There was silence as the first of the blue skies broke over The Farm. There had been some minor discussion, nothing critical, mind you, but just some observations from people who had been looking and occasionally participating in some of the events that will someday be viewed as “historic.” We were ‘warriors,’ of a sort, and it was Saturday as best we could tell.

It was not a publication meeting, since we had been informed by a “Memo for the Record” that after a tax hearing in town on Friday, the legal staff was exhausted and unable to review new matters until resumption of business hours on Monday, the last day of the ambiguous time between the start of the traditional Western calendar and the start of the Lunar New Year this coming Tuesday.

Splash was unexpectedly alert. “OK, we have been through the Chinese symbology for their naming convention on what they consider the actual new year. ‘Swimming Tiger’ is what they call it, this time, and we have laughed about the symbolic impact of something traditional with emerging new needs to settle old issues. For the PRC, that could involve a cross-channel operation to re-join the island province of Taiwan with the Mainland. That has been a desired outcome in Beijing since 1949. We don’t know if they have the components in place for such an adventure, or if they are willing to disrupt their version of the Winter Olympics, which are scheduled for next week. They may see an opportunity at the moment based on other things.”

Loma was lethargic, and waiting for things to melt. “Like Russia and Ukraine? Where does that stand at the moment?”

DeMille summarized authoritatively. “Poised for some sort of action. Our guess, and it is based on mainstream media reporting, is that something is going to happen. It could range from something relatively modest to an actual full-scale invasion. Again, we are just guessing on that and naturally invest full faith and confidence for those currently in power here in the nation we served.”

Melissa look lovely and thoughtful. “That is about as far as they want us to go, right? We can talk about historical matters, but have to avoid anything that would be controversial.”

Splash was starting to writhe. “But controversy is what we were supposed to comment on, or at least it ws before things stopped making a great deal of sense.”

DeMille summarized slowly. “A perfect opening for non-controversial historical commentary. Imagine what the Royal Court was thinking about a visit to the Balkans by a member of the imperial family back in 1914. A minor event, in the great scheme of things, but it quickly devolved into the greatest conflict in human history.”

He paused and looked around the circle. “That is only part of it. Think of the world then, dominated by Imperial powers in Europe who controlled most of the earth. That includes India and China. The First World War left more wreckage that would lead to a global economic problem for rising powers like America, and then another huge conflict that ended the empires. It included genocide practiced by civilized, or once civilized states, and in the end the release of new technology that began the Atomic Age.”

Loma was thoughtful. “I think we can say that, provided we don’t dig around and start blaming specific people or partisan groups. The long bi-polar alignment of two new great powers, the USSR and the USA last about fifty years, and most of us had some role in it. We remember. It appears something similar might be happening to our own nation, which was termed “The Sole Remaining Superpower” for a couple decades of relative peace.”

Splash couldn’t let it rest. “Which doesn’t account for some of the lunacy we are seeing now.”

DeMille waved a hand. “Nope. No domestic issues. They don’t make any sense as it is, and jumping in the middle could wind up with misunderstandings that could cost a lot of cash.”

Splash was adamant. “We have spent the equivalent of five or six Nimitz-class Aircraft Carriers made completely out of gold to do whatever it is we are doing. That was somewhere north of 30 Trillion bucks, last we checked. And the Scientists say say that all the gold wrenched from the ground in the history of mining only makes up about half the real displacement of one of those ships.”

“I think we can say that the amount of money being either printed or invented is a new experiment, just like the mortgage-backed securities that fell apart in 2008.”

“You can say that, since a party not in power allowed it to happen, and since they are out of authority, we can criticize those people all we want. The problem, of course, is that they may come back into power and then we would be on some sort of list. We think Socotra House would prefer to continue a quiet, peaceful and generally supportive position from a safe distance.”

“We have been told to avoid being on lists. That has been an effective position in the past, but how is that supposed to be useful for what is going to happen next?”

“You managed to hit another one. We don’t precisely know what is coming next. The Federal Reserve is going to raise interest rates, maybe as soon as March. That is making the money people a little nervous. Look at the Stock Market this last week. They have been saying a 20% correction might already be starting.”

“Correction is a term that implies mistakes, and we probably should stay away from that.”

“The Chairman was talking about some home improvements on the big house on the Hill. He is tired of not having a covered space on the back deck to smoke those cigars and look out over the greenery.”

“It ain’t green this morning,” growled Splash. “It is white and only starting to melt.”

“It was only an inch of snow, for goodness sake. We should break out some Belmont Farms distilled product to celebrate not getting hit by the Cyclone Storm that ravaged the coastline up north.”

“We can be critical of the weather, so long as we connect anything unfavorable to direct actions of human states that reflect the historic imbalance of Western Technology with the just needs of the societies it oppressed with that trace gas in the atmosphere.”

“The stuff we are permitting to be mined by kids and other minorities using the fossil fuels that supposedly got us in this trouble to begin with?”

“See. There are so many Footnotes required to explain things that communication about anything has become impossible.”

“We can still say anything we want here.”

“Not exactly. The Legal People say we should only do that outside after ensuring no one has a smartphone. And then not bring it up again anywhere it might be recorded. There are risks.”

“So, let me amend that,” said Melissa. “We can watch the snow melt, aware there are great issues involved, but serene in the knowledge that the people running this are confident, well-read, and determined to do their best.”

“And then just end it right there.” There was general agreement on that. And hope that transitory minor inflation, temporary supply chain issues, and the purely imaginary notions about land wars in Europe would be handled with the efficiency we have come to respect. It is a weekend, after all, and we are together on that matter at least. Plus, they say this is all going to melt. Naturally.

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