White Russia

 

A racially pure almas?

But...but...I assumed Russia was a racially pure and homogenous White civilization?!

That´s where you´re wrong, kiddo. 

Russian city adds "ethnic recognition software" to surveillence cameras 

The best are the worst

 

“Äventyraren Sven Hedin” is a popularized book by Axel Odelberg about the life of famed Swedish explorer Sven Hedin (1865-1952). The author describes Hedin as a man who “found his way in geography but lost it in politics”, which seems to be a fair assessment. Hedin traveled widely in Central, Inner and East Asia. He made sensational archeological discoveries in the deserts, solved the mystery of the “wandering lake” Lop Nur, discovered (or supposedly discovered) Transhimalaya and the sources of several Indian rivers, and attempted to climb Muztagh Ata in Xinjiang. He also made a dramatic but failed attempt to reach Lhasa in Tibet, at the time off limits to foreigners. 

Hedin became an international super-celebrity, spoke several European and Asian languages more or less fluently, and met a number of luminaries, including Emperor Meiji of Japan, the British explorer Stanley, Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, and the Russian Czar Nicholas II. From an upper class background, he also had connections with the Swedish royal court and was apparently the last person in Swedish history to be ennobled. His coat of arms shows a globe centered on Asia!

As a person, Hedin seems to have been both charming, an excellent speaker, tough and somewhat reckless. He was good at flattery, but also easily flattered. Odelberg believes that Hedin was too fixed on the exterior of people he encountered, including the trappings of power. Interestingly, Hedin never got married and had no children. His love affairs were entirely Platonic. I can´t help wondering if he might have been homosexual or even asexual. 

His political views, while conservative at bottom, were frequently idiosyncratic and mercurial. He turned from being pro-Russian to becoming Sweden´s most prominent anti-Russian militarist activist, only to develop sympathies for the Bolshevik regime after the revolution. During his travels, he tried to be on good terms with both the Russians, the British and the Chinese, while at bottom having a “pro-Asian” attitude and a contempt for Christian missionaries. His pro-German sympathies were more fixed, and he was eventually to develop strong pro-Nazi attitudes. Indeed, Hedin was one of the few Swedes who could meet more or less freely with Hitler himself, who did his best to flatter the famous explorer with effusive praise. Hedin´s pro-Nazi sympathies and increasingly prominent anti-Semitism were bizarre, since he was actually half-Jewish! It´s not clear to me whether Hitler and the other Nazi leaders knew this.

I admit that I found “Äventyraren Sven Hedin” a fascinating read. I never much cared for Hedin before…well, except for one thing. 

In 1914, Hedin made his most memorable (and most controversial) intervention in Swedish politics. He actually used King Gustav V to force the liberal government of Karl Staaff to resign! The short story is that the king addressed a pro-militarist farmers´ march in Stockholm, expressing strong support for larger defense spending. The so-called Courtyard Speech was secretly written by Hedin (something he didn´t admit until 40 years later). The liberal government, which opposed Swedish rearmament, resigned and was replaced by a conservative administration which subsequently was confirmed in a snap election. 

This was a remarkable achievement by Hedin, but it did take place before Sweden introduced universal suffrage. It was also the last time a Swedish king tried to meddle in politics. Judging by the book, Hedin managed to remain on good terms (more or less) with all the main political factions in Sweden even after the 1914 events, which strikes me as even more remarkable. During World War II, the Swedish government (which was neutral in the war) used Hedin as a back channel to Hitler. Odelberg speculates that maybe Hedin played a role when Hitler lobbied Stalin not to force too harsh peace terms on Finland after the Winter War.

In general, though, Hedin´s pro-Nazi sympathies (rather obviously) destroyed his reputation. He even wrote a panegyrical obituary to Hitler upon learning that the German Führer had shot himself in Berlin, arguing that Hitler was one of the greatest men in world history! It´s not clear to me whether Hedin ever recanted his views, but shortly before his death, he actually criticized the terror against the Jews and against Poland in an interview with an Irish (sic) newspaper.

I´m not sure how to end this review. Maybe by saying that the best are frequently also the worst?   

Now, this is how "real socialism" looks like

 

A month ago, super-exploited North Korean workers at a Chinese factory rioted, occupied the place and then beat one of the managers to death. North Korean *female* workers, to be exact. 

