Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
October 10, 2024

Biden's Intent Is To Sow Chaos - Netanyahoo And Zelensky Are Working For Him

There is a great believe peddled by main stream media that the Biden administration is trying to hold the Zionists   back from their devastating action in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond, but unfortunately fails to do so. Some commentators argue that this is the case because the Israel lobby has a very strong position in U.S. policies and can direct the U.S. government into any direction of its liking.

My hunch is that this is putting the cart before the horse.

It is in fact the Biden administration which is using the Israeli (and Ukrainian) government to serve its foreign policy purposes. As I remarked:

This has been the general theme of a media campaign for a while. "Natanyahoo is steamrolling Biden and the poor guy can do nothing about it."

I do not buy it. One phone call from the White House to the Pentagon would hold resupply flights from the U.S. to Israel. Without constant supply renewal the Israeli Air Force would have to stop its bombing campaigns in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen within days if not within hours.

But instead of calling the Pentagon, the whole Middle East team around Biden, Antony Blinken, Brett McGurk and IDF soldier Amos Hochstein, has been urging Israel to extend its campaign.

They are hoping, like the neoconservatives in 2006 during the Bush administration, for the 'birth pangs of a new Middle East', which will forever change the strategic situation on the ground.
...
The conclusion from this is that Netanyahoo is largely doing exactly what the Biden administration wants him to do.

Gilbert Doctorow, the well known historian and journalist, is of similar opinion:

More on tails wagging dogs and vice versa

Some viewers/readers support my contention that the United States is using Israel as its proxy in the Middle East and is not just enabling but even directing Israel’s rampage in the region to ‘kick ass’ generally and to reinforce American dominance there in line with American global hegemony. Far from being outraged by the Israeli atrocities, the U.S. government is satisfied to see Israel take revenge for the many humiliations that the United States has suffered in the Middle East, most recently in the disorderly and disgraceful pull-out from Afghanistan but going back, say, 40 years to the hostage taking at the American embassy in Teheran by the new revolutionary Iranian leadership there that overthrew the American backed Shah.

Others in my audience have not hesitated to say that they think I am wrong, and that indeed Prime Minister Netanyahu is leading Joe Biden & Company around by the nose, which just happens to be the consensus view in mainstream media.

Most of this discussion is not visible to the broad public. However, the ‘Judging Freedom’ channel which has 450,000 subscribers and its host, Judge Andrew Napolitano put my proposition on the dog (USA) wagging the tail (Israel) to several of his best-known panelists in the 24 hours following my interview with him. To be sure, my idea seemed so ‘contrarian’ that it demanded a response from the mightiest minds in the alternative media camp. They obliged. With one exception, the mightiest minds were dismissive of my interpretation in more respectful, less respectful ways.
...

Professor John Mearsheimer and Larry Johnson are two of the guest on the Napolitano show who reject Doctorow's thesis.

However, Doctorow and I are not the only ones delving into this conundrum. Professor of history at Columbia University Adam Tooze, a rather famous commentator, joined us with his current Guardian comment:

Facing war in the Middle East and Ukraine, the US looks feeble. But is it just an act?

There is one school of thought that says the Biden administration is muddling through. It has no grand plan. It lacks the will or the means to discipline or direct either the Ukrainians or the Israelis. As a result, it is mainly focused on avoiding a third world war.
...
But what if that interpretation is too benign? What if it underestimates the intentionality on Washington’s part? What if key figures in the administration actually see this as a history-defining moment and an opportunity to reshape the balance of world power? What if what we are witnessing is the pivoting of the US to a deliberate and comprehensive revisionism by way of a strategy of tension?

Revisionist powers are those that want to overturn the existing state of things. In an extended sense, this can also mean a desire to alter the flow of events; for instance, to redirect or halt the process of globalisation. Revisionism is often associated with resentment or nostalgia for an earlier, better age.

Tooze digs down into the various action the Biden administration has taken against Russia, China and in the Middle East. He concludes:

In all three arenas – China, Ukraine and the Middle East – the US will say that it is responding to aggression. But rather than working consistently for a return to the status quo it is, in fact, raising the stakes. While insisting that it supports the rules-based order, what we are witnessing is something closer to a revival of the ruinous neoconservative ambition of the 1990s and 2000s.
...
[T]here is more going on here than simply muddling through. First the Trump and now the Biden presidencies are willing contributors to the controlled demolition of the 1990s post-cold war order.

People seem to have forgotten that Biden was never a liberal in the progressive sense. Since being a freshman in Congress Biden has always been on the conservative side of things:

Alliances With Segregationists

1975: Mr. Biden joined Senator Jesse Helms, a Republican segregationist from North Carolina, in supporting an anti-busing amendment to an education spending bill. When the amendment failed, Mr. Biden wrote a narrower measure that prevented schools from using federal dollars to assign teachers or students by race. It passed, 50-43.

In a television interview, Mr. Biden called busing an “asinine concept” and said he had “gotten to the point where I think our only recourse to eliminate busing may be a constitutional amendment.”

In 2002 Biden was joined at the hip with the neoconservatives when he, as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, feverishly argued for launching the war on Iraq:

In a speech days before the 2002 [Iraq war] vote, Bush did say approving the resolution “does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable,” but he also laid out in detail why military action “may” be needed. And on the day the war broke out, Biden acknowledged, “We voted to give him the authority to wage that war. We should step back and be supportive.”

When the Biden administration is sowing global chaos the way it currently does, it is acting along a path which Biden has long favored and with the intent to sow chaos, not because this or that outside power is pressing him to do so.

Posted by b on October 10, 2024 at 13:28 UTC | Permalink

Comments
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I have posted this elsewhere, & will here, now.

To quote the infamous Killary, "At this point, what difference does it make?"

USUK/Israel are karma-enmeshed. What goes around, comes around. The perps will go down together & drag the rest of us us with them.

Posted by: Mary | Oct 10 2024 13:37 utc | 1

You're not often wrong, b: but you're wildly off base here. You're correct that Biden and the vast majority of American elites have zero regard for the Palestinians, and would happily see them all die.

But aside from election-year disaster among young people committed against "Islamophobia," Biden really wanted to "win" in Ukraine. Israel needing to drain American military supplies doesn't merely cut what can be offered to Israel, the prospect of another war in the Middle East badly damages Biden with Americans, and not just people sympathetic to Islam.

By contrast, Netanyahu has many reasons to provoke international conflict, and he correctly realizes that the Jewish state will not survive without those measures. Of course it won't survive regardless, but delusion is a powerful thing. By contrast, Trump was against expanded war to the point SecDef Mattis resigned over it. Not a good risk for Israel, who uses Epstein networks even more than they use the Lobby.

Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Oct 10 2024 13:40 utc | 2

The neocon/Zionist alliance is unholy indeed. It's hard to say who leads whom. What matters is that they share a domineering, imperialist mindset

Posted by: Chris N | Oct 10 2024 13:42 utc | 3

‘Youth Demand’ Activists Replace Picasso’s Painting with Palestinian Mother Photo

…..

“I’m taking action with Youth Demand because at this point it’s been over a year of seeing my colleagues in the healthcare field decimated by bombs and bullets,” Jai Halai said in a post on the group’s account on X.

“We need a two-way arms embargo on Israel now; 87% of the British public support this, but our government continues to arm Israel. Direct action is our duty as young people. We must defend those without a voice today and protect our future,” he added.

The young activist emphasized that civil resistance is the duty of all young people “to defend those without a voice today and to defend our futures. It’s time to take to the streets; bring on the revolution!”

Rosenfeld on her part said that she has a moral obligation as a Jewish student to speak out….

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/youth-demand-activists-replace-picassos-painting-with-palestinian-mother-photo/

Posted by: Exile | Oct 10 2024 13:46 utc | 4

Indeed.

USofA is direct participant/combatant & enabler, Perfidious Albion and other Vassals are in it up to thier eyeballs. While cynically insincerely calling for restraint/de-escalation. Increasing censorship/suppression. Pure evil.

Furthermore, contrary to what many are led to/or believe, Empire will 'Have Israels back', until, due events/ruthless calculus re 'Interests', it does NOT. Now only a matter of time. Israel is expendable. Will follow the same path and fate as 'The BanderaLands'.

Peace

Posted by: Outraged | Oct 10 2024 13:49 utc | 5

From PC live feed:

….Thu, Oct 10, 3:38 PM (Palestine Time)
Israel Confiscates UNRWA Land in Jerusalem

ISRAELI ARMY RADIO: There is an order to confiscate the land on which the headquarters of UNRWA is located in Jerusalem and allocate it for the construction of settlement units…..

Comment - this ain‘t going to help the Likud‘s case at the ICJ and UNGA

Posted by: Exile | Oct 10 2024 13:51 utc | 6

The US and Israel are partners in crime. To be sure, Israel is the junior partner but it does nothing without the US' say-so.

Posted by: Barofsky | Oct 10 2024 13:51 utc | 7

"My hunch is that this is putting the cart before the horse."

You are right on.

The Biden/Empire, for PR reasons makes it look like they are trying to retrain Israel but that is just PR. If they wanted to restrain Israel its pretty simple-all they have to do is threaten to cut off military and economic aid-but they don't.

The idiotic Zionists are but another attack dog proxy army working for the Empire.

Posted by: canuck | Oct 10 2024 13:52 utc | 8

Keep in mind, Trump was impeached holding up military aid to Ukraine.

Posted by: ChatET | Oct 10 2024 13:53 utc | 9

There is no separation between dog and tail.

What we have here is a self-wagging dog tail.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Oct 10 2024 13:55 utc | 10

Posted by: Exile | Oct 10 2024 13:51 utc | 7

Yeah but it won't make any difference

Posted by: Barofsky | Oct 10 2024 13:59 utc | 11

'The whole racist propaganda on the theme of the supposed superiority of Jewish morality and intellect (in which many Jewish socialists were prominent) is bound up with a lack of sensitivity for the suffering of that major part of humanity who were especially oppressed during the last thousand years - the peasants.'


Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak, A Jewish concentration camp survivor (Belsen)

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 13:59 utc | 12

@ They Call Me (G)Idget | Oct 10 2024 13:40 utc | 3
So very tiresome. Wrong bar. Yawn ...
See: (Potemkin) Anocracy.

Posted by: Outraged | Oct 10 2024 14:00 utc | 13

This is very similar to the schlock that a new book by former journalist now paid shill Bob Woodward is pushing. In his book, titled “War” US intelligence believed Russia could use a nuke if its forces were surrounded in Kherson City. The story Woodward is peddling is that US intelligence assessed the chance of Russia using a nuclear weapon was up to 50%. The book is trying to sell the idea that heroic Biden did not alter course on US policy, and forced Putin to stand down. They are trying to burnish Biden's legacy by pushing a fan fiction that Biden told National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to “get on the line with the Russians. Tell them what we will do in response” and that this stopped a nuclear attack.
They are now trying to claim that since no nuke was used that they were successful. Pure BS.

