Radically Realistic Optimism | Livestream Excerpt

A lot of people mistake pessimism for wisdom, and they they think that it's always the wise thing to say nothing good is ever gonna happen. Yeah. And there's no way that we can win. And the the cynicism and the pessimism sort of substitutes for wisdom when you don't have wisdom. Mhmm.

And and it's usually an expression of ignorance on the topic about which you are expressing your pessimism. That you haven't really done a review, that actually you are yourself and your your perception and your impression is the product of propaganda. Mhmm. It's the it's the it's the product of of, in this particular case, the American narrative about themselves Mhmm. Or about itself.

And you never either you never do it or you don't have the tools or you're not equipped in one way or another to do the necessary review and analysis and research of real existing power dynamics and what what what what is true and what is not true about the American narrative and what, for example, was formerly true but is no longer true Mhmm. And how things have changed. Also, even even for people who are relatively educated, being educated oftentimes is just an a way of organizing ignorance rather than actually organizing knowledge or or replacing your ignorance with knowledge. It just sort of organizes the ignorance Yeah. In a way that is that serves the interest of the power structure.

And by that, I mean, who are educated in, say, for example, political science or international relations.

Mhmm.

They operate on a set of assumptions. Mhmm.

Dictated to by the

Dictated to them by the by the power structure

Yeah.

For the interest of serving or for for serving the interest of the power structure. And so they even have different they they even have metrics that are either wrong or are misconstrued Mhmm. About power. For example, the obvious example here would be military power. Yep.

The idea that that a military power is by definition going to be the biggest player and will always win. That's simply not the case. And just because and and they they push that that narrative about the importance of military power because that's something that they have Mhmm. Or anyway, that's something that they have had. And therefore, it's the definition of strength.

And then you also have to go back into and since this is about psychological decolonization, you have to understand what's the roots of them thinking that brute force equals power. Because, again, this this has very deep cultural historical roots for Westerners, for for for Europeans. The idea that the the the one who has the ability to extract by force, resources by force, that's as much as you need to accomplish in life. And if you're able to

do that, then you've done everything, and you've got the whole game wrapped up.

So it even those assumptions are based on a cultural history. It's based based on history. It's based on a culture. It's based on an ideology that grew out of that culture

Mhmm.

That grew out of that history that is incorrect. Then that also becomes one of the sources of pessimism. Mhmm. Because you think to yourself, well, our countries, whether you're talking about Muslim countries or countries in the global South, we don't have the military power that America does. Therefore, we can never do anything.

Therefore, we can never be free. Mhmm. Therefore, we will always be colonized. We will always be subjugated. We will always be slaves.

Mhmm.

Because you have accepted the American definition of what power is, which is just sheer brute force. Mhmm. Not understanding that even sheer brute force is itself a servant to power, to the to to actual power, which under in in the real operating system, again, is under Western in within the Western framework. Mhmm. The real existing power is economic.

Yeah.

And the military military power is only ever used to forward economic objectives

Mhmm.

And economic interests. So it doesn't make any difference how big your gun is. If it's not in your economic interest to shoot that gun, then you never will. You know, it's very important. This is this is something that will that will come as a shock to most Americans because, of course, the the the narrative that we grew up with.

America became a superpower by default, not not by merit, as you say, not by merit, not because it rose, not because it defeated others. It it won by default. It became the superpower by default because every other global superpower, global hegemon at that time, basically buckled under their own weight and fell apart. So it was that the the all of the other empires of the West, specifically, all of the other other empires of the West broke apart. The the colonial powers of France and The UK, and then eventually even Soviet Union, they all fell apart.

The America didn't defeat them. America there was no competition. America was just the the last one left standing because the other ones all died of exhaustion Mhmm. Not because America defeated them. So it's it's important to understand that.

Yeah.

That that this isn't the country that actually built its way up to the status that it has now, which is something you could actually juxtapose against or contrast with China. Mhmm. For example, China has absolutely built their way up to the status that they're at now. Yeah. And you can also juxtapose or contrast that with what's happening now with the construction the gradual construction or consolidation of the soft empire, in The Middle East that is being built, between the GCC and Turkey, but, primarily through the the capital of the GCC Mhmm.

