Matt Kennard shows in his new book that the bipartisan War on Terror laid the groundwork for the Trump presidency and the rise of fascism — now, with extremists empowered, we face the consequences.
How we all fell for the war on terror is beyond me. A clue to the real purpose of it all was the accusation, from the United States of Terror, that Saddam had 'weapons of mass destruction'.
What, I thought at the time, do we imagine the American military industrial complex spent most of its time producing??? What I also wondered, did we not know about how much of it was sold to dictatorships in the global south???
Double standards are always racist at bottom. We hold on to those double standards for dear life, in the privileged and brain damaged west.
Serves us right to wake up one morning not too long ago, and realize where the real terror had its digs........Florida is it not???
Those of us with a working brain are rooting for Iran.
I moved to this country just before the 9/11 attacks. I never fell for the narrative and I am proud of it. Maybe because I had an internationalist view of the world, I knew more history than the average American. I did join weekly protests against the Iraq war, which was the most I could do at the time.
The US is already experiencing a little bit of what caused in so many countries over the decades of hegemony, including my home country. And yes, as sad and hard it will be, the fall has to happen, and it has to hit hard. And I will say, Iran is our hope right now
Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? I'm Canadian, but studied in the USA during the Vietnam war..........I've known who they are internationally since my twenties..........but of course, money talks, and a murderous actor like Regan was able to get away with just that.........murder in Central/South America.......while still being revered by good people who should know better.
I've protested also.........but it hasn't done as much good as it should have......mostly one offs that the majority, and our leaders, could safely ignore.
I am from Brazil, born during the dictatorship financed by the CIA, that was planted inside an organization for "democracy". That's when the country elected a president who was a bit like Chavez and Mosaddegh, trying to assert Brazil's sovereignty by making sure the resources would benefit the brazilain people.
It is election year in Brazil and Lula, despite going neoliberal this term, is still more to the left than this country likes to see close to home. There will be some intervention, for sure. Rubio already declared two organized crime groups "terrorists", an excuse to intervene in case Lula wins. Those groups are criminals, but not close to terrorists. But that's the playbook in Latin America - Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, now Brazil.
I HEAR YOU, IN CAPITAL LETTERS. We've followed the fortunes of Lulu......are social democrats ourselves and much appreciated his speech at the forum on climate held in Barcelona recently...
He's the same age as me, and myself and another leftists decided if Lulu intended to work hard for the next 20 years, so would we.
WHAT AMERICA AND THE NEOLIBERAL WEST HAS TO ANSWER FOR....is almost beyond comprehension. An unlimited love of money and power that has knee capped every country in the world where people get together and try and create a more just economy and society for their citizens.
We are the evil empire in the west......the leader of the evil empire is THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIKKKA. I use the three K's for obvious reasons. You can't do, over and over again, what America does, without at bottom being a racist fascistic state.
We also watched a movie a couple of years ago, about how Bolsonaro and his toadies framed Lulu for corruption and got him sent to jail so Bolsonaro could win the election....of course, he's Trump's preferred leader for your country of birth.
Lula was great in his first time as president, from 2003 - 2011. This time he is too much of a centrist. Maybe because Brazilian congress is so right wing, it functions like a parliamentary system. But his main weakness, in my view, is that he is too cozy with "Israel". He says the right things but someone in his administration, I think his chief of staff, is a zionist, and he just allows zionist friendly events in the presidential palace. It is disgusting.
But he is a great orator. His speeches are really good. I just wish he had the actions to match
I'm beginning to suspect we under-estimate the difficulties of governing in the modern world our past decisions have created. Everywhere you see right wing politicians on the rise, I suspect in part because the simplicity of their ideas reassures western folk that all is essentially well in a world they know by heart.
Lulu went to prison on trumped up charges.....how did that happen in a democracy??? Trump has been elected twice, inspite of his well known sins...how account for that in the richest nation on earth???
I think our desires for simple and certain have betrayed many of us......as our msm says over and over again "We want answers". When none exist we settle for well crafted lies..........and that makes governing well quite hard.
We have Zionists in our parliament as well. They are relatively quiet these days, but that wasn't the case at the beginning of the genocide.......and I for one, don't imagine they will lose their seats anytime soon.
Once this genocidal era is over, most will be easily persuaded to forget the messy complexity with which the west has covered its tracks...........we don't like what we're seeing of Israel and BB just now but, in a decade or two?????
The revisionism of the worst of these days will in all likelihood have succeeded in sanding off the roughest of its edges.
Outlines perfectly what’s happening behind the scenes and how dire it is now while most Americans go about their lives as if the mid terms will erase the current simmering inferno on Democracy. No one is safe
What's worse, is that when the time for disappearances comes.........there's a dreadful chance that a supposed ally will turn you in.........already I see signs of in fighting among people who should by now understand that 1. no one person can attend to every damn evil erupting in an imploding capitalist casino, and 2. without solidarity in resistance, there is no hope at all.
