Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
What do you do with a president (and of course he’s just reading a script given to him) who says he “fully, fully, fully” supports Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza, gobbles up the West Bank, invades Lebanon, and spoils for a war with Iran? It’s as if Joe Biden took an oath to Israel rather than the U.S. Constitution. And will the madness be any different under Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?
And, speaking of foreign interference in U.S. elections, why is Bibi Netanyahu, the Israeli leader overseeing genocide and invasions, allowed to address Congress, before which he receives stormy applause from virtually every senator and representative? Why are organizations like AIPAC allowed to have so much power and influence (through campaign financing and lobbying) over U.S. elections? Why is it OK when AIPAC brags that its support ensures that candidates win their elections, and that its opposition determines that they lose?
The untoward influence exercised by Israel and AIPAC ensures you have the “choice” of Donald Trump, who advocates smashing Iran for Israel, and Kamala Harris, who gives her unqualified support of Israel’s right to defend itself (of course, everything Israel does is “defensive”). The U.S. military is currently defending Israel in the Middle East, effectively at war with Iran (one hopes it doesn’t escalate, but a wider war with Iran may be the “October surprise” that will have Harris and Trump falling over each other to profess their undying devotion to defending Israel and smiting its enemies in the name of freedom).
It’s bizarre indeed to see the world’s self-styled lone superpower and imperial hegemon reduced to a lackey and toady of Bibi Netanyahu and hardliners within Israel. It’s not just a case of the tail wagging the dog but a flea on the tail wagging the dog.
With my globe in front of me, I see how geographically small Israel is. In land area, it’s roughly the size of New Jersey, Google tells me. Now, imagine if New Jersey completely dominated U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and heavily influenced presidential and congressional elections across America. A little weird, don’t you think?
One of my globes was made right after World War I (circa 1920). Here’s an image from it:
Look for Damascus and Jerusalem (left of center). To the immediate left is “Brit Mand” for British Mandate over Palestine. In 1920, Israel didn’t exist. The tiny area of Palestine, controlled by the British after World War I, is dwarfed by Egypt, Persia (Iran), Arabia, Turkey, and other surrounding powers.
How did “British Mandate” come to dominate America? I knew it: Perfidious Albion! (Yes, that’s a joke, however feeble. I jest to hide the tears.)
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views.
He gets this wrong. The US is NOT "a lackey and toady". Congress may be because of AIPAC and the Donor Class controlling their election prospects. The President is a front man in any case and always has been.
But the powers that be (I refer to that as "PTB" – I refuse to use Ray McGovern's ridiculously long acronym) are the ones in charge – and always have been. Those PTB are ALL the power centers in the West: the oil companies, the military-industrial complex, the banks that finance those entities, the neocon think tanks, etc.
I just listened to Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson on the Dialogue Works Youtube channel say the exact same thing. In essence, what he said is everyone thinks they are in charge and everyone is trying to be in charge.
The question was brought up by Nima to Colonel Wilkerson because there has been an argument between Gilbert Doctorow on the one hand and John Mearsheimer on the other (with Larry Johnson supporting Mearsheimer) recently about that exact question.
I posted comments at Doctorow's and Johnson's blogs basically stating the above: that it's not a binary "either-or" situation, that all the power centers are using the other power centers for their own reasons and purposes. But that all of them are united in the following goals: money, power and hegemony. Because in the end, they are all human and human nature demands that people behave this way.
And that therefore who was in charge of what at any given moment was about as interesting as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
The title and role of "perfidious Albion" has been handed over to, and now assumed by the USA.
“And will the madness be any different under Kamala Harris or Donald Trump?”
No sapient person believes it will be. The insanity comes from Rulers and the concept of rulership and will continue and even accelerate as long as people submit and tolerate being ruled by others. Anyone who wants to rule wants to control and dominate others and this is insanity. The sane govern and control themselves. Those who want to rule over others will inevitably fail just as they have typically failed to even govern themselves. Chaos and evil stem from the insanity of rulership.