Right now, the West is still in an aggressive posture in military terms, but the leaders may decide to settle into a defensive position and hold on as long as possible. In either case, the Empire needs enormous amounts of resources to keep alive its overblown and inefficient military system. Because of this, some Western leaders may well be reckless enough to try something desperate, such as attacking Russia (preferably in winter, as it has been fashionable in the past). More easily, these resources can be found by taking them from other sectors of the Western economy. If you like to see the empire as a beast of prey, it is starting to eat itself.

Curiously, it has been the coronavirus crisis that pushed the process to accelerate at an unexpected speed. In less than one year, we saw the collapse or the rapid decline of several infrastructures that we were taking for granted but that the pandemic made obsolete. Note that I am not saying that the virus was engineered on purpose in some military lab — that’s extremely improbable, to say the least. I just mean that the elites of the Western world are an opportunistic predator: they jump on whatever opportunities they can find. And there is no doubt that they exploited the coronavirus crisis to their own maximum advantage.

The first and the most illustrious victim of the virus scare was international mass tourism. The collapse  will probably be irreversible: read any description of what is today to visit Disneyland while wearing masks and keeping distances and you’ll understand why. Mass tourism was unsustainable anyway, but the speed of its fall has been amazing.

Also, the collapse of the civilian airlines is well advanced and of much of the industry that produces private cars. They were all very expensive infrastructures that consumed a lot of resources for little purpose. Their collapses are taking with them the fossil fuel industry, but that’s not a problem for the military. The remaining production can now be re-directed to military uses.

Then, we have the rapid decline of the public education system. It had been already declining for a long time, but the pandemic showed how fragile is a system that costs a lot of money to the state and produces little that’s useful. Do we really need to teach ordinary people how to read and write? They don’t need that to play on TikTok and most of them are too fat to be useful as soldiers. All that we need is highly specialized technologists able to design and build weapons and top-level managers to handle the levers of the government. And that’s where the remaining resources will be concentrated.

How about the healthcare system? That, too, was badly hit and turned out to be desperately ineffective in stemming the first wave of the pandemic. One possible reaction would have been to strengthen the system with a badly needed injection of capital and a re-organization for better efficiency. But it was not done. Here, propaganda played its usual role in convincing people that what’s bad for them is good for them. Have you ever heard a slogan like “fewer tanks and more hospitals?” Can you imagine one of the presidential candidates stating something like that? Of course not.

Propaganda has been able to convince people that, if the healthcare system was unable to manage a problem that never was really overwhelming, it was not because the system was badly mismanaged and turned into a profit-making operation for a few fat catss at the top. No, it was the fault of the people who didn’t wear their face masks or didn’t wear them right. The pen is mightier than the sword when it is used to write propaganda.

And there we are: suddenly we find ourselves rapidly moving along a road that we hadn’t realized we had already taken. The system is moving to a condition that will eventually turn it into a mirror of what once was the Roman empire: a giant machine that collects taxes and produces legions.

And then what? Of course, the Empire will crumble. All empires follow the same path: they bankrupt themselves with excessive military expenses, they are like the fat man of the restaurant scene of the Monty Python (if you haven’t seen it, it is here). And in our case, things will go even faster than in the past because we face not only resource depletion but also the collapse of the ecosystem.

But history goes in cycles: there is no collapse that’s not followed by a rebound. We don’t know exactly what the world after the crash will be like, but after the great binge of fossil fuels is over, and with it the toxic dreams of dominance, we might be able to build a gentler and better world. And may the Goddess help us in this difficult task.



242 Comments on "The militarization of the Western Empire: How the COVID pandemic accelerated the process"

  1. Abraham van Helsing on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 12:24 pm 

    UK-NATO asset Bellingcat foaming at the mouth about Romanian Frontex ships, chasing away invaders:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoNJXY3pa_U

    Thank God for Brexit, gift from heaven!

