This election isn’t just about the future of the United States, it will determine the future of the world. It is a linchpin in a strategy to split the world into two warring factions; the side that wins will own the future.

The vision offered by Putin and Xi (with Musk, Thiel, Vance, Trump, and RFK Jr as their surrogates) is a world where men trump women, rape trumps consent, Ukraine is Russia, Taiwan is China, and the Dollar is trash. In this world, Bitcoin, DogeCoin, and gold matter more than your 401(k). A vote for Musk is a vote for xenophobia, and a world where science only matters when it serves your interests. It is a vision for the end of America, because henceforth, it shall have a king.

Their vision is one where climate concerns will be worked out by the free market and, magically, through “abundance” — of both fossil fuels and CO2. They acknowledge we will have many problems, certainly, but they will be solved by entrepreneurs, philosopher kings, and their neo-feudal army of non-unionized wage slaves, all “competing” in the free market for the benefit of humanity. And our reward, they say, will be to colonize Mars — a truly uninhabitable hellscape that will likely never support human life.

Electing Harris will not stop this attack. But it will slow it down and allow some time to mount a response to this threat. Putin, Xi and a growing list of autocratic allies are joining forces to render democracy extinct. They believe it doesn’t work, they believe our populations are too infantile to make decisions, and furthermore they insist not only that our democracies don’t work, but that they will demonstrate it by capturing them and disabling them. If democracies are to survive globally, we must offer more than just an extension of the status quo: we must offer a vision of a democratic future that is more compelling to the majority of the world. By many measures, we have failed, so far, to meet that challenge.

This election is existential for women. This is a civilizational conflict between a patriarchal, hierarchical worldview, where women are held in utter contempt, and one in which everyone has equal voice. Rape is on the ballot: Trump at the top, and RFK Jr laughably in charge of “women’s health.” Musk, the serial philanderer and eugenicist, will tear apart our federal protections and rights limb by limb. Women must vote in overwhelming, staggering, and unprecedented numbers — as must the men who share their values.

Should Musk et al somehow win his bid for King of America, our focus must shift immediately to disabling them by all Constitutional and institutional means. The destruction they will bring is nearly inconceivable, and they will probably be stopped when more people realize what they intend. But it’s difficult to know what will be saved from the resulting fire.

I have studied this conflict for a decade. This is where we are. I have issued prescient warnings again and again about what’s coming, and have been right, again and again. And I’m right about this. This attack will not stop with this election, but it is by far their biggest prize so far. They must not win it, and we must not fail to address the threat they still pose even if they lose. Onward!

I issued this warning three years ago, before anyone else saw what was coming.

This paper encapsulates the vision that Putin, Musk, and Xi are pursuing. It was written in 2018, so some details need updating, but the basic idea is the same: democracy doesn’t work, and they’re going to prove it. And rule the earth by force. We ignore this at our collective peril.

Corum-ProjectRussia-2018.pdf

Sometimes life happens all at once. That’s what it’s been like for me the last few months, and I’ve been amassing a backlog of research and new stories to tell.

That’s why I decided this was the right time to launch Season Two of my podcast “Dave Troy Presents.” This season, titled “The War on the Dollar,” will follow up on Season 1, “Oil, Gold, Crypto and Fascism: How We Got Here and How to Fix It.”

Episode one, which includes a bunch of wild audio clips gathered over the last few months, discusses the ongoing effort by Putin, Xi, Trump and the BRICS nations to undermine the dollar and usher in new asset-backed currencies. As always, don’t get distracted by whether this makes sense or will work. This is what they think they’re doing. And they can cause a lot of damage in the process. That potential for damage will be the focus of the next set of episodes. Please join us for more guests and thoughtful analysis!

Subscribe for free on the podcast platform of your choice to be notified when new episodes are available.

‎Dave Troy Presents: The End of Twitter and The War on the Dollar on Apple Podcasts

I’ve also written a series of related investigations and columns for The Washington Spectator. Read more here.

Conservatives Hawk "Birch Gold" In Run-Up to Debt Ceiling Crisis

In January… I highlighted the concerted effort by prominent conservatives to push gold, specifically through a company called “Birch Gold” which has ties to sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. And I highlighted the need for a positive vision that can counter the geopolitical effects of Putin’s long-running war of attrition.

The Wide Angle: Combatting Putin's War with a Forward Vision for the West

In February… I attended the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles, a hotbed of New Age and QAnon-related content that also happens to dovetail with Putin’s war effort. And I attended the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington, D.C., which shares some surprising overlaps with that New Age network. I have more coming on that topic soon, but I summarized the anti-war rally in my Wide Angle column.

The Wide Angle: Crash the Global Economy? It's Harder than It Sounds.

And in March… I covered the surprising roots of the ongoing effort to crash the dollar by exploring the connections between the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the circle of Russian economists that privatized Russia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is a key to understanding why Austrian School economics has become so engrained within the Putin regime, and part of the “anti-woke” war on the West.

The Wide Angle: Financial Unreality and The Cult of Pinochet

And just last week… we dug into the new populist obsession: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and the fear that they will become mechanisms of social control. (Spoiler alert: not any time soon in this country, at least not without the approval of Congress.) Still, this hasn’t stopped populists from taking the bait. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (who was encouraged to run for president as a Democrat by Steve Bannon) is pushing paranoid fantasies about how the Federal Reserve is going to lead us into authoritarian rule via its new payments service, FedNow. (Spoiler alert: this is nonsense.)

The New Populist Bogeyman: Central Bank Digital Currencies

You can probably spot the pattern here: my current focus is on how financial manipulation (or, call it metaphysical warfare, or financial terrorism) is conjoined with Putin’s war on the West. This is such a deep topic, and it’s not getting the coverage it deserves. There are several overlapping goals:

1. Run up the price of gold (and other metals) by pushing fear over the collapse of the dollar.
2. Try to actually crash the dollar by creating a crisis of confidence, which is easier said than done.
3. Blame political opponents for the economic turmoil they are instigating, because it happened “on their watch.”

This is equivalent to blowing up a building and then blaming your rivals for not sufficiently protecting it. And if it can be done with plausible deniability, it will work. They are counting on your not seeing this sleight of hand, or the broad arc of history and network analysis that would give this trick away. But it’s really easy to see, once you know to look for it.

And for those that haven’t already read it, my long-form piece from last year, “Paranoia On Parade” offers a full account of the backstory of this financial attack from 1933 to the present.

Paranoia on Parade: How Goldbugs, Libertarians and Religious Extremists Brought America to the Brink

Stay tuned for more stories and podcast episodes. The next few months are critical. If we can get past the debt ceiling standoff without sparking a major crisis, that will be a significant accomplishment. That is doable, but we need to recognize the danger that presently exists.

The financial, information, political, and kinetic battle-spaces are seamlessly conjoined. The more we can start to think of them as a unified whole, the more able we’ll be to defeat the kinds of metaphysical attacks that undermine the existing order.

You can change the way the world actually works by convincing people it works that way. That’s what the adversary is doing. And we can counter it by dismantling that effort and spreading countering frames. Stay strong… nothing, not even this authoritarian attack, lasts forever.

Dave Troy is an investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. You can follow his work on Twitter at @davetroy, on Mastodon at @davetroy@toad.social, and can find his monthly column “The Wide Angle” in The Washington Spectator.

For an even deeper dive, check out Dave’s other writing here on Medium, and his podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

As I reflect back on this past year, it is with a sense of both sadness and relief. Sad, in that many of our worst fears were realized, but relieved because we managed to avoid the worst outcomes.

Ukraine was indeed invaded, but 300+ days later, it is still standing. President Zelenskyy delivered a speech to Congress that exemplified the very best values of democracy, and showed real solidarity between our nations.

We conducted free and fair elections, and the outcomes were overwhelmingly pro-democracy — rejecting extremism and authoritarianism. Joe Biden and the Democratic party managed not only to avert a ‘red wave’ but outperform every president in midterm elections since JFK. The American people have spoken, and they are resoundingly uninterested in election denial or fomenting hate.

The January 6th Committee completed its work and has documented, in extraordinary detail, a plot to overthrow the American government. The Senate has just passed an omnibus spending bill that will fund Ukraine with $47 billion — 20% more than what President Biden asked for. And the House is expected to follow suit.

Nancy Pelosi has wrapped up a truly historic turn as Speaker, delivering victory after victory, and has named a successor in Hakeem Jeffries. This is what organized, disciplined leadership looks like.

The Wide Angle: Is Reality Making a Comeback?

