Wilful Blindness, How a network of narcos, tycoons and CCP agents Infiltrated the West Paperback – 21 May 2021

This book took a lot of thought, to more fully grasp the processes and implications, as detailed in this book. Putting aside the precise circumstances it offers a model in which any sovereign nation state could be taken over, unwittingly. It also illustrates how political egos, friendships and putting money first can corrupt otherwise good people. In all a fascinating read.For me, one of the big takeaways of this book is how power can corrupt, and how politicians can be naive or wilfully blind, as friendships and contacts are forged.At the moment in my country, the U.K., the press are reporting on how another nations nationals (Russians) have gained British Citizenship, and are now good friends and/or financial supporters of about a third of individual government cabinet ministers. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with this, it, in the context of the content of this book, could result in my own country becoming an effective subsidiary of Russia. A bit extreme, but ultimately where does such friendships and financial contributions lead? I would image that it is a real problem, hidden in plain sight, for many sovereign nations.The solution I guess is integrity being paramount, keeping your ego in check as you climb the political and business ladders, while keeping a cautiously sceptical eye on all contacts and friendships that power naturally attracts.From reading this book I feel sorry for Canada, but where they are at is a direct result of letting it happen. For China, like any great nation it’s doing what it can to get it to where it wants to be. And you can’t really blame any nation for that, after all name me one major nation without active intelligence services and a desire to influence other nations to their own benefit? Sure some will be more passive as opposed to active, but it is human nature to want to influence and enable growth.So while this book argues that the problem is twofold, (1) what China is reported to be doing, and (2) Canadas enabling of it through naivety, blindness or greed, I think that the solution is for Canada to realise that (1) power can and does corrupt the best of us, (2) recognising that your friendships can be the cause of your downfall, (3) power can cause your ego to blind you, (4) money now controls humans, when it was invented to aid trade etc, but it is so so addictive, and when you need to fund things, decision making can be skewed. (5) You can end up with cover ups to protect past poor decision making.This is all a human problem, that can only be resolved by honestly examining human nature, and the addictive power of money and of power itself.I hope that Canada can navigate itself safely through this storm, and that Chinas global rise (and hence the US’s relative decline) is managed harmoniously globally. It will take wise politicians globally, and while I am not holding my breath, I do hope that the good aspects of human nature effectively balance our the bad.We after all share this planet, and if sovereign states want to remain sovereign then “Wilful Blindness” might not be the optimal way.But what the heck do I, an armchair philosopher, know.