Empire before Empire

 

- Yes, bird shit. You heard that right! 

I´m sure you´ve heard about the glory days of American isolationism during the 18th and 19th century. Yeah, so about that...

Isolationism my ass.

Guano Islands Act of 1856

List of Guano Island claims

Geopolitik

 

Credit: US Army World Class Athlete Program

Det enda land som lyckats få Donald Trump att öppna gränserna?

USA vill hålla Kina borta från Marshallöarna

Lizards on rafts

 

- Not sure if the journey was worth it, tbh...

"Iguanas sailed on rafts 34 million years ago". LOL, no, they didn´t. But the headline does sound funny. I mean, for a moment I hoped peer-reviewed Science (TM) had proved the Silurian hypothesis?! 

Alas, it´s an article about perfectly normal lizards clinging to masses of vegetation drifting with the ocean currents all the way from North America to the Fiji islands. The longest journey ever made by a non-human terrestrial animal, apparently. Somewhat ironically, the ancestors of the Fijian iguanas may have been desert-dwelling ditto in America. 

I assume their evolutionary adaptations to a desert environment (think extreme heat, almost no water) may have helped them survive on the "raft" in scorching tropical heat with no fresh water until they reached the land of milk and honey in the middle of the Pacific...

Iguanas on rafts

Custom and cargo

 

“Waiting for John”, retitled “Waiting for John Frum: Cargo Cult of the South Pacific. When God is an American Soldier” by this YouTube account, is a low-budget documentary about the John Frum Movement at Tanna, an island in the New Hebrides. Previously a joint (!) British-French colony, since 1980 the New Hebrides are independent under the name Vanuatu. The film crew spent some time in the small settlement of Lamakara, the last hold out of the Movement. There, a couple of hundred people led by one Chief Isak still await the return of their mysterious savior figure. They also interviewed members of a breakaway faction at Sulphur Bay (the quitters are actually the larger group) and Christian missionaries from Port Resolution.

The beliefs of the John Frum Movement are an eclectic mix of pro-American “modernism” and Melanesian traditionalism. Indeed, the cult members seem to live a more traditional lifestyle than many other people in Vanuatu. Frankly, the Movement comes across as very weird. The inhabitants of Lamakara are self-sufficient, grow their own food, raise pigs and try to stay out of the money economy (not entirely successfully). Ecstatic dances and kava drinking also form part of Custom, as they call their traditional ways. Apparently, Christian missionaries and the colonial authorities attempted to stamp out Custom.

At the same time, the Movement has quasi-apocalyptic expectations and hopes that America will bring them “cargo” (modern products). The main rituals of the cult include the hoisting of an American flag and a mock US army drill, during which Chief Isak dress in fancy uniform. John Frum himself is a composite character. On the one hand, he is seen as an American soldier, neither White nor Black, who speaks all languages in the world. He supposedly appeared in 1940 and prophesized the coming of the US military to the New Hebrides. On the other hand, John is seen as a spirit-being who can be contacted through visionary trances. Isak “spoke” to John in a cave at the top of a high hill. The documentary doesn´t say, but it´s easy to suspect a connection to native shamanic practices.

Like virtually all other religious movements, the John Frum Movement has experienced at least one split, perhaps due to the delay of the Parousia. When based at Sulphur Bay, most adherents decided to follow a certain Prophet Fred, who claimed new revelations from the spirits. His movement, called Unity, no longer believes in the return of John Frum in the flesh, instead preaching concord between cargo cultists and Christians. The few remaining stalwarts were forced to leave Sulphur Bay and build the new village of Lamakara in the hinterland, Lamakara meaning “outcast”. The Movement is also under pressure from Christian missionaries (who are ethnically Melanesian) and modernity in the form of the national capital Vila and its money economy.

I can well understand why cargo cultists have fascinated Western anthropologists and scholars of religion. The parallels to Christianity are obvious. The Christians at Port Resolution resolutely proclaim the return of Jesus, who rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven, while insisting that John Frum is dead and won´t return. But, of course, the John Frum-ites insist that John is very much alive in mint spirit condition. The eagerly awaited American aid is clearly the apocalypse of the cargo cultists, and even the peculiar combination of nativist traditionalism and modernity could be a subconscious Christian borrowing. Think this-worldly asceticism leading to a pie-in-the-sky reward in the afterlife. The crisis when the Messiah doesn´t show up on schedule is a classic. To a Christian, this simply means that the John Frum Movement are a bunch of Anti-Christs, but from a more secular viewpoint, the Melanesian cargo cult raises questions about Christianity itself. Isn´t it strange that the sociological dynamic of both “true” and “false” religions are remarkably similar?

With that reflection, I end this little review. 

Breaking now

 

Credit: Marilyn Sourgose 

The locals are manning up to protect Julian Assange from ZOG abduction attempts. Just in from the Northern Mariana Islands!

Kidding...

The eagle has landed

 

Credit: Gage Skidmore

So apparently Julian Assange has landed in the mysterious "Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands". 

