Zero Hedge

Non-Woke Game Of Thrones Spinoff Explodes In Popularity

Non-Woke Game Of Thrones Spinoff Explodes In Popularity

It is true that woke content in entertainment media has been in steady decline.  Some production studios continue to fight against reality in a vain effort to force their insane ideology on the public, but compared to five or ten years ago, far left-activism in film and TV is crumbling.

The number of film productions are plummeting.  New movies and shows are becoming thinner in budget and frequency.  Hollywood is gasping for oxygen.  Many people consider this a good thing, and it is.  Hollywood deserves to die.  That said, there's almost nothing available to replace it, and this is becoming a problem. 

Storytelling is integral to the human condition; it's how we pass on ideas, principles and history.  Hollywood has devolved to the point that they no longer know how to do this.  Wokeness is all they understand and without it they are lost.

Only a few years ago it would have been a miracle to find a streaming series with a nearly all white cast set in a European-style environment featuring a straight white male hero with a heart of gold and a dream of serving as a protector of the innocent.  It would have been even more of a miracle to find a show in which good people with pure intentions are exemplified as the ideal.  And, for that show to also be a Game of Thrones spinoff would require divine intervention.

Today, it would seem that miracles are now possible.

The recent release of HBO's "A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms" set in the world of Game Of Thrones has caused a stir - The good kind of stir.  Audiences initially approached the series with extreme caution, given the incredible woke failure the original GOT series turned out to be, not to mention the insipid gayness of House Of The Dragon.  However, the complete absence of woke propaganda in the series has come as a pleasant shock to audiences and the show is exploding in popularity.

The first season is not officially ended and there is, of course, always the chance that writers will attempt to ambush the audience after luring them into a false comfort.  But this does not seem to be the case with KSK.

Our main character, Duncan the Tall (played by Irish actor and rugby player Peter Claffey) is an endearing hero in a way that we have not seen in film or TV for a very long time.  His sidekick "Egg", played by 11-year-old Dexter Sol Ansell, is one of the best child actors to grace a series since the first season of Stranger Things (another show that fell part under the low IQ weight of woke ideology).  The duo is incredible to watch and their friendship feels real. 

The underlying theme, though, is the real draw. 

Chivalry and honor codes are center stage here.  No hint of feminism.  No hint of progressive moral relativism.  No moronic preaching about racism.  It's hard to believe, but the focus of this series is the necessity and value of good men.

Fans have taken to social media to rave about the production, citing the refreshing depiction of western culture in fantasy.  It's a genre that was supported by white nerds well before it was considered "cool", and it's nice that they're being welcomed back here.   

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is now bring in around 13 million viewers within the first three days of the premier of each new episode.  Compare this to the majority of woke series, which receive an average of 2 million to 5 million viewers per episode, usually in a pattern of steep decline.  Streaming services like Disney or Paramount tend to refuse to release full official data on such content because it performs so badly.    

It should not be surprising that entertainment media draws a much larger crowd when it avoids political preaching, especially when the content is set in a fantastical world where modern politics would not exist.  The inability of Hollywood to accept defeat and move on with more relatable content is leading to their complete destruction.  Maybe with the success of A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms they might finally learn something.  

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/22/2026 - 09:55

"Potentially Worst Blizzard In Decade" Set To Hammer Mid-Atlantic And Northeast

"Potentially Worst Blizzard In Decade" Set To Hammer Mid-Atlantic And Northeast

A potentially historic winter storm is set to slam the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast beginning Sunday, bringing heavy snow, damaging winds, and coastal flooding.

As of Sunday morning, 35 million people are under Blizzard Warning alerts from the Mid-Atlantic through New England, according to a post on X from the National Weather Service Prediction Center.

Meteorologists are already labeling the nor'easter as potentially historic and warn it could be the most intense blizzard to hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast in a decade.

Snowfall forecasts are already pointing to a high-impact setup along large stretches of the I-95 corridor, from the Washington, D.C., area to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, where significant accumulations are possible.

In the Tri-State region, some forecasts suggest localized totals could reach upwards of 2 feet, likely sparking major travel disruptions from the I-95 corridor to air travel.

"DHS suspends TSA PreCheck & Global Entry over shutdown. Millions who paid for faster security now stuck in regular lines—while a historic blizzard cancels 7,000+ flights in the Northeast," Fox News reporter Lucas Tomlinson wrote on X.