Yes, really.

Or rather: we don´t know, but a Japanese newspaper claims that this did indeed happen about a month ago. There is certainly a context for the above, and I already linked to that article, but here we go again (see second link below). 

Somewhat ironically, both pieces are from the right-wing populist site Breitbart News, presumably because the prove that Communism is a bad thing even for workers. Also, Breitbart are anti-Chinese. Still, the articles are worth reading. The short story is that China´s seafood industry is using virtual slave labor from the Pacific islands, North Korea and China itself. Much of the seafood is then exported to the United States!

I suppose it would be richly ironic if the North Korean Communist regime would be overthrown by workers from a capitalist "free zone"...

Angry North Korean workers occupy Chinese factory, beat owner to death

U.S. seafood industry tainted by Uyghur, North Korean slavery

"Communist" blackbirding?

 

I can´t say I´m surprised, but note the irony that this was published on a right-wing conservative/populist site. Because it´s about Communist mistreatment of workers and poor people, obviously. "Communists" turning very capitalist, since they sell their products for a profit to...the United States!

Apparently, China is super-exploiting labor from poor Pacific nations under conditions strikingly similar to slavery and "blackbirding". They also use Uyghur and North Korean workers under slave-like conditions. The DPRK essentially sells its workers to other nations.

Despite all the tragedy, and all the forced labor BAU, the whole thing gives an almost desperate impression. As our present civilization is winding down, "rational" China is working overtime to overfish the oceans...for what? One last bonanza for the super-rich before the anoxic apocalypse?  

China uses Uyghur, North Korean, Pacific slave labor

Corona-chan Mindset

 

So anti-lockdown protests are OK...if they take place in China? 

Genocide games

 

The official anthem of the Beijing olympic winter games 2022. Apparently, all snowflakes are part of the same big family and shine in the same way... 

Atombombsliberaler?

Ligger ju faktiskt något i detta...

Sluta hyckla - Sverige skyddas av kärnvapen

Köp gärna kärnvapen för mina pensionspengar

Avfärda mitt arschle

Påverkanskampanj eller vad? Enligt diverse nyhetsmedier har forskarna "avfärdat" att de mystiska mumierna i Xinjiang skulle vara indo-europeiska. Med vilket man uppenbarligen menar "vita européer". De sägs istället ha tillhört en grupp som kallas Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), och som var förfäder till dagens amerikanska indianer! Visst, det stämmer. Fast enligt Wiki bidrog ANE genetiskt även till Yamnaya-kulturen, som i sin tur är förfäder till...gissa vem...just det, de förkättrade indo-européerna. Att indo-européer och indianer hade gemensamma förfäder (och anmödrar?) någonstans i Asien om man går tillräckligt långt tillbaka i tiden har ju varit känt sedan länge. Det här är förstås inte de "riktiga" förfäderna/anmödrarna, utan en senare ANE-population, but you do get my point... 

En annan sak. Så här står det i artikeln: "Det kanske mest anmärkningsvärda är att gruppen inte tycks ha blandat sig med grannar i Dzungariet i norra Xinjiang. De senare har däremot bland annat västligt ursprung, från herdegruppen afanasievo, genetiskt kopplad till yamnayafolket som för 4 000 år sedan spred sig till Europa, enligt forskarna. Även i andra grupper i området finns en genetisk mix, vilket gör det än mer anmärkningsvärt att den saknas i mumiernas dna. Men trots den genetiska isoleringen var gruppen inte kulturellt avskärmad från omvärlden. Deras kultur baserades på grödor från västra, östra och centrala Asien, visar studien."

Mumierna tillhör alltså, om jag har förstått detta rätt, en arkaisk reliktpopulation av ANE som vägrade rasblanda sig (hoppsan) med de andra folkgrupperna i området (inte ens sina avlägsna kusiner som så att säga återvandrat västerifrån), men ändå kreativt tog efter inslag från främlingarnas kultur. 

Make of that what you wish. Fast särskilt "woke" låter det ju inte. Om sanningen ska fram.  