And then there’s Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Mike Flynn, and the Republican Party. These are the dark clouds that hang over what otherwise might be called a restoration of sanity. It’s increasingly clear that this network is fully aligned and pursuing the same goals. Delusional and high on their own supply, they seem to have badly miscalculated the degree to which people support the “anti-woke” agenda. Yet, we can’t stop hearing about it because they are hell-bent on controlling every news cycle, all the time.

Extremism, racism, anti-Semitism, hate, and violence remain serious and imminent threats.

As dumb as this culture war is (and Putin’s war is, to be very clear, the same dumb war), it is an irreducible conflict, and we’re likely to be living with it for quite some time. I wrote up some thoughts about what to expect next year in my latest column for The Washington Spectator here.

The Wide Angle: 2023 - A Year of Conflict and Chaos?

My biggest concern remains over the debt ceiling, and the notion that Kevin McCarthy will try to actually crash the economy by defaulting on the debt, tanking the dollar, and sparking a global financial crisis. Why? To promote “shock therapy,” cudgel the Federal Reserve system, and rebuild the financial system with gold doubloons and fairy-crypto money the way Ron Paul, God, and Elon Musk intend it to be. And they’re tightly aligned with Jeffrey Sachs, the guy who invented “shock therapy.”

This legit keeps me up at night — not because I think it’s going to succeed, but because I think they’re going to try, and it’s going to be exceedingly damaging and dumb, in the same way that January 6th was doomed to fail, but also damaging and dumb. And this will be much more damaging. COVID caused about a $4 Trillion global impact; this could be more like $15 Trillion.

And yeah, I know, it’s unlikely, but my job is to worry about stuff that’s unlikely but possible. This is entirely possible and all the signals I’m getting are suggesting increasing likelihood. All eyes should be placed onto the debt ceiling crisis as we head into 2023. It’s the main event. Once that has passed, we’ll see how the threat landscape changes.

Overall, my bet is that as each big gamble fails (invading Ukraine; Twitter; blocking the omnibus bill; sparking a debt crisis), the network will begin to tire and realize they’ve been working with faulty info. That will either lead them to a final crazy gambit, or they’ll take their toys and go home. The next six months are pivotal in determining how that plays out.

Podcast Update

I’ve been on a bit of a break from podcasting since October, but have a bunch of new content planned for next year. Because I record episodes a) when I have something to say, b) when the guests I want are available, sometimes that means waiting until the right conditions come together. Lately the guests I’ve wanted to highlight have been unavailable for various reasons. But fear not, we’ll continue the conversation soon. I might even try to fit in an end-of-year summary episode this week. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, there are now 27 episodes of content, most between 90 and 120 minutes. Most people haven’t heard them all yet, so please take this opportunity to go back and get filled in on the episodes you may have missed.

Dave Troy Presents

Podcast Plug: American Psyop

Back in summer 2020 when I was doing network analysis around election integrity, researching various ongoing bizarre information operations, we had a realization that there were several people who were involved in Occupy, the protests at Standing Rock, and QAnon. One of the people who helped us figure this out was Wesley Clark, Jr. (whom I interviewed on my own podcast this year, too).

As it turns out, Wes has an amazing story to tell, and my friends Jack Bryan and Emily Bicks worked with him to tell it in the podcast series “American Psyop.” I heard draft cuts of it back in August 2021, but it’s taken until now to fully finish, fact-check, and polish. And let me tell you… it’s worth the listen. They’ve done a great job.

Listen to Wes’ tale and you’ll see why his experience in 2016 at Standing Rock informs so much of what’s going on now. Please, enjoy this richly-told story. (And it’s funny as hell, too!)

‎American Psyop on Apple Podcasts

Join us on Toad Social!

In the wake of Musk’s disastrous and nerve-racking takeover of Twitter, I decided it would be a good idea to setup a social media presence that I could own and operate… in case things got even worse.

So I decided to take a look at Mastodon. I have an extensive background in tech, and it turns out Mastodon is built using technologies with which I have deep experience. So it was pretty easy to setup. And… then I spent the next few weeks tuning it and learning how it all works.

toad.social

Bottom line is that I now have Toad Social setup on IBM’s cloud computing platform on bare metal hardware, complete with S3-compatible object storage, a caching proxy, and a CDN (content delivery network), for lightning-fast performance anywhere in the world. In plain English, this means I have plenty of room for myself and 10,000 or so friends, so please join us! If you’re looking for a way to check out the Mastodon, Toad Social is optimized for stability, civility, and performance.

You can interact with the entire Mastodon federated universe (i.e. other ActivityPub compliant hosts) using Toad Social. So again, in plain English, you can follow and interact with users on any Mastodon instance, not just our site. And you can use one of the several good Mastodon clients for iOS and Android, along with the Twitter-like web interface.

Help Support toad.social! | toad.social (Powered by Donorbox)

Many people very kindly asked if they could contribute to help offset server costs for Toad Social. A few weeks ago I set that up as well using DonorBox, and you can contribute on a one-time or recurring basis. Monthly donations are especially appreciated as it insures we can meet the ongoing cost and ensure scalability as we grow. Thanks to everyone’s generosity, we have covered our costs to date!

And if you’re wondering… “why toad?” Well, I have a story about that, too.

Dave Troy on Twitter: "Stay tuned for 'https://t.co/aXc16E9jAv' - coming soon. Why "toad?" It goes back to my roots. In 1984 I started my first social "site" called Toad BBS, using my parents' home phone line, much to their dismay. That lasted about a week, my friends calling at all hours of the night. / Twitter"

Stay tuned for 'https://t.co/aXc16E9jAv' - coming soon. Why "toad?" It goes back to my roots. In 1984 I started my first social "site" called Toad BBS, using my parents' home phone line, much to their dismay. That lasted about a week, my friends calling at all hours of the night.

Thank You For Your Ongoing Support

This year has been challenging in many ways — seeing the world descend into war and conflict has been painful. But our response to it has been very reassuring, and I am extremely grateful for all of the people who have supported me on this journey.

Under normal circumstances, I’d really like to be an entrepreneur. But events demanded that I get involved in trying to protect our democracy, and doing research to support that effort. And that research has required me to become more public as a writer and analyst.

I’d especially like to thank Anne Nelson and Hamilton Fish (editor of The Washington Spectator) who encouraged me to develop my historical research on the gold standard and its ties to January 6th and Putin’s war into a coherent narrative. This became the widely-shared long-form article, “Paranoia on Parade,” which I routinely use as an evergreen reference for people who are trying to better understand our current predicament.

Paranoia on Parade: How Goldbugs, Libertarians and Religious Extremists Brought America to the Brink

My monthly column “The Wide Angle” is the result of Ham Fish’s mentoring and insistence that I had something to say that his readers needed to hear on a monthly basis, and I’m grateful to have that outlet to articulate what’s on our radar; and I should point out, this is very much a collective effort.

All of this work is made possible by a network of volunteer researchers, most of whom would prefer to remain anonymous. Without them, I would simply not be able to track down and assemble all of the information needed to try to decode and contextualize the seemingly bizarre events we call “news.”

No, Elon and Jack are not “competitors.” They’re collaborating.

My piece on Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey’s collaboration was selected by Medium as one of the best of 2022, and has received millions of views. It was gratifying to see so many people take a deeper dive into the geopolitical implications of Musk’s Twitter buy. And thanks to Peter Jukes, editor of the UK-based Byline Times, I had a chance to expand on that topic further with another piece that reached European audiences as well.

Peter Jukes on Twitter: "If you really want to understand the logic behind the chaos of @elonmusk's takeover of @Twitter, then this great analysis by @davetroy is the place to startMusk's Twitter Buy Makes No Sense - Unless It's Part of Something Bigger https://t.co/d34XROegbP / Twitter"

If you really want to understand the logic behind the chaos of @elonmusk's takeover of @Twitter, then this great analysis by @davetroy is the place to startMusk's Twitter Buy Makes No Sense - Unless It's Part of Something Bigger https://t.co/d34XROegbP

I’ve always been a writer — in that I’m a guy who writes. I’ve had work published in tech and business magazines since I was a teenager. But being given the opportunity to expand that work and move deeper into journalism (thanks in large part to encouragement from my top-notch journalist friends, you know who you are) has been a real gift, and I take it extremely seriously.

I’m excited for all the work that’s in progress, and to keep sharing this journey with you in 2023 and beyond. Onward!

Dave Troy is an investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. You can follow his work on Twitter at @davetroy, on Mastodon at @davetroy@toad.social, and can find his monthly column “The Wide Angle” in The Washington Spectator.

For an even deeper dive, check out Dave’s other writing here on Medium, and his podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter has been met with surprise, derision, and gnashing of teeth — and an overwhelming amount of well-intentioned but poorly-informed commentary and analysis.

