Monthly Archives: January 2026

The BBC Provides Propaganda for American Imperialism

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This is a headline from Britain’s BBC. Notice the careful wording? Notice the obfuscation? Notice the sniveling cowardice?

Imagine them saying:

“Russia discussing options to acquire Ukraine, including the use of military, says Kremlin.”

It would never happen. And this shows how subservient Britain and much of the West is to American imperialism.

The use of the word “acquire” is especially nauseating. One acquires a new skill or a new bathing suit, not a sovereign nation. Yet, this is what the BBC thinks is journalism. It should also be noted that a leaked memo advised reporters and journalists to avoid using the word “kidnapped” in reference to the Trump regime’s illegal abduction of Venezuela’s president and first lady, even though Trump himself said that word was accurate.

Like so many other Western media outlets, the BBC has provided justification and cover for Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza. And now it is doing the same for the United States as its criminal regime threatens Hitlerian conquests of its neighbours.

Journalism is the hard work of telling the public the facts, not sugarcoating them to protect the powerful.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

This is an old play. Now, it is in its final act.

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All empires rise and fall. But they all think of themselves as different. As better. As more advanced. In reality, it is a very old play with the same actors as every performance before it. And now, that play is in its final act.

Rome was eternal, or so it thought. And just decades before its complete collapse, it was riding high. There were signs of its fatal decay if you looked closely, but if you stood in its centre, looking out at the towering pillars, long stone streets and grand aqueducts, you would have been laughed at if you said it would soon be empty and in ruins.

But hubris is a poison which blinds. And imperial hubris is the very worst version of it. Because even as it blinds, it does not immediately kill the poisoned. And this allows that empire to cause a whole lot of misery and chaos for everyone in its wake as it writhes and flails and grasps at any last bit of power it can.

We should keep this in mind as we see one of the last emperors of the American Empire go mad right in front of our very eyes as his court of sycophants laugh hysterically.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Dear Americans, you live in an evil empire.

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Since the Trump regime’s recent assault on Venezuela, a lot of Americans have been talking more about the nature of their country. This is significant because most Americans have been conditioned to see their nation as both a democracy and a superpower. But the two cannot exist simultaneously. These concepts are polar opposites. Yet, this is the contradiction most Americans still hold on to.

Whether through media or Hollywood or branding or subtle messaging, Americans are inundated in the myth of its indispensable role in the world. This works so well because most Americans have never traveled abroad. It works because intellectual curiosity is stunted early. They are conditioned, from birth until death, to accept the concept of their exceptionalism.

And this is not a phenomenon which is limited to conservative sensibilities. Liberals, by and large, are almost as brainwashed as their far-right counterparts in the sense that they see their country as essentially good. This is demonstrated by their overall disinterest in egregious and brutal foreign policies carried out by Democratic administrations, the genocide in Gaza being the most recent and glaring example. While unpopular, how many liberals vigorously opposed it when it was being funded and fueled by the Biden administration? How many insisted on supporting Kamala Harris, despite the fact that she intended to continue supporting Israel as it carried out its campaign of annihilation?

Up until very recently, Americans never considered their nation to be a global empire. Even terms like “superpower” obscure the historic connotations of imperial violence. A superpower doesn’t colonize, rape natural resources, destabilize other nations or subvert democratic movements. It simply exists. As if it has always been there as a force of nature and not by ruthless intent and violence.

But one thing that the Trump regime has done which differs from its predecessors is dismantling this myth, bit by bit. The attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of its president and first lady while Trump openly boasts about running the country and taking its oil has been a wake up call. His fever dream of doing the same to Greenland, Columbia, Nigeria, Iran, Cuba and Canada have added to this.

Many who are coming to understand this now are falsely linking it to one man or to his regime. That this is just an aberration in the American project. That all will be returned to normal once he and his cohorts are removed from power. But this kind of toxic naivety is not only wrong, it is reckless.

The history of the United States is one steeped in violent conquest and expansion. But this is seldom addressed by Americans as it relates to its nature today. The annexation of Hawaii and the imprisonment of its Queen. The possession of Puerto Rico while restricting it from statehood. Or the military occupation of the Philippines. These things are rarely, if ever, discussed in the mainstream.