Nya avslöjanden om kinesiska mumier

Wikipedia om Ancient North Eurasians (på engelska)

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia

An absurdly ironic look at the situation in Xinjiang, the province in western China where the rule of the Communist Party is (sometimes) challenged by Uyghur separatists and militant Islamists. Judging by this travelogue, the Chinese government has turned Xinjiang (including its smaller towns) into a surveillence state almost literally similar to the fictive futuristic nation of Oceania in George Orwell´s novel "1984". Or is it Eastasia?

After reading this, I´m beginning to understand how China has so succesfully managed to stop the COVID pandemic! It must be hard even for a bat retro-virus to penetrate this iron-bamboo curtain. The traveler has nothing to say about the claimed Uyghur genocide, though. Or maybe he does, if you read his piece very, very carefully...

Is this our future if China takes over the world? 

A week in Xinjiang´s absolute surveillence state

State-owned carpet factories ARE CREEPING SOCIALISM

An entertaining article from Wikipedia, probably written by a libertarian or *very* rabid anti-Communist, arguing that Kuomintang (including Chiang) were "socialists" and therefore presumably a bunch of unreliable Reds. For instance, the Chinese Muslim general Ma Hushan "operated state-owned carpet factories" in southern Xinjiang. THE DAMN COMMIE GOOK. Everyone knows that state-owned carpet factories, especially when run by renegade warlords in highly disputed territories, are prime time ejemplos of CREEPING SOCIALISM. Quite unlike single-payer health care for US Republican Congressmen, or Federal Reserve dollars to CIA´s black budgets, then. Not to mention farm subsidies. 

"Socialist ideology of the Kuomintang"

Imaginary Muslims

 

"Imaginary Muslims: The Uwaysi Sufis of Central Asia" by Julian Baldick is an scholarly study of a Sufi scripture from around 1600 AD, "History of the Uwaysis", written by the otherwise unknown Ahmad of Uzgen in Kirghizia. A large portion of the book deals with East Turkestan, better known as Xinjiang. Today, Xinjiang is under Chinese control. At the time, portions of East Turkestan (the "historic" name of the region) was ruled by the Yarkent Khanate. The khanate was ethnically Mongol and religiously Muslim. The writer of "History of the Uwaysis" takes a positive view of the Muslim rulers of East Turkestan. The particular Sufi school with which Uzgani was affiliated enjoyed royal patronage in the Yarkent Khanate. 

Baldick´s book is not just scholarly but *heavily* so, so this is not light bedtime reading, not even for fairly advanced students of the subject-matter in question. Baldick summarizes all 40 chapters of the "History", and unless Sufi hagiography is your thing, you probably won´t enjoy this material! Still, I suppose it´s a good thing that something associated with East Turkestan has been translated to English! Or at least summarized in this particular barbaric tongue...

A few intriguing facts do stand out, though.

I happen to think that many religious founders have either been heavily mythologized, or simply didn´t exist at all. Did Jesus really exist, for instance? What about the Buddha? Or Lao-tse? Nobody thinks Don Juan Matus was real, nor did Guy Ballard actually meet Saint Germain on Mount Shasta in 1930. I therefore read the introductory chapters of "Imaginary Muslims" with some interest. Here we go again, apparently...

The mysterious Uwaysi or Uwaysis turn out to be a anarchistic current within Sufism, the adherents of which claim to have supernatural contact with the spirits of dead Sufi masters, and even with the spirit of Muhammad himself. The Uwaysis claim a certain Uways al-Qarani as their founder. Uways was a contemporary of Muhammad and hailed from Yemen in southern Arabia. Curiously, Uways never actually met Muhammad in person, yet he knew long before it happened that Muhammad would become the last Prophet and founder of Islam. Uways is venerated by both Sunnis and Shias, and he is said to have been killed in combat at the battle of Siffin, where he fought for Ali against Muawiya. Siffin is close to Raqqa in northern Syria, and recently Uways´ tomb was destroyed by ISIS. But then, nobody really knows where Uways is buried - several other locations in the Muslim world claim to host his tomb! The truth is, that no real evidence exists for Uways having been a real historical person at all. The story of his life is obviously hagiographical: Uways is the role model for every Uwaysi, since - just like them - he was a Muslim without having any physical contact with Muhammad, relying instead on supernatural (perhaps telepathic) inspiration. Also, just like many later Sufis, Uways is depicted as poor, naked and mocked, living on the fringes of society, while in reality being highly favored by God, a secret not to be disclosed to the unworthy. 

