eczuleger.bsky.social
Author, You are Not Here: Travels Through Countries That Don't Exist. Journalist, Peace Corps Volunteer, Former Ambassador. Graduate of #Oxford and #RAND School of Public Policy.
The Under Report
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@jakerockatansky.bsky.social ... so....can I drop you a pitch?
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This is certainly something I'm observing. But more than the vertigo I'm curious about what people cling to on the way down.
Anyway... Subscribe to the Under Report
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This is how gaslighting works, its also how propaganda works:
People don’t like vertigo.
They’ll grab onto anything: conspiracies, strongmen, nostalgia, technofetishism... whatever feels good and sounds true enough.
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Ontological vertigo is the psychological cost of living in an age of accelerated change. (Sometimes called Future Shock)
Questioning every narrative and authority at once means a sort of intellectual fire sale.
ALL BELIEFS MUST GO
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This is when your “plausibility structures” collapse.
It might look like:
No longer trusting an institution
Losing a religion
Shattering a stable identity
Whatever it is, your map isnt working.
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Coined by sociologist Peter Berger, ontological vertigo describes the disorientation that comes when your fundamental assumptions about the world no longer hold.
You learn something which pulls the rug out from under what you thought you knew before.
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… hey look at this cool rock.
-to Andersen Horowitz (salivating)
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Nothing! I need something great!
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Maps are just snapshots.
Borders are just temporary holding pens for power and wealth.
Countries are made up.
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But generating new states is the rule and not the exception.
We’re likely seeing it now in Donetsk.
Independence movements are still alive and well in Transylvania, Scotland, Catalonia, and even Vermont.
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While writing my last book, I lived in Kurdistan, Kosovo, Liberland, Transnistria, and Somaliland.
All of them meet the standard of statehood but they don’t appear on maps
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What’s hard is getting anyone to take you seriously.
The Montevideo Criteria say you can declare statehood—
but the world asks: do you have oil, nukes, or a good PR team?
Countries are only countries if everyone agrees. Or at least most people.
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The Montevideo Criteria only ask for:
1. A permanent population
2. A defined territory
3. A government
4. The capacity to enter into relations
No mention of flags, armies, or vibes.
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The second is when a YouTuber does lcommentary on someone already commenting on the situation.
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…hold on… is this legal to say?
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I felt this deeply and truly
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Dope
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Ernie and Tony seem like shady fellas. Kinda guys that tell you ‘their newsletters fell off the back of a truck.’
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I like to sprinkle a little Zyn into each of my newsletters.
Keeps em coming back for more.
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You going for triple next?
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Check out The Under Report for your weekly intel brief
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People who talk about 'having the truth on their side' don't know how little that matters.
Moreover, its laziness to believe that accurate information equates to good storytelling.
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Conspiracy theorists are unburdened by these constraints.
Making things up is easy
Certainty is immaterial
It's so much more fun to believe compelling lies then to shoulder the burden of nuance.
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It's hard to report the truth for three reasons:
It's unclear
It's boring
It's slow
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Unless you think D.A.R.E. won the war on drugs.
(It didn't)
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From a policy perspective its easy to start programs that look good but do nothing.
Digital literacy courses are not a magic bullet. In fact, I think they might be next to useless.
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Why it matters ➡️ Kashmir is once again a flash-point where domestic politics, cross-border water wars, and militant spoilers collide. Watch Delhi’s next moves, Islamabad’s response, and whether statehood talks survive the crossfire.
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Tourism—the showcase of Delhi’s “normalcy” push—has cratered overnight: buses are turning back and hotel cancellations have spiked by 80 %, local tour operators report.
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Politically, J-&-K’s new Assembly reconvenes next week with three private bills demanding restoration of full statehood—an issue Modi’s coalition now faces under a fresh security cloud.
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On the ground, India has launched a vast dragnet—3,000 troops, drones, helicopters—while throttling mobile data in south Kashmir. Residents fear a slide back to blanket shutdowns.
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Halting the treaty is seismic: Indus tributaries irrigate roughly half of Pakistan’s farmland. Analysts say this is the gravest breach since the Kargil crisis in 1999.
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#Delhi blames Pakistan-based militants. Within 24 hours India suspended the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, closed a key border crossing, and told Pakistani diplomats & SAARC-visa travellers to leave the country within 48 hours.