Autocracy, Incorporating

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT "autocracy", you think of a country ruled by an "autocrat";,a strong man dictator who is the top dog of a political party, the politcal party being little more than a gang of thugs wearing a gaudy, ominous uniform with an imposing ingignia taped on it, a lightning bolt,or roaring dragon,or something equally silly. You think of an inner circle of fellow gangsters, like a mafia mob, obeying and supporting the strongman. And of course there is the state police, an extension of the party, which roams and parades in the streets, keeping the masses of intimidated peons in line with constant threats of violence. Then, there is the military itself, an extension of the state police, which, whether capable of actually defending the country against foreign attack, is certainly more than capable of keeping the tyrant autocaat in power merely by a constant show of power, dragging rockets, misssiles, and tanks down the street in melodratic shows of national unity and force. This image of an autocracy is, according to journalist and scholar Anne Applebaum, much out of date. In her recently published book: "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run the World", she presents a much more sophisticated picture of a twenty first century autocracy, replete with surveillance cameras, and a complex, comprehenisve state propaganda media machine which churns out a never ending avalanche of information which supports the notion that the autocrat is the best friend and greatest benefactor of the common man in the history of the world, that the economic conditions within the kindgom are second to none, that big brother is devoted only to the protection and propserity of all people, to the sacrifce and exclusion of himself. Perhpas the most urgent message incessantly drilled into the heads of the hapless recpients of all the vast array of blatant falshoods is that democray, and all things demoratc, is a corrupt, chaotic system of government, in which the worst istincts of humanity are given free range, chaos runs rampant, and democratic nations like the united States are govenred by a rabid mob, spearheared by imperialistic capitalistic corporations whose only aim is to gain domination of the world politically, economically,and militarily, and will stop at nothing to do presicely that. The esteemed and great leader keeps constant tabs on the entire population with an intricate computerized network of surveillance technology, whereby anyone and everyone, whether in public or in private, can be monitored twenty four seven by a well staffed organization, an organ of the government designed for that purpose. Applebaum's most striking and startling thesis of all is that in our modern world, the autocracies of the world, led by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Hungary, and which include other nations in Asia and Latin Ameria, are united in a mutual process of sharing information, techniques, and military and economic assistance in pursuit of their highest aim; the utter destruction, subjaation, and domination of the United States and other western democracies. The various autocracy do not necessarily share any specific political or philosophical ideology other than their mutual aim of perpetuating their systems of wealth and power, while subverting democracy and all opponents. Against this formidable array of highly coordinated autocratic power traditional means of opposition, such as military alliances and economic sanctions, are icreasingly ineffective. We note that since Russia's war on Ukraine was brought to a stand off by an infusion of military hardware into Ukraine by the U.S. and Europe, Russia has turned to China, North Korea and Iran for even more military hardware of its own. Also notweorthy is that despite the enormous number of supposedly crippling economic sanctions levied against Putin, the Russian oligarchs, and Russia itself, Russia continues its war, unfazed, the supposedly crippling econmic sanctions wholly inedquate to their assigned task of bringing Russia to its knees and ending the aggression agaisnt Ukraine. This presents another question; the future place of the United States in all this. Donald Trump has repeatedly shown an admiration for Putin and other autocrats. He changed from issuing "little rocket man" threats against North Korea to embacing the North Korean dictator. Trump and his MAGA mob of anti-democratic fascist de facto gangsters, numbering in the tens of millions, who have shown admiration of Vladimir Putin, have already attempted, and are attempting now, to install Trump in power in America with autoritarian powers. Thus the question quite logically and inevitably arises: which side is America on, and which side will it be on in future years?