#as they work to get the global units off the ground

[waitingforminjae]

also just......obvs they have and had big plans for nct as a global bg but i still feel like they’ve never pushed as far as they could musically like. the concept is literally limitless. they could push into so many various genres of music and types of groups. trios and duos and bands. ballads and trot and rock. you created an infinite sandbox and your not even gonna play around in it? lame :/

[decolonize-the-everything]

Why are they mining so much right now?

Cobalt has become the center of a major upsurge in mining in Congo, and the rapid acceleration of cobalt extraction in the region since 2013 has brought hundreds of thousands of people into intimate contact with a powerful melange of toxic metals. The frantic pace of cobalt extraction in Katanga bears close resemblance to another period of rapid exploitation of Congolese mineral resources: During the last few years of World War II, the U.S. government sourced the majority of the uranium necessary to develop the first atomic weapons from a single Congolese mine, named Shinkolobwe. The largely forgotten story of those miners, and the devastating health and ecological impacts uranium production had on Congo, looms over the country now as cobalt mining accelerates to feed the renewable energy boom—with little to no protections for workers involved in the trade.

The city of Kolwezi, which is 300 km (186 miles) northwest of Lubumbashi and 180 km from the now-abandoned Shinkolobwe mine, sits on top of nearly half of the available cobalt in the world. The scope of the contemporary scramble for that metal in Katanga has totally transformed the region. Enormous open-pit mines worked by tens of thousands of miners form vast craters in the landscape and are slowly erasing the city itself.

[...]Much of the cobalt in Congo is mined by hand: Workers scour the surface level seams with picks, shovels, and lengths of rebar, sometimes tunneling by hand 60 feet or more into the earth in pursuit of a vein of ore. This is referred to as artisanal mining, as opposed to the industrial mining carried out by large firms. The thousands of artisanal miners who work at the edges of the formal mines run by big industrial concerns make up 90 percent of the nation’s mining workforce and produce 30 percent of its metals. Artisanal mining is not as efficient as larger-scale industrial mining, but since the miners produce good-quality ore with zero investment in tools, infrastructure, or safety, the ore they sell to buyers is as cheap as it gets. Forced and child labor in the supply chain is not uncommon here, thanks in part to a significant lack of controls and regulations on artisanal mining from the government.

[...]When later atomic research found that uranium’s unstable nucleus could be used to make a powerful bomb, the U.S. Army’s Manhattan Project began searching for a reliable source of uranium. They found it through Union Minière, which sold the United States the first 1,000 tons it needed to get the bomb effort off the ground.

The Manhattan Project sent agents of the OSS, precursor to the CIA, to Congo from 1943 to 1945 to supervise the reopening of the mine and the extraction of Shinkolobwe’s ore—and to make sure none of it fell into the hands of the Axis powers. Every piece of rock that emerged from the mine for almost two decades was purchased by the Manhattan Project and its successors in the Atomic Energy Commission, until the mine was closed by the Belgian authorities on the eve of Congolese independence in 1960. After that, the colonial mining enterprise Union Minière became the national minerals conglomerate Gécamines, which retained much of the original structure and staff.

[...]Dr. Lubaba showed me the small battery-operated Geiger counters that he uses in the field to measure radioactivity. He had begun the process of trying to find and interview the descendants of the Shinkolobwe miners, but he explained that tracing the health consequences of working in that specific mine would be difficult: Many long-established villages in the area have been demolished and cast apart as cobalt extraction has torn through the landscape. His initial inquiries suggested that at least some of the descendants of the Shinkolobwe miners had been drawn into the maelstrom of digging in the region around Kolwezi.

In her book Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade, historian Gabrielle Hecht recounts the U.S. Public Health Service’s efforts to investigate the effects of uranium exposure on people who worked closely with the metal and the ore that bore it. In 1956, a team of medical researchers from the PHS paid a visit to Shinkolobwe while the mine was still producing more than half of the uranium used in America’s Cold War missile programs. Most of their questions went unanswered, however, as Shinkolobwe’s operators had few official records to share and stopped responding to communications as soon as the researchers left.

[...]“Don’t ever use that word in anybody’s presence. Not ever!” Williams quotes OSS agent Wilbur Hogue snapping at a subordinate who had said the mine’s name in a café in Congo’s capital. “There’s something in that mine that both the United States and Germany want more than anything else in the world. I don’t know what it’s for. We’re not supposed to know.”

[kutputli]

Louis the "Pimp": A Rebuke and Rebuttal

OK, IWTV fandom, I have been made aware that some (many) of you are genuinely not aware of some of the anti sex work implications of your statements around Louis and pimping, so -

First of all, some ground level assumptions: I am assuming we are all pro sex workers here. Which means that we all believe in the right for adults to consent to commercial sexualised labour, and to demand ethical working conditions just like any other worker. Sex work is work etc.

Now, that stance can and must coexist with the acknowledgement that sex work has both historically and currently been coerced from marginalised communities. In my part of the world, hereditary caste based sexual enslavement is an on-going atrocity, and similarly, in the United States Black enslaved people was disproportionatey victims of commercialised sexual abuse. (This is RELEVENT to Armand and Louis so it behoves everyone to inform themselves about these realities.)

What I'm saying now comes from the scholarship and testimonies of sex workers themselves, who have always been at the forefront of advocating for themselves as communities and unions. You can and should read through the publications of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects to ground yourself in these perspectives.

The idea that its ok to be a sex worker, but that a client or a pimp or a brothel owner deserves contempt, shaming or derison is an old one, associated with the dichotomy of pitable fallen women vs dispicable emasculated men (emasculated because of the patriarchal shame of a) paying for sex and b) living off of a woman's labour). This has manifested in what is known as the Nordic model (or, hypocritically, the Equality Model) of Prostitution, where sex workers themselves are deemed nominally free to practise their trade, but clients and third parties (pimps, managers, brothel owners) are criminalised. There is unambiguous peer-reviewed data showing the failure of this approach to protecting sex workers from harm, and almost every sex worker union has denounced it.

So now let's talk about this cultural and legal contempt and criminalisation of the third party, and specifically, the pimp figure. Unlike the brothel owner, the pimp is more often from a similar class and identity as the sex worker, often sharing the same living and working spaces. Pimps are often sex workers allies and collegeaues. They provide an interface between the client and the sex worker that can help screen them for safety and security, and the remove the additional burden of soliciting and marketing from the sex worker's labour.

And because it is important to talk about specifics, a pimp in marginalised communities of sex workers is often a brother, a father, or a lover to the sex worker who faces the same casteism, racism and classism that she does. He is often the father of the sex worker's child. In India, for example, even though prostitution itself is not criminal, any adult male living with a prostitute is assumed to be guilty of being a pimp unless he can prove otherwise, and can face imprisonment of up to 2 years with a fine. One of the demands of unionised sex workers, including those in India, has been to decriminalised pimping along with sex work, not just because pimps make it safer and easier for sex workers to get clients without having to actively solicit, but also because such criminalisation actively harms family units.

Of course, there are pimps who can be abusive and exploitative. This is true of any professional relationship, and this is also true of people in romantic and sexual relationships (like marriage). But to deem a pimp inherently as an abuser carries a lot of anti sex work and racist and classist baggage with it.

Why racist (and classist and casteist etc)? Because the men with capital were (and are) not often pimps. They are landlords and investors, who ran brothels and saloons and massage parlours and dance bars and other sites where sexual labour was commercialised. To denigrate a man for being a pimp as somehow worse than being the owner of a sweatshop or farm is a way of jeering at the men who have not been able to buy themselves the luxury of distance from the exploitation they profit from. And the men of capital were and are, overwhelmingly, those from the dominant identity (White. Savarna. etc.)

So NOW, with all that necessary context in mind, let's talk about Louis and what it means when fandom firstly calls him a pimp, and then second sneers at him for his perceived behavior as one.

You know who first calls Louis a pimp?

Daniel Molloy, a white man being the brash, confrontational journalist that he has the luxury of being.

Louis accurately describes his profession managing and operating a diversified portfolio of entireprises. This translates to investing his family's sizeable trust into real estate (he owns 8 out of 24 buildings on Liberty Street) and running establishments that make money from selling liquor, organised gambling and sex work. Just as not many Black men would have been in a position of power to make a profit from a sugar plantation as Louis' great grandfather did, not many Black men would have had the capital (and the business acumen) to own and operate a series of businesses that included sex work. Infact we see him collecting his profits from a white man who was closer to the pimp role - Finn.

Reducing this to calling him a pimp is the first of many racist microaggressions we will watch Daniel make. As someone who indulged in some kind of sex work himself, one might say some of Daniel's hostility is self-loathing. Nonetheless, there is a racialised element in his contempt towards both Louis and Armand that, I would theorise, comes from the distinction made between a white, educated man choosing to recreationally whore himself for drugs, and a Black man who earned a living from other people's sex work, or a Brown man who is perceived as a rent boy.

We then get to the idea of denigrating Louis' pimp-like behavior. First of all, let's look at Louis as the employer and manager of sex workers. Everything we have seen about him shows him to be courteous, considerate, and professional. His guilt at the entire situation of how sex work operates aside (and we can agree that it must have been exploitative and even abusive in general, and that he was complicit in such a system, as any capitalist is) - MOST importantly, we never see Louis doing the thing that patriarchy really resents a pimp for - sampling the goods for free. We never see him use his power over the sex workers he employs to get favours.

In fact he makes it clear that he visits Miss Lily precisely because she is part of a different establishment, and that both of them being Black in a majority white situation places them on a more equal footing. Watching Louis with Miss Lily, both is how he is with her sexually as well as socially, gives you the clearest evidence of how he behaves around sex workers he is having a relationship with. (Contrast that to Lestat, who buys her time and body as an act of one-upmanship with no concern for her preference, and then who kills her out of jealousy.)

So - Was Louis a pimp? No. Was Louis an abusive pimp? Also No.

Then why does the fandom continue to deploy this term in relationship to him?

It's racism, your honour. (The answer is almost always racism.)

To unpack this, lets jump forward from the 1910s where, again I remind you - very very few Black men in the United States were in any position to operate as fashionable brother owners with wealth to spare.

We now move to the 1980s, when one (but not the only!) sub-genre of rap was evolving - gangsta rap. In this sub-genre, Black musical artists like Too Short and Ice T were creating and more pertinently making accessible to white America, the signifier of the Black pimp figure. This drew from 1960s Black culture-making around West Coast pimps like Iceberg Slim, but also from an older storytelling tradition that linked the figure of the pimp with the archetype of the trickster. I'm not going to cite the wealth of literature you can find that theorises this, (nor defensively provide the mass of nuanced critique that Black feminists have offered) because the limited point I wish to make is -

When white America began enjoying (and appropriating) rap and hip-hop culture, one of the tropes it started perpetuating with the shallowest of understanding of its origins, was that of the specifically Black pimp. A figure who displayed wealth, but without (white-signifying) class, who was sexually active in a racialised hypermasculine way, but both a threat to women and contemptibly a leech off them.

THIS is the pimp archetype that is being evoked when fandom talks about Louis's 'pimp'ness.

It is racist. It is ahistorical and canonically unfactual.

It is also needlessly contemptuous of the sex workers (labourers and third parties alike) who are part of the community here on tumblr, so often praised as one of the spaces that is friendly to them.

Maybe think about all of that the next time you choose to use the word 'pimp'.

[jayflrt]

i LOVE sunoo don't get me wrong, but i just need to know how he got 1st in the global rankings every vote. he deserves it but i don't remember him getting a lot of screen time! i thought someone like heeseung would be more popular

okay wait i'll give u my take on this as someone whose first iland bias was sunoo 🫣

1. right off the bat in the first episode sunoo was super cheerful and entertaining during everyone's unit entrance performances. and i personally think crown unit did the best and sunoo rlly stole the show with his expressions and vocals

2. he is so CUTE like everything he did was so charming. he was def popular with the korean fans because they love aegyo but i feel like sunoo's one of those idols who can make aegyo not feel cringe for international fans LOL also even when he was in ground he was so funny and lighthearted while still working hard and being competitive. there was this one scene of him complaining about not having much time in the center for a performance so he literally spent all his time in front of the camera perfecting that move and entertaining the viewers which was a rlly smart move

3. i heard this from addy but apparently he blew up for his visuals before iland started when they released the profiles and stuff :') BUT he didn't let anyone write him off as someone who could by with visuals and was consistently in the debut lineup even with the producers, and eventually was the producer's pick to be in enha

4. on that note his singing was sooo good like not many ilanders could hit clean high notes but sunoo was always really good with that. and he's confident about his skills too like when one of the grounders was like "who can even hit those high notes?" for save me and sunoo so casually just went "me" 😭

5. he's surprisingly a very good leader and decision maker. all of his picks for chamber 5 were all calculated, like he didn't just go for people who were consistently ranked high. and he had some sixth sense about sunghoon showing another side during chamber 5 and he fr did 😭😭 not to mention all the chamber 5 unit members debuted 🤭

[cynfuldelights]

what do you mean merlin made catholicism

Again staying awake at night, haunted by the implications of The Original Merlin helping to establish the Catholic Church. And on one hand I feel it's really easy to let this line slip by like a lot of other one-liners talking about long-term history. But this one takes the cake in terms of the sheer magnitude of implication. Like, Jim Butcher probably just thought it was a neat idea to throw in that he would never really expand upon further. BUT I DO. EVERY DAY. BECAUSE I FEEL IT'S SUCH A WASTE TO JUST BE A THROWAWAY LINE.

(Spoilers for Dresden obvs)

Like, if the Original Merlin helped establish the Catholic Church then that means they've been aligned with the White Council since practically its inception and vice versa. We're not sure when exactly this iteration of the White Council was created but regardless if it was created first or second this just cements the weird White/Christian ethnocentrism that exists in the White Council (a title that gets more accurate the more you think about it).

Like here's an obvious question: Were there wizards in The Crusades?

Probably, right? Like, sure, The White Council maybe has actually clung to their doctrine of non-involvement in human politics for thousands of years. But, like, that's kind of rich when OG Merlin was out there helping to create the Catholic Church, an organization that would be used to justify the monarchies of soooo many countries. You're telling me they remained apolitical, a THOUAND years ago when our conceptions of what counted as "political" are completely different? To say nothing of, wow I wonder if the Scottish magic practitioners were cool with the Anglo Christian wizards setting up shop in their ancient magical grounds. Do you think Britain/The Britons stole that too? Or are we to believe they just "handed it over willingly"? Or are we to believe that the Scottish mages got along with their invaders because of "apolitics"?

Another obvious question: Hey why aren't there any other wizard councils?

In some kind of United Nations-y situation, it feels like The White Council is supposed to be a conglomeration of cultures and practices across the world with a unifying board of diverse members who make major decisions. And that's really cool! I really appreciate the idea that there can be a global community for people who don't fit in to connect and learn from one another.

But uhhh. Why does it feel so hegemonic and imperialist?

Like, the Senior Council is diverse, that's true. Some of the members are POC, between Rashid, Listens-With-Winds, Martha Liberty, and Ancient Mai. But as you go through the list you kind of again wonder how any of these different people from different practices and backgrounds were able to cope with Western Euro Imperialism. Like, the most obvious example is Listens-With-Winds, a character who in his lifetime, witnessed genocide after genocide of not only his people but of all of the tribes across the United States. Rashid in his lifetime, likely watched the US turn the Middle East into a oil profit machine backed by US militarism and CIA support. Martha Liberty in her lifetime, watched Black people fight and claw for their basic human rights in a country that was built off the backs of their exploited labor. Ancient Mai, in her likely very long lifetime if the name is any indication, likely watched the exploitation of China and Asia by the Dutch, France, and the other European powers.

Again, are we to expect the White Council is WHOLLY APOLITICAL IN EVERY ONE OF THESE CONFLICTS?

And if they are, is that really being apolitical if it ends up working out in their favor anyways? Again, look at Edinburgh. Look at all the stuff Britain stole.

---

Ultimately I think this is a lesson in setting consideration for urban fantasy writers. Lindsay Ellis' video on Bright talks about this excellently, but to poorly paraphrase, you can't just import the real world without importing all of the baggage and strife that exists within it. You can't flippantly say, "Merlin helped found Catholicism." Without pedants like me going, "Uh. What the fuck do you mean?"

But also totally do that so I can harp on it endlessly this is the shit I love for.

I've got more like this brewing in my head I might put up, im also interested in what other implications people can think of

[gatheringbones]

[“Given how disillusioned she became, one might imagine that at some point Heather was among those who waved good-naturedly at the Code Pink protesters. Instead, she glared through her sunglasses at them, bristling at their self-righteousness.

Far from appreciating their presence, Heather viewed it as an affront, as if she and her peers needed a bunch of peace activists from Berkeley and San Francisco to have their consciences roused. “They assumed that we don’t give a shit, that we’re just a bunch of brainwashed, nonhuman robots,” she said. “They would say, ‘You know you’re killing people from across the world—you don’t care about it, you have no conscience.’ But they didn’t know us. They didn’t know what kind of shit we had to see; they didn’t know most of us wanted to go home and fucking kill ourselves. “There’s a reason that after work we’d all go and get trashed, then talk about how fucked-up mission was this week,” she went on. “I would go home and drive past these people protesting and then go have nightmares.”

