On The Delusion In U.S. Foreign Policy And What Might Change It
The current U.S. foreign policy is delusional. Its attempts to command the world are getting laughed at. How did this happen and what might change it?
Here are excerpts from two smart essays which discuss the theme.
Alastair Crooke asks why somehow nothing seems to be working within Joe Biden's United States. He then observes of its global policies:
At the international geo-political plane, things don’t seem to be working either. Team Biden says it wants a ‘managed competition’ with China, but why then send Wendy Sherman (who is not noted for her diplomatic skills) to China as Biden’s envoy? Why has there been this continuous chip-chipping away at the 1972 ‘One China’ policy with a series of small, seemingly innocuous moves on Taiwan if Team Biden wants contained competition (what he said he wants in a recent call with President Xi), but falters, time after time, to instigate a serious relationship?
Does the Team not understand that it is not ‘containing’ competition, but rather playing-with-fire, through its’ opaque hints that the U.S. might support Taiwan independence?
And then, why of all people, dispatch Victoria Nuland to Moscow, if the competition with Moscow was to be quietly ‘balanced out’ as Biden’s face-to-face with Putin in Geneva seemed to signal? Like Sherman, Nuland was not received at a senior level, and her ‘Maidan arsonist’ reputation of course preceded her in Moscow. And why decimate Russia’s diplomatic representation at NATO HQ, and why have Secretary Austin talk in Georgia and Ukraine of NATO’s ‘open door’?
Is there some hidden logic to this, or were these envoys intentionally sent as some kind of ‘kick-ass’ provocative gesture to underline who’s boss (i.e. America is Back!)? This is known in Washington as ‘capitulation diplomacy’ – competitors are presented with only the terms of their capitulation. If so, it didn’t work. Both envoys effectively were sent packing, and Washington’s relations with these key states are degraded to near zero.
The Russia-China axis have come to the conclusion that polite diplomatic discourse with Washington is like water off a duck’s back. The U.S. and its European protégés simply do not hear what Moscow or Beijing says to them – so what is the point to talking to ‘tin-eared’ Americans? Answer: None.
Prof. Michael Brenner recently sent a longer diagnose of the U.S. political sphere to his mailing list. He sees the same foreign policy problems as Crooke does and tries to answer some of the questions Crooke is asking:
The United States’ mounting hostility toward China should be understood in reference to the anxieties and anguish of a declining hegemon.
[...]
[T]he great American experiment itself is now obviously in jeopardy. [..] A country that held the world in awe as the land where the ‘common man’ reigned does not passively accept its degeneration into a predatory oligarchy. It does not experience the degradation of public discourse to the point where candor is an endangered species and truth itself homeless.
As the connection to reality loosens, disengagement approaches the point where reality ceases to have any claim of primacy over illusion. One inhabits an insular world from which other things, other persons only have meanings as players in the life drama that you have scripted. When those others resist playing those roles, they are cajoled, coerced and then punished. We literally refuse to take ‘NO’ as an answer. Let’s look at the tack repeatedly taken with foreign governments to discern how this dynamic works out in practice.
On China. Anthony Blinken flies to Anchorage to instruct his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Li, that Beijing should stop doing things that the United States objects to, and instead should do as we tell them. Wang’s response, in diplomatic language, is “shove it!” Some months later, Blinken calls Wang with the identical message – and gets the identical response. In between, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, flies to the PRC where she meets Foreign Ministry officials to whom she gives a familiar shopping list of American demands spelling out how we want Beijing to correct its misbehavior. Her interlocutor, in exchange, hands her a Chinese shopping list accompanied by a lecture that boils down to “shove it!” And so on.
On Russia: The exact pattern repeats itself in meetings between Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on the American side, and senior Kremlin officials - foremost being the formidable Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov. These exchanges are punctuated by an in-person summit between Presidents Biden and Putin held in Geneva at the White House’s request. Biden's main purpose was to calm the waters he himself had churned up by encouraging Ukrainian President Zelensky to make preparations for an assault on the Donbas. Caught by surprise at the stern Russian response, he was forced to backpedal. The diplomatic retreat was covered by a rote restatement of American criticisms re. Crimea, alleged electoral interference, Syria, human rights and Navalny (the born-again democrat who first made his mark as a rabid Muslim-phobic rabble-rouser). As per usual, Putin coolly refuted all the charges, noted some of Russia's own complaints, and make a concrete proposal to open a round of talks on strategic nuclear arms. Washington has shown no interest in the last. So, the two men parted ways. Product? Zero.
As a final tragic-comic twist, Biden subsequently sends Victoria Nuland to Moscow – yes, the same Nuland declared persona non grata by Russia for her role as provocateur in the Ukrainian coup and notorious vilifier of Putin and the Kremlin. Her rancorous visitation pretty much slammed shut the window insofar as any serious dialogue between Washington and Moscow is concerned [..].
Beyond icing the new Cold War with Russia, did she succeed in the ancillary objective to scare the Kremlin away from too close an embrace of Beijing with a show-down over Taiwan in the offing? Anybody who believes that is possible never has bothered to study Vladimir Putin or to examine Russian history. Sadly, that category includes Washington’s top decision-makers. By comparison, name-calling is more fun and much less taxing on the gray cells.
[...]
The American plan to construct a cordon sanitaire around China exhibits a similar type of repetitive, unyielding behavior. Vietnam, a candidate to join the anti-China alliance, is paid visits by two high-powered American leaders. First, Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin flies into Hanoi to make the case for the Vietnamese to throw in their lot with the United States – the two parties familiar with each other from the last movie. Nothing doing. A while later it’s the turn of Vice-President Kamala Harris who punctuates her fruitless discussions with press conference remarks denouncing China and implying support for an independent Taiwan. Her hosts are not pleased.
This is not normal behavior; it is pathological. It speaks of the disengagement from reality noted above. And it is exceedingly dangerous since it disregards the actual attitudes and actions of others in the relentless effort to project onto them caricatured images, simplified conceptions of who they are and how they can be manipulated suited to the crude script we authored. Information from without, and the understanding that it encourages, are filtered and excluded whenever inconvenient. Instead, it is the introverted world of self-delusion alone that sources our distorted cognitive maps.
America’s political elites have fostered a phantasmagoric approach to the world as increasingly is evident. Its multiple manifestations in regard to China seem to include the unfounded belief that Beijing’s leaders are bluffing when they solemnly avow that moves toward Taiwan independence are intolerable, that they are prepared to go to war if necessary and expect to win any contest of arms were it to occur. While it is more likely that Washington is the one bluffing, our greatest fear should be that Biden et al actually think that they can intimidate China. That conceit conforms to mythic notions of American exceptionalism.
Until now, the war-against-China imaginings have been an elite pastime. The public has been kept in the dark as three successive Presidents have inched the country closer and closer to conflict. How Americans react when they find themselves on the brink is the crucial, unknowable ‘X’ factor in the equation.
Alastair Crooke closes his essay with a rather hopeful view:
It seems that Russia and China, seeing all this, will remain aloof and patient – waiting upon structures to crack.
That crack in U.S. structures however may become a very dangerous moment for Russia and China. Professor Brenner thinks that only the threat of a potentially very violent scenario can cause the 'structural crack' that brings things the U.S. back to sanity:
I fear that we’ll need something like the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the U.S. and Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war in order to get peoples’ heads screwed on straight. At both the elite and popular level, it is only fear of war that, on a purely pragmatic basis, will break the comatose intellectual/political state that the United States is in.
Posted by b on October 26, 2021 at 17:08 UTC | Permalink
next page »What the US leaders tell the public is not necessarily what they say in private to the Chinese and Russians. I wonder if what they say in public is purely for political gain in the US and if they have a totally different message in private. Either way we need adults in the room.
Posted by: El | Oct 26 2021 17:49 utc | 2
When China and a few other countries stop accepting the US Dollar as half of a substantial amount of trades, then more folks will turn in their Dollars, and it's off to the races.
Posted by: mvlazysusan | Oct 26 2021 17:51 utc | 3
Is It posible that internal troubles in the US could derail what seems to be a runaway traín? It would have to be something pretty spectacular, and probable very unfortunate for the people Who live there.
Posted by: c | Oct 26 2021 17:59 utc | 4
Thank You b for the introduction to Michael Brenner.
Excellent summation.
Posted by: ld | Oct 26 2021 18:04 utc | 5
"At both the elite and popular level, it is only fear of war that, on a purely pragmatic basis, will break the comatose intellectual/political state that the United States is in."
Nice sentiment, except . . .
The years of propaganda from MSM, Hollywood, and the neocons have led the populace to believe that the US is unbeatable in a war and that any atomic exchange is winnable, because adversaries will recognize that American atomic "exceptionalism" is the US ace of trumps for any foreign policy situation.
The US has even reaffirmed that if they are being defeated in a conventional dust-up, then they are allowed to go nuclear. This would not have to go too far to spell the end of life on the planet.
Posted by: naiverealist | Oct 26 2021 18:11 utc | 6
"Professor Brenner thinks that only the threat of a potentially very violent scenario can cause the 'structural crack' that brings things the U.S. back to sanity"
I wish I agreed, but I'm afraid that the situation is far different from the Cuban missile crisis.
I think that the US will react as "double or nothing" and take a catastrophic first step to Armaggedon.
In 1962 the US was the World powerhouse, a strong machinery spitting produts and services around the World, with a somewhat sould economic system (with many flaws, but a paradise compare to the present day), growing infrastructure, new population centers, cities thriving, American tourists going everywhere, wearing Panama hats, RayBan sunglasses and hawaian shirts with a reflex camera hanging from their neck.
These days are gone. Infrastructure is crumbling and its replacement doesn't bring the "multiplicative effect" that the original investments did (the areas around roads, highways and railroads are already developed), manufacturing and commercial hubs moved to Guangzou and vicinity, the middle class is overindebted and holds a very meager residual purchasing power besides basic goods and services (insurance and housing eating up a big chunk of their revenues), etc.
Holding-up and waiting for Soviet mismanagement was an option back then. Doing so now ensures an unavoidable decline, the faster the clearer its perception.
They cannot afford such attitude, so an aggresive stand is thir only alternative at hand, sadly.