The the money, the funding of the GCC, where they are they are building up. And they built up their own domestic economy first, and then they began with strategic investing regionally and then globally. They have really done the hard work of building themselves up. China has done the hard work of building themselves up. Now don't misunderstand because there will probably be probably be people who will jump on that and say that China couldn't have done it without America because America is buying all of their products and because people were shipping over there.

Yes. That's fine. No one says that it has to be done independently.

Yeah.

But you are wise and cunning and practical Mhmm. And efficient in the way you do it. Mhmm. America didn't have to do that. Yeah.

America just ended up being the last man standing.

Mhmm.

And then they they rigged the global economy through trickery and through deals Mhmm. Which in which gave them really very fragile power, which gave them very fragile hegemony over the world through the dollar. Right. They they didn't they this wasn't through military force. Mhmm.

They didn't achieve it through. Everyone talks about their military power, that's not how they became a global hegemon. They became a global hegemon because of the dollar Mhmm. Which is a very fragile web Yeah. To to build your house on.

Yeah. But at the time when it was developing and the rest of us were not capable of of standing on our own and we have to interact and trade so we were held hostage.

Right. Right. Well, and and because and because again after World War two everyone was demolished.

Exactly. Which then brings me to the next problem.

So you didn't I mean, I'm sorry to again to interrupt. So again, it's very important to understand that this country that always talks about competition did not rise to the winning position through competition. Mhmm. They did it through parasitic predatory opportunism against their own so called allies, against their own so called friends in Europe. A number of things have happened.

I've talked about it several times. A number of things have happened that have rendered the post World War two world order obsolete. And the existence of Israel, the perpetuation of Zionism, depended upon that world order not becoming obsolete. It only made strategic sense. It only made political sense.

It only made economic sense in the context of that world order, and that world order is being dismantled dismantled at a very rapid pace. And, again, there's many reasons for that. A few is the one that I've mentioned many times before is just sheer demographics.

Mhmm.

The demographics of Europe are in decline. The demographics even in America are in decline. The birth rate and so forth. The the markets are also too expensive for workers. Salaries are too expensive.

America at the time the post World War two order, America was not a net producer and exporter of oil and gas, which it is now. That changed the world. When America became that a a producer and exporter, a net exporter, and the world's largest producer of oil and gas, this completely changed the the the logic of the World War two global order.

Yeah.

And then, of course, the rise of BRICS. Mhmm. You know, things that have sort of happened subsequent to that, which is which is the a national OCGC trying to organize the inevitable transition to the global South Mhmm. Because the Northern Hemisphere is becoming increasingly irrelevant. I mean, that's this is why a radical realism, as we called it, is the antidote to pessimism because a realistic view of the world and the trajectories that the world is moving and the momentum at which they are the power dynamics are shifting, the momentum of the trajectories that the world is on, it's it's it's extremely positive.

There's every reason for realistic, practical, cool headed optimism for the way things are moving. I think that there's that there's a certain degree of misinterpretation of the relevance of those military bases. Again, that goes back to the idea that power is military power, that there's not another kind of power with military power. Therefore, wherever military power can be seen, then that means power is being exerted in that location. America has been running its economy on the military industrial complex.

That's been the engine of their economy. So they want expansion of military presence everywhere in the world so that they can arm all of that, so that they can fund all of that through the Pentagon as a as a basically a money laundering operation Mhmm. Taxpayer dollars into the Pentagon, into the private sector, into the military private sector, defense sector. So the the the presence of those bases does not in and of itself necessarily mean that those countries are shaking in their boots in fear of these military bases.

Mhmm.

A lot of the military bases have very little personnel in them. A lot of them are functionally useless, but they serve they serve the purpose that they're supposed to serve, is money laundering. So that's America's interest. And because they you know, otherwise, what they could do is sell those weapons to other countries, which, of course, they do. They do sell weapons to other countries, but they don't want anyone to be too well armed.

So that's been their policy. You you have to have our base there rather than you building up your own forces. And then This is why I'm sorry to interrupt, but this is why it's very important to understand that America rose to being a superpower in the absence of of competitive rivals.

Mhmm.

