We send the EU £350mn a week. Let's give it to Paul Kagame instead
On the topic of challenges, talk to Conservative MPs at the moment and the most frequent grumbles are, in no particular order: a) the cost-of-living crisis, b) the political damage caused by "partygate", and c) "small boats" — the passage of people in maritime vessels across the Channel to seek a better life here in the UK.
The upside of the government's refugee deal with the Rwandan government is that it gives MPs both something else to talk about in the press other than a) and b), and a solution for c). Or, at least, that's the theory.
It fixed the government's "Today programme problem" — at least for the length of the bank holiday. Instead of having to field questions on TV and radio about the cost of living or just how many fines might be handed to the prime minister, Conservative politicians instead got to have lively chats about whether the Archbishop of Canterbury should talk about ethics in public. In his Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury cathedral, Justin Welby said the UK plan to ship asylum seekers to Rwanda did not "stand the judgment of God".
But this morning ministers are once again fielding difficult questions about the prime minister's honesty and public standing. Will the one-way ticket to Rwanda have a similarly short shelf life?
Michela Wrong, who has written for us about what the Rwandan government gets out of the deal and why it is typical of the Kagame playbook, thinks it will act as a deterrent.
If [people contemplating making the Channel crossing to the UK] google "Rwanda" and "Kagame" as they weigh up their options, they will see that this vaunted "donor darling" and "model of development" boasts one of the most sinister human rights records on the continent.
I'm not going to pretend I know the outcome. But the political problem that the UK government is trying to solve with Rwanda isn't "asylum applications" as a whole: it is people making crossings in small boats and lorries.
This movement of migrants spooks Downing Street for the same reason it worries Tory MPs. They fear it shows the party's loose grip on immigration, boosts the prospect of a new Ukip-style party siphoning votes away from them and that it will become a source of political danger.
A single man journeying to the UK by boat or lorry now faces the prospect, if he is caught, of being flown to Rwanda and facing a "heads you lose, tails I win" process: either his application for asylum is found to be genuine and he is rehoused in Rwanda, or his application is denied and he is sent back to his country of origin.
As the vast majority of people making the Channel crossing do not come from Rwanda — indeed, only a small number arrive from Africa — it's possible that the threat of being dislocated to a country miles from your own, with a chequered human rights record, will be a major deterrent.
But I am dubious, frankly. People making the Channel crossing are already facing the prospect of a grim death at sea. The link between "reducing the number of asylum applications to the UK in total" and "reducing the number of people making the Channel crossing" is, well, not obvious.
As Michela notes, the Rwanda deal is a great one for the Rwandan president Paul Kagame:
For Kagame, this deal with the UK marks part of a relentless and strikingly effective campaign to persuade the west to embrace him as a proactive African leader offering radical solutions to thorny domestic and foreign policy problems.
Added to all that, while the initial £120mn payment to Rwanda is a relatively paltry sum as far as UK government spending is concerned, it makes a massive contribution to Rwanda's GDP. It is equivalent to the UK getting a cool £40bn from another country in order to take care of a tricky political problem for them.
Plus, the deal makes it politically difficult for UK ministers to criticise the moves of Kagame's government. Later down the line, as long as Johnson and Patel remain in office, the UK will struggle to negotiate further increases in the cost of the scheme. (In terms of which side holds the power in this arrangement, it's instructive to note that while Priti Patel was in Kigali to unveil the deal, and Boris Johnson was giving speeches about how wonderful Rwanda is, Kagame was . . . in Jamaica.)
To me, it feels likely that a year from now, there will still be people making the treacherous journey across the Channel and the UK will still be in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, but the Conservatives will be in the unlovely position of having to explain away both the actions of the Kagame government and the reasons for why a scheme that doesn't appear to be working comes at a higher and higher cost.
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"Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate. Only Love Can Do That", Dr. Martin Luther King.
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Visi Prezida wa USA Yabonanye na Prezida wa Tanzaniya
Visi Prezida wa Reta zunze ubumwe z'Amerika, Kamala Harris, yagiranye umubonano na Prezida wa Tanzaniya. Samia Suluhu Hassan. Bahuriye mu biro vya Harris bifatanye n'ingoro y'umukuru w'igihugu, White House.