Our desire to always be 'right' tethers us nicely to the guys who have the absolute right to never be wrong..........even when they're neck deep in the mud of their own making.
Trump is the poster boy for that entitlement. Bombs flying over Iran this morning....who knew????
One of the best interviewers, Chris Hedges always asks the right questions, then allows the interviewee to talk. Many, many thanks. History has a long shadow. We all need to know how history shapes today. Historical knowledge helps us to recognize the current situation with the help of great journalists.
Truth tellers like Chris are not welcomed at the NYT; this is good in that we get his seasoned views and those of his guests to counter the non-stop propaganda served up by establishment lackeys here and abroad. Real journalists have been terminated or fired - forced to abandon their workplaces to deliver what we need to make sense of the world we inhabit.
Such an important discussion. I will read Kennard’s book. Several years ago a documentary came out about the high level of rape in the U.S. military, mostly, but not exclusively, perpetrated against female enlistees. One thing that struck me was the statistic that the incidence of rape in the military was significantly higher than that in the general population and that a
large percentage of the accused had been charged and even convicted of rape before their enlistments.
Kennard persuasively makes the connection between the war on terror and fascism. I tried to find with little success written work that makes the connection between post-WWII genocide and fascism, that is, genocide being the ultimate expression of fascism, as, for example, the acceptance of much of the U.S. population of our support of the genocide in Gaza and its connection to growing fascism here. So many compartmentalize the genocide, separating it out from their avowed “fight” against fascism as personified for them by Trump. I was most recently struck by this while reading the comments section yesterday on an op-ed by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen in the NYT urging the Democratic Party to abandon its unconditional support for Israel. Although a lot of readers expressed at least some level of support for his opinion, a high percentage was critical, saying that what was happening in the Middle East was not important in the scheme of things and was instead a distraction that would weaken the Democratic Party’s chances of winning back Congress and the presidency. I was reminded of a powerful film I saw recently about loyalty to “The Party” in Stalin’s Russia, with even the well-intentioned invoking the righteousness of the party as a basis for their well-meaning actions. Of course they were soon afterward betrayed by the Party to which they had pledged their allegiance. (The film was in Russian with subtitles, made outside the country. I forgot the name, but I’ll find it). These NYT commenters, like so many other Democrats, are not making the connection between their acceptance of genocide and fascism — and fascism and their own party. We hear a lot about the MAGA cult, but very little about the blue no matter who (or what) cult.
To one of Kennard’s points, few seem to remember that after he was elected to the presidency, Obama adopted Bush’s timeline for the Iraq War and even sought to extend it. He began withdrawing some, not all, troops after the Iraqi government rightly refused his request to grant immunity to U.S. service members accused of atrocities against Iraqi civilians, like the one described by Kennard. During his campaign for the Senate, Obama referred to the war as “stupid,” and only, as reported in the main stream press at the time, after he was convinced by his handlers that opposition to the war would play well in his progressive Illinois district. I wonder if Iraqis would have chosen that word to describe the war. It went down well, though, with Democratic voters. It was enough to make me vote for him, too, given our “choices.”
Too many . . . "Democrats, are not making the connection between their acceptance of genocide and fascism — and fascism and their own party. We hear a lot about the MAGA cult, but very little about the blue no matter who (or what) cult." When I've mentioned this seemingly obvious connection to Democratic party supporters, I am shouted down and advised to never say anything like it again - there you have it. Here's a snippet from a comment from Ingamarie, from June 2025 that I saved - " . . . the degree to which we in the west can be on the side of the oppressor and think we're flying with the angels . . . IS THE MOST SICKENING THING ABOUT US."
Obama was a disappointment, particularly in international policies. I came to the conclusion then that it might be impossible to be the president of Amerikkka, and stand for justice abroad. What most Americans have forgotten about their governments reigns of terror in places like Nicaragua and El Salvador, is part of what makes them so knee jerk ready to believe their chosen enemies are terrorists. Call a terrorist training ground like "THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS" a school, and the actual curriculum goes unchallenged.
Classic projection........but it sure seems to work for the majority.
Oh but it's all because of the last election, explained away by the better sort as stupid voters. Don't ask how smart it is never to have noticed four decades of suffering among the majority working class. No need to care about the well documented deaths of despair when they're merely, as HRC put it, "a basket of deplorables."
It's because of these sorts of comments by nice people on progressive sites that I just re-read Chris's prescient 2010 /Death of the Liberal Class./ "The liberal class is indifferent to the profound personal and economic despair sweeping through this country." No surprise these 20%er admin and professionals didn't see and most still don't--they haven't been affected. Although now that AI is impacting white collar jobs, objections to the econopathy subsuming all else are beginning to be raised. It's the Pastor Niemoller response: "first they came for..." Too little too late.
