Rule Collapses In Russia And Around The World, As Freedom Takes Charge!

As the US government enters its second shut-down in seven years – both of them driven by Trump – other parts of the world are also sputtering to a stop.

This includes the area ruled by Trump’s buddy Putin.

In both cases, US and Russia, the fault is with the rulers alone. Their people had nothing to do with it and were not consulted. In Trump’s shut-down, he is blaming the Democrats for driving his car off the cliff because they were in the back seat and didn’t seize control of the car. In Putin’s case, he invaded a country with an army of 250,000 soldiers that any amateur strategist (me) told him would require ten times that number, and he seemed surprised to be losing.

And it’s gotten worse for him, as Ukraine has been drone-bombing his fuel facilities.

By late September, nearly 38% of Russia’s oil refining capacity—around 338,000 tons of crude per day—was out of service. Refineries sank to levels “without historical precedent.”

It is estimated that around 70% of the outages stem directly from drone strikes, which by the end of September had knocked out roughly one-quarter of Russia’s total refining capacity.

Shortages grew to cover as much as 20% of national consumption. The hardest-hit regions were the farthest from Moscow, to keep the reality away from the Russian people. Fuel stations in the Far East and occupied Crimea have limited sales to no more than 30 liters per customer. In total, more than 20 regions across Russia, from Sakhalin to Nizhny Novgorod, are now facing shortages.

Russian oil companies have limited capacity to repair the drone damage, as they require parts from the West which are under sanctions.

Moscow is trying to minimize the damage by banning gasoline exports and scrapping import duties on gasoline and diesel fuel.

Vladimir Chernov, an analyst with Freedom Finance Global, drew attention to an important spin-off: “The rising cost of fuel inevitably drives up expenses in agriculture, transportation, and logistics, translating into higher prices for food and essential goods.”

The war that triggered this collapse is going worse than ever for Russia.

Russia has lost 350km of territory in the “unbreakable” Donetsk front. Thousands of Russian soldiers surrendered last week after Ukraine encircled their positions.

The crisis has now caused a major military casualty, as Colonel General Alexander Lapin, supreme Commander of the Leningrad Military District, has been fired and dismissed from active service.

Putin has been reluctant to fire generals outright, fearing that it would signal incompetence in the Command as well as in the affected general, but this time he needed a scapegoat for the catastrophic nature of the combat situation, so he fired his general. Perhaps that will be of solace to the Russians waiting in the gas lines.

Sumy Oblast (region) is a good example of the futility of Russian efforts. It was among the first Ukrainian territories to be taken by Russian forces in 2022, as it acts as a shield to Kiev. The Russians now occupy only a tip of the Oblast (pink area below).

In Sumy the Ukrainians are methodically isolating villages, cutting Russian supply routes, and then bleeding the trapped defenders dry. What began as a Ukrainian defensive effort has evolved into offensive momentum that is, according to a Strategic Outlook, “dismantling Russian positions piece by piece. For Russia, the situation is a bitter reversal, as it was just weeks ago that President Vladimir Putin himself issued aggressive statements about pushing into Sumy and even threatening the regional capital.”

The Ukrainians do not rush forward in an attack; they wait for the Russians to do so. Instead of attacking in two-man parties, the Russians are now trying three-to- four-man units, which in reality just means that the Ukrainians have a larger target. Ukrainian units now dictate the pace of battle, breaking down Russian cohesion and allowing elite enemy forces to be encircled.

In Sumy, most Russian soldiers move on foot, taking them days to reach the frontline, and they can’t respond effectively when Ukrainians attack.

The cosmetic change of swapping out a general will not reverse the structural problems within the Russian army, which extend to poor logistics, planning, and morale.

The Sumy counter-attacks reflect just how catastrophic the Sumy operation has been for the Russians.

Entire districts have run out of fuel, and others have introduced coupons to try to limit demand. Nevertheless, line-ups extend for hours, and 360 independent stations – which make up 40% of Russia’s supply chain – have run out of fuel.

Protests are unheard of in Russia – but nevertheless, are now taking place.