It wasn’t just the protesters’ blindness to her distress that upset Heather. It was also the air of superiority she felt they gave off, an impression inflected by differences in social class. The ranks of Code Pink were dominated by educated women from middle-class backgrounds who could afford to devote their time to protesting America’s wars without worrying about how to pay their bills or make ends meet: people like Toby Blomé. The ranks of the drone program were filled with people like Heather for whom this was an unimaginable luxury, high school graduates from depressed rural areas and hard-luck towns like Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

As during the Vietnam War, when some soldiers returning home felt stigmatized by college students from more affluent families who had secured draft deferments, Heather bitterly resented the judgment of people who had the privilege not to be in her shoes. “I can guarantee that none of you has ever been put in a fucking situation where you have to kill someone or have people that you care about be killed,” she said of the Code Pink demonstrators. The protesters were equally blind to the power dynamics within hierarchical organizations like the military, she felt, shouting antiwar slogans at low-ranking enlistees who had little say over the scope of the drone campaign. “They’re personally attacking these people who have no control over what’s going on,” she fumed. “We have no control on that base over what’s going on with the drone program.”

In fact, some might argue, Heather and her peers had a lot of control. If enough of them quit or became conscientious objectors, it would almost surely have gotten the military’s attention, not least because the high burnout rate in the drone program made staffing missions challenging.

[….]

Not long after Heather got to Beale, she was assigned to provide over-watch for a mission in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan, alerting the marines on the ground to threats—improvised explosive devices, insurgents plotting ambush attacks—that could be spotted on the cameras affixed to the Global Hawk. The work was stressful, not least because a carefully camouflaged fighter or IED could easily escape the camera’s eye. During one shift, a group of marines disembarked from a helicopter and stormed a compound that appeared to be clear of danger. After they entered it, insurgents ambushed them. Heather watched the attack unfold in real time; then she saw one of the marines bleed out.

A few months later, another convoy fell under attack after an IED exploded, igniting a fuel truck that caused more “friendlies” to die. Once again, Heather watched the live feed in real time. At home afterward, she surfed the internet and clicked on a news story about the incident. The article listed the names of some of the soldiers who had been killed, including one who had a wife and young son. When Heather read this, she began to sob.

A week later, at a party for her unit, Heather broke down again, this time in front of her supervisor, who tried to comfort her by reminding her that she was “fighting the good fight.” The slogan had been drummed home to Heather during basic training, when new recruits were told their mission was to save lives and to protect America from “terrorists” and “towel-heads.” For all her alternative inclinations, Heather had internalized this message. She believed that she and her peers were fighting the good fight. But at the party, the words of her supervisor rang hollow to Heather, who wondered whether the mission—which had ended disappointingly, with no progress made in rooting out the Taliban—had been worth it. “Nothing was accomplished by that convoy,” she said later. “Those guys died for absolutely nothing.”

Whether innocent Afghans might also have died did not yet cross Heather’s mind. “I only felt bad about the guys that maybe we would have saved if we somehow had better technology,” she said. “It wasn’t out of any sympathy for the so-called enemy. It was out of self-preservation for our people.”

This began to change after the marine whom she befriended over Skype forwarded her documents about the area in Afghanistan she was surveilling. Like Christopher Aaron, Heather was responsible for conducting surveillance operations rather than coordinating strikes. But what she reported could determine whether a missile would be fired, and it now dawned on her that innocent civilians could die as a result.”]

eyal press, from dirty work: essential labor and the hidden toll of inequality in america, 2021

[owlwithanapple]

Your Hero

He is one of my favorite characters in mha. I want to write a future version of Bakugou Katsuki, I hope you guys will like it. 😘

Part 12.

( Bakugou Katsuki X Y/N )

When got home, you walked into study room and placed Endeavor's Figure on a glass shelf. You put the books on the desk back on the bookshelf, and Dynamight Figure placed next to the computer.

You originally planned to buy one but he couldn't bear it and instead gave it to you. You admire his Figures with a face full of intoxication, seeing how the hand-made work and high quality show off its details.

Out of curiosity, you on your computer and search for the price and production quantity of the Dynamight Figure. The price listed on official website is so high! Global production only 30 units! The pre-orders are currently full and it won’t be officially launched until next week?

The company that once specialized in producing All Might and Endeavor Figures. The maximum production units of each figure is 50 units. When you check Figure's site, there is a mark with the number 1/30 engraved on it! You were the first to get it!

The official website uploaded a video interview about the cooperation between Dynamight and the sculptor. The sculptor wanted to restore the details of the Figure's movements and equipment, so Dynamight cooperated with the request and put on combat equipment.

This guy is a lot more attentive than you thought! No wonder this company's products are so expensive. They rely on the high level of reproduction and detail. It's worth the price, it's great value for money.

What about the Figure of Endeavor just now? You found out that they are produced by the same company, and the number engraved is 20/20, which is the last one! The model has been officially announced to been discontinued for 2 years and cannot be pre-ordered.

"This should be worth a lot of money if sold..." You had an evil thought, but gave up because you afraid that he would blow you up.

When you are intoxicated with joy, your computer screen displays a message. Sender: Unknown, Content: Video. You watched the video and found out, Why is this video......!

Video content makes you feel actively uncomfortable. You covered your mouth and ran to the toilet to throw up, your body shaking. Why is this video still there?

"Why..." You collapsed on the ground, hugging yourself and crying.

10am—

You wake up from a nightmare, sweating and shaking all over. Last night you cried in toilet until you fell asleep. You remembered that you felt uncomfortable after watching the video last night, so you kept hiding in the toilet and crying.

You stood up and leaned in front of the wash basin, taking a deep breath slowly. Last night's video made you have bad memories, so you were a little out of control. Damn it! Makes you feel sick just thinking about it now. But why hasn’t the video been destroyed yet…

"Fuck..." You clenched your fists angrily and gasped.

Suddenly your phone rang again. You hurried to the study room the phone showed the contact was the police. You calm down and answer the call, they ask you to assist in the investigation at 12pm Tartarus.

Special Prison For Villain Criminals - Tartarus is a prison distanced from civilization where extremely dangerous Villains are imprisoned and interrogated under the highest security standards possible.

You answering the phone, you go to the kitchen to make coffee and put it on the table before sitting on the sofa to rest. Close your eyes and cover your ears with your hands, not wanting to hear any sound, because now will make you feel suffocated.

After calming down, you reach out your right hand to get a cup of coffee, but your hand is still sweating and shaking. You grab right arm with your left hand and tell yourself to calm down.

"Damn..." You covered your head, wanting to cry.

You take out a brand new hero costume, a dark blue cape, all black clothes, a blue skirt, white gloves and white boots. The design this time refers to All Might Young Age Costume. You prefer a cape-style design than wings.

Forget about the video for now, there are more important things to do now. You are suddenly asked to assist in the investigation, which means there is something wrong with Tartarus. You're ready to go straight away.

12pm Special Prison For Villain Criminals - Tartarus Entrance

When you arrived saw Shoto and Froppy standing at the entrance, you stepped forward say hello to them. They also gathered here after receiving notification from the police this morning.

The details haven't been explained yet, but the tone sounds like it's an emergency. While you were talking to Shoto, you felt Froppy staring at you.

"What's wrong, Froppy?" you asked her curiously.

"Kero, just call me Tsuyu chan. Wind Chan, you look bad. Are you okay?" Froppy looked at your face.

"I'm fine. Maybe I didn't sleep well yesterday..." You smiled at her.

"Kero..." Froppy is still staring at your face.

"Go in first." Shoto said calmly.

The three of you go in together, there are two guards at the door who lead you to the conference room. When arrived theroom opened the door saw a tall man with a dog face named Tsuragamae Kenji.

The other four heroes present are Dynamight, Deku, Uravity and Hawks. Kenji asked the three latecomers to sit down first. He left to get documents and then came back to start the meeting.

"Kero, do you know something?" Froppy was confused.

"I don't know...Kenji said we can't start talking until everyone is here." Deku said.

"Now we can only wait for Kenji to say." Uravity said.

You sat next to Dynamight waiting for Kenji to come back for the meeting. Dynamight said nothing and just kept looking at you. You felt uncomfortable and asked him in a low voice.

"What?" You asked coldly.

"You didn't answer my call. I thought you would get rid of me if I gave you those valuable things." He said helplessly.

"Sorry I fell asleep. I promise to pick up next time." You raised your right hand and swore.

"Did something happen? You shaking." He grabbed your right hand and asked.

"It's okay!" You pulled your hand back in a panic, squeezing your own hands.

Kenji walked in and handed the file to the heroes present. You took the file and flipped through the contents. They were the citizen (name Gen) who went on a rampage last time and the Villain (name Koe) whose dagger was poisonous and Quirks the voice.

"Now that everyone is here, I'll start what I want to say." Kenji said.

Kenji turned on the screen and played the news report at that time first. It's a video of Gen and Koe being interrogated. You hear what they say and you wonder why it's the way it is.

What is mentioned in the video is that both of them were detained without remembering what happened that day. Gen is an ordinary citizen so he is still undergoing treatment, while Koe is temporarily detained because of her criminal record.

"Hey, dog face. What is this?" Dynamight pinched the document.

"Don't remember what happened that day?" Shoto asked confused.

"Are the denying ?" Deku asked seriously.

"It's useless to deny it. We arrested them on the spot." Uravity said.

"Kero...their reaction doesn't look like faking it," Froppy said.

"I don't know whether it's true or not, but still trying to defend themselves..." Hawks said calmly.

"The current situation between the two of them is one of denial and ignorance." You said.

"Yes, I am also very confused. Neither of them can explain what happened that day. But please look at the documents in your hands. It contains reports on their interrogation, confessions and physical examinations. According to the analysis, they have the same drug component in their bodies." Kenji opened the file and flipped through it.

"Drugs?" Uravity asked.

"Kero...could it be that they happen to be taking the same medicine? Like fever medicine." Froppy raised his hand and asked.

"The ingredients contain stimulants." Suddenly there was a deep voice.

"You….." You looked at a man wearing a black mask standing in the corner with confusion.

"Overhaul!?" Deku was surprised.

Chisaki Kai,also known as Overhaul, the former Yakuza leader of the Shie Hassaikai.

"Yes, he is an analyst. In exchange, he will help us when we need him." Kenji answered.

"Can trust him?" Uravity stared at him.

"I'm just telling the truth. My ability allows me to break it down and put it back together again. So I know." Overhaul said.

"What do you want to say?" Shoto asked.

"These two people may have suffered memory impairment and Quirks loss due to overdose of some kind of drug."

"Is there a chance of coincidence like Froppy said?" Hawks asked.

"If the fever medicine had stimulants, the patient would have died a long time ago. First of all, they have no memory of the incident. Secondly, according to the police investigation, Gen has awakened Quirks since he was a child. Thirdly, the poisonous component of Koe's dagger was synthesized through chemical experiments. ” Overhaul analyzed the content calmly.

"After synthesis..." You whispered.

"First meeting, Wind Breaker. Let me tell you the fact first. You were listed as a special case when you entered the hospital. The doctor is not treating you with ordinary detoxification, but "cleaning". The ingredients contain chemical synthesis ingredients, so the surgery class requires “cleaning up” is called treatment." Overhaul explains the unknown to you.

"Kero...it means someone borrowing a knife to kill someone." Froppy was worried.

"The hell!" Dynamight said.

"Someone secretly making this kind of thing." Deku whispered.

"Know the origin of the ingredients?" Shoto asked.

"These are ingredients that come from the realm of illicit research. Things that our society generally doesn't see and doesn't use." Overhaul explained.

"Now we can only start investigating from the drug." Uravity said.

"I'd like to add that this is a conversation I had with them. They didn't remember what medications they took that day. It's possible that they took the medication themselves, or it was possible that someone inadvertently injected it." Overhaul clicked on the video to play .

"There are these possibilities." You sigh.

"So I summoned you all in the hope that we can keep this matter confidential for the time being and conduct a private investigation. If we directly launch a comprehensive operation, maybe the mastermind behind will escape." Kenji said seriously.

"Dogface, one is in prison and the other is at home, right?" Dynamight asked.

"Correct." Kenji replied.

"Dig out whatever the fuck can from them!" Dynamight shouted.

"No. 1 is right. We may not be able to ask questions through normal interrogation. But maybe we can do it in another way." Hawks agreed.

"Then I'll interrogate Koe. I'll talk to her face-to-face and maybe I can find out something." You vote by a show of hands.

"Kero...then let Dynamight...better Deku interrogate Gen." Froppy said.

"Damn it! I'll blow you up!" Dynamight shouted.

"Then I will make arrangements now, please wait." Kenji left the conference room to make arrangements.

You look through the files to see if you missed any clues. It's so strange, except that they don't have the memory. If someone really caused trouble, wouldn't it be declaring war on heroes...

According to police investigation, Gen has awakened Quirks since he was a child. But when you were on the rescue mission that day, he had no idea about his Quirks.

He will attack you when he is confused and frightened with his hands. Wait, those hands? The force he used to strangle your neck was very strong. Could it be the power of the drug to invigorate the body?

You clutched your neck and thought calmly. According to Overhaul, the drug contains a mix of stimulants. Gen's physical power and the poison of Koe dagger…..

"You're pretty good-looking." Overhaul said suddenly, standing next to you.

"Huh?" You were surprised because he walked over quietly.

"Have you figured it out?" Overhaul asked you.

"Yes, there are indeed unusual signs." You replied calmly.

"Kero...Wind chan, what do you mean?" Froppy asked.

"Say it!" Dynamight shouted.

"What Overhaul said is understandable. I have met them both and found something strange." You explain.

"What's strange?" Deku asked.

"Dynamight, do you remember when Gen strangled me, I tell you that Gen's power was extraordinary?" You looked at Dynamight.

"Yeah, I remember." Dynamight replied.

"His Quirks are transfer not power-type. But the moment he strangled me, I felt as if I was suffocated and about to die, as if my neck was a branch about to be broken by him." You explain.

"Really?" Uravity wondered.

"What she said is true. I checked her neck and there was indeed a deep red mark. His strength is no joke." Dynamight said.

"The poison from Koe's dagger. The poison spread quickly. I felt that my vision, breathing and strength were almost gone. But I still have self-awareness and can continue to think." You said.

"You were still able to think during the time when you used the storm to blow up the upstairs. This means that the poison was used to take away your vision, breathing and strength in order to suspend your body's movements." Shoto said.

"The head can think, but the whole body cannot function." Hawks said.

"That's right, smart woman." Overhaul praised you.

"Kero... things are more complicated than imagined." Froppy said.

"Overhaul, let me ask another question." You looked at him.

"Yes." Overhaul said.

"Are there any traces of injection on their bodies?" you asked.

"What a quick mind. Yes, Gen showed signs of being injected, but Koe did not. This shows that Gen and Koe became experimental subjects for the drug." Overhaul said.

"Is it possible?" Uravity raised his hand and asked.

"Fuck! Anything is possible!" Dynamight slapped the table.

"Kacchan?" Deku was startled.

"Idiot! Think about it in another way! Don't always think of them as victims or perpetrators! The investigation report pointed out their identity and background! Gen's guy has been working hard in a company for 10 years but never been promoted or received a salary increase. That woman Koe has a history of robbery and was sentenced to 3 years without a job after being released from prison, but she has a stable income!" Dynamight pointed to the report and explained.

"Kero….what does this prove?" Froppy asked.

"Part-time job?" You said suddenly and unintentionally.

"Drug testers. There are two opinions. In the light society are legal and have medical insurance, so they can sell legal drugs in society. In the dark society are classified according to the risk of the drug and value judgments." Overhaul explained.

"They are volunteers. After all, a person with a stable job but no high income and a person without a job but with a stable income does need a lot of money." Hawks said.

"Wind Breaker, you've noticed, right? That girl Koe's dagger is made of super high-quality material. That guy Gen’s shirt and watch he's wearing are famous brands." Dynamight said.

"Yes. I remembered." You said.

"Are your two heads one?" Overhaul suddenly asked.

"Shut your fucking mouth! Black mask!" Dynamight shouted.

"Everyone. I have arranged the schedule for you to discuss later." Kenji opened the conference room and walked in.

"That's none of my business. I'll go back to work first." Overhaul prepared to leave.

"Overhaul, one last question. Are the poisonous components in my body mixed with the same things as theirs?" You asked.

"Why do you feel that way?" Overhaul approached you.

"I don't understand. But for a moment I felt my strength a bit different." You answered.

"Yes. It's slight, but if your body can bear it, it means a special constitution." Overhaul said.

"The fuck!" Dynamight was surprised.

"Thank you for your answer. I will come back to you if necessary." You smiled.