As someone who has followed the company closely since its inception and has had a chance to talk in depth about technical topics with Jack Dorsey and the company’s other founders over the years, I have a different view.

Here’s a series of common questions regarding the deal and the relationship between Dorsey and Musk about which I see the most errors and misconceptions.

Q: Jack Dorsey is launching “Bluesky,” a new social network to compete with Twitter. I’ll just join that instead!

A: Sorry to disappoint, but Dorsey played a key role in Musk’s deal to take Twitter private. The two are good friends. And Bluesky is an initiative launched by Twitter. In April, Dorsey wrote, “In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.” [Update: Dorsey did not transact his shares in Twitter, and now holds equity in Musk’s venture.]

jack on Twitter: "In principle, I don't believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness. / Twitter"

In principle, I don't believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.

Q: Uh, if “no one should own or run Twitter,” why did Dorsey advocate selling it to Musk… I’m confused?

A: To get it out of the hands of Wall Street investors, and turn it into a “public good at a protocol level, not a company.” Dorsey and Musk believe it can do more good for humanity if it’s an open technology than if it’s a company owned by any one person or by Wall Street investors trying to maximize profits for shareholders.

Q: What do you mean, a “public good at a protocol level?” What even is that?

A: The foundation of the Internet is built on protocols that we mostly take for granted now. TCP/IP and HTTPS enable the web. Modern e-mail is built on top of SMTP and IMAP protocols. Usenet newsgroups are built on top of NNTP. Dorsey envisions a foundational “Twitter” protocol that anyone can implement and run. This would need to become a formal Internet standard, which requires going through the Internet Engineering Task Force’s “Request for Comment” (RFC) process. This can take a long time. This is what Bluesky has been working on starting to map out.

Q: But the Bluesky website says its Beta is “launching soon.” Doesn’t that mean it’s close to ready?

A: It means they’re ready for you to start experimenting with some ideas. It doesn’t mean it’s close to being a “product” or “useful,” or some sort of viable competitor with any other product or service. And as of yet it’s difficult to know exactly what a service might look like. Eventually, it might form the basis for a new implementation of Twitter that would replace the current product, and it could be open for others to interoperate with — if they can build a functional and useful protocol, which may take years.

Q: This all sounds crazy. Doesn’t Musk want to make money by owning Twitter?

A: The goals are more ideological in nature. Musk and his backers believe that the global geopolitical arena was being warped by too much “woke” ideology and censorship, and wanted to fix that by first restoring voices that had previously been silenced —and then implementing technical and algorithmic solutions that allow each user to get the experience they want. They think this can “solve” the problems that people cite about social media content. Making money, they figure, will come from the secondary effects of enabling “free speech” and the possibility of building other services like payments and replacing government on top of such an app. Plus the company’s social graph data is a goldmine for other businesses that may wish to benefit from detailed knowledge of the makeup of society.

Q: Uh, isn’t it naive to think that there’s a technical solution to harmful content? Isn’t that likely to lead to more radicalization and cultish behavior?

A: Yes, it’s completely naive and they are being willfully ignorant of the harmful side effects of content. It is a kind of tech fundamentalist solutionism that posits that for any difficult problem, there must be a technical solution. Many sociologists and cultural scholars would argue differently.

Q: What does Dorsey mean, “I trust [Musk’s] mission to extend the light of consciousness?”

A: This is a reference to “longtermism,” the heavily marketed philosophy being promoted by Musk and his friend William MacAskill that asserts the only thing that matters is humanity’s future in space, and that the only goal of the living is to maximize the number of future humans alive, as well as the number of artificial intelligence instances that could possibly exist in the future. This mandate is most often used to brush aside calls for improving conditions and alleviating suffering among the living here on Earth now. Because, the theory goes, giving a poor person a blanket isn’t likely to be as useful for the future of humanity as building a rocket to Mars. Longtermism is heavily influenced by “Russian Cosmism” and is also directly adjacent to “Effective Altruism.” Musk’s stated mission, which he intends to fulfill in his lifetime, is to “make humanity a multiplanetary species.” The anti-democratic urge in longtermism is rooted in the belief that “mob rule” will lead to nuclear annihilation; we should, Musk thinks, be guided by “wiser” minds — like his and Putin’s apparently.

Q: Okay, so Musk and Dorsey are collaborators in some weird Mars cult, and don’t actually care about making money from Twitter?

A: Yeah, you’re getting it. Musk also seems pretty interested in helping advance Putin’s “multipolar world order,” which is why he plays footsie with QAnon and MAGA accounts, and pals around with Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. “How are things going in Bakhmut?,” Musk asked Medvedev.

Q: So this is why Musk has been so supportive of the Russians lately? I thought he was on Ukraine’s side, since he helped them out with Starlink?

A: It’s best to look at Musk as a kind of power broker between multiple parties, including Ukraine and Russia. SpaceX was made possible by laws passed by Dana Rohrabacher, Putin’s favorite Congressman. He really doesn’t like the US government, the SEC, and our politicians, and all things considered, he’d probably prefer to replace all of it with an app — call it “X,” the everything app. Elon might say: “Do we really need a government, or could everyone just vote with an app? Be honest.”

Q: So Musk wants to overthrow governments, and Dorsey is helping?

A: Don’t be so dramatic. Everyone knows that the only way to advance society is through technocracy. Musk’s grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was involved in the technocracy movement in Canada in the 1930’s and was arrested — because it was seen as a threat to the government. The philosopher James Burnham wrote in his 1941 book, “The Managerial Revolution” that society should be run by technical managers, not elected politicians. Russian “methodologists” and “political technologists” concluded the same thing in the 1990’s when they realized that “democracy” would just lead to mob-rule by populists. Democracy, they concluded, must be managed. This is what Putin has concluded, also.

Q: So Putin, Musk, and Dorsey share the same vision?

A: It’s complicated. All seem to think a “multipolar world” is a good thing, because after all, shouldn’t Russia get to do its thing and not be bothered by anyone else? That’s “free speech” and opposes “cancel culture,” right? So yeah, that’s aligned with Putin. But Putin himself doesn’t support free speech; his government censors wildly, but it does support speech that breaks the hegemony of the Western elites. As do Musk and friends. This is internally inconsistent.

Q: Back to the money thing… won’t advertisers balk at all this potential chaos, and won’t Twitter’s business model suffer?

A: Musk and the people backing all this are more interested in reshaping the global order than in earning fake “fiat currency.” Their real goal is to usher in “hard currency” and re-base global currencies around scarcity and physical assets. So no it really doesn’t matter much what happens to Twitter’s ad model in the meantime. It will probably do alright, and they can probably find other ways to make money, like adding in payments and weird Dogecoin schemes.

Q: How is Twitter going to help them kill off fiat currency? You mean like replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency?

A: As the Russian “methodologists” will tell you, it’s incredibly important to control the information space if you want to alter the real world. As the world plunges deeper into war and economic chaos in 2023–2024, there are real (perceived) opportunities to advance cryptocurrencies and asset-backed tokens to replace the dollar. Whether any of this is realistic or not remains to be seen, but this is what they’d like to pursue — Musk and his deal backers in particular. [Update: Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced he is the second largest shareholder in Twitter; Saudi Arabia has long sought to unseat the dollar as the reserve currency.]

Q: So this is why Musk seemingly “overpaid” for Twitter? He and his backers want to use it as a tool of information warfare, to kill off the dollar and help usher in Putin’s “multipolar world?”

A: Yes, that’s why they “overpaid” for Twitter. Because the end goals have nothing to do with Twitter or its ad model by itself. It’s merely a means to an end. Musk is likely to join forces with Trump’s Truth Social and Kanye West’s Parler to try to control much of the information space. And they’ve got the threat of Putin’s nukes to force the issue.

Q: So isn’t Musk’s ownership of Twitter a national security risk? Shouldn’t the deal have been stopped on national security grounds?

A: Yes, this is all a national security risk and the deal should probably have been stopped. The fact that it wasn’t is reflective of either fecklessness or capture of the US government.

Q: Can Musk and his friends really do all this? Should we really be worried? It seems so far-fetched.

A: That remains to be seen, and it’s unlikely they can achieve all they’d like to on the timeline they’d prefer. It will likely take years to make Bluesky into a viable product. However, just because it’s hard doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try. As for the broader anti-government agenda, as we’ve seen with January 6th and other attempts to challenge government, even unsuccessful efforts can be incredibly damaging. It’s worth monitoring the direction this takes and, the effects that it has on society and democracy.

