Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 93

It Could Never Happen Here

Many Americans remain convinced that tyranny and oppression could never happen here in the United States. We are different from other countries, they say. We are more enlightened. We are exceptional. The United States will always be a free country, no matter what.

Of course, there is always a problem with the meaning of the word “freedom.” It means different things to different people.

For example, today’s Americans feel free because they live under a welfare state, a national-security state, a ...

Ten Points To Keep in Mind Amidst Escalating Indo-Pak Tensions

Everyone has the right to make up their own minds about these tensions and the Kashmir Conflict that lies at their core, but they should also know that there’s more to all this than what they might be led to be believe by the organized pro-Palestinian movement and the Alt-Media Community.

India carried out several surgical strikes against Pakistan on Wednesday morning as part of “Operation Sindoor”, which is its response to last month’s Pahalgam terrorist attack that saw the allegedly Pakistani-...

Who Is Going To Use Nuclear Weapons First?

Will we soon witness the world’s first nuclear war?  Following nuclear-armed India’s attack on nuclear-armed Pakistan, media outlets all over the globe quickly published stories about the possibility of nuclear war.  In fact, this morning the main headline on the Drudge Report was “WORLD HOLDS BREATH” in all capital letters.  Yes, it is entirely possible that a nuclear war could erupt between India and Pakistan.  But will someone else use nuclear weapons first?

In the Middle East, a showdown is ...

Debt Spiral, Treasury Market Stress, and a New Financial Order

International Man: In your view, what role does the Treasury market play in global finance, and how significant is it to the current financial system?

Doug Casey: It’s only important because it exists—but it shouldn’t exist. People think that the Treasury market is part of the cosmic firmament, but there once was a time when the US government had little or no debt outstanding, and the world got by fine without it.

It’s not a question of how significant it is so much as when the time bomb that it...

Why Western Governments Are Beating the Drums for Wars

The only parts of American, German, British, French, and Italian industry that are booming right now, are their armaments manufacturers — the companies that sell far more to governments than to consumers, and that therefore boom while the economy busts. These are the companies that need to control the Government in order to control their biggest market (which IS the Government), and so their controlling owners, the billionaires who control their boards, need to control the influencers of the pub...

Political Slavery in Our Times

In 1977, East Germany ransomed hundreds of its leading intellectuals and artists to West Germany, partly because it did not wish to endure public criticism by its own citizens during an International Rights Conference. In spite of the human sale, there was no general revulsion against the East German government in the international community. The East German regime was considered by many social scientists to have more legitimacy than the West German government because of its more expansive socia...

Are the Peace Deals Real?

Some Russian journalists, such as the astute Ekaterina Blinova, are wondering about the reality of the Ukraine “peace negotiations.”  Trump’s promised peace in 24 hours has been replaced with Trump sending more weapons to Ukraine and more threats to the Kremlin.  Journalist Blinova notes that two US Patriot air defense systems, one from Israel, are on the way to Ukraine along with US $310 million for support of the US F-16s sent to Ukraine, and another $50 million in arms.  How, Blinova asks, is...

The Papacy and the ‘Sacrifice of the Intellect’

Not long ago, Cardinal Gerhard Müller made some comments during an interview in The Times of London which caught my attention. They echo sentiments he has repeated before but which now, with the conclave to elect a new pope upon us, struck me. “‘No Catholic is obliged to obey doctrine that is wrong,’ he said, adding: ‘Catholicism is not about blindly obeying the Pope without respecting holy scriptures, tradition and the doctrine of the Church.’”

I mention these statements because I find them to ...

Concerning the Validity of the Coming Conclave

Or: the Sacrament of the Present Moment allows us to become holy today by means of abandonment to divine Providence.

God Wills or Permits All Things

Last year I made a resolution on Byzantine New Year to try to work on the spirituality of the “sacrament of the moment.” My predominant fault is pride, and my problem is that I become too abstract in my intellect. This abstraction divorces me from reality so that I make an idol out of my ideas. This prevents me from focusing on God’s will in the pre...

Gatsby Meets Nietzsche on the Train to Town

“Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.” – T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets

“You can’t repeat the past,” says Nick Carraway to Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which was published one hundred years ago this spring.

Gatsby responds incredulously, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”

This often quoted exchange is typicall...