MAAT · Journal

Articles

How the global financial system really works — and how the MAAT token and DAO answer it.

062
War & Power
The Lake of Fire as a Firewall: the Dual Function of Power
In the geography of the Duat — the parallel world the Egyptians documented with the diligence of a sysadmin mapping a network — there is one strange p
061
War & Power
Ramses II Erased Names — Banks Erase Freedom
Three thousand three hundred years ago, Pharaoh Ramses II was busy with something that looks strange at first glance. He went around other people's ob
060
War & Power
"Chaos Pays": Who Needs Instability
From childhood we were taught to believe that everyone wants peace, order, and stability. That chaos is a glitch, an accident, an undesirable state th
059
War & Power
War Loans: How Banks Earn on Blood
Wars are always explained through ideas: freedom, faith, nation, justice. But every war has a prosaic underside that is rarely discussed. War is, abov
058
War & Power
Freezing Reserves: the New Precedent of 2022
In 2022 something happened in world finance that history will call a turning point. The currency reserves of an entire country's central bank were fro
057
War & Power
SWIFT: the Kill Switch of the World Financial System
Most people think that when they send money abroad, the money "travels." In reality it goes nowhere. What crosses the border is a message. "Debit this
056
War & Power
Sanctions as a Weapon: the Dollar Instead of Bombs
There is a weapon that makes no noise. It leaves no craters, appears in no military bulletins, and does not look like war. Yet it can bring a whole co
055
War & Power
Afghanistan: 20 Years of War and Who Profited
Twenty years. That is how long the war in Afghanistan lasted — from 2001 to 2021. A whole generation was born, grew up, and started school while it we
054
War & Power
Syria, Pipelines, and the Great Game
When you are shown a war, you are almost always shown its wrapper. Flags, slogans, "freedom against tyranny," "democracy against dictatorship." That i
053
War & Power
How Gaddafi Threatened the Dollar System
In the previous article we examined the event — the 2011 war in Libya and the gold dinar. Now let's examine the mechanism. Because the question "how c
052
War & Power
Libya 2011: The Gold Dinar They Feared
In 2011 Libya was torn apart. NATO airstrikes, civil war, and in October the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the man who had ruled the country for more than
051
War & Power
Iraq 2003: Oil, Halliburton Contracts and the Dollar
In March 2003 the United States and its allies invaded Iraq. The official reason was stated clearly: Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destr
050
War & Power
The Military-Industrial Complex: Eisenhower's Warning
When the radical critic of a system warns you about its harm, it is easy to wave it off: well, an activist, what do you expect. But when the warning c
049
War & Power
The Marshall Plan: The Generosity That Made Europe a Debtor
Some stories are told as a fairy tale about a kind giant. The Marshall Plan is one of them. The textbook version goes like this: after the Second Worl
048
War & Power
War as a Way to Create State Debt
War gets explained to us any way you like: ideology, security, nation, freedom, revenge. Anything except the simplest accountant's question: who pays
047
War & Power
Antony Sutton: Wall Street Funded Both Hitler and the USSR
There is a question that breaks the familiar picture of the world faster than any other: what if the people who financed Nazi Germany and the people w
046
War & Power
IBM and the Holocaust: Technology for the Killing Machine
To murder millions of people, hatred is not enough. You need logistics. You need to know who lives where, of what nationality, on what street, how man
045
War & Power
Standard Oil and IG Farben: Chemistry for the Reich
When people say "a corporation helped the enemy," they usually picture suitcases of cash and secret meetings in basements. The reality is duller and m
044
War & Power
Prescott Bush and Union Banking: Trading With the Enemy
There is a law that sounds like a formality in peacetime and turns into a verdict in wartime. In the United States it is called the Trading with the E
043
War & Power
Who Financed Both Sides of the First World War
War looks like a clash of two camps: here are ours, there are the enemy, a front line between them. But if you look not at the trenches but at the flo
042
Debt & Money
The Conveyor of Souls in the Duat = the Conveyor of Debtors on Earth
There's an image in the book that makes your spine go cold, because it's far too recognizable. The priest was shown the underside of the Duat — not th
