Doctorow swimming upstream
And I am blacklisted
Doctorow swimming against the current
Gilbert Doctorow is an exceptional analyst, whom I have mentioned before. I am not always in agreement with him-- but then I am often not in agreement with myself! :)
In any case, Doctorow has come out against the consensus in the alternative media that the Israeli tail is wagging the US dog-- primarily through the machinations of AIPAC and political Zionism in the US. In other words, Netanyahu and his not-so -merry band of religious serial killers can do as they want with full US support in terms of money and weapons. The US can simply not say no. The US is Israel’s bitch.
Doctorow's heresy was to suggest that Israel is really just a proxy for a US war against Iran-- that in an interview with Alkhorshid.
The mainstream of the Alternative Media was dismissive...
What?
The US trying to make up for having lost every war it embarked on since 1945? Fear of a new emerging Middle East order, which might force it out of the region, their bases and investments?
The Chinese buying up all the oil in Iraq and Iran and building infrastructure? Afghanistan joining BRICS . Russians everywhere?
Iran is the linchpin from a NeoCon point of view, Doctorow was saying.
But:
With one exception, the mightiest minds were dismissive of my interpretation in more respectful, less respectful ways.
The least polite, least professional dismissal was delivered by Larry Johnson, an ex-CIA official and member in good standing of VIPS, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Before Judge Napolitano could finish setting out my point, Johnson broke into derisive laughter. He then called my analytic framework ‘nonsensical,’ and proceeded to explain that such a sophisticated policy as using Israel in a proxy war on Iran and the greater neighborhood was beyond the abilities of those at the top of the federal government who are utterly incompetent in managing their assistance to Kiev. To be sure, I never expected to hear such across-the-board condemnation of the feds by a fervent patriot, but life does have its surprises.
A more professional but intellectually lazy ‘nyet’ to my analytical tool came from Professor John Mearsheimer. He opined that I was just repeating a rejection of the power of AIPAC over U.S. policy set out more than a decade ago by Noam Chomsky.
Larry Johnson called Doctorow's theory “nonsense” and published pictures of his Rottweilers. Israel, he said, was just a poorly trained dog.
Ummm... Metaphors! ….Dogs that attack and kill people are usually put down.
Anyway…
Doctorow later revised his his theory somewhat after listening to Col. Wilkinson on YouTube talking to the “Judge”.
Colonel Wilkerson says that the view of Israel as a proxy to be used as required to serve U.S. interests in the region, i.e. to be directed by the United States, does not represent the whole of the U.S. government power structure but of certain elements within it, namely the Neocons, among whom Victoria Nuland is the most visible example. He goes on to say that there are a good number of such Neocons in the government since they were never chased out, never charged or brought to trial for the disasters that befell the countries the United States attacked at their urging and the losses of blood and treasure suffered by the United States itself as a result. No, these Neocons have remained close to the levers of power.
I readily agree with Colonel Wilkerson that the Neocons in the Deep State are not the only ideologues running the show in Washington.
If you look at my various articles, you will see that this has been essentially my own opinion.
From my point of view, the US government is factionalized. Not so much “disorganized” as factional. Maybe we should say “fractional”.
You have a collapsing state - the US— prey to its own delusions and irrationality. Schizophrenic. The thing about proxy wars is you can pretend that it isn’t YOUR war. If it works, great. If not,maybe you can leverage that, too—for your next war..
American Zionist Power: Electoral
AIPAC has incredible power-- as have evangelical Zionists-- but their power impacts the electoral process-- and elected officials, the president and members of Congress. It is these people who cannot say “no” to Israel, except for a few, as Wilkerson points out—like Lindsay Graham who foams at the mouth.
But, it is also true most political people want to avoid war in the Middle East, at least responsibility for it, during an election season.
War doesn't win votes.
So both parties in the coming presidential election are claiming to outdo the other in supporting Israel – no matter what. Yet, Trump is claiming to be the Antiwar Guy-- who will actually prevent a war-- even though support for Israel makes this inevitable. Harris? Anything else would be antisemitism.
Don't worry about the logic-- there is none in politics. Schizophrenic.
Israel,proxy war, unelected govt
The Neocons are unelected.
They wormed their way into government. Like roaches they live in the woodwork and multiply. I think you find it all liberal democracies-- as psychopathic as the schizophrenic political cultures that nurture them.
Part of their power lies in being invisible.
