# The international relations alt-media riddle When you’re a reader, it’s important to know where your source of info comes from. Now you can read and read and over time get an idea of where the writer is coming from, but it sure helps when they’re up front about it. The about section on this blog says it all, but just in case you were wondering where it sits compared to others, I thought I’d explore the rest of the space. Now this blog is part of the international relations (IR) alt-media landscape. So what is alt-media? It’s pretty broad, and at its widest is simply any publication that positions itself against the “mainstream media” or “legacy media.” In IR, that means away from the universities, the think-tanks, and the government-sponsored sites. Without commenting on the specifics of any of the following, it can include independent investigative websites, like [Belingcat](https://www.bellingcat.com/) or [The Intercept](https://theintercept.com/); independent commentary sites, like [anti-war.com](https://anti-war.com) or [johnmenadue.com](https://johnmenadue.com); YouTube channels, like [Judging Freedom](https://www.youtube.com/@judgingfreedom) or [Deep Dive](https://www.youtube.com/@DanielDavisDeepDive); citizen journalism, like [The Gray Zone](https://thegrayzone.com/); ideological publications, like [The Libertarian Institute](https://libertarianinstitute.org/) or [The Ron Paul Institute](https://ronpaulinstitute.org/); and individual commentators, like academic podcasts, such as [John Mearsheimer](https://www.youtube.com/@JohnMearsheimer) or [Tim Shorrock](https://timshorrock.com/). What connects them is their independence from institutions as above, and from large newspapers, television networks, major broadcasters, think-tanks, or traditional news agencies. Of course, this blog itself sits somewhere in that space. It is one tiny cyberpunk slither of a slice that is so alternative and criminally cynical that it acts almost like an alt-alt media space, but we’ll get to that later. In the international relations space, there’s a wide range. While admittedly, there’s a lot of overlap, I roughly categorize them into the following: #### Disgruntled professionals These folk were once comfortably inside the system: former diplomats, intelligence officers, military officers, government officials, and now cycle through academia, journalism, policy advise and independent writing. They know how the machinery works because they were once part of it, but somewhere along the way, something went wrong. They resigned, retired, were pushed out, became disillusioned, or simply watched enough bad decisions being made to lose faith in the institutions they served. Disgruntled professionals hold a distinctive place in alt-media. They bring credentials, contacts, institutional knowledge, and often some very deep insight. They also bring baggage. Years of frustration can produce insight, but they can also produce grudges, cynicism, and a tendency to interpret every new event through the experience that drove them away. At best, they explain what outsiders can’t see; and at worst, they’re pushing a personal bitter agenda. Can’t deny it though, they’re inside experience and they’re personal anecdotes make it a fun ride. #### Ideologues These folk hold a settled view of the world and how it ought to work. Libertarians see the dangers of state power and intervention; realists see interests, power, and geography; and Marxists see empire and domination, capital and class. Their ideology provides the lens through which events are selected, interpreted, and explained. The great advantage is that you generally know what you’re getting. The better ones tell you exactly where they stand--and why they’re right. The problem is that an ideological lens sooner or later becomes a set of horse blinkers. Once you have a theory that explains everything, everything has a habit of confirming the theory. Every war becomes imperialism, every alliance becomes entrapment, every American action becomes empire, and every Chinese or Russian action becomes expansionism. They’re pretty predictable. #### Grifters hanging ten These are the folk who have found their wave and learned how to ride it. They know their audience, know what gets clicks, and know exactly which story will keep people coming back tomorrow. They’re hard workers for sure. Podcasts, videos, newsletters, tweets, interviews, livestreams—the content never stops. They can spin shit faster than a 1920s newspaper columnist facing a noon deadline, and somehow there is always another urgent development or insider scoop requiring forty-five minutes of commentary. They’re an interesting lot, and can have tremendous followings. When you look at the credentials they’re _not_ holding, it makes more sense. There’s no government, academic, consultancy, or journalistic experience; there’s no real evidence of making anything but an incredulously large number of claims, some of which will sooner or later become true. The problem is that the business model rewards keeping the audience angry, frightened, vindicated, and—most importantly—coming back. I’ve taken the bait in the past, until I heard one say “I’m traveling to Korea next week, and I’ll have some inside information to pass on.” Such claptrap is as believable as me going to New York, hanging at a Chilean bar and drinking Pisco sour till it closes, following the winding crowd to the next whisky bar, and then waking up the next afternoon with a scoop on the location of the missing gold from the the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I can assure you from 30 years of operational, analytical and academic experience in the country, inside information in Seoul is not provided to flamboyant bloggers or podcasters regardless of their mysterious wares and ways. ### Is it real? Alt-media is rebellious and sometimes hugely influential, they rage against the establishment, the deep state, the forever wars, the intelligence agencies, the mainstream media, and whichever president currently occupies the White House... yet when the next political savior arrives promising to clean the whole mess up, they somehow find their way to support them at exactly the right time. Why is that? The outsider gets endorsed, excuses are made, contradictions are explained away, and another expansion of American power somehow becomes acceptable. Then come the wars they spent the previous four years telling us they opposed. After watching the cycle repeat, you start wondering exactly how alternative some of these people really are. If the global elite control the mainstream media, and they are as powerful as we think, why would they simply leave alt-media alone? This raises an obvious question. If powerful governments, billionaires, corporations, intelligence agencies, and technology companies really have so much influence over the information we consume, why would they simply leave alt-media alone? Intelligence agencies have cultivated journalists before. Governments run information operations. Billionaires fund political movements and media outlets. Technology companies control the platforms and algorithms that determine who gets heard. So I remain suspicious. Could alt-media just be a scam? ### Where does this site sit? So then you may be wondering, where does this cat think his site sits? Well, while self-categorization is never an individual’s strong point, I reckon I’m one of a whole another category—we can call them the flailing ADHD nobodies. They could be ex-government; twisted, angry, academics; frustrated novelists waiting for an escape from the Substack grind; or part-time polemicists with a great website idea that they get bored of after deciding on the color scheme. They’re the ones who change blog names, take extended holiday breaks, post frantically twice a day for two weeks, and once a week for a month. They’re the ones who cover the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, middle powers (or any other splish-splash number of countries), then suddenly turn to the social media space they inhabit. There’s literally millions of them keeping Substack afloat, and at the same time, dragging it down. They’ll never be well-known, and most don’t really care too much. They have no business model, no five-year plan, no carefully cultivated audience, and only the vaguest idea what they’re going to write about next Tuesday. Nobody is paying them to push a line because, frankly, nobody would get their money’s worth. And that’s probably their one redeeming feature. They write because something interests them, annoys them, amuses them, or has been rattling around in their head for three days and needs somewhere to go, so they write a few words on the bus to work. Sometimes they’re insightful. Sometimes they attract attention, and sometimes they disappear for six weeks because they discovered a new hobby. They ain’t building a movement or saving civilization--they’re just cats on the internet with an opinion and probably too much time or a long commute. Sometimes, they’re well worth a read ;) *** Please… [Buy Me a Coffee](https://buymeacoffee.com/junotane)! ## Related articles - [[2026-10-18 Global war starts tomorrow! Alt-media and alarmism|Global war starts tomorrow! 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