Counter-Currents

Mark Gullick reviews Chris Jenning's book End of Days on how in hindsight Ruby Ridge seems to look like the start of something rather than its finale. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/remembering-ruby-ridge/

Morris van de Camp reviews Anne Applebaum's book Iron Curtain on how the Soviets used secret police and lawfare rather than brute military force in building the iron curtain. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/how-the-communists-subdued-central-and-eastern-europe/

Steven Tucker on how the UK politician who ironically suggested that migrants need rural brothels might have a point. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/uk-politician-suggests-state-backed-rural-brothels-for-migrants/

Oh man. Genuinely sad about this. RIP Dolly.

Oh no! I was a huge fan. She was a paradox. So genuine despite all the trappings of fakery. She also wrote some beautiful songs, "Down from Dover" being the best.

B'nai Brith are trying to shut down nationalist voices in Canada while practicing ethnic segregation for their own group (and supporting Israel's genocide). Their ethnocentrism is what gives them power. That's why they wish to deny white people the ability to engage in the same.

Paul Bianco on how Greek life is rebelling against the joyless tyranny of the woke. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/helen-of-troy-has-returned-and-shes-a-smoke-show/

Lipton Matthews on the moral and practical case for genetic enhancement. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/the-moral-and-practical-case-for-genetic-enhancement/

The most interesting thing about videos of all the burning Russian infrastructure is that you often barely see any Russians. Whether it's burning Wildberries or refineries, it's always brown skinned people. Guess the real Russians are all busy dying in Ukraine.

📝 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 Hasan Piker said that Charlie Kirk’s legacy would have been better honored if the Trump administration had arrested leftists like himself, but that Candace Owens helped frustrate right-wing animosity toward the left by redirecting blame toward Israel. 📎 AF Post

With the anniversary of Nietzsche's death approaching, Mark Gullick examines what Nietzsche's final book Ecce Homo says about his life and work. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/behold-the-man-nietzsches-ecce-homo/

Russians can gaslight themselves and others as much as they want. In the end, every sane person knows that if the situation was reversed they'd not call any of this winning. Does anyone other than Trump and his most delusional fans think they're winning in Iran? Sure, they caused Iran significant damage and might keep doing so. But what's the payoff? And at what cost? To name just one example, America is now in a significantly weaker position relative to its main adversary China. Imagine in 2022 if Germany had invaded Poland with the preposterous goal of removing the Nazi regime there and capturing part of the former German empire. After failing to capture Warsaw and 1.5 million casualties, there are now daily videos of Polish drones hitting German infrastructure while crowds of migrants can be seen running from the explosions. Nobody would consider "but we're still marching forward capturing small Polish ghost towns" as anything other than a bad case of sunk cost fallacy. Nobody would think feeling smug about destroying the Polish economy at no benefit to Germany itself could be considered winning or honorable. The best case scenario Germany could paint would be an eventual Pyrrhic victory where Germany would have to pump hundreds billions into securing ravaged lands full of people who hate them.

The most powerful empires in history weren't formed through military might alone. They also incentivized subjects accept their rule. The United States was able to become so powerful geopolitically after WWII because countries were heavily incentivized to join its sphere of influence. The second Trump admin is doing the opposite. Their schizophrenic trade policies, erratic approach to defense agreements, and reckless war in the Middle East have made America extremely unreliable. The incentive given to Canada, European countries, and the Gulf States is now to split off from America. It might be for the best that America's global influence is on the decline. However, it terms of statecraft, MAGA 2.0 is moronically incompetent.

Correction: *proto*-Zionists

Nick Bougas, the creator of the most famous cartoon since Mickey Mouse, is dead. Greg Johnson pays tribute to the creator of the Happy Merchant. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/salute-to-nick-bougas/

Jayant Bhandari on how the primitive mind can not simply be reformed. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/why-the-primitive-mind-cannot-simply-be-reformed/

Greg Johnson salutes his friend, cartoonist Nick Bougas, creator of the Happy Merchant, who died on Saturday at the age of 71. https://thenewnationalism.com/p/salute-to-nick-bougas

Today is the birthday of Arthur Jensen, a pioneer of human biological diversity at UC Berkeley. You can learn more about his life and legacy here: https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/remembering-arthur-jensen-3/

Edward Dutton on why Leftist academics are persecuting Nathan Cofnas. https://counter-currents.com/2026/08/why-are-leftist-academics-persecuting-nathan-cofnas/

One of the metaphysical axioms of paranoids is that everything in real life is as intentional as the elements of a work of fiction. The world is "just like a movie." It is a construct. The Brahmin/Spencer book's plausibility rests on offering interpretations of movies (none too plausible interpretations, but leave that aside), then applying the same approach to myth and religion. It is assumed, without argument, that myths and religions are simply "made up" by authors in order to achieve their goals in the same way as movies are. But myths don't have authors, and although myths are untrue, they are not just "made up" like movies. Instead, it is more likely that human beings (and even protohumans) believed in gods before they were able to consciously create fictions as tools to manipulate others.