Related:

The storm's setup is similar to the 2016 blizzard that blanketed Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and New York City with up to 2 feet of snow in some areas.

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/22/2026 - 08:10

Preparation For Martial Law? Europe To Recruit Migrants For "National Defense"

Preparation For Martial Law? Europe To Recruit Migrants For "National Defense"

Europe's lack of military readiness has become painfully obvious in recent years, due largely to the war in Ukraine as well as the Trump Administration's efforts to force NATO members to fulfill their basic obligations. 

Specifically, Russia's successful use of attrition tactics against NATO supported forces in Ukraine has exposed a significant weakness in western military doctrine.

New and cheap technologies (including drone technologies) are making large scale maneuver warfare obsolete.  The era of super-weapons dominating the battlefield with minimal manpower is over.  As was the case in WWI and WWII, troop strength and boots on the ground are once again the key to victory.  

A Washington DC-based defense think-tank, Center For A New American Century (CNAS), has come to the same realization and suggests a novel (as well as predictable) solution:  Exploit mass immigration from Ukraine and third world countries to the west as a resource to fill the persistent void in military recruitment numbers.  

Writing for Foreign Policy, the CNAS notes:

"Closing manpower gaps may prove harder than writing bigger checks. The continent’s demographic crisis compounds the problem: Births in the European Union fell below 4 million in 2022 for the first time since 1960, shrinking the pool of potential recruits as geopolitical threats—chief among them, Russian aggression—demand larger, more capable forces..."

The argument, of course, presupposes that Russia has any intention of invading greater Europe.  There is no evidence that this is Vladimir Putin's goal.  However, the Russian bogeyman does make for a useful excuse to justify the development of a unified EU military force.  

The threat of war can also be exploited by European officials as a way to justify open borders and mass immigration from the third world.  Immigration from Ukraine makes some sense - It is a legitimate war torn country and Ukrainians are close to the rest of Europeans in terms of cultural attitude.  But, EU elites need a rationale for flooding the region with third worlders and war with Russia seems to be their ticket.  The CNAS uses the "demographic collapse" claim as a catalyst.

"Ukraine’s grinding war of attrition has laid bare an uncomfortable truth: Emerging capabilities in the form of high-tech weaponry cannot substitute for boots on the ground. Soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, and airmen are the backbone of national defense. Yet the European Commission estimates a 43 million reduction in the bloc’s working-age population by 2070..."

"...Meanwhile, Europe continues to grapple with significant migration flows from Africa, the Middle East, and other regions. These arrivals, often young, male, and seeking better opportunities, represent exactly the demographic cohort European militaries desperately need. Many migrants arrive with valuable skills: language abilities, cultural knowledge of strategic regions, technical expertise, and, most importantly, motivation to prove themselves and build new lives."

It should be noted that these kind of articles from think-tanks are not so much "suggestions" for future policy initiatives.  Rather, they are propaganda pieces designed to promote policies that governments already intend to implement in the near future.

A number of European countries have already begun the groundwork for recruiting migrants for national defense. 

Ireland just recently announced that their are reviewing a possible program to give fast-track citizenship to immigrants who volunteer to join the military.  Irish leaders assert that this is necessary to boost defense capabilities, but they also argue that it is need to increase Ireland's "diversity."    

Several other European governments are looking at similar programs, including Germany, France and Spain. 

The real question is, would third world migrants actually fight on the front lines for Europe?  Furthermore, is this really the true agenda behind mass immigration?  To boost western demographics to defend against invasion, or to support the economy?

It is clear that third worlders are a net negative on the economic health of the countries they migrate to.  The majority represent a drain on social welfare systems.  Europe is on a downward spiral in terms of economic health and crime over the past decade.  In fact, the more European leaders embrace mass immigration, the more the economy declines and the worse their native demographic crisis becomes.  

It makes more sense if one considers the possibility that mass immigration and military recruitment are designed to keep European citizens in line, not Russia or Putin.  As we mentioned in our recent article on Canada's new program to recruit military trained foreign nationals for their own armed forces, left-wing governments are not really worried about invasion from Russia or China, they are worried about opposition from their own conservative and nationalist populations. 

