by Travis Mateer

For this speculative post about a near-future I see forming, I suggest suspending your disbelief like you would when entering a movie theater.

Done? Ok, let’s go.

When I set my fictional narrative, Zula, in a collapsed, post-America future, I didn’t expect world events to make my fiction look like prophecy. A pacific northwest region known as New Cascadia run by white supremacists and new age Nazis? Outlandish, especially considering I started writing this narrative in 2015, before Trump was elected.

The Nazi element, which America invited into its body politic under the watchful eye of Allen Dulles, was able to gain power in my fictional narrative because they kept supply lines functional for the invading hordes. And what were the supply lines? Trains, of course.

Shifting from fiction to the real world, Missoula County Commissioner, Dave Strohmaier, simply LOVES trains. He loves trains so much that he is spearheading the push to bring back passenger rail, and his efforts are picking up steam (pun intended).

To chug-along these efforts, the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority was created. These efforts make Dave Strohmaier VERY happy, almost as happy as getting a blanket from an Indigenous person.

I’m not just including this screenshot to be snarky. The Indigenous person, who is pictured above giving Dave a blanket during the Bear Tracks Bridge dedication ceremony, is Martin Charlo. And who is Martin Charlo? Just a former board member of the BSPRA:

The evolution of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority gets even MORE interesting when you factor in Dave Strohmaier’s comment in a Zoom presentation earlier this week. Here is the quote that caught my eye (emphasis mine):

“We even had the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, uh, Zoom in for a meeting with us, which was pretty amazing given the fact that they are in the middle of a war there.” -Dave Strohmaier

Yes, Dave was quite excited to share this information, seemingly oblivious to any concerns about the growing suspicion Americans might have about anything connected to an insane war-zone.

Speaking of insane war zones, Ukrainian Railways is now offering symbolic tickets to fun, de-occupied areas formerly held by Russia. Wow.

Ukrainian railways, celebrating the liberation of the southern city of Kherson, on Sunday offered symbolic tickets to the cities that remain under Russian control, promising that tickets can be used after they are liberated.

And here’s how the defiance of Ukrainian Railways was depicted in October. The emphasis in the screenshot is mine:

For some additional context on Ukrainian Railways, this is from Wikipedia:

And, finally, for a video of what the Ukrainian Railways spokesperson had to say, here’s a video of Billings Summit where the Zoom appearance took place:

I definitely suggest watching this video. Around the 12 minute mark a guy by the name of Alex Khalfin, who was born in Odessa, makes some comments worth listening to and considering. Here’s Khalfin’s Twitter info:

If you enjoy my content and want to see it continue, please consider making a donation to my about page. Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!