In the fifth century storm upon storm out of the dark North swept away in a great deluge of barbarism all the civilization of the western half of the Roman Empire. From the Atlantic to Constantinople, and from the Rhine to the Danube to the deserts of Africa, all that was learned and cultivated, all that was artistic and beautiful, was overwhelmed in an avalanche of ruin in which not only the triumphs of architecture, literature, and art, produced by many centuries of a high civilization, but also those who could create such things afresh, were involved in one general destruction.

G.F. Young

Civilization is fragile. It can swept away in a very short time. In fact, Forces are gathering right now to sweep it away. Those who should have been defending our civilization have tended to join with the destroyers: politicians, professors, artists, writers, even scientists. They don’t seem to know what they are doing.

Although we are threatened with the nuclear arsenals of Russia and China, we are not threatened — as the Romans were — with “storm upon storm out of the dark North in a great deluge of barbarism.” We are threatened with a savagery of spirit and a barbarism of mind. We are threatened with that “coldest of all cold monsters,” the state. We are threatened with a perverted intellectuality. We are threatened with the self-deluded mediocrity of our “experts,” pundits and politicians We are threatened by fake science parading as “consensus” science (as if real science could ever occur without challenging the “consensus”). We are threatened by lies that remain uncorrected, corruption that is not properly investigated, and a cowardice that won’t rally.

A year ago last fall Nancy Pelosi said Joe Biden was going to be inaugurated president regardless. Well, he was. The Constitution is observed in theory but not in practice. When the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade the decision of the Court is said to be “illegitimate.” The ruling political party no longer cares for checks and balances, fair elections or the Bill of Rights.

Those without respect, without reverence, without piety, want to reorder society to their liking. They are careful to avoid the word “socialist,” but that is the system they want. They are against the free market. They oppose capitalism. They hate Christianity. They are trying to eliminate freedom of speech. But most of all, they hate America. They absolutely, down to their bones, hate America.

The country is said to be polarized between left and right. In fact, the left is becoming a totalitarian formation. Its goals and ambitions are no longer compatible with free speech or free elections. Socialism sees itself as more important than the rule of law, superior to republican institutions. Anti-socialism is counted more and more as an absolute evil, signifying racism, sexism and classism. Thus, the very basis for party competition under free elections is in free fall.

The left is becoming the victim of its own shadow, projecting its own dictatorial ambitions onto the right. This is plain for all to see. They talk a good game when it comes to democracy, but as Nancy Pelosi demonstrated in 2020, the actual vote doesn’t matter. Biden will be inaugurated “regardless.”

This situation cannot continue indefinitely. The country is getting tired of it, and the Biden administration has worn out its welcome. As the spell of each successive falsification breaks, however, the masses are vulnerable to new narratives featuring new falsifications. The country never seems to arrive at the truth. The shopping mall regime offers us pajamas in our favorite colors. The peddlers of conspiracy theory offer many flavors to choose from. You can blame the invisible Illuminati, the Jews, the Vatican, or the CIA. Who dares to name the real malefactors — the communists? You can believe a missile hit the Pentagon, or that Ukraine is the aggressor rather than the country that invaded Ukraine. You can believe the wicked American “military-industrial” complex is responsible for the world’s woes, or that 9/11 was an inside job. Buried underneath a great mass of nonsense the truth remains hidden: Russia and China are allied, they are coming after us, and the communists are their fifth column.

The Democrats pretend to support Ukraine in the war, but their support is token. For every artillery shell the Ukrainians fire, the Russians are firing ten. NATO pretends to increase its readiness for war, but NATO is not ready. On every side a demoralizing propaganda attends. We must overcome this. And only the truth will suffice if Providence is willing.

Greatness in leadership, argued Thomas Carlyle, is very simple. Those who are the instruments of Providence are effective only insofar as they see the truth of their time and are able to act in accordance with that truth. That this is a rare thing; for most men are the dupes of wishful thinking. As Gustave Le Bon famously said: “Mankind prefers fiction to truth.”

Therefore, if regard for the truth coincides with the work of Providence (as envisioned by Carlyle), then disregard for the truth guarantees a bungled course of corruption ending in defeat. Undoubtedly, this politics of ours is a politics of mediocrity and decline because it is a politics built on insincerity.

