Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes – How The French Revolution Ruined Everything

Michael Cessna March 3, 2023

In human cultures, worlds and eras have a habit of disappearing. Sometimes, they disappear in a gentle fade-out; sometimes, they evolve, and sometimes, they die in fire. As one example, in mid-1914, Western society had reached a peak of culture, in literature, thought and technology that is hard to understand, some one hundred years later.

Of course, this culture was certainly not all roses: aside from “wealth disparity” and “social inequality,” both recent, and artificially moral, phrases of questionable utility, did have significant impacts on class relations, in the form of simmering anger among the urban poor and lower middle class, that frequently led to riots. Likewise, racism was rampant, despite some surprisingly modern views in many quarters; indeed, no sane person in the early 21^st Century would attempt to defend the actions of Imperial Germany in Southwest Africa, of those of the Belgians in the Congo…or of the United States in its own West, against its Native American population.

*A Rake’s Progress, Plate 4. William Hogarth, 1735. Public Domain.*

But for all that, early 1914 in Europe was still the world of Renoir…And six years later, it was gone, never to return. The places still existed – mostly – and most of the people were still alive, but six years of all-out industrial warfare, revolutions, and a crushing pandemic had left the survivors numbed. The result was a long period of despair, economic depression, social and political strife, that resulted in a tawdry cynicism.

Of course, this was certainly not the first time: Two hundred and thirty-four years ago – and some 131 years before 1920 – a similar event happened, an event that would destroy the Europe of the day, leaving it a pale shadow of its former self.

While the “gory details” (and they were gory) of the French Revolution are not really the point of this article, the earth-shaking similarities between that event and the aftermath of World War 1 are important to understand, because they help inform our modern reality.

*Nine émigrés are executed by guillotine, 1793. Unknown author. Public Domain.*

Taking inspiration from the recent end of the American Colonies’ successful rebellion against Great Britain, the French population rose up against King Louis XVI and the Ancien Régime in 1789, and hammered France into a Frankenstein version of a republic. Surrounding European monarchies, rightly fearing for their own existence, and attempting to return the Ancien Régime to power, wasted little time in launching invasions of France on multiple fronts. These wars would last for some twenty-three years, only ending in with Napoleon Bonaparte’s defeat in 1815 on the battlefield of Waterloo, in what is now Belgium.

But, even before Napoleon’s ultimate defeat, the ‘great powers’ of Europe had already gathered in Vienna, Austria, in what became the “Congress of Vienna”, to establish a new European system – the system, in fact, that would be destroyed less than a century later…But that is the “60,000 Foot View.”

More practically, the Congress of Vienna solidified the previous Treaty of Westphalia, which we touched on briefly last year. The impact of the Congress, however, failed to deal with the impact of one of the little understood results of Revolutionary France’s effort to deal with the invasions that began in 1792:

The “Levée en masse” and the rise of Nationalism.

Before the French Revolution, military conscription in Europe was rather rare. Although used by some navies during this period, most nations found it highly distasteful, not to mention dangerous, as it greatly increased the chances of peasant uprisings, and in the middle of a war, that was last thing a nation needed (as the United States would discover in 1863).

While European states certainly preferred to recruit their regular soldiers from within their own nations after the Treaty of Westphalia, hiring professional officers that had been released by their native states (for any of a number of reasons) was considered perfectly normal and common. Although the word “mercenary” has developed a very negative connotation since the end of World War 2, in the 1790’s, it was considered a completely normal practice.

And the United States was certainly not immune – the Marquis de Lafayette (George Washington’s long-time aide), Baron von Steuben (who rebuilt the Continental Army at Valley Forge), the engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko and friends Casimir Pulaski (who would die at the Battle of Savannah) and Michael Kovats de Fabriczy (who would die defending Charleston, South Carolina) (together, known as the “Fathers of American Cavalry”), were quite common in the Continental Army. While many, like Lafayette and Fabriczy were certainly volunteers motivated by the American cause, most of the foreign officers certainly were not, following centuries-old common practice.

*Kazimierz Pulaski. Jan Styka, c.1920-1925. Public Domain.*

But, after the French Revolution, Nationalism began to take hold. Nationalism is the idea that the characteristics of “nation” and “state” are intertwined and inseparable. For example, in the United States, there are various “tribal nations” (such as the Navajo or Cherokee), or any of a number of ethnic “national people” groups from outside of North America, but those ethnic and cultural “nations” are a part of the “state”, in the form of the United States government.