  2. zero davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 2:10 pm 

    Fuck face daVVee

    REAL Green said This websites article comment sections is a reposi…

    zero davy said This websites article comment sections is a reposi…

    zero davy said What a sad reflection on a once strong forum. luna…

  3. zero juan on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 3:10 pm 

    fuck face Ppee juan, you are finished. I am taking you down, troll. Day by day I will bleed life out of you, FOOL

    zero davy said Fuck face daVVee REAL Green said This websites art…

  4. zero davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 3:47 pm 

    fuck face daVvee skum, you are finished. We are taking you down, troll. Day by day we will bleed life out of you, FOOL

    zero davy said Fuck face daVVee REAL Green said This websites art…

  5. bochen787 on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 4:12 pm 

    Tesla recalls nearly 50,000 “ProudlyBoys Made in USA” Model S and X cars in China over faulty suspension

  6. Cloggie on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 4:26 pm 

    So true Green, so true.

  7. zero juan on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 4:29 pm 

    Fuck face JuanP:

    Cloggie said So true Green, so true.

    bochen787 said Tesla recalls nearly 50,000 “ProudlyBoys Mad…

    zero davy said fuck face daVvee skum, you are finished. We are ta…

  8. zero davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 4:37 pm 

    Fuck face Davy:

    Cloggie said So true Green, so true.

    bochen787 said Tesla recalls nearly 50,000 “ProudlyBoys Mad…

    zero davy said fuck face daVvee skum, you are finished. We are ta…

  9. zero juan on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 5:02 pm 

    suffer pussy

    zero davy said Fuck face Davy: Cloggie said So true Green, so tru…

  10. zero davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:31 pm 

    suffer pussy

    zero davy said Fuck face Davy: Cloggie said So true Green, so tru…

  11. zero juan on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:51 pm 

    Idiot immigrant

    zero davy said suffer pussy zero davy said Fuck face Davy: Cloggi…

    REAL Green said So true Davy. So true.

    Davy said Sorry Mak. I was just toyin with ya. JuanP is my n.

  12. JuanP on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:55 pm 

    Mak, don’t listen to zero juan, he does not like you or me. You are like a old grey haired grandfather to me. My dad disowned me and now you have taken his place as my role model.

  13. JuanP on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:57 pm 

    I have learned so much from you Mak. I dropped out of school so I have lots to learn about the world.

  14. JuanP on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:58 pm 

    Mak, did I tell you about my vasectomy?

  15. zero davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 6:59 pm 

    Idiot European immigrant. Go back to Germany where you belong. Natzi.

    zero davy said suffer pussy zero davy said Fuck face Davy: Cloggi…
    REAL Green said So true Davy. So true.
    Davy said Sorry Mak. I was just toyin with ya. JuanP is my n.

  16. Davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 7:01 pm 

    JuanP is a looser makati1. Ignore the idiot.

  17. REAL Green on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 7:08 pm 

    Huh? JuanP is are sock puppet Davy.

  18. Davy on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 7:37 pm 

    Huh? Your my sock puppet too REAL Green.

    fuckwak

  19. lAnA REPAER Islamists are gaslighting us on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 11:05 pm 

    Here we go yet again.This is how this narrative, which we see after every jihad massacre, works. When Muslims murder infidels, Muslims are the victims. Any measures taken in the wake of the jihad massacre to prevent Muslims from massacring infidels in the future is a sign of “collective punishment” and “Islamophobia.” Always and in every situation, Muslims are victims, to be appeased and accommodated in every possible way, and every counterterror measure, no matter how mild, is a step toward “stigmatising and criminalising Muslim communities.” Even discussion of how jihadis use the texts and teachings of Islam to recruit peaceful Muslims and justify violence must be shut down, as it supposedly endangers innocent Muslims. Non-Muslims in the West fall for this propaganda initiative every time, which is why it keeps on being used.

