Dominoes, Hegemonies and the Future of Humanity
Marwan Salamah
domino
What did the domino tile say to its neighbour?
“Don’t worry, it is happening far away!” and they both happily continued to stare at their ‘white dots’, ignoring the collapsing carnage down the line. Dominoes aren’t very smart; they are, after all, inanimate objects!
People, however, are supposed to have brains and are expected to be cognizant of what’s happening around them and able to assess its implications on their wellbeing. Unfortunately, this rarely is the case, which may add credence to the theory that by settling into early agrarian communities, humans became more caring and supportive of each other, thus undermining the successful natural selection process by retaining idiot genes!
It is not as though the concept of danger is a new phenomenon. Ever since humans got over the fear of carnivorous beasts and learnt how to kill them, they have concentrated on killing each other. Hegemonic tendencies have existed for thousands of years; as early as the Sumerians and Assyrians and continued through to the colonization monsters of the past few hundred years.
Status of Hegemony
Hegemonies come in different sizes; small, medium and big; an amusing “pecking order” whose interaction can be observed on the daily news broadcasts. It also comes in different styles; softly spoken but treacherous, generous with economic assistance but containing hidden strings to hang you, belligerent with a viscous warmongering streak and lastly, schizophrenic; oscillating between all the previous styles. There are also the would-be-hegemons if given half a chance.
More recently, the hegemony arena has, though knock-out matches, been narrowed down to one grand hegemon and a couple of runners-up, and the heat is now rising as the final tournament approaches – Let us hope it will not be too bloody and Armageddon-ish.
Despite that, many nations continue to dream of becoming hegemons. But at the same time, they continue to concentrate on their ‘white dots’ and disregard the likelihood that they are already in the crosshairs of a bigger hegemon.
They seem oblivious to the hegemonic ploys that undermine their political and economic structures through unending sanctions, onerous trade or military treaties, contemptuous disregard for local and international laws, negative and false news reporting, regime change tactics, false flag incidences, scaremongering, and outright threats that are occasionally translated into destructive military action. Like the proverbial deer, they are frozen in the headlights of the oncoming speeding car and wait until it is too late to save themselves.
What happened in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Somalia, Grenada, Venezuela, Argentine, Brazil, Cuba, Greece, Iran, North Korea and many other places are only the tip of the iceberg. What is likely to happen elsewhere is still being baked in the oven and will come out once done and ready. What is surprising is that, not only were the signs written on all the walls but, again, the victims failed to comprehend the messages and continued to stare at their ‘white dots’!
Southeast Asia, South China Sea, Ex-Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South & Central America and Africa are all candidates for destabilization and possible splintering into smaller pieces – especially those that exhibit economic weakness or cracks in their demographic, ethnic, religious makeup and are rife with internal disharmony.
Even the European EU is now beginning to feel the brunt of the hegemon pressure of tariff and sanctions threats. Japan, Mexico, India and Canada too, have just got a taste of an ear pinching to remind them to dance to the grand hegemon’s tune. Who is left? Not even Timbuktu!
What about the runner-up hegemons? What about the smaller hegemons? Well, all hegemons have the same strain of nasty genes. However, they are dormant and only begin to grow as their host’s power increases. This, most likely, is a genetic relic from the early human hunters-gatherers’ need for viciousness to survive. Maybe natural selection and/or wisdom will eventually weed out those nasty genes, but don’t bet your farm or country on it.
Is All Lost?
Not necessarily, because all hegemons (big and small) also suffer from the same weaknesses and dis-harmonies that beset their victims, although they cunningly keep them secret. Powerful mass media and propaganda are used extensively to camouflage all the ills that would otherwise stumble their seemingly confident and steady footsteps. This means that they are as also vulnerable to the same ploys that they have repeatedly used on others.
Also, history confirms that all empires eventually collapse and disappear, regardless of how long they last. Some lasted over a thousand years, which may sound too long, but in the modern world of technology, digital communications, social media and financialized economies, the average lifespan of hegemons has been drastically cut short.
Empires and hegemons generally start with a strategic vision of expansion and moderate usurpation of other nations’ resources; then, gluttony takes over at a rapidly increased pace.
