Dictator Traps

2023-12-11 · Ho Chanh Nghia

Originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dictator-traps-khanh-pham-9cohc/

Dictator Traps

On the matter of national security, should you listen to a student of security, a PhD, or a Putin?

Not too long ago, the entire “educated world of Americans” rallied behind the holy White House. Whose strings are pulled by so many hands, seen and unseen hands.

One student or teacher puts it, Putin is making a mistake. Putin is in a dictator trap. Putin is surrounded by yes-men. According to this report Sean Illing, in an Article in VOX, stated Putin lies.

Vladimir Putin and the dangers of yes-men.

By Sean Illing@[email protected] Mar 24, 2022, 10:10am EDT

A trope that’s likely to die after the war in Ukraine is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “savvy genius.”

No matter how you look at Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, it’s almost impossible not to see this conflict as a massive miscalculation on his part. Besides getting bogged down in a protracted war, he’s managed to unite the West, crater the Russian economy, fortify NATO, and solidify Ukraine’s national identity — the very thing he denied — by forcing the country to defend itself.

It has been 10 years. Starting on May 1, 2023–I was forced onto the Road of Perdition. After 11 years of working 4 times as hard as the next man, and getting paid half their wage, my country the US of A betrayed me. Usually, the news talks about things from the inverse perspective. However, sometimes the rabbit gets to tell the story because the wolves fucked up.

To sum up the hit piece on Putin, he lies all the time so is caught in his own lies, he’s a stupid man, after gaining power, surrounded by people who say yes, and no longer connected to reality. – 1 year later, how is that story holding water? Was it a mistake of Russia to defend its national existence, or was it a mistake to threaten the existence of Russia?

Barbara Tuchman once said, “Nothing is more unfair than to judge the men of the past by the ideas of the present”.

Is it more fair to judge the history of man, while you’re still living in it?

Charles William Eliot thought that we need about 200 years to be able to judge what is good and bad, or more precisely our judgment will not be by us but by people looking upon us from a distant past. It is with this view, like the 5-foot shelf of books, that gaze upon the opinions of men today.

“If my history be judged useful by those who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to understanding the future—which in the course of human affairs must resemble if it does not reflect it—I shall be content.” - Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War (431 B.C.E.)

I used to work inside this giant maze called the United States Air Force Technical Application Center. So secret, and so unknown, the President doesn’t know it exists. Congress doesn’t know it exists. When I arrived in Thailand, I learned the Defense Attache didn’t know it existed. Is it because knowing about it damages the national security of the United States? Actually, the classification guide doesn’t say the existence of this group is classified, it’s just no one knows their job well enough. From the internal people of AFTAC to the external people that governs AFTAC. Like the Mormons Cult in Utah that is in “The Educated” by Tara Westova.

11 years I work, I eat, and I sleep at one of America’s most hidden Headquarters. One can also say, the place where dinosaurs go to switch from military to civilian attire, a revolving door of kiss ass, and – Yes men.

Since it is a headquarter, many minds have been there for many decades and will probably leave after their bones are blackened. They are the core of America’s cultural relics. Perhaps a dash of white supremacy, with a little sprinkle of yes men. They set the policy, decide what is best, and what is not. Decide whether SSgt Khanh Pham is a Chinese spy, or not–in secrecy.

During these past 10 years, it is easy to imagine the rage, the turmoil, the depression, the aggression, the lost of productivity–like Lebanon having its port blown up, or China’s having its port blown up, or having Japan’s Hiroshima blown up by an atomic bomb. My life, my emotions, my relationships, my trust, my connection to friends, family, and even humanity were and still are under the effect of a nuclear fallout. Unlike the Japanese though, I can hardly ask the Americans to help put me back together. It’s like asking the rapist to help the rape victim recover.

So when Putin threatened he was going to invade Ukraine, and the US declared Russia will invade Ukraine, and the acting Ukraine president said it ain’t so… well the Americans inside America started writing a lot of history. History of how Putin will be proven wrong, mistaken, making tactical errors, refusing to see reality, and as the article by VOX puts it–trapped in his own lies.

I woke up at 2 am today, and wanted to continue my own historical dump, and started with no particular order of thought or theme. I wanted to ask the internet something, “does Putin ever lie”. I started on Bing and was awashed with the Vox article. Then I turned off Microsoft continued illegally efforts to force IE on everyone. Boot up Google chrome, which is pretty much useless now with ads more than content. But interestly enough, Google has a different filter on the matter. “Putin never lie”. “Putin doesn’t lie.” It was a striking claim from the defence secretary Ben Wallace

As a man on a 10-year journey across perdition, I felt a kinship with all the other people with a similar struggle. A David fighting Goliath camaraderie. It was easy to identify with Russia, a weaker country trying to stand up the the bully of the age. I was wrapping up my MBA and had an auspicious occasion to be taught by a senior-level advisor on US military issues. He was adamant about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as some simple-minded world conquest by a gone-crazy Russian president. I went on to Reddit to look at round at the issue, and instantly got -7 karma for going against the holy crusades. I never had much respect for self-declared holy men anyway, so I continued walking away from Reddit.