  20. lAnA REPAER muzz are gaslighting us white Russian are inferior fuhrer called them subhuman and wanted to turn Moscow into a giant lake only chinks are master race who can harvest muzz on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 11:12 pm 

    U.S. News & World Report
    More
    MOSCOW (REUTERS) – Russian security services thwarted a terrorist bomb attack in Moscow on Thursday and detained a man preparing to detonate a bomb at a government building, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

    The FSB described the man as a native of Central Asia and said he was working under instructions from an international terrorist group

  21. lAnA REPAER muzz are gaslighting us wouldn't be nice if supertard bochen777 let us post on chink server nah but that ok because master race chink harvest muzz he stand to make the rules on Fri, 23rd Oct 2020 11:55 pm 

    I’m good with it
    I’m a sinophile

  22. zero juan on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 3:46 am 

    Nightly low IQ South American shit from the Lunatic JuanP. He has a new Bo Chen sock now with the number 919. Still using dumbass one-liner DT. IAna is new too. Famous dumbass is here two. A rich night of socks and the usual Davy ID theft Who the fuck knows what is going on in the lunatics mind:

    DT said We humans think in terms of today was like most ye…

    DT said The only energy transition that humans can count o…

    lAnA REPAER muzz are gaslighting us wouldn’t be nice if supertard bochen777 let us post on chink server nah but that ok because master race chink harvest muzz he stand to make the rules said I’m good with it I’m a sinophile

    FamousDrScanlon said Mak, Kuntslur – 90-95% of Americans are blin…

    lAnA REPAER muzz are gaslighting us white Russian are inferior fuhrer called them subhuman and wanted to turn Moscow into a giant lake only chinks are master race who can harvest muzz said U.S. News & World Report More MOSCOW (REUTERS)…

    lAnA REPAER Islamists are gaslighting us said Here we go yet again.This is how this narrative, w…

    LANA REPAER this is whhat supertard wrote its very lovin of muzzies that is said Capitalist Cult of The Car You wake up early every…

    bochen919 said CHINA https://i.imgur.com/A7GswjS.png

    zero juan said So true REAL Green. So true.

    REAL Green said We got enough to think about with the country coll…

    zero davy said Lunatic Davy,everyone knows it is you. LMFA @ fool…

  23. JuanP on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 5:12 am 

    For the record. I am the real JuanP and I am posting most of the comments here. I want to take this forum down. I want control. I would recommend you all move on. Reading my comments and postings is a complete waste of your lives. This website is fucked beyond redemption. Move on, guys! I rule here!

  24. JuanP on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 5:32 am 

    I love coming daily with socks and ID theft, and dominating comments. It is so clear to me that the USA and its people are insane. Trump 2020! Long live Putin! Long live China! Long live Cuba! Long live Venezuela! Long live Syria! Long live North Korea! Long live insanity and control! Insanity rules

  25. JuanP on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 6:17 am 

    All these measures will do is buy a little time leading to an ultimately higher level of environmental destruction. I don’t know whether humanity will survive or not the coming centuries, but we will be living in an extremely inhospitable planet. Who will all the innocent blame? I know it was not me! ROFLMFAO! I got a vasectomy so fuck the breeders here. You are to blame. I am going to fuck, swill, and eat as I choose becuase that is nothing compared to you procreating assholes.

  26. JuanP on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 6:37 am 

    I was just telling my partner yesterday that I would very willingly give my arms, legs, tongue, eyes, ears, nuts, and dick to experience life like normal people do for just one hour to know what it feels like. I have been a seriously depressed realist since I have a memory. My first memory of my life is of leaning against a tree alone in my kindergarten’s playground looking at all the other kids playing, thinking how stupid their behavior was, and wondering why I wasn’t like them. I basically don’t interact with normal people anymore. They have nothing to offer me and I don’t want to give them anything. He looked at me and rolled his eyes. If I was not such a good subservient bottom he would have dumped me long ago.