The avalanche of ruin we face today is not from barbarian tribes threatening to cross the Rhine and the Danube. The avalanche of today is the result of an inner emptiness and want of moral seriousness. Demosthenes held that the most persuasive oratory was ethical. Only by appealing to truth and justice can we turn the tide. Of course, an oratory of fake truth and fake justice can be heard on every side.

As a lover of art and culture, G.F. Young expressed what was lost in the collapse of Roman civilization in the fifth century. He did so as one who felt the loss deeply. He called what followed a night of “two hundred years” in which barbarians fought over civilization’s corpse. Then came the eighth century and Charlemagne, who brought forty years of flickering light. Afterwards there came another hundred and fifty years of battling as “the Mohamedans” swept out of Arabia with another deluge of war and pillage. “At length,” he recounts, “in the twelfth century the re-civilization of the West is begun by the discovery in Italy of the code of the Roman law.”

Two centuries later, a “miracle” occurs. Dante, Giotto and Petrarch appear. Great literature in the classic form reappears. We see the first rendering of the classical spirit since Boëthius penned that last meditation on truth, The Consolation of Philosophy. Young wrote: “out of the very grave of that old civilization of Rome, buried nine centuries before, comes the new inspiration, the Re-birth.” Thus began the Renaissance. The flower would bloom again.

But now, the flower of that greatest of all civilizations, known as “the West,” has withered. Barbarism makes itself felt as learning turns against the classical spirit — turns against beauty in art, nobility in manners, morality in daily life. The downside of the cycle comes again. A terrible battle approaches us in our decadence. Can we reform and revive our dying world?

The truth is the key.

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277 thoughts on “What is Lost?”

  1. Shot in the back with a shotgun? Wonder if he was hit with pellets or a sabot?
    And the size of a shotgun and the relatively close distance, hhmm doesnt he have a security detail?

    I don’t know much about him, just read that he was a hardliner against China .
    Revenge or something else,? Time will tell .

    -Bill Freeman

  2. Look at the leadership of nations that support freedom: Boris resigns. The Israeli government dissolved until November election with a leftist liberal now in charge. Abe assassinated. Colombia elects a communist. Senile Biden in office. Freedom and democracy are on the ropes and western civilization is ready to disintegrate. Long life the farmers!

    1. We might need a kind of medieval mixed leadership with elements of kingship, nobility and family and so on, and next to the territorial parlaments also guilds and estates….

      but this has to be grow, it cannot be “made” in a few years as it has been tried, for example, in Portugal under a miitary dictatorship. Tentation of power is strong – and so we see quite problematic things in “rightist” dictatorships like in Spain (with much centralism instead of the old “fueros” for real), Chile, even more in Argentina,, also in Taiwan and Korea – all in all much less evil than North Korea, Red China, Kuba, USSR and others, but too “dialectic” responding to all that. Morality is no mass of disposition. So w e need a mixture of prayer and good deed.

      , or under de Gaulle (i would call it neobonapartism, it is as conservative as Napoleon III – not at all really),

  3. Has anyone been able to find out which “other ten nations” are going to participate in the Venezuelan war-games in August? I’ve looked at many sources, and none list the other participants. The fact that even Pravda doesn’t list them might indicate that the identity of the others is, for the moment, to be hidden from view.

    Presumably Nicaragua and Cuba will be there. If that still leaves eight other Latin American countries, then a significant open shift of allegiance will be evident. The most telling will be the participation of Colombia (too soon?), Chile, Argentina and Mexico (!).

    It might be that most of the remaining places will be taken by non-Latin American countries like Vietnam and Angola, in which case, there won’t be so many surprises.

    1. An interesting little snippet I found from News of India:

      37 Nations to Participate in Russia’s Army 2022 War Games

      Moscow, July 6 (UNI/Sputnik) The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that 37 countries had confirmed plans to send national teams to the Russia-led Army 2022 war games. “As of today, 275 teams from 37 countries have confirmed their participation in Army 2022. Niger and Rwanda will take part in the games for the first time,” a statement read. The games will be held on August 13-27 in 12 countries: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam. A total of 36 military tournaments are planned, 12 of them in Russia, which will also host the Army 2022 international defense industry forum near Moscow on August 15-21.