This is not an insignificant point: After Revolutionary France instituted the levée en masse, serving in the military of a foreign state was often seen as something approaching treason. This view would eventually evolve into equating “foreignness” to “evil,” frequently resulting in little or no quarter being offered or given. Aside from some notable exceptions, it has only been in the first quarter of the 21^st Century, in which “mercenaries” (now euphemistically termed “security contractors” or “private military contractors) are seen as an acceptable alternative to “regular” military forces, despite their unreliability.

*Employees of PMC “FDG” in Al-Faluja, Anbar province (Iraq), 2007. CCA/3.0*

Over time, nationalism began to take on its own negative connotations – for obvious reasons – and was replaced, very briefly, with “globalism,” and its associate term, “globalization”, doctrines that are now beginning to collapse after a bare thirty years of experimentation, despite attempts to couch the terminology.

This brings us to 2023.

With technological acceleration and the rise of the online job market, skilled workers can frequently work from home, managing offices and even factories on the other side of the planet via online conferencing. Meanwhile, industrial production has evolved to the point where only moderate levels of skill are required to perform maintenance and repair on plant equipment.

These points, along with other factors deriving from the acceleration of technological development, are causing people to increasingly question the utility of “nationalism,” as well their own, personal, “national identity.”

The issue? “Evil,” despite attempts to dismiss or consign the term to the passé in recent years, still exists. And “Evil” does not negotiate. The response to this is, and always has been, direct military confrontation; while myriad examples of individual failures – and successes – in “anti-Evil” warfare can be cited, those are not the point.

Massed military force is needed to fight Evil when it stops being metaphorical, and enters the physical realm, lest it get out of hand.

*Bombed out streets of Mosul. Northern Iraq, Western Asia. 18 November, 2016. Photo: Mstyslav Chernov. CCA/4.0*

But, militaries around the world (and especially in the West) are finding it increasingly difficult to fill their ranks without resorting to conscription, and in many countries – including the United States – even instituting conscription, while certainly legal, is politically impossible, and could easily lead to widespread revolts, possibly rising to the level of revolution.

*U.S. Air Force Col. Becky Beers, administers the Oath of Enlistment to U.S. Air and Space Force recruits, Nov. 17, 2020. U.S. Space Force photo by Van Ha. Public Domain.*

But – Evil is still out there, waiting, training and planning. And it still needs to be dealt with.

The reasons for this situation are not well understood: Is it a failure of nationalism? A failure of globalization? “Wokeness”? No studies seem to be taking a look at this phenomenon…But it is something that needs to be addressed urgently, because – as Thomas Sowell, PhD (Economics, U. of Chicago, 1968) says in his 1980 book “Knowledge and Decisions”

“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”

***The Freedomist — Keeping Watch, So You Don’t Have To***

China Invades Taiwan Strait with Ships, Planes

Paul Collier January 11, 2023

According to Taiwan’s Defense Minister, the Taiwan Strait was illegally occupied at the beginning of the month of January. The Taiwanese reported more than 20 military aircraft and ships entered the Taiwan Strait. The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said the exercises were “joint combat readiness patrols and actual combat drills…[to]…resolutely counter the provocative actions of external forces and Taiwan independence separatist forces.”

The Biden administration has expressed little concern with the exercise, with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan adding, “There is a risk of conflict with respect to Taiwan, but I believe that with responsible stewardship, we can ensure that this contingency never comes to pass. And that is our responsibility.”

The likelihood of an invasion of Taiwan by China is not particularly high right now, given the unrest going on in China today. However, the unrest that might hinder China acting might also trigger it to act should Xi become too unsure he can continue to hold on to power. A war with Taiwan brings much risk, but if Xi sees the writing on the wall that his reign is coming to an end, he might feel he has nothing to lose by risking it. Short-term, the prevalence of nationalism in China (fueled by Chairman Xi’s agit prop efforts) would secure Xi’s reign.

Outside The Box: DIY Navies?

Michael Cessna November 11, 2022

In previous articles, we have touched on the ideas for building “DIY” ground- and air-combat forces. Today, we will take a look at the naval aspect of this idea.

Water-based travel is not new. In fact, for the majority of human history, travel further than 100 miles in any direction was usually faster, cheaper and safer than overland travel, even if wide detours were necessary. Without getting into the physics of fluid dynamics, movement is a lot easier when nature is helping you along, especially when friction resistance is determined more by shape than by weight. It was not until the advent of railroads in the early 19^th Century that land travel became faster and comparatively safer than travel by water.