America was founded upon land stolen from Indigenous nations. It was built by enslaved Africans and indentured servants. Its belligerent foreign policies not only echo that of the great European empires, it expanded on them. It has interfered with, toppled, and installed proxy governments which have done its bidding or, more accurately the bidding of its ruling class. And it has 800+ military bases all over the planet. This is the very definition of empire. Yet, there are few Americans who would ever use that term to describe their nation.

Outrage among liberal Americans over the Trump regime’s crude imperialistic rhetoric and actions is welcome. But if it stops there, it is useless. Americans need to face the painful truth that they are subjects of a deadly and brutal imperial power. One which is jostling with the other imperial houses of Russia and China for control over its “sphere of influence.” One which is now in a state of decline and decay, yet still powerful enough to destroy the biosphere and end all organized human civilization on earth. Trump did not create it, he has merely demolished the benevolent facade it has hidden behind for far too long.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The End of Pax Americana

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Trump: “Colombia’s very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you…He’s got cocaine mills and cocaine factories.”

Reporter: “So there will be an operation by the U.S. in Colombia?”

Trump: “It sounds good to me.”

The Trump regime is not finished. Not by a long shot. Its imperialistic rampage is targeting Columbia, Cuba, Mexico and Greenland. And if you think he will stop there, you haven’t been paying attention to his Hitlerian rants and the support he has received from his sniveling sycophants and even Democrat dolts like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and John Fetterman. Canada, I am looking at you.

Of course, what Trump is doing isn’t very different than any other project of the American Empire. Republican or Democratic, both arms of the empire do their part at the behest of its ruling class and their capital investments.

But Trump has ripped the veil off of the “Pax Americana” brand and showed it for what it really is. He has legitimized its gangsterism. And he is ramping it up to grab whatever is left for him and his wealthy friends on a planet that is on the brink of ecological devastation and climate chaos.

The American corporate media doesn’t know what to do with any of this, other than wring their hands about “legality” or worry about how it sounds rather than what it is. They are more concerned with preserving the old narrative of a benevolent and ethical, if not flawed, America, even though it is a complete lie.

And political leaders in Europe have demonstrated their complete subservience to American hegemony by couching their language in cautious “observatory” terminology. Except for Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who warned Trump to stop threatening the takeover of Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The latter is significant for several reasons, since Denmark is a member of NATO. Any attack on Greenland would be an attack on it, on NATO, and on Europe itself.

Trump’s actions are in keeping with American imperialistic aggression. The difference now is that under Trump its scope has expanded beyond the Global South to include white, Western nations as well. It is a clear signal that the old order of relations and allies is over.

But the Trump regime isn’t saving American Empire. On the contrary, he is stealing as much of the resources he can on behalf of its ruling class who know all too well that the party is almost over.

Even if Fox News flunkies believe that climate change is a hoax, they do not. Why else would they spend billions of dollars to suppress the science and silence the scientists? They know. They just care more about their wealth than they do about a livable biosphere. Because in some daft way, they think their wealth will insulate them.

And if the genocide in Gaza has taught us anything, it is that this class is thoroughly capable, without reservation, to annihilate anyone who might hamper their investments. Israel is, after all, one of the most important colonial assets of the American Empire. It has invested billions into what amounts to the biggest US military base in the world. They have shown us what they are more than willing to do or to justify. Only the willfully blind and toxically naive would not see that now.

We are entering a new phase of the resource wars. The old imperial houses and gangster capitalists are preparing to scrape up the last bits of fortune at our expense, even if that means burning it all to ash. Trump is merely accelerating that inferno.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

American Imperialism and the Mad Fantasies of Donald Trump

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Trump has said that he intends to “run Venezuela.” That should come as a surprise to the thousands of Venezuelans who have taken to the streets to denounce the American assault on its capital. Regardless of Trump’s fantasies, he can barely run the US, except by driving it further into the abyss.

No matter how US media or American politicians try to spin this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its tourism industry is collapsing as more people choose not to spend their holiday in a fascist police state. It lost any moral standing it may have once had after enabling the genocide in Gaza. And it no longer possesses the soft power it once had to influence countries to do its bidding. As BRICS rises, the US only has threats, bluster, sentimental patriotism and fire power. But there are limits to this, as every empire throughout history has found out.

As millions of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and continue to lack things other industrialized countries take for granted, such as universal healthcare, labour protections and quality education, its ruling elite are living in a bubble of privilege that is ready to burst at any moment. America’s infrastructure is in shambles. And its unhoused population continues to grow exponentially. So, to think that this husk of empire is any way able to rule Venezuela when it can barely rule itself is rather absurd.

