UFOs are back in style.
Well, it’s not like they’ve ever really been completely out of style. UFO mania is one of those things that’s constant but comes and goes with increased interest, like fads. The same sort of thing as competition yo-yos, roller skates, and JFK assassination theories. Flying saucers are a delightful distraction from the mundane world where most of us are serving a life sentence.
Yet things are a bit different this time or, at least appear to be. Talk of aliens, mysterious craft, and various forms of kidnapping, experimentation, and similar activities are not coming from the usual, less-than-reliable sources one finds on the Internet. These stories are coming from former military officers and other sorts who, by all indications, are in a position to know if such things are true.
As so much stuff is being written and broadcast about the latest UFO/ET “revelations,” along with allegations in both traditional and non-traditional media outlets that “we will all know the truth soon,” this reporter will not rehash anything here. There are those who believe it's all on the up and up, while others believe what we’re seeing is all part of some government psyop. Only time will tell what truth is really out there.
What is certain is that many people find this whole affair entertaining. Let’s be honest; anything pertaining to UFOs and extraterrestrials and their place in our consciousness is something everyone loves, whether we admit to it or not. We all love hearing tales about ETs and their mysterious craft. It may depend on the time of day, the time of the month, or the time in one’s life, but we’re all fans. And on occasion, we delve into the topic head first, even if it’s just for a few minutes at a time. Much the same way we all love to eat junk food when we’re sure no one’s looking. Everyone secretly desires to see a spaceship land in the front yard; the occupants emerge; invite us aboard as honored guests, and fly us away from Clown World to a planet far less crazy and far more interesting.
Nice to think about, isn’t it? Especially when reading the daily headlines. And the folks who write the daily headlines are just as susceptible to ET fantasies as the populations that read or watch their news reports. Perhaps more so.
The late 1980s to mid-1990s was a real Golden Age for UFO-ism — especially among news media professionals. The TV show X-Files was all the rage, and many New Age cults found some way to rope flying saucers into their belief systems. So most of us in the news business ended up writing a few stories on the subject. Not a difficult task as there were more than enough people claiming to be reliable sources vying for our attention.
Yes. Those days were a bit scary for working journalists. Not because we were concerned about meeting up with real, dyed-in-the-wool, ETs, but because of the kinds of people wanting to tell their stories. Everyone from so-called contactees who claimed to have lunch meetings with aliens on a regular basis to folks who were snatched out of their beds at night by little grey creatures. There was no end to the variety of ET/UFO experiences to choose from.
Most of these people were, of course, dismissed out of hand by professional newsmen and proceeded to take up residence on, and build a following through, the growing and evolving Internet. Many of them are still found there to this day and earn a pretty good living preaching to their keyboard-bound flocks.
Yet, on occasion, there were some individuals whom we would meet in the course of our daily news reporting duties who would ever so carefully bring up the subject and start talking about it in a round-about-way. Sources a reporter would already have a relationship with and take more seriously than the average man on the street —professionals who were either in the military or intelligence communities. And when soldiers and spies start talking about something, journalists listen.
My particular beats at the time were international politics, military affairs, and history, with a focus on the Second World War. I had a fair number of respectable sources I could rely upon to regularly check the facts of stories in progress and, perhaps, come up with ideas for a few new ones. But besides the usual information needed to do my job, I heard things. Many things. But as any ethical reporter will tell you there’s a big difference between hearing something and obtaining reliable information that can be molded into a news story.
Still, one always takes notes because you never know if something you hear will pan out into something worth writing about. And that’s where patience is a real necessity. Patience that may be needed for years, if not decades. And that’s where I find myself today.
I remember one specific tale that stood out. And not just because of the sources who pointed it out, but because it seemed to make a lot of sense. It’s one I’ve wanted to write about for some time but never had an outlet or an opportunity. But now that ETs and their flying machines are front-page news perhaps it’s time to put the pieces together that were pointed out to me so long ago.
First, I’d like to clarify that I was never presented with any verifiable physical evidence, nor did any of the people who outlined things for me ever say they had seen or experienced anything unusual. All I was presented with was a historical timeline and told that it held a great deal of significance. I was told to look at things from a different perspective and be open to the facts indicating something else was going on out of the public eye. Just use my head and analytical ability and all will be made clear. The sources seemed to know a great deal, but it was never explained to me in detail how deep the rabbit hole went, nor what part of Neverland they called home.
Over the course of several in-person conversations with my sources, who did not seem to know each other, I was told to begin looking at the mysterious 1989 disappearance of the Soviet Phobos 2 space probe. It was there, I was told, where the real story began.