Posted by: DC4VLAD | Oct 10 2024 14:00 utc | 14

It is Zionists in charge of the US, not the other way around. If there is a desire within the US Govt for the "birth pangs of a new Middle East" it is only because the Biden Administration is packed to the rafters with dual-citizens whose loyalties lie with Israel, not the US. While most of the non-dual citizens have been bought and paid for by AIPAC.

A war with Iran would be of zero benefit - zero - to the Biden Administration and the US. The resultant sky-rocketing oil price when Iran hits oil rigs and blocks the Straits of Hormuz would be disastrous, for a start. Particularly in an election year. The fact the US Govt is even entertaining the idea of a war with Iran is evidence they are not the ones in charge.

I'd wager that there is a battle raging within the State Dept and Pentagon between officials pointing this out, and the "Israel first" dual-citizens and AIPAC-bought whores trying to drag the US into yet another war.

Posted by: ADB | Oct 10 2024 14:02 utc | 15

Who knows who is behind the curtain running US policy (multi-national corporations?). It is not demented Biden. There sure is an atmosphere of desperation seeping out of the west. The US and Israel are one, Israel is an imperial colony, and the indigenous people are rising up.. and Israel (no matter who is directing the current genocidal policy... The western elites will offers Israel as the scapegoat of in this ethnic cleansing , "are hand are clean" it was the Israelis", after the fact to their populations) will cease to exist.

Posted by: dp | Oct 10 2024 14:03 utc | 16

While I sort of agree with B’s and Mr Doctorow’s analysis, having grown up in the US, I think you are giving our political leadership too much credit. Watching the machinations of the US “leadership” for my lifetime, I think such ideas are beyond their comprehension.

Watching these people operate is like watching Mayans sacrificing humans to change the weather. They live in a magical world completely believing their own myths, which do make them a lot of money and give them status among the other anthropods.

I used to wonder why the Mayans were so ill informed. Now I understand. People in power live in their own myths and will kill everyone else to carry them out. This, just because they cannot question their own reality.

Posted by: Michael.j | Oct 10 2024 14:03 utc | 17

Keep in mind, Trump was impeached holding up military aid to Ukraine.

Posted by: ChatET | Oct 10 2024 13:53 utc | 10

########

Trump was impeached because they wanted to impeach him.

They could have impeached him for liking french fries or wearing argyle socks.

Impeachment is not legal, it is political.

A President would definitely be impeached for not doing everything for Israel.

b is correct. Doctorow is correct.

Perhaps it takes a non-American to see this dynamic clearly.
America is not for peace and progress. America is for dominance and power.

Power doesn't care about children, or journalists, or international law. Power cares about more power and eliminating all threats to its power.

It is not moral or good. It just is. Without moral, ethical, or legal limits.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 10 2024 14:04 utc | 18

Biden is a Zionist so he'll be right behind whatever Netanyahu does.

I'd also wager that the English PM is also a Zionist.

"Labour’s Ministry of Defence refuses to provide any details of secret American flights
US special forces have flown average of once a week to Israel from UK base on Cyprus under Labour
American commandos are “actively helping the Israelis” with their assault on Gaza
US special forces flights to Israel from a British airbase have doubled in frequency since Keir Starmer took over from Rishi Sunak as prime minister, it can be revealed.

At least 13 US planes used by special forces, nearly all of them unmarked, have gone from Britain’s sprawling airbase on Cyprus to Israel since Labour took office on July 5. This works out at an average of one a week since Starmer won the election.

During Labour’s first month in office four CN-235 planes made the 340km journey from RAF Akrotiri to Tel Aviv. In August, five made the 50 minute flight.

October has already seen three such flights to Israel which flew last Thursday as well as on Sunday and Tuesday. Two of these flights were marked as US Air Force (USAF) for the first time."


https://www.declassifieduk.org/u-s-special-ops-flights-to-israel-from-uks-cyprus-base-surge-under-starmer/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 10 2024 14:06 utc | 19

The resultant sky-rocketing oil price when Iran hits oil rigs and blocks the Straits of Hormuz would be disastrous, for a start. Particularly in an election year. The fact the US Govt is even entertaining the idea of a war with Iran is evidence they are not the ones in charge.

I'd wager that there is a battle raging within the State Dept and Pentagon between officials pointing this out, and the "Israel first" dual-citizens and AIPAC-bought whores trying to drag the US into yet another war.

Posted by: ADB | Oct 10 2024 14:02 utc | 16

Exactly. There are multiple factions within the American government, but the sheer damage done to the international system makes it quite impossible for most normal Democrats to "want" Israel's attempt at Hitler Speed Chess. Already the ICC has turned into a joke while the world waits to see if the ICJ is going the same way.

There are people who want to deflect attention away from Israel, of course, but it's not going to work.

Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Oct 10 2024 14:08 utc | 20

@Republicofscotland

"Biden is a Zionist so he'll be right behind whatever Netanyahu does."

Biden must be a Zionist whether he wants to be a Zionist or not, otherwise he could never hold the political office he holds. Jeremy Corbyn can never become British PM because he is not a Zionist.

Posted by: Apollyon | Oct 10 2024 14:21 utc | 21

I'd also wager that the English PM is also a Zionist.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 10 2024 14:06 utc | 19

You do realise Starmer is married to a you-know-who?
Adjust expectations accordingly.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Oct 10 2024 14:23 utc | 22

b, you are totally off your rocker with this one, and so is Doctorow, which often overanalyses stuff and makes some weird conclusions. Doctorow, although I believe he knows about William of Ockham, forgot about him in junior high.

Posted by: Mikael | Oct 10 2024 14:24 utc | 23

What's so difficult to understand?

- Jews control America (and to a growing degree, most white countries except Belarus and Russia, although the last one is contestable).
- America has some control over Israel and Israel has some control over America.
- However, the jews that control America are not the same group as the population of Israel, and never have been the same as Israel, and most of them probably don't even visit Israel.

Somehow this idea (which should be self evident) that "jews" is not the same as "israel" makes people's brains melt.

Once again, the big jews (rothchilds and whatever spawn they serve) don't even care about the medium jews (zelensky, netanyahu), and certainly not the small jews, which they have been killing in millions throughout history to their own benefit.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 10 2024 14:24 utc | 24

@ Republicofscotland | Oct 10 2024 14:06 utc | 19
@ Apollyon | Oct 10 2024 14:21 utc | 21
Quite so.

How did Obergruppenfuehrer Starmer eviscerate UK Labour & seize power, reducing it to be no more than 'other' buttcheeck to the Tories. A multi-faceted extensive medium-term Op by MI5 & Israeli/Mossad...

See: 'The Lobby' (2 part series) & 'The Labour Files', Al Jazeera documentary/Investigation

Posted by: Outraged | Oct 10 2024 14:29 utc | 25

'The decay of monotheism came about through the spread of Jewish mysticism (the cabbala) which developed in the 12th and 13th
centuries, and by the late 16th century had won an almost complete victory in virtually all the centers of Judaism.'

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:30 utc | 26

'According to the cabbala, the universe is ruled not by one god but by several deities, of various characters and influences, emanated by a dim, distant First Cause.


Omitting many details, one can summarize the system as follows. From the First Cause, first a male god called 'Wisdom' or 'Father' and then a female goddess called Jewish History, Jewish Religion — 'Knowledge' or 'Mother' were emanated or born. From the marriage of these two, a pair of younger gods were born: Son, also called by many other names such as 'Small Face' or 'The Holy Blessed One'; and Daughter, also called 'Lady' (or 'Matronit', a
word derived from Latin), 'Shekhinah', 'Queen' and so on.'

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:30 utc | 27

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 13:59 utc | 12 This comment cites Israel Shahak's book Jewish History, Jewish Religion. The book is not wrong, it documents aspects of Jewish religion that by egalitarian standards are genuinely deplorable. But this is true of all religions I know of. And it is also true that pretty much all religions can boast of tenets that egalitarian or humane or maybe even universalist. So how is this internal critique of Judaism relevant to anyone other than believers? Even if it did magically reveal the true essence of Judaism (which I deny) to impute this to individual Jews is a fallacy of division. What is true of the whole can never be assumed to be true of a part, that must be demonstrated. My experience is that most people will simply ignore any implications of their own religion if it offends their personal standards of kindness or decency. And some who are anti-egalitarian and inhumane and bigoted will ignore those tenets of their religion that forbid their depredations.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 10 2024 14:30 utc | 28

''Satan, who in this system is a very important and independent personage.'

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:31 utc | 29

Anyone can see the pivot from the failed debacle in Kursk, another loss of face, the US need to “show power” somewhere. Only this time, more PR caution, for if (when) campaign goes sideways, it was Nuttyyahoo that failed, not US.

In the end, US moved theatre of Russia/US confrontation to West Asia, as direct conflict (Russia/China/Iran vs US/NATO) is inevitable at some point and that could be within a year or 2.

In the meantime, if Kazan hoopla can be spoiled, just like US did with Russia hosted AFRICOM meeting with the stupid “ICC” arrest warrant, the move in Georgia ect. all the rest of the stupid plots as now.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the sane day as the opening of BRICS, Israel (US) invades Syria or Ukraine (US) bombs St Petersburg.

Posted by: Trubind1 | Oct 10 2024 14:32 utc | 30

B misses the most significant exponents of his position: Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff
Hudson presented his take last week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXDz1PdMWao

Wolff his yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wi2b3nSqY

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Oct 10 2024 14:32 utc | 31

More kabala: 'Satan has managed to come very close to the divine Daughter'

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:33 utc | 32

'prayers or religious acts, as interpreted by the cabbalists, are designed to deceive various angels (imagined as minor deities with a measure of independence) or to propitiate Satan.'

Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak, A Jewish concentration camp survivor (Belsen)

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:34 utc | 33

Ghost of [email protected] those missions Peace Keepers are basically a living insurance policy for the affected family members. It's a job with a set price. Payouts may vary by rank, they are just dressing in a Meat Shop window. At least these lads got some warning, a few years ago a Canadian General and the staff he commanded at a school were fried like dogmeat. At the UN, yawn.....they likely have seperate insurance policies on each member, make a little ka$h in the side.

Cheers M

.....I once volunteered for a Golan Peace Keeping Mission.....not being a citizen of my host country I didn't get to go......in hindsight, perhaps that was a good thing.

