The New Cold War and the winds of change

Many spirals

I usually aim to publish an article every 3 to 5 days, although my supporters are quite lenient on the publishing schedule. I am still writing and finishing multiple articles, but I experienced an unforeseen disruption. I am usually able to work even when I am sick, but with so many variables in my life converging, and a Covid infection weeks ago, I got a bad case of the flu, and took my brain out for a few days.

I knew the Influenza infection would be bothersome whenever it came, because of the Omicron one, given that Omicron wipes out the specific microbe responsible for our immune response and overall immunity to Influenza.

After a few months of paywalling my entire Sustack, my experiment has ended. I have now removed the paywall, so any person has access to all my 550 articles of varying quality. But I will now leave the annoying buy me a coffee message sometimes… lol. Nothing else changes. Your support is greatly appreciated.

In the past few weeks, significant changes have occurred at every level of society, globally, and especially in the diplomatic seas of geopolitics, now stormy, dark, the ocean’s wrath showing all its glory. In a sense, I could argue that every single aspect of our “complex system” (the world) I have written about has experienced significant changes in the past weeks. This is mostly a self-indulgent article, as I shall focus on a rather conspiratorial aspect, rather than “data-driven” as usual.

To set the tone, we must first address a peculiar turn of events.

I would be surprised if most readers had never heard of the video-game franchise Call of Duty, one of the biggest FPS, action-focused games, with millions of players, with billions of dollars in revenue alone. CoD, as it is referred to in gaming circles, had humble beginnings, but as greater success was achieved, it became a narrative-driven game, a cinematic adventure.

In fact, I was among the first to call modern CoD “Hollywoodian shooter”, as the games attempt to replicate a cinematic experience in gaming form, elevating the medium. Its creators and writers often took heavy inspiration from real-world dynamics, geopolitics, and built their inventive, creative narratives on top of real information.

Sometimes specific game plots cut too close to reality, such as the franchise's most remarkable (I beg to differ 😠), a Russian Ultra-Nationalist who instigates changes via widespread sabotage, terrorism, and war. But sometimes it didn’t just hit close to reality, it predicted it.

Comes in a beloved game from the franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, released in 2012, unlike the current Black Ops series of games, set a few decades ago, BO2 had a more modernized setting. It predicted the widespread use of drones in a not dissimilar fashion to the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Although less predictive, one of its central themes was the use of social media for propaganda and narrative warfare as a means to destabilize society, and the game’s antagonist makes use of social media (Twitter and YouTube) to do so. A few other technological advancements for military and civilian usage were also predicted by the game, such as the widespread use of high-tech thermal sights (if you are not using thermals in combat these days, you are basically dead against anyone who is), flexible displays, and using tablets to control a myriad of devices.

None of these is the reason we are here today, or why we have this title. Black Ops 2’s storyline occurs in 2025, and one of its central themes is the use of Rare Earth Minerals. In the game, China decides to embargo the export of rare earth minerals to the United States, amid increasing tensions between both countries. This sets off a new Cold War between both countries.

Social media algorithms have become beyond chaotic, even if you tailor them to your precise liking, so many may have missed a particular piece of news, as China and the US escalate their now very hot trade war. Amid increasing tensions and tit-for-tat responses, China halted the export of rare earth minerals to the US. Rare Earth minerals are not rare, but the extraction of some minerals can be troublesome, the “real problem” is refining, where China dominates the entire planet.

The technological competition between China and the US, with the rest of the planet as collateral damage, has been increasing for years in a covert fight between both countries at multiple levels, and while I must leave certain aspects for a more serious analysis (Huawei, Nvidia, GPUs, AI), the escalation between countries in the Artifical Intelligence race is all to real.

I find particularly compelling and interesting the resemblances, similarities in specific events, plot points, or outright prediction of events in the games. Which leads to the next part. Days ago, the following event occurred.

On April 15, 2025, a message was sent out by a byproduct of the Soviet era’s covert efforts. Number Station UVB-76 is a Russian number station surrounded by mystery and conspiracy. Number Stations were used during the Cold War to send encrypted messages to its covert operatives and spies, and they have remained shrouded in mystery.

The message 76 sent can be translated into “Neptune, Thymus, Foxcloak, and Nootabucks”. While inference on the real meaning behind the coded message, or its purpose, can be difficult, one can venture into that field with opportune knowledge. The code word Neptune can be inferred towards multiple meanings, maritime operations, and events, but two specific ones come to mind.

The first, more modern, Ukraine’s Neptune long-range cruise missile, capable of traveling about 1.000 km, thus being able to hit targets inside Russian territory. The second, much older, is Lockheed Martin P-2 Neptune, the first aircraft capable of carrying an atomic bomb. There have been numerous rumors of Ukraine’s desire to weaponize a nuclear or “dirty” accident at many points during its last war with Russia.

Thymus is much less of a coded word, it is often used in covert communications when referring to any form of event, biological in nature, often referring to the defense or deterrence of biological threats.

Foxcloak would be the most obvious one. Fox is a common slang among Intelligence operatives for skilled spies, and cloak has always meant the cloak-and-dagger nature of espionage, covert work. Foxcloak could be an activation phrase for assets and covert operatives.

Nootabucks has many interpretations, but one I have experience with is “you must come up with the funding for your operation,” implying whatever means necessary. Black “budget/funds” for black operations. Incidentally and ironically…

The Rusalka is a Soviet spy ship anchored in the Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico that appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is a key component to "Project Nova", in which it acts as the station from which the Number Sequences are broadcast to activate the sleeper agents across the United States.

I shall remain unsurprised and amused if, by 2030, other Call of Duty games are found to be able to forecast many real-world events or geopolitical cascades. And to finish this article, while referring to the aforementioned winds of change, two fairly recent and highly impactful events.

First, after weeks of battling mounting what amounts to pestilence itself, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88, April 21, 2025. His death comes as no surprise to me, as I personally kept an eye on the events surrounding his health and how fast he was declining, still, a significant event for the Church and believers.

Second, in what could signal a seismic shift within the shadowy sphere of elite influence on world governments, the now-ubiquitous Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, announced his retirement.

While Schwab had indicated plans to step back months prior, the specific timing feels particularly peculiar and symbolic. I find it highly improbable that this marks the end of the WEF's influence, the potential power vacuum is simply too vast. My suspicion is they will deliberately retreat from the intense public spotlight, choosing instead to operate more subtly, "playing their cards closer to their chest."

A strategic response after public scrutiny, given that hubris fueled their fall from public and, in some ways, State grace. Less visibility inherently invites less scrutiny, thereby granting more operational room for deep, penetrative influence operations. They lost a few battles, not the war in a metaphorical and philosophical sense.

Also, it is pretty clear, for reasons beyond my observational and analytical skills at the moment, everyone forgot how to play Diplomacy (the board game… or the actual skill for that matter).

Also remember. Whenever you fret about chaotic times, drastic changes, or anything in that vicinity.