Phobos 2 was the last interplanetary probe the USSR would ever launch. It was one of two sent to explore the Mars planetary system — the red planet and its moons Phobos and Deimos. Phobos 1 failed on its way to Mars, but Phobos 2 arrived and began to survey its namesake moon. The probe also carried two landing craft that were to descend to the surface and conduct a more in-depth examination of that mysterious world.
Then, on 27 March 1989, something happened. All contact with Phobos 2 was lost. This by itself was not very surprising given the design and construction problems Soviet spacecraft had experienced in the past. Its twin had gone dead on its way to Mars and Phobos 2 had experienced several issues with its onboard computers. But the last photos taken by Phobos 2 were said to have caused the hair to stand up on the necks of every world leader of note.
The last published photo from Phobos 2 shows a long, oblong-shaped shadow on the surface of Mars directly below the probe. What it was is still open to speculation and debate. But to most people, it appears to be the shadow or silhouette of a saucer-shaped craft in orbit — one that was quite large. Shortly after this “mothership” was detected, Phobos 2 went silent forever. It’s been speculated that other, more detailed images were transmitted back to Earth before communication was lost, but have never been officially released.
Now, to be fair and skeptical, many such mysterious photos have been taken both in and out of space showing all sorts of things not explainable. By itself, this would not be anything more than just another case of a lost space probe and a questionable photo. But what was explained to me at the time was that after the Phobos 2 incident occurred, the entire geopolitical makeup of Planet Earth would drastically change in a way, and within a timeframe, humanity had never experienced.
What happened after the Phobos 2 photos arrived at Mission Control in Moscow is anyone's guess who was not there or has first-hand information. But what was pointed out to me several years after the fact was that the timeline of events that followed indicated the whole world was restructured by the powers that be. It goes something like this:
27 March 1989 - Phobos 2 Soviet probe lost near Mars. Based on the last photo received at Soviet mission control, the vehicle had a collision or “interaction” with something large and of unknown origin. The photo showing the shadow of the “mothership,” as it is commonly called, indicates something of significant size. Perhaps miles or tens of miles in length.
5 April - Unexpected death of controversial Communist Party Politburo member Hu Yaobang in China. A member of the old guard and a veteran of the Long March, he was considered the most liberal high-ranking leader in the government and dedicated to reforming China’s economic, political, and social structure. His death (a sudden heart attack at a meeting of high-level officials) led to the start of the historic Tiananmen Square protests. An estimated one million people eventually took to the streets of Beijing and elsewhere demanding political and economic change.
15-18 May - Mikael Gorbachev visits China. The first visit by a Soviet leader since Khrushchev some 30 years earlier. It’s never explained why Gorbachev came to Beijing as the Tianamin Square protests were steadily intensifying. He meets and has discussions with most Chinese leaders. Gorbochev’s visit effectively ends most of the lingering Chinese-Soviet hostilities.
3-4 June — Tiananmen Square protests are brutally crushed by the Chinese military. The number of injured, missing, and dead is unknown to this day. A new era in China begins, which eventually results in the nation becoming the de-facto economic and military superpower of today.
8 August - Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28) is launched on a five-day mission with a secret military payload.
9 October - Voronezh UFO incident in the USSR. Details were reported in Soviet media describing a physical interaction with extraterrestrials and the announcement of a formal government inquiry. Overall UFO activity was said at the time to be increasing worldwide.
November 1989 — A significant historic month. The collapse of East Germany began with the Berlin Wall being taken down on the 9th. The Communist dominos then begin falling. One by one, the nations of the Warsaw Pact throw off communism and Soviet control. After nearly half a century the Iron Curtain dividing Europe is lifted.
2-3 December - Summit between George H.W. Bush and Mikael Gorbachev conducted on Soviet and US warships off the coast of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. Highly secure and secret meetings between the two leaders were all held on military-controlled vessels as opposed to the usual luxury high-end hotels or resorts on land. Rumors circulate that the unprecedented security surrounding the talks is on account of "very serious matters being discussed." At the end of the unusual summit, the Cold War was declared officially over by both leaders.
19 December — Romanian Revolution. Most dramatic fall of a totalitarian, Soviet-aligned communist country. President Ceaușescu and his wife are driven from power and executed after a brief show trial on the 25th. There was speculation at the time the Romanian leader was done away with quickly to silence him for reasons unknown.
20 January 1990 — Azurbaizan occupation by Soviet forces commences. Considered by many to be the real beginning of the breakup of the USSR. Other Soviet republics begin to split from Moscow over the following months, resulting in the geopolitical equivalent of the centuries-long dissolution of the Roman Empire occurring in only a fraction of the time.
7 February — Soviet Communist Party voluntarily gives up its power monopoly after more than 70 years. Other political parties are allowed to form and operate in the USSR for the first time.