By this time, I already had a lot under my belt. I had sat in the top secret meeting, where we presented the evidence of Iraq’s weapon of mass destruction. Unlike the unfortunate UN assembly who saw nothing, I got to see the real evidence. I got the see the real evidence that supported a fake event–Iraq WMD. Front row seat to international intrigue, national intrigue, a bona fide false flag being carried out. I was already accused of stealing national secrets 3 times, so I have a good feel for these sorts of things. Like that Musashi Yamamoto’s “Developed an intuitive judgement and understanding for everything”, Like Buddha’s infinite wisdom on matters of national security, I simply wanted to look beyond all the bullshits or horse manures if LinkedIn does not prefer bullshits.

Every few months I asked someone about the situation, and usually, the response was: the Russians are winning the war on the ground, and the US is winning the war on multimedia. It was a simple opinion such as this, that I used vs the PhD students and teachers who have never won a battle worth mentioning.

Then we look back on our own and finds we are the one in the Dictator Traps. The US has been dictating everything to everyone for 200 years. The US is the one surrounded by yes men. The ever-revolving doors of government employment are greased with the sweaty palms of yes men. Everything bad we say about anyone around the world is more evidenced by us than the villain.

Now, I do understand I am starting to sound like one of those younger kids who grew up on the gravy train, I must reiterate that I am the only American who was accused of stealing national security secrets 3 times. Interviewed by police and FBI a dozen times now, for writing letters to US leaders to do the right thing. Do what they were paid to do, as their job highlighted. Such as the FBI primary mission in life, and their reason to exist. However, 10 years has proven that much–there’s no one home. Americans, the kind that founded the US Constitution and the United States of America, are no longer there.

Of mice and men, all we have are mice and misers. A dictatorship with a million heads. You cut one off, another springs forth. You submit a report, and it’s like you’re in that 1984 Novel by Orwell. No matter how high you go up, you’re still reporting to the enemy.

And you wonder why a smart guy like Edward Snowden takes his goods elsewhere. Me and a CEO of a small company were having whiskey over politics one day after work. He sympathized with Snowden’s cause, and his decision to do something about injustice and all, but stated he would not have sacrificed himself that way. Both an advice to Snowden, and an advice to myself who put himself in harms way to defend the United States against domestic enemies. To my credit, I grew up in Vietnam having to bribe the highest ranking police down to the lowest ranking police just to make a small living. I know much about the other side of life outside America. I grew up in California where you get shot for looking at the wrong girl, or looking a man’s in the eyes. It’s also worth mentioning that it was only 2019, that I got my car kicked by an off-duty police for looking him in the eyes as he starred me down. After I called 911, and his proclaimed supervisors showed up, all refusing to admit wrongdoing. All refused to file a police report. All harassing me and stripping me of my pocket knife as if I am a criminal. All claiming I had no evidence until I pointed to the security camera pointing right at us, surrounded by two armed police. In front of my car where it was kicked by the off-duty officer. I know life a little more than someone who grew up in America.

This model of the dictatorship, and the dictator trap is hard to put into words. But it is no different from a single man running a dictatorship, surrounded by yes men. Another way to look at this is, has the US ever reflected on anything it does?

Dictatorship often blames everything and everyone except asks how they contributed to the matter. *with the exception of Lee Kuan Yew, who for all his dictatorship was very reflective of his values, actions, and consequences on people and environement (just people in the long term like 1,000 years)

According to psychologists, an apology has to have some elements to make it valid. I am sure we will be hard-pressed to find 1/5 of it in the US’s history of dealings with people.

Expression of regret.

Explanation of what went wrong.

Acknowledgment of responsibility.

Declaration of repentance.

Offer of repair.

Request for forgiveness.

The last apology I heard sounded something like this. We’re standing on stolen land, we’re the custodians of this land and must be responsible. That was from the mouth of a white guy, celebrating native American heritage. In one sentence, he declares his ownership as well as having stolen it, as a speech to honor the people the land was stolen from.

How will historians sort out these dictator traps, where millions of individuals independently but collectively act the dictator? Would it be a hyperdictators trap? Multidictator trap? Massdictators trap? The reason words don’t confuse me too much is because I learned about it before I learned the word. The problem with much of Americans and the kids growing up in international schools is they think they understand because they learned the word. Then they obtain their PhD and move into the yes-men world of peer reviews.

When I hired a PhD to draft an individual policy using the US foreign policy, she stated foreign policy is different and can’t be an individual policy. It’s like saying, the chicken doesn’t come from the egg. It’s understandable that not too many people alive believe in the power of sovereign individuals, or that national policy comes from individuals. A country often reflects the values of individuals in that country. More often than not anyway.

If one day, I turn into another Putin, and the white men claim I lie–I don’t care. I will focus on winning the war on the ground. These things like “dictator traps” are just trappings of people who will not be able to build a state, or conquer a state. Or maintain a state for that matter. As Putin puts it, acting as president of a country is not the same as being a president of a country. That is not simply for Zelensky but can be for all governments. Probably most apt for the USA. We have a government in name, but do we have a government in deed?