Posted by: Andres | Oct 26 2021 18:17 utc | 7
b,
Hit the nail on the head. And like clockwork, the fringes of the 'acceptable' corporate media are generating the scarebait as they always do. There is, after all, no penalty - civil, criminal, professional, or reputational - for warmongering in the corporate US media or mainstream politics. In fact, it's usually a way to advance one's career.
It used to be that these "officials" went unnamed, but in today's climate, they have no qualms about going on the record with their baseless and distorted warnings.
Terrorist groups within Afghanistan could strike international targets within six months if left unchecked, defense officials warned lawmakers on Tuesday.“We’re actually fairly certain that they have the intention to do so,” said Colin Kahl, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for policy, during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the security situation in Afghanistan following the U.S. military’s withdrawal from the country.
“We could see ISIS-K generate that capability in somewhere between six or 12 months, according to current assessments by the intelligence committee. And for al Qaida, it would take a year or two to reconstitute that capability. We have to remain vigilant against that possibility.”
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 26 2021 18:23 utc | 8
The crack:
Rising Prices, Once Seen as Temporary, Threaten Biden’s Agenda (NYT)
Tax the Rich, Help America’s Children, by Paul Krugman (one of those who thought inflation was temporary), for the NYT
Taiwan is a dead man walking:
The key here is that China's main weakness to day is through the land, with the Tibet and Xinjiang borders. Taiwan is superfluous because the USA already has South Korea and Japan.
Even worse
Failure is considered weakness. The opposition party howls, 'appeasement!' and the next Administration is more belligerent. There is no turning back until we are destroyed.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Oct 26 2021 18:39 utc | 10
thanks b.... pathological is a good word to describe usa foreign policy.. delusional is another good word for it.. i agree with prof brennar...
@ Andres | Oct 26 2021 18:17 utc | 7.. i tend to see it like you as well.. i don't know that i share crookes view of another possible cuban missile type crisis...the usa at this point is likely to go on the attack and quickly find out how wrong that is.. since they don't care for their own population, why would they care about anyone else's? they are completely bonkers and make good company with the royals, who at least maintain a facade of bullshit that betrays the bullshit.. the usa is way beyond that..
Posted by: james | Oct 26 2021 18:42 utc | 11
Ever since the Puppeteers got away with 911 and the two wars they instigated after, the desire to live within a created reality differing from actual reality began and has led the world to this juncture. I see that what I wrote isn't quite correct. The problem began with the USSR/Soviet Union collapse that led too many to crow they won the Cold War when that didn't happen at all--it was the first instance of creating a disreality and was swiftly followed by issuing edicts to the planet as it was now the Era of The New World Order. That was then followed by the slow destruction of Yugoslavia and Iraq. In the middle of those actions the new policy goal was very quietly announced--Full Spectrum Domination--not once but twice, as if that was desirable and attainable. Now that the timeline's correct, we can discern the two high water marks for the Outlaw US Empire--2007-8 and 2011. Both those events destroyed the system of Law and Order within the Empire and also was the last straw for other nations internationally. Obama had reality thrust in his face when he sought to attack Syria in 2013 based on a False Flag, then again with the failure to gain the primary objective of the Ukraine Coup in 2014. The ultimate wake up slap in the face was Russia's 2015 defense of Syria against the Outlaw US Empire's Terrorist Foreign Legion--another long standing Big Lie in the use of Terror to achieve policy goals that in our modern era goes back to 1945. Another big point is the fact that the entire world's been living a Big Lie since 1945--that the USA is actually the Outlaw US Empire and has completely disregarded the UN Charter and all law, while it promotes itself as the leader of the Free World. That's a ton of history that must be erased from too many minds and replaced by what ought to be considered a horrific reality of post WW2 history.
I once used the term Fantasyland for "Gentlemen's Clubs," but IMO it fits the above reality much better. It also fits the fact that since FDR there hasn't been one POTUS that could be considered as being a member of the Left. That reality Dr. Hudson and Paul Jay touched on briefly in their interview. And what they call the Right aren't anywhere near being genuine Conservatives. The beat name I have for them is Anti-Human/Pro-Profit zealots, a very close reflection of their String Masters. I wrote a reply to Crooke's essay on the open thread that also included the Tucker essay on which much of it was based. What's clear to me is the #1 policy goal of attaining Full Spectrum Domination remains in place and is continually acted upon despite realities, thus the delusions. Crooke's ending paragraphs spell it out:
"Tucker’s initial question, we should recall, was How Close Is Total Social and Economic Collapse? Our point in this piece is that this litany of failures are linked by being conceived at the outset, as ends in, and of themselves. And to one extent or another, none are working. So is a perfect storm gathering? [Crooke's and My Double Emphasis]
"The commonality to these distinct ‘errors’ lies with their being ‘one project’ – a stealth coup of the policy tools and structures of public accountability, at the national level, and their transfer to the supranational plane (also known as the Re-Set). They derive, all, from the cult of technocratic managerialism. In the last analysis, Tucker is right: In the pursuit of this project, and its failing flock of subsets, 'the attempt alone will necessarily cause unpredictable amounts of long-term breakage, not only of economic structures but also of the spirit of a people'." [My Emphasis]
Like Alec Baldwin on a movie set where fantasy suddenly, tragically becomes reality, the Outlaw US Empire polices produce the same outcomes--they imagine they're doing good when the reality is they're doing evil, and that mindset is perpetuated by the group-think of Tommy's Church.
I think Crooke's outlook is too optimistic - the US doesn't appear to be content with a world in which the US is no longer at the absolute top. I also don't expect US (foreign) policy to get qualitatively better anytime soon. Some cool heads and realistic opinions will remain like they always do, but be stuck in a broken system that won't allow them to disturb everyone else from getting high on their own drugs.
Russia and China can and will wait until the moment the US decides it's time for a blaze of glory somewhere - then they'll have to act anyway. Hopefully it'll be a series of blunders by an overchallenged US that backfire instead of pushing red buttons outright. Hopefully the US will become irrelevant as an actor long before they decide to make some kind of Hollywoodesque last stand.
Posted by: pachinko | Oct 26 2021 18:51 utc | 13
The establishment “liberal” wing of American politics sees itself as merely a moderating force domestically and has, since last mid-century, privately feared direct confrontation with the right. This led to acquiescence in the usurpation of Wallace in 1944, and participation in the cover-up of the circumstances of JFK’s assassination in 1964. The liberal wing fears a direct confrontation with the right will result in a successful overt fascist coup (opposed to covert coups arguably in 1947 and Nov 1963). The liberal wing believes resistance to a coup will be unsuccessful and result in all being lost. It could have been different if Kennedy had made it to a second term, but his enemies knew that too and so had him removed.
The US power structure is opaque, but a vicious and violent element has always been imbedded within. Mealey-mouthed foreign policy will continue as a sop to this element, but real danger of hot war will not be in play unless a true fascist (such as certain current Congressional figures) ascends to the Presidency. USA’s hegemonic moment is surely over, they have been offered a soft-landing, but it is not yet assured the US right will accept it.
Posted by: jayc | Oct 26 2021 19:03 utc | 14
Good coverage.
I think both China and Russia have made efforts recently to show Empire that it has fallen behind militarily, and is prone to an indefensible first-strike if Empire's belligerence grows too acute. The question imo is exactly how inbred-crazy are the elites to achieve the vision of utopia through totalitarianism.
Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 26 2021 19:15 utc | 15
What follows is a segment of Putin's Valdai Club Speech and parsing by Saker that relates to the topic:
Putin: "Well, if someone likes this [gender change], let them do it. I have already mentioned that, in shaping our approaches, we will be guided by a healthy conservatism. That was a few years ago, when passions on the international arena were not yet running as high as they are now, although, of course, we can say that clouds were gathering even then. Now, when the world is going through a structural disruption, the importance of reasonable conservatism as the foundation for a political course has skyrocketed – precisely because of the multiplying risks and dangers, and the fragility of the reality around us." [My Emphasis]
Saker: "Same message: enjoy your wannabe Wakanda but stay away from us, our families, our traditions and our children above all!"
Putin: "This conservative approach is not about an ignorant traditionalism, a fear of change or a restraining game, much less about withdrawing into our own shell. It is primarily about reliance on a time-tested tradition, the preservation and growth of the population, a realistic assessment of oneself and others, a precise alignment of priorities, a correlation of necessity and possibility, a prudent formulation of goals, and a fundamental rejection of extremism as a method. And frankly, in the impending period of global reconstruction, which may take quite long, with its final design being uncertain, moderate conservatism is the most reasonable line of conduct, as far as I see it. It will inevitably change at some point, but so far, do no harm – the guiding principle in medicine – seems to be the most rational one. Noli nocere, as they say." [My Emphasis]
Saker: "First, 'do no harm' should not be a controversial notion. But the West and all its ideologies and incarnations has dealt with that basic rule in a very simple way: 'when WE do it, it is not harm, axiomatically, by definition'. This sums of 1000 years of western imperialism, violence and intolerance: 'when WE do it, it is good, because we are good' – and that is dogma." [My Emphasis]
Putin: "Again, for us in Russia, these are not some speculative postulates, but lessons from our difficult and sometimes tragic history. The cost of ill-conceived social experiments is sometimes beyond estimation. Such actions can destroy not only the material, but also the spiritual foundations of human existence, leaving behind moral wreckage where nothing can be built to replace it for a long time." [My Emphasis]
Saker: "That is a last warning: keep going on and you will leave nothing such a moral wreckage where nothing can be built to replace it for a long time. Who are these words addressed to? Not the leaders of the Empire. Not the Woke folks, and not the braindead 'Don’t tread on me' either. Not the Greta Tunberg types for sure. I think that this is a warning to those who still have something to preserve: Mediterranean countries, the Middle-East, Latin America and much of the entire Asian continent."
And this isn't just about Wokeness; it's about the whole shebang. Saker uses the correct term: Dogma. And as most of us know, Dogma can blind, stupefy, just like the followers of Tommy's Church at the outset before he cites his rules they must obey. Clearly, many in the West have joined Tommy's Church and don't mind obeying his rules, although more are saying We're Not Going to Take It, but not enough to reach the point of a Critical Mass.
Hallmarks of US Government foreign policy compared with Russia:
USA lacks a culture of diplomacy; Russia has one of the most advanced diplomatic cultures in the world.
USA hubris & child-like demands; Russia maturity and even temper.
USA impatience; Russia long term patience.
