United Nations
António Guterres and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse
UN Secretary General António Guterres' speech to the UN General Assembly could not have started more cynically:
"Our world is at its worst. Divides are widening. Inequalities are widening. Hardships are spreading. Yet today, gathered together as the world is in turmoil, an image of promise and hope comes to mind. This is the Brave Commander. This ship sailed across the Black Sea proudly flying the UN flag. On the one hand, what you see here is a very common ship, plying the seas. But take a closer look. This ship symbolises what we can achieve when we act together. It is loaded with Ukrainian grain destined for the Horn of Africa, where millions of people are on the brink of starvation.” [1]
Like the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the EU address, Guterres uses metaphors and stereotypes that are aimed more at people's feelings than their reason. The boat, which is supposed to offer support and hope in a rough and dangerous sea, seems almost religious as a symbol. But these metaphors cannot disguise the fact that the causes of the global crises that Guterres laments are not so much willed by God as created by man.
The supply crisis as the next move
The UN Secretary General spoke - unconvincingly - of the fertiliser supply shortage and the difficulties in the supply chain. He mentioned the problem of high gas prices, which in turn affect nitrogen fertiliser production, and said that ammonia had to be exported from Russia, and so on. Yes, António, it has become complicated in this world! You can't find any ideas on how to get out of it at the UN, and even less from its secretary-general who complains:
„Let’s have no illusions. We are in rough seas. A winter of global discontent is on the horizon. A cost-of-living crisis is raging. Trust is crumbling. Inequalities are exploding. Our planet is burning. People are hurting – with the most vulnerable suffering the most. The United Nations Charter and the ideals it represents are in jeopardy. We have a duty to act.”
The supply crisis is the accelerator of social unrest in the months to come. What Guterres needs is a ruthless and open indication of the causes of this supply crisis. What he doesn't say is that this supply crisis is not only about the countries of the 'Global South' (Ethiopia, Sahel, Libya, Horn of Africa, etc.) or crisis regions like Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, etc., but also increasingly about countries that used to be called 'industrialised' or 'first world' countries. What he does not talk about is the unhappy coalition between the technostructure and a global caste that, after the financial and debt crisis, the migrant crisis, the climate crisis and the Corona crisis, is now erupting a supply crisis to complete its work of destruction.
Crises are homemade
For all these crises, there are many proven ways to contain them and minimise the damage to citizens. There is no energy shortage, so there should be no energy crisis! There is no food shortage, so there should be no supply crisis - unless we want to get a Horseman of the Apocalypse out of his stable again. This time it is the dark horse, if we are to take our cue from the Apocalypse.
Indeed, food prices in the EU rose by an average of about 15% last year, a level never before seen. Prices of edible oils and fats have risen particularly sharply, as have prices of important staple foods such as bread. In August 2022, the annual inflation rate for the euro area was 9.1% and for the European Union 10.1%. The undisputed inflation driver is energy costs (+38.6%), followed by processed and unprocessed food (+10.5%). [2]
The EU price index for July 2022 shows that the price of butter has almost doubled in year-on-year comparison (+81.2%), meat has risen on average by a good quarter, and for cereals it is mainly wheat prices that have soared. Compared to the previous year, the EU consumer price index for the food sub-index rose by +13.2% in July 2022. [3]
The EU statistical office Eurostat has also just published an estimate for 2021 (!), according to which 21% of the EU population is at risk of poverty. The most affected countries are Romania (34.4%), Bulgaria (321.7%), Greece (28.3%), Spain (27.8%) and Italy (25.2%). France and Germany are just below the European average with 19.3% and 20.7% respectively. [4]
However, these are estimates for 2021! If we put these figures together with the current inflation rates, we can count on the fingers that a critical part of the population in the Member States can no longer afford to live. In Germany too, a recent study concludes that almost 60% of private households already have to spend their entire income on monthly expenses. [5]
The looming supply crisis in Europe is a homegrown crisis. It is the result of a global speculative system, just like the financial and debt crisis, the energy crisis or the pandemic crisis. These crises are very effective because they are intertwined at many interfaces and therefore mutually reinforcing.
For example, the energy crisis feeds the crisis in the supply of food and other basic necessities, as transport costs are passed on in prices. The European Commission publishes every Thursday the average daily prices of the previous Monday for petrol and diesel in the 27 EU countries. [6] Countries such as Germany, Finland and Sweden currently have the highest prices for diesel, at more than 2.00 Euros per litre - the fuel with which the trucks that usually move the goods are filled, which was, at least until recently, cheaper than storing the goods in the countries concerned.
The dream of a world government
In his book 'Why the West Rules - For Now' (2010), British archaeologist Ian Morris cites his Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which have continually challenged human societies and communities for the past 10,000 years or so: famine, plague, climate change, migration and the collapse of the state. [7]
For centuries, the Horsemen have followed one another, for example famine has followed climatic disasters or epidemics have followed waves of migration. Today, the technostructure and its complacent accomplices are sending the Apocalyptic Horsemen all at once to impose their global agenda.
Guterres abuses his position, arguing counterfactually and not shying away from ideologisation. Worse still, there is ample evidence in his speech that he is acting in the interests of the groups involved in the conflict, not the states and societies actually affected by the famine and supply crises.
Guterres has long been a senior UN official. He knows that the 'Apocalyptic Horseman named Corona' was not triggered by states but by the technostructure. He knows that the crisis originated in a UN organisation, the World Health Organisation, which has long since ceased to defend the interests of states and their societies, but those of private donors. Guterres is emblematic of the absolute drift of the United Nations as an international organisation of sovereign states. It is hypocritical and cynical that he laments that the UN charter and its ideals are in danger - and that he speaks in the wake of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse drivers.
What next? Will the Secretary-General make a 'promise of salvation', that in future sovereign states could hand over their governance to the UN? The fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse - the collapse of states - would then be unleashed and a technostructure-subverted 'world government' could take over. But slowly...Let us remember Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice: « Die ich rief, die Geister, werd ich nun nicht los! » [8]
This text was first published in: Le Courrier des Stratèges on September 28th, 2022
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[4] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tipslc10/default/table?lang=de
[6] https://energy.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/weekly-oil-bulletin_en
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvQ_Tc0OOU
[8] Spirits that I've cited, My commands ignore.