*River Landscape with Man in Rowing Boat and Tree-Lined Shore. Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek (1778–1851). 1800-1850. Public Domain.*

However, when looking at the military dimensions of water travel, while there were early examples of purpose-built warships, such as the Greek and Roman “triremes”, the vast majority of ships were perfectly suitable for both military and commercial use. Mostly, this consisted for transporting troops, animals, equipment and other supplies. Because of the ships’ designs of these eras, most vessels were also capable of going fairly far upriver; this was the main tactic of Viking raiders, from the 8^th-11^th Centuries, whose “Karvis”, “Snekkjas” and “Drakkars” drew as little as 30in/762mm in draft.

*Gokstad Ship, late 9th Century, Viking Ship Museum, Oslo. CCA/2.0 Generic.*

As previously noted, however, after about 1860, a dramatic divergence began to open between purely military and purely civilian merchant vessels. Without restating those points here, by the end of World War 2, it seemed that the divide was complete and unbridgeable: “Warships” fought in wars, and civilian vessels supported the warships, while remaining mostly unarmed.

But, there lurked an exception: the PT Boat.

*Patrol Torpedo Boat (PT) 658 transits past U.S. Navy ships at the Portland Rose Festival. US Navy photo. Public Domain.*

Developed just as WW2 was starting, the “Patrol Torpedo Boat” quickly became famous as the heavily armed war vessel of WW2, on a weapon-to-tonnage basis. Not much larger than most commercial yachts, the PT’s were fully capable of sinking full-size warships – as long as their torpedoes worked. If there weren’t enough enemy warships around to sink, the PT’s could easily remove their torpedoes, and bolt on heavier cannons to destroy lightly armored barges and lighters, as well as extra machine guns, turning them into floating anti-aircraft batteries.

While the US Navy seemed to have forgotten the lessons of PT Boat warfare after the end of the war, that turned out to not be the case. While light-armed craft more or less vanished from the Navy’s inventory after WW2, that was due to the savage budget cuts and vicious organizational fights of the post-war years, more than because the Navy didn’t want the boats. Indeed, the Navy had to burn significant political clout just to help prevent the Marine Corps from being disbanded by an Army and Air Force that were battling for scarce funding.

As soon as the Vietnam War began to heat up, it was discovered that North Vietnam was supplying the Viet Cong and its own troops in the South by smuggling arms and supplies down the coast in civilian sampans. The solution to this were the “Swift Boats” – small, high-speed, aluminum-hulled boats, heavily armed with machine guns. With very shallow drafts, these fast craft were able to chase down almost any watercraft, and usually outgunned whatever they could catch. As well, they could land small parties of US and Vietnamese Marines or SEALs deep in enemy territory, doing great damage to areas the enemy had thought to be relatively safe.

*Fast Patrol Craft (PCF, Swift boat) during riverine operation in Vietnam. US Navy photo. Public Domian.*

After the war in Vietnam ended, the US Navy once again had to struggle for funding, and small combat craft went onto the back burner. But not completely. As funding improved in the 1980’s small combat craft came back to prominence, leading to the expansion of the Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen (SWCC) career field in the Navy, and the development of the SOC-R. NATO partners took note, at least to some extent.

And all seemed rosy.

But – what about smaller groups? What about “guerrillas at sea”?

Like naval warfare and transport in general, small craft-based warfare is not new. In the modern era, say from 1800 to today, military raids against pirates operating from swampland bases with open canoes and boats was far more common than fighting large ships, à la Hollywood pirate films. Indeed, in World War 1, the “Battle for Lake Tanganyika” was fought and decided by a handful of small boats that barely qualified as life rafts; the largest vessel, the SMS Graf von Goetzen, was barely 235ft long; that’s short for a warship.

*German steamship Goetzen before its warship conversion in 1915. Public Domain.*

Likewise, Filipino guerrillas fighting the Japanese in their archipelago after Japan’s conquest of the island group in early-1942 made good use of small-boat smuggling tactics to make amphibious raids throughout the islands for three years, until the war ended. The Philippine government continued this successful strategy in the Huk Rebellion that followed the war, and both government and anti-government forces continue to use boats for the same purposes to this day.

But the real advent of modern guerrilla small craft warfare begins (as do many things in this realm) with the LTTE – the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Starting from essentially scratch in 1976, the LTTE quickly showed – much as the Islamic State would do, decades later – that all that was required for an insurgency to grow exponentially, was intelligent, cunning and quick-witted leadership…Even if they end up using straight-out terror tactics.

In its 25-year history, the LTTE’s “Sea Tigers”, with no more than 3,000 personnel at any given time, not only fought the Sri Lankan Navy to a standstill, sinking nearly 30 vessels, while also conducting amphibious raids, it conducted widespread “strategic support operations”, until the Sri Lankan military got serious, got its collective act together, and ground the LTTE down by mid-2009.