"You're always welcome, Wind Breaker." Overhaul suddenly approached you.

"Hey, what are you doing?" As soon as he approaches you, you immediately step back.

"Tempest, this is not the first time we have met." Overhaul whispered into your ear.

You have an impression of this nickname. Someone once called you that. But when did it happen? Why does he know this word? Why would he say that word to you?

After Overhaul finished speaking, he left the room and left you alone. What he just said about "Tempest" and "It's not the first time we met" gave you some impression. Because the first time you saw him you almost said "Kai".

But you have no idea where you saw it. Have you really seen it? Your memory was still a little hazy but still conscious. Just losing a little memory isn't a problem.

Losing your past memories has caused you to have a habit of self-doubt now. Memories, confusions and questions are always on your mind. But now you just have to accept not to continue to think wildly.

"Hey!" Dynamight grabbed your shoulders from behind.

"What!" You slap him away and step back.

"Kero...what's wrong?" Froppy asked confused.

"Oh! Nothing! I was thinking about something and didn't notice him behind me." You explained with a smile.

You followed the others out of the conference room, leaving Dynamight alone. The first time you refused his physical contact. He had doubts about what Overhaul said quietly to you just now and felt something was wrong.

"The hell..." Dynamight held the file tightly.

Kenji arranged for you to interview Koe, while Deku arranged for an interview with Gen. You sat in the interrogation room waiting for Koe. You and Koe will be talking through a layer of glass.

There will be monitoring and recording during the interview. Therefore, both parties must communicate carefully. You really hoped that Koe would be willing to cooperate because Kenji had mentioned that Koe insisted that she didn't know anything.

"Damn it, a psychological warfare." You sat on the chair and thought.

There is also a layer of glass behind you. Behind the glass are Dynamight, Hawks and Kenji listening to your conversation. If they are suspicious they will send you a signal.

This is when Koe walks in and sits across from you. Her expression was very calm, unlike before. Her wrists were cuffed, but there were signs of struggle, indicating that she had been emotionally agitated. Ask calmly and carefully.

"Won't you introduce yourself?" Koe suddenly asked.

"I would have forgotten if you didn't tell me. Hello, my name is Wind Breaker. I have a few questions want to consult with you, and I hope you can give me a chance." You put your hands on the table.

"I told the police everything I needed to say. I don't remember what happened that day." Koe said.

"I know, I've read the report." You said calmly.

"Then why are you here?" Koe asked.

On the other side of the interrogation room—

"Wind Breaker very calm..." Kenji was watching your interrogation process from the other side.

"What the hell was she thinking?" Hawks asked.

"She wanted to try psychological warfare. That's why she was so calm." Dynamight said.

You and Koe side—

Ordinary conversation cannot yield any information. Koe's expression management is simply invisible. She didn't make any small movements with her hands. It's really a tricky thing, and now we can only rely on that method to find a breakthrough.

"How much do you earn per month?" You ask.

"Huh? This has nothing to do with the case." Koe replied.

"Yes, I'm just curious , no other meaning. Can you answer me?" you asked.

"I may refuse, I will not answer questions that are not related to the case." Koe said.

"I wasn't asking about the case from the beginning." You said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Koe's fingers began to move.

"The first thing I said was consultation. I never said I wanted to discuss the case with you." You said.

"What do you want? Don't be too quick-thinking. Just say what you have to say." Koe asked.

"This is what you said, I hope you can bear it." You said.

On the other side of the interrogation room—

"That girl started nervous ." Dynamight said.

"I don't understand." Kenji and Hawks said.

"Stupid! Watch it yourself!" Dynamight yelled.

You and Koe side—

You stayed silent and focused on everything Koe was doing. The interrogation room was air-conditioned, but she was already sweating, her fingers were shaking slightly, and her brows were wrinkled. Stick to this point now.

"You know me." You said.

"I don't know you." Koe's eyes weren't focused on you.

"The basic courtesy when speaking is to look people in the eyes. A little education, okay?" you said.

"Damn bastard...it's not your turn to teach me." Koe glared at you.

"I'm not teaching you. I'm warning you," you said.

"I'll kill you now!" Koe stood up and shouted.

"You’re welcome to kill me. But you will be dead in an hour anyway." You said.

"Huh? What are you talking about? You want to murder me?Wind Breaker." Koe asked.

"I don't have to, you will die naturally." You said.

"What the hell are you talking about! Tell me clearly!" Koe shouted.

"Didn't the police tell you? He’s dead..." you said.

"What does his death have to do with me?" Koe asked nervously.

"I'm hungry. I'm going to have lunch first." You stood up and said.

"Hey! How did he die! Tell me!" Koe shouted.

"What for? His death has nothing to do with you." You said.

"I..." Koe became nervous.

"Right, then I won't hide it from you. He had the same drug in his body as you. That drug contained a stimulant and a lethal ingredient. To put it simply, the stimulant ignited the lethal ingredient, causing him to have seizures and eventually die violently. "You say.

"No... doesn't mean it's harmless?" Koe started to get scared.

"What?" you ask.

"He said it was harmless, just would lose the memory after the medication! He didn't say would die!" Koe cried.

"The higher the reward, the higher the risk. Are you ignorant?" you said.

"Fuck..." Koe said.

"Can you tell me? At least I can avenge you." You said.

"Actually... the man named Gen and I took over the job of testing drugs because we were short of money. The man picked us up that day was masked and wearing a white coat, so we couldn't see his face, so we didn't know who he was.They asked me to get into the car with mask on, so I didn’t know where I was going. The whole process was done in the car without being able to see the person or place." Koe said frankly.

"How did you get the job?" you ask.

"There's mail coming to my house." Koe said.

"What did the masked man say?" you asked.

"Just tell us the reward, that the drug is not fatal and there will be no memory after taking the drug." Koe said.

"Did you see the car?" you ask.

"Before I got in the car, I saw it was a small black car," Koe said.

"I see...I feel so sorry for you, life is so small." You said.

"You must catch them for me! I will never forgive him! He fucking lied on me!" Koe banged the table hard.

"I promise you, I won't let him do whatever he wants." You said.

On the other side of the interrogation room—

"Wow, she knows..." Hawks said.

"Yes, I admire it." Kenji said.

"If you “don't bite the bullet” with this kind of person, your questions asking for a long time won't get any answers." Dynamight said.

Dynamight admires you in his heart, you didn't waver during the interrogation. You will also pick up the fatal points let her reveal the information herself. But he knows very well that this is not the only thing that is scary about you.

"The interrogation is over, you can stop, Wind Breaker." Kenji reported.

You and Koe side—

"Thank you very much for your cooperation. I hope you won't be so confused again in the future." You stood up and prepared to leave.

"Future, I will die soon..." Koe cried.

"I lied to you, you will be tried but don't know what the conclusion will be." You said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Koe looks at you.

"Everything I just said was a lie to you, otherwise you wouldn't have given me the information obediently. I believe the reward also includes hush money." You said.

"How dare you lie to me, you damn bitch!" Koe scolded you.

"There is something called psychological warfare. Although it includes deception, this is also the scope of my work. It is aimed at dishonest people like you." You said.

"I will definitely kill you when I get out of prison!" Koe shouted.

"Try it. Believe it or not, I'm going to punish you a little bit more." You said.

"Damn! Insidious woman!" Koe said.

"I think you're complimenting me." You said.

"Wind Breaker, you are more difficult than you thought." Koe said.

"Well.Thanks for your cooperation." You leave.

You leave the interrogation room Dynamight standing next to the door. Hawks and Kenji went to the office to handle the interrogation. You stood next to Dynamight and stayed with him.

"Why you so close?" Dynamight asked.

"I just want to stick with you." You whispered.

"Haha, that mouth so damn sweet. But good job, I'm impressed by you." Dynamight said.

"Thank you." You smile.

"What do you have to tell me?" Dynamight asked.

"You're thinking too much." You were afraid that he would alienate you if he found out about the video, you chose to hide it.

You left him and went to the office alone to find Kenji to help you read the interrogation report just now. You were really afraid that if you recalled the memory and that video, he would completely withdraw from your life.

If he knew, you might not be able to stay with him anymore. You think about the past memories, may not be able to accept it. You must have been scarred at that time.

"Hey!" Dynamight shouted loudly from behind.

"The hell?" You turned around to look.

"Listen to me! If you are afraid of something, you must tell me! Don't hide it from me! Do you know? Idiot! I will protect you!" Dynamight suddenly declared to you.

"In what capacity do you protect me?" You approached and stood in front of him.

"You know." Dynamight holding your hand..

"I want to rest." You leaned against his chest and closed your eyes.

"You are special to me. You can come to me anytime you want. You know it." Dynamight stroked your hair.

"Will you be my exclusive hero?" You whispered.

"Hahaha, do you hope?" Dynamight put his arm around your waist.

Why is he so gentle? Really love this moment. He is completely yours at this moment. You are very happy that no matter what, he will always be your support.

"I hope so." You smiled.

With him by your side, you tell yourself must retrieve your past memories. Even if you can't bear to look back, no matter how scared you are. Trust him no matter what, he will definitely protect you.

Part 12 end.

*If you have any ideas, you can leave them in the comment section, and I will try to add in the story.*

[wftc141]

Voltron: Global Military Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Unit-Chapter 14: Search for White Tiger

28/04/2018

Colombia

Another fist landed on his face as Halliday’s vision flashed to what was left of the room’s light. Tasting metal in his mouth, Halliday held his tongue. Torture wasn’t new to him and he had his fair share of being tied to a chair before some paranoid terrorists during his service. The pain was part of the package and so is a swollen eye and the loss of two of his fingers from yesterday. 

Halliday looked up at the man giving him a thrashing, a muscular and tatted-up lieutenant sporting a mustache and a nasty look in his eye. There wasn’t much he could do, considering he was tied to a chair. The lieutenant reached for the tools on the table, settling on a blowtorch. His blood-covered hands lit up the blowtorch, a light yet scorching flame coming out of the barrel.

“You know how this works.” the lieutenant snarled. “You’ll be having another bad day if you keep up this game of yours.”

“I already told you, ya muppet.” Halliday growled, spitting blood at the lieutenant’s feet. “I ain’t telling you a bloody thing.” 

“Enough.”

The voice was enough to catch the lieutenant’s attention. A bloody miracle, to Halliday’s surprise. A figure stood by the door in the shadows. Halliday couldn’t make him out through the light. As the figure approached the lieutenant, he became much clearer. The light-skinned man looked like he came out of a fundraiser for an election, sporting a three-piece suit without a blazer, sleeves neatly rolled up and a tight bun.

“Enough?” The lieutenant curled his lips. “Why? This pinche cabrón killed my men and he won’t spill as much as a breath!”

The man ignored the lieutenant, brushing past him as he approached Halliday.

“Like I told your mate here. I ain’t tellin’ you shit.” Halliday hissed.

The well-dressed man smirked. “There’s no need for that, Lieutenant Damon Halliday.” The British accent caught his attention. “I’m well aware of who you are. Former SAS and now, a Voltron operative that handles off-the-books operations for NATO.”

Halliday went quiet. He couldn’t find the words. This man knew more than he had anticipated and if anything, he may know about his team as well. The man then turned around and glared at the lieutenant.

“You really thought it was wise to bring him here?” He asked.

The lieutenant scoffed. “Relax. We left without a trace.” 

The man then turned back to Halliday with skepticism glowing in his eyes.

“I doubt that.”

________________________________________

29/04/2018

0750 Hours

Colombia

Upon landing in the forest, Shiro and Lance scan the area as they slowly move through the jungle. 

“Zero, this is Blue Lion, how far am I from Red’s position, over?” Lance asked on the radio. 

“Blue Lion, you should be right on top of him, over.” Allura answered from the comms.

“Found him.” Shiro said from behind.

Lance turned towards Shiro who was looking up. Lance followed his eye direction. Above them, Keith was hanging on a tree with his parachute stuck among the branches. Lance began to chuckle.

“That is rich.” Lance said in between his laughs. “Yo, Keith! How’s it hanging?”

“Ha, ha. Fuck you.” Keith flipped Lance the bird, which only made him laugh further in response.

“You need help, Keith?” Shiro asked.

“No, sir.” Keith shook his head as he reached for his knife. “I got it.” 

Eventually, Keith managed to break free from his suit, falling to the ground with a loud thud. 

“Thought the Rangers are supposed to be good at this.” Lance said.

“Fuck off.” 

“Alright, that’s enough, you two.” Shiro cut in, grabbing Keith and Lance’s attention. “We gotta move. We’re meeting up with the Ground Branch team. Keith, get geared up. You got five.”

“Rog.”

As Keith went through his gear up from his pack, Shiro reached for the radio.

“Zero, this is Black Lion. We have found Red Lion and are about to proceed to Hunter’s position, out.”

________________________________________

Allura, Coran, Jeb and Stacy observe the footage from the drone video cam tracking Shiro, Keith and Lance’s positions. Allura notices Coran’s troubled expression, knowing how close he and Lieutenant Halliday are, hoping his friend is still okay. Allura thought about assuring him until Kolivan approached her.

“Your team’s on the ground?” Kolivan asked.

“Yes, Kolivan. They’re on their way to Hunter’s position.” Allura answered.

Kolivan nodded, although Allura noticed his expression was telling a different story.

“Is everything alright?”

He let out a sigh. “There’s something that you should know about Hunter 1 and I… I already told Sergeant Holt about him.”

Allura looks at Kolivan, confused. “Told her about what?”

________________________________________

Later, Keith and Lance continue to make their way to their designation through the jungle as the sun is slowly rising. The three move cautiously to avoid any possible traps or avoid patrols. 

“So uh, these Ground Branch dudes,” Lance whispered, earning a turn from Shiro as a response. “Are they gonna be cool working with us or are they just a bunch of smartass shitstains?” 

“They’re under Kolivan’s command so they should be fine.” Shiro replied.

“I don’t know, man. Spooks are usually buncha arrogant assholes with fat egos and don’t get me started on the SADs.”

“I have to agree with Lance,” Keith steps in. “These guys are black ops. Who knows how they’ll treat us?”

“Well until then, we’re a team.”  

The three continue to walk through the jungle in silence until-

“Don’t move.” 

The group froze as the bushes behind them rustled. Three masked figures emerged from the bushes, surrounding the group though they kept their rifles trained on each other. Keith and Lance, covering the rear, trained their weapons on two of the figures while Shiro had his on the woman. There was a brief but tense pause between the groups before one of the figures behind him spoke.

“Stone… ”

Shiro slightly glanced over. He recognized the code word as one of the many phrases that CIA operatives use to identify each other. However, it was possible that this could be a trap from their attackers who somehow learned their language. But the possibility was less likely since the voice was somewhat familiar to him.

“Stone…” The figure repeated.  

“...Mountain.” Shiro finally said.

The woman in front of him lowered her rifle, as well as the figures behind him. “Whoever answered, turn around.” The voice ordered.

Once Shiro complied and turned around to face the figures, one of the figures in woodland gear scoffed in disbelief before pulling his mask down. Shiro’s mouth dropped as he recognized him as someone whom he thought he’d never seen again.

“Matt?” Shiro said.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Matt cocked his head sideways. “If it ain’t the Great Shiro.” 

“What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you. I thought you left Voltron behind. Didn’t expect you to come back.” 

“Things have changed.”

Matt takes a thought and then starts to put the pieces together as to why Shiro is back in Voltron.

“You came back for her, didn’t you?”

Shiro didn’t answer as he knew Matt was right, especially with how he reacted to Allura being taken hostage in Pakistan a few months ago.

“Thought so,” Matt scoffed. “Come on. Let's go save your guy.”  

Matt and his ground branch team start to walk off while Keith, Lance and Shiro are hesitant at first before following. Shiro felt guilty when he saw Matt again but as a Voltron operative. Keith and Lance were confused when they saw Matt as they knew a semblance of a certain person from their group. 

“Is it me or does that guy look a lot like Pidge?” Lance said.

“That’s because Matt is Pidge’s brother.” Shiro explained. 

Keith and Lance were left speechless when they realized that Matt is Pidge’s brother. Keith remembered Pidge talked about her brother being Shiro’s comrade from the SEALs but never thought that he would look a bit like Pidge and never thought that he was in Voltron. 

“Come on.” Shiro ordered. “We gotta move.”

________________________________________

Back at the hideout, Pidge is in the hallway laying her back on the wall with a doubtful look on her face as she has a lot on her mind.

“Pidge?”

Turning to her right, she noticed Hunk standing there with a worried look on his face.

“You good?” He asked.

Pidge looked away. “Not really.” 

“What’s wrong?”

Pidge let out a deep sigh.

“Kolivan told me that my brother Matt is there in Colombia leading Team Hunter.” 

Hunk’s mouth opened in surprise. “Your brother’s CIA?”

“News to me too.” Pidge replied. “Kinda explains why I’ve never heard from him for years. Now I don’t know how he’ll feel about me working for Voltron.”

“Maybe he's proud of you.”