      1. As far as who is participating in the “Sniper Frontier competition” I don’t know, but I found this:

        Last year Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Russia took the top honors. Some of the other countries participating in the 2022 IAG’s are Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Sri Lanka. Teams from Niger and Rwanda will take part in the games for the first time.

      2. May it be possible that one hears more about NATO maneuvres here than about such “games”? I guess this is a kind of training all around the world, from all around the world, many leftist countries within, and seem-to-be enemies as Armenia and Azerbaijan, It is groupeed around Russia and China as leading powers, it seems. There may be any kinds of military units on any kinds of terrain….

  5. Scary times! Did you see General David Berger’s comments yesterday about China?

    “Berger added that Chinese military capability is “on a very different level” than it was just 10 years ago, and that the Corps’ extant processes “were not designed with that in mind.”

    ….

    “To that end, however, Berger said that issues taken for granted when fighting terrorists would be anything but a given when fighting China. Foremost among those issues are logistics and the intensive art of ferrying troops and materiel when they are needed to be across an ocean while under constant pressure from Chinese forces.

    With that in mind, Berger said that the United States’ allies and partners would be essential components of national strategy, not just in terms of building a fighting force, but also in sustaining that force. In a potential conflict with China’s communist regime, he said, the United States would need to rely on nations like Japan and Australia to assist in maintaining supply chains and coordinating forces even as China sought to disrupt the nation’s ability to deploy its resources.”

    “Realistically, [China’s] going to challenge us back in our port[s] or beyond,” Berger said. “They’re going to try to slow our mobilization; they’re going to do everything that they can to slow us down as far back as possible.”

    It sounds good, but then he says they’ll “be ready by 2030”. That’s a little late. 🙁

    1. “On Wednesday, Reuters revealed that more than five million barrels of crude oil that were expected to be put into use in the US to bring down skyrocketing prices at the pump were instead sent to European nations, India, as well as China.”

      China! Think we’re being set up? 🙁

    1. The only thing I mean to know is that this would be more interesting for our “new Rights” especially here in Germany – AfD, and so on – than Russian brutality?
      If “they” wanted to help Ukraine fullheardly, and if they are the supposed liars as well – wouldn’t they try to let such things be unpublished?

      Why does the German weekly “Stern” makes an oppinion poll about if Germany should give heavy material? And publishes the result, with a little majority AGAINST?

      Why do Deutschlandfunk, part of the state media, gives a platform to Jakob Augstein? Why does, if I see rightly, does the weekly “Die ZEIT”?

      RND is described in German wiki:

      “ist die Redaktion für überregionale Inhalte der Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack GmbH & Co. KG. Deren größter Kommanditist ist die Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, das Medienbeteiligungsunternehmen der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands (SPD).”

      ” is the editorial staff for nationwide contents of the publishing company Madsack (and so on)., whose largest limited partner is the German Printing and Publishing Company, which is the media holding company of the Social Democratic Party of Germany…”

      So we see mainstream mere leftist private, state and party influenced media publish infos and opinions that damage and derail the defense of the Ukraine in different ways…

  7. I expect war to break out at any time between now and Nov. 1. But sooner seems more plausible to me than later.

  8. One thing I’ve noticed, Jeff, is you place a high value on “information”, simply because it is in some book written by somebody. Granted, you seem to follow with great vigilance the veracity of such claims, as born out by the unfolding of events after publication, but you seem to not give real weight to the possibility that the greatest misdirections and feints are in print, not in the casually passed around “conspiracy theories”.
    In fact, if the Marxists are this good at infiltration and misdirection, we must assume that they would build up a Jeffery Nyquist to be part of the mis-information, in some way. And we must assume, if they have succeeded in deploying tens of thousands of infiltrators globally, then at least at the hive mind level, they are considerably smarter than you or I. I find this unlikely. More committed for sure, never taking a day off, but not intellectually more capable. If they were they would already rule the world!
    None of this is to take away from your lifes work. Like I mentioned long ago: we are all kennel blind to one degree or another, and from 50,000 feet, most of us are just plain stupid. It is the stupid that give the authoritarians of all stripes their edge.

    1. There is a lot of disinformation in print. I don’t just pick sources at random. You have to test them, analyze them. Construct the right context and continually check and re-check.

      1. It would, in the same way, be possible that a commentary like above is part of derailing and misinformation. Because it underrates the danger

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