A few other minor corrections to popular commentary on the deal:

• Musk will just manipulate the stock price to make money. There is no more public-facing “stock price,” it’s a private company now. $TWTR is no longer a thing.
• Boy, Jack really screwed Elon by making him overpay. No, Jack basically asked Elon to buy the company and Elon set the price. Jack owned around 2.4% of Twitter. It’s not clear if he even transacted his shares, or kept them. [Update: Dorsey retained his stake in Twitter, valued about $1 billion.]
• Parag is smarter than Elon, he forced him to overpay. Eh, I’m sure Parag did his job, but as CEO he was really responsible for operational concerns. It was the company’s Board and legal team that brought it to a successful close. Parag got his agreed-upon severance package.
• Elon never really wanted to do the deal… but they forced him. No, he wanted to do the deal all along, for the reasons I outlined. He might have liked to force some disclosures or lower the price. At some point, the delay and expense of potential litigation wasn’t worth it.

For the record I think Elon is a sociopath, and that this all is going to end in disaster — I just couldn’t stand seeing so much shallow, poorly informed analysis proliferate. So I’ve done my best here to set the record straight.

Ultimately we are dealing with the fact that social engineering through control of the information environment is an inevitable reality—the only question is who has the means and moral authority to do it. (I’ve written a whitepaper about this set of concerns here.)

If democracy-minded people don’t seize control of the information environment, powerful sociopathic autocrats will do so instead. We leave a power vacuum open at our peril, and at the moment, Musk and Putin are the ones with the most will to fill it.

For additional background: Read my piece Paranoia on Parade: How Goldbugs, Libertarians and Religious Extremists Brought America to the Brink, which outlines many of the ideological and historical underpinnings of this movement.

I’ve known Jack Dorsey since 2007 and was the first external developer to utilize the Twitter API, for a project called Twittervision, which was featured in the Museum of Modern Art in 2008. I’ve done a lot of data visualization and data-driven journalism using the Twitter API since then. I’m currently focused on investigative journalism about information warfare and threats to democracy. Follow my work at davetroy.com.

This article is a restatement and slight expansion of a Twitter thread (source, thread-reader) posted on October 19, 2022. This is a case where, in the process of doing research for a long-form piece, we have assembled facts that simply can’t wait to be shared; there is a duty to warn. Please read, and share.

We have assembled information that suggests there is a credible near term threat to the global financial system and economic stability. The threat is in progress; there are multiple factors in play, but the most urgent is the upcoming authorization to increase the US debt ceiling, early next year.

Republicans are threatening not to raise it; causing the US to default on its debt, which will have catastrophic effects on the dollar and make it more expensive for the US to borrow. This threat became evident last year; Republicans threatened default last December, but caved at the last minute. The timing wasn’t right.

But it may be now — the Ukraine war is underway, it’s winter in Europe, gasoline and energy prices will be up, Putin can continue nuclear blackmail, and China may move on Taiwan — a perfect storm.

How 'shock therapy' created Russian oligarchs and paved the path for Putin

This kind of economic shock played a significant role in Putin’s rise to power. Jeffrey Sachs, a Harvard economist now at Columbia, borrowed ideas from Poland’s transition to free market principles in architecting Russia’s privatization.

Jeffrey Sachs is active today, coordinating on pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns with people such as Tulsi Gabbard. This week, he was the very first guest on her new podcast. Gabbard has been vocal in her support of Russia, and pushing anti-NATO views.

Sachs has been working with questionable characters for quite some time. In early 2007, he partnered up with Sacha Stone, a failed rock musician, to help form ersatz NGO “Humanitad.” For several years, the two worked together on the UN Millennium Development Goals (goals for 2015 which preceded the current Sustainable Development Goals).

Stone has been working with a wide range of people promoting “PizzaGate”, QAnon, and related theories for years. His International Tribunal for Natural Justice is built around exposing child trafficking, QAnon themes, anti-5G, COVID denial, and the like.

His current disinformation project is called “Arise Guerrilla News” which has featured appearances by Michael Flynn, Leigh Dundas, Ann Vandersteel, and many others connected to MAGA, QAnon, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and related groups.

This is an offshoot of his 2021 tour of the US with COVID denier and fellow conspiracist Robert David Steele. Steele died of COVID in August 2021. The tour was called ARISE USA and featured speakers such as Steele, Stone, Dundas, Richard Mack, COVID denier Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, and others.

Stone is also part of an initiative called Planet 3000, which aims to shift the world to a “Noospheric Constitution.” This idea, rooted in Russian Cosmism, is pop-science among the Russian elite, and at the core of Russian nationalism; see chapter one of this book on Russian nationalism by noted Russia expert Marlène Laruelle.

Nina Goncharova wrote a book called “Rainbow Earth: A Vision from the Future” that describes the Noosphere plan in great detail. It includes essays from Sacha Stone, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and José Argüelles, who are all connected to this — as is the Russian cult leader Vissarion. See pages 214–222 of the book for details.

Most importantly, the Noosphere idea was adopted by Putin’s Chief of Staff Anton Vaino, and by Putin himself, who has been touting it as the basis for “sustainable development” agenda since 2000 (APEC Summit, Brunei, Nov. 2000).

Jeffrey Sachs is director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which shares many ideas with the “Noospheric constitution” concept; he also consults with Tsinghua University’s Global Leadership Program in Beijing, directed by John Thornton. Sachs has been vocal in his support for Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates, and in promoting anti-NATO views.

John Thornton is former president of Goldman Sachs and is now executive chairman of Barrick Gold Corporation. He is also a colleague and noted fan of Steve Bannon, who is also ex-Goldman, and familiar with China. Bannon has called Thornton (who, according to a source familiar with the matter, was deeply involved with the decision to appoint Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor) a “mentor.”

Foster Gamble, another purveyor of disinformation, outlined a strategy which sounds familiar from current reporting on Putin: form an alliance of BRICS countries to challenge the West. He says so explicitly in this video at a “free energy” conference in 2013. In the audience? Sacha Stone and QAnon promoter Lisa Clapier (Snow White) — four years before QAnon began.

Dr. David E. Martin appeared in the COVID-denial film “Plandemic II” and participated in January 6th events; he participated on a panel with Sacha Stone at the same conference in 2012.

Gamble specifically says (even then) the goal will be to challenge the dollar and introduce new currency backed by metals, stating this will be “the beginning of the end of fiat currency.” And in fact, this is Putin’s plan today: to pursue metals-backed digital currency.

Sacha Stone and Foster Gamble also collaborate with Sean Stone (son of Putin propagandist Oliver Stone). In this video, Sacha and Sean talk about the end of state sovereignty; Sacha explicitly rejects the US constitution — “I don’t venerate it” — making his tours courting US “patriots” all the more concerning.

Expect Musk, Thiel, West, Trump, Flynn, Bannon, and their network in the US and UK to light up in support of this agenda. It’s a global wrenching against central banks and perceived “communism.” They’re trying to end it globally like Sachs did in the USSR, enabling Putin.

This network cares little about institutions or politics; they aim, like Clausewitz, to achieve through economic and information warfare that which cannot be achieved through politics. This is why they defy, defile, and denigrate institutions at every opportunity. They simply do not expect consequences.

We have a serious problem on our hands, with deep roots. Russia and the GOP are the tip of the spear; China is the lever; Ukraine is a prelude to a much broader conflict. The US, UK, and each country has been engaged in navel-gazing worrying about its internal concerns instead of the bigger picture.

This is the same kind of failure to “connect dots” that preceded 9/11, and indeed this moment carries analogous themes and weight. But if we fail to address this, we will sleepwalk into a comparable disaster. Raise concern with your Congressperson; send them this article.

Media is catching on that a deliberate financial disaster is being hatched; but they don’t know why or how, exactly, or the roots of this effort with Sachs, Stone, Gamble, Flynn, Bannon, Thornton, and their network. We need to close that gap.

The debt ceiling is also being used as a cudgel to cut budget for sending more aid to Ukraine. Much of the right-libertarian-owned GOP is, of course, Putin-aligned and will be happy to pursue this strategy to eliminate government and privatize… everything.

We don’t have much time. The US election is in 19 days; the UK is in tatters; if GOP takes the house they can follow Sachs’ “shock therapy” plan in January. Even if they don’t it could be a dangerous showdown. And it will be in the context of increasing chaos.

If the whole media ecosystem takes this information and runs with it, we may have a shot at avoiding a major showdown and possible collapse. If, as usual, folks wring their hands and equivocate, we will not change course.

