The Mt Kenya Times 
Where men dream of peace, they sharpen swords in the shadows pretending it is for our protection yet plotting their rise
By: Midmark Onsongo
Worth Noting:
- Power is no respecter of morality, a cold-blooded force moving like a serpent, ready to strike when least expected. Remember the fall of Richard Nixon in 1974? Watergate wasn’t merely a scandal—it was a power play gone wrong, a dance with deceit where Nixon overstepped the delicate balance, failing to remember Law 1 of Greene’s 48 Laws of Power: Never outshine the master.
- He tried to manipulate the system, forgetting that power is a double-edged sword that turns on those who wield it without care. Fast forward to today and the game is the same—only the players have changed.
Do you feel safe? Do you think those in power lose sleep worrying about your safety, or are they busy crafting the next brilliant lie? We are fed words like honey, promises laced with arsenic, yet we swallow them willingly, unaware—or perhaps unwilling to admit—that behind every smile lies the gnashing of teeth. Power has no friends, only pawns, and the chessboard is littered with the fallen who believed they could outplay the grandmasters. Those who rise often do so on the shoulders of the weak, only to find their footing slipping beneath the weight of their own ambition.
In the grand theater of global power, Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power serve not as ancient relics of strategy, but as living, breathing guides wielded by those who walk the corridors of influence. Politicians, CEOs, and kings of the digital world know these texts not as theory but as gospel. Every handshake conceals a dagger, every favor is a debt collecting interest, and every alliance is but a waiting betrayal. Consider the political machinations of modern leaders—those who dare not blink, for fear it will cost them their throne.
Look to the pages of history, where alliances have always been as thin as air. In 2020, when nations were ravaged by a pandemic, what did we witness? Cooperation? No. Competition. Countries scrambling for vaccines, hoarding supplies, each playing the role of the benevolent savior while bartering with the lives of the vulnerable. It wasn’t just a crisis—it was a lesson in Sun Tzu’s belief: “All warfare is based on deception.” Those words ring true in the backrooms of power where deals are made not with handshakes but with threats and promises as fragile as glass.
Power is no respecter of morality, a cold-blooded force moving like a serpent, ready to strike when least expected. Remember the fall of Richard Nixon in 1974? Watergate wasn’t merely a scandal—it was a power play gone wrong, a dance with deceit where Nixon overstepped the delicate balance, failing to remember Law 1 of Greene’s 48 Laws of Power: Never outshine the master. He tried to manipulate the system, forgetting that power is a double-edged sword that turns on those who wield it without care. Fast forward to today, and the game is the same—only the players have changed. Meg Whitman, once hailed as a tech giant and recently the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, stepped down in 2024 amid whispers of unseen battles. She followed Law 22—Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power. She left not in disgrace but on her own terms, cloaked in the guise of diplomacy, yet anyone familiar with the rules of power knows a quiet retreat often masks a strategic withdrawal.
And what of Africa? A continent rich in resources but plundered by the insatiable greed of power-hungry global actors. Leaders rise and fall, but the game remains unchanged. Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, who dared to stand against the tide in the 1980s, found himself silenced by those who mastered the darker arts of Sun Tzu. He embodied Law 38: Think as you like, but behave like others. Yet in the end, he forgot the first part—to think was his downfall. He paid for it with his life in 1987, betrayed by those he once called allies.
Power seduces, it corrupts, and it destroys. But it also attracts those willing to embrace its ruthlessness. In 2024, as new leaders emerge, the lessons remain the same: control perception, master timing, and never, ever show all your cards. Xi Jinping’s rise in China echoes this perfectly—an embodiment of Law 15: Crush your enemy totally. Under his reign, dissent is not silenced—it is erased. This is not just strategy; it is survival, honed from millennia of understanding the brutal dance of authority.
Even in the West, the dance persists. Consider the saga of Donald Trump, who understood Law 6: Court attention at all costs. Love him or hate him, he thrived on the chaos he created. He mastered the art of provocation, ensuring his name never left the headlines, bending the world to his narrative. Yet he too is a paradox—proof that power is a fragile, unpredictable beast that devours even those who feed it.
The Art of War teaches us that the supreme art is to subdue the enemy without fighting. But what happens when the enemy is within? When those wielding power begin to eat their own? Look to the Democratic Republic of the Congo—a land stained by conflict, a tragic testament to what happens when power runs wild, when greed consumes reason. In 2024, the ghosts of the past wars still haunt the present, with leaders like Félix Tshisekedi balancing on a razor’s edge, knowing one false move could be his last.
But what is the cost of such power? Does it not drain the soul? Strip away the humanity? Perhaps it is best summed up in the paradox that power both elevates and annihilates. For those who dare to climb, the fall is always inevitable. Napoleon Bonaparte once remarked, “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Yet where is the morality now? Lost in the dust of conquest, traded for fleeting dominance.
And so, we return to the question: who truly wins in the game of power? The victors who sit upon crumbling thrones? Or the masses who whisper in the dark, knowing they were but pawns in a greater scheme? Sun Tzu and Greene may offer guidance, but they also offer a warning. Power is a weapon, and like any weapon, it is as dangerous to those who wield it as to those it targets.
In the end, power is not held—it is borrowed, and time always collects its debt. So, the next time you watch a leader rise, remember this: the higher they climb, the farther they will fall. And when they do, the world will watch, not with pity, but with the cold satisfaction of those who understand the cruel, eternal game of power.
This article was scripted by;
MIDMARK ONSONGO, SGS
(Socio-Geographic Scholar)
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