Regimes. A different face, but the same playbook

Assad’s regime has fallen. The rebels, regardless of their ideological alignment, are a determined and courageous bunch. We’re now watching the stage we’re familiar with: inspecting Assad’s rage and awe-inspiring wealth. It’s one thing knowing that top regime functionaries are rich, but seeing it up-close is something else entirely.

Now is also the time to pore over the archives. And there’s going to be a lot of juicy intel. Information is power and I’ve no doubt US intel agencies are already all over this.

In my Kyiv Post articles, I ponder the nature of the regimes and why people get caught in their web of lies, coercion, and downright despotism. While there are many opportunists, quite a few psychopaths, not very bright people, and delusional individuals (who can be really smart, just because you’re a genius doesn’t exclude naivety and ideological worship, in fact we could argue geniuses are more prone to magical thinking given their vast intellects) supporting regimes, in the country and abroad, a huge portion of a given population just goes with the flow. Accepts the status quo. And, after a generation or two, these people know nothing else. Look at North Korea. Heck, look at Russia, for that matter.

We often talk about the masses but we never seem to be asking the question: are some people programmed to be a part of the masses, or is this a result of brainwashing to be loyal, and denying information to the population? Is this why person A belongs to the masses while person B belongs to the ruling class? Had their role been reversed, would person B have been the same member of the masses as person A, or is there something more to it? In the past, as I’m sure you know, they believed in the divine right to rule of certain bloodlines. Now, there are conspiracy theories that these bloodlines weren’t so much chosen by God, but by extraterrestrials who had sex with humans and created hybrids to rule over us. Crazy, well, we’re in crazy times, so nothing is off the table as far as I’m concerned, no matter how outlandish.

Still, it’s more likely there was no metaphysical, or extraterrestrial, component, but some bloodlines were more bloodthirsty and so, over centuries, they acquired a lot of wealth and gained prominence. Aristocracy could be extremely cruel, so if anyone thinks it’s just about wearing tiaras, curtsying, and sitting pretty, they have no idea what they are talking about.

To control a population, even of peasants, you needed a whip. Both a metaphorical whip (putting the idea of rebelling against you as if rebelling against God, for example), and a literal whip (maybe that’s where we get the phrase ”to be on a high horse” – after all, whipping hoi polloi is more effective that way).

There are dictators who like having female security. Not surprising, women can be fiercely loyal and even more ruthless than men at times, though I doubt these women are going to put being part of their dictator’s security harem on their resumes after the regime falls.

There are dictators who, apparently, enjoy extraordinary renditions. North Koreans are known for abducting foreigners on foreign soil. Not only activists and suchlike, oh no, anyone useful to the regime, really.

Now imagine if some regime like that got its hands on the technology to snatch people from across different dimensions. Just plucked out of their lives to serve the regime. I guess we’d call that extradimensional rendition. I want a movie like this.

We all remember the Nazi concentration camp liberation footage. What so many people don’t know about is the Allied soldiers coming across little kids in special Nazi Lebensborn homes in Germany. The Allies had absolutely no idea what they were looking at – and what they were looking at were the members of the new master race elite. Luckily, the Nazis lost.

Point being, when a regime falls, we’re given a rare opportunity to study it, particularly its less known, but no less relevant, aspects of control. Let’s not waste it.