That means is that when a competitive rival emerges, America is not going to be able to compete, which is what has happened. Yeah. And it also means that that all of the other countries in the world who got basically stuck and trapped into being into being in the orbit of The United States, the moment they have a choice, they will opt out Yep. Of that relationship. As long as they if they can make a deal, if they can make a partnership with another hegemon that doesn't impose the same kind of subservient demands upon their their country that requires them to be obsequious and to change politically and to hand over control of their economy to that hegemon.

If they can find a country that's not going to do that, then anyone would prefer that option. And and that's the case with China. They don't make anything like the kind of demands that America makes

Mhmm.

In terms of what what they expect if they're going to invest or if they're gonna loan money and and so on and so forth. Mhmm. They they don't make any any anywhere close to the same kinds of demands that America has made. Mhmm. Because because, again, this is all because America has been aware policymakers in America have been aware how fragile their actual hold is on power, global power.

They've understood. They have to have understood how fragile their hold really is. Mhmm. So they wanted to do everything they could to consolidate their power by forcing everyone else into a subservient position vis a vis America. They can't let you rise at all Yeah.

Because they're scared to death because their their hold on power has been very fragile. Mhmm. And it was inevitable that that they will lose their grip on power, and that's that's what's happening. It's very important for you to keep it in mind and for you to understand and to incorporate it, And if I keep talking, I will lose it again. To incorporate it into your understanding, in your interpretive framework when you read information because the only thing that they have now is narrative.

That's the only thing that they have. If you are well informed and you have a good grasp of real existing power dynamics in the world and what power what constitutes power, what power is really comprised of in 2025, who has it and who doesn't, If you really understand that, then you will know that their narrative is a lot of huffing and puffing, and they really don't have anything left. They don't have anything left except for you believing the that propaganda. You believing that narrative and and allowing that narrative and your belief in that narrative to make you hopeless and pessimistic. The only power they have now is your belief that they have power.

There's another narrative about, for example, the rise of the multipolar world and the rise of bricks and so forth that I think I mentioned this before even in in the recent lives. It's being presented as sort of the almost a revolution or a rebellion by the global South, and that this is all happening against the will of The United States. The United States, first of all, there isn't a global power actually called The United States. Wrap your head around this. Because The United States as a political entity is subordinate to private sector power.

It was previously subordinate to American private sector power, specifically nationalistic private sector power connected to the military industrial complex that was reliant upon industry inside the country. And it has it it had and continues to have a nationalistic framework and paradigm that operates in a nationalistic paradigm. So America has been, as a political entity, more or less subordinate for most of my lifetime, but especially since the eighties eighties, nineties, and February. It became more and more and more subordinate. Again, originally to corporate private sector power within the country.

Now it is subordinate to the a national owners and controllers of global financialized capital who have no care whatsoever for something called The United States Of America. Mhmm. They have no interest. They have no nationalistic loyalties. They have no patriotic loyalties even if they are American by nationality or by citizenship.

Mhmm. This is not where their loyalties lie. Their loyalties lie with their shareholders Mhmm. And with their own bank accounts. Mhmm.

So America isn't a power. Something called The United States Of America isn't really a political force. Yeah. It is the the country, the government, the the body politic is subordinate. It was subordinate to private sector power within the country.

Now it's subordinate to global private sector power. The power structure to whom they are subordinate are abandoning them. They are navigating the the the the dismantling of American empire. They are overseeing the dismantling of American empire. They are overseeing the, basically, the demise of American prosperity and America's global reach pursuing the isolation and the containment of America into being only what it actually has the real existing power to be, which is a regional hegemon.

Mhmm. It's a great power. It will continue to be a great power, but it will be a regional great power. It will dominate the global North. It will dominate Europe belongs to them.

Europe now is going to belong to them. Canada will belong to them. I I was talking about it one in in a recent live that, unfortunately, I think that also Central And South America are also not so much up for grabs because I think

We've talked about that.

America is gonna try to continue to keep their iron fist around Central And South America. Central And South America aren't without options, but it's that's that I don't I don't think that that that their liberation or their freedom or their sovereignty, I don't think that that's in the cards according to the ace a national HCGFC plan. I think I think everyone has accepted. Okay. You can have that.

But Africa and Asia and the Arab world, the Middle East, these will be free from American domination.