Fascists create a crisis so they can then “solve” it. Every student of fascism will tell you this is part of the playbook. Sachs and friends are pushing for collapse so a new “multipolar world order” can be ushered in.

It may seem counterintuitive that “capitalists” would expose themselves to such risk and losses. Think again. Fiat money is fake to them. See the above quote from the 1934 coup attempt. Also, they can plan ahead for it, and profit from it.

Peter Thiel is securing Maltese citizenship and stocking up on gold bars, as is Russia. China has been nearly silent as this unfolds, and entered into an uneasy but seemingly durable alliance with Russia on February 4th.

Jeffrey Sachs has also collaborated with the “Dialog of Civilizations Research Institute,” a thinktank founded by Putin crony Vladimir Yakunin and Nicholas Papanicolaou — funded by Russia and sponsored by China’s CGTN. Papanicolaou also heads the Knights of Malta (Sovereign Order of St. John) and is part of the influential charismatic Christian network, the New Apostolic Reformation.

Yakunin also helped create the Russia-US Christian group, the World Congress of Families in 1995 with Allan Carlson, a professor from Hillsdale College, which is tightly connected to the DeVos family and the Council for National Policy. Yakunin’s wife, Natalia Yakunina, was instrumental in passing the first anti-abortion bills in Russia, modeled on legislation from the US.

Here is some more historical background from 1993 on Professor Sachs, and his involvement in the Russia shock in the 1990’s. Obviously we can’t prove without more research into what his intent is, but his associations and actions raise serious questions.

There are several other relevant layers beyond this, but this is the most urgent threat we face. Obviously, any nuclear provocations would only make this all worse. The people behind this movement are unlikely to turn back without being forcefully blocked, as the sunk costs in this plan are massive and go back a long time.

This is the connective tissue between many initiatives people are detecting and trying to map. I hope this helps with sense-making, and that we do something about it before it is too late. Looking back and saying “I told you so” will not be satisyfing. Let’s fix it.

We are continuing to research our long-form investigation and will publish it when it’s ready. However due to the time sensitive nature of this information we didn’t want to wait even one day to get it out to the world.

Update: I reached out to Jeffrey Sachs for comment, and someone with his office responded with this statement: “He doesn’t recall anything about this [Global Impact Forum] in 2012 or Sacha Stone.” I don’t find this to be especially credible, given that they worked together for at least 5 years.

Additional Resources:

• How Harvard Lost Russia (Institutional Investor, 2006)
• The Harvard Boys Do Russia (The Nation, 1998)
• Jeffrey Sachs $200 Billion Dream (Vanity Fair, 2007)

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM.

For an even deeper dive, check out my work in The Washington Spectator, my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts. More information is available at davetroy.com.

It’s been a few months since I’ve had the chance to update readers here on Medium; I’ve been working on several new projects and waiting to announce all of it in the proper order.

The Wide Angle

New Column: The Wide Angle
First, I’m very pleased to announce my new monthly column for The Washington Spectator called The Wide Angle. Hamilton Fish, editor of The Spectator, and I chose this name because of our commitment to bring fresh, longitudinal perspective and analysis to readers on a regular basis.

Too much reporting and journalism is constrained by financial considerations, tight deadlines, and the lack of time to do deep research and analysis. Even as so many journalists are doing incredible, detailed, and painstaking reporting, we felt there was a niche to be filled by a different style of inquiry informed by data, intelligence gathering, and long-term study — all rooted in meta-politics and the large scale forces that shape our daily political reality.

In The Wide Angle, we will bring you insights and inquiries derived from our ongoing research in something closer to real-time. We’ll also be publishing long-form pieces requiring more time to assemble (like the recent Paranoia On Parade) in The Spectator.

Our goal is to create a feedback loop with readers, and allow you to more readily participate in our investigative work. “Call me trimtab,” as Bucky Fuller used to say:

“Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Elizabeth again: The whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there’s a tiny thing on the edge of the rudder called a trim tab. It’s a miniature rudder. Just moving that little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. It takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it’s going right by you, that it’s left you altogether. But if you’re doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole ship of state is going to turn around. So I said, ‘Call me Trim Tab.’“

“The truth is that you get the low pressure to do things, rather than getting on the other side and trying to push the bow of the ship around. And you build that low pressure by getting rid of a little nonsense, getting rid of things that don’t work and aren’t true until you start to get that trim-tab motion. It works every time. That’s the grand strategy you’re going for.

We hope that this modest feedback loop builds into a great wave that may ultimately help turn the ships of state in a more constructive and sustainable direction.

New Episodes of “Dave Troy Presents…”
Speaking of Bucky Fuller, I was honored to interview Alec Nevala-Lee, author of “Inventor of the Future,” his excellent new biography of Fuller — a complex character who inspired all manner of shenanigans which we’ll be exploring in future reporting.

Recent episodes have covered a range of related topics including Libertarian Exit with Raymond B. Craib, The Cult of Bucky Fuller with Alec Nevala-Lee, and The Mysteries of Eurasia with Joe Szimhart. If you’re not up on these latest episodes, they are among the best we’ve done so far, and I think you’ll find them very informative. Please check them out!

• Mysteries of Eurasia with Joe Szimhart - Dave Troy Presents
• The Cult of Bucky Fuller with Alec Nevala-Lee - Dave Troy Presents
• Libertarian Exit with Raymond Craib - Dave Troy Presents
• The New Apostolic Reformation with Jennifer Cohn and Bruce Wilson - Dave Troy Presents

Dave Troy on Twitter: "1/Musk's "jokey" Burnt Hair perfume nonsense is an influence operation designed to promote appeasement to Putin. By "joking" about nuclear apocalypse with his 100M+ followers, he is pushing Western audiences to take sides in his malformed framework, reinforcing Putin's threats. / Twitter"

1/Musk's "jokey" Burnt Hair perfume nonsense is an influence operation designed to promote appeasement to Putin. By "joking" about nuclear apocalypse with his 100M+ followers, he is pushing Western audiences to take sides in his malformed framework, reinforcing Putin's threats.

Elon Musk and Twitter Platform Risk: Join My Mailing List!
I’ve written in The Wide Angle and on Twitter about Elon Musk and his antics — while also taking care to contextualize and not amplify them. That aside, I believe it’s plausible that Musk and his allies will actually take control of the Twitter platform — assuming the deal is not blocked on national security (or other) grounds. Musk is currently under federal investigation surrounding his behavior in connection to the deal.

All that’s a long way of saying that it is a good idea for people who might come into conflict with Team Musk to consider mitigating platform risk and gaining control of their fan-base and ownership of their audiences.

For my part, I’m asking folks who may wish to continue to receive updates from me no matter what happens with Twitter (or Medium) to sign up for my old-school mailing list. You can do that here. I won’t be activating it right away but will do so if it seems necessary, and you can always opt-out if need be.

David Troy

For clarity, here are the channels where we can keep in touch:

• The Washington Spectator for The Wide Angle (monthly column) and long-form journalism (like Paranoia on Parade.)
• Twitter for real-time news, commentary, threads, (sometimes) dumb jokes, and links to other media appearances. DM’s are OPEN.
• Medium for blog-posts, additional content beyond the column, newsletters, and other content.
• Dave Troy Presents for Podcast episodes with in-depth interviews and analysis… available on Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, and wherever you get your podcasts.
• Email me if you have leads, suggestions, intel, or other information which may inform our reporting; I say “we” with respect to my work because it’s truly a collaborative effort of many open-source researchers working to save our democracies. You can help, too.

I’m retiring the Situation Report series I published into the run-up and unfolding of the war in favor of these other outlets, partly because I said much of what I had to say about the war and its implications then — and that’s really not changed much at all. My assessment of the war is much the same as it was then.

Now we need to turn our attention to how this war resolves itself and articulate a better vision for what the world looks like in two, five, or ten years. That’s the focus of my current work.

Please also check out the interview I did last week with Anthony Davis for his “Weekend Show,” distributed by Meidas Touch. (Forgive the breathless headline applied by the marketers… I promise you this interview is quite deep and substantive.)

Coming Soon
We’ve been hard at work on a new series that covers just what the Kremlin may be up to with its program of information warfare, and how Russian Cosmism, a key component of Russian Nationalism, informs its worldview — and why it doesn’t make much sense to many of us in the West. This is a long, complicated story, and we’re looking forward to telling it in detail.

In the meantime, we’ve pulled together some key points that illustrate the gist, and which we’re sharing in case readers have information to share, or others are working on similar research and wish to collaborate. Our situation is dangerous; the more people that know about this sooner, the better.

