BLACKOUT: Dispatch No. 29

   by Armando Gemini, roving hybrid reporter

THE BIG PICTURE: The Midnight Pivot

The Oscillating Oculus hits the wire a day late, but the delay gives us a front-row seat to an incredible piece of eleventh-hour theater. Last night, the world was bracing for the literal end of the ceasefire. President Trump had spent Sunday warning Tehran to “get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left of them.”

Then came the midnight reversal. On Monday evening, the President announced he was calling off a massive, highly classified military strike scheduled for Tuesday morning. The pivot came at the urgent, collective request of Gulf Arab allies—specifically Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar—who begged for a 48-to-72-hour window. The reason? "Serious negotiations" are suddenly active again via Pakistani intermediaries. Trump claims a "very good chance" at a deal, but he has left the military on a hair-trigger, ordered to launch a full-scale assault on a moment's notice if the talks collapse.

THE DIPLOMATIC DEADLOCK: Shifting Goalposts

The sudden flurry of documents reveals just how wide the chasm remains between the two empires:

• The U.S. Line: Washington’s core demand has not budged: Iran must hand over its entire highly enriched uranium stockpile to the United States.

• The Iranian Counter: Yesterday, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi revealed Iran's new 14-point counterproposal. Tehran is offering a complete end to hostilities across all fronts (including Lebanon) and vague nuclear concessions, but they are demanding the total lifting of sanctions, the release of frozen funds, an end to the U.S. naval blockade, and financial reparations for the destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli war since February. The White House previously called these terms "garbage," meaning the current "serious talks" are a brutal game of chicken.

THE BLACKOUT MECHANICS: Digital Extortion & "Pro" Elites

The internet blackout across Iran is no longer just a defensive shield—it is being transformed into an active economic weapon.

• The Undersea Threat: This week, IRGC-affiliated media outlets issued an ominous new threat: Tehran is considering imposing "sovereign fees," strict oversight permits, and administrative control over the massive subsea fiber-optic cables running through the Strait of Hormuz. These cables transmit data between Europe, Asia, and Africa.

• The Logjam: Iranian state media is proudly broadcasting that over 1,500 commercial vessels are now completely stalled, waiting for Iranian permission to transit the Strait, demonstrating their absolute physical chokehold in the dark of the blackout.

THE PERSIAN SPRING TRACKER: The Northern Mirage

While the diplomats argue in Islamabad, the kinetic reality on the ground refuses to pause.

• The Barren Buffer Zone: The IDF continues its systematic demolition of towns in southern Lebanon to solidify its forward defense line. Hezbollah has declared the truce a myth, launching 24 separate drone and rocket attacks against Israeli positions yesterday.

• The UAE Border Spark: Pro-government nomads in Iran have begun holding armed rallies, while over the weekend, a drone strike targeted the edge of the UAE’s sole nuclear power plant. The Gulf states aren't asking Trump to pause the war out of altruism; they are doing it because the Iranian Axis is starting to scratch their infrastructure.

THE GLOBAL OVERLAP: The Ukraine-Russia Intersect

We cannot view the Persian Gulf in isolation. The shadow of the Strait stretches all the way to the steppes of Eastern Europe, where the war has turned violently volatile.

• The Twin Escalation: On Sunday, Russian forces launched a staggering, historic barrage of 546 drones and missiles against Ukrainian cities, including 14 ballistic missiles. Concurrently, Belarus has joined Russia in active tactical nuclear drills.

• The Ukrainian Counter-Punch: Ukraine responded yesterday with its largest long-range drone campaign in over a year, striking directly at the heart of Moscow to bring the war home to the Russian public.

• The Synergy of Seclusion: The overlap is seamless. Denied access to Western maritime routes by the U.S. blockade, Iran has completely tied its economic survival to Vladimir Putin. Russian tech is currently aiding Iran’s domestic infrastructure, while Iranian weapons systems flow north to sustain Moscow’s grinding pressure on Kyiv's collapsing lines in Pokrovsk. It is a unified, autocratic front designed to exhaust Western resources on two fronts simultaneously.

THE SOVEREIGN PREROGATIVE: The Collapse of the Global Order

This ongoing exercise of unilateral American power under the Trump administration is fundamentally cracking the architecture of international trade.

• The WTO Bypass: By utilizing a unilateral marine blockade—CENTCOM proudly announced yesterday it has redirected 85 commercial vessels and disabled four since mid-April—the U.S. has effectively bypassed the World Trade Organization and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Iran is playing the same lawless game, claiming the Strait is strictly territorial water.