  27. lAnA REPAER france: Muslim screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ threatens to murder police officers cops love muzz 1000x more on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:22 am 

    Remember Philadelphia muzz shot several cops
    Cops love muzz 1000x more

    Remember DC sniper shot several
    People love muzz more
    Please love supertard kat he will croak from muzz-19

    Supertard kat supports trump trump love muzz he gave money to muzz charity which they support inner struggles

  28. lAnA REPAER france: Muslim screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ threatens to murder police officers cops love muzz 1000x more said Remember Philadelphia muzz shot juanPpee...OH how wonderful on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:32 am 

    Remember Philadelphia muzz shot several cops
    Cops love muzz 1000x more

    Remember DC sniper shot JuanPpee several times
    People love this
    Please love superturd fuckwack he will croak from muzz-19

    Supertard fuckwak Ppee juan supports trump trump love muzz he gave money to muzz charity which they support inner struggles

  29. LANA REPAER I want whitey supertard trump to win too supertard kat thanks for supporting him on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:32 am 

    I do it for the 2nd / luke 22:36

    Luke 22;26 flying off the shelves
    All emty

  30. pualtard is juanPpee on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:36 am 

    LANA REPAER I want whitey supertard trump to win too supertard kat thanks for supporting him said I do it for the 2nd / luke 22:36 Luke 22;26 flying…
    lAnA REPAER france: Muslim screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ threatens to murder police officers cops love muzz 1000x more said Remember Philadelphia muzz shot juanPpee…OH how wonderful said Remember Philadelphia muzz shot several cops Cops…
    lAnA REPAER france: Muslim screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ threatens to murder police officers cops love muzz 1000x more said Remember Philadelphia muzz shot several cops Cops…

  31. the board on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:37 am 

    We hate JuanP and his nonsense. Lets vote ban the douche tonight at 10:10pm.

  32. LANA REPAER u do it for the love of supremacist muzz the board on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 8:37 am We hate JuanP and his nonsense. Lets vote ban the douche tonight at 10:10pm. on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 10:13 am 

    muzz beheaded whitey supertard in france
    whiteys love muzz 1000x more

  33. JuanP on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 10:18 am 

    Cloggie, your Paris Berlin Moscow is a joke. Russia should just become a rump state to China where it belongs.

    Monkeys Or Children? Russia Chooses Neither, Dooming Germany
    Russia is done with the European Union. At last week’s Valdai Discussion Forum Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made this quite clear with this statement. Those people in the West who are responsible for foreign policy and do not understand the necessity of mutually respectable conversation–well, we must simply stop for a while communicate with them. Especially since Ursula von der Leyen states that geopolitical partnership with current Russia’s leadership is impossible. If this is the way they want it, so be it. (H/T Andrei Martyanov) Lavrov’s statements echo a number of statements made in recent months by Russian leadership that there is no opportunity for diplomacy possible with the United States. We can now add the European Union to that list. Pepe Escobar’s latest piece goes over Lavrov’s comments about the European Union and they are devastating, as devastating as when he and Putin described the U.S. as “Not Agreement Capable” a few years ago. Lavrov reiterated this with the following comments at Valdai last week. But as badly as the U.S. has acted in recent years in international relations, unilaterally abrogating treaty after treaty, nominally with the goal of remaking them to be more inclusive, Lavrov’s upbraiding of the current leadership of the European Union is far worse. Because they have gone along with, if not openly assisted, every U.S.-backed provocation against Russia for their own advantage. From Ukraine to MH-17, to Skripal to now Belarus and the ridiculous Navalny poisoning, the EU has proved to be worse than the U.S. Because there can be no doubt the U.S. views Russia as an antagonist. We’re quite clear about this. But Europe plays off U.S. aggression, hiding in the U.S.’s skirts while telling Russia, usually through German Chancellor Angela Merkel, “Be patient, we are reluctantly going along with this.” But really they’re happy about it. So Russia is ultimately caught between the U.S. and Europe on all basic issues of trade, politics, and international law. Adding to Lavrov’s frustration, Andrei Martyanov, as an astute analyst on Russian politics as anyone, is correct when he says (H/T to Pepe Escobar). You do not negotiate with monkeys, you treat them nicely, you make sure that they are not abused, but you don’t negotiate with them, same as you don’t negotiate with toddlers. They want to have their Navalny as their toy–let them. I call on Russia to start wrapping economic activity up with EU for a long time. They buy Russia’s hydrocarbons and hi-tech, fine. Other than that, any other activity should be dramatically reduced and necessity of the Iron Curtain must not be doubted anymore.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/monkeys-or-children-russia-chooses-neither-dooming-germany

