Kumbh Mela, Ominicide & Wargasm
First, I want to thank my subscribers for being patient with me in Q1. The combination of a maintenance surgery (which worked) and the sudden loss of my illustrious father slowed me down. I prioritized being with him and restoring my own health and spirit. I was “temporarily closed for spiritual maintenance work”.
As my Dad entered his last days, the nurses said he was hallucinating because he kept saying he needed to reach out to Russia, end the war, and get rid of the nukes. I explained that he was not hallucinating. This was his wish. He knew President Putin personally and had negotiated peacekeeping deals with Russians over many years, often when relations with the Russians were at their worst. We both knew that the Trump team was edging toward an old-fashioned “Grand Bargain” with both President Xi and President Trump that would address Ukraine, Gaza, and Taiwan. All had already agreed they would together seek to commence de-nuclearization and reductions in WMD. Forty-eight hours after he passed this “Yalta” style deal amongst the superpower leaders, made it into the press. On Valentine’s Day, the headline read “Trump Wants Denuclearization Talks with Russia, China Hoping for Defence Spending Cuts.” I like to believe that Dad went straight to God and bumped these issues to the top of his/her inbox just as he had done for so many Presidents and Heads of Government during his lifetime. He understood exactly what was at stake in a way few understand today, as I will explain. This note is designed to fulfill his last wish.
My Dad also knew I had arranged to visit Kumbh Mela in India. It is the world’s largest spiritual gathering – some 600m people were there this year. It is so big, you can see it from space. We had talked a lot about the power of intention when it comes to peace. The Kumbh attracts spiritual souls who bring their best selves with their most treasured hopes and wishes to the banks of India’s most sacred river, the Ganges, at Kumbh Mela. It is said that the veil between this reality and what lies beyond is very thin there. He said I must go so he could meet me there from the other side. So, I went and dunked myself in the Ganges despite all common sense and with the knowledge that the water is a little less than pure. Happily, no dysnetary ensued. I had zero health side effects. I felt his enduring presence there, mourned my loss, and learned things that are relevant to our situation today.
I learned that 600m people can perfectly well create an atmosphere of good grace. They come to mine gold in this river. Not material gold but spiritual gold. The pilgrims there dig deep into their souls for gold; they effectively deposit it in the river, charging the waters with the ultimate expressions of love and goodwill. Hearing tens of millions of people continuously chatting and singing together over many days produced the miraculous sound of human connectedness; it is a joyous sound that I will never forget. I then came down from the Ganges and the Himalayas to find that NATO and the superpowers are not capable of such good grace right now. I landed back in reality to find NATO allies splintering, fracturing, all emotions breaking and a broader world war unfolding. It seems we need to get closer to war before good will or wisdom can win the day.
As you all know, I have long written about the war being well beyond Ukraine. There is a largely invisible Hot War in Cold Places and the Cold War in Hot Places. Vastly more is at stake than Ukraine. The ongoing sabotaging of subsea cables, the ongoing competition for control of satellite megaconstellations, the race for the computational power needed to crack codes, and ongoing work on microbes and viruses are all part of the wider conflict amongst the superpowers. All of this is becoming too costly and too dangerous. We live in a world where supersonic and microscopic weapons alike can wipe out humanity in a flash.
All the superpowers know they cannot continue on the current path. It is too expensive. It is too risky. They are each broken and broke. But, the world does not say “How wonderful that we are going to have a deal and start eliminating weapons of mass destruction”. Instead, many of the European nations – the UK, Germany, and