The "No Kings" rallies imply that if Trump were gone, a Dem paradise would ensue. Notice, though, the theme isn't "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats." We working class nobodies, abandoned decades ago when the Ds went neolib, are expected to accept a 'choice' between a professional and managerial class oligarchy or 1%er and corporate plutocracy. With both parties also neocon. No wonder flat out fascism is on the rise; a deadly combination of people with no reason to trust economic status quo political parties and extremists who see opportunity. Liberal democracy is on its deathbed and coding. Yet the 20%er Dem party loyalists want us to believe there's no need for radical surgery.
You see it everywhere....friends and allies abandon the real emergency for minor surgeries on the periphery....imagining that band aids, 'like better regulation' will stop the hemorrhaging.
It's becoming quite a dance macabre to maintain your 'innocence' and 'good faith' now......without jeopardizing your shrinking domain of personal safety.....even in Canada, even among NDP stalwarts, who wants to talk about Iran.......let alone internalize that countries sad history, and Am/Israeli role in creating it???
Better to demonize our white Christian racists, but remain ignorant of who demonizes the Iranian revolutionary guard.
As an educator in retirement, I'm appalled at the grade I'd have to give them, had they sat in any class I taught.
"...even the NDP" Horrible, isn't it? As you know, I'm a Tommy Douglas fan. And I'd prefer to keep at least some of my idealism intact. BTW, a good alt. econ blog is Canadian Ty Keynes (No reln to famous great Brit economist John K.) to me young because he's 42. He's an acolyte of feisty Australian Steve Keen, whose books I highly recommend. The title of his 1st /Debunking Economics/ says it all. It's in actual English and not arcane EconSpeak.
I don't judge people drawn in the last few years to the NDP for not knowing our party's history........but I'm not blind to their neoliberal tendencies...
We've all let things get progressively worse.........so that now, incremental reforms aren't going to cut it........but we've also all been intimidated by the bellicose right, so most radical resistance is beyond us. And if you can't stand with the Palestinians, why discuss the genocide at all???
I think that is where we are..........we all want a better world. What we're going to have to do to get there is intimidating to those who've yet to type a reply to any of these Hedges posts..........nevermind calling publicly for an end to fracking deep earth for methane gas (natural yes/poisonous yes/) Partly because we bought the big fibs and oily promises and agreed an invisible poison hardly existed. Yes???
I subscribed to "The Narwhal" online mostly because of marine issues coastal BC, neighbor to us in WA state. So I also know what happening w/ the pipeline AB and BC. And about Ontario's scaling back of protections to serve corporate economics. Seems the US doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity; it just has an horrific amount of it with power. PS--see my 2 lists of anti-WTO Battle of Seattle demonstrators below. I'd bet represents ~98% of everyone on Earth.
It gets even more hyperbolic. Apparantly, we're doing all this to get independence from youse guys..............dumb and dumber top the polls in Canadian politics. We voted in a central banker to save us from a popular rage farmer.............both it appears, in the employ of Big American fossil fools.
"But the midterms..." is expressed by some, which is shocking to hear at this late stage of collapse. Can anyone really believe swapping seats in Congress is going to change this system from the inside?
A counterargument is that this year's elections are mostly about Trump. Some say impeaching the orange Jabba the Hut would stop him; that assumes a 'fair election' (a joke in itself) and that any actions would put a brake on this administration. But it appears the madness of King Donald has moved beyond any such control.
The "No Kings' rallies - and the same with the "Pink Pussy Hat" protest - were nice for spectacle and emotional release - but they accomplished nothing, as they had no demands and no ability to back up the signs and shouts with action.
I believe we are a long way from it - but the only thing that's going to bring about change is a general strike with specific demands on the core issues of the injustice of the current economic system and the corruption of the political and ownership classes - and then stay out until there's change.(And I have little doubt the owners will use extreme violence on any such strikes).
Of course a "general strike," of the type approved by my logger grandpa the Wobbly (I.W.W.) Seattle 1919 assumes trust and a sense of solidarity. Rather than the reality now of our working class deep distrust of organizations and elitist "leaders." I mean both the usual conformist political ones but also the self-appointed vanguard wanna-bes with their attitude we're too stupid to lead ourselves.
I was there for the huge 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations known as The Battle of Seattle. Against? A coalition of labor unions, churches, small businesses, eco-activists, Indigenous peoples, political types from more centrist to far left but also right wing libertarians, alt. economists, scientists, Cancel the (3rd World) Debt advocates, small farmers, medical professionals, students, et al. local and from around the world. For? Multinational corporations, their apologist economists, and their lapdog government officials. Also an example of suspending rights in both the WA state and U.S. constitutions. Plus holding protesters in pens far from downtown Seattle. At a time with a D president and Congress, in a progressive D city. Rank cluelessness--or more likely, simply representing the real face of the D party as neolib.
