Behind the crumbling walls of the empire, it is a disaster of cognitive dissonance and strife. Thank you for the piece. For those of us who walk the ancient paths, the Gods prepare for sorrow ahead. The Morrigan shows her form as a washer at the ford to me, and I likely assume others in her tutelage, these days. Sometimes all we can do is survive and keep the stories to share for those who will come after.
Oh that's......interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but it is far too reasonable.
Already here in my little OR town, my wife and I are shut out of going to play in small music gatherings because of an off hand remark I made to "Israel's Genocide in Gaza" Not allowed to even think that here in the US.
Backlash? When gas hits new highs and the hidden body bags come home (they are advertising for emergency blood donations in the big US medical base in Germany), it could occur
I'm surprised Trump has been this reckless tbh. I get he wanted to distract from Epstein scandal and allegations he raped a 13 year old girl (why isn't that headline news?) as well as his litnay of domestic failings. But it's hard to see how this won't monumentally backfire on him, unless the prevailing economic emergency provides useful cover to fix the elections later this year, which he is already trying to do. Or try and justify his illegal tariffs. More likely, it's the consequence of cognitive decline and an inner circle of deluded incompetents.
There is no longer any ability to criticize the actions of the Israeli government, partly because our own US government (near unanimously) has made any attempts to shun the Zionists in Israel on par with shunning the Jewish identity in it's entirety, and partly because nuance was mauled by the social media leopards long before these wars ever started. This, atop everything that's occurred in Gaza, is going to lead to a cataclysmic reckoning.
We have the highest energy prices in Europe as the result of an insane Net Zero policy. This is being done by a left wing party. The environmental cost is devastating. Our farmland sacrificed to solar, mass killing birds with windmills and importing wood to burn at Drax. Absolute insanity, based on flawed "science". It is Greenwash nonsense that does nothing for the planet and is just the WEF driven Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The cost of living for those in work is crippling. The war will make this worse. Our benefit costs are destroying the society and the institutions of social care, this is exasperated by illegal immigration running at about a million people a year. Such explosive demographic change brings cultural change, crime and violence. Low skilled migrants are a net cost, carried by the native (working) population. The people have voted against this and are being ignored. They will now vote for right wing parties to reverse this, not because they have suddenly become Fascists, but because the Left has not only failed, but actively betrayed them; as the Tories did before them. If they are not listened to, and with an (inevitable) trigger event of Islamic terror waiting in the wings, England will go up in flames.
The Left simply do not get this. The assumption is that anyone opposing immigration or Islam is a fascist. That could not be further from the truth. If there is a left wing critique of Islam I am not hearing it beyond outlets like Spiked, who I am sure many consider haram.
I agree that this is the US and Israel's war. Yet...the Iranian regime have repeatedly stated their plan to destroy Israel, funding the attacks of October 7, arming and training Hamas and their proxies across the Middle East. They have proven genocidal intent. America is also their great Satan, in an eschatology that is more worrying than the Christian pronouncements of a Hegseth.
You said 'he probably kills puppies for fun' and I know this is polemic, but that's beneath you.
I am no fan of Netanyahu, but what do you expect the Israeli state to do? Wait until Iran has amassed enough cheap Chinese missiles to overwhelm the Iron Dome?
The majority of people in Iran and the diaspora support the war against an utterly tyrannical theocratic fascist regime that murdered 42,000 men, women and children in two days of protests.
I listen to the people on the ground who deserve our support regardless of the machinations of Empire. If they lose, they will be imprisoned, raped and murdered in unimaginable numbers. They are asking for our help against a fascist regime.
You also miss out China's war with the West, using Iran as a proxy and Islam as a sword.
This is fifth generation warfare. The real war is with China who are playing the long game and the US have struck back. All of this is above our pay grade. The tectonic plates are shifting, whatever we think of that, we are spectators.
There is little to no antisemitism on the right, but it is a left wing problem.
Of course there are some actual Nazis, they are statistically insignificant.
The new right wing parties are not antisemitic, or racist, despite the propaganda.
The only group which is hating and killing Jews is the Muslim population.
A huge terror attack against Jews in Manchester was just foiled.
Since March 2017, MI5 and police have disrupted 43 late-stage attack plots.
We have 40,000 Islamists on our terror watch list. These people are the fascists.
It is not 'hatred' of Muslims on the Right that is the issue or the root cause.
Regarding published criticism of Islam from what remains of the left, there's only really Slavoj Zizek.
