In any liberal constitution, in times of crisis, people appeal to an authority, to a steadfast rock in the surf of politics: to a supreme court or constitutional court. However, as any lawyer will tell you, or the experience of the last years, these appeals usually achieve little. The court will rarely side with you against the state, especially in matters of political significance. Why? Because a supreme court’s purpose is not to protect your inalienable rights but to create a façade of legitimacy for the current system.

Narratives are ideas which are so fundamental and defining to the thinking of every member of society that they become a self-fulfilling prophecy, that is brought to fruition by all means necessary. The emergence of the democratic narrative against the monarchic narrative in the French Revolution was accompanied with violence and civil war. In this video, we will have a look at the workings of narratives and their massive perils.

Megacorporations are a staple in every dystopian Science Fiction setting – Think of Cyberpunk 2077 and Deus Ex. Now, as our times have become more interesting, to say the least, one could expect Google, Facebook, Apple and all their international counterparts to go towards this path. However, this will not happen – This power has a price no company is willing to pay. A company has to bow to the leviathan or become a new one. We get GTA V at best instead of Cyberpunk 2077. History has seen megacorporations like the East India Company, but they failed.

The West fought the Taliban for 20 years and is now leaving a country that soon will revert back into the terrorists’ hands. The incumbent Afghan government has been receiving plentiful support by the West but is not able to stop the Taliban’s advance. The reason is that the government’s forces are not willing to fight the Taliban and support in the general population is lacking. Those brave few that resist are swept away. Some even perceive the Taliban as the superior government. The Taliban, meanwhile, try to hide their atrocities to gain legitimacy on the international stage.

Without any doubt, the modern nation state is facing massive challenges worldwide. The current crises has not only strained the budget of all nations but led to the collapse of state provided amenities, especially schooling. Private groups have to step in to fill these gaps. The same happened after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, when the church and local lords had to step in for the failing empire. The result was feudalism, a system described by a lot of personal relationships individual for everybody, contrary to our nation state, that separates public and private spheres with citizens equal before the law. The possible return of feudalism will offer great opportunities for some, misery for most.

More often than not, historic developments are attributed to an decisive event that changed history forever than slow developments and circumstances. Such an event was the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest to which it is attributed that Rome did not conquer Germania Magna. Netflix made an adaptation called Barbarians.

However, this battle was neither special nor an unique event. Rome lost legions in its wars. Rome later came back and crushed those that had betrayed her. The true reason was, that the area was not developed enough in economic terms to support the costs of expansion and turn a tax profit to Rome. The area was too difficult to access.

The more powerful a ruler is, the more difficulties he encounters when exerting his rule. He is stuck in a bubble, formed by administration, advisers and lobbyists that slowly removes the ruler from reality. The loss of touch with reality leads to wrong decisions, which lead to revolution. Thus, the powerful leader is powerless.

When I made my first video on Afghanistan less then two months ago, I could not have imagined that I will make a new video on the Taliban’s new state that soon. Well, here we are…

Now that the Taliban have captured Kabul, the question of the shape and form of their government arises. Truth be told, the Taliban are just a collection of groups formed around charismatic leaders and separated by ethnicity, family allegiance and personal relationships. The Taliban leadership now faces the extremely difficult task of establishing a new central government based on the remnants of the former Afghan governments, against their very own nature, or slide into feudalism and civil war. Furthermore, the Taliban must establish as soon as possible international relationships to get dire needed development aid and food imports – This, however, requires the Taliban to at least pretend to respect human rights and to be able to secure the country, which presupposes establishing a centralized government in the first place. A truly vicious circle.

Rome had to fight her enemies throughout her existence, thus securing her borders was of utmost importance. Sharing borders with civilized realms which could levy huge armies of their own meant brutal sieges and wars between highly skilled soldiers. However, the true issues were the vast borders with barbaric tribes and wilderness. Defining a border in places where civilization and savagery meet is an impossible task. Unlike those civilized realms, these tribes preferred stealthy yet devasting raids on wealthy Roman villages and villae. Like at modern borders, the issue was not fighting these troublemakers but find them in the first place.

We associate victory and defeat, glory and greatness with Napoleon, but his contemporaries would most likely also see him as a brutal monster, whose armies - as well as his enemies - pushed war and atrocities on Europe and the world. However, why was he never punished for his war crimes? In this video, we have a deeper look at his dark deeds and the reactions of those who defeated him - twice.