By Sensible Sue
Every circus needs a ringmaster. Ours just happens to have his name printed in gold. While Donald Trump dominates every news cycle, the court cases, the rants, the rallies, the endless outrage; the rest of the world’s power brokers are quietly making their moves. Because chaos, my friends, is the oldest form of camouflage.
While our screens flash with Trumpian theatrics, headlines that should shake the world are being buried under the noise. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize? Barely analyzed. Japan electing its first female prime minister? You’d think that would have led the news everywhere, right? Yet somehow, it didn’t. The story came and went; a blip in the algorithm, a whisper under the roar.
The “Historic” Moment That Wasn’t
Sanae Takaichi made history in a shocking October 2025 suprise, as she was elected Japan’s first female prime minister. If you blinked, you might’ve missed it. Mainstream media tucked the story neatly between celebrity gossip and election chatter. On the surface, it looked like a milestone for women everywhere. Progress, empowerment, leadership. But that’s the illusion: the wrapping paper on a very old gift.
Because when you peel back the label, what you find is not a feminist revolution but a conservative restoration dressed in heels. Takaichi is a long-time member of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, the same party that has held near-uninterrupted power since the 1950s. Her politics are staunchly traditionalist. She has opposed allowing married couples to keep separate surnames, supports maintaining male-only succession to Japan’s imperial throne, and is unapologetically hawkish on defense. And despite being Japan’s first woman to lead, she appointed just two women out of nineteen cabinet ministers.
It’s Not Progress, it’s Public Relations.
So why didn’t this story lead global coverage for weeks? Because it doesn’t fit the narrative. The media can’t celebrate “the first woman” and simultaneously unpack how little is actually changing. It’s easier to bury the headline, wave at the “historic moment,” and move on. Meanwhile, the power structures that have kept Japan rigidly patriarchal and militarized remain firmly in place, only now, with the soft-focus optics of female leadership to make the picture prettier.
The “Peace Prize” That Isn’t So Peaceful
And then there’s the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition figure turned global darling. The world was told she’s the face of democracy, the woman brave enough to stand up to tyranny. That’s the marketing pitch. But behind the applause is a story far more complicated, and far less convenient.
Machado’s rise didn’t come from the grassroots. It came from the upper floors of Venezuela’s elite. Educated, well-connected, and fluent in the language of “reform,” she co-founded Súmate, an organization that’s been accused of accepting foreign funding, notably from U.S. aligned institutions like the National Endowment for Democracy. Her politics lean neoliberal, favoring privatization and Western market integration. And when she dedicates her Nobel Prize to Donald Trump, yes, she did that it should have raised more than eyebrows. That one act alone should have raised a mountain of questions.
How does a woman who praises one of the most divisive figures in modern history get honored for peace? Because peace, in the global lexicon, isn’t about justice anymore. It’s about alignment. Machado’s rhetoric fits a global narrative, a world order that rewards those who oppose certain regimes while quietly serving others.
Her message isn’t revolution; it’s replacement. The systems remain intact, the power structures unshaken. The only thing that changes is who gets to hold the microphone.
The Pattern Behind the Puppets
Now, before anyone mistakes this for an attack on women — let’s get this straight: women in power should be celebrated. But celebration without scrutiny is worship, and worship is how tyrants are made.
History has always used women as symbols — as vessels for legitimacy, empathy, and control. From Nazi Germany to Jonestown, the record is clear: when powerful men need softer faces for their brutal agendas, they find women to play the part.
Under Hitler, some of the most sadistic guards in concentration camps were women — Irma Grese, Elisabeth Lupka, Hildegard Mende, Herta Ehlert, and Ulla Jürß. They didn’t just follow orders. They executed cruelty with precision, selecting prisoners for gas chambers, torturing men and women, using humiliation as sport. These women were not anomalies. They were instruments of ideology, proof that oppression doesn’t depend on gender; it depends on allegiance.
Decades later, in the jungles of Guyana, Jim Jones used women as his lieutenants — organizers, enforcers, caretakers, and ultimately accomplices. They helped orchestrate and execute the largest mass suicide in modern history. They mixed the poison, distributed it, and urged hundreds of terrified souls to “drink the Flavor Aid.” Women were not victims alone; some became architects of obedience.
And now, in our time, the same pattern replays in more sophisticated packaging. Women like Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, and others rise to prominence, not to dismantle systems of corruption or inequality, but to polish their edges. They are not there to serve humanity. They are there to humanize power. To make domination look inclusive.
The Bigger Picture
So let’s connect the dots. While the global audience stays hypnotized by Trump’s chaos, the chessboard is being quietly rearranged. A conservative prime minister in Japan wears feminism as a badge while reinforcing male-dominated traditions. A Nobel laureate in Venezuela is celebrated for democracy while aligning herself with elite and foreign interests. And across continents, the same handful of players; corporate, political, financial, keep setting the terms of the game.
All of it feeds the illusion of progress: the performance of equality, the theater of reform, the optics of empowerment. But real empowerment doesn’t come from appointments. It comes from accountability. And that’s the one thing every empire, old or new, works hardest to avoid.
The Call
It’s time to wake up from the show. Stop reacting to the noise and start recognizing the choreography. The question isn’t whether women should lead, of course they should. The questions we should be asking are: which women are being elevated, and by whom?
If you celebrate a “first”, make sure it’s not the first to polish the same chains. If you cheer for a “peace prize,” make sure it’s not peace bought at the price of truth. Because every time we mistake symbolism for substance, the world’s architects tighten their grip a little more.
So here’s the assignment we all need to understand: look deeper, question harder, and refuse to be distracted by the glitter of representation. The people pulling the strings are counting on our attention being too short to connect the moves. Don’t give them that gift.
Because while we’re watching the circus, the empire is being built; one headline, one leader, one “historic” moment at a time.
And if we don’t start paying attention now, we may wake up to find the game already over, and we were the audience that applauded it into being.
There is a lot more to this story, so stay tuned. Be sure to check out The Westside Gazette’s YouTube channel and other social media sites for the three part docuseries “The Power Moves While the World is Distracted”, coming your way soon. Until then, keep it safe and sensible out there y’all.
