Eight years ago, in December 2012, I posted Ludlum’s Inver Brass : Does It Exist?, a post inspired by one Robert Ludlum, who happened to be one of my favourite fictional writers, if not THE favourite.
To recap, the premise for Inver Brass was the coming together of an elite group of high-minded individuals armed with the necessary intellect, the uncompromising integrity, and financially well endowed, either through inheritance or industry, to realise the ideals that Inver Brass collectively champion.
As per any secret society or grouping, membership is by invitation only, and so exclusive is the membership that it’s limited to but a number not exceeding the number of fingers on one hand.
Sworn to secrecy, the identities of the members of the Inver Brass are never known, with its deliberations never recorded, lest it be traced back to members of Inver Brass, exposing their jealously guarded secrets and identities.
Not dissimilar to a corporate or a non-governmental entity, minus a corporate entity’s stated dedicated pursuit of the bottom line, members of Inver Brass deliberate and act in a way similar to that of a Board of Directors or Trustees.
For operational purposes, Inver Brass is managed by a one-man management and operations team, whose identity is jealously guarded similar to that of members of Inver Brass, and whose management skills include, in today’s management parlance, outsourcing, project management, legal, international finance, and the likes.
But in the shadowy world of Inver Brass, labels mean for nought as the CEO, for thats what this one-man-management-and-operations-team’s role is all about, must be multi talented and with credentials as impeccable as members of Inver Brass, subscribing to the same ideals of Inver Brass..
This is where a debate, if ever there’d be one, comes into play. Just what are the ideals so often referred to? What are they based on? Philosophy or theology or a cross between the two? Ideals of the ancient Greeks of Athens? Or of Sparta? What that of ancient China? Or that matter, ancient Persia or ancient Rome? Or is it based on universal values? Or human values? And just what are these ‘universal’ or ‘human’ values? Who gets to define these ‘values’?
Or are the sacrosanct ideals of Inver Brass based on any one particular religious teaching, revealed or otherwise? That of the Prophet Daud (David)? Or of the Prophet Musa (Moses)? Or of the Prophet Isa (Jesus) or of the Prophet Mohammed? May the peace of Almighty Allah be upon them all.
If that be the case, then where does that leave the teachings followed by the Buddhists of this world, the Hindus, and that of all the followers of other religious teachings, too numerous to mention?
Whats the relevance of a debate on the ideals of such a grouping, you may ask. Without ideals, an entity will be at a loss to move forward, for ideals establish the path on which an entity justify and give meaning to its existence.
When Ludlum first put forward the idea of Inver Brass even existing, it stands to reason that it has put into motion a debate on the possibility of such an ultra elite group like Inver Brass ever existed or does still exist. This debate is entertained especially by they who entertain conspiracy theories, and they are many, be it voluntarily or by they whose job it is to entertain and investigate the idea, no matter how unlikely it may be.
But just what is Inver Brass? Was it modelled on an actual entity? If that is the case, was Inver Brass based on entities like the Freemasons, whose activities are not only reported to be shrouded in complete secrecy, but also to whom the election of many of the presidents, if not all, of the United States of America were attributed to? Until the election of John F Kennedy, that is.
Conspiracy theorists love to forward the idea that the election of JFK as the President of the United States was not just because of his good looks, charm and family, but also as evidence that the Vatican is also no less influential in world politics, be it in Europe, Asia and the Americas, as it was in the days of old. As influential, if not more, than Freemasonry.
But to expect an institution such as The Vatican to be directly involved in matters other than temporal, would not be looked upon in the best of light. However, as is widely documented, the Vatican’s interests are looked after by many other entities, some within the Holy See itself and some, at its expressed behest. Of the many entities under the Vatican’s vast organizational structure, many a conspiracy theorist have looked in the direction of the organization Opus Dei, another grouping whose activities are said to be shrouded in mystery.
Wherever and whenever the Vatican’s name is mentioned, the name of another grouping, as mysterious as the Freemasons is said to be, is never far behind : The Illuminati.
Recorded history has it that it started as the Bavarian Illuminati, but has since, per conspiracy theories the world over, gave birth to many movements or organizations claiming to have links with the original Bavarian Illuminati.
‘The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, ‘enlightened’) is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776 in Bavaria, today part of Germany. The society’s goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power. “The order of the day,” they wrote in their general statutes, “is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them.” The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria with the encouragement of the Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787, and 1790. In the following several years, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that they continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution.’ – excerpt from Wikipedia.
Hence, the ‘relationship’ between the Vatican, the Illuminati and the Freemasons. An odd ‘triumvirate’, if ever there was one and one whose individual interests are at odds with each other.
In the corporate world, it is not unheard of individual members of a company’s Board of Directors having a presence on the board of other companies, either directly or by proxy. As such, given the different interests at play, the machinations resulting would give even some of the world’s best intelligence services headaches, with ‘The Game’ that intelligence services reportedly play amongst themselves pale significantly by comparison.
Even though the names of the Freemason, Opus Dei and the Illuminati are mentioned as possible models for Ludlum’s Inver Brass, suffice to say that the possibilities are endless, a result of idle and suspicious minds some would say.
But a debate sparked by the possibility of Inver Brass ever existed or exists is as relevant as the discovery that mention of a flu-like airborne virus originating from the Chinese city of Wuhan had been in the writings of other authors some ten or twenty odd years ago. Coincidence?
Throughout the history of mankind, if ever there has been anything consistent throughout, it is in the quest for POWER. Generally defined as the capability to exert authority, influence and control, it is within reason to link the capability to wield power to the control of the body politics or the world of international finance or the control of the might of the military as well as temporal control of the religious. It would not be amiss to state that control of all four elements would be equivalent to total control or absolute power, if ever there was one.
For all the romance of the existence of such an elite group of people as Inver Brass, working for the common good in line with the high ideals they subscribe to, if they do exist, is it not an affront to the billions of people that there exists an elite group of individuals who take it upon themselves to make and take decisions on behalf of the billions, deciding what is good and what is otherwise, the billions who may be regarded not be of the same intellect or of the same stature or have access to the same amount of funds available to members of this elite group? Decisions that affect the lives of the billions.
In short, the fate of the many dictated by a handful of people, of which the most common example would be regime change, directly or indirectly, deciding who should govern and how a nation should be governed. Another would be the championing of social values and mores alien to that nation itself.
Newton’s 3rd law of physics states that every action will result in an equal and opposite reaction. Without the opportunity to decide for themselves, it will dawn upon the many, sooner or later, what has been decided for them is not to their liking, and drastic remedies are therefore called for. Just to balance the scales again, if ever it was balanced to start with.
Mankind’s history is littered with examples of this balancing-of-the-scales act. Some are enacted via peaceful means while some have proven to be more forceful : the French revolution, the American revolution, the Iranian revolution, to name but a few. A purging of sorts, for lack of a better phrase.
With the coming to prominence of social media, would the ‘battles’ be now waged on social media? If so, it would be fair to say that the ‘battles’ waged on social media would be no less brutal compared to its physical form, for one would not know who is friend and who is foe. If it can be so easily differentiated.
Like in all other business sectors, the consolidation of the tech world is becoming more and more pronounced with billions of US dollars changing hands. The prize? Limitless data, personal and otherwise, at one’s disposal giving unbridled access to a world population preoccupied with the issue of survival to worry of the possibility that their personal information being exposed to unknown parties, and dare we say, a world population very open to suggestions in whatever shape and form.
Question is, whose hands? Or does it really matter anymore? Only if you are definitely into conspiracy theories.
Politics As I See It 
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