A Global Dark Age Is Coming
How Hard We Fall, Is Up To Us
Just like all roads once led to Rome, all economic, cultural and military roads today lead to the United States Of America.
After World War 1 and 2, when the greedy empires of Europe fought for supremacy and ensured their mutual destruction, America gladly swooped in and took their place, subjugating them in the process. Half a century later, the Cold War ended with the USSR’s implosion, and America stood as the planet’s sole empire.
What would it do with this unprecedented power? The road to global hegemony was wide open. The world was quite literally its oyster.
Manifest Destiny In The 21st Century
American power runs far beyond its unparalleled military might. The world reserve currency is the United States dollar — anyone who misbehaves will be exiled from the system through sanctions, suffering economy-crushing consequences. American culture and innovation have captivated and transformed us all, whether we like it or not. Even those who claim to hate America are wearing Nike t-shirts, worshipping American sports stars and celebrities, and flocking to watch American movies.
From the golden years of Hollywood to the dizzying decades which gave us the space race and the computer age, the rest of the world could barely keep up. The USSR literally died trying. American exceptionalism planted its flag on the moon, high above us all, setting trend after trend while vastly leading the world economy.
There were setbacks and nervous moments, of course. After all, even Rome had to deal with Hannibal’s humiliating invasion and near victory, as well as Arminius’ betrayal at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, which shattered the illusion of Roman invincibility.
In America’s case, it was the Soviets who broke the space barrier first. The Vietnam War and civil rights movements caused mayhem domestically. Japan, innovating technologically and creatively at a rapid rate in the 80s, almost overtook the American economy, bringing cultural marvels such as Nintendo and Anime. But once the Soviet Union collapsed, and the mass protests ended, and the Japanese economic miracle ran out of steam, the shackles were off. Without a behemoth to fend off, the US floored the accelerator, riding to ascendancy on the back of the world’s largest labour force, China.
The 90s and 2000s represented the height of the American empire, mirroring Rome’s Golden Age, known as the period of the ‘Five Good Emperors’. NATO and EU expansion eastward into Eurasia continued unchecked, with one country after the other joining the alliance, resembling America’s westward rampage from thirteen colonies to clocking up its fiftieth state, Hawaii.
It is now 2024, and American ‘Manifest Destiny’ is far from over. For one, the US economy has created new, data-driven ‘frontiers’ online, surfing the wave of the all-conquering tech industry. With Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Google nearing global digital domination, the United States has tightened its grip over the planet in much the same way that Rome commanded the territories of Europe, North Africa and the Levant. Once US hegemony reaches the heart of Eurasia, the geographical component of its Manifest Destiny will be complete. The next frontier is outer space.
Two events have once again buckled the wheels of the empire, however. The first came in 2022, with the long-expected Russian invasion of Ukraine; the culmination of an eight-year shadow conflict between Putin and the West for Ukraine’s soul, which Russia looks certain to win. The second event exploded out of nowhere, when on October 7, 2023, the resistance group Hamas burst through the fence of the besieged Gaza Strip, provoking the greatest atrocity since 1945 in the form of a live-streamed genocide of the Palestinian people.
The Three-Headed Dragon
What would the world of today look like without America?
‘Pax Americana’ has spared us from many power vacuums. That ‘city upon a hill’, even though it is plagued by decadence and unhinged grandiosity, shines over us all. The world has become dependent on this ‘light’.
Yet every light casts a shadow. Rather than spontaneous outbreaks of violence between states vying for supremacy, war has been the almost exclusive tool of America to carve out its empire.
America’s trailblazing path to global dominance has left behind a dark legacy. The genocide of the Native Americans. The Philippine War, with hundreds of thousands dead due to famine. The carpet bombing of the entire Korean Peninsula. Countless coups and military interventions all over the world. The Vietnam War, which brought horrendous suffering to Southeast Asia. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. And now, Gaza and Lebanon, with the Zionists playing the role of US attack dog.
Meanwhile, China appeared to have given up on Communism and become a subservient market for US capitalism. Yet it has become evident in the last decade that the Chinese are charting their own path towards global power. Russia, appearing down and out after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has clawed back its autonomy and asserted itself as a regional force independent of US hegemony. Iran stands as the sole defiant nation against US designs for West Asia. By anchoring their economies to China, both Iran and Russia have successfully outmanoeuvred US sanctions. Together, these three powers have formed a counterbalance against American hegemony, heralding Cold War 2.0.
Where the USSR failed to keep pace technologically, China is proving far more formidable, having appropriated and even surpassed US technology in many fields. Russia, unlike Gorbachev, seems determined to fight. Iran too. As Cold War 2.0 warms up, the US is facing a three-headed dragon — and it is reacting accordingly.