This doesn’t mean that the Trump regime cannot cause significant pain. It has, it can, and it will. And it isn’t just him and his cadre of ghouls. We have entered into a new phase of imperial conquest as the planet becomes more unstable due to climate change. And Gaza should be an example of how the powerful are fully capable of doing the most heinous things imaginable to human beings in order to maintain their power. The old imperial houses will continue to carve up the world, rape its resources, and assert control over their “spheres of influence” even as it crumbles under the weight of ecological devastation.

It just points to its glaring incompetence. The Trump regime will not be successful with “running” any territory they conquer with military force. They are incompetent idiots. And they will likely cause enormous chaos and untold misery for millions of people despite this. But having a malignant narcissist as leader is a dangerous gamble for any empire. What happens when that narcissist is losing his mind? When the long shadows of his past transgressions indelibly stain any prestige he thought he had? When his ratings continue to tank and daily life for millions of Americans becomes a struggle for survival?

The attack on Venezuela and other threats of aggression will never translate into tangible benefits for ordinary Americans. They aren’t meant to. This is a resource grab for the ultra rich. For the corporations and war profiteers. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Every military foray the US has entered into against the Global South has been at the behest of its ruling class and to fill their coffers. But each one has cost the empire more than it has profited it.

What we are seeing isn’t merely about Trump, although I am sure he would like everyone to believe that it is. What this is about is the last chapters of American Empire. That is why the rhetoric is no longer full of flowery platitudes. It has nothing real to offer ordinary people. It can only cling to the image of its imperial power. Of its domination of others through violence or the threat of it. It has also demonstrated that the old order of international law, which really only applied to white, Western nations, is finished for everyone. It is rule by gangsterism, imperial jostling and sheer brutality by any means and without any meaningful opposition from established leaders.

Rome is burning and those who have benefitted the most from its years of glory are now trying to scrape every last coin out of its downfall.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The Weeks Where Decades Happen

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“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen,” attributed to Vladimir Lenin

Since the regime in Washington’s barbaric assaults on Nigeria and Venezuela, Trump has been threatening Iran, Cuba, Mexico and Columbia. He has also ramped up imperialistic rhetoric regarding Greenland. And if you think Canada is immune to this Hitlerian posturing, think again.

The US is being led by the most openly fascist and criminally insane regime in its history. And that is saying a lot, since virtually every US presidential administration, Republican and Democrat alike, has committed horrendous war crimes and crimes against humanity. This includes the previous one which greenlighted and fueled the current genocide in Gaza.

But the current arrangement of power has not only continued and expanded upon these crimes, it is thoroughly disconnected from reality. It is a death cult. And its cult leader is like a trapped animal. A malignant narcissist whose crimes against children, rampant greed and corruption, and a life built upon lies are finally collapsing in on him. And that makes him even more dangerous and destructive than ever before.

The next few weeks may be the most harrowing ones in the 21st century. What the Trump regime does in this time could lead to an unimaginable catastrophe. Regardless of how histrionic this might sound, the choices made by this regime could decide the course of history for generations to come, perhaps even the fate of organized human life on earth.

The wars to come will solely be resource wars and they will echo imperialist wars of the past. As the American Empire struggles to maintain its waning soft hegemony, it will attempt to grab every single resource in its “sphere of influence” by force. And that latter term is important, because it is the contemporary parlance of empire in the 21st century.

If anyone thinks this sounds hysterical after everything that has happened thus far, their head is buried in sand far deeper than any ostrich could ever hope to plumb.

The attached photo is a post from Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The Trump Regime’s Attack on Venezuela is American Imperialism in its Most Raw Form

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Any sane person should be appalled that a US president can bomb another nations capital and abduct its leader in an unprovoked attack. But this isn’t new. The US has done this dozens of times, from Mossadegh in Iran, to Allende in Chile, to Qaddafi in Libya and beyond.

The difference now is that the fascist Trump regime has ripped the mask off of Pax Americana. No more platitudes about “democracy” or “human rights.” Just naked imperialism. Trump has said the quiet part out loud more than any other US president. It is about acquisition of resources at the behest of US capital interests.

What is truly absurd is to hear some in American media and certain politicians talking about Maduro being a cruel dictator. As if that is a justification for the Trump regime’s illegal assault on Venezuela and the abduction of him and his wife.

