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Saturday, May 21, 2022 - 21:58 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Game Status Update


Open support, concealed calculation...
[N.B. Part of the privilege of being in charge of "the rules", is being able to control who is "recognized" as the leader of other countries, to an extent; consider for example Afghanistan/Myanmar/Venezuela etc.]
(Sources: mangakakalot.com, r/AskARussian)


Quite a lot has happened since "The Greatest Game" was dissected in some detail a week or so ago; inflation and recession are now the in-words on everyone's lips, it seems, with the coronavirus now smack bottom of a long list of ongoing concerns - for Americans at least, from a Pew Research poll (but, not to worry, there's a new monkeypox outbreak, totally coincidentally exactly on schedule according to a globohomo simulation in March last year). The entirely-expected protests over food are cranking up globally, with America potentially set for price controls on gas - which has seldom worked out well. Probably good that it seems unlikely to pass, then.

Many recent predictions on other matters have also come to be, with prospective Titter owner Musk confirming that the once and forever Ultra MAGA King* would be let back on the platform (with the principled support of the ACLU, and quite bizarre commentary from the Associated Press), and former co-founder Dorsey admitting that the ban was a mistake all along. As it stands, the Titter deal has hit some snags (after some Terms of Service updates) due to concerns over widespread botting and censorship, but it sure looks like Musk is just trying to get a better price, after all the stock market dips. He's also busy with #Elongate after becoming the latest big-name defector away from the Democrats, so this may be a lengthy ride.

[*On the (The Great) Ultra MAGA (King) name-calling (now with official T-shirts), this is perhaps the latest confirmation for the general populace, on how far-removed the (Democratic) leadership is from the common ilk. For those not following this top-grossing political entertainment franchise, the outgoing White House press secretary would use "Ultra MAGA" to label those not in favour of defending Roe vs. Wade a couple of weeks back, a term that was also picked up and amplified by POTUS himself - to quite remarkable ineffectiveness.

It was soon discovered that "Ultra MAGA" actually took six months of expensive focus group research (recalling 2016's equally ill-fated effort at "Dangerous Don"), which possibly sums up the main problem with the current liberal "intelligentsia" - they have retreated so deeply into their elite/academic echo chambers, that they can barely call names or crack a joke without it passing peer review. Concretely, this is the cringe of Hillary hinting at hot sauce in her purse on the campaign trail, versus TGUMK hamming it up with Goya products carpeting the Resolute desk (and, admit it, he might well have waved packets of wonton about yelling "I love the Chinese people!" had he gotten a proper deal in his 2017 China trip, instead of a lecture on how China didn't really need America any longer); is it really that difficult to imagine voters to be drawn to candidates evincing at least some minimal relatability/authenticity?]


Major player and his extras, in the real-life Liar Game
[N.B. Also truth from the mouths of babes Reddit anons]
(Source: r/SingaporeRaw)


But it is what it is, and it's not like things are going too swell for the Yanks on the international front either, what with even their grasp on Latin America looking shakier than it has ever been, with Mexico and Brazil snubbing the hapless Biden's summit. They really didn't need GWB's latest gaffe in reminding of the hypocrisy of now being against "referendums held at gunpoint by an occupying force", but Biden has in any case recovered enough to summon his Southeast Asian underlings fellow democracies prospective partners, for a photoshoot. For all the fluffing-up of this US-ASEAN gathering by West-aligned media outlets, one very pertinent fact could not be escaped: that of how paltry and insubstantial the proferred US$150 million commitment was, especially compared to their other spendings.

To put this in more context, please observe the honourable fellow immediately to Biden's right. That worthy is the Sultan of Brunei, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, who was for a time in the 1970s the richest man in the world, before Johnny-come-lately upstarts like Bezos and Musk. Anyway, he still has his gold-plated Boeings and (hundreds of) Rolls-Royces, and one imagines that many of the other pictured leaders have something socked away too. And, to this association of two-thirds of a billion people and a GDP roughly half that of America already, Uncle Sam's generous offer for being on his side was... US$15 million each.

Well, it has to be said that this might be recognized as a bit of an insult, in an age where not-even-quite-household-names are signing nine-figure contracts to sling a basketball about. So it seems that America's not going to offer his precious medals/trade access so easily, which actually does make some sense; with Cambodia and Laos already pretty clearly in China's camp, without even going into the Myanmar situation or the newly-elected Marcos Jr. looking eager to lean back that way, prospects for marshalling this Gaya Alliance subgroup ASEAN against China/Russia were likely slim to none.


Russian state TV presenting nuclear science
[N.B. Their intercontinental nukes are "Satans", ours are "Peacekeepers"]
(Source: onet.pl)


And, for all the West-aligned media's propaganda on how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not going well, it remains that they have captured Azovstal - and thus likely Mariupol (promptly declared a Ukrainian victory) - with Russia confirming the interim goals of a land corridor to the Crimea, and possibly an east-west partition, as explained here on the first of March. Note, it was also stated then that "...this becomes a game of whether NATO would wish to gamble Berlin, Paris, London, etc. for Kyiv and Moscow", and as it so happens, these were the very three cities that were threatened on Russian national television towards the end of April. One might of course ask, why not Rome, Madrid, Athens, Warsaw, etc. of comparable historical heft, and to this I can only say that all these moves are not quite random. If you have read the right treatises, it's all been largely going as expected (i.e. still very much in the "main line", were this a chess game), which naturally includes the FAKE NEWS consent manufacture* of the impressionable masses**.

[*Chomsky appears to have seen the light on the true nature of this insidious game, although some might claim bias towards fellow alumni (as it happens, also applying to Musk)]

[**Obviously to be strenuously denied in the FAKE NEWS itself.]

One supposes that Kissinger should be taken seriously when he claims this is a totally new era (with the taboo against Great Power war diminishing) - if only because of the extent to which he crafted the last one - and for all the economic shots fired towards the Reds, their efficacy remains in question with the ruble hitting seven-year highs, as various European countries appear to have quietly folded to Putin's demands on payment in his currency. China also seems to be going full steam ahead with their Global Security Initiative (with accompanying GDI) including an emphasis on "ASEAN/Asian centrality", and to be honest, the Americans might want to consider coughing up some medals soon if they want to stay in this game...


Look, it's not like the endgame is such a big secret†
(Original sources: asia.nikkei.com, mangakakalot.com)


[†Well, with some possible twists, but that's for next time...]



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