Inspecting The Chessboard
American Manifest Destiny seems to have hit a wall. Yet that has not stopped the US from continuing to push. Ukraine, courted for years to enter the Western umbrella, is now collapsing under the opposing weight of American and Russian designs for its destiny. With October 7 creating rare propaganda cover to ‘eliminate those terrorists’, the US is forging ahead with its conquest of West Asia via its Zionist proxy. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are already in its pocket. All that’s left is the destruction of the remaining rogue resistance forces in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. By cutting off Iran’s ‘tentacles’, the US moves a step closer to ridding itself of the Iranian thorn in its side once and for all.
On the Pacific front, Japan, South Korea and Australia are being called to prepare for war against China, with a string of new military bases and a planned fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to back them up. If China wants to break out of the First Island Chain and extend its hard power beyond the South China Sea, it will need to fight.
What you might have noticed with these global flashpoints is America’s heavy utilisation of allies to battle on its behalf on the front lines. The Ukranians, the Zionists and soon the Pacific nations will be putting bodies on the line to uphold this global pincer movement, which aims to choke the dominant powers of the World Island where they stand. And with that, America’s push to complete its Manifest Destiny over the entire planet will be complete.
At least, that’s the plan.
Multi-Polarity, Or Doom
America’s insatiable hunger for global hegemony will be its downfall — and ours.
By taking off the mask and resorting to wholesale mass murder in the Levant, it is doing irreversible damage to its soft power. The BRICS economic alliance and global boycott movement are the surest signs of how a world reacts to a bad taste in its mouth, brought on from witnessing almost 400 days of constant atrocities on its smartphones.
People are understanding that continuing to feed this empire is fuelling increased hostility. While Ukraine could be blamed on that ‘tyrant’ Putin, Gaza is proving to be a far more difficult bowl of shit to dress up and make appetising. Blaming Hamas, bringing up October 7 or simply resorting to gaslighting and denial in the face of overwhelming reality is revealing America as being the empire with no clothes.
As America’s power deflates further in the face of a rising Global South, it will likely ramp up its violence, bringing us ever closer to World War III. The best-case scenario will be a close call which forces the US to back down from its ambitions, heralding a multi-polar world. On one side will be Russia and China, with Russia in a deputy role. On the other will be the humbled West, learning to navigate a world where it no longer dominates, much like the Europeans post-WWII.
In the case of Europe, it took total regional devastation for the French, British and Germans to humble themselves. Yet even this relied on the American and Soviet ‘stick’ being dangled above them, along with the Marshall Plan ‘carrot’ to keep them satisfied.
We now live in a nuclear age. If we are to have a repeat of World War II in order to decide who the ‘big boy’ in the global room will be, we all know there will be no ‘Pax’ anything to follow. The level of destruction will be apocalyptic.
A World Beyond Pax Americana
Once the Western half of Rome collapsed, the intricate arteries which led to its heartland withered. Invading barbarians were incapable of carrying the torch. The tribes under imperial hegemony had long been infantilised, over-relying on Rome’s manufacture, trade, architecture, and law and education system. The glory of Rome gave its subjects their only sense of identity. It took centuries for Western Europe to regain its step.
In much the same way we binge on YouTube, munch on McDonalds, shop on Amazon, obsess over Kylie Jenner and spend hours scrolling through Instagram, ancient Europe grew accustomed to an imperial reality. Rome’s power swelled, and swelled, running on borrowed time and borrowed money, until it became unsustainable. Like all empires, it peaked, over-extended, decayed, and then collapsed.
History dictates that this too will be America’s fate. The US has only two options: It can fall with a whimper like Rome did, living to fight another day under a more humble manifestation like the Byzantine Empire, or it can choose to go down fighting, bringing the rest of the world under with it. Looking at the geopolitical chessboard at the moment, it seems to have chosen the latter.
Well aware of the consequences of such a devastating conflict, China, Iran and Russia seem to be standing firm while carefully manoeuvring around this behemoth running rampage across the globe.
Iran has held to strategic patience for decades, and has calculated their recent retaliations in a tit-for-tat fashion, even as the Zionists provoke them over and over again, carry out a genocide, and tear the Levant apart, causing limitless destruction while civilian bodies pile up.
China has maintained a strategy of ‘diplomatic’ imperialism, opting to pursue business over war, even as they are being surrounded militarily in their backyard by America and its minions.
Russia, after over two years, has ensured the conflict remained within the confines of Ukraine, remaining eerily patient in the face of a limitless flow of aid and weaponry from the West intended to ensure its eventual implosion.