*Slovenian fast patrol boat HPL-21 Ankaran (Super Dvora MK II class), 2009, of a type used by the Sri Lankan Navy. CCA-3.0*

But – what about other groups?

While the LTTE managed to create a ferociously effective “commando navy,” the “Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”, has taken the direction of using masses of small “Boghammer”-type speedboats. Based on a design from the Swedish company Boghammar Marin AB developed in the 1980’s, the modern “Boghammer” has taken on the moniker to describe any improvised naval fighting vessel.

*A speed boat (used in a terror attack attempt on 5 May 1990) in the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa, Israel. CCA/3.0*

As used by the IRGC-N, the Boghammer is armed with a variety of weapons, including RPG-7 type rocket launchers, as many as three 12.7mm heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles and 107mm multiple rocket launchers based on the Type 63 MRL. And these craft do pose a threat to major-nation warships, when used in swarms. After nearly ten years of study, it remains a problem that major-state navies – including those of the United States and Great Britain – don’t talk about in public.

That’s all well and good…but, what about “modern guerrillas”? The above examples, including the LTTE, were all either formally organized navies, or were at least funded on a regular basis. What about a small guerrilla force? What can they do on the water?

Quite a bit, actually.

While large, ocean going vessels are going to be mostly out of a small group’s reach, at least initially, acquiring civilian pleasure craft (through theft or “under the table” deals) that can be modified to carry weapons is not at all difficult. While craft as large as Boghammers are uncommon, they are not so unusual that they would be noticed.

There is, however, another class of vessel normally associated with major states that most people would not associated with guerrilla warfare: long-range submersibles – i.e., submarines…Specifically, drug-running “narco-subs”.

*Narco-submarine captured by the Peruvian Navy in December 2019. Ministerio de Defensa del Perú. CCA/2.0.*

While “combat submersibles” in the modern era begin with David Bushnell’s Turtle in 1775-1776, submarines have only played a pivotal role in naval warfare since WW1, and the first “Battle of the Atlantic”. Submarines have always been complicated and dangerous craft – there is always a solid chance that something will go catastrophically wrong while submerged. Survival rates when things like that happen at sea are never good.

Submarines are also expensive, in the extreme. As a result, few people imagine a threadbare guerrilla army being able to operate something as technically complex and ridiculously expensive as a submarine. Sure, there are “vanity” submarines out there, used to excursions by cash-rich vacationers, but surely no one is actually building submarines intended for combat.

Established navies, however, beg to differ – which is why they are spending significant amounts of money designing advanced harbor-protection systems…specifically to counter small combat submarines.

But, for our purposes, narco-subs are not that. Narco-subs are generally thought of as “semi-submersible”, in that they cannot “deep dive,” like a conventional submarine. Instead, they are designed to run at or just below the surface. And these craft are not small – narco-subs with cargo capacities of up to 17,000lbs have been captured. That’s a significant capacity for a “guerrilla shipyard”.

And, as hard as the militaries of North and South America try, they cannot catch them all; at best, one in ten are estimated to be intercepted. Worse, the drug subs are being much more sophisticated, diving deeper, becoming less detectable, carrying more, and extending their range, with some now being able to cross the Atlantic, to bring drugs into the waters of Spain and Portugal.

This is a serious concern, and not from the narcotics angle. While infiltrating “operators” into a nation (even the United States) is relatively easy, importing weapons and explosives is not. And 10-17,000lbs of weapons, ammunition and explosives at a time provides significant capacity for an attacker.

Indeed, since 2000, abandoned narco-subs – true deep-diving models – have been discovered in South America that have cargo capacities in the range of 20,000lbs or more, and with ranges of c.3,700km, more than enough to reach New Orleans from most of the South American Caribbean coast.

A fully-operational submarine built for the primary purpose of transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine located near a tributary close to the Ecuador/Colombia border that was seized by the Ecuador Anti-Narcotics Police Forces and Ecuador Military authorities with the assistance of the DEA in 2010. Public Domain.

Making matters much worse, these craft are very difficult to detect at sea, because their hulls are made mostly of fiberglass and Kevlar; are painted sea-blue; and vent their engine exhaust along the bottom of their hulls before releasing it to the atmosphere, cooling it to the point of being indistinguishable from the surrounding water. Coupled to them running just below – or well under – the surface, this makes them virtually invisible to radar and sonar. In fact, the vast majority of the narco-subs captured were spotted by aircraft, running on the surface.

So – why is this important? It’s “just” drugs, right?