If international law were truly applied, then every single US president would be facing charges in the Hague, along with most members of the US congress, every Israeli prime minister, the entire Saudi royal family, Putin and most European and Western leaders long before Maduro. But international law has been shredded. It is nothing but a farce.

The American Empire, although in decline, is led by oligarchs, war profiteers and scoundrels. Its support and aid of the genocide in Gaza sealed the coffin on whatever was left of its democracy and kicked out any moral leg it may have once hobbled on. Now with an unhinged, mentally unstable, narcissistic, rapist at the helm, nothing is off the table.

If any non-American believes this latest aggression will stop in Caracas, they are delusional.

Kenn Orfanos, January 2026

I Sat Next to Brigitte Bardot Once on a Bus in Nice

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Okay, no. I actually did NOT sit next to the late French actress, Brigette Bardot. But it very easily could have been her.

I was there on holiday with a group which included my partner, family and friends. After an excursion we took to a monastery in the back country, we decided to take a local bus back down to the city. As it was crowded, I took a seat in the back and I happened to sit next to an elegant, elderly white French lady.

In my mind’s memory, she resembled Lauren Bacall as she appeared in her late 70’s. Stylish, poised, cultured and monied, the latter being something of the distant past since she was condemned to taking a bus with all of us rubes and sunblock slathered tourists.

She spoke impeccable French. And, for some reason, she took a shine to me. Even after I told her in my egregious French that I was not fluent in any way, she began a conversation with me that spanned the hour and a half ride down through the lush hills of the south of France.

She spoke of her childhood. The post-war struggles and sacrifices. Something about living in a one room flat in Marseille with either her lover or a really close friend. Honestly, I was having great difficulty translating the details. I covered for that by giving the wry smile many French often do as if to say we know what you are saying. Essentially, “ah, mais oui.”

As the bus neared Nice, more passengers got on and off respectively. And many of them, based on clothing and language, seemed to be of either an Asian, Sub-Saharan African or Middle-Eastern culture. And this is when I noticed the change. The lovely white French lady sitting next to me, the same one who had been telling me stories about her life in France, changed. Her demeanor. Her cadence. Her eyes.

Even with my poor French, I could hear the disdain. These people were “not French” according to her. And they were allegedly ruining French culture. “France devient un mauvais pays à cause d’eux,” or something like that. And I knew where this conversation was going.

For the remaining journey on that bus I had to listen to her mock and dehumanize any non-white passenger that came aboard. As she spoke, I remembered how the French brutalized Algeria. How thousands were tortured and killed during the occupation. French colonialism has often been romanticized to a degree unlike British and other European colonial projects. But it was no less horrendous than any of them. And in her I saw the face of French imperialism. Pretty, elegant, condescending and cruel.

When we finally reached our destination, she bid me au revoir and I stepped out onto the crowded promenade along the Mediterranean in Nice. I was grateful that journey was finally over. But I have thought about her in recent days since hearing about the death of the French actress, Brigette Bardot.

Bardot was known for her animal advocacy and activism. But she is also infamous for her loathsome fascist politics. She was friends with Jean-Marie Le Pen and other far-right nationalists. In fact, her husband was one of Le Pen’s top advisors. And she was convicted and fined at least six times for inciting racial hatred. In addition to her Islamophobia and racism, Bardot dehumanized queer people, calling them “fairground freaks,” and mocked the women who came forward to expose the abuse they experienced by powerful men in the Hollywood film industry.

Unlike the lady I sat next to on that bus in Nice, Bardot had enormous influence. And she used that influence every chance she could to peddle in social hatred. Now that she is dead, she is being lionized in social media as a champion of sexual liberation and a tireless advocate for animal rights. In much the same way as Charlie Kirk, her own legacy is being sanitized by those who choose to see her as “complicated” rather than an odious person who dehumanized marginalized people throughout her long life.

None of this is to say that we should expect anyone to be flawless. Far from it. We are all human and we all say or do things that harm others, whether intentionally or not. But this is about lifelong patterns. About making it a point (whether in books or public engagement) to double down on social hatred, racism, bigotry and fascist ideology. There is a difference between being human and making your life a billboard of hatred.

I didn’t sit next to Brigitte Bardot on that bus in Nice several years ago. But she could have easily been her based solely on the bigotry, the racism and the poised French elegance that thinly masked it all.

Kenn Orfanos, January 2026