041
Debt & Money
Keynes and the "Bancor": The Alternative That Was Rejected
Today's dollar system had a rival. In 1944, when the postwar financial world was being designed at Bretton Woods, two different plans were laid on the
040
Debt & Money
Technical Default and Restructuring: A Game of Shells
When a country can't pay its debts, two soothing words appear in the news: "technical default" and "restructuring." They sound like medical terms — as
039
Debt & Money
Debt as a Perpetual Motion Machine: Why It Can Never Be Repaid
Every government in the world promises that one day it will "pay off its debts." Every year those debts only grow. World debt long ago crossed mind-nu
038
Debt & Money
"Development Aid" as a Tool of Dependency
The word "aid" disarms you. Who could be against aid? Helping is good, refusing help is strange, criticizing help is almost indecent. That is precisel
037
Debt & Money
Who Appoints the Heads of the IMF and World Bank (the 1944 Deal)
The two most powerful financial institutions on the planet manage the debts of dozens of countries, dictate their terms, and decide who gets money and
036
Debt & Money
Africa: The Continent That Pays More Than It Receives
There's a picture we're shown from childhood: poor Africa, helped by the rich West. Convoys of humanitarian aid, charity concerts for the starving, bi
035
Debt & Money
SDR: The World Currency Nobody Talks About
In 1969 the IMF quietly created something that had never existed before in history: money printed by no government, yet recognized worldwide. It has n
034
Debt & Money
The US Veto at the IMF: 85% and the Magic of Percentages
Picture a board where the important decisions require 85% of the votes. It sounds like protection against a tyrant: no single country can force anythi
033
Debt & Money
The Revolving Door: Goldman Sachs and the World Bank
Picture a door between two rooms. In one — a private bank that earns on deals. In the other — an institution meant to regulate those deals and lend to
032
Debt & Money
World Bank Bonds: Whose Money Is It?
A simple question almost no one asks: when the World Bank lends to a poor country — where does it get the money? Intuitively it seems there's a big va
031
Debt & Money
The IFC — the World Bank's Private Hand
When people hear "World Bank," they usually picture something governmental and solid: loans to governments, development programs, the fight against po
030
Debt & Money
The Debt Trap: Loan → Conditions → Asset Grab
Most people think a debt crisis is when someone borrows too much and miscalculates. An accident, a mistake, greed, bad luck. Sometimes that's true. Bu
029
Debt & Money
John Perkins and the "Economic Hit Men": The Scheme From Inside
Sometimes there is a witness you can't accuse of conspiracy thinking, because he's describing not someone else's theory but his own job. John Perkins
028
Debt & Money
Indonesia 1998: The Price of the Loan Was a President
There is one photograph worth keeping in mind every time you hear about "help" from international financial institutions. January 1998, Jakarta. Indon
027
Debt & Money
Greece in the 2010s: When the "Troika" Rules Instead of the Government
In 2010 Greece had a debt crisis. It sounds like a dry economic headline. In reality it was the public execution of an entire country — a demonstratio
026
Debt & Money
Argentina 2001: How a Country Was Driven to Default
December 2001. Buenos Aires. In two weeks the country went through five presidents. The banks froze accounts — people couldn't withdraw their own mone
025
Debt & Money
"Structural Reforms": What the Word Really Hides
There is a special breed of words invented precisely so that you won't understand what's happening. Not to lie — lying gets you sued — but to lull you
024
Debt & Money
The IMF: A Firefighter Who Starts the Fires
Picture a fire brigade that shows up to every major blaze in town, puts it out with dramatic photos for the press — and then you discover that every h
023
Debt & Money
How a State Borrows — and From Whom, Really
When you hear "the state is in debt," your imagination paints someone powerful the country borrowed from. A big bank? Another country? A mysterious ma
022
Clans & Funds
The Shadow Neteru on Wall Street: The Pattern of Parasitism
The book this project stands on opens with a brazen line: the fifth volume of the Egyptian Mysteries is what happens when a Shadow Neteru suddenly dep
021
Clans & Funds
The Petrodollar: The Saudi Deal That Held the World Together
In 1971 the dollar lost its anchor. Until then it was pegged to gold: in theory you could trade the paper for metal. Then the United States unilateral
020
