The New Dark Age

Saturday, 1 March 2025 — The Postil Magazine

A hearty welcome to all. Thank you for your kind support. The past month has proven to be a deluge of noteworthy events that are flipping the narrative, changing power dynamics and redefining alliances. So, let’s have a closer look.

(To access the new articles, please click on the highlighted text in the descriptions that follow).

Trump 2.0

Everyone has seen the Zelensky debacle at the White House, and the ramifications for this unelected dictator are dire. Kudos to Trump for putting him in his place—and for finally giving Russia its proper recognition, as we have been publishing from the very start of the conflict in Ukraine. Zelensky will not survive politically, of course, and who knows about his personal safety. His neo-Nazi handlers long ago promised that should the gravy-train end, they would hold him responsible and shoot him. But the EU has great plans for their man Zelensky.

Jean Luc Schaffhauser examines the consequences of the speech that Vice-President JD Vance gave to the EU political class—that the old ways of running the West are over, where politicians pursue Atlanticist agendas, without any regard for what their own people actually want, let alone what these agendas actually do to their people.

This is all good and positive, and this shakeup by Trump will lead to good results. Sadly, Trump’s approach to the Middle East is all about Israel and the Zionist narrative.

First, there is this bizarre plan to empty Gaza of Gazans and turn it into a glitzy playground for the rich and the lost. Trump even posted a video about it (though likely not made by him).

But where did Trump get this idea from? Well, it turns about that he actually commissioned a study about “developing” Gaza by ethnically cleansing it first. This study or plan was written by a university professor, one Joseph Pelzman, and we have this study/plan for you—because it is an important document of genocide that should be preserved and carefully examined.

The power couple that is eager to make Gaza into a Middle Eastern utopia is none other than Jared and Ivanka Kushner, who are backed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who himself has been busy over the last while to make a similar “paradise” in his own country (called NEOM)—the human cost of NEOM so far: 21,000 workers dead (due to mistreatment and inhumane work conditions) and 100,000 workers “missing” (presume: dead). And people ask, why these Arab princelings cannot be bothered about the plight of the Palestinians. Oh, and the Kushners belong to a form of Judaism which believes that non-Jews have animal souls and are thus fit to be treated as such.

Although many are rejoicing over the demise of the American Deep State, few seem to be asking what this will all lead to? Take for example, USAID—yes, its purpose was furthering American hegemony by various means (known as “soft-power”)—but once the United States stands freed from its mechanisms of soft-power, its hard-power will come into its own—just as in Israel. “Peace through strength.”

Vice-President Vance caused a bit of social media flurry when he mentioned the phrase “ordo amoris.” This set many talking about Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. But neither saint actually used this exact phrase. So, where did Vance it from? C.B. Forde traces its origin, which leads to unexpected places.

How is it that a transhumanist, posthumanist nearly trillionaire is a hero for many in Trump world? Elon Musk is a strange, yet fitting, figure in MAGA, who has immense power and idealizes robots and AI—even some of his various children are named alphanumerically, as if they were little machines. What could possibly go wrong?

Why is the Right in the West card-carrying Zionist? C.B. Forde takes a look at how the various strands of the Right in the West came to accept and then idolize Israel and its Zionism—and its maltreatment of Palestinians.

Books

Michael J. Carley has just published the third volume of his trilogy on Josef Stalin, and we are delighted to bring you a generous excerpt from this fascinating work. The whole of the trilogy will entirely rewrite how we view this often-maligned leader of Russia.

Dennis Bonnette has published the last in his six-volume series on faith and reason. In this final volume he looks at miracles and the supernatural by way of rationality. It’s a book filled with revelations and insights.

Brian Welter has embarked on a study of the history of Christian education and has just published the first volume. We are happy to bring you an excerpt which will provide a good purvey of the book’s breadth.

And a really fascinating excerpt from a recent book by Sister Françoise Breynaert: on the strand-like, necklace structure of the Gospel According to Saint Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and how both have deep links with the ancient synagogal calendar.

Geopolitics and Ideas

Will the western method of territorial control persist into the future? It is certainly now under a lot of stress, with dynamics at play that seriously challenge the way the West manages itself and encounters and controls the world. Enrico Magnani considers the forces at play, as the world veers into a deep and systematic change.

The ebb and flow of war into peace and vice-versa is a constant of International Relations. Alexey Soloviev takes a look at this dynamic that has determined so much of human history, especially in the context of how democratic states function and what they hope to achieve.

The Western model of governing the world, commonly known as the “rules-based order” often yields conflict and war. Why does this happen? Leonid Savin looks at the fraught history of this Western approach and finds that it continually divides the world into two spheres—one looked upon as friendly and the other looked upon as hostile. Thus, the pursuit of peace is always precarious.

Boyd Cathey considers the inner workings of western society, and finds a contradiction—where the demand is to be both free and equal. The problem is that the one category cancels the other, and therefore we have to choose what we want to be—free or equal.

And a classic work by Charles Dilke on the subject of war, as to its nature and why and how society engages in this destructive behavior, and why human beings persist in using war to achieve desired results.

John Coleman turns his poetical eye to the great theme of violence in the life of a nation and the ways of men. The result is a fascinating and often moving testament to the necessity of speaking truth to power.

Peter Redpath looks at leadership and considers how best it can be defined and understood, given how necessary it is to the deeper workings of society and the political life of a nation.

Alberto Buela examines the tension between the public and the private in modern society, where the understanding of the common good has been thoroughly confused, if not entirely lost, and what lies ahead, given such confusion and loss.

Here’s another classic essay by James Froude, on why we study and read history. The answer leads to the greater moral question—why do we want to be good? This means that we must first understand our goodness and how we want it to be made known in the world.

And how about a journey into the uncanny? Thomas Burke describes what happened when he spent some time in the Russian Quarter.

Faith and Ideas

Is it scientifically possible to have only one couple be the parents of all of humanity? Dennis Bonnette launches into this question that is about solid science and solid theology, and the results will surprise you and make you rethink the possibilities.

Jeb Smith delves into three rather large and important topics. First, he considers what is the ultimate fate of those who have never heard of Christianity? Are they all doomed for eternity? A related topic leads him to consider how God can send those He loves to Hell? And then another important topic—everything that Evangelicals get wrong about Catholic teaching.

Another classic essay, by Father Herman Joseph Heuser, examines the huge problem of the use and abuse of the Bible—something that we see all the time in our time, given the Scriptural justifications provided for the abuses by Israel.

Marion Duvauchel considers what really lies beneath the world of Buddhism as it is understood and promoted in the West.

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Until next time,

The Postil Team