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Oct 10 2024 14:34 utc | 34

b. is right that Biden is pond scum and has been since birth. Arguing about the cart and the horse misses the point. The mayhem suits both parties. They are working in tandem. The zionists are now openly selling Palestinian land to US buyers, and have attacked the UN peacekeepers´ headquarters. The world watched the rise of Hitler and did nothing. It is happening again.

Posted by: c | Oct 10 2024 14:35 utc | 35

"Israel's authorities deplore Shahak. But there is not much to be done with a retired professor of chemistry who was born in Warsaw in 1933 and spent his childhood in the concentration camp at Belsen. In 1945, he came to Israel;
served in the Israeli military; did not become a Marxist in the years when it was fashionable. He was - and still is - a humanist who detests imperialism whether in the names of the God of Abraham or of George Bush.'"

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:36 utc | 36

Posted by: Barofsky | Oct 10 2024 13:51 utc | 8
The US and Israel are partners in crime. To be sure, Israel is the junior partner but it does nothing without the US' say-so.
<=No they are both victims of Empire Zionism (EZ), remember Zionism is leader less (except for certain projects when leaders rise until the project is complete), it self organizing to serve its immediate needs, but it is highly distributed throughout the nations, places. institutions, religions and organizations of the world. Its invisible because it is an ideology, yet it is has created the most powerful empire the world has yet seen and its purpose is to make sure the few own and control everything, everywhere all of the time. Its ideology that a few should own everything, control everything, and decide everything that is the problem and that is how i define Zionism <=its a name for the ideology.

Posted by: james in the lsst thread | Oct 9 2024 15:58 utc | 29
"If we assume that mankind has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war and destruction. In our day of space vehicles and guided ballistic missiles, the choice is either nonviolence or nonexistence."

<=there is only one way to gain control over this octopus.. all of humanity must join in globally, the humanity in each state must audit the conduct and behaviors of those who govern.. and the auditors every nation state must do the same with regards to the persons who operate their governments, by comparing notes and imposing human rights as a standard.. which no government in the world can infringe..
I called this idea the 2nd government, it would be empowered to govern those who govern.

The object of a government to audit those who are the governors is to standardize globally, the definition of human rights. The audit objectives in ever nation would be the same, their purpose to impose the same set of human rights standards on all persons who govern anything worldwide public or private. Unless and until that global human rights are imposed on governments(private, public or for profit or not), the Empire-Ziomism (EZ) will successfully infiltrate and take control and continue the wars. Empire Zionism has many more Christians than Jews as its members.. it is indifferent to race, color, genetic or ethnic origin; this octopus claims ownership and right to control everything..

The principle cause of the war in the Ukraine,. the middle east, and everywhere else is that empire-Zionism
has engineered the chaos, war or atrocity to satisfy the need and wants of Empire-Zionism (EZ) with expectation of devouring the goodies in the victim's place; EZ expected Ukraine to have been defeated Russia by now and Russia was to have been broken into smaller states in order to make pillage easy. The EU, the USA, Russia, Israel, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon etc are are victims of the same thing, EZ.

Posted by: snake | Oct 10 2024 14:36 utc | 37

Posted by: ChatET | Oct 10 2024 13:53 utc | 9 "Keep in mind, Trump was impeached holding up military aid to Ukraine." This is yet more proof that short comments are not necessarily better. Trump was impeached for holding up military aid to Ukraine for personal political gain, namely, to force Zelensky to provide evidence against Biden. I'm not very concerned that Biden was threatened (though I don't value "evidence" won by coercion very highly, particularly any provided by a government as corrupt as Ukraine's.) But I do very much object to artificially limited statements in a forum where so many people believe Trump was against the Ukraine's war---which was ongoing while Trump was president. Trump's commitment to the Ukrainian war was last tested when his man Speaker Mike Johnson put together a Ukrainian aid package. Johnson is a Trumper, he did not defy his leader. The Ukrainian war overall weakens the EU more than the US, and Trump is not especially friendly to the EU. Nobody really knows what Trump will do, insofar as he is capable of organizing a coherent policy at all. (By the way, that's why all his underlings who've probably read not just Agenda 47 but Project 2025, may resort to those for guidance they can't get from the Big Dog.)

Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 10 2024 14:42 utc | 38

First, let us disregard Biden. He is brain dead. Second, the US election doesn't matter. Either the Democrats rig it or lose. A far more important date is the upcoming BRICs conference - and the USA/NeoCon desire to disrupt that with WW3.

The simple fact is that Jews make up 90% of the neoCons. They control the US government and Deep State. They own the media and the West's financial institutions. BTW they run Israel too. This debate is starting to sound like people who claim there's a difference between the two parties in DC.

The main question is: will the USA sacrifice Israel the way it's destroyed Ukraine? This is the essence of the Doctorow argument. It is an interesting point as we are witnessing Israel self destruct. Plus an major direct attack on Iran is about as self defeating as the Israeli ground invasion into Lebanon.

With so many factions in the West, it's really difficult to say who is running things. But if one limits the question to whether Israel is being sacrificed like Ukraine then Doctorow may be on the right track. However I don't believe the Jews are deliberately trying to end Israel. They're simply drunk with too much absolute power.

Posted by: EoinW | Oct 10 2024 14:45 utc | 39

a fundamental aspect of trying to understand which end is up. Perhaps (LIKELY) a bedrock of racist religious bigotry that has many decades of history and folk popularity blinds these fools to a consistent recognition of what lying liars are really doing.
Pitiful that concerned individuals cannot liberate themselves from faulty dogma.
My guess here is that they are geographically isolated from the real American experience and cannot believe the truth and lies at the bottom of that.
And there are those whose business is to sell deceptions like these.
Particularly in an election year. Although that factor seems to have gone out the window, along with the relative values that predated and expired with full consolidation and spectral dominance of information medias under a national security state in full bloom.
Might be better for reasoned discussion here if jew blamers were given their own space somewhere for stupid people to carry on.
morons.

Posted by: Not Ewe | Oct 10 2024 14:45 utc | 40

Biden, Starmer et al aren't Zionists. They support the Zionists because Israel's current campaigns coincide with the Empire's aims- as seen by its rulers.
Those aims are, as b argues, to reverse the slide from hegemony into multipolarity. Israel's growing aggressions are designed to terrorise, firstly the regional powers- Turkey, Egypt and the Saud plutocracy- into quiescence and remind Russia, China and Iran that there is nothing that the Empire will not do, no limits to its ruthlessness, before it concedes its right to, for example, run the UN, 'international institutions', Europe and the American continents.
The idea, unfortunately prevalent among Judge Napolitano's ex military friends and court clowns like Mearsheimer, that Israel runs the United States is little more than a contemporary re-iteration of the anti-semitic libels that gave us such nonsenses as "the Jews rule through the Rothschilds and the Communists."
There is no 'donor class' which dictates US policy- there is a ruling class of capitalists which has been tightening its grip over the country since neo-liberalism became the dominant ideology in the 1970s, throughout the 'west' its growing power is exemplified in the erosion of labour rights, the demolition of public services and their replacement by profit driven enterprises. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ending of public health services and the exclusion of increasingly large sectors of the population from access to free healthcare.

As Todd seems to say the current wars- in Israel and Ukraine- and the smouldering conflicts awaiting Washington's ignition- Myanmar and Taiwan for example- are being waged to preserve the status quo, the Empire, currently led by the US, which has been, unconsciously at first, seeking global hegemony for about five and three quarter centuries when the Portuguese, bankrolled by Genoa, began the journey. And whether BRICS know it or not if the Empire collapses, capitalism itself will be dangerously exposed.

What is at stake is not just west Asia but humanity itself- one just has to look at what has been done to Gaza to undrrstand that.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 10 2024 14:47 utc | 41

Mearsheimer's argumnent is that because Israel has gotten its way the majority of times where mad dog Israel and US interests diverge, USA is led by the mad dog and its lobby.

But the ruling factions of Nations are constituted and re-constituted over time, and what comprises any one nation's "interests" change accordingly. Much like two once-competing corporations can later merge interests as interlocking directorates form. Superficially the corporations remain "competitors" but behind the scenes the same powerful players have influence on major decisions of the different companies. Price fixing collusion by competitors is another obvious example. You don't even need a literal merger.

We know the 2009 Brookings paper "Which Path to Persia" explicitly examines the possibility of USING mad dog Israel to instigate an Iranian retaliation that might "justify" an American intervention. The paper EXPLICITLY suggest portraying Israel as unhinged and uncontrollable so that US policy makers can maintain plausible deniability. We know that this paper is just one in a long line of hard neoconservative (re: Israeli) policy plans stretching all the way back to Wolfowitz and the clean break. But primacy and full spectrum dominance was always the goal...OVER TIME, the ruling faction within US/UK have been largely reconstituted with those policy makers who at least ideologically conform with Israeli harliners and who want to use Israel as a proxy for a wedge war against the West Asian BRICS foothold. How Israel or the USA acted/voted etc in the past seems to me to be largely irrelevant.

Posted by: TarzanHasYourWife | Oct 10 2024 14:48 utc | 42

Doctorow is correct. There’s not a lot of point in putting it all on Biden when all the “mainstream” politicians here in the US, along with the entire media and deep state nexus, are maintaining the same public denial of their own war policies.

The good news is that, taken as a whole, the reactionaries are in a greatly weakened position. This is due to the rise of well-aimed global resistance, as well as the reactionaries’ many internal contradictions. But all that has only made them more dangerous, which is what we’re seeing here and talking about. People everywhere have to study and do what they can to promote peace and oppose war while getting ready for its likely expansion in whatever ways are possible.

Posted by: Lonl | Oct 10 2024 14:51 utc | 43

Probably no one remembers, but I confess to using "the tail doesn't wag the dog" to dismiss Jewish conspiracy theories for some time. For me this is preaching to the choir. As to the inordinate influence of Zionists, I attribute that largely to Christian Zionists, who simply believe God gave His Chosen People their Holy Land...period. Many of them also believe Muslims worship a devil (not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, despite the clear text of the Old Testament! And medieval religious tradition too, by the way, who generally classed Islam as a heresy, not paganism.) Christian Zionist who happen to also be anti-Semitic can appreciate that Jews have their own country, which they thank God, is not "ours." The influence of Christian Zionists is one reason for Trump's popularity with Christian Zionist clergy in my view. Plus, any residual belief in the heads of individual leaders like Bush or Biden or Trump possibly plays a role as well. No one is perfectly immune to superstition, is a serviceable generalization when speaking about large groups of people, I think.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Oct 10 2024 14:54 utc | 44

The US and Israel are engaged in a “good cop/bad cop” routine, with the US playing the good cop. The point is they’re on the same team. Does Israel have an absurdly disproportionate impact on American politics, absolutely? That said, the US is still the dog that wags the Israeli tail. I do think Israel and the US are in lockstep on the ME mayhem and slaughter because there is a bad assumption that it is in both of their interests. Also, Biden is a cognitively damaged puppet and has been for some time now.