At least here in Luxembourg, I can assure you that the far right (both the ADR -- the Luxembourg equivalent of the AfD -- and the AfD), are equally anti-muslim and anti-jew. I work out with some of them, one of whom works in national defense, and I've had to endure earfuls of discourses about how Zionists are controlling Europe. The current conspiracy is that the Jews have forced Europe to take in so many Muslim immigrants in order to weaken Christian society and make it more pliable to Zionist machinations. Quite the spin.
I definitely agree with you that the green shit is a joke, and that the left has consistently betrayed workers. Incidentally: Renault just announced they won't make combustion engines after 2030, and every car will be automatically "updated" from central servers whenever the government needs them updated. Drivers might as well install a microchip giving them electric shocks whenever they're tempted to drive somewhere besides to work, the mall, and home.
Regarding Hegseth, perhaps I should have said, "for Jesus" rather than "for fun."
I've been trying to follow the China theory (I know Paul Cudenec's big on it lately), but I do suspect it's a lot simpler. China just needs to wait while the West implodes. They already have all the manufacturing that Europe, the UK, and the US dumped, and the biggest reserves of raw materials, and a shockingly stable society. If they’re also manipulating things the way Cudenec and others suspect, they’re only hastening a collapse that would have happened anyway, I think.
Thanks Rhyd, I enjoy Zizek but not sure that he ever leads anywhere!
The Zionist conspiracies are nuts. Appreciate the ground level view, not met any AfD or ADR people. Understandable that they would have more antisemitism than we have here. Not a good sign, as it seems the populist right will sweep Europe.
My guess is that China is (in part) behind the mass immigration problem, and weaponised that in the US too. I stopped reading Paul as he just read increasingly antisemitic to me, but I don’t want to throw stones here, that’s just my personal reaction.
China is in greater trouble than is visible, their demographics are shot. With Venezuela in the bag the US is actually stronger than it looked under the Dems.
Going to be an awful century, hope we can all stay balanced and compassionate through it.
Agree about Zizek. He's fun to read but that's about it. And I only check in on Cudenec rarely -- poor guy needs to go for a walk and get off the internet for a day, I think. Seems to be getting trapped in the very same glowing screens he warned against.
I do really think we'll see the Afd come to power in Germany in a few years. VW just announced 50,000 job cuts by 2030, and other auto manufacturers there will do the same. Most of the AfD guys I've met (including some gay guys -- many more than one might think) are mid-20s to mid-30s skilled manual laborers all realising they won't have the kind of income or security their fathers and uncles got. And then they hear their government tell them they're not allowed to criticize immigrants or the State of Israel (higher penalties for the latter than the former, though), while all financial certainty gets sold off to China and siphoned off by US tariffs. In the end, they'll probably just decide the whole world is against the Germans, and, well, that's not going to be pretty.
The UK doesn't have the highest energy costs in Europe, not by a long way. It is towards the higher end of spectrum, largely due to our dependancy on gas. 30% of our electricity now comes from wind, and without that energy prices would likely be much higher. Renewables give us energy independence and reduce our reliance on unstable parts of the world, ending the leverage of Putins and ayatollas. Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are both longstanding critiques of Islam from the left, although Hitchens made something of a rightward lurch towards the end of his life.
We have no energy sovereignty, the renewables are unreliable and disgustingly subsidised. It isn't making us safer. We have a North Sea that is not being drilled, but we are paying for gas from others. It is shell game. Wind is an ecological disaster, ditto Solar, I'm not alone in thinking this, see Paul Kingsnorth et al.
According to Grok, for business costs the UK often ranks highest or near-highest in Europe (e.g., industrial prices 125% above EU-14 median in H1 2025; medium businesses ~92% above EU median per Ofgem/2026 reports).
That business cost is what gets passed on to us in rising prices and job losses.
What would give us energy independence is the new generation nuclear. I have come to reluctantly accept that, but I am sure you will disagree.
Thanks for the recommend, I loathe Sam Harris, Hitchens is fun but did lean into his contrarian personality a little too much.
Modern renewables are often cheaper than new fossil fuel generation, and their subsidies are declining—meanwhile oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons still receive huge hidden subsidies. Environmental impacts exist but are far less damaging than fossil fuels for obvious reasons. Drilling more North Sea gas wouldn’t lower prices much, since global markets set them (The US is today the world's largest net exporter of oil, yet it's done nothing to insulate them at the pump) Besides, there isn't enough left in the North Sea to give us energy independence. True energy independence comes from a diverse mix of renewables and nuclear, which I'm in favour of. France made a wise decision to go nuclear heavy back in the day. Kingsnorth has adopted a doomerist mindset and says he 'no longer thinks in terms of solutions' which is unhelpful at best.
With talk of energy independence, I'm always curious if people mean current levels of energy use or future levels.