• THE EVENT: Why the Kremlin May Seek to Focus Global Attention
• THE AQUARIANS: The New Age Movement And Russian Cosmism
• THE ROYALISTS: The Global Network of Anti-Democracy Activists

Please check this out and reach out if you have information to contribute.

I’m excited to continue to do this work and to share it with even more people. Thanks to all of you, and especially Hamilton Fish at The Washington Spectator, for seeing a void in the media landscape and working with me to fill it. We won’t let you down.

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM.

For an even deeper dive, check out my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

For the last several months, I’ve been working on a story for publication in the Washington Spectator about the history of the “goldbug” movement in the United States from the New Deal to today. That story, “Paranoia on Parade: How Goldbugs, Libertarians and Religious Extremists Brought America to the Brink” was published this week as a lead feature, along with a 3-part podcast series that features the story along with extra commentary.

In the words of Washington Spectator editor Hamilton Fish:

Dave Troy’s masterful essay Paranoia on Parade highlights our May-June issue. Against the backdrop of the January 6 Committee hearings, Troy traces the roots of the insurrection to the wealthy industrialists, oil barons and tech entrepreneurs and whose century-long crusade to dismantle the government and assert control over the currency wound up on the Capitol steps.

Opponents of the New Deal and leaders of the American business community looked to European fascism for models that would enable them to thwart social democracy and the democratization of America. They recruited aggrieved veterans, conservative Christians, anti-communists, anti-Semites and white nationalists to their cause, one that ultimately failed to excite a nation in thrall to Roosevelt’s program.

After WW I, industrialists called for the gold standard, which would protect their wealth from the corrosive effects of inflation and prevent governmental expansion at a time of national economic crisis; right-wing business and political interests aligned in the John Birch Society; in Texas the Hunt family hoarded silver, and later assorted ex-military and extreme right-wing fortune hunters chased rumors of Filipino gold; and the allure of the new world of crypto caused a stir in a culture gone mad for anything digital. The protagonists all shared the goal of easing the currency out from under government oversight and control, and the whole paranoid circus, their disciples, descendants and derivatives, in one guise or another, converged on Washington on January 6.

This longform piece is, I think, the most important thing I’ve ever written. It is my attempt to make sense of what’s gotten us here, through the lens of paranoid politics — in the sense of the term coined by Richard Hofstadter in his landmark 1964 essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”—covering 1933–2022.

It’s a wild story, covering everything from goldbugs, the “I AM” cult, to Birchers, QAnon, cryptocurrency, and January 6th — and importantly, asserts they are all expressions of a single unified reactionary phenomenon.

‎Dave Troy Presents: Paranoia On Parade, Part 1: The "Directors Cut" with Jack Bryan and Hamilton Fish on Apple Podcasts

Since it’s a long piece (~12,000 words) I spent last week recording an audio version, with commentary, with my friend Jack Bryan. Jack is the director of the film “Active Measures” so we recorded a kind of “director’s cut” commentary on the article. You can listen to that here:

• Paranoia on Parade, Part 1: The “Directors Cut” with Jack Bryan and Hamilton Fish
• Paranoia on Parade, Part 2: The “Directors Cut” with Jack Bryan
• Paranoia on Parade, Part 3: Bonus Interview with Hamilton Fish

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece and the extensive original research that went into it, with over 260 citations.

Thanks to Anne Nelson (Shadow Network, 2019) for encouraging me to write it, and to Hamilton Fish at Washington Spectator for sound guidance and counsel as we navigated this terrain and the story unfolded. As it turned out, I knew maybe 80% of the story when I began writing. The other 20% was learned along the way, and it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

There is a lot more to dig into here… energy, eugenics, traditionalism, race, religion, nationalism, military, and psyops. Maybe a book one day? But for now, enjoy!

Feel free to email me with your comments. Lastly, thanks to all of my research pals and online correspondents who helped piece this all together. You know who you are.

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation to World Central Kitchen, to support their work feeding people in times of need.

For an even deeper dive, check out my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

There is a nearly foolproof plan underway to crush the United States and bring it fully under fascist rule. In recent months, this chorus has been on repeat:

1. “Federal overspending has pushed inflation to new levels.” This claim, which is not backed up with data, connects two facts in a misleading way. Yes, the Federal government, under Trump and Biden, authorized significant stimulus spending to help with the severest effects of the pandemic. These efforts were mostly successful. And while there has been significant inflation over the last year, there isn’t much evidence to suggest that COVID stimulus did in fact lead to inflation.
2. “Gas prices are too high, hurting everyday people at the pump. And it’s Biden’s fault.” Yes, gas prices are very high — in every country in the world — places where Biden is not president. Regardless of whether gas should be as cheap as it was (we need to get off of it entirely), we certainly are dependent on it now. So this has real-world effects for everyday Americans, but importantly the costs of all goods. Including food. But oil and gas companies are realizing record profits, suggesting that high prices are not a result of supply shortage, but rather discretionary profit-taking.
3. “The Fed needs to raise interest rates to keep inflation in check, since it lost control of the economy.” This is another logical fallacy. Arguably, near-zero interest rates were not a great thing for the economy anyway, and we saw a lot of speculative bubbles (like the entire crypto market, more on that later) arise from this policy. But the Fed can raise interest rates to 10% and it won’t make a damn bit of difference to fuel prices, which are actually behind the inflation.
4. “Wow, the Fed sure is raising interest rates aggressively and nothing is getting better… this is going to kill the economy.” This is because the inflation is coming primarily from profit-taking in the energy sector and supply chain imbalances, things that will remain unaffected by interest rate hikes. We are being goaded into treating a symptom that will explicitly not address the disease.
5. “Looks like Joe Biden’s overspending led us right into a recession, just like we said it would. Mass unemployment can’t be far behind.” Nevermind that unemployment is at all-time lows… this recession that Biden caused is certainly going to lead to doom and gloom! Good thing the oil and gas companies made record profits throughout all of this — but let’s not mention that!

These false assertions, repeated ad infinitum from every possible media outlet, will guarantee that Democrats lose control of Congress in November. Whatever else people think will motivate voters, pushing fuel and food prices to the point of civil unrest will make it impossible for any other issue to matter. November will be a referendum on energy prices and food prices. Banks are already planning for civil unrest, according to a report obtained by the Byline Times.

This is all, well, really bad, and is going to lead to a lot of pain. But it could have been worse. Parts of their otherwise solid plan to push the economy into disarray are not going as well.

Here’s what the historical fascist international network hoped would also happen:

• That Bitcoin would be a hedge against inflation. That didn’t happen at all. Bitcoin and all crypto have behaved as a speculative risk-on asset and as interest rates have gone up, crypto assets have come under increasing pressure and begun to collapse, especially as leveraged positions are unwound. Austrian Economics folklore and prophecy suggests that Bitcoin should have gone way up against inflation… but it just didn’t happen that way. That’s because Austrian Economics is mostly bullshit, and it’s about time its adherents got some real-world empirical data shoved down their gullets with prejudice.

• That the dollar would collapse relative to other currencies, threatening its status as the world’s reserve currency. That also failed to materialize. In fact, the dollar is very strong relative to other currencies, and all of the schemes that Russia had to try to undermine the dollar in oil transactions (whether using rubles or gold) have gone poorly and met with resistance.

So while these things didn’t work out, some other things are also in the works. Because this is a global war, the fascists are aligned in common cause:

• Putin will cut off food exports from Ukraine, commandeering grain for his own use. This is going to have the effect of starving Ukrainians as well as all the countries that depend on Ukrainian grain exports for food. This includes much of the developing world, in Africa and elsewhere, but will also affect food prices globally.
• Importantly, this will spark outflows of refugees from Africa into Europe, exacerbating immigration tensions there and further straining available resources to absorb such flows. Putin has weaponized the flow of refugees repeatedly in the past and he will not hesitate to do it again. It is key to his strategy and we should expect it.

The goal will be to induce as much chaos as possible in the US and in Europe so that support for Ukraine will become a distant concern and attention will turn to fuel and food costs, civil unrest, and accelerating violence. In chaos born from that context, authoritarian strongmen like Desantis and his new backer, Elon Musk, can swoop into offer “solutions.” This is where we are headed. Bet on it.

How to Stop This

The key to this plan is to keep energy prices as high as possible, so that inflation stays high and there is a constant call to raise interest rates beyond the point of any utility, sparking a severe recession.

One solution is to seize control of the oil+gas and energy sectors under the Defense Production Act, and ensure that fuel flows freely and without any excessive discretionary profit-taking. Steps in this direction are apparently already underway, and that’s good. Another solution is to challenge the oil cartels with lawsuits. Any challenge to the energy sector is helpful.