The other thought I had is that it’s too simplistic to see US policy as monolithic. As Mearsheimer might put it, it’s between those who play the Realpolitik “great powers” game, and the “idealists”, those who want to remake the world in our image, distorted as it is in their minds. Please do not confuse the term of art “idealists” with the common understanding of that word. My feeling is that while we (US)blather platitudes about democracy and human rights, the final decisions are made with an eye to maximizing power and trying to maintain hegemony. They may be the wrong actions, but that’s what is driving them. This is the deep state.

My one major beef with Mearsheimer is that I think, as smart as he is, he still believes the US is a force for good in the world, instead of the rapacious beast it really is.

Posted by: KMRIA | Oct 10 2024 14:58 utc | 45

@ bevin | Oct 10 2024 14:47 utc | 42

Bravo. Well said. Prost!

Posted by: Outraged | Oct 10 2024 14:59 utc | 46

@ bevin | Oct 10 2024 14:47 utc | 42 who I agree with except
"
There is no 'donor class' which dictates US policy- there is a ruling class of capitalists which has been tightening its grip over the country since neo-liberalism became the dominant ideology in the 1970s,...
"

You and I consistently come back to this basic disagreement about who is behind the curtain. Your words above would lead one to think they are not an inherited class of folks and institutions....Hi Pope Frank!

And we both chide b for referring to Biden as the face and brains behind my God Of Mammon cult.

For me it is gratifying to see a few more understanding my civilization war perspective on our world events...there will be no tilt to China more than current is my thought....certainly no Ukraine like clash in Taiwan.

The shit show continues until it doesn't and b provides the best bar to watch it happen....THANKS!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 10 2024 15:06 utc | 47

LoveDonbass | Oct 10 2024 14:04 utc | 18

Perhaps it takes a non-American to see this (b's pov) dynamic clearly.

---

I think the opposite is true; it's takes a born and bred native to know exactly what we're about. How else do you explain Karlof1 and a host of other alt.media figures?

But the real issue isn't one of culpability nor awareness, but rather concern. That is, knowing the facts certainly doesn't detract a significant portion of the population from pursuing the "American dream".

It may very well be that this essential truth is what is most disturbing to critics, both foreign and domestic. You can argue, accuse and denounce until exhastion, but all you'll get is a shrug and dismissal as a 'commie'.

We were born of a pirate nation, itself just another chapter in a long line of imperial conquest. Success is its own justification - living well at the expense of others, just like any predator, delivers comfort, ease and various entertainments.

Now, you can label this behavior as demonically anti-human, but it does not negate the fact that the entire globe seems to want to come here and get in on the action to grab their piece of the pie.

The issue of possible reform goes well past the current economic or political structure; it's the very culture itself that causes conflict.

Posted by: Markw | Oct 10 2024 15:11 utc | 48

"My hunch is that this is putting the cart before the horse.

It is in fact the Biden administration which is using the Israeli (and Ukrainian) government to serve its foreign policy purposes."

I agree with your position, but I'm really glad you described it as a "hunch". As demonstrated this year, the US government, media, education, tech, etc is itself a Zionist entity. The influence is more than anyone would have expected a year ago.

So, I fully understand why some would disagree and argue that it is Israel setting the foreign policy, at least in the ME, and the US following it's lead.

Your careful approach to this question, and Tooze's, seem to accept the reality of extreme Zionists influence over the US seriously.

Gil on the other hand has become suspicious to me. His last explanation of his position is more convincing, but just last weekend he was referring to Mearsheimer and Johnson as "antisemitic" simply because they held the opposing opinion (based on tremendous evidence in Mearsheimer's case)

I won't forget Gil's race baiting attack on Mearsheimer. Gil supports Trump too. He may be correct about the power relationship between Israel and the US, but I know strongly suspect Gil is a crypto Zionist.

Read anything that tricky bastard writes on Israel very carefully.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:20 utc | 49

When it comes to weapons the US is Israel's drug dealer.

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 15:20 utc | 50

To Israel, the US is, at best, a pathetic goy...with no self-respect otherwise, they would not allow themselves to be treated as a whore would be by a pimp. That's DC, a cabal of quisling, pretending to be patriots...

Half the people in the DC area are on the CCP payroll and the other half? They want to be, they just don't have anything of value. Ukraine has well served modern China's interests and to the great surprise to China [and the world] Russia's interests but, to a lessor extent.


Posted by: S Brennan | Oct 10 2024 15:25 utc | 51

Al Manar live feed for prior 4 hours

18:19 Three Injured in Stabbing Incident in Haifa More..

18:05 Israeli media reports four serious injuries due to bombardment of Galilee

17:35 Epic Confrontations in South Lebanon: Hezbollah Fighters Shower Israeli Tank, Soldiers, Settlements More..

17:25 Islamic Resistance fighters target for the third time an Israeli force trying to evacuate casualties from the scene of the attack on Israeli tank in Ras Naqoura: Hezbollah statement

17:08 Hezbollah’s Islamic Resistance fighters target Israeli gatherings in Yaroun and Yir’on with barrages of rockets: statements

16:40 Israeli media: Sirens sound in Kiryat Shmona over suspected drone infiltration
16:39 Islamic Resistance fighters fire a massive barrage of rocket at Zvulun, north of Haifa


15:57 Israeli media: 4 casualties evacuated from the scene of rocket attack in Karmiel in Central Galilee

15:54 Islamic Resistance forces target Israeli gathering west of Menara settlement with a barrage of rockets: Hezbollah statement

15:23 Al-Manar correspondent in south Lebanon: Fifth barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding area in Galilee Panhandle today

15:20 Israeli media: Some 100 rockets fired from Lebanon on Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding area since morning

15:17 Islamic Resistance fighters target the Israeli settlement of Karmiel with a barrage of rockets

14:39 Deadly Israeli Siege Rages on in Gaza: Massacres Reported Across the Strip More..

Posted by: Exile | Oct 10 2024 15:25 utc | 52

I disagree; IMO, Tail Wags Dog.

Bibi can select the next President with one phone call to Someone in NYC who has links to US MSM. (That phone call may have already occurred...)

OTOH, one phone call from Someone in NYC to Bibi could change Israeli policy and actions?

Posted by: elkern | Oct 10 2024 15:26 utc | 53

Xymphora at Substack has a good rejoinder to this argument. I also think that Mearsheimer’s point about historical decline from the late 70s to the present day of American ability to curb Israel when there really are clear U.S. preferences that Israel disregards is difficult to argue against. Reagan and Bush I were able to say No to Israel on at least two separate occasions. This no longer holds.

Posted by: WJ | Oct 10 2024 15:26 utc | 54

'The whole racist propaganda on the theme of the supposed superiority of Jewish morality and intellect (in which many Jewish socialists were prominent) is bound up with a lack of sensitivity for the suffering of that major part of humanity who were especially oppressed during the last thousand years - the peasants.'

Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak, A Jewish concentration camp survivor (Belsen)

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 13:59 utc | 12

Great quote.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:29 utc | 55

Not This Again!

“Biden's Intent Is To Sow Chaos - It Is Netanyahoo Who Works For Him“ (Moon of Alabama). Utter nonsense! I say this as someone who has eyes to see and ears to hear. Trump is constantly boasting about the money Adelson is giving him, and what the ‘Jews’ are going to get in return (Trump being Trump, he pretty much says this in so many words, and often!). If you look at the list of top donors to both parties, well, then you know whose interests the politicians work for. Those lists don’t include the illegal bribes. We know who controls the (((media))), with some cases, e.g., CNN, the bias by its Jewish employees being risible. We know all about Epstein, and his still mostly hidden client lists, and more similar operations are still hidden (but are coming out - see, Diddy, and the (((people))) behind him). Finally, anybody with half a brain can see that the cumulative effect of all the Wars For The Jews, and Jewish control over the US, is destroying hegemonic power in real time. Each day there is a new humiliation, and each one can be directly tied to Jewish influence.

Why do you think the Jews spend hundreds of millions of dollars - probably over a billion a year if you add everything up - on buying influence if they don’t think they are getting real value for their money? If the American policy makers would make the same decisions anyway, as these decisions are in real American national interests, why not save this money?

‘Israel’ has had absolutely no strategic importance for the US since the end of the Cold War, and arguably was of no help to the US during the Cold War, and has been dragging down the US like an anchor for decades. Just imagine if the US had ignored ‘Israel’ and set up normal trade and other relations with countries around the world, places like undestroyed Iran, and Libya, and Syria, and Iraq (and including Russia, an ‘enemy’ only because the (((neocons))) have used the Jewish control of America to have the US fight their traditional Khazar war on Russia and Ukraine).

What ‘Israel’ is doing, and the further monstrosities it intends to do, with the support of something approaching 100% of World Jews, is now seen by the world, and has led inexorably to an understanding of the mechanics of power. The sheer enormity of the slaughter and genocides, available for the world to see, is unprecedented. It is not normal for the US, even given ts violent history, to support something of such PR destructiveness. The reputation of the US, which has survived a lot of American brutality, is now dirt, and having that kind of reputation is going to have real costs for rich Americans, the kind of people who usually control political decisions. The fact that they are helpless in the face of Jewish bribery and blackmail power should be instructive.

What is true is that the corrosive effects of decades of Jewish corruption have created a gentile bureaucratic and academic structure which supports (((neocon))) thinking, and this underpinning is used by the tricksters to try to fool you into thinking that the façade is the reality of power. It is also true that weaknesses in the American structure of government have made the corruption more dangerous. Finally, there are old trends in American thinking, things like Russophobia going back to the Cold War, and hatred of Iran going back to the revolution in Iran, which the Jews have been able to exploit and emphasize in getting what they want. It is, however, undeniable that the American Empire is fading, fast, and the deterioration has been accelerated by the fact that American policy makers now consistently make choices against actual American interests, and those choices are forced by Jewish bribes and blackmail and (((media))) control. If you don’t believe me, why is every choice American policy makers make so dumb from an American national interest point of view, and so obviously dumb in real time?

The (((bad guys))) are fully aware that ‘Israel’ is going to do much worse things in the pursuit of ‘Greater Israel’, the whole world is going to see it and react in horror, and the truth can no longer be hidden. Truth is even coming out in weird places like the show of Piers Morgan. Random Jews are suddenly complaining about the growth of ‘anti-Semitism’, which is people suddenly grasping cause and effect!

