Surely we should have all learned by now not to trust anything the U.S. federal government tells us. Surely no one believes the Biden-Harris administration suddenly had a revelation about Israel’s brutal and unbelievably savage genocide of the Palestinians? Not only are they now suddenly (supposedly) very concerned about Israel’s policy of starvation and no medical care, they have pretty much admitted that they’ve known full well that Israel has been deliberately blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
Don’t believe for a second that they are actually considering the possibility of withholding military supplies and weapons unless Israel makes sure humanitarian aid gets into northern Gaza. That’s not a sincere threat, that’s theater. What is happening is what the U.S. wants. Those at the top in the U.S. govt genuinely don’t fucking care about Palestinians’ lives and welfare, because the racism is deeply bred into them.
I mean, come on, just look at how the U.S. govt treats its own citizens! Homelessness has never been higher than it is now. Look at how the healthcare system is governed and what the outcome is: unpaid medical bills is the number one reason people in America file for bankruptcy. Have you ever seen what the bill looks like if you happen to get rushed to the ER? It seems insane you would be charged exorbitant prices for something like that, because you literally might otherwise have died. This is the way the U.S. govt has allowed or chosen to have the healthcare system run. If the U.S. govt barely cares about its own citizens, why would you think they give a damn about the Palestinians? Look at how our country is turning into a police state, with militarized police attacking protesters! (But let me stop this rant, because it quickly turns into a much bigger and broader rant…)
Yes, there’s the Israel lobby; yes, our politicians are bought and corrupt. But that whole relationship between the U.S. and Israel is not something Israel imposed upon us. I have no doubt that each side was opportunistic and manipulative and there was mutual recognition that the other side was too. But that’s how it is with most of Western or at least American politics anyway, right? After all, this is capitalism. The U.S. has and will always have had the upper hand; so the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel would have to have been wholeheartedly chosen by the U.S.
So, at the end of the day, the U.S. has all the power over Israel. They could abandon Israel, and Israel would be fucked, and the U.S. would be fine. It seems like the U.S. can’t control or influence Israel, but that is a mere seeming only. The U.S. insists they are pressuring Israel to “behave”, but this is for show. The U.S. govt wants us to believe that our intelligence isn’t good enough for us to know what’s going on with and in Israel, so we’re always having to “ask” them and we’re always waiting to hear back from them. That’s bullshit. The U.S. makes one excuse after another for Israel’s behavior, insisting they’re trying really hard with Israel, but it’s a sovereign country and all, so we can’t tell them what to do. (Since when does the U.S. not tell other countries and states what to do?!?!)
This is all for show. Because the U.S. very much does not want to have to take any responsibility for what’s going on, because they don’t want to be held accountable, they don’t want to be liable. The U.S. is allowing Israel to do whatever it wants, because it is ultimately what the U.S. wants in the end. So the U.S. gives the green light, and we of course also play a role in carrying it out, since Israel wouldn’t be able to do anything without the help of the U.S. in one way or another.
That goes for what is happening between Israel and Lebanon, and I will go so far as to say it is also true regarding Iran. Initially I was sure the U.S. did not want things spilling over into Iran, that that would be a red line, because it is just downright crazy and way too risky. I initially thought they genuinely did not want Israel going into Lebanon, but just didn’t feel that strongly about it, and so would still back Israel if they failed to convince them not to go into Lebanon. But given some evidence and how things have played out, it could not be more clear that the U.S. was always in lock-step with Israel on Lebanon.
This isn’t some conspiracy theory. I’m just being realistic. I mean, you really think the tiny little “country” (settler colony) of Israel can have power over the most powerful country and government that’s ever existed? (I don’t say that with pride of any kind! Because we got that way by screwing over, exploiting and stepping on so many people in the world. We are literally the most powerful country ever because we are the biggest, meanest, and most aggressive and ruthless bully that has ever existed.) How could it make any sense to say that Israel “controls” the U.S. when their continued existence and capability to function are thoroughly dependent on the U.S.?
Just to be clear, yes it is true that there are Israeli proxies and propagandists—such as those who can be understood to be part of the Israel lobby, but not only them—backed by lots of money and power who do whatever they need to do to make sure the relevant individuals and institutions stay in line. (Eg., politicians, universities, media outlets, publishers, celebrities, etc.) And yes, that includes doing things like bribery, blackmail, lies and more lies, and downright threats of either ruination or actual harm. Do you really think they could just get away with all of that without “the authorities” finding out or without being reported to authorities? Think about it: if many investigative journalists can find out about all of this, then there’s no way authorities like the FBI don’t know about these things. In fact, victims who are targeted and attacked in some way by Israeli proxies and propagandists do report these things, and nothing happens. (Or, nothing favorable to the victims happens.)
Because the Israel lobby is really a clever mechanism to launder the U.S.’s responsibility. It’s a clever mechanism to internally “force” the relevant individuals and institutions to keep in line without them knowing that that pressure is ultimately from the inside, not from Israel. In other words, it is a kind of authoritarianism in disguise.
I know this comes off as conspiratorial thinking, but, first, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, and second, it’s not actually that similar to most conspiracy theories like this. Because the blood coursing through the arteries and heart of this all is just hyper-capitalism. This is all just the sort of outcome you would expect to get when capitalism is taken to the extreme. Not that it’s the only possible outcome, but one that does follow from the consequences of taking capitalism to the extreme. In other words, there is a lot to this picture that occurs right in front of us, not hidden, because these are just the gears and cogs of hyper-capitalism. We’ve just been normalized to it, so we see it but we don’t see it as problematic.