Well, “cargo” covers a very broad scope. Narco-subs don’t have to carry drugs, after all. Coupled to this, is the fact the fact that the South American and Mexican cartels operate these subs in alliance with guerrilla groups such as the FARC, among others. It requires no great leap of imagination to picture a scenario of a group like Revolutionary Iran or the I.S. infiltrating two- to four-hundred trigger-pullers into the US, hidden among the masses of illegal immigrants being allowed into the country by a criminally – if not deliberately – incompetent political establishment so arrogant, that they believe that the Rules of War do not apply to them.

Why is the author so vehement about this?

In 1974, R&D Associates – a think tank in Santa Monica, California – working under contract for the Department of Defense, produced a document titled A Soviet Paramilitary Attack on U.S. Nuclear Forces – A Concept (PDF link). The paper sketched out a threat concept to US strategic nuclear forces, wherein Soviet Spetznatz special forces could potentially infiltrate sabotage teams into the US to attack ICBM, bomber and nuclear submarine bases, simply by walking in over the borders from Mexico and/or Canada. It goes into detail of then-current estimated numbers of illegal aliens crossing the US border, who were not intercepted by the Border Patrol, and pointed out that enough four- to six-man teams could be infiltrated and housed by ‘illegal’ KGB agents just long enough to sabotage US nuclear forces in preparation for a Soviet first strike.

Very James Bond, yes?

This paper remained classified until 1995.

*ISIS fighters execute Taliban fighter In the city of Jalalabad, December 2021. CCA/4.0*

A threat – a clear and present one – exists against the United States, and its citizens. While some would argue that this author is “letting the cat out of the bag” by speculating on this in public, none of the information in this article is classified; there is no “whistle-blower” information here. If this author can find it, anyone can. You, the Reader, simply aren’t being told any of this. I will let you speculate as to why that is the case. The author, here alone, is unable to take corrective measures against this threat – it is the job of the Reader to do so.

All I can do, is warn you.

Lifeblood of War: Supply, Recovery and Salvage

Michael Cessna September 5, 2022

Supply and logistics (in the most basic of terms, the act of moving supplies) is the chief mechanic that drives warfare, the current conflict in Ukraine being a prime example of the principle in action. In the words of Major General Julian Thompson, CB, OBE (commander of 3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands War), supply and logistics are, quite literally, the “Lifeblood of War.”

To give our non-military readers a very basic overview, the better to understand the problem, let’s take a brief look at the framework of supply in the military sphere.

Warfare destroys and wastes whatever it touches – both people and equipment. People can be recovered (where that can be possible) through medical treatment and counseling.

But what about equipment?

*Kansas Army National Guard Soldiers work to package and stage personal protective equipment. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Ian Safford, 105th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)*

Everything a military force needs – the “beans, bullets and band-aides,” if you like – can be categorized, ordered, received, inventoried, issued and turned back in at will. The trouble is getting all of those actions to work in sync, on time, and (hopefully) in something close to the right amounts. For the most part, your humble author is happy to stick with the US Armed Forces system, not simply because it is what I am used to, but because it is more precise than comparable systems, while also not being overly cluttered.

Oshkosh M-978 fuel servicing trucks line a holding area during Joint Logistics Over the Shore (JLOTS) training, part of exercise Ocean Venture ’92. An M-901 TOW vehicle is parked to the left. US Navy photo.

The US Armed Forces “Classes of Supply” are as follows:

Class I – Rations – Subsistence (food and drinking water), gratuitous (free) health and comfort items
Class II – Clothing And Equipment – individual equipment, tentage, some aerial delivery equipment, organizational tool sets and kits, hand tools, unclassified maps, administrative and housekeeping supplies and equipment
Class III – POL – Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) (package and bulk): Petroleum, fuels, lubricants, hydraulic and insulating oils, preservatives, liquids and gases, bulk chemical products, coolants, deicer and antifreeze compounds, components, and additives of petroleum and chemical products, and coal
Class IV – Construction materials, including installed equipment and all fortification and barrier materials
Class V – Ammunition of all types, bombs, explosives, mines, fuses, detonators, pyrotechnics, missiles, rockets, propellants, and associated items
Class VI – Personal demand items (such as health and hygiene products, soaps and toothpaste, writing material, snack food, beverages, cigarettes, batteries, alcohol, and cameras—nonmilitary sales items)
Class VII – Major end items such as missile and rocket launchers, tanks, mobile machine shops, some parachute systems and vehicles
Class VIII – Medical material (equipment and consumables) including repair parts particular to medical equipment
**Class VIIIa – Medical consumable supplies not including blood & blood products
**Class VIIIb – Blood & blood components (whole blood, platelets, plasma, packed red cells, etc.
Class IX – Repair parts and components to include kits, assemblies, and sub-assemblies (repairable or non-repairable) required for maintenance support of all equipment
Class X – Material to support nonmilitary programs such as agriculture and economic development (not included in Classes I through IX)
Miscellaneous – Water, salvage, and captured material

*Saraktash scrap-heap. By “Imankulov”, under CCA/3.0 Unported.*

My only real complaint about this list is the last item, because the only true “miscellaneous” items are truly ‘scrap‘ materials. Thus, I use the following, in addition:

Class XI – Non-potable Water

Class XII – Captured/Recovered Material

Of these, “Class XI” (Non-potable water), is the simplest: Non-potable (i.e., non-drinkable) water is fine for washing equipment, fire-fighting and for flushing out waste.