Source: https://xymphora.blogspot.com/2024/10/not-this-again.html

And Also

I should add a little to my last post. Besides the massive amount of hard data we have in front of us about actual bribery and blackmail of American politicians by Jews, and the essentially 100% control of the (((media)) by Jews, by far the most striking evidence of the thesis of Jewish control is the undeniable fact of American hegemonic decline, based on an amazing series of horrible policy decisions, starting with the decisions to start various disastrous Wars For The Jews in the wake of 9/11. All of these were encouraged by a group of policy-deciding (((neocons))), and each of them has left the American empire seriously weakened, and the American people much worse off. All of these disasters were predicted at the time, and were obvious, but did benefit larger Zionist planning (e.g., Yinon).

Now we’re told that Joe Biden - the mastermind Joe Biden! - is manipulating ‘Israel’ for American hegemonic interests. In fact, Joe Biden has not got two neurons to rub together, and all these ‘American’ decisions are made by a guy called (((Antony Blinken))), not only a Jew, but a man with a family background which can only be described as Zionist royalty. What are the fucking odds? Not to mention the massive number of Jews in the rest of Biden’s cabinet, and the fact that his main roaming Middle East negotiator is an ex-IDF guy and an ‘Israeli’ citizen (Blinken is also probably an ‘Israeli’ citizen, making it impossible to see how he could have obtained his security clearance), who just happens to fail miserably at every peace initiative he tries. Each day of failure is another day of permanently lost American reputation, but another day of Jewish ethnic cleansing.

The results of this mastermind manipulation by Joe Biden is probably the US war with Iran that Netanyahu has been angling for for years, leading to a possible world nuclear war with Russia and China, and the certain energy collapse of the world economy. The Zionists will get what they want, but how in the sweet fuck is any of this in American national interests?

There is such massive, massive evidence against the Doctorow thesis that I really have to wonder what is going on.

Source: https://xymphora.blogspot.com/2024/10/and-also.html

Posted by: Balderdashbuster | Oct 10 2024 15:30 utc | 56

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 13:59 utc | 12

Great quote.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:29 utc | 56

I suspect the global majority of wage slaves are still viewed as disgusting peasants by the Zionazis.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:30 utc | 57

It is simply irresistible when everything comes together at once. My naiveté and a shallow intellect tell me that the USA backs down big time. It is an exciting new moment, but it is also risky, as it never happened before.

Posted by: whirlX | Oct 10 2024 15:35 utc | 58

Well I don't agree with b, but I do think the issue of US strategy operates on multiple levels.

Firstly, it's very hard to see that there is any logical united US strategy. A senile president, however zionist, with a battery of unelected officials who are pushing their own agendas.

There are very, if any, advantages for the US in the Israel-support policy being followed. It would be more advantageous for the US to settle with the local powers, rather than do what Israel wants. However it is true that it is difficult to see that the US really understands what the true position is.

Thirdly, whatever happened to the pivot to China? We've been told for years that the true interest of the US is to confront China, and its rivalry to US world hegemony. This concentration on western Asia is entirely incompatible with paying much attention to what China does. That is what Israel has achieved; it has cut off the US from what it regards as its primary interest. And yet we're supposed to think US and Israel are going hand-in-hand on attacking Iran. It makes no sense, but then perhaps only proves that there's no planned strategy in Washington, only separate interests (i.e. Israel's).

Posted by: laguerre | Oct 10 2024 15:35 utc | 59

Some great analyses here.

I'd also add that there is no need to understand this issue as a strong dichotomy, so either Washington or the Zionists calling the shots. The US Elites are not a completely uniform group. They are almost without exception in favour of supporting their imperial outpost in the Levant, but there might be some hesitation about actually kicking off a larger war. They still want a conflict, but to the degree they might be hesitating Israel is pulling them in anyways.

Posted by: Roland | Oct 10 2024 15:36 utc | 60

The issue of possible reform goes well past the current economic or political structure; it's the very culture itself that causes conflict.

Posted by: Markw | Oct 10 2024 15:11 utc | 49

The "culture" is a mere product of material economic relations in the US. The US isn't some ancient country with a long standing pre capitalist culture.

The dominant, promoted, but certainly not the only, cultural current in the US serves the bourgeois and the Imperialist.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:37 utc | 61

thanks b..

@ snake | Oct 10 2024 14:36 utc | 37

thanks for discussing this... i see b's thread speculation as another distraction, much like the posters focused on biden/trump and etc. etc.. not to put it as bluntly as @ south | Oct 10 2024 15:20 utc | 51 "When it comes to weapons the US is Israel's drug dealer." but until the issue of power and control, specifically with regard to war, becomes the focus - who is pulling these strings is a distraction.. lets deal with the fact these military corporations continue to profit from murder and mayhem.. until the people of all countries demand they cease and desist, as opposed to what we have going on now - rampant use for power and control, which continue to bring untold death and destruction - we are all f#ked...

pat lang would call me an economic determinist, because i believe it comes down to money and power.. who gets to control what?? i always think it is the psycho and sociopaths in politics who serve these power hungry freaks, probably because they relate to them so well...

it is about right and wrong, but not how you think... we need to find a way to live together, as opposed to what is going on here at present..

Posted by: james | Oct 10 2024 15:38 utc | 62

thanks Ahenobarbus. I will give another from the same book:

'Everywhere, classical Judaism developed hatred and contempt for agriculture as an occupation and for peasants as a class, even more than for other Gentiles - a hatred of which I know no parallel in other societies'


Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak, A Jewish concentration camp survivor (Belsen

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 15:40 utc | 63

EoinW | Oct 10 2024 14:45 utc | 39

The fact is that Jews make up 90% of the neoCons. They control the US government and Deep State. They own the media and the West's financial institutions.


---

Not only do non born/bred US citizens not understand the USA, it could be argued that non born/bred Californians don't understand the country as well.

Q1: Who owned/ran all the institutions you listed above a mere 40 years ago? Q2: Who owns/runs high tech (Silicon valley)?

[Please don't conjure up information that fits your POV; rather look at the school/neighborhood demographics along the Peninsula in the wealthiest cities.]

The fact is the USA is - and has always been - a wealth creation machine. The old 3 generation adage still holds true. The current crop of highly motivated are supported by Chinese & Indian sovereign wealth funds, with their children attending the Ivies and being groomed for leadership.

But will they be able to change the core essence of the states ie reform its pirate nature and learn to live in peace? LOL

This is the truth that drives critics to distraction. It's a lot easier to believe someone is doing something against the wishes of the many, when if fact leadership conforms to the demands of the country.

Posted by: Markw | Oct 10 2024 15:41 utc | 64

For months I have been waiting for commentators to establish a link between the chinese-backed reconciliation between Iran and Saudia Arabia, which voided decades of divide&conquer efforts by the Empire, and the onslaught of violence done by israel.
I am still waiting.

Posted by: Ythisah | Oct 10 2024 15:41 utc | 65

@ Honzo | Oct 10 2024 14:46 utc | 41
@ bevin | Oct 10 2024 14:47 utc | 42

These are both excellent observations, so, thanks, Honzo and bevin!

It is indeed complicated, but obviously the US bears a major share of responsibility for the Gaza genocide. Previously, the US did not care about committing mass murder itself in Indochina. It does seem that, because of being challenged, the US is having to assert its claim of general hegemony in much the same way Israel is doing locally in Palestine and Lebanon.

That the US leadership is divided is also clear, but, like most leaderships, they do not want to reveal their inner workings. A best way to look at it, I think, is to examine the centers of power. The superrich, surely, but they are very many and are not articulated into a specific body, so their power is diffuse, and is mostly expressed by the more activists among them, who have their own fora and organizations, so they remain guilty of enabling the criminality of the US foreign policy. A more compact power center is the military-security apparatus of the US, including but not restricted to the State Department, Pentagon, and CIA leadership. They have to be held responsible for the new aggressiveness, including Israel's murderous depredations. Certainly they are enablers and would be held officially accountable in any war crimes tribunal convened in the future over this. They have always backed Israel in the past because the cost has never been very great for them.

However, with the current genocide, which seems to continue unrestrained with no force to stop it, it appears possible or likely that nearly all of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip will be killed. This will be a great crossroads for humanity, as bevin observed, "What is at stake is not just west Asia but humanity itself- one just has to look at what has been done to Gaza to understand that."

I highly recommend Nick Turse's accounting of the first year of the Gaza massacre at https://archive.is/GOeBy . Note that the death toll is already certainly way higher than the 42,000 counted dead + 10,000 missing registered by the Gaza Ministry of Health. Note also the physicians' statement that all of the people of Gaza are undernourished as well as either sick, wounded, or starving. It is quite a bit like the Warsaw Ghetto, albeit on a much bigger scale.

Posted by: Cabe | Oct 10 2024 15:41 utc | 66

@ laguerre | Oct 10 2024 15:35 utc | 60

i think you're right in your conclusions at the end.. this leads me to continue to believe that the usa is fading as a unipolar power and this means trouble for israel... i think they both know it on some level and no amount of murder and mayhem is going to alter the direction this is going in... as a gambler - they need to fold and go home, but they are too drunk to accept this, so we are where we are now..

Posted by: james | Oct 10 2024 15:42 utc | 67

Unless I’ve missed them, there haven’t been many posts from bevin for some time.

I was delighted, therefore, to read bevin’s posts broadly in support of b’s proposition with which I concur. This board has, for some time, been so inundated with troll crap, personal attacks and general bullshit, that I’d assumed bevin (and others) had abandoned the bar. Great you’re back bevin (if you’ve been away).

Posted by: Vragtes | Oct 10 2024 15:42 utc | 68

Refreshing to read a diverse, but erudite, thread this morning on MOA. Lot of old hands commenting - thank you all.

Posted by: Paul Spencer | Oct 10 2024 15:42 utc | 69

Thirdly, whatever happened to the pivot to China? We've been told for years that the true interest of the US is to confront China, and its rivalry to US world hegemony. This concentration on western Asia is entirely incompatible with paying much attention to what China does. That is what Israel has achieved; it has cut off the US from what it regards as its primary interest. And yet we're supposed to think US and Israel are going hand-in-hand on attacking Iran. It makes no sense, but then perhaps only proves that there's no planned strategy in Washington, only separate interests (i.e. Israel's).

Posted by: laguerre | Oct 10 2024 15:35 utc | 60

Good point here. I've always thought the a large and influencial element of the US RC does not ever want conflict with China. They are their whole economic future bound up with what they used to call the "china trade".