Kamala Harris yabwiye abamenyeshamakuru ko ibiganiro yagiranye na Prezida wa Tanzaniya vyari bishimikiye ku ngingo zitatu: Ugukomeza demokarasi, uguteza imbere ubutunzi n'igisata c'abanyamitahe hamwe n'ivy'amagara y'abantu.
Harris yagize ati: " Ubutegetsi bwacu burajwe ishinga no gukomeza ubucuti na Tanzaniya n'ibindi bihugu vy'umugabane wa Afurika. Ibi ni ivy'ingenzi haba kuri Prezida Joe Biden ndetse no kuri jewe."
Prezida Samia Suluhu Hassan nawe yabwiye Visi Prezida w'Amerika ko ico asaba Reta y'Amerika ari ugutera intege no guhimiriza abanyamitahe bigenga gukorana na Tanzaniya.
Prezida Hassan kuva afata ubutegetsi mu kwa gatatu ko mu mwaka uheze, yagiye arashimangira ko yifuza y'uko politike mpuzamakungu ya Tanzaniya yuguruka, gutyo ikaresha abanyamitahe mvamakungu. Ni muri iyo ntumbero mu kiringo amaze ku butegetsi yakoze zimwe mu ngendo zirimwo izamuhuje n'abategetsi b'Ubushinwa, Ubwongereza, Ububirigi, n'Uburusiya.
Tanzaniya iri mu bihugu 11 vyo ku mugabane wa Afurika bifashwa n'Amerika mu vyo kurwanya virusi ya Corona. Ariko ari nka hamwe bitarenze mu kwa cenda congre y'Amerika itokwemeza biriyoni zitanu z'amadorali guverenema isaba kugira urwo rugamba rubandanye, ikigo c'amerika kijejwe iterambere, USAID, ntikizoba kigishobora gufasha ivy'ukurwanya Covid-19 mu bihugu vy'Afurika birimwo na Tanzaniya.
Hagati aho, Prezida Hassan avogerewe n'abari mu mashirahamwe yigenga bamusaba ko yosubiza igihugu mu muryango w'ivyegwa na Sentare nyafurika iraba ivy'agateka ka zina muntu. Ari nka hamwe ibi yobikora, yoba ari intambwe Tanzaniya iteye mu kwiyugururirako amarembo y'ibindi bihugu.
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"Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate. Only Love Can Do That", Dr. Martin Luther King.
This story is about coming to terms with the disgusting fact that we really are facing the bulldozer of the Great Reset — and about working toward the quickest victory of humanity over the algorithm. It is about the big picture, history, tapping into our strength, and being inspired but the courage of our ancestors.
The Lifeless Existence the Technocratic Swindlers Want to Impose on Us
The life that the technocrats want to impose on us is lifeless. The marketing brochure makes it look like we are going to enjoy the comforts but really, this kind of life is more or less an endless lonely scream behind the glass!
For a taste of living in a digitally controlled reality, please meet Thales' Digital ID, the "best companion" of a very lonely young woman featured in the ad. Notably, the commercial starts with a reminder of a mandatory vaccination, how appropriate!
And here is a scary 2019 bit from BBC about a kid who wants do to away with her body so that she can "be data" in a transhumanist world and "live forever" (what a cruel scam).
Underneath It All, It's About the Soul
I believe that the absurd, authoritarian condition that we are facing is a way of dealing with unresolved spiritual issues that our species has accumulated. It's an opportunity to expel our ghosts, heal our wounds, and go back to our roots.
Since we cannot just close our eyes and pretend that the attempt at the abusive Great Reset isn't here full force, we might as well turn this situation of abuse into a way of remembering our strength, love, and clarity — and tap into them all the way. And then work at it until we win!
I believe that the key ingredients of eventually succeeding in the battle against transhumanism are doing everything from love in our own lives, being our absolute best, and leaving the rest to the universe. The neurotic principle that the technocrats are driven by is like a contagious ghost, it can jump person to person — so not allowing it in our own lives is extremely powerful against technocracy.
