The Globalization of Rage  Why Today's Extremism Looks Familiar … Militant secessions from a civilization premised on gradual progress under liberal democratic trustees—the kind of civilization that D'Annunzio and his peers denounced as feeble and corrupt—are once again brewing within the West and far beyond it: and as before, they are fueled by a broad, deep, and volatile desire for destruction.    –Foreign Affairs                             

This is the single most important article we've read in Foreign Affairs in years. It grows out of the "populism versus globalism" meme we've been tracking regularly.

We believed from the beginning that this meme would prove extremely important. The idea was that populism would be contrasted unfavorably to globalism and that this would be developed via directed history.

We tend to think Brexit is an example of this. It still doesn't make sense that Brexit passed when British electoral facilities are controlled by globalist elites. In other words, Brexit's passage may have been purposeful.

The idea, for instance, would be to ensure that Brexit has a broad array of negative consequences for the British. Paint Brexit as "populist" and  then paint its negative consequences as occurring because the wise precepts of globalism were not adhered to.

This is how elite propaganda works. Create a dialogue and then enforce it with the economic, legislative and military consequences – all of which are controlled by the dialogue-makers.

Global warming doesn't exist, or not in fashion represented in the popular media. But global warming has been acted upon economically and legislatively throughout the world.

Likewise, "populism versus globalism" is a meme – a rhetorical construct – not a reality.

But there can be little doubt now that those behind the meme intend to make real. We can see the rhetoric heightening.

The consequences of a "populist" Brexit are going to be determinedly negative. If the "populist" Trump is elected in the US, the consequences will likely be similarly disastrous – and blamed on his populism.