USA utter unreliability; Russia total reliability.
USA refuses all views except its own; Russia recognises other 'partners' legitimate interes.
USA demands everything & gives nothing; Russia searches for a balance of interests & imperfect solutions both can live with, if not optimal for either party.
USA unpredictable, doesn't keep its word; Russia transparency & predictable, stands by agreements.
USA racist game-playing, including demonisation; Russia serious mutual work, no games.
USA puerile petty apartheid; Russia normal interstate administration.
USA unilateral escalation in disputes; Russia mirror, rather than proportional response.
USA carefully thought out disrespect; Russia courtesy and respect.
USA dominate; Russia collaberate.
USA create exclusive blocs; Russia create inclusive blocs.
USA ignore diplomatic reach-outs; Russia engage, always.
USA subvert International organisations; Russia uphold fairness and equity in International organisation.
USA 'alliances' against 'demon of the day'; Russia alliances are for cooperation with partners and explicitly are not 'against' anyone.
I could go on, but here is it in a few words:
US guiding strategy is 'harm'; Russia's 'do no harm'.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Oct 26 2021 19:28 utc | 17
Thanks b, good article.
As I have commented here before, I see that there are two groups that are trying to control the U.S. government. One, the Atlanticists, working for the 'Global Elites' centered in London, the second, US-centered financial elites, aligned with STRATFOR.
The US-centered financial elites appear to be in control of the Federal Reserve, much of the U.S. military and much of Biden's foreign policy. They consolidated their position in these areas under Trump. The Atlanticists control the rest of the U.S. government, including the CIA, State, Justice, etc. and also have placed their people as (figure)heads of the military, NSC, etc.
The problem is that these two groups have largely opposing objectives. The Atlanticists want a Global Empire run out of, largely European based, global institutions and modeled on the EU. The US- centered elites want to rebuild the American Empire.
The Atlanticists goal is to turn the U.S. into a weak and docile colony of their Global Empire. The only role of U.S. is as the Global Empire's military muscle. Geo-politically, they see Russia as the main obstacle to their plans. The U.S. centered elites see China as the major obstacle to rebuilding the American Empire. They see NATO, Europe and the Middle-East as distractions from focusing on China.
Given the above situation, it is easy to understand why US foreign policy is failing. Their is no coherent strategy, rather their are two competing and conflicting strategies, being played out simultaneously by different parts of the same government. And many of the actions taken are not to further a strategy, but rather as tactics to derail the competing strategy. For each group, the more urgent challenge is not Russia or China, but rather to remove their internal rivals.
Russia and China are well served to sit back and not interfere while they watch this disaster play out. The real danger is that one group or the other might try to ignite a war with either Russia or China (or both) as a tactic in the internal struggle to for control of the U.S. government.
Posted by: dh-mtl | Oct 26 2021 19:33 utc | 18
Alastair Crooke asks why somehow nothing seems to be working within Joe Biden's United States.
Feature, not a bug.
As I've been pointing out in recent days: US is undergoing an orchestrated move to the right.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 26 2021 19:33 utc | 19
Prof. Brenner: I fear that we’ll need something like the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when the U.S. and Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war in order to get peoples’ heads screwed on straight.
I've warned several times that we are headed for such a crisis.
BEWARE: TPTB don't fear crisis anymore - they even concoct crises to advance their agenda.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 26 2021 19:40 utc | 20
Dogma can blind, stupefy, just like the followers of Tommy's Church at the outset before he cites his rules they must obey.
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 26 2021 19:27 utc | 16
Dogmas CAN do it, but broad generalizations like that are often misused. They are used to deny most obvious facts, just because they are hard to prove. My two favorite examples:
1. Immaculate conception of our Lord and Savior.
2. Immaculate conception of the State of Israel.
[I will curse all who will not find any snark here.]
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 26 2021 19:54 utc | 21
From all the above, it looks like the best we can hope for is the structural crack within the US itself. An own goal. The least bad conclusión.
Posted by: c | Oct 26 2021 20:00 utc | 22
On the subject of dogmas, they allow to order observations and simplify conclusions. There are even cute logical paradoxes that illustrate that point (I forgot most of my logic classes, but I still remember most vivid ones).
Jackrabbit organizes all observation as "all follows the plan". Even though we can observe most influential members of Establishment to be intellectually limited and consumed in petty games against each other, that favoring other explanations that can borrow from observations in biology, history etc.
For example, why complex organisms age. One cause is a kind of clock, a typical human cell has a bound on the number of times it can replicate, so as our cells get worn out and die, at some point we have hard time replacing them, so we get flabby skin, muscles and brain. Neural cells replicate most slowly, so the aging effect on the brain have wide range. But another reason is that cells accumulate mutations, in most cases they are harmless, but many are deleterious and VERY FEW are beneficial.
In my opinion, what can be described as a "shift to the right" is an accumulation of mutations in the worldview of our elite. And the tolerance of irrational and weird is biased because of life circumstances of the elite.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 26 2021 20:07 utc | 23
Thank you b and thanks to all the barflies with their fine rejoinders.
This is a mighty interesting topic. So sad that there is no organised voice for this analysis and critique within the Congress, very sad.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 26 2021 20:11 utc | 24
It's much less than failing hegemon. It's about simple ideology and narratives.
It's about what China represents. Remember, The West presents China as Communist and totalitarian regime. And it is impossible for the West to swallow the fact that China is beating them. This flies in the face of ALL their narratives, how their system is the Best, how their liberal democracies always win. Worse, the 3rd world countries will see how well Communist CHina is doign while how badly the Democratic West if faltering and GOD FORBID, they might choose CHina's system over the West's Liberal Democracy. This is something the West simply cannot allow. Because after all, Marx was correct: ALL OF THE WEALTH the West has created has been stolen.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Oct 26 2021 20:18 utc | 25
powerandpeople @17--
Good listing! Lavrov's in Norway for the Barents and Euro-Arctic Council. He's asked a general question about relations with Norway and what follows is part of his answer:
"On the other hand, Norway is a member of NATO. NATO is no friend of Russia. They decided that they don’t want to be friendly, they decided that they don’t want to have the Founding Act between NATO and Russia to be the basis of our relations. They called Russia, and now China, and, actually, Russia and China together, a threat to NATO. NATO is looking for the meaning of its future existence. My good friend Jens Stoltenberg, who used to be an excellent Prime Minister of Norway, is now saying that NATO must be responsible for security all over the world, including in the Indo-Pacific and Latin America....
"Quite a number of differences which we have are in the area of ideology. Who is the Number One, who is to rule the world ̶ this is what we hear from our NATO 'friends.' We believe that we have to concentrate on real life. As far as the imagination of NATO going in the direction of containing Russia, preparing to attack Russia, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that they have to be ready to threaten Russia with nuclear weapons. These are fantasies. If it gives her some pleasure, maybe this can satisfy some of her fans." [My Emphasis]
Seems the hashtag is #Reality. How Russia will deal with NATO is the next answer Lavrov provides:
"As for Russia-NATO relations, I wouldn’t say they are catastrophic. To be catastrophic, you need to have some relations. We don’t have any relations with NATO, but we do have relations with Norway, on the security front as well, as I mentioned. And we would like to raise them to a higher level between the ministries of defence, in addition to the security consultations, which are regular." [My Emphasis]
Bilateral relations with individual NATO members is now the policy as was anticipated. Look for Lavrov and others to emphasize NATO has no real reason for existing anymore and is part of the fantasy--disreality--constructed since Putin's 2007 Munich speech. It appears these series of meetings on Arctic issues will replace Russia's attendance in COP26. In another speech, Lavrov speaks to that opportunity:
"Close cooperation at the scale of the entire North European Region, including the activities of relevant intergovernmental councils and partnerships, is essential for accomplishing the tasks we are facing. Apart from the BEAC, as you know, these are the Arctic Council, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the Nordic Council of Ministers, but we should not forget about the Northern Dimension partnerships either. We are in favour of resuming the political meetings of all these northern formats.
"Our suggestion is that we should contemplate large-scale crosscutting initiatives. In two years time, as I said, Russia will be “on the bridge” in two regional organisations at once – the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. I can already say with confidence now that we will focus on enhancing the importance of both councils’ applied activities and their commitment to practical projects geared to socioeconomic development and a better quality of life in the North that we share, including to keep women from leaving the area, as Madam Minister has just said. At the same time, we intend to act in the spirit of continuity and support the priorities of all the said formats."
Looks like Russia will aggressively expand its diplomatic and other initiatives in the Arctic region as a signal that it means business about strengthening cooperation. Working together and commonality of views are additional points Lavrov stresses in "his">https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4917581">"his talk at the Barents Youth Summit, which IMO is very sincere:
"I was asked to provide my personal point of view. Frankly, it is hardly different from the official one. The official approaches of the countries of our Council mostly rely on understanding that we should focus on practical matters that unite us, primarily those of us who live just within several kilometres from each other, but are separated by the state borders. The issues we have to deal with in the North are complicated due the climate and remote location of the regions and can be resolved only by joint efforts. It is a good example of a situation with specific issues that need to be addressed in order to be able to live a normal life. There is no place for ideologies. Nobody starts geopolitical battles. This is an example of neighbourliness and mutual assistance. We need to support each other. I think this approach is typical not only of our countries, but also of all ministers and other officials in their personal capacity. This is our common conviction - this is what makes us strong.
"Also important is the fact that the Barents Euro-Arctic Council covers national and municipal levels. Regions in each country cooperate with each other as well. There is a special mechanism, namely, the Barents Regional Council which is a major advantage of ours, because the problems and needs, including of women, are clearly visible at the local level. Women must be kept in the North so that men do not flee. But jobs must be created for both women and men. Moreover, now, with advances in research and education, there are no jobs that can be done only by men. In this sense, the local needs are fundamentally important so that the national governments can have proper benchmarks, and we can implement them via our project activities in organisations such as this Council. Thank you for supporting Russia’s initiative to create a financial mechanism. It is still modest, but, as we say, the hardest thing is the beginning. It is the first step that matters."
I find it very difficult to visualize any recent US Secretary of State sitting down and saying the same things, primarily because the Outlaw US Empire places little weight on developing cultural ties with ALL the nations it interacts with. In his closing remarks after the Plenary Session, Lavrov had this to say:
"I do believe that this session was quite useful and has proven yet again that when we work on practical matters, we can deliver results, without being distracted by ideological differences and geopolitical games."