Can we rely on these powers to maintain their patience forever? How long will the conflict remain ‘over there’ before it comes to our doorstep? When the Ukraine war broke out, the Europeans grew rightly panicked. The Arab diaspora remains horrified as it witnesses West Asia barrel towards regional destruction. Many people maintain the luxury of not caring, despite their peers raising the alarm on social media and beyond. Even the Europeans seem to have relaxed again, going back to their normal lives as the war rages ‘over there’ in Ukraine. What will it take for the masses to awaken? How forceful an explosion is required to burst their bubble of denial?
Choose Your Downfall
Humans are frustratingly slow to adapt to a new reality. We hold onto denial like a soft blanket, even as the smoke of the fire outside enters our room, threatening to burn our house down.
America provides a steady stream of military equipment, cultural marvels, innovations and mesmerising brand ‘experiences’. America’s consumer base is insatiable, feeding every artery of the global trade network. And to top it off, American Big Tech has turned us all into dopamine addicts, harvesting our data for profit and control while we remain lost in the allure of social media. Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ is already here, and most of us are too numb to see it, let alone act.
The West’s psychological grip on the globe is astonishing. Using the power of branding and media, it has brainwashed us to ‘follow the siren’ and spend double on a subpar cup of Starbucks coffee filled with sugar. Even McDonald’s’ golden arches got a hold of us at a young age. We now religiously hand our cash over in exchange for a nutrient-poor, sugar-filled meal which, along with Coca-Cola, fuels an obesity and diabetes epidemic. The sight of someone entranced by their smartphone, both in public and in private, is now normalised.
This carefully-crafted system engenders our apathy, and emboldens a psychopathic elite on both sides of the Atlantic to play geopolitical chess with their military with zero accountability. They even have the audacity to carry out a genocide, with the expectation that they will get away with it.
And still we remain caught in our thirst for material goods, social status and an endless stream of entertainment, unable to step out into the cold to witness what is coming our way. We are like opium addicts, lost in the high while a tsunami comes barreling towards us.
The plumes of smoke rising out of Palestine and Lebanon are signalling the coming wildfire which will soon envelop the globe, proving that Ukraine was no freak occurrence, but a symptom of a much greater evil. This is forcing humanity into a difficult decision: We either choose a gradual descent, economically ‘deflating’ this beast to keep it from destroying us, or we stay the course and take our chances in the abyss.
A Pyramid Of Despair
This level of decadence and growth is both unsustainable and detached from reality. We cannot remain on auto-pilot, numb with apathy while a select few psychopaths steer our ship towards doom. We are living beyond our means, both economically and spiritually. The chronic loneliness, anxiety and internal fragmentation we all feel are symptoms of our collective bubble about to burst.
Everywhere you look, the West is propped up by one pyramid scheme after the other. These frauds promise transcendence in the form of ‘success’, ‘wealth’ or ‘convenience’ while running on borrowed time, enriching only those on the top.
MLM schemes, or ‘Multi-Level Marketing’, emerged first, where sellers had to sign up other sellers, who bought their products to sell off to the next seller. When the pyramid ran out of unwitting sellers, the truth revealed itself: Everyone was a customer of the people on top. The pyramid collapsed, leaving those on the bottom bankrupt with products they couldn’t sell. Wealth was effectively funnelled upwards to the top percentile.
Investment pyramids have dominated the financial age, where early adopters hope to capitalise on the rising stocks of a ‘promising’ company or product. In most of these cases, pyschopaths lurk in the background, creating the illusion of their scheme being the ‘next big thing’. Those with a desperate need to get-rich-quick take the bait and pump money into the scheme. As the stock price increases, early adopters cash in before the collapse, leaving the vast majority having lost everything. Not even cryptocurrency has been safe from these predators.
The fashion industry has also been corrupted, with ‘stylish’ celebrities sitting on top, creating a scramble for the rest of us to dress better than the rest, leaving mountains of discarded clothes in landfills.
In the tech age, a unique pyramid scheme has emerged. First, ‘genius disruptors’ create the next innovative app to ‘optimise’ an old industry. These companies draw users in by offering unprecedented convenience and low prices. Then gradually, they tighten the screws, giving the traders less of a cut, and raising the prices on the customers.
Uber is a classic example. They created a ‘convenient way to earn extra cash’ as a driver, and an easy way for customers to get from A to B. In reality, they only crushed the taxi industry and gradually squeezed its driver’s pay cheques to enrich its investors.
Finally, the attention economy has been turned into a pyramid scheme. Social media first offered a constant drip of dopamine ‘rewards’ by allowing users to be ‘liked’ by other users for no charge. Over time, these companies dialled down their users’ exposure, and began selling the prime spots to the highest bidders. What began as attention on tap became ‘pay to play’. On Instagram, for example, if you want to be seen, you now need to cough up for a ‘sponsored post’, as users on the platform vie for a place in the attention spotlight.
