0123 The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 AD, occurs, perhaps, one-third the way into the winter of Western civilisation.  In 2023 AD, Western civilisation is two-thirds into this cruel season.  People who work lose their abilities to make a living.  Financial mavens make hand over fist.

Perhaps, now that all the actors of the Second World War are dead, academics should honor their fate with a new nomenclature.  Here is my suggestion.

The ideological component is not neglected when calling the twentieth century wars, “Battles among Enlightenment Gods”.  New histories may be written, because we now can look, at a distance, at the consequences of widespread adoption of ideologies.

0124 Of course, one Enlightenment God remains, Big Government (il)Liberalism in the political sphere and unfettered financial capitalism in the economic sphere.  Perhaps, the spheres belong to the head and the heart, respectively.

Either way, at the moment, in 2023 AD, the American empire celebrates “diversity”, rather than “pluralism” and America’s nemesis, the core of the former Union of Soviet Republics, has not surrendered its sovereignty to the bigilibs. Neither has communist China, Shia Iran and non-aligned India.  Only the western Europeans drink the flavor-aid of Big Government (il)Liberalism, going so far as to construct a double to the American Union of States, labeled the “European Union”, by some, and the “Nightmare In Brussels”, by others.  And, the Japanese and Koreans?  Hmmm, they love ordinary Americans, but their bigilib elites, maybe not so much, anymore.

0125 So, the cold war among materialist ideologies plays a role in the both the winter of sovereignty and the summer of geoeconomics.  The war provides the excuse to shift from the economic statecraft of control (in order to accomplish the four imperatives listed in point 0113) to unfettered financial capitalism.  After 1989, unrestrained economic statecraft eventually concludes that transferring a significant fraction of the USA’s factories to China would be profitable (for the owners, not the workers).  Soon, China’s cheap labor market becomes the starting point for the least expensive supply chains that the world has ever seen.

0126 And, America runs trade and spending deficits, as if there is no tomorrow.

Plus, America gives birth to the internet.  Thank you, Al Gore.

0127 Meanwhile, the military-industrial complex in the USA (as well as Europe’s NATO) requires an enemy in order to justify enormous budgets.  American troops are stationed around the world in order to… what?… maintain geopolitical and geoeconomic stability?  Perhaps, the bigilibs seek to defend themselves against the ghosts of defeated ideologies, such as communism, fascism and various branches of supremicism, or against the ghosts of once frightening opponents, such as the Soviet Union, or against the ghosts of poorly understood civilizations, like those in the Middle East.

Oh, did I mention the USA’s agreement with Saudi Arabia to only sell oil for dollars?

The price?

America is to defend Saudi Arabia from all external enemies.

0128 What about enemies within?

In 2001, a handful of cunning Islamicists, irate about America’s military presence on sacred ground, hijack three airplanes.  America’s War Against Terrorism begins.  

0129 Is this the Fourth Battle Among The Enlightenment Gods?

0130 Oh, there is a more evocative name for the interventions in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Ukraine and who knows where else.  These are the wars against the projections of Big Government (il)Liberalism.  America battles the ghosts in her mirror.