I wonder how many other foreign ministries of NATO nations will note Lavrov's words? I'm sure they didn't go unnoticed in Brussels.
Posted by: jayc | Oct 26 2021 19:03 utc | 14
I think it's safe to say that by now the later day liberal wing of the US establishment is at most liberal in social mores and that in a retarded manner and only out of convenience. It is no longer centrist, but extremely right-wing of the neoliberal variety.
Indeed, the worst aspect of the modern liberals is that they are in many ways fascists with pseudo-progressive masks. They are far more likely to push successfully for criminal wars, inverted totalitarianism and reactionary, corporatist policies through the unrestrained use of identity politics and a much better image. Nothing makes this more glaring than the leaked CIA documents in mid-2008 that revealed a resolute belief that Barak Obama, due to his image and PR-savvy political approach, could reinvigorate European support for the wars that they had going on or were palnning to initiate, provided he was compelled to abandon his anti-interventionist and populist goals. The assessment proved spectacularly succinct.
In the end, true fascists are not those who engage in outworn far-right tropes, but thosee who stick to such principles and promote them successfully through their policies, making use of novel ideological constructs. Therefore, it is safe to say that the Anglosphere and especially the US, has reached that point for some time now.
Posted by: Constantine | Oct 26 2021 20:23 utc | 27
From my Twitter feed:
RT reported that the US Congress is discussing the development of a new action plan aimed at reducing the interest in Russian weapons in the world market..
The initiative, which has every chance of being passed as a bill, notes that it will not be easy to force countries to give up Russian weapons, given the crucial role it plays in strengthening their defenses..
At the same time, the authors of the report do not hide the fact that they are trying to identify new ways of exerting pressure on the Russian defense-industrial complex, mainly to build a system of international isolation around the Russian Federation..
According to some lawmakers, arms sales act as support for "Russia's aggressive and malicious activities" and also lead to incitement to regional conflicts..
---------------
This reminds me a series of Steve Martin skits on the theme "Perhaps there is a better way".
Perhaps there is a better way. By offering products that fit the defense needs better, have higher quality and good price, there would be scant reason in most countries to seek Russian weapons. Really? Naaaay.
---------------
By the way, this issue is by no means restricted to weapons. For example, while the work on nuclear power atrophied in the West, Russia plowed resources into that area, continuity of engineering teams and regular tests of new designs in real life conditions. Currently they offer nuclear plants at roughly twice smaller costs and twice faster completion time (not spectacular, but mostly on time). That is met with indefatigable and frequently successful attempts to torpedo such plans, leading to energy crisis in most hapless countries, say, Bulgaria.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 26 2021 20:28 utc | 28
This blog item is timely.
In this vein The Deep State Bible aka Foreign Affairs mag
has rolled out Madeleine K. Albright,
put a nickle in her box,
and out she has spun
a Hopeful way forward.
The Coming Democratic Revival
America’s Opportunity to Lead the Fight Against Authoritarianism
by Madeleine K. Albright
No, this article was not churned out in 2005,
it is something that just happened.
It is long, quite long, but I guarantee that
throughout she offers nothing new, no new ideas at all.
But you expected that.
Posted by: librul | Oct 26 2021 20:30 utc | 29
librul @29--
Thanks for that notification! It reminds us of yet another fantasy, that the Outlaw US Empire is democratic or that it actually promotes democracy, and that it's not authoritarian in anyway. And yet another product: the lies are almost always the same. Looks like Dogma to me.
While I find the Suits announcements, chest-pounding, and other absurdities hilarious, I believe most of their announcements are for their constituencies (ie the Masters of War), and the need to keep the domestic narrative alive.
Therefore, I think is also to look for economic indicators and market events that are taking place. Two recent ones are particularly interesting.
According the first link, the Chinese, who supply much of the planet's process magnesium have drastically cut production, in an attempt to reduce the green house gases consequent to its refinement. While this may not sound like much, the price of magnesium has skyrocketed and short term steel production is presently at risk.
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/10/20211024-mg.html
The second link is an agreement that a large US LNG provider is negotiating with the Chinese to provide massive quantities of natural gas.
So, the take home is that there is the posturing of the politicians, and then there are deals that must be made between countries to keep the wheels of civilization functioning. It's similar to the public castigation of Russia by the US, while at the same time buying their oil for US consumption. It seems the primary complaint the US has against Russia is the latter's refusal to let the former take over its economy. Of course the way the US media spins it is Russia's refusal to "de-monopolize" its oil industry. Talk about delusional thinking.
Posted by: Michael | Oct 26 2021 20:41 utc | 31
IMHO, US foreign policy is conducted without any regard as to how a foreign country might react. Only US internal politics matter. In the mind of an US envoy Putin and Xi don't count, because foreigners don't vote in US elections.
Posted by: Passerby | Oct 26 2021 20:42 utc | 32
My admiration for Putin and Xi grows by the day. It's like they are confronted with an armed addict whose drug of choice, in this case dominance and accompanying subservience, is no longer available. This makes the addict erratic and very dangerous.
Both Russia and China saw this coming and have equipped themselves with a formidable array of defensive weapons.
Will the USA listen? Not yet, apparently. We walk on very thin ice.
Posted by: Hal Duell | Oct 26 2021 20:45 utc | 33
After watching Murica eat it's own for decades doing things like selling the Rust Belt to China, undermining it's own industrial base while destroying the middle class, the same, now ex-middle class who has turned against the US government.
All China and Russia have to do is sit back and watch, bide their time. while the US goes down a sewer of it's own creation.
Posted by: Rabbit | Oct 26 2021 20:48 utc | 34
The cited authors comment expertly on what we know about US diplomacy, However the US does not mainly rely upon open diplomacy, but what has been called "kinetic diplomacy," including secret military actions. Many more US and proxy forces are involved in kinetic diplomacy than the diplomacy we may hear of. Consider the US deployment of special forces in more than 100 countries around the world. The United States acknowledges that its forces are involved in these missions, sometimes with foreign partner special operations forces, in an undeclared conflict zone. There are some 70,000 US special operators worldwide, compared to fewer than 10,000 Foreign Service Officers.
These operations and others, some resulting in color revolutions, are often referred to as gray (or grey) zone conflict activities. These might be conducted not only by military forces but by commercial, civilian government and intelligence forces. . . .more on gray zone here and here.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 26 2021 21:23 utc | 35
China produces 80 percent of US antibiotics and 70 percent of its shoes to name just two necessities that the US relies on China to provide. What are Americans going to do when they go to Walmart and find nothing but empty shelves? What are they going to do when their doctor writes a prescription for an antibiotic their pharmacy doesn't have? Only 14 percent of China's exports go to the US. The US needs China far more than China needs the US. Has anyone explained to American leaders that you cannot go to war with a country you rely on to produce essential goods?
Posted by: David | Oct 26 2021 21:28 utc | 36
"The U.S. mounting hostility toward China should be understood in reference to the anxieties and anguish of a declining hegemon."
Or, could it also be understood as the exact opposite--simply the consequences of a carefully calculated strategic shift in the posture of the U.S. military as symbolized by the recent U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and a quite dramatic shift in military spending ($750 billion in 2022) towards the priority of high-tech and especially the future expansion of naval(especially attack submarines/ as well as more air force along with expanded Research and Development spending, in order to more effectively intimidate China.
No loss of U.S. global ambition certainly, as to whether it is delusional or not would seem to require greater discussion and analysis.
Posted by: Gulag | Oct 26 2021 21:33 utc | 37
I'm not sure whether this belongs. I know I'm guilty of monomania, but here I detect a pattern with what you've written.
Your call b.
If you look at Mercouris's latest, he comments on Johnson's phone call to Putin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfgxljbkzNA
Apparently Johnson called Vladimir Putin. Putin, doubtlessly incredulous, took the call. The gist:
"I say Vlad. You don't mind me calling you Vlad? Good. Well, Vlad. Please come to COP26 in Glasgow and give us a big diplomatic coup.""I'm sorry, Mr Johnson. This will not be possible."
So. The same thing as Biden. Expecting to be given something, while giving nothing in return.
My question is this. Do we have a single mind operating here, behind both Johnson and Biden. A single mind that exhibits the same fallibilities through all of its branches?
And a supplementary. How do we characterise a mind that absolutely expects to be given something of its choice while giving nothing in return?
Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 26 2021 21:41 utc | 38
Several years ago I ventured to northern South America for an extended off-the-beaten-path backpacking adventure (this was before I had gotten run over and I could still walk all day with a heavy pack). After finding a hostel in Bogota with excellent Internet access I got in touch with family back home in a video chat to let them know where I was (I didn't know where I was actually going until after I had bought the airline ticket at the airport... last minute ticket sales can be incredibly cheap if you are not too particular about exactly where you end up). The video chat didn't go well.
In fact it was like I had dropped a bomb on them. My mother started quietly crying, my sister started bawling out loud (she's an adult), and my step-father started making funeral arrangements.
And I am not even kidding.
Everyone back home was convinced that they had seen the last of me. I mean, Colombia? And going to Venezuela if somehow I survived Colombia? Then maybe Ecuador and Peru? For sure the primitive savages down there would shiv me for fun, or so everyone seemed to believe.
It is important to note that these are not stupid people. As Americans go their education levels and worldliness are above average, yet the impression they held of the Global South was that it was nothing but violence, disease and destruction. One would think I was heading into an active war zone, which admittedly parts of Colombia were at the time.
I've noticed that many people in the US react with undisguised awe when I talk about solo exploring that corner of Latin America. It is something almost no American would ever do because the universal impression of what the world outside the US borders is like is that except for a few carefully policed resorts and tourist spots that outside world is a dark and forbidding place.
I mention this because this American belief about the outside world shapes American attitudes towards empire. In essence Americans believe that we need the overwhelming military dominance to keep that darkness away from our borders. That fear and loathing of the outside world is very real, so keep that in mind when you talk about America's declining economic and thus military influence in the world. While Russians very reasonably don't see the point to a world without Russia, Americans view the world without American empire in much the same way.
People think I am waxing hyperbolic when I say America is mired deeply in delusion, but I am being 100% literal with that assertion. The "reality" that Americans see is not at all the same one that everyone else in the world lives in.