“Doubt that.”

Hunk then starts to piece it together as he knows what Pidge is going through.

“Problems back home?”

Pidge silently nodded. Hunk sighed as he approached Pidge and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Listen,” Hunk said. “Even if we cross paths with him, just know that you’re still the same Pidge I know. The one who can fight and protect her team. Hell, you were the one who carried my ass outta danger when I got shot.”

“I wouldn’t say that counted since you got captured by the Galra anyway.”

“Kinda thankful for that. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have met Shay and she and those women wouldn't have gotten saved.” 

Pidge gives out a nod with a haft smile as Hunk did make a good point if Hunk wasn’t captured by the Galra. 

“So how are things with Shay?” Pidge asked.

A small blush crept up to his face as Hunk gave a knowing smirk. “Oh, we are going strong, alright. If you know what I mean.”

A chuckle slipped out of Pidge’s mouth as she bumped his arm, prompting a laugh from Hunk. “Okay, I get your point.”

Hunk took a moment to calm himself. “In all seriousness, Shay’s wonderful and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“That’s great to hear, Hunk. Wish you all the best.”

“Thanks…and I hope things work out between you and your brother.”

________________________________________

The team reached the cartel’s hideout where they may be keeping Halliday. Matt and Shiro looked through their binoculars to scope out any guards in the area but found nothing.

“Something’s not right.” Matt stated.

“No guards, no patrol…” Shiro stated. “I hope we didn’t tip them off.”

“And there better not be another mole inside us.”

Shiro gives out a sigh.

“So you know about Brazil?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah.” Matt answered. “Special Activities would’ve long figured out that Sanda was under Galra’s hand but my boss handed it to Voltron, now look how that turned out.”

“At least we stopped them from killing the Triple Frontier government.” Lance said. 

“But this should’ve been stopped sooner.”

Shiro sighed. “Yes but we should focus on our mission. Lance, stay here and provide overwatch.” 

“You too, Hunter 3.” Matt ordered.

“Copy.” Both Lance and Hunter 3 responded.

Shiro and Keith made their way to the hideout along with the rest of Matt’s team while Lance and Hunter 3 got into position. Once the team got close to the house, they noticed two dead guards on the ground. They even noticed that they were shot from inside of the house.

“Black Lion to Zero, Lion and Hunter team are at target compound and ready to make entry.” Shiro reported to his radio. 

Hunter 2, taking point, opened the door and the team stormed the hideout. As the team were clearing the rooms, they noticed the lack of shooting or voices from either room or even in this building. No voices were being heard as the team found more dead sicarios as they were sweeping the house. 

“Fucking hell.” Hunter 2 muttered as she noticed a sicario with two holes in the head.

The team were finding themselves with more questions than answers as they investigated further, finding  more evidence of dead cartel members. Whatever happened here, the team must’ve missed a gunfight. The corpses’ trail led to a room up ahead. The team entered the room and froze upon seeing what was inside.

“Shit.” Shiro swore under his breath.

The team found what they’ve been looking for but not what they were hoping to find as their fears turned true. 

“Call it in.” Shiro said to Keith.

Keith tapped into his comms. “This is Red Lion to Zero. We have visual on White Tiger. Status KIA. Repeat, White Tiger is KIA.”

[solaneceae]

banquet

a team bolas oneshot (read on ao3) tw: cannibalism, gore (team bolas things indeed)

Purgatory-induced madness is like the tide. Sometimes it rushes in, licking at their feet and drowning their reflection in off-white seafoam, stripping them of all sense of self.  Time stretches and distorts time like a rubber band, minutes feeling like hours and hours like seconds.

The first time it happens, they all come out of it shaky and horrified, with the taste of foreign, fresh blood on their tongue and tricolored death messages filling the global chat, along with many interrogation points and ‘what the fuck is wrong with red team’ and ‘run the fuck away dont engage’ and ‘they dont have shit its not worth it’. They’re also completely alone, stuck in unfamiliar caves or forests, and the lack of the others, pack, flock, mine quickly drives them to force themselves into respawn, uncaring of the gear and materials they’ll lose.

From that moment on, they realise they might have a problem. So they do tests, and they learn that isolation is a no-no, because Cellbit starts to yowl for them after a few minutes of them being out of sight. The birds all begin to stress-pluck and over-groom their wings after about twenty minutes of being left alone, Foolish digs a circle into the coarse dirt as he paces and paces like a goldfish in a bowl (“Did you know, that the fish—” “Baghera. Baghera, I love and adore you, but I will kill you and eat your leg like it’s confit, fuck the ground rules.”) and Slime’s glitching reaches a point where he can’t even stand or communicate anymore.

So, when they all reunite and  press their sides together for comfort, pawing at their arms and faces in a cacophony of shaky trills (avians and feline and slime hybrids alike), they decide they need a tether. And the tether is each other.

Phil thinks that the place is messing with their code in a way Quesadilla didn’t, something about mob instincts being unlocked. Cellbit huffs but stops denying the allegations, because you don’t actually need to show much mob features to qualify as hybrid, apparently. Everything feels almost foreign now, a long-dormant part of their brain now active and flooding their minds with dumb shit like pack mentality, which is made a lot worse by the sheer amount of trauma they’ve just went through as a unit. In short, they’re well and truly fucked, because the other teams have demons and humans and those do a hell of a lot better in high-stress situations like these than hybrids. Flock? Baghera quacks, a sound she’s never done before. Flock? 

Flock, Jaiden trills back with a rustling of her wings. Those two are the most jumpy of them all, prey instincts rendering them prone to run and startle. Flock, safe, Phil crows at them, his own fucked up wings coming to brush against theirs. Yesyes. Cellbit approaches, making himself smaller (cat on the prowl, he doesn’t want to scare them off, tries, tries) and bumping his head against Phil’s shoulder. “Okay?” he asks, and if he could purr right now he probably would be. Phil smiles. “Yeah. We’re okay.”

Things get a bit better after that. The madness still creeps in, but they feel more in control, more grounded when they’re in a group. They get used to it, the guilt and horror ebbing away. Also, it makes them harder to pick out, makes kills easier. It works, Blue and Green learn to avoid them, because they don’t bother to armor up or stack up on anything worthwhile, but they can just keep reviving and coming after the invading-trespassing enemy, again and again, until they wear them down with sheer numbers and ferocity. They don’t even loot them, because they just. Don’t. Care.

All they know is survival, and the pack-flock. All of them, together.

Cellbit learns the taste of every one of them. Bad’s blood is foul, bitter and sour with soul corruption, so they leave his corpses alone. Fit’s arm is tough, pure lean muscle and not an ounce of fat. (Étoiles’ taste he’s curious about, but the guy never engages with them. Says it’s not fun. Fair enough.) He tears out a strip of flesh out of Tubbo’s leg, and Philza shoots him a disapproving look. “You shouldn’t eat that shit raw, mate,” the crow chastises him, still somehow able to father them around even in the throes of bloodlust. “You’re gonna catch some nasty stuff.”

(Cellbit remembers seeing Philza swoop in from above, flightless but still as graceful and deadly as he imagines an Angel of Death to be. He remembers the crow, eyes wide and dark-too-dark, hands and wrists tainted black by Death-touch as his talons rip and tear through hair and armor and tender, tender flesh. He remembers thinking how lucky he was to have Phil here, with them. Pack. Pack.)

He spots Jaiden eagerly ripping out tender livers and chewy hearts from still-warm chest cavities, passing them over to Baghera who carries them to the hidden coldbox, feathers now permanently dyed red no matter how much she scrubs. She’s not their most efficient fighter, what with the lack of talons or claws or teeth and all, but she’s insanely good at building and organising their shit.

(Carré drops by sometimes, and they all cheer for his presence. But he never stays for long, unnerved by their dynamic and by the mad glint in their eyes. None of them blame him, they’re just grateful he still sticks around. And he does join the occasional sleep pile, which is very nice because his onesie is warm and soft.)

“Hey Cellbit?”

He hums, wiping blood off his cheek. Foolish grins down at him, handing him a slab of juicy-looking meat. “Gift!”

The detective (was he even still that? Or just a murderer?) blinks, slow. “You don’t want it?”

“Nah,” the totem shrugs. “Enemy corpses are fine in a pinch, but I’m more of a fish guy and I got enough right how.”

“Mmh. Thanks.”

He takes the offering in both hands, blood oozing out of the piece as he tears into it ravenously. It’s a nice cut, marbled with fat, but not enough to make it sit too heavily on his stomach. “Dude, gross,” Slime grimaces at his right, glasses and shirt splattered with blood. His arm glitches, his next words jumbled and sluggish with code corruption. “At least give it a lil’ sear, lil’ mallard reaction on both sides, kill the germs and shit.”

“You’re so american, Charlie,” Baghera pipes up from behind them, washing her wings in the stream. They all know it won’t get rid of the stains. “You guys would wash your food with bleach if you could. I should make a steak tartare for you one day, you’ll see.”

“Yerk. Hard pass.”

“You mean hard like the meat you overcook?”

“Fuck you, Baghera.”

She laughs, airy and a little too loud. “You love me.”

Jaiden chirps as she nuzzles into her side, flock, flock, and the other gives her a ducky kiss on the back of her head. Flock. “I want in on that,” Slime gets up to join the two birds on the sand, and Jaiden pulls him down for an impromptu preening session, right there, between the still cooling bodies of their foes. “Bro, we are so fucked up,” Phil cackles, half-disbelief half-manic energy.

“No shit, I’m wearing Pierre’s entrails as a stylish scarf right now,” Foolish grins, shark-like. “We’re kinda past that. Gotta say, I haven’t had this much fun in centuries.”

“Oh shit, Baghera look he’s dropping some juicy lore right now, write that down.”

“Foolish lore, yeaaaaaah.”

“Is this lore? Are we loreing right now, guys?”

And it’s all so strangely domestic amongst all the blood and viscera, it makes Cellbit want to laugh. To think that those same people would have probably thrown him in jail for killing those workers just a few days ago, and now here they were. Eagerly killing and gutting, all for each other.

(They weren’t leaving Purgatory with their sanity intact, or their other relationships for that matter. But at least they would have each other.)

[bimboficationblues]

why do radical leftists moralize about people who join the US military? the socdems who blame propaganda/ideology and economic anxiety are correct, they seem less liberal to me than those (seemingly everyone on the far left) who believe that said people are simply "evil"

hm, I think it depends:

people don't believe things purely based on evidence or analysis but because it fits within frameworks they already believe or because it is rhetorically powerful. (this is the root of like 95% of all Twitblr left-wing discourse; the loudest voices, by virtue of being on social media, are going to be incurious and inflammatory, the ones who buy in the most to the platform's incentives.) I would argue that broadly, even the socdems you are aligning yourself with here still aren't basing their position necessarily on reality but because it aligns with preexisting beliefs about political strategy.

relatedly, there are different modes of talking about things. like, if you are trying to think through complexity, sometimes you might talk about the United States as a geopolitical entity and the role of the USD. if you are trying to piss someone off or make a joke or signal to someone a broader political affiliation, you might whip out the old "America Delenda Est." I do think each has their place in political discourse, it's just that one shouldn't be mistaken for the other.

it might not be "right" to describe people joining the military as evil but to me, there is definitely a perversity to the trade-off of joining the military in order to get an economic leg up. we might be conscious that capitalists exist within a complicated web of incentives and pressures but I don't think that makes it impossible to ethically evaluate them or their role in that web even if that shouldn't be our main avenue of understanding how the world works. likewise, while it's useful to examine the causes of what makes people join the US military, that military remains a massive engine of global destruction and death, and a breeding ground for reactionary movements, interpersonal violence, and harmful institutions. I am not exceedingly, or at least automatically, sympathetic to people that voluntarily decide to become one of its many cogs. I also think we exist in a culture that still loudly, vulgarly venerates American military strength as the truest representation of power and virtue, and there is some utility in being a provocateur that thumbs their nose at that kind of thing.

[mariacallous]

In the ongoing battle to cut off the illegal flow of fentanyl into the United States, U.S. officials gained some ground this week—with China’s help.

The White House announced on Tuesday that China will more tightly regulate three ingredients used to make the deadly drug. U.S. officials had been pushing China to step up oversight of these chemicals since the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs added them to its list of controlled substances in 2022.

In a notice dated Aug. 2, the Chinese government said it will add the three ingredients—4-AP, 1-boc-4-AP, and norfentanyl—to its own list of controlled chemicals on Sept. 1.

The dry, acronym-laden Chinese regulatory document may not seem like much on its face, but it reflects a larger trend: The United States and China are in a rare moment where they have managed to sustain cooperation even as competition in other spheres escalates. It is a fragile balance, but for now the superpowers are edging forward on a number of major global issues.

China’s willingness, or lack thereof, to come to the United States’ aid in the fentanyl fight has for many years tracked the broader trajectory in the bilateral relationship.

Until 2019, China was the main source of fentanyl flowing into the United States. As the opioid epidemic exploded and fentanyl overdoses became a leading cause of death for Americans, U.S. officials were able to gain support from China to crack down on the trade and regulate production of all fentanyl-related substances, greatly reducing the direct flow of fentanyl from China to the United States.

But in the subsequent years, Chinese companies shifted to manufacturing upstream ingredients to supply fentanyl producers in Mexico, becoming the dominant supplier of these ingredients. As U.S.-China tensions rose, cooperation fell apart even as overdose deaths rose sharply in the United States. After then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, which deeply angered Beijing, China fully cut off all counternarcotics talks with the United States along with all other major areas of joint action, showing that it was willing to weaponize cooperation to pursue better terms in the relationship.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco last November, China notably retreated from its position, recommitting to working with the United States on several key topics—including fentanyl, artificial intelligence, climate change, and military-to-military communication—even as tensions remained high.

This about-face reflected a desire by both sides to stabilize the relationship for their own reasons. China watchers surmised that Chinese officials were seeking stability externally to devote more attention to solving the country’s economic slowdown internally. Meanwhile, on the U.S. side, the Biden administration was hoping to avoid further escalation after setting in motion its initial tough agenda and to forge progress on issues critical to U.S. interests, such as fentanyl.

China’s willingness to come to the table on fentanyl specifically has also been driven by sticks from the U.S. side. The Biden administration added China to its annual list of major illicit drug-producing countries last year for the first time, dealing a reputational blow to China.

“Even just being placed on the list has been a major irritant for the Chinese government, because China wants to present itself as the world’s toughest drug cop,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, the director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at the Brookings Institution who has written extensively on global counternarcotics policy.

China hawks have long questioned the value of engagement, arguing that the United States gets strung along by China’s performance of cooperation and then is asked to pay too high a price for real progress. But so far, the renewed bilateral anti-drug efforts haven’t been just talk.

As seen in other areas of mutual concern since the San Francisco summit, this isn’t an era of headlining breakthroughs, but progress is possible. A new U.S.-China counternarcotics working group started meeting in January, and it yielded some results even before this week: Beijing has cracked down on online sales platforms for fentanyl, added more fentanyl substances to its list of regulated drugs, and worked with Washington to arrest a Chinese national accused of money laundering for the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.

The latest move, announced after U.S. and Chinese officials met in Washington last week, builds on this momentum. According to Chinese regulations, companies trying to export the three precursor chemicals will have to submit their export contracts and show proof that the importer is conducting legal business to the Chinese Commerce Ministry to obtain an export license.

Counternarcotics experts said this should reduce the volume of exports to Mexico, but it isn’t a panacea. One issue: Hundreds of thousands of small factories produce chemicals in China, so enforcement is a challenge. Another broader problem: Combating the fentanyl trade resembles a game of whack-a-mole—cartels have continued to find new ways to produce fentanyl using different precursor chemicals every time new restrictions are imposed.

Nonetheless, experts and U.S. officials welcomed China’s move. “When you’re dealing with something as complicated as the fentanyl supply chain, there is no single action that is going to solve [the problem],” said a senior U.S. administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We think that each one of these steps is an important step forward, and it’s a lot further than we were before cooperation resumed.”

Going forward, there is hope for further progress. “China has indicated their intention to schedule additional precursors,” the senior U.S. official said. “There are two key ones that we’re focused on that they’re aware of as well.”

In a statement to Foreign Policy, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said, “We hope that the U.S. side can work with China in the same direction, and continue our cooperation based on mutual respect, managing differences, and mutual benefits.”

But with the United States continuing to introduce new measures to compete with China on emerging technology and tensions simmering in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, will there be enough motivation to sustain engagement on fentanyl and other issues going forward?

Several experts and U.S. officials told Foreign Policy that the outlook is cautiously optimistic for now. “Given the status of the U.S.-China relationship, I think China has an incentive to cooperate,” said Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and columnist at Foreign Policy. China still hopes such efforts will smooth tensions and “perhaps open the door for other conversations in the context of a stable U.S.-China relationship.”

China may also be motivated to repair its reputation. “China continues to be rather explicit that it expects payments for its cooperation,” said Felbab-Brown, adding that one of the issues high on China’s agenda is being removed from the list of major illicit drug-producing countries.