I was living on the Eastside during the WTO riots. Still recall the ex-football player news host on KIRO asking "what do these people want?" Of course, he never bothered to go out and ask.
As you were there, did you know the riots were being filmed by a team of military personnel attached to Delta Force? My boss said his son was in that unit and told him about their presence. They were studying crowds to understand the tactics needed in future protests.
In NO WAY were they "riots!" There were all told 50-60,000 of us. Consider my list of participants above. This included a local order of Catholic nuns in full habits. Native Americans like local Salish peoples plus Oglala Sioux, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Maya, and Brazilians in traditional garb. Scientists for Social Responsibility (including Ralph Nader's sister.) The Sierra Club, WWF, and similar. A marching drill group in suits carrying briefcases holding signs "Billionaires for Bush--Because trickle up isn't happening fast enough." Small farmers' groups from the US, Japan, Germany, France; the latter led by Jose Bove' famous for running his tractor into the side of a McDonald's in southern France. Small business orgs local and international opposed to multinationals dominating political decisions about economics.
Best sign there, expressing the heart of the protest, held by an eco-activist: "Turtles and Teamsters. Together at Last." Lots of labor union people; local, national, even international. I ran into a group of rank and file Steelworkers from IN; a middle-aged small town white woman in shock because she had never seen cops (and National Guard) abusing people doing no more than peacefully picketing. BTW, the union workers at KING TV flashed the red circled WTO with slash across it meaning "NO WTO" for a second a few times on live news broadcasts. There was more; the event took place over 5 days, but this is what I saw personally and can remember right now. Historians and alt. economists have noted this was a major event.
The only exception was a few black clad kids supposedly anarchists who threw bricks through windows of Nordstrom's, etc. but not small businesses. First of all, anarchists aren't nihilists, that's propaganda dating back to the so-called Haymarket "riots" that were early pro-labor demonstrations. Our suspicions about the Clinton admin grew; we old line labor people wondered how many of the Black Bloc were government plants spying on the rest of us. (In the '60s, in some cases there were more govt agts in radical groups than real members.) Neolib authorities and emerging right could then claim the entire anti-WTO movement deserved repression as dangerous.
It is not only the 1%. It is the whole bourgeoisie, in particular the "liberal elite". This term is used by the right but it is not inaccurate. I know so many educated, liberal people, they are all part of the bourgeoisie or petty bourgeois. They were not affected by any of the Trump policies because they accepted the same ones when it was a democratic president. They recognize the problems with deregulation and money in politics, but when someone like Bernie speaks, they cringe (never mind that Bernie also disappointed, but the reaction is the same). I am yet to see one of them really criticize the military industrial complex, they 100% buy the "defensive" strategy, which is total crap. Some will shake their heads but that's all they do. Nothing that changes their status quo is good enough. They want the same democratic establishment because it is safe to them. They are scared, and they should. I do hope, and shame on me if this is too mean, that when the empire falls, they feel the weight of it.
I don't want to read the book because I saw some of this behavior when I went to Afghanistan in 2002. I don't need to bring back old nightmares. But, the author is right. American soldiers have been committing war crimes since WWII and getting away with it in a lot of cases because prosecuting them would detract from the "We have to win" narrative that the government always pushes out. I ordered Chris Hedges book, "Collateral Damage" today as I do want to read that. I know, it sounds hypocritical but I like Hedges more than this English bloke.
As far as the future goes, they're also right in that there are a lot of very skilled unhappy veterans running around out there getting into all kinds of things they shouldn't be. But, as someone who knows, the Veterans Administration has few tools and less money to help us deal with the things we saw or were forced to do that no sane person would do in ordinary circumstances. It's no wonder some of these veterans are seeking out like minded people to help them deal with those things on their own. I struggle with my own war demons all the time and I have a thread to a veterans counselor that I can talk to when things get dark. There are a lot of veterans who don't know how to get the help they need, so they end up on the wrong side of things a lot of the times.
Will those disaffected veterans rise up and commit any future domestic terrorist acts? Maybe. Especially if the economy keeps tanking and they think they don't have many other choices, and someone else talks them into it. That's the other downside to this. Combat veterans are easier to persuade into doing violent things when someone can frame those things as good for a cause or for patriotism. Those are the ones we need to watch out for. Those who've been convinced that what they're doing is for a greater good. Self-sacrifice is not something they worry about, as they were quite willing to lay down their lives wearing the uniform. Doing so for a cause they think they believe in will be no different.
Aside from the long trail of US imperialism that Trump inherited by default, he is catering to a psychological addiction of control, wealth...(more like unearned excessive material accumulation), power etc.