But as the world and its resources are limited, they sooner or later bump into and clash with other hegemons; and are forced to change their tactics. As matters heat up, their tactics not only become shorter and shorter-term, but become ad hoc not fully thought through and, even haphazard – until they begin to shoot themselves in the foot.
This usually is an early sign of their demise (compare this to the Roman/Byzantine, Safavid Iran and Ottoman empires and their confusion with multi-front wars – in addition to their poor governance systems and economic mismanagement).
What to Do
In all events, we cannot wait out the hegemons to die out as the dinosaurs did; it would take far too long.
More realistically, we can address the modern hegemonic world threat via a two-pronged approach. The first is individual effort and the second is collective action.
Individual effort means to treat the sources of weakness and internal disharmony that make individual countries susceptible to hegemonic ploys. This requires the recreation of the governance systems to tackle all the maladies that drag nations down, including poor economic policies, corruption, inequality, ineffective representative systems, etc.
In short, seal the cracks that invite enemies to destabilize a country. It is not easy but is certainly better than being sucked dry off your freedom, resources and future.
As for collective action, this means getting together with other small and medium nations to form groups/alliances that can stand up to hegemons and resist, at least, their economic sanctions and threats. The Non-Aligned Movement was, and still is a good idea, but needs more teeth. Alternatively, new and more practical types of groupings could be envisaged and created – always conditional that no one nation, big or small, is allowed to become the group’s hegemon.
Dominoes may be flimsy and unstable, but if laid in parallel rows and columns and closely bonded (zero-spaced), they become much more difficult to topple. So, don’t be a lone domino dumbly staring at your ‘white dots’!
Marwan Salamah, is a Kuwaiti economic consultant and publishes articles on his blog: marsalpost.com
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
There is only one hegemon, arguably there has only ever been one hegemon, the Money Power.
Meyer Amschel Rothschild, I do not care who makes the laws as long as I control the money.
Wake up and aim at the real criminals who control the supply of currency to the world.
The sun did not set on the British Trading Empire, the Bank of England or the Federal Reserve Act 1913, without which the Illuminati and the elite Freemasons would not have been able to foment and finance all wars into existence. War is nothing more than the Money Power exercising its control mechanism to benefit the Military Industrial Complex and Finance. There is nothing Spiritual about killing and maiming women and children in the name of religion.
It is Zionism that is the scourge of Mankind backed up by the Three City States of…City of London Finance, Washington DC Military and Vatican City Spiritual.
The struggle is for Humanity to win this spiritual battle and lead the world into a new era of peace and prosperity.
Now, don’t forget to keep your eyes on failing Ukraine.
The EU is going to have to open its purse big time. When you go all Mycarthyite on the situation maybe, just maybe you forget one thing.
You see as a failed/failing state Ukraine has one BIG/SCAREY problem, nuclear reactors coming to the end of their life.
I bet Putin is glad his missed being on the hook for that!
There are about 13-14 of them, TFS. All old Soviet designs, all way past their sell by date/ service life. Not properly maintained for years. They should have been decommissioned years ago, but Ukraine kept them in service. There have been a lot of fortunately minor incidents already. Ukraine does not report these to international bodies as it is supposed to. What makes it worse is that they were designed to use Soviet fuel, but for years they have been shoehorning in unsuitable US fuel from Westinghouse. Expect a very big band sometime in the near future, which of course will be all Russia’s fault.
Like bacteria in petri dishes.
To rise high and then to fall
Fall from your pedestal.
{When will we ever learn, When will we ever learn.}
The three dots with the addled brains are running amok pretending to be in charge of the world’s No 1 hegemon. They appear to be on a diplomatic switchback ride to hell. With dots and braincells in short supply amongst this troika of despair the rest of the world can only look on – in terror.
Now with Dumb, Dumber and sh*t for brains in charge of the said hegemon with the spooks at Langley Farm and the stuffed shirts down Sleepy Hollow in disarray whose going to save the day for the blessed exceptionals?