So will Americans use military force to maintain empire even if they cannot win? They absolutely will.
Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 26 2021 21:44 utc | 39
@ Posted by: Hoyeru | Oct 26 2021 20:18 utc | 25
The biggest ideological mistake of the USA was to believe, after the fall of the USSR, that it could become a middle class nation, where everybody would get their diploma and work in a comfy, white collar, desk job ("smart job"). It sold this capitalist utopia to its people, who bought it with their souls (the American Dream).
The problem is that the middle class is just a bunch of parasites. They don't build bridges, they don't unclog your sewer, they don't bring water and electricity to your home, they don't cut your lawn, they don't clean your dirt, they don't fix your stuff. They're just the middlemen who get a slice of the pie, the professional ideologue who cheers the system, the know-it-all who's paid to keep the worker down and the capitalist on top. You cannot maintain - let alone build - a nation only with members of the middle class.
The American Dream became unsustainable in 2008, when Wall Street entered into meltdown. After 2008, the American elites realized a middle class society is impossible, that capitalism can only exist with the most brutal, intense and widespread exploitation of man by man. It is only with savage extraction of surplus value from the other that capitalism can prevail and flourish. It then started to eat up its middle class, put them back to their due place.
On the other side of the coin, the rest of the world - specially China - got fed up with getting the "dumb jobs", the "dirty jobs" to serve the American people. They realized the USA was printing USDs without any counterpart, without giving anything back. The American people started to behave like Lenin's famous "Labor Aristocracy", which he correctly identified in his work "Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism". The rest of the world is now starting to ask the USA where is the prosperity it promised during the 1980s with the fable of "globalization". Turned out "globalization" was just another fluff, another weapon of capitalist dogma.
The greatest mistake of the rest of the world - the Third World in particular, including here the ex-USSR space - was in believing in the very dangerous fantasy of capitalism. It found out the hard way capitalism is not an utopia, but a dystopia, Hobbes's paradise of the perpetual dog-eat-dog world.
You are right about how Americans view the world outside their borders, William. It is regarded as unsafe. What is ironic is that it is the US, not South America, that poses hazards for tourists. A read a report about a man whose ambition was to bicycle from Patagonia to Alaska who had to turn back because of the hostility he encountered after he crossed the US border. I have experienced this myself while on long bicycle trips. I have had bottles and even punches thrown at me from passing cars. The travel writer Paul Theroux wrote an article about the hostility he has encountered in the US. It is something he has not experienced in his travels around the world. This is an angry country.
Posted by: David | Oct 26 2021 22:02 utc | 41
It may seem counterintuitive, but the most impactful resistance to the slide towards war may come from America’s wealthy elites and large corporations (excluding those in the defense industries). Why? For the simple reason that these individuals and corporate entities understand that a war with China and/or Russia will be very bad for business. The US will almost certainly lose in a conventional war, and all countries lose in a nuclear war. Wealthy folks hate losing money more than anything else and may therefore bring pressure to bear on their vassals in government to stop acting stupid. The irony of such a scenario (trusting in predatory sociopaths to save the day) boggles the mind.
Posted by: Rob | Oct 26 2021 22:46 utc | 42
Ah well they can always go back to Afghanistan lol
Curse you Kaaaaaahhhhhhll.
“Kahl said it could take al-Qaida “a year or two” to regenerate the capability to carry out attacks outside of Afghanistan against the US.”
It does seem that the Old World Order has finally slipped of the abyss that it believed didn’t exist and it could super heroically walk on air over!
Fantasia often comes like this to Peoples led like hippos in pink tutus. British Empire. Japanese. French of course and the rest of the ‘sovereign’ states. All mere suckers for the same old slave owners and their Slave master ‘Leaders’.
So they attempt to repeat what they have always done - ferment a real war when the economic war fades. Keep us fighting amongst ourselves. Propaganda, false flags , here we go again ... or actually not this time.
The answer is for the majority of the human population to gang up on the minority of trouble makers. Name. Shame. And if necessary legally ostracise. We are the Abyss. Looking back at them.
In a hundred years these troublemakers will be as despised as any historical despot. Their descendents will change their own names to forever disown the deeds and genetics of their current ancestors.
That’s a curse.
Posted by: D.G. | Oct 26 2021 22:52 utc | 43
John Cleary @Oct26 21:41 #38:
Do we have a single mind operating here ...?
I think it's a group of minds that coordinate closely.
How do we characterise a mind that absolutely expects to be given something of its choice while giving nothing in return?
1) You fail to notice that they got something. Whether Putin agree or refused, they could spin propaganda to their benefit.
2) I'd characterize it as 'crafty':
- Skilled in or marked by underhandedness, deviousness, or deception.
- Devoted to or skilled at handicrafts such as knitting or woodworking.
- Archaic Skillful; dexterous.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 26 2021 23:03 utc | 44
David @ 41 You are right about how Americans view the world outside their borders, <=extremely accurate.. world view analysis.. Americans have been made to fear anyone who is not their immediate neighbor. and anyone who is not of the same race and class in which they are.. Propaganda controls their minds and establishes their believes.
Hoyeru @ 25. ALL OF THE WEALTH the West has created has been stolen.
Yes the copyright, private property, and patent laws and give away government contracts have allowed all of the wealth in many nation states to be stolen from the nation state governed people who reside there. Worse Americans don't yet understand their poverty because credit has keep lightened the experience of no options poverty.
Posted by: snake | Oct 26 2021 23:18 utc | 45
Rob @42--
Good question: Who/what stands to profit from a full scale war between the Outlaw US Empire and Russia, China, or both? With the nation destroyed along with its factories and workers, just what would the MIC do. What about banking? Insurers would be very busy with policy payouts and would likely declare bankruptcy, but what courts and judges would adjudicate? What about retailers? Grocers? Farmers? Who'll repair all the destroyed infrastructure? How much value would the assets held by the .01% retain and how would they cash in their investments with Wall Street a burnt-out cinder? A fortunate family emerges from their bunker in their hazmat suits and surveys the carnage, but are they really fortunate?
It appears there's only money to be made from the threat of war, and that threat's being escalated. But only a small portion of the citizenry gain anything from such a policy and its escalation. And of course, that was recognized well before the advent of nuclear weapons and MAD during the Pecora Hearings in the 1930s. Why does the citizenry continue to vote for representatives that do nothing for them? It's been the same old shit for the past 75 years; are we all trapped inside Tommy's Church?
The same applies to all NATO nations and their citizens. But are they capable of reasoning and assessing their condition, or is this the actual Zombie Apocalypse?
Where does the Great Reset agenda and the WEF fit in here? The “woke” nonsense is only for domestic consumption. It’s being used to support the coming “climate lockdowns”
and the solidification of US fascism. Yet China is neck deep in this bat manure scam, and the Russians and Putin are playing much the same game. Lockdowns, forced poisoning by injection, restricted travel, and now mass pauperization for the masses so the billionaires and Blackrock can control it all.
But our alleged enemies are in on the same neo-nazi scam. Who conspired with the mad US germ warriors in Hunan? Who closed borders to protect its population from the flu, and developed their own poisonous and ineffective jab to deal with the same flu? Both nominal enemies.
These saber rattling games are all for mass consumption but they are fake. The enemy is the international capitalist cabal, and “Eurasia” is in on the Orwellian scam. They won’t go to actual war but threats scare the masses into even more compliance. If B leaves his house and takes off the mask, he might see the real war going on in his Faterland
Posted by: Pjerome | Oct 26 2021 23:33 utc | 47
The USA and the EU will loose the war with Russia and China , Russia military will sweep through European countries in few days and the Chinese Military with the largest Human Resources will keep the USA busy for a long war , Nuclear war also is not winnable by the USA , the USA can use nuclear war heads and kill 25% of the Chinese population but still will have more human than the USA if only loose 10% of the population.
The US leaders should think seriously about their lake of knowledge of the history and think twice before getting involved in world war , they will loose it for sure .
Posted by: Bobby | Oct 26 2021 23:39 utc | 48
The mind reels in wonder and despair at the concept of sending Nuland to Russia as a diplomat!
Surely there must be some sublime Art of War behind this visitation, yet it seems to be just incomprehensible stupidity, the 'divine right of kings', in the form of the divine rights of the 'rules based' order.
Sending a rat as an emissary to the dinner table would be greeted with more enthusiasm!
Posted by: Ric G | Oct 27 2021 0:27 utc | 49
Rob @42--
Good question: Who/what stands to profit from a full scale war between the Outlaw US Empire and Russia, China, or both? With the nation destroyed along with its factories and workers, just what would the MIC do. What about banking? Insurers would be very busy with policy payouts and would likely declare bankruptcy,
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 26 2021 23:25 utc | 46
Ever the optimist, aren't you, karlof1? 99.997% of my money is electronic, entries in some data bases. What will happen to those funds, to banks, insurers etc. in the aftermath of attacks focused on "command, transportation and communication nodes"? At least, most folks around my town can survive with their crops, animals and weapons, so I presume that they will get first dibs in whatever stored supplies exist. For myself, I would have to console myself that I have lived most of my expected life span already.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 27 2021 0:35 utc | 50
David @41
Oh, absolutely! I lived for many years in Asia. When I returned to the US after so many years away I experienced a wrenching shock to feel a totally atrophied "eye in the back of the head" opening to the blinding hate and ill-will that permeates American society. I never even knew I had that eye until the stabbing pain of it re-opening forced itself on me. It was something I had grown up with but gradually forgotten about because it was never needed abroad. In the US, on the other hand, you have to watch your back all the time. It is not just the street thugs or road-ragers that you have to watch out for but the whole of society is totally cutthroat. It is all caveat emptor and fuck-you-too mixed into a toxic stew.
I really do wonder why anyone would ever visit the US the way I did with Latin America, and how they would survive if they did.
Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 27 2021 0:41 utc | 51
John Cleary | Oct 26 2021 21:41 utc | 38
re: ... My question is this. Do we have a single mind operating here, behind both Johnson and Biden. A single mind that exhibits the same fallibilities through all of its branches?
And a supplementary. How do we characterise a mind that absolutely expects to be given something of its choice while giving nothing in return?...
That word "mind" needs clarification...if that is possible, might open doors to answer to the above questions...even a solution, though it be crude or rudimentary, would invite awesome shifts in viewpoint.