“I think China recognizes the role that they play in this global problem and the opportunity to be a global leader in finding the solution,” the senior U.S. official said. “We continue to hope that that remains a persuasive reason for China to continue to engage with us on this particular issue set.”

[laresearchette]

Saturday, July 27, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

CRAVE TV MOLANG (Season 2)

2024 SUMMER OLYMPICS (CBC) 3:30am: Men’s Volleyball (SN) 4:50am: Olympic Morning (CBC) 5:00am: Swmming (TSN4) 5:00am: Olympic Games (CBC) 7:15am: Road Cycling, Skateboarding (CBC) 10:15am: Skateboarding, Rugby, Swimming (SN1/TSN) 12:00pm: Olympic Daytime (CBC) 2:30pm: Swimming (CBC) 4:00pm: Men’s Basketball: Greece vs. Canada (CBC/SN/TSN4) 6:30pm: Olympic Primetime (CBC) 11:00pm: Late Primetime (CBC) 2:00am: Beach Volleyball (Sunday)

HORSE RACING (SN360) 10:00am: King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 2:30pm: Rangers vs. Jays (SN Now) 7:00pm: Dodgers vs. Astros (TSN2) 7:00pm: Yankees vs. Red Sox (SN Now) 9:30pm: Astros vs. Mariners

CFL FOOTBALL (TSN) 7:00pm: Blue Bombers vs. Argos

SOCCER (TSN5) 7:30pm: Soccer Friendly: Wrexham AFC vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

CURIOUS CATERER: FOILED PLANS (Global) 8:00pm: Goldy Berry teams up with Detective Schultz to solve a murder at a medieval feast.

OPERATION NUTCRACKER (W Network) 8:00pm: An event planner and the heir to a family dynasty work together to track down a missing antique nutcracker set.

BRIE'S BAKE OFF CHALLENGE (CTV Life) 8:00pm: Brie Hayes is an aspiring baker who wishes to win her school's Spring Bake Off challenge. Trouble ensues when Brie's confidence reaches an ultimate low, and her enemy, Vanessa, does everything she can to slim Brie's chances of winning.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (Crave) 9:00pm: The Spengler family returns to the iconic New York City firehouse with the original Ghostbusters. When an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must unite to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.

SECRETS OF A CELEBRITY NANNY (Super Channel Fuse) 9:00pm: When an aspiring writer becomes a nanny to the daughter of an international superstar, she gets thrust into a seductive and sinister world of celebrity stalkers, affairs, and even murder.

EAST HARBOUR HEROES (CTV) 10:00pm: In the face of harsh weather, an emergency repair threatens vital deliveries and a veteran skipper has one last chance at a big catch.

THE PERFECT MATCH (CTV Life) 10:15pm: As a woman desperately searches for a liver donor for her son, a man who is a perfect match appears, but he is not all that he seems to be.

THE TASTE OF THINGS (Crave) 11:00pm: Cook Eugenie and her boss Dodin grow fond of one another over 20 years, and their romance gives rise to dishes that impress even the world's most illustrious chefs. When Dodin is faced with Eugenie's reluctance to commit, he begins to cook for her.

TAG (CTV) 12:35am: Five highly competitive friends hit the ground running for their yearly, no-holds-barred game of tag -- risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take one another down.

[ezamevolni]

Cryptic: Biggest Concern

Hi!!!

I haven't done a real post in so long TT I miss writing!! I vowed to do some properly this week but forces of the universe are at work to stop me (fever...forgot my hard disk...broke my laptop :')) But I finally got a few days of vacation! YAY! What better to do when sick and free, than to write about Jinkook eh?

So I'm doing a shorter (?) post on something I don't think I've seen many people commenting on. Of course, I could be chronically overthinking if I'm the only one that picked it up? haha. 🙂

JinJunMin~ Making Salad (3.13.2021)

Anyways, this instance is rather loosely connected to Jungkook 🧚🏼‍♀️

For context and relevancy: BTS were frequently doing unit Vlives after they were grounded since the start of 2020. They had less public activities so 'prescheduled' Vlives were an avenue for them to see fans, and for fans to see them. Sometimes the Vlives were fun because the members were absorbed into doing the activity of the day, other times it's fun when they find camaraderie in their shared reluctance to be there.

This salad making session demonstrated the latter - Jin already ate before the live, Minimoni were not salad fans so this trio by all means were just attending as part of their jobs. Happy to be there? That's asking too much lol.

For more specific context, the trio had been on the verge of an argument fallen into silence several times and were giving each other a hard time randomly jumping from topic to topic throughout the live.

When Jin was sarcastically hyping up the plate of chicken breast to the camera, RM abruptly decided to ask him how he had been doing.

The question seemed to stump Jin for a few moments,

Jin was stuttering, stalling, and racking his brain for something to say, then eventually landed on a work schedule as his answer. Then Jimin and Namjoon both chimed in about how they've been practicing for Grammys and actually saw each other the day before.

An assumption on my part, but Jin likely first thought about the section of his life that Namjoon didn't know about - off-work hours - and was filtering through for what he could talk about. I think gaming could have been a great answer. But Jin was caught off-guard, so I don't know if that affected his fibbing skills.

It could be something or could be nothing.

But the following in the middle of the live was quite the interesting convo:

The conversation had stopped and started a few times by now and Jin was filling in by talking about something salad related.

He brought up how some of the other members had salad recently.

Namjoon was paying close attention to what Jin was saying because he parroted him when he listed "Yoongi" and "Jungkookie"

RM: (nodding and repeating) "...Jungkookie."

And after a brief second of contemplation, Namjoon went ahead and asked, "Hyung, don't you have any concerns lately?"

Jin seemed to immediately know what he was referring to and answered, "For concerns, there's just the one thing."

Jimin seemed in the know about this as well.

Humming in agreement, nodding and suppressing a grin.

By now Jin had laid down his chopsticks. I think he knew what Joon was referring to. It was a pretty vague question, but it seemed like it had a pointed answer.

However since Jin didn't elaborate, Namjoon probed further.

If you've watched enough BTS interviews, you'd know the signs instantly whenever they all simultaneously think of something they can't say on camera and start smiling like weirdos.

Jin was still chewing but he was gearing up. He's about to say it.

As he went, "Of course," ...

that was met with instant censorship from Jimin ("Let's just stop, hyung").

I also noticed Namjoon's knowing expressions while he was waiting and listening:

Annnnnd of course, we don't get the real answer from Jin who said,

"I don't have Army in front of me during concerts."

Joon was laughing after hearing the line. Jimin also hadn't looked at the camera once since this conversation started.

And we know Jin just lied improvised a new answer because he retorted back at Joon,

There is another answer. There is another 'concern'.

He almost said it 🤌🏼 Just let it all go and say it Seokjin.. what's there to hide 😩

After Jin gave his answer, RM decided not to probe further since he knew the nature of that other answer. It can't be said anyway. So they agreed on 'armys not being there in person as a very important concern'.

And Jin of course turned the tables on Joon when he could

Ok, whatever this 'concern' was, it's very specific and I guess RM also had a similar ongoing issue that Jin knew about?

So to recap:

Jin mentioned Yoongi and Jungkook's names, Namjoon heard, repeated Jungkook's name and suddenly posed the question 'any recent concerns'.

Jin did have a major one which apparently everyone (but us) knew about. And it can't be said on camera. And the thought of it makes them giggle.

Lastly, RM seemed to have a similar concern.

So 🙂 I don't have an answer for what the mystery concern is, but I do have ideas. They are probably similar to your ideas right now. Or maybe we all have no idea.

But wouldn't it be funny if one of us was right ;)

Ultimately, if you want any take aways from this cryptic conversation, is that they tend to giggle a lot whenever they touch on topics related to ermhmm, taboo topics. It's not sad, dark or serious, but taboo. What else could it be.

[murder-popsicle]

War as a political tool

This is a dicey one for Bucky. She never wanted to go to war, and she knows on a factual and intellectual level that the USA did not enter World War II out of altruism. They entered the war partially because they were attacked, and partially because they didn't want to have to stand on their own against a German-dominated Europe. The US went to war to protect its own interests.

But the thing was, that wasn't what it felt like to Bucky on the ground. That wasn't why she stayed in the war. She stayed because when you have a country that's slaughtering civilians and shoving people into gas chambers and death camps, talking it out doesn't work. You have to stop that however you can, and if that means killing the people perpetrating such things, then she's fully in support of that. The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. So there's a massive disconnect for her between what she knows about World War II and what she feels about World War II.

She does not, however, feel the same way about the Soviet-Afghan War. The Winter Soldier spent seven years in Afghanistan with Vasily Karpov during that war, and she remembers it as a long and brutal slog. It was a proxy war with the United States, fought to advance Soviet interests, and it wrought massive destruction and death for no good purpose. She absolutely hates that she was involved, and hates that little kids in Afghanistan are still having their legs blown off by land mines to this day.

HYDRA also used war as a political tool, though they operated behind the scenes rather than overtly. They manipulated governments and insurgent groups to start wars, and then fed those wars to further destabilize the relevant countries and global relations. And they sent the Winter Soldier to assassinate key figures whose deaths would help that along on more than one occasion. Bucky regrets her participation in that system enormously.

On the whole, Bucky is torn about war. She doesn't trust governments -- not even her own -- to wage war for good reasons, but she does still believe that there are times, like World War II, when war is necessary to stop greater evil. It's the same as a street fight, just on a much larger scale. There are some people you can't reason with, some actions that can't go unopposed. Sometimes you have to stand up and say, "No, I'm not going to stand by while you do this, and if you continue in your current course of action, I will stop you by any means possible."

The trouble is that that's never going to be reason enough for any government. There will always have to be some element of self-interest to get a country to intervene in unconscionable events.

[thoughtportal]

The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980–2020Jul 1, 1997 12:00 PM

We're facing 25 years of prosperity, freedom, and a better environment for the whole world. You got a problem with that?

A bad meme—a contagious idea—began spreading through the United States in the 1980s: America is in decline, the world is going to hell, and our children's lives will be worse than our own. The particulars are now familiar: Good jobs are disappearing, working people are falling into poverty, the underclass is swelling, crime is out of control. The post-Cold War world is fragmenting, and conflicts are erupting all over the planet. The environment is imploding—with global warming and ozone depletion, we'll all either die of cancer or live in Waterworld. As for our kids, the collapsing educational system is producing either gun-toting gangsters or burger-flipping dopes who can't read.

By the late 1990s, another meme began to gain ground. Borne of the surging stock market and an economy that won't die down, this one is more positive: America is finally getting its economic act together, the world is not such a dangerous place after all, and our kids just might lead tolerable lives. Yet the good times will come only to a privileged few, no more than a fortunate fifth of our society. The vast majority in the United States and the world face a dire future of increasingly desperate poverty. And the environment? It's a lost cause.

But there's a new, very different meme, a radically optimistic meme: We are watching the beginnings of a global economic boom on a scale never experienced before. We have entered a period of sustained growth that could eventually double the world's economy every dozen years and bring increasing prosperity for—quite literally—billions of people on the planet. We are riding the early waves of a 25-year run of a greatly expanding economy that will do much to solve seemingly intractable problems like poverty and to ease tensions throughout the world. And we'll do it without blowing the lid off the environment.

If this holds true, historians will look back on our era as an extraordinary moment. They will chronicle the 40-year period from 1980 to 2020 as the key years of a remarkable transformation. In the developed countries of the West, new technology will lead to big productivity increases that will cause high economic growth—actually, waves of technology will continue to roll out through the early part of the 21st century. And then the relentless process of globalization, the opening up of national economies and the integration of markets, will drive the growth through much of the rest of the world. An unprecedented alignment of an ascendent Asia, a revitalized America, and a reintegrated greater Europe—including a recovered Russia—together will create an economic juggernaut that pulls along most other regions of the planet. These two metatrends—fundamental technological change and a new ethos of openness—will transform our world into the beginnings of a global civilization, a new civilization of civilizations, that will blossom through the coming century.

Think back to the era following World War II, the 40-year span from 1940 to 1980 that immediately precedes our own. First, the US economy was flooded with an array of new technologies that had been stopped up by the war effort: mainframe computers, atomic energy, rockets, commercial aircraft, automobiles, and television. Second, a new integrated market was devised for half the world—the so-called free world—in part through the creation of institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. With the technology and the enhanced system of international trade in place by the end of the 1940s, the US economy roared through the 1950s, and the world economy joined in through the 1960s, only to flame out in the 1970s with high inflation—partly a sign of growth that came too fast. From 1950 to 1973, the world economy grew at an average 4.9 percent—a rate not matched since, well, right about now. On the backs of that roaring economy and increasing prosperity came social, cultural, and political repercussions. It's no coincidence that the 1960s were called revolutionary. With spreading affluence came great pressure from disenfranchised races and other interest groups for social reform, even overt political revolution.

Strikingly similar—if not still more powerful—forces are in motion today. The end of the military state of readiness in the 1980s, as in the 1940s, unleashed an array of new technologies, not the least of which is the internet. The end of the Cold War also saw the triumph of a set of ideas long championed by the United States: those of the free-market economy and, to some extent, liberal democracy. This cleared the way for the creation of a truly global economy, one integrated market. Not half the world, the free world. Not one large colonial empire. Everybody on the planet in the same economy. This is historically unprecedented, with unprecedented consequences to follow. In the 1990s, the United States is experiencing a booming economy much like it did in the 1950s. But look ahead to the next decade, our parallel to the 1960s. We may be entering a relentless economic expansion, a truly global economic boom, the long boom.

Sitting here in the late 1990s, it's possible to see how all the pieces could fall into place. It's possible to construct a scenario that could bring us to a truly better world by 2020. It's not a prediction, but a scenario, one that's both positive and plausible. Why plausible? The basic science is now in place for five great waves of technology—personal computers, telecommunications, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and alternative energy—that could rapidly grow the economy without destroying the environment. This scenario doesn't rely on a scientific breakthrough, such as cold fusion, to feed our energy needs. Also, enough unassailable trends—call them predetermined factors—are in motion to plausibly predict their outcome. The rise of Asia, for example, simply can't be stopped. This is not to say that there aren't some huge unknowns, the critical uncertainties, such as how the United States handles its key role as world leader.

Why a positive scenario? During the global standoff of the Cold War, people clung to the original ideological visions of a pure form of communism or capitalism. A positive scenario too often amounted to little more than surviving nuclear war. Today, without the old visions, it's easy enough to see how the world might unravel into chaos. It's much more difficult to see how it could all weave together into something better. But without an expansive vision of the future, people tend to get short-sighted and mean-spirited, looking out only for themselves. A positive scenario can inspire us through what will inevitably be traumatic times ahead.

So suspend your disbelief. Open up to the possibilities. Try to think like one of those future historians, marveling at the changes that took place in the 40-year period that straddled the new millennium. Sit back and read through the future history of the world.

The Boom’s Big Bang

From a historical vantage point, two developments start around 1980 that will have profound consequences for the US economy, the Western economy, then the global economy at large. One is the introduction of personal computers. The other is the breakup of the Bell System. These events trigger two of the five great waves of technological change that will eventually help fuel the long boom.

The full impact can be seen in the sweep of decades. In the first 10 years, personal computers are steadily adopted by businesses. By 1990, they begin to enter the home, and the microprocessor is being embedded in many other tools and products, such as cars. By the turn of the century, with the power of computer chips still roughly doubling every 18 months, everything comes with a small, cheap silicon brain. Tasks like handwriting recognition become a breeze. Around 2010, Intel builds a chip with a billion transistors—100 times the complexity of the most advanced integrated circuits being designed in the late 1990s. By 2015, reliable simultaneous language translation has been cracked—with immediate consequences for the multilingual world.

The trajectory for the telecommunications wave follows much the same arc. The breakup of Ma Bell, initiated in 1982, triggers a frenzy of entrepreneurial activity as nascent companies like MCI and Sprint race to build fiber-optic networks across the country. By the early 1990s, these companies shift from moving voice to moving data as a new phenomenon seems to come out of nowhere: the internet. Computers and communications become inextricably linked, each feeding the phenomenal growth of the other. By the late 1990s, telecom goes wireless. Mobile phone systems and all-purpose personal communications services arrive first with vast antennae networks on the ground. Soon after, the big satellite projects come online. By 1998, the Iridium global phone network is complete. By 2002, Teledesic's global internet network is operational. These projects, among others, allow seamless connection to the information infrastructure anywhere on the planet by early in the century. By about 2005, high-bandwidth connections that can easily move video have become common in developed countries, and videophones finally catch on.The symbiotic relationship between these technology sectors leads to a major economic discontinuity right around 1995, generally attributed to the explosive growth of the internet. It's the long boom's Big Bang—immediately fueling economic growth in the traditional sense of direct job creation but also stimulating growth in less direct ways. On the most obvious level, hardware and infrastructure companies experience exponential growth, as building the new information network becomes one of the great global business opportunities around the turn of the century.