But for what it's worth, that's whose driving the great big beautiful bus we're on.
Here's a nice little depressing 2 part documentary you may want to watch
I’m reminded of how Tim Cook banned The Savant, an Apple TV drama series starring Jessica Chastain as a young FBI officer going undercover to help expose right wing extremism. Trump had seen the trailer and called Cook to cancel it. It dealt with exactly the same issues in this article. Similarly Trump’s continuing battle against Comey’s current crime novels dealing with extremism and violence
How we all fell for the war on terror is beyond me. A clue to the real purpose of it all was the accusation, from the United States of Terror, that Saddam had 'weapons of mass destruction'.
What, I thought at the time, do we imagine the American military industrial complex spent most of its time producing??? What I also wondered, did we not know about how much of it was sold to dictatorships in the global south???
Double standards are always racist at bottom. We hold on to those double standards for dear life, in the privileged and brain damaged west.
Serves us right to wake up one morning not too long ago, and realize where the real terror had its digs........Florida is it not???
Those of us with a working brain are rooting for Iran.
I moved to this country just before the 9/11 attacks. I never fell for the narrative and I am proud of it. Maybe because I had an internationalist view of the world, I knew more history than the average American. I did join weekly protests against the Iraq war, which was the most I could do at the time.
The US is already experiencing a little bit of what caused in so many countries over the decades of hegemony, including my home country. And yes, as sad and hard it will be, the fall has to happen, and it has to hit hard. And I will say, Iran is our hope right now
Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? I'm Canadian, but studied in the USA during the Vietnam war..........I've known who they are internationally since my twenties..........but of course, money talks, and a murderous actor like Regan was able to get away with just that.........murder in Central/South America.......while still being revered by good people who should know better.
I've protested also.........but it hasn't done as much good as it should have......mostly one offs that the majority, and our leaders, could safely ignore.
UNTIL NOW...and yes, many are praying for Iran.
I am from Brazil, born during the dictatorship financed by the CIA, that was planted inside an organization for "democracy". That's when the country elected a president who was a bit like Chavez and Mosaddegh, trying to assert Brazil's sovereignty by making sure the resources would benefit the brazilain people.
It is election year in Brazil and Lula, despite going neoliberal this term, is still more to the left than this country likes to see close to home. There will be some intervention, for sure. Rubio already declared two organized crime groups "terrorists", an excuse to intervene in case Lula wins. Those groups are criminals, but not close to terrorists. But that's the playbook in Latin America - Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, now Brazil.
I HEAR YOU, IN CAPITAL LETTERS. We've followed the fortunes of Lulu......are social democrats ourselves and much appreciated his speech at the forum on climate held in Barcelona recently...
He's the same age as me, and myself and another leftists decided if Lulu intended to work hard for the next 20 years, so would we.
WHAT AMERICA AND THE NEOLIBERAL WEST HAS TO ANSWER FOR....is almost beyond comprehension. An unlimited love of money and power that has knee capped every country in the world where people get together and try and create a more just economy and society for their citizens.
We are the evil empire in the west......the leader of the evil empire is THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIKKKA. I use the three K's for obvious reasons. You can't do, over and over again, what America does, without at bottom being a racist fascistic state.
We also watched a movie a couple of years ago, about how Bolsonaro and his toadies framed Lulu for corruption and got him sent to jail so Bolsonaro could win the election....of course, he's Trump's preferred leader for your country of birth.
Lula was great in his first time as president, from 2003 - 2011. This time he is too much of a centrist. Maybe because Brazilian congress is so right wing, it functions like a parliamentary system. But his main weakness, in my view, is that he is too cozy with "Israel". He says the right things but someone in his administration, I think his chief of staff, is a zionist, and he just allows zionist friendly events in the presidential palace. It is disgusting.
But he is a great orator. His speeches are really good. I just wish he had the actions to match
I'm beginning to suspect we under-estimate the difficulties of governing in the modern world our past decisions have created. Everywhere you see right wing politicians on the rise, I suspect in part because the simplicity of their ideas reassures western folk that all is essentially well in a world they know by heart.
Lulu went to prison on trumped up charges.....how did that happen in a democracy??? Trump has been elected twice, inspite of his well known sins...how account for that in the richest nation on earth???
I think our desires for simple and certain have betrayed many of us......as our msm says over and over again "We want answers". When none exist we settle for well crafted lies..........and that makes governing well quite hard.
We have Zionists in our parliament as well. They are relatively quiet these days, but that wasn't the case at the beginning of the genocide.......and I for one, don't imagine they will lose their seats anytime soon.
Once this genocidal era is over, most will be easily persuaded to forget the messy complexity with which the west has covered its tracks...........we don't like what we're seeing of Israel and BB just now but, in a decade or two?????
The revisionism of the worst of these days will in all likelihood have succeeded in sanding off the roughest of its edges.
Outlines perfectly what’s happening behind the scenes and how dire it is now while most Americans go about their lives as if the mid terms will erase the current simmering inferno on Democracy. No one is safe
What's worse, is that when the time for disappearances comes.........there's a dreadful chance that a supposed ally will turn you in.........already I see signs of in fighting among people who should by now understand that 1. no one person can attend to every damn evil erupting in an imploding capitalist casino, and 2. without solidarity in resistance, there is no hope at all.
Our desire to always be 'right' tethers us nicely to the guys who have the absolute right to never be wrong..........even when they're neck deep in the mud of their own making.
Trump is the poster boy for that entitlement. Bombs flying over Iran this morning....who knew????
Absolute arbitrary RIGHT......erases all wrong.
One of the best interviewers, Chris Hedges always asks the right questions, then allows the interviewee to talk. Many, many thanks. History has a long shadow. We all need to know how history shapes today. Historical knowledge helps us to recognize the current situation with the help of great journalists.
PS: Great interview!
Hedges is a national treasure. Just think what the NYT gave up in order to polish jack-boots.
Truth tellers like Chris are not welcomed at the NYT; this is good in that we get his seasoned views and those of his guests to counter the non-stop propaganda served up by establishment lackeys here and abroad. Real journalists have been terminated or fired - forced to abandon their workplaces to deliver what we need to make sense of the world we inhabit.
Such an important discussion. I will read Kennard’s book. Several years ago a documentary came out about the high level of rape in the U.S. military, mostly, but not exclusively, perpetrated against female enlistees. One thing that struck me was the statistic that the incidence of rape in the military was significantly higher than that in the general population and that a
large percentage of the accused had been charged and even convicted of rape before their enlistments.
Kennard persuasively makes the connection between the war on terror and fascism. I tried to find with little success written work that makes the connection between post-WWII genocide and fascism, that is, genocide being the ultimate expression of fascism, as, for example, the acceptance of much of the U.S. population of our support of the genocide in Gaza and its connection to growing fascism here. So many compartmentalize the genocide, separating it out from their avowed “fight” against fascism as personified for them by Trump. I was most recently struck by this while reading the comments section yesterday on an op-ed by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen in the NYT urging the Democratic Party to abandon its unconditional support for Israel. Although a lot of readers expressed at least some level of support for his opinion, a high percentage was critical, saying that what was happening in the Middle East was not important in the scheme of things and was instead a distraction that would weaken the Democratic Party’s chances of winning back Congress and the presidency. I was reminded of a powerful film I saw recently about loyalty to “The Party” in Stalin’s Russia, with even the well-intentioned invoking the righteousness of the party as a basis for their well-meaning actions. Of course they were soon afterward betrayed by the Party to which they had pledged their allegiance. (The film was in Russian with subtitles, made outside the country. I forgot the name, but I’ll find it). These NYT commenters, like so many other Democrats, are not making the connection between their acceptance of genocide and fascism — and fascism and their own party. We hear a lot about the MAGA cult, but very little about the blue no matter who (or what) cult.
To one of Kennard’s points, few seem to remember that after he was elected to the presidency, Obama adopted Bush’s timeline for the Iraq War and even sought to extend it. He began withdrawing some, not all, troops after the Iraqi government rightly refused his request to grant immunity to U.S. service members accused of atrocities against Iraqi civilians, like the one described by Kennard. During his campaign for the Senate, Obama referred to the war as “stupid,” and only, as reported in the main stream press at the time, after he was convinced by his handlers that opposition to the war would play well in his progressive Illinois district. I wonder if Iraqis would have chosen that word to describe the war. It went down well, though, with Democratic voters. It was enough to make me vote for him, too, given our “choices.”
Too many . . . "Democrats, are not making the connection between their acceptance of genocide and fascism — and fascism and their own party. We hear a lot about the MAGA cult, but very little about the blue no matter who (or what) cult." When I've mentioned this seemingly obvious connection to Democratic party supporters, I am shouted down and advised to never say anything like it again - there you have it. Here's a snippet from a comment from Ingamarie, from June 2025 that I saved - " . . . the degree to which we in the west can be on the side of the oppressor and think we're flying with the angels . . . IS THE MOST SICKENING THING ABOUT US."
Obama was a disappointment, particularly in international policies. I came to the conclusion then that it might be impossible to be the president of Amerikkka, and stand for justice abroad. What most Americans have forgotten about their governments reigns of terror in places like Nicaragua and El Salvador, is part of what makes them so knee jerk ready to believe their chosen enemies are terrorists. Call a terrorist training ground like "THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS" a school, and the actual curriculum goes unchallenged.
Classic projection........but it sure seems to work for the majority.
Already read it - can only recommend it!
Oh but it's all because of the last election, explained away by the better sort as stupid voters. Don't ask how smart it is never to have noticed four decades of suffering among the majority working class. No need to care about the well documented deaths of despair when they're merely, as HRC put it, "a basket of deplorables."
It's because of these sorts of comments by nice people on progressive sites that I just re-read Chris's prescient 2010 /Death of the Liberal Class./ "The liberal class is indifferent to the profound personal and economic despair sweeping through this country." No surprise these 20%er admin and professionals didn't see and most still don't--they haven't been affected. Although now that AI is impacting white collar jobs, objections to the econopathy subsuming all else are beginning to be raised. It's the Pastor Niemoller response: "first they came for..." Too little too late.
The "No Kings" rallies imply that if Trump were gone, a Dem paradise would ensue. Notice, though, the theme isn't "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats." We working class nobodies, abandoned decades ago when the Ds went neolib, are expected to accept a 'choice' between a professional and managerial class oligarchy or 1%er and corporate plutocracy. With both parties also neocon. No wonder flat out fascism is on the rise; a deadly combination of people with no reason to trust economic status quo political parties and extremists who see opportunity. Liberal democracy is on its deathbed and coding. Yet the 20%er Dem party loyalists want us to believe there's no need for radical surgery.
You see it everywhere....friends and allies abandon the real emergency for minor surgeries on the periphery....imagining that band aids, 'like better regulation' will stop the hemorrhaging.
It's becoming quite a dance macabre to maintain your 'innocence' and 'good faith' now......without jeopardizing your shrinking domain of personal safety.....even in Canada, even among NDP stalwarts, who wants to talk about Iran.......let alone internalize that countries sad history, and Am/Israeli role in creating it???
Better to demonize our white Christian racists, but remain ignorant of who demonizes the Iranian revolutionary guard.
As an educator in retirement, I'm appalled at the grade I'd have to give them, had they sat in any class I taught.
"...even the NDP" Horrible, isn't it? As you know, I'm a Tommy Douglas fan. And I'd prefer to keep at least some of my idealism intact. BTW, a good alt. econ blog is Canadian Ty Keynes (No reln to famous great Brit economist John K.) to me young because he's 42. He's an acolyte of feisty Australian Steve Keen, whose books I highly recommend. The title of his 1st /Debunking Economics/ says it all. It's in actual English and not arcane EconSpeak.
I don't judge people drawn in the last few years to the NDP for not knowing our party's history........but I'm not blind to their neoliberal tendencies...
We've all let things get progressively worse.........so that now, incremental reforms aren't going to cut it........but we've also all been intimidated by the bellicose right, so most radical resistance is beyond us. And if you can't stand with the Palestinians, why discuss the genocide at all???
I think that is where we are..........we all want a better world. What we're going to have to do to get there is intimidating to those who've yet to type a reply to any of these Hedges posts..........nevermind calling publicly for an end to fracking deep earth for methane gas (natural yes/poisonous yes/) Partly because we bought the big fibs and oily promises and agreed an invisible poison hardly existed. Yes???
I subscribed to "The Narwhal" online mostly because of marine issues coastal BC, neighbor to us in WA state. So I also know what happening w/ the pipeline AB and BC. And about Ontario's scaling back of protections to serve corporate economics. Seems the US doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity; it just has an horrific amount of it with power. PS--see my 2 lists of anti-WTO Battle of Seattle demonstrators below. I'd bet represents ~98% of everyone on Earth.
It gets even more hyperbolic. Apparantly, we're doing all this to get independence from youse guys..............dumb and dumber top the polls in Canadian politics. We voted in a central banker to save us from a popular rage farmer.............both it appears, in the employ of Big American fossil fools.
"But the midterms..." is expressed by some, which is shocking to hear at this late stage of collapse. Can anyone really believe swapping seats in Congress is going to change this system from the inside?
A counterargument is that this year's elections are mostly about Trump. Some say impeaching the orange Jabba the Hut would stop him; that assumes a 'fair election' (a joke in itself) and that any actions would put a brake on this administration. But it appears the madness of King Donald has moved beyond any such control.
The "No Kings' rallies - and the same with the "Pink Pussy Hat" protest - were nice for spectacle and emotional release - but they accomplished nothing, as they had no demands and no ability to back up the signs and shouts with action.
I believe we are a long way from it - but the only thing that's going to bring about change is a general strike with specific demands on the core issues of the injustice of the current economic system and the corruption of the political and ownership classes - and then stay out until there's change.(And I have little doubt the owners will use extreme violence on any such strikes).
Of course a "general strike," of the type approved by my logger grandpa the Wobbly (I.W.W.) Seattle 1919 assumes trust and a sense of solidarity. Rather than the reality now of our working class deep distrust of organizations and elitist "leaders." I mean both the usual conformist political ones but also the self-appointed vanguard wanna-bes with their attitude we're too stupid to lead ourselves.