Indeed you are onto something! I am listening. Please continue your inquiry.
Posted by: chu teh | Oct 27 2021 0:41 utc | 52
Well said Pjerome (47)
We must be a ship of fools to be controlled by a handful of debt bankers, with their charades of deception! Why do we trust that they are 'following the rules for money, and there is no other way'? Why are we so enchanted by the mysterious moving of 'financial hands' within the darkness! They monetise our own collateral, using their licenses to create bank credit, as interest-bearing debts. There can be no more insane monetary system, ever to walk the face of our earth!
Posted by: Ric G | Oct 27 2021 0:43 utc | 53
rob@42, you're not alone, lots of us having been gnawing this bone long into the night. imo, the u$real demented empire cannot imagine a choice & actually believe they will win. they've built their luxury bunkers, which putin told them some years ago they know where they are & they will not survive...still it doesn't penetrate. they cannot believe they might lose---that it could end. impossible. it was supposed to go differently, after all, this is not their first rodeo, they've done it to perfection from france, possibly before...transition from one husk duly sucked dry smoothly unto the next young well prepared babe. china has been well prepared, & the time is now before she gets any more delusional about whose in charge, now, russia...well, that bitch has some explaining...& yes she will pay & pay, like iran's oil, russia's gold & lapis are ours...all of it...not to worry, all will be good. & don't look back, u$a will get back on her feet after awhile...time's all that's needed, we've been there, we know what we're doing...o/c for a while it's going to be a big stretch of blown to shit & ah gone an ah that bt there's bound to be something left to pick up & turn to profit. eventually. we've a track record.
Posted by: emersonreturn | Oct 27 2021 1:12 utc | 54
@ Ric G | Oct 27 2021 0:27 utc | 49.... that was my thought exactly ric...
Posted by: james | Oct 27 2021 1:19 utc | 55
WG @ 39, David @ 41, Snake @ 45:
Your comments reminded me of a book "American Dream, Global Nightmare" written by British Muslim scholars Merryl Wyn Davies and Ziauddin Sardar years ago.
One of their arguments, presented as ten laws, about the nature of US culture and exceptionalism is that fear is an essential part of current US culture as represented by its popular products (Hollywood films for example) and underlies other aspects of the culture: the extreme emphasis on individualism and the accompanying paranoia and isolation, and the obsession with reinvention and constant restlessness and movement which reinforces and itself is buttressed by fear and hatred of others.
The Ten Laws for anyone who is interested:
Fear is essential
Escape is the reason for being
Ignorance is bliss
America is the idea of nation
Democratisation of everything is the essence of America
American democracy has the right to be imperial and express itself through empire
Cinema is the engine of empire
Celebrity is the common currency of empire
War is a necessity
American tradition and history are universal narratives applicable across all time and space
Posted by: Jen | Oct 27 2021 1:28 utc | 56
The following quote from the above article is at the root of the pathological delusion we see around us:
"This is not normal behavior; it is pathological. It speaks of the disengagement from reality noted above. And it is exceedingly dangerous since it disregards the actual attitudes and actions of others in the relentless effort to project onto them caricatured images, simplified conceptions of who they are and how they can be manipulated suited to the crude script we authored. Information from without, and the understanding that it encourages, are filtered and excluded whenever inconvenient. Instead, it is the introverted world of self-delusion alone that sources our distorted cognitive maps"
Yet US politics simply projects onto the world at large the same pathological delusion that wokeness, systemic racism and gender-ism project onto western culture
All of which reduces the highly complex, multiple value based social interactions that used to nurture western culture, to the single corrupting ideal of power struggle identity politics.
Identity politics with its celebration of any and every kind of victimmhood, real or increasingly imagined, is the delusion that has invaded US politics.
The US will fight because it increasingly sees itself, can portray itself, as the victim.
Posted by: Les7 | Oct 27 2021 1:30 utc | 57
William Gruff @ 39
David @ 41
snake @ 45
Agree with all of you about the US citizen's regard for non-citizens, and especially POC. I write this attitude off as a
by-product of the countries largest export...US Exceptionalism. The brainwashing of my/our citizens on this subject is complete.
Were #1, yeah! /s
Posted by: ReconFire | Oct 27 2021 1:49 utc | 58
@33 Hal Duell - "Will the USA listen?"
I think that's not necessary. In the terms of the rest of your comment, Russia and China are reacting to the demise of the US in ways that safeguard themselves and the rest of the world. The performance is by no means concluded or comprehensive yet, but they in fact are the principal responsible adults in the room.
My point is that it is not for us to hope that the US will listen, but to hope that the world has the skill to lower the US to its knees in its own footprint, like any controlled demolition.
Personally, I think that the world does have this skill. I believe that serendipity will aid this kind effort also.
The US is a dementia patient. One can now only trust the world to act wisely and from its own kindness - a kindness that the people of the US have never experienced, as the stories of travelers up-thread attest to, heartrendingly enough.
Posted by: Grieved | Oct 27 2021 1:52 utc | 59
@51 William Gruff and David too
I know of a local woman here in my small Texas town who has some experience traveling. Probably close to 70, an old hippie, she is afraid of nothing and no one. Her plan now is to sell her house and drive her luxury car down to the border with Mexico.
She will procure very long-term parking on the border, and head south, wherever the train timetables suggest. For howsoever long she deems. For howsoever far this goes.
I was a traveler myself once, and hope to be one again. I always said, the best people in the world were to be found on the high roads of the world.
I do appreciate your stories.
Posted by: Grieved | Oct 27 2021 2:05 utc | 60
There seems to be an important fact that has been ignored by everybody. The US is more diverse than ever before. As our greatest strength is our diversity, the US is obviously stronger than at any time in our history. The traditional metrics of infrastructure integrity, economic output, social welfare, financial sustainability no longer matter. And each caravan from Central America, every Haitian that makes it to our shores, the resettling of every refugee from every apparently failed military intervention designed to lull enemies of our freedoms into a false sense of security makes us stronger by the day.
Posted by: Kevin | Oct 27 2021 2:07 utc | 61
@61 Kevin
That diversity is only as strong as the narrative, belief, culture, and ideology that informs it.
When those immigrant kids are given puberty blocks at age 6, without parental consent, when parents are legally forced to affirm one of a dozen gender whims... what do you think they will contribute
@59 grieved...
"My point is that it is not for us to hope that the US will listen, but to hope that the world has the skill to lower the US to its knees in its own footprint, like any controlled demolition."
Well stated, let it be a prayer.
Posted by: Les7 | Oct 27 2021 2:21 utc | 62
Wow!
Comment #62 in a thread about World Domination and only one mention (Piotr Berman | Oct 26 2021 19:54 utc | 21) of "Israel" and The Lobby?
Has everyone 'forgotten' that The Lobby successfully 'cancelled' leftish UK politician, Jeremy Corbyn, and similarly leftish US politician Bernie Sanders?
Has everyone 'forgotten' that Western political momentum is dominated by politicians who proudly proclaim that they're "Good Friends Of "Israel"?"
Has anyone in the West bothered to ask their pro-"Israel" politicians what it is they admire about Holocaust-survivor lunatics who've been Holocausting Palestinians, in Palestine, for 75+ years?
Is it the shameless Chutzpah that our fraudulent, greedy, lying, secretive politicians admire?
It certainly looks that way to me.
If people want to fix what's wrong with the Yankee-dominated West, all they have to do is expunge all bribed pro-"Israel" psychopaths from Local, State and Federal politics.
And if the new crop of politicians insist on holding policy meetings behind closed doors, on any issue, don't let them back into the forum until every single one has sworn allegiance to We The People, and rejected "Israel" as an exemplar of anything worthwhile.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 27 2021 2:31 utc | 63
What might change US foreign policy?
Now a US congressman urges Australia to 'rethink' hosting US missiles, from the AFR:
"Washington | A US Congressman and chair of the 92-member Friends of Australia Caucus has urged the Morrison government to approve American missile launches on Australian soil. Republican Mike Gallagher also wants to include Australia in a special Pacific joint task force to defend Taiwan from Chinese military attack.
Mr Gallagher, who is a member of the House Armed Forces Committee, told at an event hosted by think tank Project 2049 on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) that the US would probably lose a fight on Taiwan given its current level of preparedness, and that Australia needed to lift its readiness...."
A defeat would definitely bring about a change of perspective.
Posted by: Paul | Oct 27 2021 2:36 utc | 64
Posted by: librul | Oct 26 2021 20:30 utc | 29
I skimmed through the article of Madam ex-Secretary of State (ex-Madam?) Albright, and it is Half-bright at best. In a nutshell, a sentimental appeal to treasure and champion democracy as a part of our tradition for the last 200 (?!) years and an essential part of American mission and whatever following America may gain.
On the level of action, rather than appeals, ex-Madam advocates to maintain American support of "civil society" in all possible countries (keep in mind, not possible in KSA, no comment that USA has such dear allies too). No advocacy of anything muscular. That may be shrewd: by skillful tutelage of "civil society" USA got pleasing election results in a number of places, and pleasing ruckus in other places, say, Venezuela -- Guaido is an alumni of training courses for "social activists". Percentage and cost wise, it is a better approach than military intervention. In Western Hemisphere some military intervention had lasting results, but there folks know English, elite is educated in USA etc. Ex-Madam does not even mention sanctions as a tool.
I am old enough to view this attention to democracy as a new thing. I came to USA in 1980, and at that time the discourse was about moral superiority of authoritarianism (yes! authoritarianism) over totalitarian Communism, and thus necessity of supporting the good guys in Guatemala and El Salvador, and opposing bad guys in Nicaragua. And with some American nuns get raped and killed in the process or some villages get massacred, well, freedom may require sacrifices.
Even today, if you come from Mars (or Russia?), and you compare pairs of neighboring countries that are classified as authoritarian enemy and democratic friend sharing a border, Nicaragua/Honduras, Venezuela/Colombia, it is very hard to match those distinctions with some textbook explanations of "democracy".
Without delving too deeply, the problem with the support of democracy is that USA/NATO/EU does not support democracy, but uses a hollowed label to bestow boons and poxes.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 27 2021 2:54 utc | 65
Thanks b good article. An operative sentence, and obvious truth was;
"A country that held the world in awe as the land where the ‘common man’ reigned does not passively accept its degeneration into a predatory oligarchy. It does not experience the degradation of public discourse to the point where candor is an endangered species and truth is itself homeless. "
Posted by: vetinLA | Oct 27 2021 3:29 utc | 66
Thank you b for a good article.