Kingsnorth's "doomerism" is a lot like John Michael Greer's, and I don't think of either of them as being actually fatalist or doomers or whatever. Instead, they're pragmatists of the best kind, I think, urging people to instead stop relying on fragile energy systems.
In a way, that's the most practical kind of energy independence possible. The less you (individually and also as a nation) need, the less you'll be affected by volatile pricing, foreign wars, and the increase in natural catastrophes due to the changing climate.
I've seen how Peter lives already, and it's a lot closer to how Kingsnorth and Greer live than most people live. But for you, Chenda, I'm curious what you mean by independence and what would be the ultimate goal in transition: keeping current energy levels, increasing them (to sustain economic growth), or something else?
That’s a complex question and depends on timescales and regions. In the short to medium term, the developed world would likely need to maintain current energy use initially, with gradual reductions through efficiency gains. There is enormous potential for efficiency improvements—such as car-free or car-lite lifestyles, better-designed and retrofitted buildings, and upgraded grid capacity. In the developing world, the situation is different: energy use needs to grow to support economic development and lift people out of poverty. I see renewables as a huge opportunity, both politically and economically, offering cleaner energy, new jobs, and energy independence. China is now firmly leading the world in this area, Europe at second place and the US - once the world leader in renewables - is now at 3rd place. Trump seems determined to sabotage progress on this front.
Nordstream was destroyed by US interests to force Europe to buy US LPG, among other things. Biden threatened it and his admin did it.
I find it useful to distinguish between Zionists who include both Christians and Jews associated with the Israel settler colony, and Jews who may pracice their religion or not and live in a number of nations. Zionism is poison. Non Zionist Jews are generally decent people leading their lives.
I have also come to consider that we have been in extreme class war for at least 50 years, the oligarchs won, top bottom is the war and the top uses left right redblue blackwhite boygirl gay straight idpol to confuse and distract the proles. Its worked pretty well so far.
Fantastic article Rhyd, I like the way you think and articulate your thoughts on this, better than the usual narrative of BS that we are fed, Pagans don't think in the same way as others sometimes, which is a good thing, thanks for sharing your thoughts
Behind the crumbling walls of the empire, it is a disaster of cognitive dissonance and strife. Thank you for the piece. For those of us who walk the ancient paths, the Gods prepare for sorrow ahead. The Morrigan shows her form as a washer at the ford to me, and I likely assume others in her tutelage, these days. Sometimes all we can do is survive and keep the stories to share for those who will come after.
Awesome comment, I like the way you believe in the old Gods and their ways, it's better than the modern take on things IMO
Oh that's......interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but it is far too reasonable.
Already here in my little OR town, my wife and I are shut out of going to play in small music gatherings because of an off hand remark I made to "Israel's Genocide in Gaza" Not allowed to even think that here in the US.
Backlash? When gas hits new highs and the hidden body bags come home (they are advertising for emergency blood donations in the big US medical base in Germany), it could occur
I'm surprised Trump has been this reckless tbh. I get he wanted to distract from Epstein scandal and allegations he raped a 13 year old girl (why isn't that headline news?) as well as his litnay of domestic failings. But it's hard to see how this won't monumentally backfire on him, unless the prevailing economic emergency provides useful cover to fix the elections later this year, which he is already trying to do. Or try and justify his illegal tariffs. More likely, it's the consequence of cognitive decline and an inner circle of deluded incompetents.
There is no longer any ability to criticize the actions of the Israeli government, partly because our own US government (near unanimously) has made any attempts to shun the Zionists in Israel on par with shunning the Jewish identity in it's entirety, and partly because nuance was mauled by the social media leopards long before these wars ever started. This, atop everything that's occurred in Gaza, is going to lead to a cataclysmic reckoning.
A perspective from the UK:
We have the highest energy prices in Europe as the result of an insane Net Zero policy. This is being done by a left wing party. The environmental cost is devastating. Our farmland sacrificed to solar, mass killing birds with windmills and importing wood to burn at Drax. Absolute insanity, based on flawed "science". It is Greenwash nonsense that does nothing for the planet and is just the WEF driven Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The cost of living for those in work is crippling. The war will make this worse. Our benefit costs are destroying the society and the institutions of social care, this is exasperated by illegal immigration running at about a million people a year. Such explosive demographic change brings cultural change, crime and violence. Low skilled migrants are a net cost, carried by the native (working) population. The people have voted against this and are being ignored. They will now vote for right wing parties to reverse this, not because they have suddenly become Fascists, but because the Left has not only failed, but actively betrayed them; as the Tories did before them. If they are not listened to, and with an (inevitable) trigger event of Islamic terror waiting in the wings, England will go up in flames.