Given that, it does seem very usual imperialism would utterly waste its energy on an obviously losing gambit in Eastern Europe and another in the ME in advance of that supposed epic struggle with China.

Could an element of the RC be trying to create a great war exhaustion (and great personal profits) so that China will sort of drop of the menu?

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:48 utc | 70

'My hunch is that this is putting the cart before the horse. It is in fact the Biden administration which is using the Israeli (and Ukrainian) government to serve its foreign policy purposes.'

B., you are not far off, only a little. In fact it is the British Empire Elites (aka the 'Globalists') acting through their levers, MI6 & CIA, that control them all: Biden, Netenyahoo, Zelensky, Starmer, Macron, Schulz, Van de Leyen, Trudeau, Deep State, Western Media.

They all act under the general direction of the British Empire Elites. That is why their policies are all indistinguishable from one another. The only difference is the color of the lipstick they put on their policies to try to fool their individual populations.

The truth is that the British Empire Elites need their 'Global Government' to survive, and to get this 'Global Government' they need to suppress Russia, China and Iran. And they need to do this urgently as their western power base is collapsing almost in a free-fall. Urgently suppressing Russia, China and Iran are what these wars are all about.

Posted by: dh-mtl | Oct 10 2024 15:49 utc | 71

Thank you very much, b, for this clear summary of the dog/tail (shorthand) issue.

My Joe Biden history clock goes back to October 2002.

This was the first (in my own experience) major policy issue where the internet, email, etc. was a major factor in the public's ability to communicate horizontally with one another and vertically with their reps came into play. 9/ll had galvanized the country. The invasion of Afghanistan opened a lot of eyes. People were starting to get redpilled.

I sent so many emails and made so many calls. This Iraq sabre rattling was clearly not about WMD. That was already clear. I called and emailed and wrote a letter to John Kerry (my senator from Mass., a Dem) to vote against the authorization for military action against Iraq. Biden was the Democrat who was spearheading this.

I heard via some grapevine that an assistant in Kerry's had said that constituent communications were running 180 to 1 for a NO vote. But Kerry went ahead and voted yes. Another redpill moment. That was (almost) the end of Kerry for me. Basically Kerry "threw" the presidential election in 2004.

I guess these are digressions, but b's essay is a reminder of how Joe Biden first came onto my radar.

And now I think we understand better how long the Zionist influence has been driving our foreign policy. Most likely "they" pulled off 9/11.

The follow-up to that was the lies=based Iraq invasion. So, Biden was already in their pocket or they are all in one another's pockets, as Arch says, and I think this is the consensus at this bar (Israel is an integral part of the US blob and they have become homogenized and can no longer be separated).

Because now 9/11, Iraq invasion, 2-state solution prevarications and lies, encouragement of illegal settlers (including American) and construction of settlements (Kushner interests?), NATO/US provocation in the Ukraine (including Biden grift operation), Nord Stream sabotage, constant sabre rattling against Iran---all of these "episodes" now look like part of the same long-term pincer operation on Russia.

Recall: The Zionists hate the Russians. As do the Brits. As do the Yanks. Not just for being Russian. But for sitting on all of those resources and controlling Eurasia.

The Great Game is still the Great Game. With a twist.

Has Zionism ultimately (for the West) always been about Russia?

And the Palestinians are in the way and are slated for elimination because they won't play the Game?

Ditto for Lebanese who won't play the "offer you can't refuse" Game?

Posted by: Jane | Oct 10 2024 15:49 utc | 72

That the US controls Israel is without doubt the truth. That Israel has a very strong lobby and the potential to harm US elites is also the truth.
These truths lead to the balancing act we're witnessing in real time. These truths led the world to this time of chaos.
US strategic policy in the middle east worked fine in a unipolar world. The dawning of a multipolar world has awoken the Israelis to the realisation that they're time is well and truly running out.
The dog and its tail have rabies, and like all crazed rabid mutts frothing at the mouth, the best thing to do is to put them down quickly.

Posted by: Ogre | Oct 10 2024 15:50 utc | 73

So, I don’t understand why people are confused, Biden and Hillary as Sec of State had Dick Cheney’s foreign policy team under them. Democratic voters failed to notice, it’s not been announced, and the GOP isn’t saying anything. Trump half supports them, we have no idea if he even knows who they are. He’s never identified them. The neocon strain has been with us since they killed JFK and San Snoop Jackson coalesced them. But we’ve also had realist strains in US policy, and we know they still exist, but they’ve been shut out of the legacy media.

My bigger issue with b’s analysis (and most everyone posting here and writing, I myself fall into the habit of presuming a vast bureaucracy like the US has one position on anything, particularly our hydra headed war policy. There are many actors, levers, elements and our sentiments aren’t as scarce as a reading of the media would lead us to believe. In fact much of the information we’re consuming here at the bar has been leaked or provided by many silent bureaucrats honorably and diligently doing (as) principled work (as much as they’re allowed). They see what we see, all too clearly and more closely than we do. Some of them may be some of us, not me, I’m just a landscaper

Posted by: Scottindallas | Oct 10 2024 15:51 utc | 74

I think our host's suspicions are absolutely well-founded and what the Columbia professor states, via the Guardian, is simply common non-Orwellian sense, compared to the alternatives: i.e. that Biden is being humiliated or that his administration is being outwitted by Netanyahu. Yes, clearly this so, that's why they keep sending weapons of mass destruction to Netanyahu (duh)!

More seriously, following the original line of logical thought (that articulated by Tooze), must it not inevitably lead one to conclude that Oct 7 itself was by omission or commission part of the above strategy of tension, which was on a schedule and needed to come about sooner, rather than later? The post-Cold War kinetic reorganization of the Middle East, in no small part fuelled by ancient American grievances and hatreds, has produced a no doubt curious species of bureaucrat-cum-comedian, a la Matthew Miller, for whom all the daily outrages committed by Israel are a sort of inside joke, as well, needless to say, as basic geostrategic policy for the US quasi-hegemon.

Ideally, and precisely because of its tragic but simultaneously criminal circumstances, the secrets of Oct 7 will be revealed, regardless of what parties come out most complicit: since, to be sure, out of that cannon was birthed the casus belli that has befallen the Middle East and that continues to criminally steamroll across the region unimpeded, least of all by Western powers. The question remains, what power is the undisputed father of Oct 7 itself?

Posted by: Ludovic | Oct 10 2024 15:54 utc | 75

Re: War of Attrition

A retired IDF general was quoted yesterday that the IDF has lost ( presumably KIA/WIA) 12 battalions in 12 months. He also said this casualty rate of approx. 1,000/month is continuing.

It’s a fair estimate now with the senseless attacks on the Lebanese Fortress complex - the IDF is looking at double the casualty rate of the prior 1 months.

Perhaps time to revive that old rallying cry Next year in Jerusalem

Posted by: Exile | Oct 10 2024 15:55 utc | 76

Absolutely. Only, I believe that Biden's personal loyalty to the Neocons is neither here nor there. The (faction of?) US government that has had an interrupted iron grasp over foreign policy are the Neocons since the PNAC days under Clinton, no matter what Pentagon, alphabet soup, Congress or anyone else may intend at a given moment. Biden is, of course, a card-carrying neocon now but it would make no difference even if he were not.

Posted by: piero colombo | Oct 10 2024 15:55 utc | 77

Half the people in the DC area are on the CCP payroll

Posted by: S Brennan | Oct 10 2024 15:25 utc | 52

What the fuck is "CCP"? Have you been listening to the fat shitpile Alex Jones too much, or watching the hasbara excrement of China Uncensored?

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 10 2024 15:59 utc | 78

The optics make it appear that Biden is under Netanyahu's boot, but reality is the reverse--the Zionists are the terrorist proxy of the Outlaw US Empire within West Asia and have provided services elsewhere. Ever since Russia intervened in Syria in 2015, the Outlaw US Empire has tried to regain its sway by freezing the conflict, although it continues to simmer and is now being reheated via Zionist attacks on Syria supposedly aimed at Iranian support for Hezbollah. China's entry into the region commercially and diplomatically has also changed the chemistry rather markedly. The big shift in the Saudi position thanks to China was a big blow to the Empire. The intent of what was portrayed on the surface of US diplomacy as seen in the Camp David Accords was never to allow any Palestinian state along the UN Two State Solution mandate as Arafat told Alastair Crooke who then questioned Albright on the issue and had that massive ruse confirmed for him. The ruse was to portray the Palestinians as the ones blocking their own state solution when the main roadblock was the Empire acting through its Zionist vassal.

The history of US Imperialism shows very well the sort of vassals it prefers--fascists, which is what the Zionists are. And it has used terrorism as a major tool for decades, and Occupied Palestine is the #2 Terrorist state on the planet right behind its boss. And who benefits most from the policy of sowing chaos globally? The Empire's MIC and the financial entities that own it--massive returns to the top tier of many billions since 1945. It doesn't matter to them that the weapons produced don't work as designed. Essentially, it was designed is a huge Ponzi Scheme that continues to provide great returns, so the policy that enables those returns continues regardless the D or R flavor of the POTUS.

Recently in its doctrinal documents the Outlaw US Empire said it's China's ideology that is its primary threat. But there's no definition of what the ideology is and why it poses a threat. Essentially, China's a threat because the Empire says so. And that can be repeated for many of its policies--FEMA's broke because we made it so, and it doesn't work because we made it so is but one small domestic example. Why can't the Empire allow peace to emerge in West Asia? Because all those nations will become Anti-Empire and the Empire's forward basing in the region that makes lots of money for the Empire's sponsors will be uprooted. The NATO extortion racket is run the same way for the same reason. Peace is bad for business, and that forms the basis for US policy--chaos and conflict are preferred as the last 79 years of history have shown.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 10 2024 16:00 utc | 79

In the Middle East (and in Ukraine), who is driving the car off the cliff, a la in the film, "Thelma and Louise"? USA? Israel? Both, neither? Just have a look at the members of Biden's White House cabinet, the US State Dept., and the other US agencies. Many are dual US/Israeli citizens. Many others are committed Zionists...

Posted by: flyingcow | Oct 10 2024 16:01 utc | 80

''Satan, who in this system is a very important and independent personage.'

by: south | Oct 10 2024 14:31 utc | 29
_____________________________________________
Yes, satan is the god of their kabbalistic "theology".

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you wish to carry out your father’s desires” (John 8:44, NIV). Satan wishes to reign as master of this world, so his 'children' carry out his wishes.

Posted by: hispanidad | Oct 10 2024 16:01 utc | 81

c | Oct 10 2024 14:35 utc | 35

The world watched the rise of Hitler and did nothing. It is happening again.