It is much easier to control native Europeans using immigrant mercenaries with no loyalty to the culture.  The CNAS specifically mentions the use of military service as a way to sooth the concerns of "xenophobic" conservatives.

"The political center regarding migration has collapsed in the face of far-right xenophobic approaches to the migration file, such that few policy initiatives other than hardening land and maritime borders and cutting deals to send migrants away see the light of day..."

"The promise of citizenship provides powerful motivation, and military service demonstrates commitment to the nation in the most tangible way possible. The United States demonstrates that national identity is forged through shared sacrifice, not shared ancestry..."

In other words, sell Europeans on the idea that they have no shared ancestry and that migrants going to war for them is proof enough that they are loyal and should be citizens.  Of course, it's unlikely that migrants will be convinced to risk their lives for Europeans.  They might, however, be easily convinced to help oppress Europeans in exchange for citizenship and the spoils of subjugation.  

It's a threat western citizens need to seriously consider before supporting any government policy for the recruitment of foreign nationals.  They might just be supporting the very recruits that will eventually be used to enslave them.  

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/22/2026 - 07:35

Ukraine's Fast-Tracked EU Membership Would De Facto Advance EU Federalist Goals

Ukraine's Fast-Tracked EU Membership Would De Facto Advance EU Federalist Goals

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

The approval of “reverse enlargement” to Ukraine and other candidate states would institutionalize a three-tiered Europe between the “E6”, Central Europe, and the new partial members from Eastern Europe and the Balkans for facilitating Germany’s divide-and-rule federalist plans.

Politico reported on the EU’s plan to grant Ukraine partial membership by next year at the earliest as part of a comprehensive solution to that country’s conflict. An unnamed official described this as “reverse enlargement” and explained that “It would be a sort of recalibration of the process — you join and then you get phased in rights and obligations.”

This modus operandi would enable all the other candidates to join too and thus complete the bloc’s expansion in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

If Orban isn’t ‘democratically deposed’ during next month’s parliamentary elections, then the EU plans to appeal to Trump to pressure him into agreeing to this, absent which they’ll remove Hungary’s voting rights.

Left unsaid is the assessment from early November when this general idea was first reported about how “Poland Might Impede The EU’s Push To Speedily Grant Ukraine Membership” if this compels it to open its agricultural market to another deluge of low-cost and low-quality Ukrainian exports.

Per the preceding hyperlinked analysis, “neither half of its ruling duopoly wants to be blamed for the domestic consequences of Ukraine joining the EU, especially not ahead of fall 2027’s next parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s ruling liberal-globalist coalition is already facing an uphill battle and would torpedo any hope of keeping control if they supported this, while President Karol Nawrocki from the conservative-nationalist opposition would betray his base if he went along with them.”

It’s therefore possible that the EU’s “reverse enlargement” to Ukraine doesn’t include unlimited tariff-free access of its agricultural products either to the bloc as a whole or only to Poland in order to secure Warsaw’s approval. In any case, Ukraine’s fast-tracked EU membership would de facto advance EU federalist goals by institutionalizing Germany’s “two-speed Europe” proposal, thus leading to three tiers of membership actually between the “E6”, other full members, and the new partial members.

The “E6” refers to the bloc’s six largest economies – Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland – who’d collectively sit atop this institutionalized hierarchy that would unofficially be led by the German-Franco duopoly (or divided into factions by them if their rivalry becomes unmanageable).

Regardless of Poland’s participation or lack thereof within the “E6”, which the abovementioned hyperlinked analysis argues can’t be taken for granted, the EU would thus be formally divided.

The “E6” would push through reforms for facilitating federalization even if that end goal isn’t openly declared to avoid spooking some countries and their societies. The new partial members would then be pressured to conform with these new policies to obtain full membership, while the remaining full members from the second tier would be pressured by the first and third one into following suit. There’s a distinct geopolitical division between these tiers that deserves mention before concluding the analysis.

The “E6” represents Western Europe (with the exception of Poland), the new partial members would represent Eastern Europe and the Balkans, while the rest represent Central Europe. The EU federalists therefore want to pit the first three against the Central European members who oppose federalism in order to then impose that system upon them as a fait accompli. This observation further contextualizes the perceived urgency over approving “reverse enlargement” to Ukraine and the other candidates.

Tyler Durden Sun, 02/22/2026 - 07:00

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