Forget rules for the future hegemons, forget the domino derby.. if we don’t pull the rug out from under these nuts and their decrepit system of death and destruction they’ll nuke the whole sh*t show for us anyway. And then where would we be? Well I guess that would answer the final question… so we really were alone in the universe all along, and if there had been a god, as promised, why did he hate us so much?
We don’t need to resort to God to explain human goodness as we don’t need a Devil to justify all the evil we are capable of.
This is most clearly illustrated by the crucifixion of the Christ. It was not God who did it, just Men decision. The Christ underestood this:
“Father, forgive them, for they don’ t know what they are doing.”
Good and evil are within us, the choice is all ours:
“By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one made pure.” Buddha
US and allies are pulling the world to war with Iran based on the ‘white powder vials’ du jour…a war that could extend well beyond the middle east…. all in the name of ‘democracy’ , ‘national security’ and defense of the ‘free world’…..
…and we humans, dare to call this: “Civilization”.
‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened _ _ _ _’ (Matthew 24.6)
No Matt, we’re not frightened.
We’re SHIT SCARED.
Alliances against hegemons will not be tolerated.
The Chinese and Russian governments are currently involved in setting up an alliance and they are being demonised and condemned at every turn.
Meanwhile, the most brutal hegemon in history is imploding from its perverse ambitions.
The alliance was set up in June 2001, just a few months before the twin towers attack.
The alliance now includes India and Pakistan as well as many other prospective ME countries including Iran, Syria and … Turkey.
Hell even Israel and Ukraine have asked to join! Lol.
The alliance has common security military exercises and cover half the human population and two thirds of Eurasia.
The alliance just had their major meeting where the new leadership took charge of the agenda last week.
There has been ZERO reporting in the western MSM of the alliance or the words of its new presidency – but there was a squirrely flash bang event to gawp at.
The alliance is the the SCO and Putin and Russia have the presidency.
He made a very clear and significant speech and it’s been put out in English, so that it cannot be misinterpreted.
The message is ‘get your tanks off our lawn, pronto, cowboy’.
The EU will make a treaty with the SCO leaving Nato as a dead duck. It’s time for tge yanks to withdraw from their imperial borders and get back home to hide from the mexicans!
The bs sabre rattling, gnashing and hair pulling of the crazies and mad generals is just a lot of noise and toy throwing.
The Alliance has won. The Empire has fallen. Thank god!
I’m just curious to know what the viscosity of warmongering is? Or am I just being thick here? 😉
It’s all about the oil, Seamus.
;o)
“People, however, are supposed to have brains and are expected to be cognizant of what’s happening around them ..”
We know how Public Relations firms can sway opinions. Not necessarily brainwashing everyone, but enough to produce direction changes successfully.
Contemplate this situation: You are the most powerful kid (by a huge margin). And imagine this kid is also happened to be the most immoral, most unethical, most duplicitous, most clandestine creature ever created, and no one dares or able to threaten you or your territory.
Now, to dominate the planet, you have a budget — of , let’s say, one trillion US$ annually. Basically, you don’t need any more weapons than what you arealy have created and stockpiled all over the planet. So what would the most psychpathic person/country do with all this money?
With such a monsterous budget, this psychopathic criminal is playing ‘dominoes’ as described in this great article. A lot of people are oblivious to what is going on, and a lot of people can feel it but completely restrained by the system, and therefore too weak to make any change.
”A lot of people are oblivious to what is going on, and a lot of people can feel it but are completely restrained by the system, and therefore too weak to make any change.”
And a lot of people are totally aware, but choose not to get involved?
Perhaps this guy will be able to lift the veil from their eyes… Jimmy Doyle. This brilliantly intelligent guy hits the nail on the head EVERYTIME… Delivered through comedy.
”Proof that the U.S. is provoking Iran into war.”
Note particularly Patrick Clawson… who lays it all on the line… but how many people will even realise…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOudBT4S4y0Join the discussion…
Fifteen minutes well spent.
I wish we had someone even half as capable as Jimmy Dore in the UK.
The fate of the Roman Empire is destructive.
A city of well over a million became a ghost town of a few thousand eking out a living among the ruins with the packs of wild dogs. Like present day Detroit. Or maybe present day London under its current mayor.
