9/17/2025 – How to Analyze the News

These days, it feels like the world spins faster, the propaganda shafts get slicker, and the hidden agendas behind global events are more evident than before. I’ve spent years reading JoelSkousen.com and his World Affairs Brief to see how those perspectives have sharpened, and where they align with observable trends in 2025. Here’s how I see the stage now—and how I try to analyze what’s going on with more clarity.

What I’ve Noticed

• A Hidden Globalist Agenda
  Skousen’s work continues to emphasize that many foreign and domestic policies are driven by what he views as globalist forces—some official, some clandestine. His method involves looking for contradictions in what governments say vs. what they do—supporting and attacking certain movements, depending on convenience, not consistency.
• Strategic Threats Identified
  In World Affairs Brief, Skousen outlines three main “powers” shaping the world: China, Russia, and Western globalists (a transnational alliance of elites pushing toward what he sometimes labels the New World Order). Each has its own pattern of influence, alliances, and strategic aims.
• Preparation, Self-Sufficiency, and Relocation
  Beyond geopolitics, Skousen’s practical advice remains about building safe homes, retreats, high-security shelters, and considering relocation for those who see threats as unavoidable. He views physical readiness and geographical positioning as essential adjuncts to understanding the threats.
• Criticism of Both Parties, RINO Concern
  Politically, he’s critical of what he labels “RINO” Republicans (Republicans In Name Only)—those who profess conservative values but act to preserve the status quo or facilitate the same globalist structures, perhaps in subtler ways. He argues that many conservative-aligned institutions end up as part of the problem when they capitulate to insider deals or globalist pressures.

What’s Changed / What I See in 2025

• More Visible Multipolarity & Instability
  The world is less dominated by any single power now. China, Russia, various regional blocs, and many countries in the Global South are pushing for more autonomy. There’s growing resistance to being part of Western-led global institutions. This aligns with what Skousen has warned about: fragmentation and competing power centers. Recent reporting confirms this trend.
• Information Warfare & Deception Intensified
  Deepfakes, AI-generated content, selective leak strategies, and controlled opposition are more common. I see what I believe are manufactured narratives—not just from foreign adversaries but domestically as well. Skousen’s long-standing concern about media omitting critical facts seems more relevant: the omissions are often where the biggest distortions lie.
• Domestic Decay & Political Dysfunction
  The collapse of post-WWII global consensus is accelerating—ideologies once taken for granted (free trade, democratic norms, multilateral governance) are under strain. Domestically, polarization continues, but so does an erosion of institutional trust. Even among conservative and libertarian audiences, there is suspicion of elites, not just across the aisle.
• Threats Beyond War: Tech, Economy, Climate
  It’s no longer just about traditional military threats. AI regulation, digital sovereignty (who controls the data, algorithms, platforms), economic supply chains, energy security, climate ramifications, and pandemics loom large. Skousen’s framework about threats from “predator nations or groups” now must include non-military or hybrid threats.
• How I Analyze the News Now (Using These Insights)

Here’s a method I follow, merging what I find compelling in Skousen’s work with what I observe in actual recent developments:

1. Track Narratives + Track Omissions
   I don’t just see what is being reported; equally important is what is not being reported, or what is being marginalized. If multiple outlets avoid a line of inquiry, that’s as suspicious as overt spin.
2. Ask “Why Now?”
   Whenever a policy, speech, treaty, or crisis is pushed, I ask: What are the material, political, or hidden incentives for it right now? Who benefits? What agendas align?
3. Follow the International Chessboard
   I map China’s and Russia’s moves, but also what Western globalists are doing—financially, through think tanks, through legal institutions. Sometimes the opposition is within nominally friendly countries or even inside parties that claim to oppose them.
4. Read Broadly, from Different Angles
   I juxtapose independent and “alt-media” (from both left and right), looking for overlaps that may point to truth. Then I compare with mainstream institutions and global reporting to see where divergences appear.
5. Include the Spiritual / Moral Dimension
   For me, some patterns only make sense if you include a dimension of moral conflict—good vs. evil, spiritual war, or principles vs. compromise. Without that, motives like “greed,” “power,” or “fear of losing control” only go so far. Skousen treats this as core, not optional.
6. Plan for Risk
   Given what I interpret as likely trajectories (global fragmentation, economic pressures, ideological clashes, technology misuse), I consider readiness: both personal and community. Geographical relocation, securing supply chains, and building physical and social safety nets.

Where We Might Be Heading

Putting it all together, here’s my projection of what might unfold:

• The pressure from rising global powers will force Western globalists to double down on coordination (trade, tech, legal frameworks). We’ll see more attempts to control narratives via regulation of AI, censorship, “hate speech” laws, and similar tools.
• Economic shocks (supply disruptions, investment pullbacks, inflation) will stress both rich and poor countries. Governments may exploit fear to seize power, restrict freedoms, or centralize authority in the name of security.
• Hybrid conflict (disinformation, economic coercion, cyber warfare) will become even more the norm, rather than conventional invasions alone.
• Cracks in the “elite consensus” might grow: conservative-libertarian paranoia about establishment betrayals, public fatigue with polarized politics, distrust of institutions. That could lead to unexpected alliances or movements.
• And spiritually or morally, there will be a deeper choice for many: whether to accept compromise for comfort, or to hold to principles even when costly.

Final Thoughts

I believe that Skousen’s perspective remains a useful lens in 2025—especially because many of his predictions and warnings match what I’m seeing: increasing global instability, more subtle control mechanisms, and erosion of traditional norms. However, some risks he emphasizes (military invasions, for example) are now joined by less‐visible but equally powerful threats: technology, information, economic dependency, and spiritual decay.

My advice: stay alert. Don’t settle into comfort just because things aren’t exploding (yet). The absence of explosions doesn’t mean the absence of danger. Use discerning thought. Seek truth not just where it’s obvious, but where it’s suppressed. And prepare—physically, mentally, spiritually—for a world that may be increasingly hostile to those who question the dominant narrative.

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