24 April — Hubble Space Telescope is launched and placed in orbit by the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
2 August — Iraq invades Kuwait. It was learned many years later that Sadam Hussain thought the US would remain neutral in the conflict and not get involved in exchange for cheap oil “in perpetuity.” This marks the start of the First Gulf War.
11 September — George Bush's New World Order speech to a joint session of the US Congress. It’s the first time the term "New World Order" is used openly and formally by a political leader.
13 November — The World Wide Web begins operating with the first web page being created. What is now referred to as the Internet would grow quickly to become the central component of human interaction, information exchange, and commerce that we see today.
15 November — Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-38) heads into orbit with another secret military payload.
6 January 1991 — US-led invasion of Iraq. The war ends in late February. US military begins basing significant numbers of ground forces in the Middle East — the region traditionally known as the Cradle of Civilization. According to ancient Sumerian texts, this part of the world was once occupied and ruled over by “the gods.”
19-22 August — Attempted coup against Mikael Gorbachov led by several senior members of the Soviet government. The coup fails, but it becomes obvious the days of the Soviet Union are numbered.
26 December — Soviet Union is formally dissolved and ceases to exist as a political entity. The USA becomes the sole global superpower.
There is more that can be added to the timeline, but those are some of the more significant events that were pointed out to me. A lot of history — significant history — happened very quickly. And few, if anyone, ever bothered to ask “Why?”
Could all of it have been one big coincidence or happenstance? Yes, it could have been. Just the way history played out for the nations and people involved. But there also could have been something else at work. Something unseen and not obvious.
The timeline presented here seems to indicate that after the Phobos 2 incident, someone or something showed up in our planetary neighborhood and this triggered a drastic change in Earth’s geopolitical priorities. And to deal with this situation, the people who run the world decided that the Cold War needed to be brought to an end and the political and social structure of our planet had to be realigned. Humanity was to head in a totally new direction, and quickly. The time of the Cold War and the Cold Warrior was over, the time of the Globalist had arrived.
There is, of course, no solid proof. What this timeline represents is a series of events and a theory that fits facts. But it’s a theory that could explain a lot — especially the titanic changes that have since occurred at every level of our civilization.
Since the Cold War was brought to a sudden, screeching halt, everything from politics to religion, to economics, to sexual behavior acceptances have been turned upside down. New technologies have been embraced that, from a rational perspective, should have been more carefully considered and examined before being accepted. Among them changing the genetic makeup of the food supply, animals, and, as we are starting to see, humans. What is being called Transhumanism is being touted as our next evolutionary step. Artificial Intelligence is now entering daily life at a frightening pace. And the political and legal acceptance of transgender surgery performed on young children would have only existed in the realm of fictional horror a few years ago. Something is going on behind the scenes. Something that doesn’t seem to be human.
Over the past three decades, we’ve experienced the slow erosion of all our freedoms, civil decency, intelligence, educational standards, living standards, and other phenomena that defy rational explanation. Whether it’s eating bugs or people choosing one of hundreds of “genders” to identify themselves, the level of activity commonly considered sane has been tossed aside after thousands of years of acceptance. Something else certainly seems to be going on behind the scenes, but what?
With the increasing level of insanity we’re seeing on a daily basis, it’s easy to let the imagination run away into unchartered territory in search of answers. But sometimes that’s what’s necessary to get to the truth. Circumstantial evidence is still evidence, no matter how “out there” it may be. And as this reporter grows older, wiser, and more disappointed with the world he was born into, he’s been forced to look in new directions for answers. And going over all his notes and strange experiences from decades past seems like a good place to start.
During the Middle Ages, there lived a man named William of Ockham. He wrote extensively on philosophy, logic, and reason, and came up with a mental process that is still in use today called Ockham's Razor. It’s a rule of thumb that when one needs to decide between two hypotheses, the one you should go with, the one that is most likely correct, is the one that requires the fewest assumptions. A simple formula, and one that usually works. Usually.
Ockham was a Franciscan friar who believed in the scientific method and was a man of faith. Prayer in a church was as sacred to him as studying in a library. He was a rational man who communed with the divine, delved into fringe ideas, and explored the philosophy of the ancients while surviving in a world of superstition and terror, where those who opposed the narrative put forth by the authorities were imprisoned, tortured, and killed.
What would Brother Ockham think of today’s world? What would he think of our rationality, our social values, or our morals? What would he think of the way we treat our heretics? Would he find our society attractive, desirable, and sane? Or would he get down on his knees and beg to be sent back to the age of witch burnings?
But the most important question we would ask our time-traveling friar, and ourselves, is this: If William of Ockham was presented with the various explanations as to why our civilization is heading into an abyss, and who or what is responsible, what side of his razor would his answer be on?
Something to think about, contemplate, and ponder, as we watch and observe the world around us, gaze at the skies above, and try to guess what’s going to happen next.