*An Iraqi AML-90 light armored car captured during Operation Desert Storm. A captured ZPU-23-4 anti-aircraft machine gun is at right. USMC photo.*

Class XII (Captured/Recovered Material) are the various detritus that can be scraped up from a battlefield, including enemy material. The process for handling this class of gear (whether from a friendly, liberated, requisitioned or enemy source) is as follows:

a. The materiel is brought into a receiving yard, where it is identified, categorized and assessed for serviceability. Anything of direct and immediate interest to Intelligence goes straight to them. For everything else, we move on to…
b. Type Classification and Field Stock Number Registry: Materiel recovered and brought in should have a tag applied to them, then be classified with a temporary Stock Number, first, using the Supply Classifications as listed above to categorize the item. Then, after applying a two-digit number for the supply class, add one of the following qualifiers after the class to the item tag:
- (x) – Material recovered from allied/friendly military sources
  (y) – Captured/Liberated enemy material
  (z) – “DIY”, improvised, ad hoc or requisitioned from civilian sources

Then, add the appropriate qualifier from the following list:

(A) – Ready To Issue; the item can be issued immediately, with minimal servicing and/or repainting. It should be tagged, and placed into an appropriate storage slot
(B) – PM Required; minor maintenance/clean-up required prior to reissue. This should be forwarded to the appropriate maintenance queue
(C) – Major Repairs Required; the item is repairable, but is dead-lined until it can be repaired. This should also be forwarded to the appropriate maintenance queue
(D) – Sub-Assembly Salvageable; the complete item is too damaged to reissue as a complete unit, but can be broken down into its constituent sub-assemblies (i.e., brake drums, alternators, engines, various major components, etc.) to issue in order to repair other items. This process should be commenced immediately, using either unit specialists, or civilians hired on contract.
(E) – Scrap; the item is damaged to the point where it can no longer be used. This material should be towed or set out of the way, and should either be returned to a manufacturing area for re-smelting/recovery, or sold off. Depending on the material, it may be able to be repurposed into engineering barrier or shelter material.

This hypothesized “Class XII” was actually a major activity of the US Army‘s Quartermaster Corps in World War 2, at least in the European Theater, as it created a not-insignificant cost-saving for the United States. (Learn more here: YouTube 1 and YouTube 2)

Economic Parallels Between The Roman Republic And Modern America

Freedomist MIA September 2, 2022

The Roman Republic fell when 1/3 of the revenues were being paid into the welfare state. The Roman Republic collapsed from within, not due to external forces. You can only rob Peter to pay Paul for so long without fresh tax-payer revenue coming in to keep the system afloat.

Let’s consider the reality of the United States by looking at the Federal Budget. If Rome fell when 33% of revenues were going into the welfare system, and the whole economy collapsed under that weight, it would be fair to say that America is less than that as we have not collapsed. Look at the numbers, and we will see:

In fiscal year 2020, look at the mandatory programs:

• Social Security: $1.092T
• Medicare: $694B
• Medicaid: $447B
• Other Mandatory Programs: $743B

Those total $2.975 trillion. The receipts category (total revenue) equals $3.706 trillion. That’s 80.3% of all Federal tax revenue that goes out towards entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, WIC, and other programs.

Social Security technically is not an entitlement, as we pay into it our entire life in exchange for a retirement years income stream, but it cannot be taken away easily. Therefore, like all other entitlements, they become sticky.

The Roman Empire collapsed under 33% of revenue going towards entitlement programs. In 2020/21 the United States was at 80.3%. This is unsustainable.

Add to this the net interest on the national debt, which at around 2.0% interest on a 30-year bond is a whopping $376 Billion. At the lowest interest rates in the history of America, the net interest plus entitlement payments equal 90.4% of all US federal tax revenue. The eerie implications of the massive amount of unsustainable debt are devastating in impact on small interest rate moves.