A new media industry also explodes onto the scene to take advantage of the network's unique capabilities, such as interactivity and individual customization. Startups plunge into the field, and traditional media companies lumber in this direction. By the late 1990s, the titans of the media industry are in a high-stakes struggle over control of the evolving medium. Relative newcomers like Disney and Microsoft ace out the old-guard television networks in a monumental struggle over digital TV. After a few fits and starts, the Net becomes the main medium of the 21st century.

The development of online commerce quickly follows on new media's heels. First come the entrepreneurs who figure out how to encrypt messages, conduct safe financial transactions in cyberspace, and advertise one to one. Electronic cash, a key milestone, gains acceptance around 1998. Then come businesses selling everyday consumer goods. First it's high tech products such as software, then true information products like securities. Soon everything begins to be sold in cyberspace. By 2000, online sales hit $10 billion, still small by overall retail standards. Around 2005, 20 percent of Americans teleshop for groceries.

Alongside the migration of the traditional retail world into cyberspace, completely new types of work are created. Many had speculated that computer networks would lead to disintermediation—the growing irrelevance of the middleman in commerce. Certainly the old-style go-betweens are sideswiped, but new types of intermediaries arise to connect buyers to sellers. And with the friction taken out of the distribution system, the savings can be channeled into new ventures, which create new work.

The Birth of the Networked Economy

New technologies have an impact much bigger than what literally takes place online. On a more fundamental level, the networked economy is born. Starting with the recession of 1990-91, American businesses begin going through a wrenching process of reengineering, variously described at the time as downsizing, outsourcing, and creating the virtual corporation. In fact, they are actually taking advantage of new information technologies to create the smaller, more versatile economic units of the coming era.

Businesses, as well as most organizations outside the business world, begin to shift from hierarchical processes to networked ones. People working in all kinds of fields—the professions, education, government, the arts—begin pushing the applications of networked computers. Nearly every facet of human activity is transformed in some way by the emergent fabric of interconnection. This reorganization leads to dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity.

Productivity, as it happens, becomes one of the great quandaries stumping economists throughout the 1990s. Despite billions invested in new technologies, traditional government economic statistics reflect little impact on productivity or growth. This is not an academic point—it drives to the heart of the new economy. Businesses invest in new technology to boost the productivity of their workers. That increased productivity is what adds value to the economy—it is the key to sustained economic growth.

research by a few economists, like Stanford University's Paul Romer, suggests that fundamentally new technologies generally don't become productive until a generation after their introduction, the time it takes for people to really learn how to use them in new ways. Sure enough, about a generation after the introduction of personal computers in the workplace, work processes begin mutating enough to take full advantage of the tool. Soon after, economists figure out how to accurately measure the true gains in productivity—and take into account the nebulous concept of improvement in quality rather than just quantity.

By 2000, the US government adopts a new information-age standard of measuring economic growth. Unsurprisingly, actual growth rates are higher than what had registered on the industrial-age meter. The US economy is growing at sustained rates of around 4 percent—rates not seen since the 1960s.

The turn of the century marks another major shift in government policy, as the hidebound analysis of inflation is finally abandoned in light of the behavior of the new economy. While the Vietnam War, oil shocks, and relatively closed national labor markets had caused genuine inflationary pressures that wreaked havoc on the economy through the 1970s, the tight monetary policies of the 1980s soon harness the inflation rate and lead to a solid decade with essentially no wage or price rises. By the 1990s, globalization and international competition add to the downward pressure. By 2000, policymakers finally come around to the idea that you can grow the economy at much higher rates and still avoid the spiral of inflation. The millennium also marks a symbolic changing of the guard at the Federal Reserve Bank: Alan Greenspan retires, the Fed lifts its foot off the brake, and the US economy really begins to take off.

More Tech Waves

Right about the turn of the century, the third of the five waves of technology kicks in. After a couple false starts in the 1980s and 1990s, biotechnology begins to transform the medical field. One benchmark comes in 2001 with the completion of the Human Genome Project, the effort to map out all human genes. That understanding of our genetic makeup triggers a series of breakthroughs in stopping genetic disease. Around 2012, a gene therapy for cancer is perfected. Five years later, almost one-third of the 4,000 known genetic diseases can be avoided through genetic manipulation.

Throughout the early part of the century, the combination of a deeper understanding of genetics, human biology, and organic chemistry leads to a vast array of powerful medications and therapies. The health care system, having faced a crossroads in 1994 with President Clinton's proposed national plan, continues restructuring along the more decentralized, privatized model of HMOs. The industry is already booming when biotech advances begin clicking in the first decade of the century. It receives a further stimulus when the baby boomers begin retiring en masse in 2011. The industry becomes a big jobs provider for years to come.

The biotech revolution profoundly affects another economic sector—agriculture. The same deeper understanding of genetics leads to much more precise breeding of plants. By about 2007, most US produce is being genetically engineered by these new direct techniques. The same process takes place with livestock. In 1997, the cloning of sheep in the United Kingdom startles the world and kicks off a flurry of activity in this field. By the turn of the century, prize livestock is being genetically tweaked as often as traditionally bred. By about 2005, animals are used for developing organs that can be donated to humans. Superproductive animals and ultrahardy, high-yielding plants bring another veritable green revolution to countries sustaining large populations.

By the end of the transitional era, around 2020, real advances begin to be made in the field of biological computation, where billions of relatively slow computations, done at the level of DNA, can be run simultaneously and brought together in the aggregate to create the ultimate in parallel processing. So-called DNA computing looks as though it will bring about big advances in the speed of processing sometime after 2025—certainly by the middle of the century.

Then comes the fourth technology wave—nanotechnology. Once the realm of science fiction, this microscopic method of construction becomes a reality in 2015. Scientists and engineers figure out reliable methods to construct objects one atom at a time. Among the first commercially viable products are tiny sensors that can enter a person's bloodstream and bring back information about its composition. By 2018, these micromachines are able to do basic cell repair. However, nanotechnology promises to have a much more profound impact on traditional manufacturing as the century rolls on. Theoretically, most products could be produced much more efficiently through nanotech techniques. By 2025, the theory is still far from proven, but small desktop factories for producing simple products arrive.

By about 2015, nanotech techniques begin to be applied to the development of computing at the atomic level. Quantum computing, rather than DNA computing, proves to be the heir to microprocessors in the short run. In working up to the billion-transistor microprocessor in 2010, engineers seem to hit insurmountable technical barriers: the scale of integrated circuits has shrunk so small that optical-lithography techniques fail to function. Fortunately, just as the pace of microprocessing power begins to wane, quantum computing clicks in. Frequent increases in computing power once again promise to continue unabated for the foreseeable future.

The Earth Saver

All four waves of technology coursing through this era—computers, telecom, biotech, and nanotech—contribute to a surge of economic activity. In the industrial era, a booming economy would have put a severe strain on the environment: basically everything we made, we cooked, and such high-temperature cooking creates a lot of waste by-products. The logic of the era also tended toward larger and larger factories, which created pollution at even greater scales.

Biotech, on the other hand, uses more moderate temperature realms and emulates the processes of nature, creating much less pollution. Infotech, which moves information electronically rather than physically, also makes much less impact on the natural world. Moving information across the United States through the relatively simple infotechnology of the fax, for example, proves to be seven times more energy efficient than sending it through Federal Express. Furthermore, these technologies are on an escalating track of constant refinement, with each new generation becoming more and more energy efficient, with lower and lower environmental impact. Even so, these increasing efficiencies are not enough to counteract the juggernaut of a booming global economy.

Fortunately, the fifth wave of new technology—alternative energy—arrives right around the turn of the century with the introduction of the hybrid electric car. Stage one begins in the late 1990s when automobile companies such as Toyota roll out vehicles using small diesel- or gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engines to power an onboard generator that then drives small electric motors at each wheel. The car runs on electric power at low RPMs but uses the internal-combustion engine at highway speeds, avoiding the problem of completely battery-powered electric vehicles that run out of juice after 60 miles. The early hybrids are also much more efficient than regular gas-powered cars, often getting 80 miles to a gallon.

Stage two quickly follows, this time spurred by aerospace companies such as Allied Signal, which leverage their knowledge of jet engines to build hybrids powered by gas turbines. By 2005, technology previously confined to aircraft's onboard electric systems successfully migrates to automobiles. These cars use natural gas to power the onboard generators, which then drive the electric motors at the wheels. They also make use of superstrong, ultralight new materials that take the place of steel and allow big savings on mileage.

Then comes the third and final stage: hybrids using hydrogen fuel cells. The simplest and most abundant atom in the universe, hydrogen becomes the source of power for electric generators—with the only waste product being water. No exhaust. No carbon monoxide. Just water. The basic hydrogen-power technology had been developed as far back as the Apollo space program, though then it was still extremely expensive and had a nasty tendency to blow up. By the late 1990s, research labs such as British Columbia-based Ballard Power Systems are steadily developing the technology with little public fanfare. Within 10 years, there are transitional hydrogen car models that extract fuel from ordinary gasoline, using the existing network of pumps. By 2010, hydrogen is being processed in refinery-like plants and loaded onto cars that can go thousands of miles—and many months—before refueling. The technology is vastly cheaper and safer than in the 1960s and well on its way to widespread use.

These technological developments drive nothing less than a wholesale transformation of the automobile industry through the first quarter of the new century. Initially prodded by government decrees such as California's zero-emission mandate—which called for 10 percent of new cars sold to have zero emissions by 2003—the industrial behemoths begin to pick up speed when an actual market for hybrid cars opens up. People buy them not because they are the environmentally correct option but because they're sporty, fast, and fun. And the auto companies build them because executives see green—as in money, not trees.

This 10- to 15-year industrial retooling sends reverberations throughout the global economy. The petrochemical giants begin switching from maintaining vast networks that bring oil from remote Middle Eastern deserts to building similarly vast networks that supply the new elements of electrical power. Fossil fuels will continue to be a primary source of power into the middle of the 21st century—but they will be clean fossil fuels. By 2020, almost all new cars are hybrid vehicles, mostly using hydrogen power. That development alone defuses much of the pressure on the global environment. The world may be able to support quite a few additional automobile drivers—including nearly 2 billion Chinese.

Asia Ascendant

While the end of the Cold War initiates the waves of technology rippling through our 40-year era, that's only half the story. The other half has to do with an equally powerful force: globalization. While it is spurred by new technologies, the emergence of an interconnected planet is propelled more by the power of an idea—the idea of an open society.

From a historical vantage point, globalization also begins right around 1980. One of the souls who best articulates this idea of the open society is Mikhail Gorbachev. It's Gorbachev who helps bring about some of its most dramatic manifestations: the fall of the Wall, the collapse of the Soviet empire, the end of the Cold War. He helps initiate a vast wave of political change that includes the democratization of eastern Europe and Russia itself. To kick it off, Gorbachev introduces two key concepts to his pals in the Politburo in 1985, two ideas that will resonate not just in the Soviet Union but through all the world. One is glasnost. The other is perestroika. Openness and restructuring—the formula for the age, the key ingredients of the long boom.

An equally important character is China's Deng Xiaoping. His actions don't bring about the same dramatic political change, but right around the same time as Gorbachev, Deng initiates a similarly profound shift of policies, applying the concepts of openness and restructuring to the economy. This process of opening up—creating free trade and free markets—ultimately makes just as large a global impact. No place is this more apparent than in Asia.

Japan grasps the gist of this economic formula long before the buzz begins, pulling a group of Asian early adopter countries in its wake. By the 1980s, Japan has nearly perfected the industrial-age manufacturing economy. But by 1990, the rules of the global economy have changed to favor more nimble, innovative processes, rather than meticulous, methodical economies of scale. Many of the attributes that favored Japan in the previous era, such as a commitment to lifelong employment and protected domestic markets, work against the country this time around. Japan enters the long slump of the 1990s. By the end of the decade, Japan has watched the United States crack the formula for success in the networked economy and begins to adopt the model in earnest. In 2000, it radically liberalizes many of its previously protected domestic markets—a big stimulus for the world economy at large.

Japan's rise, however, is but a prelude to the ascendance of China. In 1978, Deng takes the first steps toward liberalizing the communist economy. China slowly gathers force through the 1980s, until the annual growth in the gross national product consistently tops 10 percent. By the 1990s, the economy is growing at a torrid pace, with the entire coast of China convulsed with business activity and boomtowns sprouting all over the place. Nineteen ninety-seven—a year marked by both the death of Deng and the long-awaited return of Hong Kong—symbolizes the end of China's ideological transition and the birth of a real economic world power.

The first decade of the new century poses many problems for China domestically—and for the rest of the world. The overheated economy puts severe strain on the fabric of Chinese society, particularly between the increasingly affluent urban areas on the coast and the 800 million impoverished peasants in the interior. The nation's relatively low tech smokestack economy also threatens to single-handedly push the global environment over the edge. The Chinese initially do little to reduce their level of dependence on coal, which in the late 1990s still supplies three-quarters of the country's energy needs. Only sustained efforts by the rest of the world to ensure that China has access to the very best transportation and industrial technology avert an environmental catastrophe. Occasionally using draconian measures, China manages to avoid severe internal disturbance. By 2010, the sense of crisis has dissipated. China is generally acknowledged to be on a path toward more democratic politics—though not in the image of the West.

With the reemergence of China's economic might, the 3,500-year-old civilization begins to assert itself and play a larger part in shaping the world. Chinese clan-based culture happens to work very well within the fluid demands of the networked global economy. Singapore and Hong Kong prove the point through the 1980s and 1990s, when the two city-states with almost no land mass or natural resources become economic powers through pure human capital, primarily brainpower.

For years, Chinese expatriates have established intricate financial networks throughout Western countries, but especially in Asia. Many Southeast Asian economies—if not governments—are completely dominated by the overseas Chinese. By about 2005, the mainland Chinese decide to capitalize on this by formalizing the Chinese diaspora. Though the entity has no legal status vis-a-vis other governments, it has substantial economic clout. That date also marks the absorption of Taiwan into China proper.

By 2020, the Chinese economy has grown to be the largest in the world. Though the US economy is more technologically sophisticated, and its population more affluent, China and the United States are basically on a par. China has also drawn much of Asia in its economic wake—Hong Kong and Shanghai are the key financial nodes for this intricate Asian world.

Asia is jammed with countries that are economic powerhouses in their own right. India builds on its top-notch technical training and mastery of the lingua franca of the high tech world, English, to challenge many Western countries in software development. Malaysia's audacious attempt to jump-start an indigenous high tech sector through massive investments in a multimedia supercorridor pays off. The former communist countries Vietnam and Cambodia turn out to be among the most adept at capitalism. The entire region—from the reunited Koreas to Indonesia to the subcontinent—is booming. In just 20 years, 2 billion people have made the transition into what can be considered a middle-class lifestyle. In the space of one full 80-year life span, Asia has gone from almost uninterrupted poverty to widespread wealth.

The European Shuffle

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, the new principles of openness and restructuring are applied first in politics, then economics. In the aftermath of the spectacular implosion of the Soviet Union, most energy is spent promoting democracy and dismantling the vestiges of the Cold War. With time, an equal amount of energy is applied to restructuring and retooling economies—in some obvious and not so obvious ways.

First, Europe at large has to reintegrate itself, both economically and politically. Much of the 1990s is spent trying to integrate eastern and western Europe. All eyes first focus on the new Germany, which powers through the process on the basis of sheer financial might. Next the more advanced of the eastern European countries—Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic—get integrated, first into NATO, with formal acceptance in 2000, and then into the European Union in 2002. The more problematic countries of eastern Europe aren't accepted into the union for another couple years. Alongside this East-West integration comes a more subtle integration between the western European countries. With fits and starts, Europe moves toward the establishment of one truly integrated entity. The European currency—the euro—is adopted in 1999, with a few laggards, like Britain, holding out a few more years.

Though the UK may have dragged its feet on the European currency measure, in an overall sense it's far ahead of the pack. The economic imperative of the era is not just to integrate externally but to restructure internally. Right around 1980, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan begin putting together the formula that eventually leads toward the new economy. At the time it looks brutal: busting unions, selling off state-owned industries, and dismantling the welfare state. In hindsight, the pain pays off. By the mid-1990s, the US unemployment rate is near 5 percent, and the British rate has dropped to almost 6 percent. In contrast, unemployment on the European continent hovers at 11 percent, with some individual countries even higher.

Indeed, through the 1990s, the rest of Europe remains trapped in the legacy of its welfare states, which maintain their political attractiveness long after they outlive their economic worth. By 2000, chronic unemployment and mounting government deficits finally force leaders on the continent to act. Despite widespread popular protests, especially in France, Europe goes through a painful economic restructuring much like the United States did a decade before. As part of this perestroika, it retools its economy using the new information technologies. This restructuring, both of corporations and governments, has much the same effect it had on the US economy. The European economy begins to surge and create many new jobs. By about 2005, Europe—particularly in the northern countries like Germany—even has the beginnings of a serious labor shortage as aging populations begin to retire.