The Roman Empire was always given a far too easy ride by history and 3rd rate authors like Boris Johnson. It was a ramshackle, dysfunctional, bankrupt affair that lurched along from crisis to crisis for a couple of centuries before the final collapse. By rights, it should have collapsed in the 3rd century AD at the latest. It very nearly collapsed after a disastrous series of wars in what is now Iraq against the latter day Persians.
From 235 – 285 AD there were 49 “Emperors”, and only one is known to have died a natural death. Most were murdered by their relatives/ bodyguards/ courtiers. A lot committed suicide. One was struck by lightning.
We see the same shambolic pattern repeating itself in our times.
A vast, bloated, out of control and ruinously expensive military establishment, half a million strong, ineffective and no longer capable of winning wars. A current US War Machine with a budget of $1,134 billion.
99% of the population living at bare subsistence. All power and wealth monopolised by a fragment of the remaining unaccountable and self serving 1%.
Enormous disparity and public flaunting of wealth. Excesses of all kinds.
Debasement of the currency, whether it be the printing of tens of trillions of toilet paper money, or the washed silver coinage.
Degeneracy and perversion of all kinds given free rein. One transvestite “emperor” disguised himself as a woman and worked as a prostitute on the streets of Rome.
Consumerism and spectacle taken to extremes. A chariot racing champion won the equivalent of £3 billion in prize money in current values.
This Empire destroyed far more than it ever created. Julius Caesar bragged of having killed or enslaved 5 million Gauls. The Dacians, a sophisticated and wealthy society, were simply exterminated. A far more advanced and impressive civilisation in Greece was smashed, its cities destroyed. When Carthage was stormed and fell, its conquerors set fire to buildings so that they could carry on massacring the inhabitants for six days and nights. Half a million put to the sword and the remaining 200,000 hauled off in chains for a life of slavery. These figures may be suspect but they shed light on the true nature of Roman “civilisation.” Like the tens of millions slaughtered, starved and immiserated in the criminal wars of aggression of the US empire and its endless intrigues.
By contrast, the so called “barbarian” sack of Rome was a remarkably restrained and civilised affair. Some buildings were damaged and some women molested. Its inhabitants were fortunate to escape the fate they had inflicted on so many others.
Surely the turning point for the Roman Empire was the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest that took place in the year 9 AD. In the battle, an alliance of Germanic tribes won a major victory over three Roman legions. The Germanic tribes were led by Arminius; the Roman legions by Publius Quinctilius Varus. Three crack Roman legions had crossed the Rhine but they were caught out on the march by the Germans and couldn’t get into their customary battle formations, the dreaded Testudo. As a result they were wiped out, some 20,000 men, one tenth of the Roman Army. The reputation for Roman invincibility was shattered. Okay the Roman Empire lasted another 400 years but it was downhill all the way until the Visigoths under the leadership of Alaric eventually sacked Rome in 410.
Yet another example of imperial overstretch was the Athenian expedition to Sicily as chronicled by Thucydides. Of course it was going to be a cakewalk but it was in fact a disaster. It took place 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between the Athenian empire on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat of the Athenian forces.
Pericles had correctly identified the fate of all empires and that things might always go the way as Athens was caught in an imperial trap, it must expand or die. He averred.
” … do not imagine that what we are fighting for is a question of freedom or slavery; there is also involved the loss of our empire and the dangers from the hatred which we have incurred administering it. Nor is it any longer possible to give up this empire, though there may be some people in a mood of panic and in the spirit of political apathy actually think that this would be a fine and noble thing to do. Your empire is now like a tyranny; it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go.”
When push came to shove, however,the Athenians were forced to let the empire go as the eventual retreat from empire turned into a rout.
Coming into the twentieth century Britannia ruled the waves, until it didn’t, and together with France experienced a humiliation at the Suez operation in 1956. The French having already been defeated in Indo-China and Algeria.
What’s the betting that the latest hegemon won’t go the same way? All unbeatable military subsist until they are beaten.
I’m not sure about Teutoburg. It was a major defeat and prevented the conquest of Germany. But Cannae, 216 BC, was a lot bigger with 70,000 dead from an army of 86,000 if the figures are to be believed.
Syracuse certainly fits the bill. A reinforced expedition, in effect two armies and two navies, completely wiped out, save for one man who made his way back to Athens with news of the defeat. And of course the enormous financial cost. It’s difficult to have much sympathy or admiration for either of the two empires. The Athenians treated their subject Greeks with appalling savagery, casually committing massacres and reducing them to slavery. Their wealth was based on appalling slave labour in the silver mines. When they were defeated they escaped the fate they had inflicted on many others. The Spartans ruled over a nightmare police state society based on slavery and brutality. Both have been judged far too leniently by history. A lot of similarities with the present Zionazi US empire.
Thank you for another good post, mark, and to Francis Lee also.
William Ophuls
Ursula Le Guin
There appears to be something about civilisation that tends to expansion, overreach and collapse. Those that don’t follow that pattern tend to be swallowed by the bigger fish. Perhaps China is a notable exception … for now. I would be interested to learn whether a civilisation’s conceptions of value and wealth, if based on money and capital accumulation, characterise those that fit the most common pattern.
For me, the logic is simple enough. If what a system values above all things and thus sees as wealth is in itself useless in terms of: soil fertility; sensible, mutually supportive relations with others; nourishment of body and soul – i.e., silver and gold and ‘money’, and if having more of this ‘wealth’ than the next guy in an endless and merciless ‘competition’ defines success, how can any other pattern of civilisational development be expected?
Next, if that is true, perhaps new ideas regarding value and wealth are sorely needed?
‘New’ ideas regarding values and wealth have been with us for a long time: look in the major spiritual traditions.
And I’m refering to Spiritual traditions NOT religions which have all (to a greater or lesser extent) been corrupted and distorted hence, you have the ‘Holy’ wars done in the name of a guy (Christ) that never ever talk about going to war or violence as means to promote or protect his teachings. Or the manslaughter of Rohingyas by so called “Buddhist monks”, where Buddha most known teachings opens saying
“Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world; through love alone they cease. This is an eternal law.”
Guided by these spiritual teachings, money has no value, nor does any other material thing beyond what is necessary for living, but definitely not as means to exert power or any other vain pursuit.
Major spiritual teachers (Buddha, Christ, Lao-Tsé) taught that a meaningful and still generous, compasionate life is possible even if you don’t go as far as the full teachings (celibacy, etc.) but material possessions are definitely not at the core of any of them (with the possible exception of Judaism, at least on its Zionism version -Isaiah 61:6, Deuteronomy 28:1).
But whether we find new ideas on spiritual traditions or make up totally new ones, fact is that none of the predominant existing paradigms will lead us out of current situation nor will they ever ensure sustainable, peaceful survival of the species and the planet.
You can not put new wine into old bottles.
Indeed. And the quite rapid decline (historically speaking) of materialism in the sciences is some ground for optimism in this department.
One of those 49 Roman emperors, Valerian, died in ignominious captivity or slavery somewhere in the vast reaches of Sassanid Persia a few years after being defeated and seized as a hostage at the Battle of Edessa by Sassanid emperor Shapur I in 260 CE.
He was the only one who is known to have died a natural death. Shapur kept him alive and used him as a human foot stool/ foot rest when he was lounging around on his throne. When he died of natural causes, Shapur had him stuffed and mounted on the wall as a trophy.
Now that story about Shapur I taxidermying Valerian was probably generated by past various Christian sources that liked neither of these guys. More likely Shapur I imprisoned Valerian and paraded him around his empire to impress the public whenever he thought he was slipping in the popularity polls, and pumped his hostage for information on Roman fighting tactics and engineering skills so the Sassanians would always have the upper hand in fighting their western enemy.
In the end the Romans (and then the Byzantines) and Persians fought each other for so long and hard that both empires collapsed in the Middle East one way or another and were easy pickings for the Arabs coming out of the Arabian Peninsula in the 630s CE.
I suppose a stuffed Roman emperor beats china ducks in the interior decorations front.