The first written sources on Uways are from the mid-9th century. It´s not clear when a more distinct Uwaysi current emerged. A certain Kharaqani (dead 1033) from Persia is considered an important figure in Uwaysi history. A Persian text known as "Memorial of the Friends" from the early 13th century claims that there is an entire group of people known as Uwaysis, who all get their instructions from Muhammad through spiritual means. During the 14th century, the Uwaysi tradition acquires a stronger position, due to the emergence of the powerful Naqshbandi order of Sufis. The Naqshbandi brotherhood seems to have incorporated both Uwaysi ideas and followers into their organizational structures. On the other hand, it also seems as if it becomes more difficult to really define what an "Uwaysi" is supposed to be, since all Sufis who claim to have supernatural contact with dead masters were now classified as "Uwaysi". 

Baldick points out that some phenomena associated with Uwaysis are actually relatively common in the Muslim world. One is the idea that a Muslim can recieve supernatural revelations from God or Mohammad in his dreams. This used to be connected to the practice of visiting and sleeping at holy places in the hope of getting a supernatural revelation from some dead prophet or holy man. Another example is the belief in a mysterious character called Khidr, not explicitly mentioned in the Quran but associated with an anonymous teacher of Moses therein. Khidr is often seen as a supernatural character who can appear at will to instruct or aid the believer. Many Sufis claim to have recieved teachings from Khidr himself. In the legends, he often appears as a physical man of flesh and blood, and reveals his true identity only later. There is also some suspicion that the Uwaysi tradition (or even Sufism in general) represent a Shiite influence on Sunnism. 

In East Turkestan, an "Uwayisi" brotherhood is said to have been formed during the 16th century by one Muhammad Sharif, who enjoyed the patronage of the Mongol ruler Abd al-Rashid (reigned 1533-1560). I get the impression that this was really the Naqshbandi order, incorporating some slightly wilder strands. Sharif is portrayed as being closely involved in the politics of his day, aiding Abd al-Rashid against his Kirghiz enemies by getting advice and blessings from Khidr, dead kings and equally dead Sufi masters. Or rather their living spirits at their respective tombs. After Abd al-Rashid´s and Sharif´s respective deaths, there seems to have been a split between the crazier mystics (the "real" Uwaysis) and the more organized "regular" Naqshbandis. Abd al-Karim (reigned 1560-1591) was associated with the wild men, while Muhammad Khan (1591-1609) favored the regulars, and was indeed their leader. But even the official Naqshbandis had certain "Uwaysi" traits, thus the father of Muhammad Khan´s spiritual master Muhammad Ishaq supposedly took instructions from "the men of the unseen", and at one point Ishaq´s deputy conjures up the master´s spirit to get some much needed advice! 

As for "History of the Uwaysis", most of its hagiographies are evidently of completely fictitious people. Baldick has diligently searched for them in other written sources, and in some cases visited the locations of their supposed tombs, and found nothing. One of the few exceptions is Satuq Bughra Khan, a 10th century Turkic ruler in East Turkestan, and a member of the so-called Karakhanid dynasty. Satuq may have been the first Turkic ruler to convert to Islam. Yet, even his biography is heavily mythologized, with the future bughra khan carrying out impossible feats of conquest (and a few miracles) at the tender age of 12. Muhammad saw him during his Ascension, when he encountered the spirits of many dead prophets. Although Satuq was not a prophet, he was nevertheless counted among them, and Muhammad prophesized that Turkestan would one day become Muslim thanks to Satuq. Some say Ali made these predictions. He was instructed by the spirit of Muhammad in Uwaysi fashion, and also encountered Khidr and a Sufi master disguised as a hare (sic). But we´re supposed to take the Bible or Buddhist traditions seriously, right?