E Rosalie on Twitter: "6/ In May 2022 a report on meat industry earnings stated: "Company data from Tyson Foods indicates that the meat processing giant used its size and power to extract an additional $500 million from American(s) under the cover of inflation." https://t.co/g8TmkvIzbZ / Twitter"

6/ In May 2022 a report on meat industry earnings stated: "Company data from Tyson Foods indicates that the meat processing giant used its size and power to extract an additional $500 million from American(s) under the cover of inflation." https://t.co/g8TmkvIzbZ

Ultimately the energy and food markets are not true free markets that result in competition, but actually function as cartels that collude to fix prices in an effort to achieve geopolitical goals. That requires intervention from government.

Regulators should be aware of the bigger picture and be prepared to deal with other parts of this framework from an information and kinetic warfare perspective. We’re not dealing with “economics as usual” and we should be prepared to imaginatively deploy every available tool to disrupt these hybrid warfare strategies.

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation to World Central Kitchen, to support their work feeding people in times of need.

For an even deeper dive, check out my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

This week I was in the beautiful city of Brussels, Belgium meeting up with friends and colleagues — many of whom I hadn’t seen in over two years. It was a great opportunity to reset, gain some wisdom, and also learn more about what’s going on in information warfare globally. I attended the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab 360/Open Summit event, which included a wide range of experts including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa.

I was able to synthesize an assessment of where things might go, in combination with my own views and research, and, well… it’s not pretty. But there are things we can do, and reasons to have hope. Here’s a rough overview of what we might expect:

• Putin will weaponize food shortages, inflation, fuel prices, and refugee flows. As fuel prices rise, so will food prices. This will cause widespread starvation in Africa, which will launch a flow of refugees from Africa into Europe, similar to what happened in 2015 but at a larger scale. This will trigger all manner of xenophobia in Europe and help weaken resolve. Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary are already wobbly with respect to Ukraine support, for a variety of historical reasons. (Remnants of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Italian north-south rivalries, and a longing for the restoration of the Austro-Hungarian empire loom large, and just beneath the surface). Ukraine and Europe are also running out of ammunition, making the conflict entirely dependent on US supplies against Russia and China supplies.
• It never was about NATO, and there is no off-ramp. Yesterday, Putin made a speech wherein he likened himself to Peter the Great, and suggested that Russia’s action in Ukraine was merely a case of Russia reclaiming what was rightfully theirs. He is a Tsarist, and aims to recapture or colonize any territory that suits his imagination.
• The United States may descend into civil unrest, or revolution. Oil and gas cartels may push fuel prices as high as $10 per gallon in the US. This would clearly signify a new high-water mark and could usher in a wave of civil unrest. Biden will be blamed for this, even though fuel prices will rise globally, and it has nothing to do with him. Food prices will likewise go up dramatically, as there is little practical difference between food and fuel (both are energy). Banks are predicting that middle class Americans may have trouble paying for essentials like food and fuel, and are planning for ‘imminent’ and unprecedented civil unrest, according to a report obtained by The Byline Times. Given that this would help fulfill goals of the fascist international, we should expect that Republicans and their allies will be pushing this forward at every opportunity.
• Ukraine war will become a years-long war of attrition. Putin will use chaos in Europe and the US to undermine support for Ukraine and continue to throw raw resources and personnel, despite lack of training, at wearing down the situation there. A low-yield nuclear strike against targets in Western Ukraine is a distinct possibility — perhaps Lviv, which would limit easterly fallout affecting Russia — and would have the effect of activating “anti-war” activists in Europe and the US. This “Fifth Column” could be very effective given this new demonstration of force (and lack of judgment) in eroding continued support for Ukraine.
• If Ukraine falls, the Baltics, Poland, and Balkans will be the next targets. Russia can only be stopped if it is unequivocally defeated. If it is not, it will regroup (with its allies China and India) and resume information warfare then kinetic warfare against all its adjacent territories. The Baltics are very clearly in its sights already and will be attacked without question, unless stopped. Poland and much of the Balkan states are not far behind. While this may sound implausible because of how weak Russia seems right now, it is thinking in terms of the ~3 billion people represented by Russia, China, India, Brazil (et al) vs. the ~1 billion people represented by NATO. While that’s an apples to oranges comparison, the overall scales involved make the matching more even than it might seem on the surface.
• China may become more aggressive as it faces internal threats. China faces a demographic bomb as its population ages. Its single child policy means an elderly population will soon be gone, and it will face a shrinking population. China’s GDP is heavily dependent (around 30%) on overhyped real-estate schemes, many of which will never be occupied. The conflict with Taiwan continues to simmer and will eventually come to a head, creating a strategic threat against global production of integrated circuit chips. China is beginning to become more aggressive with its information warfare, and starting to threaten Australia. The historic Kuomintang network which seems to be associated with Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon is preparing itself as “shock troops” to take over when the CCP falls. While that may be fantasy, the situation definitely has elements of instability that should be closely monitored.
• Russia is increasing its aggression towards Japan over the Kuril Islands. The islands in Northern Japan, an important fishing ground, have been contested since World War II. Russia is threatening Japan, suggesting that it will return the islands to their control if Tokyo distances itself from the United States and the West. So far, this play has not been working, but they are continuing to become ever more aggressive in pushing Japan in this direction. Aleksandr Dugin sees Japan as part of the Russian sphere of influence and wishes to drive Japan apart from Western influence.
• We are dealing with a resurgence of individualism and propertarianism. Whether talking about “sovereign citizen” lunacy, or “sovereign individual” bitcoin fantasies, the propertarian legacy of slave ownership, or gold fetishists in Vienna longing for the restoration of the Austro-Hungarian empire, we are dealing with a resurgence of interest in hierarchy and its very close cousins, white supremacy and eugenics. The idea that money confers reproductive fitness is a recurring theme, even as it is nonsense, and we should be prepared, once again, to combat it.
• In the end, this resolves to one key conflict: carbon fuels. Carbon fuel producers really don’t want to stop producing carbon fuel; they have massive, long term investments they wish to productively amortize over a decades or centuries. Pesky democracies that want to shut down the party now are ultimately a minor annoyance. Converting energy flows into influence — by purchasing politicians, organizations, and capturing government — is straightforward enough, and simply a matter of positioning the right marketing campaigns, politicians, and cults in service of the task. Influence is 20th century technology perfected by the marriage with 21st century finance and technology. And the kicker? The best way to capture a government is to eliminate it. Obviously, the need to address anthropogenic climate change is real, and is impeded by the capture or elimination of government.
• Some have already decided that climate isn’t fixable, or wish to rely on techno-solutionism, to address our dilemma. “Longtermist” followers of Nick Bostrom have proposed that the near-term fate of humans on earth isn’t as important as the eventual fate of all humans, i.e. the human species. From this perspective, tending to the poor or the climate or any immediate challenge we face is foolish in comparison to the importance of becoming a so-called “multi-planetary species.” Elon Musk, his pal Grimes, Jack Dorsey and Peter Thiel seem to be exhibiting signs of internalizing this philosophy.
• The January 6th hearings are not going to have a noticeable effect on any of this — even as it’s helpful for the public, journalists and historians to develop an accurate historical record of what happened. Many in the US are expecting big developments from the January 6th Committee Hearings. This is probably misplaced, especially from a global perspective. Besides for establishing a political narrative that the Republican Party has engaged in a long-term effort to overthrow democracies in the US and elsewhere — a fact that has been well established and long-known — it is unclear whether this will meaningfully move public opinion. And again, I say this not to be discouraging, but rather to encourage folks to think more broadly and creatively in terms of how we might counter this. From a governance perspective, it’s very good that the committee is laying out the details of the conspiracy to overthrow the government. This is what constitutional democracies should do, and we must do this to demonstrate clearly that we still aspire to be one. But it is unclear what effects, if any, these hearings may have on people who do not believe anything wrong took place that day. For that reason, advocates for democracy should also stay focused on current emerging threats and the ongoing undermining of democracy by people like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, and their allies in the fascist international — not least, the emerging alliance between Russia, India, China, and Brazil. The gambit to overthrow pluralistic democracies didn’t begin or end on January 6th and is very much still ongoing.
• Musk will complete the Twitter deal, most likely. Musk has become an avatar for a network of global fascists. He’s already found a syndicate of backers for the Twitter deal and is going through motions to satisfy his complaint about bots. He’s also started, apparently, to talk about acquiring the OANN cable news channel. We should expect this same global fascist syndicate to provide the funding (and ideological backing) for this effort, and for goals to be aligned between Twitter and OANN — a bizarre and terrifying thought. The US should be looking to potentially oppose these moves on national security, anti-trust, and FARA grounds.

