Expansion of empires doesn’t advance by military power alone; it does so largely thanks to technological superiority. In fact, technological superiority might be the primary driver/enabler of imperial expansion. The power of the British Empire grew with the innovation and technological advances that enabled it to “rule the waves,” and also develop new, efficient processes of industrial production. Her ships were by far the fastest and most powerful in the world, which made her “gunboat diplomacy” irresistibly effective. This superiority had an important psychological, as well as PR effect which was in fact exercised in a calculated and deliberate way. Here’s an example:

​Upon returning from vacation at the end of August, French President Emmanuel Macron had a public appearance before his cabinet ministers, warning them that the age of abundance in a care-free world was over: “Some could see our destiny as being to constantly manage crises or emergencies. I believe that we are living through a tipping point or great upheaval. Firstly, because we are living through… what could seem like the end of abundance…” Macron added that, “This overview that I’m giving – the end of abundance, the end of insouciance, the end of assumptions – it is ultimately a tipping point that we are going through that can lead to our citizens to feel a lot of anxiety.” Last week, the CEO of Double Line funds, Jeffrey Gundlach reaffirmed Macron’s warnings. Well, if we’ve reached the end of abundance, where did the abundance go? Did we really exhaust it, and how can that even be possible in today’s highly productive technological societies? I believe that both Macron and Gundlach are wrong. Abundance never went anywhere and we did not exhaust it. It is in fact all around us.

There’s no God higher than truth

Mohandas Gandhi

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, the west enacted a set of extreme sanctions and the ruble began to collapse. Many in the west were delighted to gloat about Putin’s “miscalculation.”

Here’s a staggering fact: over the last two decades, literally tens of millions of investors set up individual brokerage accounts to manage their own investment portfolios. But most of them by far lose money. According to an 11-year study published by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, as many as 82 percent of all retail investors and traders lose money. This is confirmed by the figures disclosed by retail brokers themselves showing that up to 81% of their clients lose money. And this is in spite of the fact that since 2009 investors enjoyed the longest running bull market ever recorded.

This is in spite of the fact that over the last decade we’ve experienced the greatest bull market in history and every stock investor should have made bundles.

The disconnect and why this matters

In the last section of my book “Grand Deception”  (currently banned, but available here in kindle, nook, or pdf formats), titled “Toward the New U.S. – Russian Alliance” I wrote that, “Perhaps more than at any point in history, the future of humanity lies in the hearts and minds of the people of the United States and the people of Russia. Do we dare imagine the world we could all build together if we rejected the needless fear and hostility?” Recently the relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated, triggering a new Cold War that could degenerate into a hot one, whose consequences would be too harrowing to contemplate.

In order for us to avoid making a massive mess of things, U.S. leadership must rise above the relentless hostility towards Russia and to engage instead in friendly and constructive cooperation. Today, President Trump’s administration took another important step in this direction by holding a high-level meeting between the Chairman of its Joint Chief of Staff, General Joseph Dunford and his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov. Continue reading →