An interesting observation made by Baldick is that the Sufi-Uwaysi practices have "pagan" elements. One example is "incubation", most famously associated with the ancient Greeks and their practice of sleeping in temples dedicated to Asklepios, hoping to see the god in their dreams. How is this different from sleeping at the tombs of dead prophets or Sufi saints, hoping to get guidence from them? (Indeed, how is that different from necromancy?) The Sufi masters often resemble antinomian Hindu gurus, who combine asceticism with libertinism, meditate on charnel grounds, walk around nude, and so on. The Sufis prefer dunghills to charnel grounds, obviously because Muslims bury their dead. I have a faint memory that one of the Uwaysis in the "History" was handling a human skull, again like fringe Hindus. There are even some "shamanistic" traits in the Uwaysi tradition, which is intriguing given its connection to Turkic and Mongol converts from shamanism. Muhammad´s Night Journey and Ascension could be given a shamanistic spin, and so can the idea that humans get instruction from animals (the hare which turns out to be a shape-shifting Sufi teacher). Baldick even believes that Khidr ("the green one") might be connected to the Green Man from European and Mideast pagan mythology. 

The main take away from "Imaginary Muslims" is that an entire religious tradition can be mostly based on fiction, including fictitious biographies of fictitious people. Which doesn´t necessarily disprove that there is *something* real behind the veil. But whatever that might be, it´s probably not an imaginary Muslim... 

A modest proposal

The few remaining Trumpistas are angry. Why? Because Biden wants to give 11 million Hispanic DACA recipients citizenship. Read: 11 million new AOCs. And 11 million new Democrat voters.

However, this problem is relatively easy to solve. 

The GOP can simply import the 11 million Uyghurs and 7 million Hong Kong Chinese which the Trump operatives pretended to care so much about during the recent election campaign. 

Check mate, Beijing Biden!

Or no? 😂

"Mass labor program" in Tibet

An article from Reuters about China's mass labor program in Tibet. A similar program also exists in Xinjiang and has led to accusations of "genocide" from Uyghur groups in exile. My impression is that we're dealing with a brutal attempt at industrialization and modernization, coupled with the usual "re-education" schemes. Which, of course, might be just as problematic, although a cynical Chinese bureaucrat might point out that the modernization of the West wasn't particularly "voluntary" either...

China sharply expands mass labor programs in Tibet

Genocide or Big Lie? The view from the left

Socialist Action on China and the Uyghurs

The British left wing group "Socialist Action" supports China and questions the Uyghur genocide narrative popular in the United States (including some Trump supporters). I don't have a well informed opinion on the matter, except that it *does* look strange when opponents of immigration claim to support the Uyghurs, a Turkic Mongol Muslim people in the Xinjiang region of China. What if 11 million Uyghurs come knocking on America's doors? And why didn't the far right care about the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar? Right...

Among Swedish missionaries and Trotskyite wreckers

Amazon sells historical flags of East Turkestan, prompting me to post this little essay. Since Amazon purged me, they are not very likely to ever sell any East Turkestani flags, though. LOL. 

This is apparently the original flag of the “First East Turkestan Republic” (ETR), more formally known as the Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan or the Republic of Uyghurstan. The ETR was a short lived breakaway republic from China in 1933-34. It was centered on the famed city of Kashgar while nominally laying claim to all of Xinjiang, the large northwestern province of China.

The ETR was an Islamic republic based on the sharia, but it was also an expression of Uyghur separatism, the Uyghurs being a Turkic people living in Xinjiang. The local Kyrgyz, another Turkic group, also supported the anti-Chinese separatists. “East Turkestan” is the preferred Uyghur designation of Xinjiang. One of the more peculiar acts of the ERT was to expel all Swedish Christian missionaries from its territory! I didn't know Sweden had interests in the area, although I do know that famed explorer Sven Hedin passed through it. The ERT was quickly overrun and defeated by another Muslim group, the Hui, who were loyal to Chiang Kai-sheks central Chinese government. The Hui are ethnically Chinese (Han).

The original flag of the ERT shows the Muslim shahada (profession of faith), a crescent and a star. While the shahada is obviously Islamic, the crescent and the star can be given both a Muslim and a Turkic interpretation, since similar symbols were used by the Ottoman Empire and the modern nation-state of Turkey. The ERT president, Hoja-Niyaz, later abolished the complex design in favor of the so-called Kök Bayraq or Blue Banner, which is identical with the flag of Turkey, except for the main color being blue rather than red. The Blue Banner is still used by Uyghur separatists in Xinjiang and internationally, and I have seen it several times at diasporic protests in Sweden.

Since this review is entirely based on web sources, I apologize for any factual errors it may contain. According to Wiki, Hoja-Niyaz made a failed attempt to collaborate with the Soviets after the collapse of the ERT, the Soviet Union having invaded Xinjiang contemporaneously with the conflict between the Uyghurs and the Chinese. Like many others, he was eventually arrested and executed on Stalin's orders, accused of being a – wait for it – “Trotskyite” and “Japanese agent”! And this from the same Stalin who had allied himself with White Guard émigrés during the Soviet intervention in East Turkestan!

But I'm digressing…

Second to none

Amazon sells historical flags of East Turkestan, which prompted me to post the following essay on their site... 

This is the flag of the “Second East Turkestan Republic”, somewhat confusingly often referred to as the EST, the same abbreviation also being used to denote the quite distinct “First East Turkestan Republic”. East Turkestan, Sinkiang or Xinjiang is an area in Inner Asia controlled by China. The Uyghurs are the main non-Chinese ethnic group. They are a Turkic people and profess Islam.

During the 1930's and 1940's, large portions of Xinjiang were under Soviet domination. The Soviet warlord of choice, Sheng Shicai (originally from Manchuria and hence without roots in Xinjiang), had proven unreliable during World War II, first defecting to the Kuomintang and later attempting to re-defect (or whatever is the proper term) to the Soviet side. After rebuffing Sheng, who de-re-defected (?) to the Kuomintang and later became a CIA asset on Taiwan, the Soviets transferred their sympathies to Ehmetjan Qasimi, a pro-Communist intellectual and leader of the Uyghur-dominated Ili Rebellion in northern Xinjiang.

The “Second East Turkestan Republic” was the result of the Soviet-supported rebellion, and existed from 1944 to 1949. It was in practice a Soviet puppet state, similar in character to East Germany and other Communist-dominated regimes established in Europe after World War II. When Mao's Communists proclaimed the People's Republic of China, Stalin ordered the ERT to dissolve and its territory to be incorporated into China. When Qasimi and other Uyghur leaders refused (perhaps out of fear of Han Chinese domination), Stalin had them all killed in a mysterious plane crash!

The flag of the Second ERT is clearly inspired by the so-called Blue Banner used by the First ERT. Blue is the color of the Göktürks, an ancient Turkic tribal federation in Inner Asia. The crescent and the star are Muslim symbols, but can also be given a Turkic ethnic interpretation, since they are used on the flag of Turkey. While the flag of the Second ERT is forgotten today, the original Blue Banner is still used by anti-Chinese Uyghur separatists in the diaspora.

One of the living

Amazon sells historical flags of East Turkestan, which prompted me to post this little essay. 

This is one of the flags used by Xinjiang when it was ruled by the warlord Sheng Shicai. Xinjiang (also called East Turkestan) is a vast area in Inner Asia. Sheng controlled it from 1933 to 1944. Apparently, an earlier flag of Sheng's regime showed a red star on a yellow field. The yellow star on a red field is clearly inspired by the flag of the Soviet Union. It's not clear to me why the star is six-pointed. Both Soviet and Chinese Communists use five-pointed stars.

Xinjiang is a province of China, but under Sheng it was a de facto Soviet puppet state. Sheng was even a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1937, Sheng carried out typical Stalinist purges in Xinjiang, accusing his opponents (most of whom were Turkic Muslims) of being “Trotskyites” and “agents of the Mikado”! The situation on the ground was complex, with many unnatural alliances. For instance, Sheng was propped up both by Red Army detachments and by Russian White Guards who had left Soviet Russia in the wake of the Communist victory.

In the end, Sheng proved to be a fickle ally. During World War II, when it seemed likely that Nazi Germany would defeat the Soviets, Sheng defected to the Kuomintang, the anti-Communist nationalist party of Chiang Kai-shek which nominally controlled all of China. After the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, Sheng attempted to rejoin the pro-Communist side, but Stalin wasn't amused. The Soviet premier actually sent Sheng's secret letter requesting renewed Soviet recognition to Chiang Kai-shek, who forced the duplicitous governor to resign his post and leave Xinjiang.

Sheng didn't leave empty handed, taking with him enormous quantities of gold and silver he had “earned” during his stint as warlord & governor of the western province. Nor was he punished, except by demotion. When Chiang's supporters fled to Taiwan, Sheng went with them and ended his days co-writing anti-Communist books with Americans!

I wonder if he ever explained to the CIA why he used a six-pointed star…