Alastair Crooke asks, "Does the Team not understand that it is not ‘containing’ competition, but rather playing-with-fire, through its’ opaque hints that the U.S. might support Taiwan independence?" The hints just got less opaque. In a recent statement Blinken encourages "all U.N. member states to join us in supporting Taiwan's robust, meaningful participation throughout the U.N. system and in the international community."
Posted by: TN | Oct 27 2021 3:36 utc | 67
@66 ventin
But candor IS an endangered species.
Just look at the treatment of Assange, or any military truth teller.
Social media censorship is overt and explicit re unacceptable covid narrative, unwelcome climate science, natural health treatments that threatened pharma... and employees are relentlessly muzzled by confidentiality clauses.
Why is it only retirees are free to speak??
Lysenkoism reigns in dozens of spheres politically, socially, medically and economically in the western Empire.
Posted by: Les7 | Oct 27 2021 3:44 utc | 68
To this day Amerikastanis claim the Cuban Missile Crisis was a "victory ", that Amerikastan "forced Russia to back down", and deliberately or out of stupidity and deliberate ignorance memory hole the concurrent Amerikastani withdrawal of missiles from the Ottoman entity. Therefore if there is the danger of another Cuban Missile Crisis level confrontation, Amerikastanis, rather than getting their heads "screwed on straight", will probably enthusiastically cheer for it.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Oct 27 2021 4:01 utc | 69
There will be no Cuban Missile Crisis 2.
Putin says- What is the point of a world without Russia?
The US says- What is the point of a world where we don't have Full Spectrum Dominance?
It will be one or the other.
Posted by: jiri | Oct 27 2021 4:10 utc | 70
"At both the elite and popular level, it is only fear of war that, on a purely pragmatic basis, will break the comatose intellectual/political state that the United States is in."
Waaaay too optimistic.
Fear of war doesn't stop madmen who believe themselves to be invincible. War is what they want.
Posted by: Piero Colombo | Oct 27 2021 4:17 utc | 71
The fraudulent election of brain addled Biden was an earlier step in whatever future the US elite has in mind. It is difficult to know whether they are playing some desperate complex game to try and bring China and Russia down or are they just totally incompetent ideologues behaving as though the USA is still top dog economically and militarily. I think it is the latter. Exactly the same behaviour is on show in Europe as they attempt to bargain with Russia over gas when they hold no cards at all
Posted by: Ike | Oct 27 2021 4:26 utc | 72
The scary bit comes most likely in 2024 when the GOP & Trump 'win' the presidential election and all the super-hawks (Bolton comes immediately to mind) decide to really go to town on Russia & China.
How that plays out is anyone's guess, but it won't be good for the world however it turns out.
Posted by: digital dinosaur | Oct 27 2021 4:27 utc | 73
Irrational polizical decision makers + a Cuba missile crisis-like situation. What a combination! How can a sane person seriously make such a proposal?
Besides, in the America it get's much deeper than just the politicians.
First of all, the USA us a very young nation that during it's short history has experienced one continoues rise. China haf it's "century of shame", Russia had 1917 and 1991, America had never anything like that. In fact China haf in it's centuries long history many ups and downs up to the point that the Chinese - pretty much like anyone else in the world - see regular ups and downs as the normal state of life. Americans face the first serious down in their history and for them it looks like the end of the world.
But secondly - and more imortantly - ideology. The Soviet Union - communism = Russia. The USA - "freedom and democracy" = ?
Unlike Russia the USA had been founded as an ideological state. The Soviet leaders proved to dogmatic to implement any serious reform until almost the very end. When the downfall eventually came it was from the Russian perspective "the greatest geopolitical catastrophy of the 20th ventury". On the other hand there had been centuries of Russia without Soviet vommunism. So there could be a non-communist Russia again. It was conceiveable and today it is a reality.
But what is a non-"free and democratic" America?
Posted by: m | Oct 27 2021 4:45 utc | 74
b wrote
On The Delusion In U.S. Foreign Policy And What Might Change It
If countries stop buying US Treasuries then delusional foreign policy is no longer supported......one problem is many countries are under the global private finance jackboot too much to go another way.
The Trump/Pompeo/Bolton shit show was just as delusional, IMO
SSDD Same Shit, Different Day
Am I the only one waiting for "the-other-shoe-to-drop"? Will our vein/cancer of barbarism do us in? The sci-fi in me muses about what sort of "moving gear" humanity represents in the overall machination that is the Cosmos as we ponder our Darwinian moment.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 27 2021 4:47 utc | 75
Piotr Berman @ 21, excuse me but your snark is incorrect.
"1. Immaculate conception of our Lord and Savior. "
There is no such dogma. There is a dogma that the Catholic Church has, concerning the birth of the Virgin Mary herself, her own having been conceived, that conception pronounced "immaculate" by that faith.
It isn't part of the credo ("I believe") of the Orthodox faith, which is Putin's faith by the way, as well as mine.
Snark away, but if you wish to snark about the Creed, here is what we say:
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made...
We say this,(and more) and we believe it. Saker does also. And a snark on this would be as if I snarked your mother; that's how it would feel to us. It doesn't involve our reason, our ability to think about world affairs. It doesn't make us stupid or bellicose or just plain psycho. It is, for us, our way of being fully human, loving our fellow man, seeking peace for the world, all the good things, nothing bad. As rational human beings like all rational human beings, but with this belief which does not conflict with reason - because, as you would say, it's not rational! (Here I am smiling, no snark intended)
;)
Posted by: juliania | Oct 27 2021 4:52 utc | 76
@37 Gualg
What I already wrote earlier: Without China the GIs wouldn't even have the pants to shit into in case of war.
Posted by: aquadraht | Oct 27 2021 6:16 utc | 77
Posted by: juliania | Oct 27 2021 4:52 utc | 76
By dogma, I meant a belief associated with a rejection of any challenge, i.e. refusal to contemplate arguments to the contrary. In religions there are dogmas named as such, plus assorted beliefs that are dogmas in a wider sense. For example, to people sarcastically dubbed "Jewed Christians", 2nd Amendment has the status of one of 10 commandments. At the very least, there is a big overlap between those demographics.
Wiki (reliable on that point, I guess): "Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, ... ". Again, as in the case of Israel, I used "immaculate" as "pure, unblemished" and that applies to Mary Mother-of-God, while her Son's conception is "pure, unblemished AND holy". To a non-believer like me, two concepts are the same (what is holy?) but I agree, to a Christian there is a difference.
But Israel, as created and as it exists now is surely Immaculate, if you doubt that, I am afraid that you reject Benevolent, Beneficent and Indispensible Nature of USA and other obvious facts. Obviously, under a Malign Influence (most typically, by Russia or Iran, somehow I did not encounter Malign Chinese Influence, Malign Bolivarian Influence etc.) you can do exactly that.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 27 2021 7:14 utc | 78
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 26 2021 20:22 utc | 26
"I wonder how many other foreign ministries of NATO nations will note Lavrov's words? I'm sure they didn't go unnoticed in Brussels."
Lavrov, the ‘diplomatic rock-star’ as Pepe Escobar characterized him, was indeed here in Tromsø yesterday. While I wouldn’t cross the street to see any US pol, I was tempted to walk the 5 miles to town just to get a glimpse of him. It’s comforting to know that amongst all the ‘Russia did it’ nonsense, the reality is that we here in the north have traded and cooperated with Russia for hundreds of years and there is very little fear of the Big Bear. After all, they were the ones who drove the Nazis out of the north of Norway in WWII and that is still fresh in our consciousness. If they wanted our land, they had it then, but they went back home. Why Worry Now?, as Mark Knoffler so beautifully wrote.
But of course the Swedes are a different bent as shown by their concurrent hosting of a “Security Challenges in the Baltic Region” seminar in Stockholm, attended by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. (Norwegian correctly ID’d Stoltenberg as a ‘quisling’ and Pepe again caused a grin by labeling him ‘spectacularly mediocre’.) It baffles that ‘Security Challenges’ could be met with such deliberately divisive actions.
Posted by: vk | Oct 26 2021 21:57 utc | 40
“The American Dream became unsustainable in 2008...
...On the other side of the coin, the rest of the world - specially China - got fed up with getting the "dumb jobs", the "dirty jobs" to serve the American people.”
I don’t disagree although I would say the American Dream was always just a dream.
As you are obviously well-read in Marxist literature, I’m curious if you have read the late Samir Amin and have any thoughts of his take on the difficulties facing the Global South. Specifically, are we seeing, with the recent change of attitude of both China and Russia, the beginnings of what Amin characterized as a ‘delinking’ as the only way for the GS to get out of the imperialist era of the West?
Posted by: waynorinorway | Oct 27 2021 7:33 utc | 79
But what is a non-"free and democratic" America?
Posted by: m | Oct 27 2021 4:45 utc | 74
Going back to the beginning of the "union of several states", (Wiki:) Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician, and orator best known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty, or give me death!" As a "planter", Patrick Henry did not give freedom to his slaves. Fast forward to the election season of 2016, Hillary Clinton declared that "you will not find me singing praises of dictators or strongmen who do not love America!" -- in a debate with Trump. A lawyer to the bone, Hillary made all necessary caveats: if a dictator, strongman or an absolute monarchs LOVES America, singing praises is OK. Otherwise, the praises may be pronounced non-melodiously (few years later, she worked on a "reset" with Russia, something that did not repeat after 2010). However emphatic, the devotion to freedom is VERY situational.
"Democratic" can be deconstructed in a similar way. Americans accepted the adage "Democracy is Not a Suicide Pact" (a title of a book by an Israeli-American), and they bend democratic principles whenever they deem it important. The devotion to democracy is very soft, except among fervent believers in 2nd Amendment, but those do not care about the rest of Bill of Rights.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 27 2021 7:40 utc | 80
John Cleary #38
How do we characterise a mind that absolutely expects to be given something of its choice while giving nothing in return?
Perhaps: Her Highness?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 27 2021 7:53 utc | 81
Grieved $59
My point is that it is not for us to hope that the US will listen, but to hope that the world has the skill to lower the US to its knees in its own footprint, like any controlled demolition.
Thank you for a perfect metaphor to represent our fervent hope. The US cannot listen IMO and suffer from terminal occupation of its administrative higher functions. There are so many ex-patriots and their descendants of European nations that have set out to occupy the policy setting hierarchies, be they Poles, Ukranians, Germans etc that the entire potential of the US to think and act independently is handcuffed to ridiculous baggage and race hate and xenophobia of Europe from the 1930's+. In addition the billionaire class occupation of the economic and political sphere has rendered the nation comatose to enlightenment and yes it will be brought to its knees bound in its own manacles of self interest.
I too suspect that serendipity will lend a hand and perhaps has commenced already.
In the meantime saner nations with more room to maneuver and perhaps better timing can bring the rest of the world under a more humane security and financial shelter than what the US represents.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 27 2021 8:22 utc | 82
To sum up,!
The world is hostage to egotistical morons who have missed the fact that the realities of the world have changed since 1990 profoundly.
Aided and abetted by same morons offshoring the bulk of their productive economy.
Add to the above the quality of US statecraft has diminished to an appalling level.
Not very promising is it?
Posted by: Justin Carty | Oct 27 2021 8:24 utc | 83
@80 Piotr Berman
I've put "freedom and democracy" in quotation marks for a reason. It's feedom and democracy in the propaganda and for the true beliefer, too, but what is really is is a very specific ideology. This ideology is liberalism (from the economic side: capitalism) but with a specific American touch.
Maybe "liberalism with American accent" would be an accurate designation?
That ideology in it's innitial stage did also contain slavery (just like virtually all non-Western societies of the 18th. century by the way) but that's not really the point in this context.
My point is that "freedom and democracy" is not just the ruling ideology of the USA (just like Marxism-Leninism was the ruling ideology of the Soviet Union) but that America had been founded as a liberal country. The never had been a non-liberal (communist, feudel, monarchist etc.) America. Hence it is extremely difficult for politicians and ordinary people alike to conceive somethimg really different to what they have right now.
Posted by: m | Oct 27 2021 9:39 utc | 84
Posted by: Les7 | Oct 27 2021 2:21 utc | 62
When those immigrant kids are given puberty blocks at age 6, without parental consent, when parents are legally forced to affirm one of a dozen gender whims... what do you think they will contribute
Puberty blockers at 6 are nonsense by definition, and administering them would constitute medical malpractice even within a medical framework that acommodated trans people.
Posted by: Misotheist | Oct 27 2021 10:01 utc | 85
There are two things that ‘America’ has given the world that have not yet been proved transient. Not counting the many extinctions.
Cowboys & Texas Holdem Poker.
The former is a fantasy born out of Hollywood and DWGriffiths white supremacy plans for that medium. Which mostly ignored the original AfroAmerican cowboys. John Wayne syndrome mutated into spaghetti comic book ‘cool killer’ type.
The latter is a game that requires some bluff and where having the bullets doesn’t guarantee a win (a pretty ‘un-American’ concept!).
So the Nuland gambits , the pathetic prodding of the Eastern bears, is of course all about posturing, having shiny guns and big hats and bluffing to get a ‘win’.
But the world knows cowboys are just a bit of celluloid and how to play poker as well if not a lot better than any Yankee shark which is actually just a fish.
In simple terms less than a billion combined 5+1 eyed toadies will not carry on enslaving and exploiting 10 billion humans and their lands and resources within this generation and the end of this century will have seen the current Dominate version of the Roman Empire put in the the rubbish bin of history waiting to be collected as landfill in some stinking noxious hole in the ground..
Scared of a hot war? Lol I’d be more scared on a film set making cowboy films with terrible gamblers!
Posted by: D.G. | Oct 27 2021 10:12 utc | 86
Well, neglect something long enough -- without actual deliberate harmful acts -- and more often or not, it breaks. Way too much has been way too neglected since at least the 1980s. Our political leaders of both parties went all in then in supporting and serving the ruling class (the true special interests) and the rest of the nation not so much. The fuckers couldn't even manage a fully responsible response to Covid, just for a recent example. Add tolerance of the weakening of the right to vote, continued support of an extractive, which is to say impoverishing, economy and so on and so forth...
As for foreign policy, since it's a whole lot of, well, bullshit surrounding the one true goal of making the world safe for western capitalists and pretty much nothing else, so our leaders stumble with actual policies. Big surprise.
Posted by: Hart Liss | Oct 27 2021 10:39 utc | 87
Puberty blockers at 6 are nonsense by definition, and administering them would constitute medical malpractice even within a medical framework that acommodated trans people.
Posted by: Misotheist | Oct 27 2021 10:01 utc | 84
Yep. I fear this is all just big experiments in dehumanizing peoples. There's a good article written by thesaker about the power that be is using minorities as tools mainly because they are much more race/segregation conscious and would be more motivated to secure their interests. I would also add to that that is they also amplify and over represents them to drown out the majority opinions and views.
Posted by: Lucci | Oct 27 2021 10:57 utc | 88
Perhaps: Her Highness?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 27 2021 7:53 utc | 81
You left out the dirty word UT, that is, the "R" word. Out of modesty, I presume, not wanting filth to come from you mouth ...
Posted by: BM | Oct 27 2021 11:19 utc | 89
"It seems that Russia and China, seeing all this, will remain aloof and patient – waiting upon structures to crack."
Last century this – and in very many ways similar – "total social and economic collapse" in Germany morphed into social and stately formation, which in no time was ready to wage horrific war on Soviet Union in Europe. China had it's share, too.
Yet now, as then, there's nothing they could do – the meaning of envoys was perhaps to deliver exactly this message. There's nothing you could do. You shall have no access to our populus, there's nothing to discuss, you do not mess with us.
Posted by: js | Oct 27 2021 12:25 utc | 90
Paul @Oct27 2:36 #64
Yeah, AUSUK was always about the missiles. The 'tiff' with France was just a smokescreen.
(A point I made repeatedly at moa.)
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 27 2021 13:18 utc | 91
Jen @Oct27 1:28 #56: Ten laws
We should be talking more about fundamentals like this.
I've written repeatedly of the ideologies that drive the Empire: Neocollonialism (Zionism); Neoconservativism (a new aristocracy); Neoliberalism (fascism).
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 27 2021 13:22 utc | 92
digital dinosaur @Oct27 4:27 #73: The scary bit comes ... when the GOP & Trump 'win'
Yup.
I've recently been writing at moa about the move to the right and how the Left has been manipulated into self-destructing to accommodate/complete that move.
In 2024 a Republican President will have a Republican majority in Congress. He will declare he's been given a 'mandate' by the people.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 27 2021 13:28 utc | 93
@ karlof1 | Oct 26 2021 20:22 utc | 26
Norway: Russia-NATO relations are not "catastrophic" but simply non-existent - Lavrov
Lavrov is the only adult in the room. The strategy to maintain relations with individual countries and not having any relation with NATO is the correct approach.
Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 27 2021 13:29 utc | 94
@ waynorinorway | Oct 27 2021 7:33 utc | 79
Agreed, well stated!
Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 27 2021 13:39 utc | 95
Les7 @Oct27 1:30 #57
An important point about how the propaganda works. It's always about THEM. How dare they!
The subtext: 'WE', the population of the most powerful Empire ever, are victimized by THEIR contempt for us.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 27 2021 13:42 utc | 96
b, is there a link to the Brenner mailing list? Could you at least give us his institutional home?
Posted by: dadooronron | Oct 27 2021 13:53 utc | 97
@ my 35
re: US gray zone diplomacy
. . .an example from today's headlines--
Iran says cyberattack closes gas stations across country . . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 27 2021 14:11 utc | 98
Piotr Berman @Oct26 20:07 #23
In my opinion, what can be described as a "shift to the right" is an accumulation of mutations in the worldview of our elite. And the tolerance of irrational and weird is biased because of life circumstances of the elite.
IMO this is a superficial explanation. Those who care to look more deeply, armed with a good understanding US political history and world history of the last several decades, will likely come to believe that the totality of political manipulation, propaganda, and military adventurism show evidence of coordination.
John Cleary @Oct26 21:41 #38 and others have noted the existence of such a guiding hand.
The 2003 Iraq War is a prime example. GW Bush was determined to go to war. His brother and his father's neocon crony's were involved PNAC deliberations regarding a 'new Pearl Harbor' in the years before the war. Many of these 'planners' would later serve in the Bush Administration. "You're with us or the terrorists" meant relegated all dissenters to enemy sympathizers. It was a perfect storm of lies and deceit that wasted trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lies. And it continues to this day with the occupation of Syria and the new Cold War.
You (and others) may be interested in reading my response to Tom_Q_Collins who professed to be "not fully convinced" of such a guiding hand. In fact, my discussion about the coming US move to the right with Tom and Gruff in the later part of that thread is worthwhile to anyone "not fully convinced".
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 27 2021 14:13 utc | 99
@JackRabbit #19
You also predicted Trump would win.
I have a long-running, collegial discussion with a friend and ex-coworker of mine on where things will go. He is a devout Christian and ascribes everything as the NWO global elites/Satan setting up the US for a fall, so that Jesus can come and save us all.
My point for bringing this up is the Manichaeist belief in a near or fully omnipotent/omniscient Devil/darkness/bad group - when it is far more likely that the world is simply run by idiots and sociopaths.
Posted by: c1ue | Oct 27 2021 14:16 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
The problem with USA foreign policy is that Americans are not consulted, are not allowed to see, and are not given the facts necessary to become fluent in USA foreign policy. The problems are one thing, but the opportunities and risk of .. doing business with foreign nation are quite another.
Every thing the media presents is made up virtual world stuff, there is no factual meat in the media content for the American consumer to digest and the politicians themselves are not informed enough to be helpful.
To answer your question B, when the everyday American people become creditably influential in USA foreign policy you will see some real changes. It really is that simple.. No more secrecy, no more privately owned media content full of baseless made up anti Russian and Anti China Propaganda is the answer.. But the Oligarch who have been benefiting from secret foreign activities protected by the USA will never allow what needs to happen, to happen.
The biggest problem in USA foreign policy is that Americans are not entitled to become informed and are not allowed to participate in foreign affairs.
Posted by: snake | Oct 26 2021 17:35 utc | 1