I want to further distinguish this from most conspiratorial thinking by making clear that I do not think everything is intentional, I do not think the ruling elites are pulling all the strings, I definitely believe in coincidences! I want to make it very clear that I do think there’s plenty that occurs as a result of incompetence of the ruling elites. What matters is how they react to the consequences of their incompetence, or other things that just happen—like hurricanes and earthquakes—out of the indeterminacy of the physics of nature, and the indeterminacy of people’s behavior and choices—like social movements the elites totally did not see coming. I have no doubt that they oftentimes find a way to take advantage of the consequences of their incompetence that they weren’t expecting.
This hyper-capitalism isn’t just about money though. It’s about power. It’s about Empire. We’re not constantly getting involved in West Asia (“the Middle East”) just for the economic benefits via exploitation and taking resources. It is for the power and control that those economic benefits make possible. The hyper-capitalism of the U.S. is ultimately an obsession with power and control, obsessive competitiveness, always having the upper hand, always getting the last word, so to speak, on what happens in the world and how. It is also the elite ruling class indulging in being the elite ruling class. Think about it, what do empires do? They fight to continue existing. Because inevitably people will resist, because they don’t want to be part of someone else’s empire. They want to just be their own nation-state with true sovereignty and self-determination, and decide for themselves how they want to interact and cooperate with other nation-states, without someone else manipulating and meddling with their internal affairs.
Going to war with Iran is crazy, but not inconceivable. First of all, we don’t know what the U.S. military is keeping top secret, so we don’t know what our full capabilities are. It is possible the U.S. has crafted some, broadly speaking, military tricks up its sleeves for dealing with Iran. Second, the U.S. has had it out for Iran for decades—because they broke up with us back in ‘79 and we’ve never gotten over it. (Okay, I can’t know if that has anything to do with it, but it sure seems likely to me!) Third, Iran’s economy depends on its oil, and its biggest buyer, especially in recent years, is China. To be clear, China is not dependent on Iran’s oil, but disrupting or losing it would still hurt. So, to use a crude metaphor, it would sort of be like the U.S. kicking China in the shins. (Which is kind of a perfect metaphor, because the U.S. really is just the ultimate bully.) And it would hurt Iran, obviously, so it’d be a bit of two for one.
The fourth reason war with Iran is not inconceivable is sort of indirectly precisely because it is fucking crazy. It would be an act of desperation, because the American Empire has been gathering cracks over the years, and now pieces are breaking off. The Empire’s ruling class is panicking. But furthermore, the U.S. needs conflicts and wars, because that’s part of the overall strategy of getting and keeping power. And this is where Israel’s role comes in. The strategy is twofold: (i) divide and conquer, for geopolitical power, and (ii) the military industrial complex economy that drives our hyper-capitalism, for power in money, capital, and property, as well as sheer brute force (i.e., military power).
I started typing this “essay” well before the recent news of the leaked top secret documents showing that we’ve been spying on Israel in order to keep abreast of Israel’s plans to strike against Iran. Maybe this is a real leak by someone attempting to warn the world…? But it could also perhaps be a planted leak. Because, I mean, don’t we all know already that we constantly spy on Israel (and all of our other allies)? That’s pretty common knowledge, isn’t it? So, one would already have surmised that the U.S. is keeping tabs on Israel’s plans for Iran, right? So what would be the point of the leak? It would not be at all surprising if the point is domestic, for voters, because Harris has gone down in the polls. And it did seem to me that the Harris campaign was paying close attention to what voters are saying, so they would know that all of this war-mongering is turning a lot of people off. This “leak” would give the impression that we don’t want war with Iran and we’d try to prevent it. I could of course be completely wrong. It’s just one possibility that doesn’t seem far-fetched at all.
Although it just occurred to me that there might be another reason: to attempt to keep up the facade that Israel and the U.S. aren’t inherently linked. If Israel isn’t even telling us what their plans are, then that proves Israel is directing this, not the U.S. And that would allow the U.S. to be absolved of responsibility for what happens. We’d be able to say it’s Israel’s fault, they dragged us into it, we tried, but… Because the U.S. govt is obviously aware that most of the rest of the world doesn’t see this as Israel’s “war” or genocide of Palestinians, but rather as the U.S.-Israel “war” and genocide of the Palestinians. But again, the U.S. really doesn’t want to be held responsible.
Disclaimer: **[So as to avoid being misleading: consume at your own risk, this is not a scholarly essay, it is not academically researched and organized. Though that doesn’t mean it isn’t based on research and information. On a nearly daily basis since the Al-Aqsa Flood, I’ve taken in information on these topics from those who are more qualified to talk about these topics. But I didn’t keep track of everything in order to cite my sources later, since I wasn’t thinking I’d be writing about it. I could collect sources and organize my writing to meet academic standards, but I’m not going to; because for someone like me that is a lot of fucking work and time and there’s no incentive nor good reason for me to do that. Maybe in the future, but I wouldn’t bet on it. So, what I write here is the product of my spending lots of time thinking about everything I have been learning and taking in over the past year. I have no problem saying that anything I’ve written here might turn out to be wrong.]**
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