Daniel Estulin was an undercover agent who worked for the KGB during years, finding how twisted the world was/is/will be, he became a journalist. One of the best investigative journalists I’ve ever read. What I like about his style is that he doesn’t hold a promethean figure, bringing light to the blind ones, his writing makes you feel an accomplice – sometimes guilty – for being part of the big picture. Everything is downhill.
The story begins with Russian warlord Victor Bout, the kinda superhero you don’t want your kids to know about. After a detailed research of his impact in the end of the twentieth century (you can watch Nic Cage’s ‘Lord of War’ movie, tip of the iceberg), the story delves into the breakdown of Africa: rivers of blood, starvation, diamonds, bribery, and indifference.
Next chapter: Russia. Or should I say, “whatever happened to the Soviet Union”? No ideal is enough to keep a nation safe from its own children. After decades of countering the economic war, after decades of growth and ideological escalation, the corrupt burned the red flag down, sold cheap Russia’s energetic resources, fed the metagroups, and targeted their own people to get tons of money. At what cost? Damnation? Salvation?
That’s the last chapter: the influence of exclusive religious groups on the global setting. It’s absurd. In the name of a faceless God, they decide what country must bleed. In the name of a faceless God, they decide what people shall perish of thirst, hunger and war. Puppeteers? Hell no. They see themselves as “the chosen ones”, and they don’t care for the generations to come.
They don’t hide in the shadows anymore. They need the press by their side, for propaganda, for sensationalist journalism, for the record. They need as much exposition as possible to make people believe they are the answer, that they hold the key, that they know the truth, and no matter what, they want people to believe that they are fair.
Here’s the thing. This book was first published in 2007; eleven years ago, Daniel Estulin was shedding light over Latin America’s future. Now we’re living the consequences.