The Left simply do not get this. The assumption is that anyone opposing immigration or Islam is a fascist. That could not be further from the truth. If there is a left wing critique of Islam I am not hearing it beyond outlets like Spiked, who I am sure many consider haram.
I agree that this is the US and Israel's war. Yet...the Iranian regime have repeatedly stated their plan to destroy Israel, funding the attacks of October 7, arming and training Hamas and their proxies across the Middle East. They have proven genocidal intent. America is also their great Satan, in an eschatology that is more worrying than the Christian pronouncements of a Hegseth.
You said 'he probably kills puppies for fun' and I know this is polemic, but that's beneath you.
I am no fan of Netanyahu, but what do you expect the Israeli state to do? Wait until Iran has amassed enough cheap Chinese missiles to overwhelm the Iron Dome?
The majority of people in Iran and the diaspora support the war against an utterly tyrannical theocratic fascist regime that murdered 42,000 men, women and children in two days of protests.
I listen to the people on the ground who deserve our support regardless of the machinations of Empire. If they lose, they will be imprisoned, raped and murdered in unimaginable numbers. They are asking for our help against a fascist regime.
You also miss out China's war with the West, using Iran as a proxy and Islam as a sword.
This is fifth generation warfare. The real war is with China who are playing the long game and the US have struck back. All of this is above our pay grade. The tectonic plates are shifting, whatever we think of that, we are spectators.
There is little to no antisemitism on the right, but it is a left wing problem.
Of course there are some actual Nazis, they are statistically insignificant.
The new right wing parties are not antisemitic, or racist, despite the propaganda.
The only group which is hating and killing Jews is the Muslim population.
A huge terror attack against Jews in Manchester was just foiled.
Since March 2017, MI5 and police have disrupted 43 late-stage attack plots.
We have 40,000 Islamists on our terror watch list. These people are the fascists.
It is not 'hatred' of Muslims on the Right that is the issue or the root cause.
It is the political theology of Islam.
Do I like any of this? No.
Does speaking out get me called 'far right'. Yes.
Will I shut up? No.
Our freedom is at stake.
Regarding published criticism of Islam from what remains of the left, there's only really Slavoj Zizek.
At least here in Luxembourg, I can assure you that the far right (both the ADR -- the Luxembourg equivalent of the AfD -- and the AfD), are equally anti-muslim and anti-jew. I work out with some of them, one of whom works in national defense, and I've had to endure earfuls of discourses about how Zionists are controlling Europe. The current conspiracy is that the Jews have forced Europe to take in so many Muslim immigrants in order to weaken Christian society and make it more pliable to Zionist machinations. Quite the spin.
I definitely agree with you that the green shit is a joke, and that the left has consistently betrayed workers. Incidentally: Renault just announced they won't make combustion engines after 2030, and every car will be automatically "updated" from central servers whenever the government needs them updated. Drivers might as well install a microchip giving them electric shocks whenever they're tempted to drive somewhere besides to work, the mall, and home.
Regarding Hegseth, perhaps I should have said, "for Jesus" rather than "for fun."
I've been trying to follow the China theory (I know Paul Cudenec's big on it lately), but I do suspect it's a lot simpler. China just needs to wait while the West implodes. They already have all the manufacturing that Europe, the UK, and the US dumped, and the biggest reserves of raw materials, and a shockingly stable society. If they’re also manipulating things the way Cudenec and others suspect, they’re only hastening a collapse that would have happened anyway, I think.
Thanks Rhyd, I enjoy Zizek but not sure that he ever leads anywhere!
The Zionist conspiracies are nuts. Appreciate the ground level view, not met any AfD or ADR people. Understandable that they would have more antisemitism than we have here. Not a good sign, as it seems the populist right will sweep Europe.
My guess is that China is (in part) behind the mass immigration problem, and weaponised that in the US too. I stopped reading Paul as he just read increasingly antisemitic to me, but I don’t want to throw stones here, that’s just my personal reaction.
China is in greater trouble than is visible, their demographics are shot. With Venezuela in the bag the US is actually stronger than it looked under the Dems.
Going to be an awful century, hope we can all stay balanced and compassionate through it.
Agree about Zizek. He's fun to read but that's about it. And I only check in on Cudenec rarely -- poor guy needs to go for a walk and get off the internet for a day, I think. Seems to be getting trapped in the very same glowing screens he warned against.