Then the Russian economy kicks in. For 15 years, Russia had been stumbling along in its transition to a capitalist economy, periodically frightening the West with overtures that it might return to its old militaristic ways. But after almost two decades of wide-open Mafia-style capitalism, Russia emerges in about 2005 with the basic underpinnings of a solid economy. Enough people are invested in the new system, and enough of the population has absorbed the new work ethic, that the economy can function quite well—with few reasons to fear a retrenchment. This normalization finally spurs massive foreign investment that helps the Russians exploit their immense natural resources, and the skills of a highly educated populace. These people also provide a huge market for Europe and the rest of the world.

The Global Stampede

By the close of the 20th century, the more developed Western nations are forging ahead on a path of technology-led growth, and booming Asia is showing the unambiguous benefits of developing market economies and free trade. The path for the rest of the world seems clear. Openness and restructuring. Restructuring and openness. Individually, nations begin adopting the formula of deregulating, privatizing, opening up to foreign investment, and cutting government deficits. Collectively, they sign onto international agreements that accelerate the process of global integration—and fuel the long boom.

Two milestones come in 1997: the Information Technology Agreement, in which almost all countries trading in IT agree to abolish tariffs by 2000, and the Global Telecommunications Accord, in which almost 70 leading nations agree to rapidly deregulate their domestic telecom markets. These two developments quickly spread the two key technologies of the era: computers and telecommunications.

Everyone benefits, particularly the underdeveloped economies, which take advantage of the leapfrog effect, adopting the newest, cheapest, best technology rather than settling for obsolete junk. IT creates a remarkable dynamic that brings increasing power, performance, and quality to each new generation of the technology—plus big drops in price. Also, wireless telecommunications allow countries to avoid the huge effort and expense of building wired infrastructures through crowded cities and diffuse countrysides.

By 2005, the world economic growth rate hits an astounding 6 percent—a rate that will double the size of the world economy in just 12 years.

This all bodes well for the world economy. Through most of the 1970s, all the 1980s, and the early 1990s, the real growth rate in the world's gross domestic product averages 3 percent. By 1996, the rate tops a robust 4 percent. By 2005, it hits an astounding 6 percent. Continued growth at this rate will double the size of the world economy in just 12 years, doubling it twice in just 25 years. This level of growth surpasses the rates of the last global economic boom, the years following World War II, which averaged 4.9 percent from 1950 to 1973. And this growth comes off a much broader economic base, making it more remarkable still. Unlike the last time, almost every region of the planet, even in the undeveloped world, participates in the bonanza.

Latin America takes off. These countries, after experiencing the nightmare of debt in the 1980s, do much to vigorously restructure their economies in the 1990s. Chile and Argentina are particularly innovative, and Brazil builds on an extensive indigenous high tech sector. But the real boost from 2000 onward comes from capitalizing on Latin America's strategic location on the booming Pacific Rim and on its proximity to the United States. The region becomes increasingly drawn into the booming US economy. In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement formally links the United States to Mexico and Canada. By about 2002, an All American Free Trade Agreement is signed—integrating the entire hemisphere into one unified market.

The Middle East, meanwhile, enters crisis. Two main factors drive the region's problems. One, the fundamentalist Muslim mind-set is particularly unsuited to the fluid demands of the digital age. The new economy rewards experimentation, constant innovation, and challenging the status quo—these attributes, however, are shunned in many countries throughout the Middle East. Many actually get more traditional in response to the furious pace of change. The other factor driving the crisis is outside their control. The advent of hydrogen power clearly undermines the centrality of oil in the world economy. By 2008, with the auto industry in a mad dash to convert, the bottom falls out of the oil market. The Middle Eastern crisis comes to a head. Some of the old monarchies and religious regimes begin to topple.

An even more disturbing crisis hits Africa. While some parts of the continent, such as greater South Africa, are doing fine, central Africa devolves into a swirl of brutal ethnic conflict, desperate poverty, widespread famine and disease. In 2015 the introduction of biological weapons in an ethnic conflict, combined with the outbreak of a terrifying new natural disease, brings the death count to unimagined levels: an estimated 5 million people die in the space of six months—this on top of a cumulative death toll of roughly 100 million who perished prematurely over the previous two decades.

The contrast between such destitution and the spreading prosperity elsewhere finally prods the planet into collective action. Every nation, the world comes to understand, ultimately can only benefit from a thriving Africa, which will occupy economic niches that other nations are outgrowing. It makes as much practical as humanitarian sense. The regeneration of Africa becomes a prime global agenda item for the next quarter of the century.

Future Aftershocks

Riding the wave of the booming economy brings other major social and political repercussions. Fundamental shifts in technology and the means of production inevitably change the way the economy operates. And when the economy changes, it doesn't take long for the rest of society to adapt to the new realities. The classic example is the transformation of agricultural society into industrial society. A new tool—the motor—led to a new economic model—capitalism—that brought great social upheaval—urbanization and the creation of an affluent class—and ultimately profound political change—liberal democracy. While that's a crude summation of a complex historical transition, the same dynamic largely holds true in our shift to a networked economy based on digital technologies.

There's also a commonsense explanation. When an economy booms, money courses through society, people get rich quick, and almost everybody sees an opportunity to improve their station in life. Optimism abounds. Think back to that period following World War II. A booming economy buoyed a bold, optimistic view of the world: we can put a man on the Moon, we can build a Great Society, a racially integrated world. In our era, we can expect the same.

By about 2000, the United States economy is doing so well that the tax coffers begin to swell. This not only solves the deficit problem but gives the government ample resources to embark on new initiatives. No longer forced to nitpick over which government programs to cut, political leaders emerge with new initiatives to help solve seemingly intractable social problems, like drug addiction. No one talks about reverting to big government, but there's plenty of room for innovative approaches to applying the pooled resources of the entire society to benefit the public at large. And the government, in good conscience, can finally afford tax cuts.

A spirit of generosity returns. The vast majority of Americans who see their prospects rising with the expanding economy are genuinely sympathetic to the plight of those left behind. This kinder, gentler humanitarian urge is bolstered by a cold, hard fact. The bigger the network, the better. The more people in the network, the better for everyone. Wiring half a town is only marginally useful. If the entire town has phones, then the system really sings. Every person, every business, every organization directly benefits from a system in which you can pick up a phone and reach every individual rather than just a scattered few. That same principle true holds for the new networked computer technologies. It pays to get everyone tied into the new information grid. By 2000, this mentality sinks in. Almost everyone understands we're deep into a transition to a networked economy, a networked society. It makes sense to get everyone on board.

The welfare reform initiative of 1996 begins the process of drawing the poor into the economy at large. At the time, political leaders aren't talking about the network effect so much as eliminating a wasteful government program. Nevertheless, the shakeup of the welfare system coincides with the revving of the economy. Vast numbers of welfare recipients do get jobs, and the great majority eventually move up to more skilled professions. By 2002, the end of the initial five-year transitional period, welfare rolls are cut by more than half. Former welfare recipients are not the only ones benefiting from the new economy. The working poor hovering just above the poverty line also leverage their way up to more stable lives.

Even those from the hardened criminal underworld migrate toward the expanding supply of legitimate work. Over time, through the first decade of the century, this begins to have subtle secondary effects. The underclass, once thought to be a permanent fixture of American society, begins to break up. Social mobility goes up, crime rates go down. Though hard to draw direct linkages, many attribute the drop in crime to the rise in available work. Others point to a shift in drug policy. Starting with the passage of the California Medical Marijuana Initiative n 1996, various states begin experimenting with decriminalizing drug use. Alongside that, the failed war on drugs gets dismantled. Both initiatives are part of a general shift away from stiff law enforcement and toward more complex ways to deal with the roots of crime. One effect is to destroy the conditions that led to the rise of the inner-city drug economy. By the second decade of the century, the glorified gangsta is as much a part of history as the original gangsters in the days of Prohibition.

Immigrants also benefit from the booming economy. Attempts to stem immigration in the lean times of the early 1990s are largely foiled. By the late 1990s, immigrants are seen as valuable contributors who keep the economy humming—more able hands and brains. By the first decade of the century, government policy actively encourages immigration of knowledge workers—particularly in the software industry, which suffers from severe labor shortages. This influx of immigrants, coupled with Americans' changing attitudes toward them, brings a pleasant surprise: the revival of the family. The centrality of the family in Asian and Latino cultures, which form the bulk of these immigrants, is unquestioned. As these subcultures increasingly flow into the American mainstream, a subtle shift takes place in the general belief in the importance of family. It's not family in the nuclear-family sense but a more sprawling, amorphous, networked sense of family to fit the new times.

The Brain Wave

Education is the next industrial-era institution to go through a complete overhaul—starting in earnest in 2000. The driving force here is not so much concern with enlightening young minds as economics. In an information age, the age of the knowledge worker, nothing matters as much as that worker's brain. By the end of the 1990s, it becomes clear that the existing public K-12 school system is simply not up to the task of preparing those brains. For decades the old system has ossified and been gutted by caps on property taxes. Various reform efforts gather steam only to peter out. First George Bush then Bill Clinton try to grab the mantle of "education president"—both fail. That changes in the 2000 election, when reinventing education becomes a central campaign issue. A strong school system is understood to be as as vital to the national interest as the military once was. The resulting popular mandate shifts some of the billions once earmarked for defense toward revitalizing education.

The renaissance of education in the early part of the century comes not from a task force of luminaries setting national standards in Washington, DC—the solutions flow from the hundreds of thousands of people throwing themselves at the problems across the country. The 1980s and 1990s see the emergence of small, innovative private schools that proliferate in urban areas where the public schools are most abysmal. Many focus on specific learning philosophies and experiment with new teaching techniques—including the use of new computer technologies. Beginning around 2001, the widespread use of vouchers triggers a rapid expansion in these types of schools and spurs an entrepreneurial market for education reminiscent of the can-do ethos of Silicon Valley. Many of the brightest young minds coming out of college are drawn to the wide-open possibilities in the field—starting new schools, creating new curricula, devising new teaching methods. They're inspired by the idea that they're building the 21st-century paradigm for learning.

By 2020, the great cross-fertilization of ideas, the never-ending planetary conversation, has begun.

The excitement spreads far beyond private schools, which by 2010 are teaching about a quarter of all students. Public schools reluctantly face up to the new competitive environment and begin reinventing themselves. In fact, private and public schools maintain a symbiotic relationship, with private schools doing much of the initial innovating, and public schools concentrating on making sure the new educational models reach all children in society.

Higher education, though slightly less in need of an overhaul, catches the spirit of radical reform—again driven largely by economics. The cost of four-year colleges and universities becomes absurd—in part because antiquated teaching methods based on lectures are so labor intensive. The vigorous adoption of networking technologies benefits undergraduate and graduate students even more than K-12 kids. In 2001, Project Gutenberg completes its task of putting 10,000 books online. Many of the world's leading universities begin carving off areas of expertise and assuming responsibility for the digitalization of all the literature in that field. Around 2010, all new books come out in electronic form. By 2015, relatively complete virtual libraries are up and running.

Despite earlier rhetoric, the key factor in making education work comes not from new technology, but from enshrining the value of learning. A dramatic reduction in the number of unskilled jobs makes clear that good education is a matter of survival. Indeed, nearly every organization in society puts learning at the core of its strategy for adapting to a fast-changing world. So begins the virtuous circle of the learning society. The booming economy provides the resources to overhaul education. The products of that revamped educational system enter the economy and improve its productivity. Eventually, education both sows and reaps the benefits of the long boom.

In the first decade of the century, Washington finally begins to really reinvent government. It's much the same process as the reengineering of corporations in the 1990s. The hierarchical bureaucracies of the 20th century are flattened and networked through the widespread adoption of new technologies. Some, like the IRS, experience spectacular failures, but eventually make the transition. In a more important sense, the entire approach to government is fundamentally reconsidered. The welfare and education systems are the first down that path. Driven by the imminent arrival of the first of many retiring baby boomers in 2011, Medicare and Social Security are next. Other governmental sectors soon follow.

The second decade of the century marks a more ambitious but amorphous project: making a multicultural society really work. Though the United States has the mechanics—such as the legal framework—of an integrated society in place, Americans need to learn how to accept social integration on a deeper level. The underpinnings of a booming economy make efforts to ease the tensions among various ethnic and interest groups much easier than before: people are more tolerant of others when their own livelihoods are not threatened. But people also come around to seeing diversity as a way to spark a creative edge. They realize that part of the key for success in the future is to remain open to differences, to stay exposed to alternative ways of thinking. And they recognize the rationality of building a society that draws on the strengths and creativity of all people.

Women spearhead many of the changes that help make the multicultural society work. As half the population, they are an exceptional "minority" that helps pave the way for the racial and ethnic minorities with fewer numbers. In the last global boom of the 1960s, the women's movement gained traction and helped promote the rise in the status of women. Through the 1970s and 1980s, women push against traditional barriers and work their way into business and government. By the 1990s, women have permeated the entire fabric of the economy and society. The needs, desires, and values of women increasingly begin to drive the political and business worlds—largely for the better. By the early part of the century, it becomes clear that the very skills most needed to make the networked society really hum are those that women have long practiced. Long before it became fashionable, women were developing the subtle abilities of maintaining networks, of remaining inclusive, of negotiating. These skills prove to be crucial to solving the very different challenges of this new world.

The effort to build a truly inclusive society does not just impact Americans. At the turn of the century, the United States is the closest thing the world has to a workable multicultural society. Almost all the cultures of the world have some representation, several in significant proportions. As the century moves on, it becomes clear to most people on the planet that all cultures must coexist in relative harmony on a global scale. On a meta level, it seems that the world is heading toward a future that's prefaced by what's happening in the United States.

A Civilization of Civilizations

In 2020, humans arrive on Mars. It's an extraordinary event by any measure, coming a half century after people first set foot on the Moon. The four astronauts touch down and beam their images back to the 11 billion people sharing in the moment. The expedition is a joint effort supported by virtually all nations on the planet, the culmination of a decade and a half of intense focus on a common goal. A remarkable enough technical achievement, the Mars landing is even more important for what it symbolizes.

10 Scenario Spoilers

The long boom is a scenario, one possible future. It’s built upon the convergence of many big forces and even more little pieces falling into place—all of them with a positive twist. The future of course, could turn out to be very different—particularly if a few of those big pieces go haywire. Here are 10 things that could cut short the long boom.

1. Tensions between China and the US escalate into a new Cold War—bordering on a hot one.

2. New technologies turn out to be a bust. They simply don’t bring the expected productivity increases or the big economic boosts.

3. Russia devolves into a kleptocracy run by a mafia or retreats into quasicommunist nationalism that threatens Europe.

4. Europe’s integration process grinds to a halt. Eastern and western Europe can’t finesse a reunification, and even the European Union process breaks down.

5. Major ecological crisis causes a global climate change that, among other things, disrupts the food supply—causing big price increases everywhere and sporadic famines.

6. Major rise in crime and terrorism forces the world to pull back in fear. People who constantly feel they could be blown up or ripped off are not in the mood to reach out and open up.

7. The cumulative escalation in pollution causes a dramatic increase in cancer, which overwhelms the ill-prepared health system.

8. Energy prices go through the roof. Convulsions in the Middle East disrupt the oil supply, and the alternative energy sources fail to materialize.

9. An uncontrollable plague—a modern-day influenza epidemic or its equivalent—takes off like wildfire, killing upward of 200 million people.

10. A social and cultural backlash stops progress dead in its tracks. Human beings need to choose to move forward. They just may not …

As the global viewing audience stares at the image of a distant Earth, seen from a neighboring planet 35 million miles away, the point is made as never before: We are one world. All organisms crammed on the globe are intricately interdependent. Plants, animals, humans need to find a way to live together on that tiny little place. By 2020, most people are acting on that belief. The population has largely stabilized. The spreading prosperity nudged a large enough block of people into middle-class lifestyles to curtail high birth rates. In some pockets of the world large families are still highly valued, but most people strive only to replicate themselves, and no more. Just as important, the world economy has evolved to a point roughly in balance with nature. To be sure, the ecosystem is not in perfect equilibrium. More pollution enters the world than many would like. But the rates of contamination have been greatly reduced, and the trajectory of these trends looks promising. The regeneration of the global environment is in sight.

The images from Mars drive home another point: We're one global society, one human race. The divisions we impose on ourselves look ludicrous from afar. The concept of a planet of warring nations, a state of affairs that defined the previous century, makes no sense. Far better to channel the aspirations of the world's people into collectively pushing outward to the stars. Far better to turn our technologies not against one another but toward a joint effort that benefits all. And the artificial divisions we perpetuate between races and genders look strange as well. All humans stand on equal footing. They're not the same, but they're treated as equals and given equal opportunities to excel. In 2020, this point, only recently an empty platitude, is accepted by almost all.

