Neo-Caligula – a.k.a. The Undisputed Tariff Champion of the World – seems to be surprised that Iran has not capitulated.

No wonder. No clueless sycophant amongst his astonishingly mediocre inner circle is intellectually equipped to explain to neo-Caligula, in soundbites, the basics of Shi’ism.

It gets worse. What’s actually on the imperial table is the return of Total War as a political cover up, benefitting a sizable chunk of the massively corrupt/perverse Anglo-American/Atlanticist oligarchy.

The Geneva “negotiations” have been a failure. War on Russia was the leitmotif of the Munich Security Conference. The “massive armada” concentrated not far from the Persian Gulf walks, talks and sails like the US/Israel is ready to attack Iran.

Even considering a possible last chance saloon in Geneva on Friday; even considering no Iranian capitulation, the most plausible scenario remains TACO.

Because an attack on Iran – leading to a devastating response – seals the deal on the Republicans losing the mid-terms, and neo-Caligula becoming a lame tariffed duck.

All the drama revolves around the immediate imperative of switching attention from the Epstein Files – or The United States of Epstein Island colliding with the Western Epstein Collective. The Trump-Bibi-Epstein Syndicate needs to change the narrative.

In the US, a monster speculative bubble rules; historically, the Empire of Chaos, Plunder and Permanent Strikes always go to war after a bubble explodes. The Department of Forever Wars will have a budget 50% higher in 2027.

Yet the wars must start now. The industrial-military complex, or rather the MICIMATT, as memorably defined by Ray McGovern (military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academia-think tank complex) is the only escape valve for a Western turbo-capitalism trailing economically and with its “credibility” six feet under.

The new paradigm – no rules whatsoever international chaos – is now naked. It’s supremely, pornographically predatory: the Epstein ethos captures it to perfection.

And History does repeat itself – always as farce: the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine will go on. That’s an European “elite” obsession. And just like in 1941, it’s over Russia’s immense natural resources.

So Nietzsche was right, as usual, as early as in 1888. We are living the death pangs of the Western, post-modernist plunge into nihilism. Post-truth, in yet another poetic (in)justice nugget, is mirrored by Truth Social.

Discombobulate me, baby

Our current deep, dark malaise could easily be analyzed as the logical conclusion of a long process encompassing the Persian empire, the Greco-Persian wars, their impact on Greek culture, Hellenism, the Roman empire, the emergence of Christianity and Islam, the Crusades, the Renaissance, the Age of Discovery surpassing intra-Eurasian trade, the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment, the American independence, the French revolution, German idealism, the revolutions of 1848, Nietzsche, WWI and WW2.

Over two millennia, Plato and Aristotle provided the philosophical architecture for this tradition. Then, already in 1945, the whole edifice broke down. Liberal capitalism and American “democracy” imposed themselves as uncontestable truths – and terminated the space for substantive ideological debate.

The end of the USSR gave birth to the supreme silliness of the “end of History” – and thus the end of critical thinking. Only now, with the rise and rise of China, the West is being forced to return to History, of which from now on it will be mostly a spectator. The collective, fragmented West has lost for good the capacity to localize itself historically. The West is now under total Discombobulator domination.

Discombobulator logic applies, for instance, to the EU’s energy suicide. The Ohio‑based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) recently estimated that the US may come up with up to 80% of the EU’s LNG imports by 2030. That links to the trade deal announced last July committing the EU to buy a humongous $750 billion in US energy products by 2028.

Losing cheap Russian gas and depending on ridiculously expensive LNG from the Empire of Chaos is the death knell of industrial enterprise EU-wide. Shutdowns and bankruptcies are already the norm, especially in the former industrial powerhouse Germany. Call it the Triumph of De-Industrialization.

Meanwhile, rational RIC (Russia-India-China) actors invest in a complex strategic build up.

Cue to a conjunction of Russia’s clever tactical engagement, a promise used as leverage, with some US dollar domains; the steady expansion of the internationalized yuan; India also leveraging US relations while advancing the BRICS payment system architecture; and interconnected maritime security, as in Russia-China-Iran naval drills.

The US National Security Strategy’s design of five spheres of influence is already floundering: US, Russia, China (both designated as enemies), India and Japan (a US vassal).

The NSS insists that “the security, freedom and prosperity of the American people is directly linked to our capacity of trading and being implicated in a position of force in the Indo-Pacific.”

So in fact this is a threat of war, not a geoeconomic offer. Even India can see that. Something totally in synch with the foremost, desperate imperial need for natural resources and control of strategic territories.

The ultimate showdown

The New Great Game evolves, but the key battleground is set: US-China. Everything else is subordinated to it. Neo-Caligula is set to visit China in early April. Talk about the ultimate showdown.

Neo-Caligula will try, under pressure, to secure some sort of grand bargain to secure US dollar dominance. Major fail guaranteed – as the Empire of Chaos still seeks to coerce China when it badly needs its cooperation.

What really matters to Beijing is to internationalize the yuan while building gold-backed corridor after corridor. And using its financial firepower with discretion – be it by restricting silver exports or dumping US treasuries.

Beijing knows all too well that the stack of all-American bubbles can only be sustained by iron-clad oligarchic control and endless money printing. There’s no Plan B.

We have already entered a new historical phase: no holds barred; no periphrasis; not even an attempt to justify anything. That applies, for instance, to piracy by the Americans – and to a certain extent the Europeans – on Russian naval assets.

Iran mirrors the ultimate showdown: either US-Zionist imperialism prevails, or it’s multipolarity – as represented by the Russia-China strategic partnership and BRICS.

So it’s no wonder that the omnipresent battlefield is bound to get ferocious day after day.