The Future Is a Foreign Land

The song is meant ot take place in 1969 and seems to have two meanings. The first, and primary intention is to convey the singer's (Papa Nihil) unstable love obsession with Sister Imperator. This is done via an analogy of the Cold War from the Russian perspective by a vision of it's future up until it's likely end.

Regarding the Papa Nihil lore side of it, it's meant to convey the unstable emotional state of Papa Nihil. The message is about how self-destructive behavior and over-reaction often create the situation that one fears the most.

However, there are some clear real-world current and historical references that can be explored. I think the key to understanding this song is an interview with Tobias in 2022 where he talks about upcoming songs being focused on the "repetitive nature of empires in general and how their self-destruction mechanisms are to blame for its ultimate destruction and annihilation."

He then goes on to say he believes Russia's war on Ukraine will ultimately result in the demise of Russia referring to it as "the empire that will fall because of this, I think, and hope.”

Digging into the lyrics:

"It's 1984 And knocking on your door Is a Brownshirt Stasi guard Boom, you're gone"

1984 - Reference to George Orwell's book 1984, which explores the implications of a totalitarian society. Orwell took inspiration from both the Brownshirts and the Stasi for his book.

Brownshirts - The Sturmabteilung (SA) was the paramilitary wing of the Nazi party prior to it taking power in Germany.

Stasi - The Soviet-Funded and KGB-trained East German State Security Service. Known for their extensive surveillance and repression.

Analysis: It's both together, A Brownshirt Stasi, combining Nazi and Soviet social repression tactics into one. What he's referring to is hinted at later in the song, but it may be a relevant that Vladimir Putin was stationed in Dresdon, East Germany as a KGB agent from the mid-80s through 1990.

"Blood of the Kennedys The good ones get shot"

Reference to the assassinations of John F. and Bobby Kennedy. Despite the dangerous tension during the Cold War at the time (Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc), by the time of JFK's death, the Soviets felt they had developed a level of respect with Kennedy and his death was seen by them as a major blow to the overall management of world peace.

Bobby Kennedy, JFKs brother and closest advisor, was key to convincing JFK to sideline the foreign policy hawks in the administration and pursue to a safer approach with the Soviets focused on maintaining international stability. Bobby was widely seen as a successor for president before his assassination.

Analysis: After the death of Kennedy, his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson became president. Another door to a possible future of trust and respect closes. Within a year, Johnson announced the United States would start engaging in direct military action again the Soviet-backed North Vietnamese forces, begining a nearly 11 year war resulting in the deaths of between 3 to 4 million people.

"The dark fascist regime might be gone"

Many have argued that Russia in 2024 fits the framework of a fascist state as defined in Robert O. Paxton's "The Anatomy of Fascism," one of the most academically important and influential studies of the subject of fascism.

"I will hold you for the minute it takes"

A reference to the United States Nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, the "Minuteman"

"Oh, if you by then havе forgiven me When push comеs to shove We don't have to be enemies Won't you hear me out?"

The general idea here I believe conveys the relationship between Russia and the West as one of former lovers, with Russia unable to move on, and the US unwilling to give it any more chances, resulting in Russia becoming more obsessive and violent as the years progress, while at the same time wishing it could be accepted and understood.

This song predicts the end of a totalitarian Russia, but it being yet unknown exactly how, and how violent and uncontrolled that fall might be. It's also sung from the Russian perspective in the year 1969 as a vision of the future. It doesn't say specifically who starts the nuclear war, only that for Russia, it's end is the result of a United States Minuteman nuclear warhead.

[Edit: spacing]