The sound of the second shoe dropping

June 29, 2026

Shortly after the implosion of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s I read an interesting comment attached to a now forgotten article. In it the writer cited the world-circling sound of the Soviet collapse and the end of the Cold War. He then in a part cautionary, part predictive manner suggested we wait for the sound of the second shoe to drop. Communism as was was over. Turbo capitalism masquerading as democracy is next. This is the sound we are now hearing. And he was right, that commentator. Certainties are falling by the wayside like the bombs in Ukraine and Lebanon, and all the US President seems able to do is send his real estate cronies to fix things, to get a “deal”. This is not working as far as ending conflicts goes, and we will have to wait to see if any of their deals bear fruit. Either way, democracy appears to have little to do with it.