Consider what the Net interest on $27 trillion of federal debt will be when interest rates are the following:

• 4% = $752 billion
• 6% = $1.128 trillion
• 8% = $1.504 trillion

When interest rates reach 3%, then net interest plus entitlements equal 100% of the entire federal tax revenue. Interest rates are cyclical and throughout history move from high to low or low to high around every 28 years. Interest rates in 1983 were 18% of a 30 year bond.

The interest rate cycle is at the end of its downward trend and can only go up from here. Sadly, state pension funds are not the only things facing insolvency. So is America. Consider the official Federal Budget that shows the massive number of expenditures as a percentage of revenue that entitlements and mandatory payments occupy.

Unfortunately, America is poised for default or is setting the state for a hyper-inflationary phase in the economy that will erode the wealth, standard-of-living, and livelihood of all Americans.

Mega-Trends For The Next Decade

Freedomist MIA September 2, 2022

Mr. Sune Hojgaard Sorensen, a strategic and economic Advisory Board Member of the BFI Capital Group, has identified what he calls three defining mega-trends he believes will feature prominently in the next decade, all of which have been massively accelerated by Covid.

1. DIGITALIZATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

“According to a study conducted by McKinsey & Co in November of last year, in response to the crisis, companies have accelerated the digitalization of their customer interactions, accomplishing three or four years of progress in just seven months!” Further, Sorensen notes that “Value has moved from the tangible to the intangible, or a combination thereof.”

In 1975, only 17% of assets on the S & P 500 were intangible (patents, brand value, customer data, etc.), while 83% were tangible (buildings, equipment, cash, inventory, etc.). Today, 90% of assets are intangible. Digital finance, tele-health, remote work, online education, virtual entertainment, automation, and robotics will only increase in use.

2. THE RISE OF THE EAST

Consider that over 3.3 billion live in the countries of India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Japan alone. The world’s largest shipping hubs are now in the East, and Asia’s market share has massively expanded in the past 100 years. Despite the talk of “decoupling” from China, many businesses have shown little interest in doing so.

According to MacroPolo, “Foreign businesses are just one gauge of decoupling, but they are particularly important leading indicators of shifts in supply chain ecosystems. In 2020, the respective portions of US (87%) and European (89%) businesses indicating no intention to leave China are as high or even higher than they’ve been in recent years.”

According to MacroPolo, “Foreign businesses are just one gauge of decoupling, but they are particularly important leading indicators of shifts in supply chain ecosystems. In 2020, the respective portions of US (87%) and European (89%) businesses indicating no intention to leave China are as high or even higher than they’ve been in recent years.”

World's Largest Shipping Hubs Data — World’s Largest Shipping Hubs Data

1. BIG GOVERNMENTS, BIGGER DEBT

Essentially, the US has transitioned from real engineering to financial engineering. Sorenson highlights the Congressional Budget Office projections, which predict that US Debt to GDP will pass the historical high of 106 in 2023, and in 2050 will hit 2.5x what they were at the end of 2020.

But Sorensen believes this could spell opportunity for strategic investors. “Beyond the debasement and the financial repression, big government and even bigger debt will also bring plenty of opportunity to those entrepreneurs and investors who can take a pragmatic approach, see through the smoke and mirrors, and identify the sectors that stand to benefit from all this largesse, deploying their efforts and capital accordingly.”

Consider that while millions lost their fortunes in the Great Depression, those who understood the times and were wise enough to get out early (like Joe Kennedy, Sr.) were able to buy stock after the crash for pennies on the dollar, becoming millionaires in the process.

Unmasking Propaganda: From Edward Bernays To Biden’s Ministry Of Truth

Freedomist MIA August 31, 2022

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

– Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928

Introduction

The relentless attack of globalists and communists is on freedom. One of the most remarkable things about this assault is that few people indeed realize that they are being controlled and manipulated en masse for devious ends.

The answer is propaganda.

This article will expose the roots, science, history, and methods of propaganda in order to clearly reveal how propaganda is being weaponized today and what can be done to successfully resist it.

A. The Roots Of Modern Propaganda

Propaganda works through channels of information, such as education, media, Hollywood, social media, business, and government, to subtly change the ideas, beliefs, and actions of entire groups of people, manipulating them into exchanging rational, independent thinking for mass emotion and groupthink.

What is propaganda? – The father of modern “public relations” (aka, propaganda), Edward Bernays, saw propaganda as the “conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.” Bernays was a double nephew to the father of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud, for whom he possessed a lifelong admiration.

In The Crowd, author Le Bon recommended, “A crowd is only impressed by excessive sentiments. Exaggerate, affirm, resort to repetition, and never attempt to prove anything by reasoning.”

Le Bon also stated, “The orators who know how to make an impression upon them always appeal in consequence to their sentiments and never to their reason. The laws of logic have no action on crowds.”