I´m probably not the only one who wonders what will happen next. Will he be kidnapped by the CIA and taken to the US mainland? Will his flight to Australia explode, Prigozhin style? Will he be gunned down in Sydney under dramatic forms in front of the TV cameras? 

Or will absolutely nothing happen...until Trump becomes POTUS and demands Assange´s extradiction from Down Under, or else? 

His court appearence is apparently due in one hour, so stay tuned for further Wikileaks...

Upplopp i paradiset

 

Kanaker och fransmän har ju aldrig gillat varandra, men den senaste tidens våldsamheter på Nya Kaledonien verkar vara orsakade av Kina, Ryssland och Azerbaijan (sic). 

Kina expanderar i Söderhavet. Ryssland expanderar på Frankrikes bekostnad i Västafrika. Och Azerbaijan är sura på Frankrikes stöd till Armenien. Eftersom Ryssland för närvarande har dåliga relationer med Armenien (annars en traditionell allierad), så kan man väl inte utesluta något slags rysk koppling även här.

Frankrikes president Macron har åtminstone retoriskt intagit en offensiv hållning i konflikten i Ukraina. Säkerligen p.g.a. de geopolitiska spänningarna med Ryssland. Kinas expansion i Stilla Havs-regionen kolliderar givetvis också med franska intressen. Har för mig att vissa småländer i regionen faktiskt varit pro-ryska tidigare, men jag antar att Kina är huvudaktören där.

Återstår att se om detta bara är en försöksballong, eller ett allvarligt menat försök att öppna en ny anti-västlig front från Rysslands och Kinas sida.    

Totalt kaos på paradisön

Undantagstillstånd i paradiset

Cannibal geopolitics

 

Breitbart News goes Woke? Or are they just trolling Joe Biden? LOL. 

Papua New Guinea slams Joe Biden for "cannibals" remark

Mystery or mystification?

 

“Easter Island Origins” is a very recent documentary about the mysterious Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the Pacific Ocean. The island is almost isolated from the rest of the world but famous due to its large stone statues (“moai”), remnants of a vanished high culture. But perhaps Easter Island isn´t really that mysterious. Maybe its people and culture have simply been mystified by outsiders? Judging by this documentary, the answer is “yes”…but some of the new research on the island have led to sensational results anyhow.

Controversially, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl claimed that Easter Island had been inhabited by migrants from South America. While this is disproven (the earliest settlers on Rapa Nui were certainly from other parts of Polynesia), DNA research suggests that there actually might be a connection between the island and the South American mainland. The documentary is somewhat unclear on this point, but if I understand it correctly, the idea is that the *Polynesians* sailed to South America, rather than the other way around. 

Genetic markers typical of the Zenú people in Colombia have been found among the peoples of the Tuamotu Islands, the Marquesas Islands, Mangareva and Easter Island. The idea seems to be that the Polynesians first colonized the two former, then reached the South American mainland, only to return home (presumably with Zenú wives and/or mixed race children). Some of these people with mixed descent participated in the somewhat later discovery and settlement of Mangareva and Easter Island, explaining why the Zenú marker is found there too. The sculptures in “medieval” Colombia had a strong resemblance to those found in the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Mangareva and Rapa Nui (although the moai at Easter Island are much larger in size).

The usual Western picture of Easter Island is that of a downright irrational population who cut down all trees and used up all rock (which could be used as fertilizer) in a vain and manic pursuit of building larger and larger statues. War and civilizational collapse promptly followed, and when the Europeans arrived, the native Polynesians had already forgot their great traditions, lived in caves and drank sea water. 

“Easter Island Origins” contain interviews with archeologists who deny this traditional picture. They believe that the population of the island was always relatively small (and hence couldn´t dramatically “collapse” in the first place), that there is no evidence of warfare, nor of settlements being abandoned by people taking to the hills. There *is* evidence of wide-spread deforestation, but this was due to rats, which lacked natural enemies and hence proliferated en masse, consuming the seeds of the trees in the process. 

The real (human) population collapse took place after the arrival of the European colonists, when various diseases to which the natives lacked immunity killed off most of the population. *This* led to the great statues being abandoned or destroyed during the 19^th century. Easter Island was also attacked by slave-raiders from Peru. The handful of survivors who were able to return to the island carried smallpox with them and infected the rest of the population. At its lowest, the native population was only 40 people! Today, it´s back around 3000, approximately the same number as before Western colonialism. The island has been controlled by Chile since 1888.

It´s a tragic story of a people that actually reached the American mainland centuries before Columbus made a landfall in the Caribbean…

And no, no evidence of Lemuria!

America Before

 

Do we finally have evidence that the Polynesians reached the New World long before the conquistadors showed up? Analyses of plant remains from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) suggest that the Polynesian settlers visited South America and took back food plants only found there. Which means they had contacts with some Native people growing them. 