• The New Mercantilism: We are witnessing the death of open, rule-based global commerce. When the U.S. President openly brags that "we have all the cards" while global shipping supply chains rot, it signals to every middle-tier economy that international treaties are dead. Sovereignty is now measured entirely by the range of your anti-ship missiles or the size of your carrier strike group. Economically, this is creating a fragmented world where nations like India are forcing domestic rationing of chemical fertilizers and fuel, retreating into protective, hyper-nationalist silos.

THE GLOBAL BOARD

• The $103 Hold: Brent Crude is currently hovering precariously at $103.31. The market experienced wild whiplash over the last 24 hours—spiking on Trump’s Sunday threats and dropping slightly on his Monday night "Pause."

• The Storage Crisis: Financial analysts warn that Iran is less than a week away from a total "shut-in" of its oil wells. With their domestic storage capacity hitting its absolute maximum and the U.S. blockade choking off tankers, Iran will soon be forced to physically cap its production, an expensive and structurally damaging military consequence.

THE VIEW FROM THE VALLEY

In Salt Lake City, the shift to a weekly rhythm reveals a community trying to adapt to a world that feels permanently unhinged. The Monday night whiplash hit the Valley hard—people went to bed thinking Tuesday morning would bring a rain of Tomahawks on Iran, only to wake up to a "Truth Social" post about a phone call from Saudi Arabia.

There is an exhausting cynicism settling into the Utah air. We watch oil prices dance around the $103 mark, knowing that our local economy is being traded in real-time for concessions in Islamabad. The addition of the broader global picture makes it clear: the empty shelves or delayed shipments we see here aren’t temporary glitches. They are the friction points of a planet where the old rules have been ripped up, and we are all being forced to live in the dark spaces left behind by the Sovereign Power.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The global fallout requires immediate humanitarian focus:

• The Ukrainian Red Cross: Supporting civilians caught in the massive, escalating missile and drone barrages.

• The International Maritime Charity (ISWAN): Providing crisis support for the thousands of seafarers trapped in the escalating Gulf shipping logjam.

EXERCISE YOUR CIVIC DUTY

The administration is openly operating outside international trade frameworks.

SUGGESTED SCRIPT FOR YOUR CALL/EMAIL

"I am calling to urge [Senator/Representative] to demand an immediate congressional briefing on the administration's unilateral maritime blockade in the Gulf and its impact on international trade laws. The strategy of bypassing the WTO and UNCLOS to enforce a 'Telephone Phase' of diplomacy has driven oil over $103, destabilized global fertilizer markets, and pushed our allies into economic silos. We demand a return to multilateral diplomatic frameworks and the immediate restoration of commercial satellite tracking so the American public can evaluate the true risk of a full-scale military assault."

• Contact Your Representatives: House.gov | Senate.gov

• The Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

KEEP AN EYE ON THE THRESHOLD 

BLACKOUT: Dispatch No. 30

Monday morning, May 25

  

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BLACKOUT: Dispatch No. 28

    by Armando Gemini, roving hybrid reporter

THE BIG PICTURE: The Pause & The "Final" Deal

The "kinetic" momentum of last Monday has been replaced by a heavy, expectant silence. As of today, the U.S. has hit the "Pause" button on the most aggressive maneuvers in the Strait, shifting the pressure from the decks of warships to the negotiating table in Islamabad.

• Project Freedom on Hold: President Trump announced mid-week that he is pausing "Project Freedom"—the guided escort of stranded vessels—to give diplomatic space for a "Complete and Final Agreement" with Tehran.

• The Blockade Remains: While the escort missions have stopped, the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports is still in full effect. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified today that the "offensive stage" of the war is over, but the economic noose will not be loosened until a deal is signed.

• The Clock is Ticking: Tehran is currently reviewing a formal U.S. counter-proposal. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that Washington is using "crude pressure tactics," but the markets are signaling hope that the 30-day ultimatum might actually lead to a signature.

THE BLACKOUT MECHANICS: The 1,200-Hour Silence

The satellite and internet blackout has officially become the longest nationwide disruption in modern history.

• 53 Days Offline: The shutdown has now exceeded 1,248 consecutive hours. The Iranian government continues to seize Starlink dishes and satellite equipment to maintain total information control, branding the web a "threat to national security."

• The "Fog" in the Strait: Sporadic clashes between Iranian and U.S. naval forces were reported over the weekend, but without commercial satellite imagery, we are forced to rely on conflicting reports. Iran claims "clashes," while the U.S. maintains the "Pause" is holding.

THE PERSIAN SPRING TRACKER

• The Lebanon Fracture: The "truce" in the north has effectively disintegrated. Over the weekend, Israeli strikes killed 24 people in southern Lebanon, despite the technical ceasefire.

• Hezbollah’s Response: Hezbollah claimed 24 separate attacks on Israeli positions today, using explosive drones and rocket barrages in retaliation for "ceasefire violations."