Tinder ‘reimagined’ dating, allowing easy access to singles in your area. In reality, it caused an epidemic of disillusioned, sexually-objectified people. In this scheme, the few most attractive people gain their spot on top, while everyone else is forced to despairingly swipe and spend more to ‘boost’ their profile, as the algorithm pushes them lower in the hierarchy and their returns and self-esteem diminish.
All the while, the companies behind such schemes are enriching themselves, using their mind-boggling power to subjugate the globe. From MLM schemes, to investment frauds, to online platforms promising the world for nothing; the global economy is running on borrowed time. Wealth is being syphoned from us to those on the top of the pyramid, while we wallow in despair, financial burden and low self-esteem, unable to break out of our ‘dopamine prison’.
It is only a matter of time before we get a harsh awakening and are forced to reckon with reality. Like prolonged grief rising to the surface, we are overdue for the restoration of the natural order.
A Higher Consciousness Rooted In Humanity
So what can we do about all this?
For one, human civilisation must evolve to the next level of consciousness. Dishonest propaganda being fed through our media must be exposed through critical thinking and a tolerance for nuance.
A crucial first step is for us to claw our way out of our dopamine prison. Pornography, social media and consumerism are deepening our descent into apathy and emptiness. Replacing these with authentic human connection and creative hobbies is crucial.
We also need to expose the big brands as the empty and soulless vessels they are, having manipulated our psychology to turn us into consumption machines.
This revolution has no need for Molotov cocktails. The answer does not lie in epic battles with the ‘system’. The only fight you have, is with yourself.
What happens when you give up feeding this beast? Your hopes, your time, your status, your worth, your soul, your entire identity — all of you is invested in it. Who would you be without it? The thought of turning away from that screen, giving up on that brand, and losing all those ‘conveniences’ likely fills you with dread.
The apathy we feel, fed and reinforced by the system, is actually protecting us. From what exactly? From facing ourselves, of course. Our pain. Our disappointments. Our shame. Our failures. Our lack. Who would we be without all of this? We would be so ordinary. Life would be so boring. So meaningless.
World War 2 left us with a terrifying foreshadowing. The two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan gave us the eerie sense that we had escaped the apocalypse by the skin of our teeth.
Next time we will not be so lucky.
Perhaps China and Russia have nefarious designs, as all big powers do. Maybe they are the real evils of this world, like the media keeps telling us. And this does hold up if you look at it through the lens of Western dominance.
When the Soviets brought nuclear missiles to Cuba in the 60s, the Americans rightly lost their minds, setting off the Cuban Missile Crisis. The ‘Monroe Doctrine’ dictates that no foreign power is allowed in America’s backyard — that would challenge their security. And yet, America is establishing military bases on the back fence and front yard of both China and Russia. By defying this blatant encroachment on their security, these two nations are frustrating America’s Manifest Destiny. From that perspective, they are ‘bad’.
Do these nations not have a right to security and independence? Anyone who subscribes to Western dominance believes that allowing anyone autonomy makes them a threat. What would the Russians and Chinese do if they had the power instead? What would happen if the Palestinians were given their rights? They might not be so nice to us. This thinking is being used to justify the extermination of the Palestinians and the destruction of Lebanon.
Judging by how the West has abused its power so far, and the horrendous trauma it is inflicting, fears of how ‘the others’ will yield the stick are well-founded. If so, then we will need to deal with Russia and China when the time comes. This begins when the Ukraine war ends, and Russia invades the rest of Western Europe, as we keep being told is going to happen. Perhaps China’s authoritarianism will spread throughout the world. Time will tell. The least we can do is educate ourselves about their civilisations and make our own informed judgements.
For now, we must face what is in front of us. We need to deal with the current injustices and evils happening right now. Palestine. Lebanon. Sudan. Congo. Myanmar. Even Ukraine needs a resolution based on diplomacy rather than brute force. Is it so bad if the West left one nation not under its umbrella?
Yet none of these geopolitical concerns matter until we confront the enemy within. We all have an emotional reckoning coming, as we peel off the layers of Western decadence, corruption and false hope. A dark age is coming, whether we like it or not. If we act now, then we can face it with humility and renewed purpose.
By returning to our core, processing our pain, and rediscovering our heart, we can reawaken our humanity, empowering us to create grassroots networks which will weave the threads of a truly brave new world. When meaning and purpose come from within, we have no need to fear the emptiness. Life will rediscover harmony on its own, as it does in nature.
If we refuse this painful task, however, then we will have no choice but prepare to fight for our survival in the apocalyptic fallout we are barrelling towards.