The mind of a technocrat is driven by the need for mechanical control, it comes from a broken spirit and a fear of everything natural — and since the malady is at its root spiritual, I believe the answers are also spiritual, with practical answers and actions varying greatly from person to person, and no formula about it.
There is no formula but this horrible situation is a major opportunity for us to come alive at last — completely and fully alive. Unapologetically alive. Dance and sing and not give in to fear no matter what — and do it with love.
The past two years brought to the surface lies and imbalances going back many, many years — even centuries. (Photo by Cornelia Steinwender on Unsplash)
Nothing Is New Under the Sun
What we are dealing with today is new and shocking to us because for many of us, it is perhaps the first time in our lives that we are dealing with abuses on such a massive scale — but it is not new in the absolute sense, and many people had to do with similar and worse pressures and dangers in the past.
For example, here is the story I wrote — based on my own observations — about the parallels between the "COVID health response" and the realities of the Soviet Union, called, "On the Soviet Man and the Groundhog Day."
Throughout the history of our species, abuses have been rampant, and tyrants and atrocities have been many. There have been many unjust wars, and pillage, and slavery, and serfdom, and religious reforms, and censorship, and forced sterilization.
And even the government abuses of the COVID vaccination campaign are not original as they eerily repeat what happened during the vaccination campaign against smallpox — which is kind of stunning. In the words of the author who goes by "Midwestern Doctor":
"The original smallpox vaccine was an unusually harmful vaccination that was never tested before being adopted. It increased, rather than decreased smallpox outbreaks. As the danger and inefficacy became known, increasing public protest developed towards vaccination. Yet, as smallpox increased, governments around the world instead adopted more draconian mandatory vaccination policies.
Eventually, one of the largest protests of the century occurred in 1885 in Leicester (an English city). Leicester's government was replaced, mandatory vaccination abolished, and public health measures rejected by the medical community were implemented. These measures were highly successful, and once adopted globally ended the smallpox epidemic, something most erroneously believe arose from vaccination."
By the way, the story of smallpox vaccination is truly fascinating, I highly recommend you read the entire thing!
Lies, Exposed. Delusions, Shattered
The past two years brought to the surface lies and imbalances going back many, many years — even centuries. Fear of nature and the ambition to "conquer" it from the position of mechanical control goes a long way back — and it is hat ambition that seems to be driving the Davos crowd of today.
The past two years have also exposed — in a very rough manner — the flimsy nature of many of our basic political assumptions! Up until 2020, we as modern day Americans had certain ideas about our rights and freedoms.
Many of us have probably never expected to ever deal with today's level of absurdity, fraud, lawlessness, and abuse in our lifetimes, in our own country. Even I, being born and raised in Moscow, was convinced that the totalitarian trends have been left in the past … and yet here we are …
And suddenly, we have to deal with cruel tyrants just like the people who had walked this Earth before us. And just like those who walked before us, we have to look into our hearts for courage and answers, and swim in the dark, and pray a lot, and give birth to a stronger version of ourselves in the process. Turns out, the history hasn't ended the moment we were born, and it's our turn to be brave!
Perhaps, in the eyes of our highly perched masters, we've never been free. Perhaps, the only things that have palpably changed since 2020 are the length and the texture of our leashes — and while it makes a major difference in the quality of our lives and it matters — the underlying principle of "domination" has been built in the system all along. At least now that we see the leash and the yoke with clarity, we can start working toward the original freedom.
The Source of Our Strength
We now know that the real joy and the real power are in the strength of our spirits and in our connection to the people around us. We now know that many things that we have been taking for granted can disappear in a blink of an eye — even the right to breathe like a free human being — but love and strength remain, and it is from that place of love and strength that we need to push back. We now know that loving, sincere human beings protect us better than anything else in the world.
I think that underneath it all, underneath all the crazy technology, the world is what is has always been. And we need to do what people have been doing for millions of years, namely figure out who we are and walk our path in dignity, solving challenges as they come at us.