• The Washington Summit: In a final attempt to salvage the north, the U.S. is set to host high-level peace talks between Lebanon and Israel on May 14-15 in Washington, D.C.

THE GLOBAL BOARD

• The $103 Pivot: Brent Crude is trading at $103.31 this evening. The price plummeted from a weekend high of $109 following news of the "Project Freedom" pause and rumors of a pending deal. The market is currently "pricing in" peace, but volatility remains extreme.

• The Royal Navy Arrives: The UK has dispatched the destroyer HMS Dragon to the region to join the international mission to unblock the Strait, signaling that even if the U.S. "pauses," the global pressure to open the waterway is not receding.

THE VIEW FROM THE VALLEY

In Salt Lake City, the "Pause" feels less like peace and more like a held breath. We see the oil prices dip to $103 and hear the talk of a "Final Agreement," yet the news from Lebanon tells a story of 24 dead in a single day and systematic village demolitions. The "1,200-hour silence" from Iran is the most haunting part—a country of 88 million people effectively erased from the digital map while we wait to see if a phone call or a signature will end the "Project Freedom" era. We are all waiting for the 07:00 AM NYC wires on Friday to see if the "Final Deal" is real or just another pivot in the Siege.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The humanitarian cost of the "truce" in Lebanon is surging:

• The International Medical Corps: Expanding mobile health clinics in southern Lebanon to treat those displaced by the "buffer zone" escalations.

• Amnesty International: Documenting the "1,200-hour" blackout in Iran and advocating for the restoration of digital rights.

EXERCISE YOUR CIVIC DUTY

The "offensive stage" is reportedly over, but the blockade remains.

SUGGESTED SCRIPT FOR YOUR CALL/EMAIL

"I am calling to ask the [Senator/Representative] for transparency regarding the 'Final Agreement' currently being negotiated with Iran. While I support the pause of 'Project Freedom' to allow for diplomacy, we are concerned about the unrelenting blockade and the continued satellite blackout that obscures the reality on the ground. We urge Congress to support the May 14 Washington Summit to ensure the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire is more than just a headline while villages are being demolished."

• Contact Your Representatives: House.gov | Senate.gov

• The Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

KEEP AN EYE ON THE THRESHOLD 

BLACKOUT: Dispatch No. 29 

Next Tuesday, May 19

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NihillihiN: Absolute Negation After Nihilism

 

Azsacra Zarathustra is a superextreme antiphilosophical experimentalist, mystifier of incredible ideas, provocative anarcylogist, theorist of NihillihiN and TDASD: The Theory of the Destruction of All Systems of the Death. Azsacra is a textual hyper-destroyer and annihilator of all annihilators. A famous ‘dangerous anti-philosopher’ who creates ‘logical traps’ and ‘irrational snares’ for the mind, according to Plasma Press. Azsacra is an inventor of dangers and anomalous anarchies of Absolute Risk. He developed many of the most various paradoxical rebellious concepts. Azsacra worldwide known in narrow circles of the last people who still real free think.

JW: When did you begin studying the written works of Nietzsche, Andrei?

AZ: I began to study the philosophical works of Nietzsche back in the days of the USSR. At that time Nietzsche was banned in Russia. I read the old editions of 1911-13. I am not a supporter of Nietzsche and his ideas, but a constant irreconcilable opponent. Neither Nietzsche nor the Nietzscheans are close to me (especially in Russia). I do not need any folk. I am itself: — and god, and soil, and race. My book ‘NihillihiN’ rejects any ‘will to power’ and other Nietzschean concepts. Only beyond the beyond. Explode all foundations of fear! Be free even in Absolute Freedom.

JW: Could you tell us what NihillihiN is?

AZ: This book is an attempt to overcome the past Nihilism with the help of the new — the most perfect Nihilism. This New Nihilism — NihillihiN — will never be privatized through the System. NihillihiN is a book of constant rebellion with a Capital Letter! Nihil returns to Nihil for Nothing to Power, which in turn annihilates Nietzsche's ‘will to power’ and his other obsolete philosophical concepts. The politics of 'will to power' and any 'repressive regimes' must be rejected. No mercy! True revolutionary ‘X’ tends to Zero but never equals Zero only through the Zero to Power of the most Unknown. Neutralization of the system by a rebellious thinker always surpasses neutralization of a rebellious thinker by the system. Therefore a revolution without revolutionaries always destroys revolutionaries without a revolution. Fucking any philosophical traditions of thought (smile).

JW: How important is rebellion and revolt, to the new man, and to the building of a new society?