We're forming a new civilization, a global civilization, distinct from those that arose on the planet before. It's not just Western civilization writ large—one hegemonic culture forcing itself on others. It's not a resurgent Chinese civilization struggling to reassert itself after years of being thwarted. It's a strange blend of both—and the others. It's something different, something as yet being born. In 2020, information technologies have spread to every corner of the planet. Real-time language translation is reliable. The great cross-fertilization of ideas, the ongoing, never-ending planetary conversation has begun. From this, the new crossroads of all civilizations, the new civilization will emerge.

In many ways, it's a civilization of civilizations, to use a phrase coined by Samuel Huntington. We're building a framework where all the world's civilizations can exist side by side and thrive. Where the best attributes of each can stand out and make their unique contributions. Where the peculiarities are cherished and allowed to live on. We're entering an age where diversity is truly valued—the more options the better. Our ecosystem works best that way. Our market economy works best that way. Our civilization, the realm of our ideas, works best that way, too.

The Millennial Generation

By 2020, the world is about to go through a changeover in power. This happens not through force, but through natural succession, a generational transition. The aging baby boomers, born in the wake of World War II, at the beginning of the 20th century's 40-year global economic boom, are fading from their prominent positions of economic and moral leadership. The tough-minded, techno-savvy generation that trails them, the digital generation, has the new world wired. But these two generations have simply laid the groundwork, prepared the foundations for the society, the civilization that comes next.

The millennial generation is coming of age. These are the children born in the 1980s and 1990s, at the front end of this boom of all booms. These are the kids who have spent their entire lives steeped in the new technologies, living in a networked world. They have been educated in wired schools, they have taken their first jobs implicitly understanding computer technologies. Now they're doing the bulk of society's work. They are reaching their 40s and turning their attention to the next generation of problems that remain to be cracked.

These are higher-level concerns, the intractable problems—such as eradicating poverty on the planet—that people throughout history have believed impossible to solve. Yet this generation has witnessed an extraordinary spread of prosperity across the planet. They see no inherent barrier to keep them from extending that prosperity to—why not?—everyone. Then there's the environment. The millennial generation has inherited a planet that's not getting much worse. Now comes the more difficult problem of restoration, starting with the rain forests. Then there's governance. Americans can vote electronically from home starting with the presidential election of 2008. But e-voting is just an extension of the 250-year-old system of liberal democracy. Interactive technologies may allow radically new forms of participatory democracy on a scale never imagined. Many young people say that the end of the nation-state is in sight.

These ambitious projects will not be solved in a decade, or two, or even three. But the life span of this generation will stretch across the entire 21st century. Given the state of medical science, most members of the millennial generation will live 100 years. Over the course of their lifetimes, they confidently foresee the solutions to many seemingly intractable problems. And they fully expect to see some big surprises. Almost certainly there will be unexpected breakthroughs in the realm of science and technology. What will be the 21st-century equivalent of the discovery of the electron or DNA? What strange new ideas will emerge from the collective mind of billions of brains wired together throughout the planet? What will happen when members of this millennial generation possibly confront a new species of their own making: Homo superior? And what happens if after all the efforts to methodically scan the skies, they finally latch onto signs of intelligent life?

Just Do It

Beam back down to Planet Earth. Get your head back to 1997, not even halfway through the transition of this 40-year era. We're still on the front edge of the great global boom, the long boom. Almost all the work remains before us. And a hell of a lot of things could go wrong.

This is only a scenario of the future, by no means an outright prediction of what is to come. We can be reasonably confident of the continuation of certain trends. Much of the long boom's technology is already in motion and almost inevitably will appear within that span. Asia is ascendant whether we like it or not. Barring some bizarre catastrophe, that large portion of the world will continue to boom. But there are many unknowns, all kinds of critical uncertainties. Will Europe summon the political will to make the transition to the new economy? Will Russia avoid a nationalist retrenchment and establish a healthy market economy—let alone democracy? Will China fully embrace capitalism and avoid causing a new cold—or hot—war? Will a rise in terrorism cause the world to pull back in constant fear? It's not technology or economics that pose the biggest challenges to the long boom. It's political factors, the ones dependent on strong leadership.

One hundred years ago, the world went through a similar process of technical innovation and unprecedented economic integration that led to a global boom. New transportation and communications technologies—railroads, telegraphs, and telephones—spread all over the planet, enabling a coordination of economic activity at a level never seen before. Indeed, the 1890s have many parallels to the 1990s—for better or worse. The potential of new technologies appeared boundless. An industrial revolution was spurring social and political revolution. It couldn't be long, it seemed, before a prosperous, egalitarian society arrived. It was a wildly optimistic time.

Of course, it all ended in catastrophe. The leaders of the world increasingly focused on narrow national agendas. The nations of the world broke from the path of increasing integration and lined up in competing factions. The result was World War I, with everyone using the new technologies to wage bigger, more efficient war. After the conflict, the continued pursuit of nationalist agendas severely punished the losers and consolidated colonial empires. The world went from wild optimism to—quite literally—depression, in a very short time.

The lessons of World War I contrast sharply with those of World War II. The move toward a closed economy and society after the first war led to global fragmentation as nations pulled back on themselves. In the aftermath of World War II, the impetus was toward an open economy and society—at least in half the world. This led down a path of continuing integration. World leaders had the foresight to establish an array of international institutions to manage the emerging global economy. They worked hard to rebuild their vanquished enemies, Germany and Japan, through generous initiatives like the Marshall Plan. This philosophical shift from closed to open societies came about through bold leadership, much of it coming from the United States. In the wake of World War I, American political and business leaders embraced isolationism—with severe consequences for the world. After World War II, they did the opposite—with very different results.

Today, the United States has a similarly crucial leadership role to play. There are purely practical reasons for this. The United States has the single largest economy in the world, a market with a big influence on the flow of world trade. It has the biggest research and scientific establishment by far. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, no other country features a comparable array of university research facilities, corporate industrial labs, and nonprofit think tanks. That combination of a huge economy and a scientific elite gives the United States the world's strongest military; the country can develop the weapons and pay the bills. For the next 15 years at the very least, America will be the preeminent military power. These reasons alone ensure that the United States, regardless of the intentions of its leaders, will have a huge influence on any future scenario. But the role of the United States is more involved, more complicated than that.

The United States is the great innovator nation, the incubator of new ideas. Just as the new technologies of the early Industrial Revolution were born in England, the vast majority of innovations in the computer and telecommunications fields are happening now in the United States. Americans are fundamentally shaping the core technologies and infrastructure that will be at the foundation of the 21st century. Partly because of that, the US is the first country to transition to the new economy. American corporations are the first to adopt the new technologies and adapt to the changing economic realities. As a nation, the United States is figuring out how to finesse the new model of high economic growth driven by new technologies. The American people are feeling the first social and cultural effects. And the government is the first to come under the strain to change. The United States is paving the way for other developed nations and, eventually, the rest of the nations of the world.

With the coming wired, global society, openness has never been more important. It’s the linchpin that makes everything work.

Even more important, the United States serves as steward of the idea of an open society. The US is home to the core economic and political values that emerged from the 20th century—the free-market economy and democracy. But the idea of an open society is broader than that. Americans believe in the free flow of ideas, products, and people. Historically, this has taken the form of protecting speech, promoting trade, and welcoming immigrants. With the coming of a wired, global society, the concept of openness has never been more important. It's the linchpin that will make the new world work.

In a nutshell, the key formula for the coming age is this: Open, good. Closed, bad. Tattoo it on your forehead. Apply it to technology standards, to business strategies, to philosophies of life. It's the winning concept for individuals, for nations, for the global community in the years ahead. If the world takes the closed route, it starts a vicious circle: Nations turn inward. The world fragments into isolated blocs. This strengthens traditionalists and leads to rigidity of thought. This stagnates the economy and brings increasing poverty. This leads to conflicts and increasing intolerance, which promotes an even more closed society and a more fragmented world. If, on the other hand, the world adopts the open model, then a much different, virtuous circle begins: Open societies turn outward and strive to integrate into the world. This openness to change and exposure to new ideas leads to innovation and progress. This brings rising affluence and a decrease in poverty. This leads to growing tolerance and appreciation of diversity, which promotes a more open society and a more highly integrated world.

The United States, as first among equals, needs to live this concept in the coming decades. One of the first great tasks will be integrating its former communist adversaries China and Russia into the world community, in much the same way that it once did Japan and Germany. This will be the main geopolitical challenge of the next dozen years. We'll know if we made it by 2010. Then there's the need to create a complex fabric of new global economic and political institutions to fit the 21st century. Though these need not take the bureaucratic shape they did in the past, a certain level of coordination of global activities will continue to fall in the public sphere. In the technical realm, some body needs to mediate the setting of global technical standards and the allocation of what are, at the moment, scarce resources like airwaves. In the legal arena, we need to find ways to protect the rights of creators and consumers of intellectual property. In terms of the environment, the collective world community needs to get cracking on problems that endanger everyone: global climate change, loss of the ozone layer, and other cross-border problems like acid rain. And then there are the issues that fall under security. We spent decades in excruciating negotiation to disarm and limit nuclear proliferation. In an age of information warfare, we face a very different set of security concerns and a laborious process to find global solutions—starting with a workable accord on cryptography.

The vast array of problems to solve and the sheer magnitude of the changes that need to take place are enough to make any global organization give up, any nation back down, any reasonable person curl up in a ball. That's where Americans have one final contribution to make: optimism, that maddening can-do attitude that often drives foreigners insane. Americans don't understand limits. They have boundless confidence in their ability to solve problems. And they have an amazing capacity to think they really can change the world. A global transformation over the next quarter century inevitably will bring a tremendous amount of trauma. The world will run into a daunting number of problems as we transition to a networked economy and a global society. Apparent progress will be followed by setbacks. And all along the way the chorus of naysayers will insist it simply can't be done. We'll need some hefty doses of indefatigable optimism. We'll need an optimistic vision of what the future can be.

[maryjanemusings]

INCREDIBLES FAN FIC MultiMan

Jack Jack sat at his parents dining table. It had been a few months since his last visit. His parents had retired from crime fighting years ago, with the increased surge of supers being born and the advanced technology being developed, their presence was sorely missed.

JJ had taken up the super life. As the only polymorph in the United States he was busy a large portion of the time. Being a polymorph meant that he was more versatile than the majority of other supes. Often being called in last minute or going into a situation without information. If the situation required strength he had it, if the situation required infiltration he could shift into another's form. From ice to fire water earth or even metal he could transform his body into almost any element or shape.

Unfortunately this took a lot of concentration and it was years before he truly had his powers under control. Hell puberty damn near killed him, his parents included. Most people who had multiple powers normally lost them by the onset of puberty in Jack jacks case it had only amplified his powers and thrown in a few new ones like acid pimples, fortunately that cleared up after a few months.

Jack Jack had attended a specific school that had been made just for people with powers. The Super Mode Academy of Excellence. It had been entirely funded and formed by none other than Edna E Mode herself. Naturally Jack Jack had a full scholarship as did all the other supers who wished to attend. Fortunately Edna offered free tuition to all in exchange for exclusive rights to make the students super costume with a 3 year exclusivity contract after graduation. It wasn't just a school for supers though. They also taught hero fashion and hero technology. The first technopath to go the school was so successful they ended up staying on at the school and making massive advancements. So much so that a tech supe was often just as effective as a regular supe.

None of this could have been possible without the diligent work of JJs older sister Violet. After high school she had blitzed through college and gotten a degree in Global politics. Not the most interesting degree but Violet had a talent for negotiations and resolving often hostile situations. After graduating she had a meteoric rise in popularity being elected to congress at just the age of 23. She went on to change and make policy that allowed supers to be able to use there powers again to help the world. It was one of her Bills that had allowed for the release of the syndrome files to public record. A widely disputed idea from most of the major federal agencies who believed letting the public access to this potentially dangerous technology could lead to untold chaos, fortunately no such catastrophe had yet occured but instead the world had thrived. By age 38 violet was the first super abled president and was now sitting her first term. In the first year of her policies had lowered crime by 40% across the country, fatal injuries were down by over 50% and nearly every town and most of the world had prospered from both tech advances and supes.

That's not to say that there still weren't major problems across the globe. The increasing number of super births meant that the abundance of villans had also risen. Not all supers were happy with being hero's. The day after taking office Violet had been making a speech to the crowd when a rogue villan flew in, before ever even setting foot on the ground Violet had placed a forcefield around him muffling him and leaving him to try to escape the field while violet finished her speech to a standing ovation.

JJ snapped back from his day dream amd finished the last cookie on the plate in front of him.

"I'd best be off, to much time away and the villans will think I've gone on holiday again and we all remember what happend last time." JJs voice was much like his fathers but deeper and gentler.

Getting up to leave he hugged his mum and dad before heading to the door. Mrs incredible hadn't aged a day except for her hair having streaks of grey now running through it a steady course of elastic yoga had kept Mrs incredible not just healthy but a leading example of fitness having her own fitness company that taught healthy livings globally. Mr incredible on the other hand had lost his hair though still a fit healthy man for his age. Noticeable wrinkles and creases showed years of frowns and exasperation but the wrinkles around his eyes showed a life of just as many laughs and smiles. Having raised 3 super children themselves and with 5 grandchildren now terrorising the house it was lucky to be still standing.

"Good luck, stay safe" Mrs incredible said as JJ got to the door.

He began to phase into the door his body seemingly disappearing. A habit he had gotten in to back in college. Even though JJ could simply teleport in and out of just about anywhere he had discovered sometimes people found that unnerving and instead had started phasing through doors instead of opening them. Obviously he knocked on the door and waited to be invited in, a lesson he had also learned in college.

Instead of phasing through the door and coming out the other side like most people would imagine he instead came out a door in his apartment. It was a nifty sight if anyone ever saw it in action. Fortunately JJ lived alone. His aunty Edna had set him up with an apartment as a graduation present. His parents had insisted it was far to much. JJ had also protested it but much less fervently than his parents.

Aunty Edna's favourite person had been JJ throughout his entire life and she didn't in the slightest try to hide it.

JJ got through the door and immediately went over to grab his super suit. The apartment was particularly large and extravagant with all the bells and whistles that could be required of the world's up and coming number 1 super.

Quickly hovering off the ground he transformed into a blazing ball of fire still holding onto the costume which suffered no damage. He slipped into the costume retaking his normal form. The reason he ignited himself every time before getting into his costume is that not only did the flames clean residue off the costume it cleaned them off himself to. Like an instant shower he could always end up looking completely undamaged not even a spec of dust. It was as much a symbolic gesture as it was a super easy way to keep the suit flawless.

The suit was an Edna creation but it was unique in that JJ had also helped create both the look and functionality of it. It wasn't the first iteration of his costume but it was by far the most tactical. Edna had not yet allowed JJ full creative control but more and more with each design did she come to praise his work. Being spoilt by Edna wasn't just whimful gesture, it had been earnt by showing a truly masteful art for suits. Though JJ still lacked a flair for presence that only Edna could truly capture.

Popping out of his apartment and into the sky above the city so he could survey the area. When popping to new places it was important to remain intangible so as not to accidentally pop out on top of something or worse. Good thing he did as a plane passed through his body as soon as he had popped into existence. Suprised by the suddenness of it all it took him a moment to realise he'd teleported to high. Unusual but not unheard of for him. Though he had great control over his abilities he was still at the mercy of his emotions. To excited for his own good JJ had over shot his teleport. Drifting down to a few hundred metres above the land he looked out across the capital. Today was the day.

Violet wasn't the only one who had risen to a position of importance. Dash had become the Deputy secretary of homeland security and had just become JJs new boss. JJ would be working directly under his authority in a special division the department of super hero affairs. Working domestically and internationally to prevent worldwide catastrophe.

JJ surveyed the city below, the lights of the many buildings sparkled in the cool night air. A normal person wouldn't be able to see anything from this height but one of the perks of being a polymorph is you can adjust your features.

JJs eyes were sharp and focused, they appeared like owl eyes but what the naked eye couldn't see was that the cone density of his eyes was almost double that of an owls making the city appear like it was in daylight. The eyes could be focused with a type of optical zoom allowing for detailed observation even from such a height. It wasn't just eyes that were enhanced but ears as well, large bat ears perfectly designed for hearing normally imperceptible sounds. The ears also allowed him to use his voice to let out a high frequency sound that could carry across the majority of the city giving a detailed map of the city and its inhabitants. Neither of these abilities had been gained easily. The first time he'd tried the eyes out the blinding light had surged into his eyes knocking him out with the sheer agony it had caused. The ears were a similar story, he'd been trying out different animal parts and had stumbled on bat ears. At first the information being thrown at him was to much to handle and he'd been so shocked he'd turned into puddle. After steady amount of practice and focus he could use his newly acquired ears while having his eyes shut, or having no eyes at all. After a time he'd learnt to focus each part at the same time and could even use them during the heat of battle.

Some villans knew of his powers from tv interviews he had done and tried to use it against him with bright flash bangs and loud noises from technology or one particular supervillan who had a sonic scream capable of shattering windows and even cause minor earthquakes.