The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist, and its power is employed above all to enforce this claim. It is modest only on this one point, however, because this officially nonexistent bureaucracy simultaneously attributes the crowning achievements of history to its own infallible leadership. Though its existence is everywhere in evidence, the bureaucracy must be invisible as a class. As a result, all social life becomes insane.
― Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle
Jake Sullivan and Tony Blinken make decisions and Biden and Harris read them from their Teleprompters. They want war. But they don’t want responsibility.
If Israel attacks Iran, it will likely fail. As Wilkerson says, it will have no future as an apartheid state. If it wins….?
That’s a Neocon wet dream.
"Insane" is the keyword.
Keep in mind that what is insane for you is not insane for a psychopath. For these people there is always method in madness, always a way of rationalizing extreme actions.
The US proxy war against Russia which started well before 2014 was insane. It has diminished American power and virtually destroyed Europe…. Russia has grown stronger and is creating a new world order unravelling the financialist web the Americans used to trap their prey. Yet the American MICIMATT, where NeoCons go to die has profited. Nuland has gotten rich.
Using Israel as a proxy to wage war against Iran could destroy Israel just as Ukraine was destroyed.
“Could”…. ?
Maybe Israel might get lucky. Maybe Iran’s defenses are not as strong as we think. Nor its offensive capabilities.
No matter. It won’t be Americans dying.
In Ukraine you had rabid NeoNazis.
In Israel you have rabid ZioNazis.
If the war fails, the US will just move on to another war some other place as it is done with all its other unsuccessful wars. With the loss of Ukraine pending, it was focused on China anyway. It just has to find proxies there. As I have said before, the US is like a gang boss, It doesn’t like to bloody its own hands. It uses hitmen.
Iran will likely just grow stronger and will create a new order, just as Russia and China have. There will be Islamic unity in the Middle East, transcending previous sectarian boundaries.
Keep the fires burning
The neocons don't care about who wins or loses really --they just want to keep the fire burning-- which is good for their personal positions. And Asia is a big place. Attack it from Ukraine. No? Attack it from Iran? No? Try from China? (Click on graphic to get video)
https://www.jeffsachs.org/interviewsandmedia/belligerent-us-foreign-policys
Neocons get ahead no matter what. The neocon creation of the Neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine has led to American defeat -- but it hasn't hurt Victoria Nuland, as I just said. Fatter and fatter —a metaphor — like Larry’s dogs.
Jake Sullivan is doing fine from the disconnected Biden administration – he has at least 15 million in the bank; his wife, over 30. Don’t buy them coffees.
They are prepared to fight and to suffer for the sake of such a brave new world, and also, of course, to inflict suffering upon others. Such a vision justifies killing people, whose suffering does not move them to compassion because “they” are not quite conspecific. They do not realize that they will consequently
― Andrzej Lobaczewski, Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
The beauty of proxy wars is that the ones who start them don't have to fight and suffer for a brave new world themselves-- somebody else does the fighting and suffering for them. Maybe all wars are, in this sense, proxy wars. In medieval times, leaders led and fought at the head of their armies. Now they watch the goings-on on a huge screen in a bunker. With canapes.
Neocons are “successful psychopaths”.
They get ahead through lack of empathy. They use others— everyone is a potential proxy. So, they don't care about kids dying in the Ukraine or kids dying in Gaza. Maybe about their own kids-- but only as extensions of themselves, proxies of themselves.
People like this flourish in authoritarian or fascist regimes-- just like the US is-- or at least is becoming. And they gravitate to politics and government.
Such people easily interpenetrate the social structure with a ramified network of mutual pathological conspiracies poorly connected to the main social structure. These people and their networks participate in the genesis of that evil which spares no nation. This substructure gives birth to dreams of obtaining power and imposing one’s will upon society, and is quite often actually brought about in various countries, and during historical times as well.”
― Andrzej Lobaczewski,
Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
What is the “Brave New World: for the neocons?
Neocons are just imperialists by another name. They have been around since the 19th century. The“brave new world” referred to just now is a geopolitical space which they dominate.
Sir Halford Mackinder set out the basics back in 1904.
Destiny is always “manifest” for people like this The American colonists sought the “heart: of America-- which they took from the Indians and the Mexicans— and is now known as the “Heartland”. a
What is California? The lungs? The brain? The rectum? Umm….metaphors.
Then the “Heart” became Asia which meant Russia and China. The Industrial Revolution was changing everything. As Mackinder said, control of this this “Heartland” would enable control of the “World Island” –all of Asia, along with Africa and at least 50% to 70% of the world’s resources.
Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
who rules the World-Island commands the world.— Mackinder, Democratic Ideals and Reality,
The graphic above is 1950—not 1904— and tells you how the US saw the world after WWII. It still sees it that way.
This the basic template for 20th and 21st century imperialism, neoliberalism, and neoconservatism. The aim is always to “command the world”. That means commanding Asia. Through Russia. Or through Iran. Or through China.
In other words, the NeoCons in Washington, which by the way, has the highest estimated number of psychopaths per capita of any city in the country, have a convenient template for their psychopathic fantasies of power and domination.
And they are emboldened by the chaotic state of electoral government in the US.
Doctorow is right but a little too narrowly focused. One might say the same of the Alt Media punditocracy. There is no black and white in geopolitics.
Blacklisted
As you probably know, besides writing and consulting, I work as a voiceover artist.
I have done over 10,000 (at least) voiceovers of different kinds in British and American English. PR videos, governmental and corporate presentations, materials for the UN, TV commercials, feature films, documentaries, animations, even video games.
In recent years, work has been drying up. Too little work.
AI voiceovers. Zillions of VO "artists".
I still do some. But it seems I have been blacklisted by some Japanese companies for my political writings -- despite that having nothing to do with Japanese politics. This is part of a general trend in the G7 countries to tighten up on dissent. If I wrote for the MSM, it wouldn't matter what I wrote. But since I don't, well...guess.
Blacklisting could cost me about $1000 a month or more. Two thirds of rent for my tiny apartment.
But I take it as a badge of honor.
Some people are still trying to get a paid subscription on Substack for my writings, but Substack hasn't fixed their software and dataset yet -- so it won't work.
Thank you all for your support. Sorry for last night's semi-coherent post--I was just really exhausted. I hope today's makes up for that. Only a little better, I know.
Ichi apologizes for me.
Economist Michael Hudson was in on the formation of US policy when he was working for Herman Kahn at the Hudson Institute. He provides a fascinating account that seems to support Doctorow.
https://scheerpost.com/2024/10/08/michael-hudson-and-richard-wolff-middle-east-exploding-ukraine-crumbling-us-take-action/
Incidentally, Hudson also worked as a Wall Street economist back then. He is 85 now, a couple of months older than I am. He reports from experience on the economic dimension of US policy, in particular, foreign policy through international economic institutions. See, for instance, his book Superimperialism.
Historian Carroll Quigley, who was permitted inside, also reported on the intentions and method of the financial elite at gaining world dominance through finance.
"The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank... sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."
Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966, VII, page 324.
Carroll Quigley (1910-1977) was Professor of History at Georgetown University, member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and mentor to Bill Clinton.
This quote begins a section of the chapter on the BIS. Tragedy and Hope and other Quigley works are available at his site.
http://www.carrollquigley.net
Regarding the Doctorow dispute, I think that there are overlapping interests at work and so looking for a single efficient cause is too narrow an approach. I would say that Doctorow is essentially correct about Isreal being a US proxy, and it seems that this is how the US deep state views it. However, Johnson also appears to be correct to a degree with his Rotweiler metaphor. Generally, positing a single cause or a single independent variable is too narrow. I am qualifying my assertions here since we can only observe events from the outside, and as Hudson's account shows, there is a lot we don't know that happens behind the curtain.
Regardless of who is top dog, USUK & Israel are enmeshed. To quote Killary, "At this point, what difference does it make?"
Their bad karma will take us all down. Live by the nukes. Die by the nukes.
I am suspicious of *all* the "retired" 3-letter stackers/analysts, including Mark Wauck, who banned me over a mild disagreement, without warning. Was I over the target? On quick research I discovered his *bil* sold state secrets to Russia. Wauck was 1st to notify the FBI of suspicions. Now Wauck comes out pro-Russia. Really?!?
Johnson has his own credibility problems. He is "good friends" with Stephen Bryen, a treasonous traitor who sold state secrets iirc to Israel & was "punished" by being fired & re-hired into a position with greater access to state secrets. And now is using substack to profit off the slaughter of innocents.
I no longer subscribe to Johnson, but do read his posts. I don't do podcasts so happily missed the derisive laughter. Who knows, maybe it was intended to misdirect if you were flying too close to the target. Or maybe he took it personally Johnson was initially seriously pro-Israel, spouting the party line. His readers, myself included, pushed back hard with piles of verified facts. He was forced to change his tune to maintain believability.
Just do your thing, Julian. Don't waste precious time over them. There will be differences of opinion.