By Reading Level

F. William Engdahl on “The Lost Hegemon” (2016)

I recently came across F. William Engdahl while watching a CGTN (Chinese state news) program he was a guest on. His analysis was refreshingly factual, so I went to his website that has really great pieces he’s written despite its old-school, not compatible with mobile design layout.

Here’s a now 6-year-old interview promoting his book “The Lost Hegemon.” I have yet to read any of his books, but in this interview alone, I felt parts of the un-compelling Western narrative being peeled off from my lens. Simply moralizing the enemies of the US as bad, hateful, and terroristic because of blindly destructive motives never satisfied me. In this interview, we can start to investigate the origins of conflicts of power and see them as ongoing, not sporadic outburst events floating in history.

I am only beginning to form my own historical analysis of the middle east, understanding how powers like Nazi Germany, The US, and Saudi Arabia propping up the far-right anti-communist groups. And Engdahl has been helping me to navigate the region’s confusing, conflicting history.

Last, I want to point out the spot-on analysis of the conflict in Ukraine here. Coming from 2016, to criticize Obama for having no plan for Russia other than to demonize its president is prescient to say the least. When Henry f—-ing Kissinger says you’re being reckless, you know it’s bad.

China’s Great Green Wall 🇨🇳

China is leading the world in green technology and afforestation efforts. Here is a very informative video about their monumental investment in environmentalism and how it’s been saving lives and helping their people!

Do you think the Capitalist US is capable of investment like this? We watch horrible wildfires and deforestation every year but don’t seem to have a longterm plan for combatting any of it.

As we can see, China is leading the world in reforestation, with some good efforts being made in certain European countries. However, it is important to note that much of the deforestation in big exporters like Brazil and other South American countries is done for the profits of Western powers. In a way, we are exporting our deforestation.

I will leave you with a quote from president Xi Jinping. It’s important to understand our bias against China and that we expect politicians to be power-hungry liars because ours are, but that doesn’t always have to be the case, and we should recognize China’s noble efforts when they are backing it up with real humanitarian action.

We must realize that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets and act on this understanding, implement our fundamental national policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment, and cherish the environment as we cherish our own lives.

  • Xi Jinping

Guatemala – An American Genocide (1999)

While the stories told in this documentary are especially harrowing and grim, I was personally very inspired by the diligent work and international cooperation of the forensic anthropologists. Their scientific pursuit of truth is inspiring revolutionary work.

This documentary also illustrated the evilness of the CIA—the amount of collateral murder they are willing to accept in order to punish revolutionary societies is totally incriminating.

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett (2008)

Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Haslett on his prescient novel he finished the week Lehman Brothers collapsed in the 2008 crash:

It’s a book not about the actual crash but the culture that lead to it. I spent 5 years wondering if anybody would think it mattered what banks did, but unfortunately history solved that problem.

The novel started out turning international financial scandals into entertaining satirical fiction then hit me with some of the darkest, most emotionally invasive gay sex scenes out of nowhere 😂

After reading a few of his novels, I really appreciate this trope he uses of a doomed revolutionary minded character who is chronically misunderstood.

Here are excerpts of each of the three main characters read with video elements: