I Ching

Asia (and the rest of the world) is in trouble alright. America’s withdrawing from the world stage is having the effect of casting yarrow stalks. It is now open season; anything goes. The game of 'pick up sticks' will consume the rest of the century. Old and new players will attempt to fill the vacuum and dominate. It is unclear who will prevail. India is not yet ready; China will screw it up; Russia will end up eating itself. Israel has been left to dangle in the breeze. Iran is making big, strategic moves. At least I Ching can predict an outcome. I see only chaos for the foreseeable future.

Unless America can re-establish some semblance of gravitas, notwithstanding its hopelessly intellectually impoverished population, she will be left in the dust, exposed to plunder and the enslavement of her people. Obama will stand by and mock her humiliation. He will miss no opportunity to fan the flames of chaos. He will encourage the forces that are dead-set of her total destruction. He will proceed with his mandate (as he sees it) to wipe her off the face of the earth, after which he hopes to flee into the embrace of the last tyrant left standing.

When I was back in high school one of the factoids we were taught was of the role of the Nazi propaganda machine that turned an entire nation into salivating Pavlovian dogs. We dismissed it summarily and thought, “How stupid!” - thinking we were so far above it; that we ourselves would never fall for something as ridiculously obvious as The Big Lie. And yet, we are seeing it every day. The propaganda mills are working incessantly; with considerable success, I might add. It comes from distrust; refusing to talk with one another; from ideology having trumped all reason.