---

Well, since the west financed and promoted the rise of Hitler (in order for Germany to be the tip of the spear against Russia), we were definitely doing "something".

As to 'happening again', it never stopped. While the Romans were defeated at Teutoburg, it didn't stop them from redirecting north of the Danube.

This is why I like the Russians; they don't live in a delusional state. They live in the real world and know what human nature is all about.

It's all very simple: they have it, we want it. Alright, now that this core truth is understood by all parties, let's line up and see who wins.

Posted by: Markw | Oct 10 2024 16:02 utc | 82

I think one should consider whether Mossad has some seriously damaging compromat on Biden, beyond the seriousness of the Prince Andrew underage girls scandal. I am talking pictures and film and witnesses.

Posted by: Pearce Tournier | Oct 10 2024 16:02 utc | 83

It is in fact the Biden administration which is using the Israeli (and Ukrainian) government to serve its foreign policy purposes. (b)

I agree. This is an unescapable conclusion when one discards the rhetoric coming from the White House and the agencies and one concdntrates on the facts, this year and the previous decades.

Posted by: Richard L | Oct 10 2024 16:09 utc | 84

I'm glad Russia has the time to address the really important things.

- Russian National Guard signs landmark deal with Jewish leaders -

https://www.rt.com/russia/605502-russian-national-guard-jewish-community-accord/

Posted by: Moonie | Oct 10 2024 16:11 utc | 85

People are beginning to see through the illusion fostered by the Deep State or whatever you want to call the real decisions makers. When I ponder how it all came to this its pretty obvious. As Plato said, The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

Bingo. Mazzeltoff.

Posted by: Ralph Conner | Oct 10 2024 16:12 utc | 86

@ Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 15:20 utc | 50

Yes, the last year has really brought a lot of the Zionist influence into the open, and also revealed and deepened many fissures in the US government and other institutions, as well as among the Jews and other communities.

To my surprise, it was the Congress more than any other institution that, with the exception of a relatively few persons, has shown its absolute fealty to Zionism and Israel in the last year. It is there that reside all the screaming banshee proponents of nuclear war, "Nuke this," and "Nuke that," sentiments that are not generally echoed in the mainstream media. So this shows where the bulk of Zionist effort and money has been devoted, to control the Middle East foreign policy of the US government and to exclude any dissension there.

Of course, the media remain an arm of the imperialists who control the government, but I was surprised that, while they remained biased in favor of Israel, trying to craft subtle narratives to defend and justify Israel, they also gave some space to counternarratives. Partly this arose because the Zionists were so bowled over by the turn of events when the affair began that they were left sputtering and scarcely able to respond. Now they have come back on the counterattack, but they are still in disarray and unable to come up with an actual justification for the genocide, so they try instead to suppress all discussion of it, which hasn't worked very well, yet. Please don't think I have a soft spot for the MSM: I think they are loathsome snakes, I can't stand to watch any of them even for a minute, and if I met one of them, it would be hard to restrain myself from punching them in the face. But we need to carefully analyze what is going on, and the fact is that while the congresscreatures have largely adopted the exact line of Ben-Gvir and other Zionist maximalists, the media have refrained from that. Therefore, there is more direct maximalist Zionist control over the Congress than over the media.

Some of the same fissures exist among the Jews. I have frequently commented here about the anti-Zionist Jewish opposition, which, while a minority still among the Jews, is not insignificant and has at least to be in range of 10-15% and more like 25-30% among the US Jewish youth. Because they are moved more to act in this crisis because of their being Jews and thus more connected with it, those anti-Zionist Jews constitute a major part -- if not the major part -- of the opposition to what is happening, especially in demonstrations and so on.

Among the Zionist Jews and Zionist fellow travelers among the Jews, there are also a lot of divisions. Most of the Jews are just silent about the whole thing, not wanting to provoke the Zionist enforcers in their community to single them out nor to try to defend the undefendable. Some of the media characters are like this, such as Trudy Rubin here in our city's Philadelphia Inquirer, who blames Netanyahu for everything. That is a convenient way out, just like all blaming of single historical figures for historical phenomena: Biden, Trump, Putin, Saddam Husayn, etc., an always-false shorthand for self-justification. So the liberal Zionists seek an out now by blaming Netanyahu. Of course, they can't quite disown the Gaza genocide, but they really don't want to own it either. From the viewpoint of the Palestinian victims, this may be entirely irrelevant and useless, but nevertheless it may be develop into other unforeseen things as the future unfolds.

Posted by: Cabe | Oct 10 2024 16:14 utc | 87

@ Posted by: Michael.j | Oct 10 2024 14:03 utc | 17

Agree completely.
Biden's view is: "We're the United States of America, for god's sake"

Their views are all based on delusional supremacy, masters of the universe, Hollywood propaganda.
Their comprehension of the (rest of the) world is studied ignorance.
Americans for 200 years have believed they just have to show up for the natives to finally overthrow their government and welcome their liberators. In their imaginations they like to think of themselves as repeating the heroism of Washington, JKF in the Cuba crisis, Churchill, or whatever mythologized episode catches their fancy.

Biden is a confabulator (remember the cannibals, and 300 other lies), and those around him have a confabulated picture of world history.

Posted by: Webej | Oct 10 2024 16:14 utc | 88

I notice many conclude both points are somewhat true, but they say it doesn't really matter. I'd say that is a testament to how difficult this question has become since the second war on Iraq, and the last year, in particular. To call someone antisemitic for taking the position Israel is directing foreign policy in the ME at this point smacks of crypto Zionism.

I don't trust Gil on this issue anymore.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 10 2024 16:15 utc | 89

Genocide Joe, Nutandyahoo, and most of the Western leaders are all taking orders from the cabal in New York City.

Posted by: Gee Eye Joe | Oct 10 2024 16:17 utc | 90

Keep in mind, Trump was impeached holding up military aid to Ukraine.

Posted by: ChatET | Oct 10 2024 13:53 utc | 9
________________________________________________

Not just military aid it was aid that was defined as "lethal military aid" intended to be used by the Zelensky govt against Russians that lived in the Donbas region.

Suddenly the anti-Trumpers, when they heard that Trump was holding up the aid, were convinced that sending this aid was the most important thing in the world.

The anti-Trumpers don't care that Trump initiated that aid in the first place and the delay in delivery was inconsequential. All that the 81 million who voted against Trump know is that Trump was against it and therefore they are for it.

Anyone that questions Trump's value to the US Establishment as a means to manufacturing consent for its imperial goals need look no further than this one incident.

Posted by: jinn | Oct 10 2024 16:18 utc | 91

Who's in charge?

Answer starts here -- "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. "

That would be George Washington in 1776 telling all those following him to stay clear of foreign entanglements.

His admonition was directed at Great Britain.

That evil empire was formed on the basis of the subjugation and use of people world wide considered lesser humans with the aim of removing whatever resource treasures were owned by these lesser humans and transferring that treasure to the empire. All of that to ensure the power remained the hands of the higher human forms, the British elites.

The foundation of the United States was exactly the opposite.

Ever since 1776, the aim of Great Britain has been to, by whatever means necessary, infiltrate and influence the governing operations of the United States in order to steer the power of the United States in a direction which benefited the British elites of the period. Over time, through deceit and ruthlessness, that endeavor has been wildly successful. To the extent that, today, the relationship between the United States and Great Britain is welded together and referred to as a "Special Relationship."

So, back to the question - who's in charge? Given the history, I don't think it's inside the Beltway.

Posted by: Johnny Dollar | Oct 10 2024 16:20 utc | 92

So many of the esteemed commenters here continue to make classic political science arguments as if these are the true driving forces of actions in the world: realists versus idealist neocons; empire versus BRICS; Zionists versus patriots; etc. etc.

Folks, this is all for show ... the narrative for us to get excited about and discuss as the govt servant class (Biden, Nutty, Harris, Starmer, Macron, Scholtz, etc.) and their hand-picked apparats do the work they were put in place to do.

One aspect of this work, one of the most lucrative and easy pickings for the masters of the capitalist universe, is the business of war: the generation of chaos and conflict, the preparation for war (weapons manufacture and sales), the conducting of war (incredible energy and materials use), etc. ... one of the best tools to convert lower and middle class taxes into investor class "earnings".

Israel has been one of the better gigs for this chaos generation and war making over the past decades ... an natural source of instability in the ME that forces itself and surrounding nations into unsustainable military spending. Of course, even the best rackets eventually need to be closed as the rubes get wise to them; but this one still seems to have a bit of play left in it, so here we are.

Posted by: Caliman | Oct 10 2024 16:20 utc | 93

Hi hispanidad


'the urgency behind the hate for non-Jews presently living in Palestine; the fatalistic attitude towards all peace attempts by Arab states - all these and many other traits of Zionist politics, which puzzle so many well-meaning people who have a false notion about classical Judaism, become more intelligible against this religious and mystical background.'

Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak, A Jewish concentration camp survivor (Belsen)

Posted by: south | Oct 10 2024 16:21 utc | 94

Now, you can label this behavior as demonically anti-human, but it does not negate the fact that the entire globe seems to want to come here and get in on the action to grab their piece of the pie.

Posted by: Markw | Oct 10 2024 15:11 utc | 49

###########

I've mentioned how provincial many Americans are when they try to discuss global political matters and come up short. Very few Americans can imagine what life is like in Lebanon, let alone Iran, and yet those same Americans are convinced that they reside at the center of the universe.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 10 2024 16:22 utc | 95

There is no question that b is right on this because all the facts, taken together, in historical perspective and at present, conclusively show that Israel is implementing US policies in the region, now, as it has for decades.

It is so obvious that only the ideologically blinded, the ignorant and the wilfully blind don't see it, or refuse to accept it.

If the point is to look at the facts in order to understand (not to defend one’s beliefs, or prove to be’ right’) the facts are merciless.

The reason why this is very important is simple - clarity about what is happening, who is doing what and where responsibility lies.

I want to make two observations :

- Many, or maybe most, commentators and analysts who have expressed themselves on this are describing the surface, the appearance of relations between US and Israel as presented in the media, or by sources they consider relevant, which usually tell them the same thing that the media are regurgitating. These are typically Western sources.

No reliance on what knowledgeable people from the region, who also know how the West and the world works, have to say. People who have spent years studying the developments in the region. They are ignored. Everything about the region is seen through the Western perspective, in Western interpretation and Western description of Western actions, goals and intentions in the region and beyond.

- Relations between a master state that supports another state(let) so that it fulfills the goals of the master state are complex. There are, and always will be, different views and interests in both states that go into defining goals and policy. The same applies to US/Israel, which, by the way, is existentially dependent on the US.