AZ: I trust only internal revolutions. Rebellion is the only thing we have as a sense of eternity. Revolt against the modern traditionalism. Permanent rejection of any kind of control and diktat. Out of any systems! Uncontrolled chain reaction of the Void and Chaos. Rebellion is eternal joyous forms of attack against the world, but not new social and/or political construct as such and the main one. To put it mildly, I don't trust every man as a ‘social revolutionary’. Hence my concept ‘Over without Man’. I am not a philosopher, but: — the destroyer of all philosophies and any theoretical systems! I am not a rightist, but the destroyer of all right-wing ideas. I am not a leftist, but the destroyer of all left-wing ideas. In equal measure I deny every order and every chaos as well as I absolutely deny any ‘human negation’. Why? I wish to be only an Yes-sayer in the most rebellious infinity of uncontrolled Yes to Life. In: — NihillihiN!

JW: Could you tell us about the idea of the Superman, and how it applies to your book?

AZ: Nietzsche himself did not know what the Übermensch was. In this matter, he deliberately avoided detailed descriptions and profound characteristics. ‘Will to power’ is a false key! Hollywood finally buried the idea of the Superman as a thinking mystery for no one. Therefore, in NihillihiN and other books, I immediately explore the death of the Overman, as well as the death of the Overnoumenon, etc. All these Over-phenomena can only be grasped through the maximum philosophical negation, namely: Over without Man and Over without Overman as the same ‘damned spirit of gravity’. NihillihiN is the destruction of all systems from within: NN! Not philosophy and/or anti-philosophy, but only Without-philosophy. Not beyond Good and Evil, but beyond the beyond. Under the conditions of the eternal return of stupid dictatorships, the Superman of the System has become a shabby trick, a laughing-stock, a thing of shame in terms of NihillihiN.

JW: How important are the philosophies of Hegel to your writing?

AZ: Hegel was an accomplished logical thinker. But I equally deny both the rational and the irrational. The Absolute Truth that the Spirit reaches through its break does not interest me. This ‘truth’ will once again turn out to be a ‘philosophical lie’. In my texts I try to overcome ‘human thinking’, rejecting even the most ‘outstanding examples’. Without-philosophy! I also recommend giving up any ‘spirituality’. Spirit is betrayal. Thought is deceit. Being is a forgery. It is necessary to be on the other side of any ‘ontology’. Outside of Heidegger's Dasein. Beyond ‘subject’ and ‘object’ at once.

JW: Without rebellion, is there freedom?

AZ: Freedom, as the call of eternity, must always be confirmed through rebellion. Only rebellion is the Anti-structure of innocence of Chaos to Freedom. I wrote about this in detail in the texts TDASD: The Theory of the Destruction of All Systems of the Death. The future needs someone more independent, unpredictable and elusive than even the most ‘revolutionary subject’. A continuous, total rejection of any control. Absolute Denial of all systems and dictatorships. Great Negation of ‘old negations’ for New Negations, etc. Being free is too little for me. One must not be ‘free’, but Freer than all freedoms.

JW: Could you explain what ‘will to power’ means in your writing?

AZ: I go further than Nietzsche and his ‘will to power’. Nietzsche spoke of the death of God: ‘God is dead’. I'm talking about the death of the Devil: ‘The Devil is dead’. On the other side of the Good and the Evil is only the same Never-ending Evil. Therefore, a deep division of Evil is required through the ‘will to power’ (the battle of the most best demons of thought!), in order to then annihilate this ‘will to power’ through Nothing to Power for one's own Absolute Freedom even in the infinite Void and uncontrollable Chaos. Sometimes, metaphor is better than ‘scientific logic’ (laughs).

JW: Are we living in a nihilistic epoch? Can you give us a look into the new century?

AZ: In fact, nihilism is a thirst for Overnew thinking — NihillihiN. The affirmation of the very Impossible and Unthinkable through rebellious denial. Authentic, real nihilism requires a complete rejection of both philosophy and politics. A new world is always possible, but without the old ‘social shit’ of left and right. AI? If artificial intelligence becomes a parallel level of mental rebellion, then it will be good. What is needed is not a revolt against the machines, but a revolt with the machines. Joint resistance to both the transcendent and the immanent at the same time. Here, the most important thing is that all intellectuals do not go over to the side of autocracies and dictatorships, as, for example, Heidegger (the old brake) and/or Nick Land (the new defect) did. ‘The Dark Enlightenment’ and ‘the Neo-Reactionary movement’ (NRx) are things of shame. The idiotic oppression of conspiracy theories is still here. We still don't know freedom. We don't think in freedom. Absolute Freedom is the main goal!

John Wisniewski

John Wisniewski is a freelance writer, photographer, editor who resides in New York. He has written for Grey Lodge Review, Horror Garage, Paraphilia Magazine, and Sensitive Skin Magazine. John Wisniewski resides in West Babylon, New York.

 Click here to read Dispatch No. 28 on the Iran Crisis

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