Le Bon outlined three stages: submergence, contagion, and suggestion. First, in submergence, individuals in the crowd lose their individuality. Second, in contagion, individuals are unconsciously swept away by the crowd’s emotion and ideals, which spread like a disease. Third, in suggestion, the crowd develops a unified identity. It is in this stage that a charismatic, trusted leader can easily insert himself as part of the crowd’s identity.

B. How Bernays Used Propaganda

Edward Bernays brought together the theories of Freud, Le Bon, and Trotter, and applied them with devastating effect to the science of mass manipulation.

Shortly after the United States entered World War I, Bernays (then in his 20s) was hired by the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to help sell the American people on the war “to bring democracy to Europe.

Bernays aimed to increase sales for the American Tobacco Company’s Lucky Strike cigarettes by marketing to a new demographic – women. Bernays promoted the ideal of thinness, suggested that women smokers were prettier and slimmer than non-women smokers, and employed medical “experts” who advised smoking over sweets.

100 years ago, the average American ate a light breakfast consisting of coffee, a roll, and orange juice. All of that changed after Bernays went to work to increase bacon sales for the Beech-Nut Packing Company. Bernays assembled a “study” of 4,500 doctors, led by his agency’s internal doctor, to recommend that Americans eat heavier breakfasts. The American public followed the advice of these “experts,” and Beech-Nut’s profits soared.

C. Propaganda And Hitler

Adolf Hitler stated, “By clever and persevering use of propaganda, even heaven can be represented as hell to the people, and conversely the most wretched life as paradise.” Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Paul Joseph Goebbels, was an avid admirer of Edward Bernays’s methods and applied Propaganda with deadly success. Hitler’s regime used the Reichstag Fire to consolidate power. The Night of Broken Glass was weaponized to whip up racial tensions.

In their book, Propaganda and Persuasion, historians Jowett & O’Donnell summarize Hitler and Goebbels’s basic principles of propaganda.

Avoid abstract ideas – appeal to the emotions.
Constantly repeat just a few ideas.
Use stereotyped phrases.
Give only one side of the argument.
Continuously criticize your opponents.
Pick out one special “enemy” for special vilification.

D. Modern Avenues Of Propaganda

Education
Media
Hollywood
Big Tech
Public Health
Corporate America
Popular Culture

American citizens have fallen for lie after lie since the days of Edward Bernays. With historical hindsight, today’s propaganda is clear for all who wish to see it. Globalists can only establish tyranny by first eliminating freedom of thought and freedom of speech. It is not too late. We can reject all forms of propaganda, defend free speech, and awaken others.

What Are The Economic Implications: Food, Fertilizer, Commodities, Energy, Supply Chains, Inflation?

Freedomist MIA August 30, 2022

As noted by Bloomberg’s infographic, Russia and Ukraine account for almost one-quarter of global grains supply.

Both Russia and Ukraine have cut off grain exports. Geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan notes that the world was already facing “the worst fertilizer situation in modern history in terms of supply” before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Zeihan says, “even if the war were to stop tomorrow, it’s already too late. It’s too late for the planting season for the Northern Hemisphere this year.”

Iowa farmer Ben Riensche told Tucker Carlson, “Soaring fertilizer prices are likely to bring spiked food prices. If you’re upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1,000 a month, and it might not just manifest itself in terms of price. It could be quantity as well. Empty-shelf syndrome may be starting.”

The globalist World Economic Forum writes, “We are currently witnessing the beginning of a global food crisis, driven by the knock-on effects of a pandemic and more recently the rise in fuel prices and the conflict in Ukraine.”

Swiss asset manager Egon von Greyerz warns that the world is facing “a global monetary and Commodity infer of nuclear proportions.” Greyerz asserts, “The world will obviously blame Putin for the catastrophe which will hit every corner of our planet. But we must remember that neither Putin nor Covid is the reason for the economic cataclysm that we are now approaching.” Indeed, war would simply be the prick that burst the global bubble, a scapegoat for financial collapse and rising inflation.

Greyerz continues, “If a miracle doesn’t stop this war very quickly (which is extremely unlikely), the world will soon be entering a hyperinflationary commodity explosion (think both energy, metals, and food) combined with a cataclysmic deflationary asset implosion (think debt, stocks, and property).”

Taken together, fertilizer shortages, food shortages, commodity shortages, energy shortages, and supply chain disruptions will increase what Willem Middelkoop calls “super inflation.”

Conflict Accelerating On Multiple Fronts

Freedomist MIA November 20, 2019

Today’s struggle for money, power, and (above all) ideological supremacy is playing out on many fronts.

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