Anyone who knows how state policy is formulated and adopted, knows that these different views and interests clash and try to prevail. But when the course is set, it is set.
(There are many declassified US documents, and those on wikileaks, that show how US policy is made.)

For around six decades US policy (the course) has been - iron clad support for Israel, emphasized also now by the current US establishment. Why? Because the US has become and extension of Israel? Or because without Israel, propped up and armed, by the US, West Asia would be a different place and US control of the strategic waterways and the energy resources there would have to be enforced differently.

Israel made it "easy" for the US and the Western imperialists because, by its Zionist, terrorist nature, Israel is a constant menace to the regional states, enabling the US and the Western plunderers to employ the tested formula - divide and conquer. Actually, to solidify all they had already grabbed before Israel was invented, and to make sure the status quo remains forever in their favor.

This was successful until 7 October 2023 shattered the forever dream.

Iran was always an obstacle, so the US/Israel and their Western partners are doing everything they can to portray Iran as the enemy of the states in the region, as opposed to Israel.

Iran survived everything done to it, and emerged as a stable, responsible and rapidly developing state, with a principled foreign policy based on independence and sovereignty guided by national interests, with peace as the primary one. According to the Western beacons of democracy, however, Iran is the belligerent threat to the region, and Israel is the peacekeeper.

Iran, strategically located, independent and opposed to foreign (US) presence and interference in the region must be vanquished. That has been on the US agenda for a very long time, according to US officials active and retired. And Israel is to deliver. Quite gladly as we know, and the US will more than gladly enable it with all it has and Israel needs.

Could Israel do this without the US? Would Israel do this without the US? Is Israel dragging the US into a war(s) it does not want? Can such a claim, on the entirety of the facts, be made with straight face.

When you work with tools you have to keep them polished and in shape if they are to do what you use them for. It takes patience, time and money, the bigger the task the more hassle and money.

Posted by: JB | Oct 10 2024 16:24 utc | 96

My question is:

Why is there never any real damage or deaths in Israel?

You have 6 armed to the teeth “resistance” military groups plus Iran firing on Israel… and zip damage all the time.
No infrastructure, up and running military, air fields flying without a hitch, spy & surveillance drones & equipment hit, only to be replaced the next day.

The “hit” military bases, why no crater the runways, with the very “sensitive” F-35s, to even rocks on the runways, why not hail follys of Katuskas at runways if nothing else?

It’s getting beyond “the high road” mantra to pretty much collaborative conspiratorial aims at the destruction of Gaza & So Lebanon.

Not when you have demonstrative military ability & equipment, as well as ISR (recently released even), even Yemen demonstrated ability to slice through metal like butter, and yet the planes keep flying, the tanks keep rolling & the lights & water are running perfect after a year.

Does appear quite the controlled genocide destruction from here. I wonder, who really destroyed Hezbollah’s high command cabinet?

Posted by: Trubind1 | Oct 10 2024 16:24 utc | 97

Michael A 79 guttural attack; "What the fuck is "CCP"? Have you been listening to the fat shitpile Alex Jones too much, or watching the hasbara excrement of China Uncensored?"

Rather than respond with an equally uneducated utterance I offer what people who have followed China since the "cultural revolution" wreaked havoc by insisting there was but one truth under Mao Zedong.

===================================================

CCP or CPC
April 6, 2023

Source: China Media Project https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2023/04/06/ccp-or-cpc/
CCP or CPC: A China Watchers’ Rorschach
The choice to use either CCP or CPC for China’s ruling Communist Party has become politically charged, but how did this distinction arise — and does it even matter?
By Ryan Ho Kilpatrick

On a cold January evening in 1931, He Yeduo (贺页朵) pledged his life to the Chinese Communist Party. The 45-year-old Jiangxi peasant was barely literate, but at the oath-swearing ceremony on a Red Army base in the Jinggang Mountains, the “cradle of the Chinese revolution,” he took out a piece of red cloth and began writing.

A quarter of the Chinese characters he wrote, professing his faith to the then-embattled and apparently doomed guerrilla forces in his native province, were misspelled. But at the top of the cloth, now regarded as a divine relic of the revolution, are three perfectly formed letters, the name of the organization he would die for: “C.C.P.”

Nine decades later, these three letters have become an unacceptable slur to many supporters of He’s beloved Chinese Communist Party.

On state-run CCTV’s
Win at the Museum
a child recounts the heroic tale behind He Yeduo’s oath.

Acronym Acrimony

“CCP”s fall from the sacred to the profane can be cataloged by an emerging discourse in pro-CCP online circles demanding foreign scholars, journalists, politicians, and everyday internet users defer to the more recent translation currently favored by the Party: the “Communist Party of China,” or “CPC.”

Nationalist tabloid the Global Times suggested in December 2022 that the word “Chinese” is a racist dog whistle. A 2021 article in Australia’s Canberra Times argued that the acronym CCP makes the “racist” and “ludicrous” suggestion that “all [Chinese] share the same political beliefs” — a suggestion that the Party itself, which routinely claims to enjoy the “wholehearted support of all Chinese people,” may not find so offensive, if it were being made at all. Across social media platforms, the CCP’s supporters have also taken to branding those who write “CCP” as anti-China, and thereby fair game for mockery or disregard.

Interestingly, however, Chinese-language accounts from state media and even the Party itself do not share the same venom over this — for some, anyway — emotionally charged debate. A post from the Communist Party’s official CPC News (www.cpcnews.cn) website describes the distinction between the two acronyms as such:

Both CPC and CCP refer to the Communist Party of China — it’s merely that the officially recognized wording domestically is CPC… Some foreign media continue to use CCP […] but that doesn’t mean that every article using CCP is negative and every article using CPC is positive; whether it is negative or positive depends upon the specifics of its content.

The terminally-online acrimony over acronyms may be recent but the distinction itself, as the article explains, is not. According to official accounts, the Party made the move from CCP to CPC 80 years ago.

A Historic Reshuffle

“Overthrow the power of the capitalist class,” “eradicate capitalism,” and “join the Comintern”: these were part of the First Program passed by the Chinese Communist Party on the day it was founded in the French Concession of Shanghai on July 21, 1921.

The third item should hardly come as a surprise. Two agents of the Communist International, also known as the Third International, were present at the clandestine meeting and had been instrumental in organizing it. In the CCP’s early years, the Comintern’s Far Eastern Bureau had a profound — and welcome — influence on the Party. At the time, Communists the world over saw themselves as members of a single, global political movement with its central nervous system in Moscow.

Soviet guidance ensured that Leninism beat out more popular schools of leftist thinking such as anarchism. It also pushed the Communists into a tenuous United Front with the Kuomintang. But as time went on, patience with these European advisors wore thin, and a “native Communist” faction stressing the Sinification of Marxism and peasant revolution rose to prominence under Mao Zedong.

The Long March from the Jinggang Mountains to the dugouts of Yan’an was a key moment in this power struggle, with Mao’s guerrilla warfare strategy emerging triumphant from the Zunyi Conference. The influence of the Comintern agents and their Soviet-trained allies was still alive, but just barely. The death blow came in 1943, at the same moment as we are told the change from CCP to CPC occurred.

An article in the Southeastern Daily (東南日報) describes how, after the dissolution of the Third International, “Comintern members returned to their home countries to fight for leadership of their domestic communist parties” and “declared they were fighting for the national interest and no longer took orders from Moscow.”

Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union meant that Moscow joined the side of the Allies in 1941, and it would not do for the Comintern to be actively fomenting revolution in the countries the USSR now fought beside. Many Communists had already been driven away by the pressures to enable Naziism at the expense of their countries in the years of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and on May 15, 1943, the sword dropped: The Third International officially dissolved. The workers of the world had to find their own way.

The demise of the Third International made Mao’s triumph all but a fait accompli: Wang Ming (王明), his Moscow-trained main rival, was cut off from his base of support; China was forced to forge ahead with its own revolution on its own terms; and a cult of personality coalesced around the newly christened “Chairman” Mao. It was a political earthquake for China, but the tremors were felt all around the world.

In the ensuing scramble out of Moscow’s shadow, communist parties the world over created new identities for themselves. The Chinese Communist Party was one of them, rechristening itself, so the official histories say, the Communist Party of China. CPC News again:

From the perspective of linguistic analysis […] “of China” is more focused on the Party’s property of “belonging to China,” emphasizing this subordinate relationship. “Chinese” means “related to China,” focusing more on the properties of it being a Communist Party, which weakens its subordinate relationship to China.

Apparatchiks’ desire to nominally distance themselves from the Comintern and foreground their national identity is understandable. Many other communist parties were doing the same. But their unique “linguistic analysis” presents a more impenetrable logic.

Indeed, every other major communist party rebranding themselves for this same reason in 1943 moved in the other direction, taking their home country from the backs of their names to the most important position according to their own “linguistic analysis”: the front.

Thus in 1943 the Communist Party of Italy became the Italian Communist Party and the French Section of the Communist International became the French Communist Party. When West Germany’s Communists regrouped in the 1960s they also changed their party’s name from the Communist Party of Germany to the German Communist Party. In all these cases, too, the new English names were incidental to the new names in their native tongues. The CCP, uniquely, only changed the official English translation of its name. In Chinese, it is the same today as it was in 1921: 中国共产党 (literally, “China Communist Party”).

Consistently Inconsistent

Some scholars question this official account that the switch from CCP to CPC occurred as early as 1943, noting the persistence of “CCP” in official language for decades thereafter.

"[CCP] is what I first encountered when I read Peking Review in the 1960s, and later when I read English translations of the Chinese Party’s attacks on the Soviets in the 1950s,” says Australian sinologist Geremie Barmé. "Then there were the Nine Critiques of the 1960s, translated at the time into English as well. That’s just to mention just a few. So the line about 1943 is nice enough, but from my experience not accurate."...

Posted by: S Brennan | Oct 10 2024 16:26 utc | 98

The question of "who's the dog, who's the tail?" is entirely specious.

They are all part of the same dog. Same people, same philosophy, same mechanisms.

They are the SAME.

The behaviors exhibited by these SAME people show up in the U.K., Australia, Germany, France, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza.

The same people are doing all that work.

If some other country had the power of the U.S.A., and was as astonishingly naive as the U.S. populace is, that other country would also be controlled and manipulated like the U.S. is. Those SAME people would be doing the manipulation.

Zionists = NeoCons = Dog = Tail = Hidden People Pulling the Strings = Latest Revision of "We're Entitled to Rule The World".

Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Oct 10 2024 16:27 utc | 99

The current behavior of Israel and its international supporters is not consistent with any standard of kindness and decency.

Posted by: Lysias | Oct 10 2024 16:32 utc | 100

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