  34. the board on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 10:19 am 

    JuanP, can you stop spamming the forum with your Zero Hedge crap, Lunatic!

  35. Abraham van Helsing on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 2:48 pm 

    “Monkeys Or Children? Russia Chooses Neither, Dooming Germany“

    Oh no, not that davy clone goat herd Luongo again.

    First if all, Merkel will be gone in summer 2021.
    Second, Macron, not von der Leyen, calls the shots in EU foreign policy.
    Macron is a Gaullist and wants Paris-Berlin-Moscow.

    https://parisberlinmoscow.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/france-keeps-pushing-reset-eu-russian-relations/

    https://www.rt.com/russia/504345-moscow-beijing-military-alliance/

    “A powerful & game-changing Russia/China military alliance is ‘quite possible’ in future but not on the cards yet, says Putin“

    Translation: Putin is in no hurry for that alliance. He can wait for Merkel to get lost and the US to fall apart.

  36. Abraham van Helsing on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 3:17 pm 

    “The Race to Replace the City of London Begins“

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-10-05/brexit-the-race-to-replace-the-city-of-london-begins

    “Financial firms operating in the U.K. have already shifted about 7,500 staff and more than 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.6 trillion) of assets to the EU.“

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8873821/City-firms-shift-1-TRILLION-Europe-Brexit-breakaway.html#comments

    “City firms shift £1 TRILLION to Europe in Brexit breakaway as bosses claim the UK’s financial sector is the ‘forgotten child’ in trade talks“

    More nails in the coffin of Anglosphere.

  37. lana repaer Man Who Plotted to Kill Biden 'Praised' Allah on Video… on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 9:13 pm 

    This story has mention of muzz and Mandalay
    Certain events are easily seen by those in tune to subculture

  38. lana repaer profile of muzzs who joined isis In this country, radicalization does not seem to be a product of poverty or deprivation on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 9:17 pm 

    We need master race chinks

  39. lana prepare repaer roasting muzz is cool but need industrial scale harvesting the way mater racechink do itAfghan security forces kill al Qaeda's second in command Abu Muhsin al-Masri, two years after the US listed him as one of the world's mo on Sat, 24th Oct 2020 11:18 pm 

    Afghan security forces kill al Qaeda’s second in command Abu Muhsin al-Masri, two years after the US listed him as one of the world’s most wanted terrorists

  40. lana repaer we still need to amputate whitey supertard atheistic scientific supremacist when this whitey supertard went on self imposed quarantine during first week of convict-19 i said it smells ask yourself if someone who speaks exclusively on Sun, 25th Oct 2020 8:29 am 

    High British English does he love gaslighting supremacist muzzies of course he does

    Convict-19 destroyed America. I would call for mass executions of the perpetrators but unlike fuhrer no two front war for me

    Our priority is to borrow a division of master race chinks who can harvest starting with top muzz

  41. lana repaer love supertard kat so much muzz-19 gonna croak him soon it contains semen from dropout19 muslims from Mozambique screaming ‘Allahu akbar’ cross into Tanzania, behead 20 people on Sun, 25th Oct 2020 8:45 am 

    T

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