America’s decline is, as Anoop Verma says, probably irreversible:

Due to the excessive projection of American military power, many nations (including those in Europe) could not build their own military might — they became dependent on America and could not develop a regional balance of power. As the American economy and culture continue to decline (a process that I believe is irreversible), America will be forced to cut down its military expenses. The disappearance of American military power will create in several parts of the world a geopolitical vacuum, which other powers will rush in to fill. This could lead to a series of new conflicts which could go on for decades.

But a precarious, dying empire’s last graspings at power and security can be very dangerous.

A note of caution: the extent of American military predominance also includes secret/top-secret installations — of technology such as the fabled 20-foot-long/one-foot-diameter tungsten rods from outer space, much talked about in the military journals. This Project Thor toolkit is devastating in its firepower, rivaling and even beating thermonuclear devices. I suspect (and the military-watchers concur, as far as I can tell) that this technology is now in place, skirting with technicalities the existing space treaties preventing the militarization of space. No warheads. Just shrapnel, so to speak. Ha-ha! But traveling many times the speed of sound, and going deeper than surface-exploding nukes can go.

I bring this up not to contradict Mr. Verma, but to put a wrinkle on his overview of the present situation. The U.S. Deep State likely possesses far more strength than the legitimate forces of the U.S. It has a number of reasons — quite a number, actually: not small at all — to keep its most advanced weaponry secret. There is even some reason to believe that some of the secret weapons have been used for defensive and offensive purposes and kept hushed up. (For example, the real antagonism between the U.S. and North Korea may be almost nothing like what reaches the papers. Shots may have already been fired and counter-measures taken.)

So, this Deep State military overlordship is likely a huge part of America’s actual complexion of military relations. How much does it make actual diplomacy a mere show? I don’t know. But the stronger and more secretive Deep State arsenals and technology are, the less likely the U.S. is to fall from dominance, though when the dollar goes, the American Deep State could just possibly do something marvelous and awesome and disturbing: completely break away. But would Americans and the world know when that happens? If we refuse to recognize the extent of Deep State operations, the development of a new form of international power could occur almost entirely in the background.

As anyone who has read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress knows, command of orbital space is a huge political advantage, the ultimate sheer-force-based hegemony. If the Deep State already has a huge military advantage in orbit, then this puts the world order in a somewhat new light. The reason for secrecy is obvious. . . . But, as reasonable as skepticism is about all this, the evidence for secret tech within the Deep State is not insignificant. Indeed, the whole bizarre UFO story may somehow be tied up with this. It could be one not-necessarily “alien” explanation for observed anomalies.

In the Alastor tales of Jack Vance, peace through overwhelming strength is obtained by the galactic leader called “the Connatic.” His overwhelming force is a military organization called, aptly, “the Whelm.” The Connatic does, in these stories, what neocons and Pentagon folks seem to be playing at today, but not to the pathetic effect of today’s military, but to an imagined perfection of a science fiction writer. If I am right about hidden, secret reserves of military power within the American Deep State, these assets are “in play” mainly behind the scenes as negotiating points, if at all. The problem is that the people who run them only can manage these resources because they are unknown. Once brought to the light of day, their huge advantage becomes subject to sabotage and espionage and even — in a possible future revolution — by the torches and pitchforks of an angry mob.

America’s Whelm is hampered by the secrecy, but that secrecy (if I am right about it) is also the source of its stability. Once the Secret Whelm becomes public — incorporated into the new Space Force, for example — then things become more turbulent. For instance, it would have to go under congressional control.

And that is the last thing the secret government would want. There is no way a truly effective Whelm could be controlled democratically.

twv