Clans & Funds
The World's Central Banks: A Network That Answers to No Nation
You were told from childhood that a country's central bank is part of the state. An organ that watches over the money on the people's behalf. Sounds l
019
Clans & Funds
How a Clan Survives Centuries: The "Stay Invisible" Principle
The richest people in the world are not the ones you see on the Forbes list. The visible ones are the storefront: flashy billionaires with yachts and
018
Clans & Funds
The Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg: Coordinating the Elites
Once a year, in an expensive hotel somewhere in Europe, about a hundred and fifty people gather: prime ministers and ex-prime ministers, heads of bank
017
Clans & Funds
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): The Policy Factory
Imagine a building where no laws are passed, no army is commanded, and no money is printed — yet it's there, ten years before the news, that people de
016
Clans & Funds
Trusts, Foundations, Offshores: Where Clan Money Actually Sits
When an ordinary person pictures a clan's wealth, he imagines a safe. A pile of gold, a nine-zero account, a mansion. That's a child's picture, and it
015
Clans & Funds
Dynasties vs Corporations: How Power Became Faceless
Two hundred years ago, power had a face and a surname. Rothschild. Rockefeller. Morgan. Vanderbilt. You could draw them in a cartoon, name them out lo
014
Clans & Funds
"Conceptual Power": Who Writes the Rules of the Game
There is power you can see, and power you can't. The first sits in an office with a flag behind it, appears on the news, and can be voted out. The sec
013
Crypto & DAO
Strive Buys Bitcoin: How the Old System Wraps the Exit in a New Package
The news looks simple: Strive bought another 2,500 BTC for roughly 185 million dollars. It now holds 19,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet. In the crypt
012
Clans & Funds
The Global Financial Economy: Who Really Holds Root Access
There is a convenient bedtime story for adults: the world economy is an honest market. Millions of people work, companies produce, banks provide servi
011
Clans & Funds
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS): The Bank of Banks in Basel
Every large system has a component the user never sees but without which nothing works: a root DNS server, a certificate authority, a coordinator that
010
Clans & Funds
Bretton Woods 1944: How the Dollar Became a World Religion
In software there's the notion of a "de facto standard": a format or protocol that isn't inherently better than the others, but everyone uses it becau
009
Clans & Funds
The Warburgs, Schiffs, and Kuhns: The Bankers You Don't Know
When people talk about financial power, the first names that come to mind are the Rothschilds and Rockefellers — marquee brands, like Google and Apple
008
Clans & Funds
Is the Fed Private or Public? A Document-Based Breakdown
"The Fed is a private shop!" shout some. "The Fed is a government body!" answer others. The argument is like a holy war over whether a product is open
007
Clans & Funds
Jekyll Island: The Secret Meeting That Birthed the Federal Reserve
There's a genre of code that's written not in the open but in a private repository, under fake usernames, so competitors won't even guess development
006
Clans & Funds
The Panic of 1907: A Crisis Ordered to Build the Fed
In IT there's a move called "create the problem to sell the solution." First you let a system degrade to where it crashes regularly, then you arrive w
005
Clans & Funds
J. P. Morgan: The Man Who Saved the U.S. Twice (and Why)
There's a certain type of system administrator: he alone understands how the whole infrastructure is wired, and in the critical moment he is the one w
004
Clans & Funds
The Rockefellers: Standard Oil and the Birth of the Corporate Octopus
If the Rothschilds showed how to make money supranational, the Rockefellers showed something else: how to capture an entire industry so completely tha
003
Clans & Funds
The Battle of Waterloo: How News Became Money
There is a dull truth in IT that whole fortunes rest on: whoever gets the data first wins. High-frequency traders spend millions to place their server
002
Clans & Funds
Mayer Amschel Rothschild and the Five Arrows: The First Distributed Network
When an engineer designs a system that must never go down, he doesn't run it on a single server. He spreads the load across several nodes in different
001
Clans & Funds
The Rothschilds: How One Family Invented Supranational Capital
If you want the moment money first became more important than borders, the easiest place to start is one Frankfurt family. Not because the Rothschilds