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An Independent Archive · Established 2024

The Manifest Archive

The architecture of power, recorded.

By Jerry van der Laan
Publication · Chapters

Geopolitics

War, energy, alliances and the mechanics of dependency.

Europe’s Last Strategic Choice: Peace with Russia or Permanent Dependency
№ 1

Europe’s Last Strategic Choice: Peace with Russia or Permanent Dependency

The choice Europe kept avoiding.

Mar 10, 2026 8 min read
The History of the Unthinkable Began with the U.S.-Israeli Attack on Iran
№ 2

The History of the Unthinkable Began with the U.S.-Israeli Attack on Iran

What was presented as a regional strike became the first visible fracture in a world that had already been living beyond its margin.

Mar 9, 2026 10 min read
Deep State Explained: Myth, Mechanism, or Structural Power?
№ 3

Deep State Explained: Myth, Mechanism, or Structural Power?

Elected leaders change. Institutions remain.

Feb 16, 2026 5 min read
The U.S. and Europe Are No Longer on the Same Side
№ 4

The U.S. and Europe Are No Longer on the Same Side

On power, escalation, and the end of assumptions

Jan 20, 2026 6 min read
Azov Battalion, Neo-Nazis, and the War the West Rewrote
№ 5

Azov Battalion, Neo-Nazis, and the War the West Rewrote

How a documented reality became unsayable

Jan 13, 2026 4 min read
Mark Rutte and the Lethal Certainty of War
№ 6

Mark Rutte and the Lethal Certainty of War

How estimates become facts, language becomes policy, and distance becomes deadly

Jan 12, 2026 5 min read
Venezuela: How the United States Robs a Country in Plain Sight
№ 7

Venezuela: How the United States Robs a Country in Plain Sight

Oil, sanctions, silence, and the architecture of modern bullying

Jan 4, 2026 6 min read
25 December 1999: The Day Putin Took Office
№ 8

25 December 1999: The Day Putin Took Office

It looks like a story about one man. It isn’t.

Dec 25, 2025 5 min read
Christmas Eve 1991: The Night the Soviet Union Vanished
№ 9

Christmas Eve 1991: The Night the Soviet Union Vanished

How the world’s most powerful superstate disappeared quietly while everyone was distracted by the holidays

Dec 24, 2025 5 min read
Putin, Money, and the Moment the West Stopped Moving
№ 10

Putin, Money, and the Moment the West Stopped Moving

How a single sentence about seized Russian assets exposed the limits of Europe, NATO, and the United States and why this conflict began long before the first tanks crossed the border The

Dec 21, 2025 5 min read
Mark Rutte and the War Europe Was Never Allowed to Avoid
№ 11

Mark Rutte and the War Europe Was Never Allowed to Avoid

How NATO’s logic, European dependency, and managed leadership closed every road to peace

Dec 12, 2025 5 min read
Bob Marley: The Icon Who Became Too Dangerous to Control
№ 12

Bob Marley: The Icon Who Became Too Dangerous to Control

How a musician became a geopolitical force, survived an assassination attempt, and confronted the machinery that feared what his voice could awaken. The Night Jamaica Learned His Name Meant Power There are

Dec 6, 2025 6 min read