So we are faced now with a dilemma. How do we fight forces resistant to institutional power using institutions? Arguably, we cannot; it is necessary, but not necessarily sufficient. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use every institutional mechanism that we can, but we need leadership that articulates and is almost uncomfortably honest about our current situation.

1. We must admit that our institutions are under systemic attack. From capture of the legislature and the courts to the dismantling of executive agencies, there is no surface of our federal government that isn’t besieged. The goal is to build a bottom-up challenge to the US Government drawing from the Constitutional Sheriffs movement.
2. Cultivate imagination in all its forms. Everything being done to undermine our democracy is a product of long-term, imaginative designs meant to work both institutionally and extra-institutionally to exercise raw power and dismantle the government. Imagination is a strategic asset and we should be thinking as creatively as possible (while remaining inside the law, obviously — even as that’s not a constraint for the opposition). Still, there is an endless reservoir of wildly imaginative counters that can be mounted that can put opponents on their back foot and force them to react. Use them in every possible way, and cultivate participation from every sector of society, from regular people to artists to business-people.
3. Demonstrate leadership — and articulate and amplify simple, clear, and honest messaging. Leadership is everything right now, and we have many good elected ones. But we also have leaders in business, in public service, in education, in non-profits, and the arts. Step up, raise your voice, and help lead. Not to grandstand, but to be part of the team that helps expose and counter exactly what’s happening now. Everyone can help. If you have particularly strong ideas, work to get them in front of people. My friend, a software engineer named Stephen Diehl, recently exemplified this kind of leadership by developing a clear message from technologists about the risks posed by cryptocurrencies. The letter, signed by regular people (including myself), caught the eye of the press and has been amplified beyond his wildest expectations. We all have that kind of power, if we try.

You may recall after September 11, many concluded that it was the product of a “failure of imagination.” That is true; we failed to piece together information that could have resulted in the plot being foiled.

But speaking more broadly, it is a lack of imagination that has led us into being vulnerable to attack after attack. To quote the inimitable Hunter S. Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” We are dealing with so much professional weirdness — which itself is calcifying into a kind of brittle rigidity—it’s time we get as weird as possible in response. As the world melts down, we will increasingly be called to cultivate the strange in opposition to evil.

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation to World Central Kitchen, to support their work feeding people in times of need.

For an even deeper dive, check out my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.

Over the last few weeks, it feels as though we are being pulled into a realm where up is down and wrong is right. That’s because that’s actually happening.

We’re leaving the realm where things make sense. Some say this has been underway for years now. But most people would agree, this process has been accelerating recently.

The “normal” world that we’ve inhabited since the end of World War II — one filled with institutions, the rule of law, compromise, business reality, elections and politics, fragile though it is — has been gradually and then suddenly supplanted by a world governed by the exercise of raw power.

What rules when progress, science, and law are replaced by power? Darkness, and the occult. Instrumentalism—using language and actions because they work. One doesn’t need to believe in occult spiritual practice to understand this; rather, in this context it’s important to understand occultism as a lower layer of power that remains when civilization is stripped away. The occult reigns supreme in the absence of institutions.

A Quick Tour of the Darkness

• Putin’s War. All those predicting that Putin wouldn’t invade Ukraine because it wasn’t “rational” neglected to understand his existential dread at the possibility of losing power, and his stark understanding that the only way he could do that —indeed the only way he had ever done it—was to invoke the dark forces of cult religion. This power, rooted in Russian Orthodoxy and Eurasianism, has meant doing obscene things that achieve effects. Nothing, not nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, is outside consideration if they achieve desired effects. The NATO alliance has become stronger for now; will that be true in the case of a nuclear strike of a specific design?
• Traditionalism. Never before has the Supreme Court taken away a right it had previously granted. We seem now to be moving backwards. 100 years of progress for women has been halted; between the Roe decision, baby formula shortages, non-stop attacks on women, and metastatic misogyny, there is a welling tide of traditionalism accelerating the subjugation of women. Battles over “Great Replacement Theory” (which is an ancient idea) and “Critical Race Theory” serve to tear down institutions, as people die from the conflict.
• Elon Musk. Nothing Elon Musk is doing makes any real business sense for Tesla, Twitter, or SpaceX, and we shouldn’t try to evaluate it that way. It’s clear he’s dropped out of the realm of the rational and into a deeper mission — indeed his own “Mission”—which is centered on making humans an interplanetary species. Musk has become a master of “manifesting” realities he wishes to inhabit. He intends to use Twitter to drive network effects to manifest the reality he wants. That is a fundamentally occult idea, but it comes in conflict with governments, rules, and institutions. So he’s seeking to eliminate them, starting with the SEC.
• SEC and the Fifth Circuit. On May 18, the 5th Circuit court ruled 2–1 that the Securities and Exchange Commission has no Constitutional authority to adjudicate its own rule enforcement actions. Many people have read this as a refutation of the ability of the SEC to even make rules at all. Congress has the exclusive right to draft laws, and some argue that right cannot be delegated to federal agencies. Since the New Deal, courts have broadly upheld the sensible idea that that authority can be delegated to career specialists within government. The most recent case, Jarkesy & Patriot28 LLC vs. Securities and Exchange Commission, was brought by a Tea Party activist. The judges that decided the case are connected to the Federalist Society. When this goes to the Supreme Court, as it surely will, what will the Federalist Society judges there do? This case could lead the way to the dismantling of all federal agencies, from the IRS, SEC, and EPA, to the FCC and FDA. Again—backwards, and into the darkness.
• Elections. Every effort is being made to dismantle elections and remove power from voters. There are people documenting this in excruciating detail, and I won’t bother to recap it all here, but everything from local, state, and federal elections are at risk. We cannot necessarily count on elections even taking place, much less being able to achieve the outcomes we seek. The very notion of peaceful transfer of power is presently at risk, and we should act like it.
• Dark MAGA and Civil War. Increasingly, we’re hearing calls for “civil war” (from Trump and Flynn) and for “dark MAGA to take command” (from the “defeated” Madison Cawthorn). We should not give charlatans more credit than due, but the fact is that these bad actors are tapping into some dark cultural forces. All three are “out of power” and yet wielding tremendous cultural power with their adherents. See how that works? Does one need to be “in office” in order to drive us all to the dark side? Steve Bannon doesn’t think so. And Elon Musk and Andrew Yang suggest that we must end the “two party system” now. And… do what?
• Imminent Civil Unrest and Energy Price Spikes. I don’t know whether we’ll have unrest soon or not, and indeed I hope we do not. But some banks are explicitly preparing for the possibility. The Byline Times says, “Global banks and investment firms are bracing themselves for an ‘unprecedented’ upsurge in civil unrest in the US, UK and Europe as energy and food price spikes are set to drive costs of living to astronomical levels.” Most of the inflation we are experiencing can be attributed to energy companies that have spiked their prices because they can. And they stand to benefit from global unrest — it will usher in the unbridled fascism and anarchocapitalism oil and gas interests have craved for decades. This is the raw exercise of power to try to overthrow governments and institutions, and it serves Putin’s interests perfectly as well.

There is nothing new about occultism affecting world affairs. The Nazis used it to great effect; Nancy Reagan (not elected, BTW) famously consulted an astrologer, and advised her husband; the founder of JPL, Jack Parsons, was an acolyte of Aleister Crowley.

I’m not suggesting that we either abandon hope or that we adopt occultism or mysticism as some kind of counter. No, indeed, we simply need to understand that we have left the realm of the rational and are operating at a deeper, more primal level.

We can call it out loudly, and we can stop wasting time pretending it can be easily countered with institutional constraints and norms.

Neither the January 6 hearings, nor quarterly earnings, nor SEC enforcement actions, nor laws, nor elections, are likely to have the kinds of effects we might hope they will, because those are all things that operate in the realm of institutions, rules, and reason.

When the fascist international is ready and willing to engage in chaos magick to achieve its goals, we should not be surprised when institutions fail to curb their progress. That’s because institutions are not designed to respond to such things. They are the antithesis, a kind of Manichean light against the dark of the occult.

So at the very least, we need to understand why things no longer make sense. It’s because we’re explicitly and increasingly leaving the realm of the sensible and rational and delving into a darker realm of raw power — even as we arguably began on this path some time ago.

We’re interested in the major historical trends that shape current events. Tips? Ideas? Drop us a line via email or Twitter DM. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation to World Central Kitchen, to support their work feeding people in times of need.

For an even deeper dive, check out my other writing here on Medium, and my podcast series, “Dave Troy Presents,” wherever you get your podcasts.