I do really think we'll see the Afd come to power in Germany in a few years. VW just announced 50,000 job cuts by 2030, and other auto manufacturers there will do the same. Most of the AfD guys I've met (including some gay guys -- many more than one might think) are mid-20s to mid-30s skilled manual laborers all realising they won't have the kind of income or security their fathers and uncles got. And then they hear their government tell them they're not allowed to criticize immigrants or the State of Israel (higher penalties for the latter than the former, though), while all financial certainty gets sold off to China and siphoned off by US tariffs. In the end, they'll probably just decide the whole world is against the Germans, and, well, that's not going to be pretty.
The UK doesn't have the highest energy costs in Europe, not by a long way. It is towards the higher end of spectrum, largely due to our dependancy on gas. 30% of our electricity now comes from wind, and without that energy prices would likely be much higher. Renewables give us energy independence and reduce our reliance on unstable parts of the world, ending the leverage of Putins and ayatollas. Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are both longstanding critiques of Islam from the left, although Hitchens made something of a rightward lurch towards the end of his life.
We have no energy sovereignty, the renewables are unreliable and disgustingly subsidised. It isn't making us safer. We have a North Sea that is not being drilled, but we are paying for gas from others. It is shell game. Wind is an ecological disaster, ditto Solar, I'm not alone in thinking this, see Paul Kingsnorth et al.
According to Grok, for business costs the UK often ranks highest or near-highest in Europe (e.g., industrial prices 125% above EU-14 median in H1 2025; medium businesses ~92% above EU median per Ofgem/2026 reports).
That business cost is what gets passed on to us in rising prices and job losses.
What would give us energy independence is the new generation nuclear. I have come to reluctantly accept that, but I am sure you will disagree.
Thanks for the recommend, I loathe Sam Harris, Hitchens is fun but did lean into his contrarian personality a little too much.
Modern renewables are often cheaper than new fossil fuel generation, and their subsidies are declining—meanwhile oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons still receive huge hidden subsidies. Environmental impacts exist but are far less damaging than fossil fuels for obvious reasons. Drilling more North Sea gas wouldn’t lower prices much, since global markets set them (The US is today the world's largest net exporter of oil, yet it's done nothing to insulate them at the pump) Besides, there isn't enough left in the North Sea to give us energy independence. True energy independence comes from a diverse mix of renewables and nuclear, which I'm in favour of. France made a wise decision to go nuclear heavy back in the day. Kingsnorth has adopted a doomerist mindset and says he 'no longer thinks in terms of solutions' which is unhelpful at best.
With talk of energy independence, I'm always curious if people mean current levels of energy use or future levels.
Kingsnorth's "doomerism" is a lot like John Michael Greer's, and I don't think of either of them as being actually fatalist or doomers or whatever. Instead, they're pragmatists of the best kind, I think, urging people to instead stop relying on fragile energy systems.
In a way, that's the most practical kind of energy independence possible. The less you (individually and also as a nation) need, the less you'll be affected by volatile pricing, foreign wars, and the increase in natural catastrophes due to the changing climate.
I've seen how Peter lives already, and it's a lot closer to how Kingsnorth and Greer live than most people live. But for you, Chenda, I'm curious what you mean by independence and what would be the ultimate goal in transition: keeping current energy levels, increasing them (to sustain economic growth), or something else?
That’s a complex question and depends on timescales and regions. In the short to medium term, the developed world would likely need to maintain current energy use initially, with gradual reductions through efficiency gains. There is enormous potential for efficiency improvements—such as car-free or car-lite lifestyles, better-designed and retrofitted buildings, and upgraded grid capacity. In the developing world, the situation is different: energy use needs to grow to support economic development and lift people out of poverty. I see renewables as a huge opportunity, both politically and economically, offering cleaner energy, new jobs, and energy independence. China is now firmly leading the world in this area, Europe at second place and the US - once the world leader in renewables - is now at 3rd place. Trump seems determined to sabotage progress on this front.
I know of no one who considers Sam Harris part of anything resembling a "left."
Well he identifies as centre left fwiw
Nordstream was destroyed by US interests to force Europe to buy US LPG, among other things. Biden threatened it and his admin did it.
I find it useful to distinguish between Zionists who include both Christians and Jews associated with the Israel settler colony, and Jews who may pracice their religion or not and live in a number of nations. Zionism is poison. Non Zionist Jews are generally decent people leading their lives.
I have also come to consider that we have been in extreme class war for at least 50 years, the oligarchs won, top bottom is the war and the top uses left right redblue blackwhite boygirl gay straight idpol to confuse and distract the proles. Its worked pretty well so far.
Fantastic article Rhyd, I like the way you think and articulate your thoughts on this, better than the usual narrative of BS that we are fed, Pagans don't think in the same way as others sometimes, which is a good thing, thanks for sharing your thoughts