Putin called the heads of Russia’s energy agencies together for a meeting - somewhat overshadowed by the death (apparent suicide) - of Alexander Tyunin, chief executive of a Russian company affiliated with nuclear giant Rosatom.

His death is the 20th in a string of sudden or unexplained deaths of senior Russian executives since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Other recent deaths include Alexei Sinitsyn, a mining executive found decapitated in Kaliningrad – probably not a suicide…just my guess here - as well as Dmitry Osipov, founder of construction company Samolet. Government and military officials have also died unexpectedly during this period, including former Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt, who reportedly took his own life after being removed from office by President Vladimir Putin, and his deputy, who died of cardiac arrest shortly afterward. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed in 2024 in Moscow, clearly a Ukrainian special operation.

“Sudden Russian death syndrome” has infected many Russian CEOs, who fall out of windows and suffer from other mysterious fatal conditions. Some 81 Sudden Russian Deaths have occurred since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022. Some of the deaths are not “suspicious” – we know that Putin was behind them. The heroic Alexei Navalny was poisoned in his jail cell, for example. Dictators are such cowards.

Once the paper mask of the dictator is torn off, in fact, they tend to flee very quickly.

A protest against electricity and fuel prices in Madagascar, for example, led to a full-blown Gen Z demand for a change of government. These services were deemed “essential rights” by an Internet-hungry crowd. They are copying the similar government overthrow in Nepal.

Morrocco, Indonesia, the Philippines and Kenya are seeing the same large-scale, youth-led protests. They use platforms including TikTok, Instagram and the gaming application Discord. One publican notes that “Young people, many of whom are active on social media, have mobilised to highlight these issues and demand action. Their calls extend beyond technical fixes to infrastructure, instead pointing to broader concerns about governance and accountability.”

There is a growing cross-border meaning to Gen Z activism, with movements learning from and drawing inspiration from one another. Shared strategies include decentralised leadership, the rapid circulation of digital content, and the use of cultural symbols.

They share an online culture with similar values: democracy, peace, and hope.

The cartoon skull with the straw hat has come to be a trans-national symbol of defiance; it comes from the popular Japanese anime One Piece.

One Piece is about a band of Straw Hat pirates that stand up to corrupt and repressive rulers. It holds the record for the most copies published in the same comic book series by a single author, with 500m copies printed worldwide. “Youth are very creative in terms of organising and they have so many fresh ideas,” said one full-time activist in Manila.

“We all share the same struggle, that is to have a livable future.”

The underlying messages echo one another and amplify one another – success breeds the desire for more success.

And with the Internet, this revolution of responses is instantly made into an example for other youth to follow.

One success is all it takes to start the global fire.

This is no longer a world where one ruler speaks directly down to his subjects.

This is a world where a very leaky Internet transmits images of a possible future to millions of young activists.

Their protests can start instantly, and transform a nation overnight.

Can you image Trump and Hairspray Hegseth inspiring the same level of dedication?

We are within a few broadcast-years of a global “peace unity”.

The only people not aware of this, are the traditional political pundits in Washington. They have no clue.

But their opinions are irrelevant to the future anyway.

You can check out One Piece on the Anime Collection channel CrunchyRoll. There are 1,000 episodes. It is also a Netflix production.

Altogether, it glares at people like Trump, who tried to control the world by cancelling Jimmy Kimmel. Not only did he fail there, but he is not even aware of where the next revolution against him is coming from.

Crunchy Roll. One Piece. Universal rights to the Internet and freedom.

Who would have guessed?

But as humankind moves up the chain of the conquest of material needs – and it IS doing so – the intellectual treasures are ever more attractive, and shine every more brightly.

For those of us who have a positive view of humankind and its potential, this is all good news…and each day brings the promise of exciting new developments!

I’m going shopping now for a straw hat – because I feel young again!

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In the next two weeks we will review why we a living a lie – the lie of a mesmerizing spell cast on economists by David Ricardo three centuries ago, whose theory of comparative advantage has misled economics ever since: RICARDO’S DREAM, by Nat Dyer. Thank you to our readers for suggesting this book!

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