I´m not particularly surprised that the Polynesian connection have been proven. Or proven first? The Polynesian landfall was around 1000 AD, hence later than the "Viking" journey to Vinland, but still pre-Columbian. Sure wonder what else lurks out there...

The second link goes to an article arguing that the mysterious rongorongo script was developed independently by the Polynesians at Easter Island.     

Polynesians at Rapa Nui had contacts with South America 1000 years ago

Rongorongo script developed independently

15 minutes of fame

Who is Jason Palmer? Some dude who defeated Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries in a territory that doesn´t even vote in POTUS elections and only has 6 delegates at the Dem convention. Three of which went to Biden anyway. 

Yes, the territory in question is American Samoa. Only 91 people voted in the Democratic Party primaries. 51 of them for Palmer. Probably because he actually campaigned before the caucus (through zoom), whereas Biden did nothing. 

In 2020, American Samoa was the only territory won by Michael Bloomberg in the Democrat primaries, so they certainly have a tendency to vote in unexpected ways. Sure wonder what super-rich Bloomberg promised them back in the day? A new playa?

This news item will be forgotten forever tomorrow morning. Even on Samoa...    

Who is Jason Palmer? A previously unknown Democrat beats Biden in American Samoa´s Democratic caucus

The body found

 

It´s actually quite funny that the media creates a panic (or is it a silly season) everytime some carcass of a sea animal washes ashore. The term "globster" for seemingly mysterious carcasses was apparently coined by notorious sensationalist Ivan T Sanderson. I assumed it was Charles Hoy Fort (who was definitely on the same wave length, LOL). 

This week, the unidentified fishy object is a "mermaid globster" (no less) from Papua New Guinea. Or strictly speaking the small Simberi Island a bit north of the PNG mainland. The experts are *baffled*, baffled I say, except of course they really aren´t, with guesses ranging from a whale of a tale to the pudgy dugong, but alas, nobody guessed a plump mermaid on a suicide mission.

The natives of the volcanic island, who presumably have better things to do, didn´t take any DNA samples and promptly buried the rottening mass of ectoplasm at an undisclosed location. Well, at least the media spared us the details!

So it seems we have to wait a few months until the next globster comes onland, hopefully with its monstrous mer-squid-megalodon DNA intact...  

Mermaid globster found in New Guinea

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

Queer as Taliban

 

This must be the strangest news item this year. I suppose we could call it queer as fuck! Is Andrew Anglin behind this, somehow?

Taliban shuts down "Queer.af" platform 

Insular gigantism

 

Why are rich people suddenly buying up islands all over the world? Edward Dutton and PJW comments...

I´m sure this isn´t a conspiracy of any kind. I mean, it´s already been exposed, right? :D

At the court of Emperor Rudolf

 

The King of Tonga

Gotta love it when Czechs (yes, Czechs) still think Prague is golden and Bohemia the center of the world. And yes, the defense minister is ODS. Of course she´s ODS. That strange Czecho-centric isolationist party. I´m sure the Czech Republic can form a very succesful international organization together with Tonga, the Marshall Islands and Paraguay, LOL.

But sure, at least the current version of the ODS prefers being brokered by the United States (and the South Pacific Tourism Organisation), rather than by Vaclav Klaus´ somewhat notorious friend Vladimir Putin!

And these people complain about Slovaks... 

Czech defense minister wants to leave the UN, blah blah 

"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

Nice try, general

Credit: Michael Pinczolits

Nice try, gringos. Maybe you are lying *now* for some reason? 

The bizarre secret behind the Chinese spy balloon

Uncharted waters

Palau people with their flag,
no connection to Turkey!

Russian soldiers recently boarded a Turkish merchant vessel on its way to Ukraine, but eventually decided to release it. The ship is Palau-registered (sic) but really owned by a private Turkish shipping company. Judging by footage on YouTube, it´s prominently flying the flag of Turkey, not Palau. It also has a Turkish name. However, it´s not clear what flag it was flying at the time of the actual incident. (Palau is a small nation in the Pacific, and presumably allows foreign ships to nominally register there.)   

Not sure what this means. While Turkey is a NATO member, the Erdogan regime are notorious multi-vectoralists and have relatively good relations with Russia, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. Are tensions brewing backstage, or was the whole thing just a stupid mistake, a trial balloon of some sort, or what? 

Note also the mysterious explosion at a Turkish port last week, which dropped out of the news after just one day! What blew up was a grain storage facility. And both Ukraine and Russia are very eager to export their respective grain...  

Russia boards Turkish ship

No more thirst poasting

Credit: Jlfutari

It´s become something of a gimmick here on the blog to post pics of particularly well-endowed young women everytime a Chinese spy balloon enters US air space or an American bank collapses. However, this has now become so common that the blog might run the risk of looking, shall we say, highly suggestive. 

So from now on I will instead post pics of rare birds whenever the events mentioned above take place. I expect this to be something of a weekly feature in the months and years ahead... 

New mystery balloon over Hawaii