The Value of Patience and Faith
I would like to make an unglamorous statement and propose that our best friends in this situation are patience and relying on the universe in a humble manner. I think that they are our best friends both spiritually and practically. Yes, we also need to do honest research, and yes, we also need to push back against abuse in every available way — but I think all we do needs to be accompanied by patience and relying on the universe in a humble manner.
The age of social media and promotional campaigns around "instagrammable" rebellion have given even the best of us a bit of an illusion that pushing back produces near-instantaneous results.
The proximity of Twitter feeds makes it feel like we possess the same "influencing" power as the richest people in the world, like it's enough for us to "figure things out" and recite our explanation out loud, and the world will say, "Oh. Thank you for explaining the facts to us. Now we know, and we'll change our way!"
Of course, this never happens. In reality, we are up against a major bulldozer and thick collective and individual habits and egos. Even though social media may make everything feel accessible, which gives us an illusion of an equal footing with the richest people in the world by merely talking, we don't actually have an equal footing in the mechanical plane.
I believe we possess a lot of power (and I genuinely believe that we will win in the end) but our pour lies in a different realm and works non-mechanically.
In practical terms, we can make fun of Klaus Schwab and Bill Gates all day (and I do it all the time) but they and their masters are still going ahead with mandates, and Digital IDs, and programmable money, and so on. They are going ahead like a bulldozer. So having patience is not only good but necessary because we as we pray for the speediest victory for us, and as we work for it until we win — we don't know the timeline.
Stockdale Paradox
Jim Stockdale was a United States Navy vice admiral and aviator who spent seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Personally, I think that the Vietnam war, like most modern wars, was a shady one — which makes the story complex. But the "Stockdale paradox," as described by author Jim Collins, is stunning.
Here is the story. At one point Jim Collins met up with Jim Stockdale, and he asked him how he prevailed while in prison.
"I never lost faith in the end of the story," he said, when I asked him. "I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade."
I didn't say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, "Who didn't make it out?"
"Oh, that's easy," he said. "The optimists." "The optimists? I don't understand," I said, now completely confused, given what he'd said a hundred meters earlier.
"The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."
Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, "This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: "We're not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!"
The most important thing might be establishing solid relationships with like-minded people. (Photo by Arthur Poulin on Unsplash)
Dealing With Today's Pressures Has a Positive Side: It Helps Us Remember Who We Are
In terms of both survival and pushing back against the abuse, each of us faces the need to figure it out from the inside. Some of us have made major changes and moved to another country or state, others are making appropriate adjustments where they are. Some are very public about pushing back, some are focused on private lives. There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for how to deal with the onslaught of the "new normal" but it's very important to listen to one's heart and do what it says.
In practical terms, it's probably a very good time to learn how to be more self-sufficient (for example, I am considering starting to grow food in an urban setting). It's a perfect time to use cash a lot. It's a great time to invest into health, and maybe even to reasonably stock up on some foods (but without panic, panic never helps).
But I think that of the most important thing might be establishing solid relationships with like-minded people — and for most of us, this has been happening naturally in the course of the past two years since the conditions made people's general inclinations more transparent than before, and kinship became more visible. Loving people provide the kind of security that we all need (always, but especially now).
And the hope is that in the process of responding to these "interesting times," we can get closer to figuring out who we are in this world, and why we are here. And one day — we don't know when, but one day, this darkness will end, and we will laugh like children again. And we'll heal but we'll be stronger and wiser. I think that's the point.
About the Author
To find more of Tessa Lena's work, be sure to check out her bio, Tessa Fights Robots.
Originally published April 9, 2022, on Mercola.com
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"Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate. Only Love Can Do That", Dr. Martin Luther King.
La traite des Noirs, la conquête de l'Amérique, l'occupation de l'Afrique ont profondément modifié les rapports des Européens aux autres. Le pas entre différence et supériorité a vite été franchi. La hiérarchisation raciale illustre la débâcle morale de l'Europe. Le nazisme, en transposant des non-Blancs aux non-Aryens, cette dévaluation des êtres dits "inférieurs", a commis le crime impardonnable de porter au coeur du monde européen une férocité jusqu'alors réservée à d'autres continents.