I was there for the huge 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations known as The Battle of Seattle. Against? A coalition of labor unions, churches, small businesses, eco-activists, Indigenous peoples, political types from more centrist to far left but also right wing libertarians, alt. economists, scientists, Cancel the (3rd World) Debt advocates, small farmers, medical professionals, students, et al. local and from around the world. For? Multinational corporations, their apologist economists, and their lapdog government officials. Also an example of suspending rights in both the WA state and U.S. constitutions. Plus holding protesters in pens far from downtown Seattle. At a time with a D president and Congress, in a progressive D city. Rank cluelessness--or more likely, simply representing the real face of the D party as neolib.
I was living on the Eastside during the WTO riots. Still recall the ex-football player news host on KIRO asking "what do these people want?" Of course, he never bothered to go out and ask.
As you were there, did you know the riots were being filmed by a team of military personnel attached to Delta Force? My boss said his son was in that unit and told him about their presence. They were studying crowds to understand the tactics needed in future protests.
In NO WAY were they "riots!" There were all told 50-60,000 of us. Consider my list of participants above. This included a local order of Catholic nuns in full habits. Native Americans like local Salish peoples plus Oglala Sioux, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Maya, and Brazilians in traditional garb. Scientists for Social Responsibility (including Ralph Nader's sister.) The Sierra Club, WWF, and similar. A marching drill group in suits carrying briefcases holding signs "Billionaires for Bush--Because trickle up isn't happening fast enough." Small farmers' groups from the US, Japan, Germany, France; the latter led by Jose Bove' famous for running his tractor into the side of a McDonald's in southern France. Small business orgs local and international opposed to multinationals dominating political decisions about economics.
Best sign there, expressing the heart of the protest, held by an eco-activist: "Turtles and Teamsters. Together at Last." Lots of labor union people; local, national, even international. I ran into a group of rank and file Steelworkers from IN; a middle-aged small town white woman in shock because she had never seen cops (and National Guard) abusing people doing no more than peacefully picketing. BTW, the union workers at KING TV flashed the red circled WTO with slash across it meaning "NO WTO" for a second a few times on live news broadcasts. There was more; the event took place over 5 days, but this is what I saw personally and can remember right now. Historians and alt. economists have noted this was a major event.
The only exception was a few black clad kids supposedly anarchists who threw bricks through windows of Nordstrom's, etc. but not small businesses. First of all, anarchists aren't nihilists, that's propaganda dating back to the so-called Haymarket "riots" that were early pro-labor demonstrations. Our suspicions about the Clinton admin grew; we old line labor people wondered how many of the Black Bloc were government plants spying on the rest of us. (In the '60s, in some cases there were more govt agts in radical groups than real members.) Neolib authorities and emerging right could then claim the entire anti-WTO movement deserved repression as dangerous.
Spot on post Tom, especially the last paragraph.
It is not only the 1%. It is the whole bourgeoisie, in particular the "liberal elite". This term is used by the right but it is not inaccurate. I know so many educated, liberal people, they are all part of the bourgeoisie or petty bourgeois. They were not affected by any of the Trump policies because they accepted the same ones when it was a democratic president. They recognize the problems with deregulation and money in politics, but when someone like Bernie speaks, they cringe (never mind that Bernie also disappointed, but the reaction is the same). I am yet to see one of them really criticize the military industrial complex, they 100% buy the "defensive" strategy, which is total crap. Some will shake their heads but that's all they do. Nothing that changes their status quo is good enough. They want the same democratic establishment because it is safe to them. They are scared, and they should. I do hope, and shame on me if this is too mean, that when the empire falls, they feel the weight of it.
I don't want to read the book because I saw some of this behavior when I went to Afghanistan in 2002. I don't need to bring back old nightmares. But, the author is right. American soldiers have been committing war crimes since WWII and getting away with it in a lot of cases because prosecuting them would detract from the "We have to win" narrative that the government always pushes out. I ordered Chris Hedges book, "Collateral Damage" today as I do want to read that. I know, it sounds hypocritical but I like Hedges more than this English bloke.
As far as the future goes, they're also right in that there are a lot of very skilled unhappy veterans running around out there getting into all kinds of things they shouldn't be. But, as someone who knows, the Veterans Administration has few tools and less money to help us deal with the things we saw or were forced to do that no sane person would do in ordinary circumstances. It's no wonder some of these veterans are seeking out like minded people to help them deal with those things on their own. I struggle with my own war demons all the time and I have a thread to a veterans counselor that I can talk to when things get dark. There are a lot of veterans who don't know how to get the help they need, so they end up on the wrong side of things a lot of the times.
Will those disaffected veterans rise up and commit any future domestic terrorist acts? Maybe. Especially if the economy keeps tanking and they think they don't have many other choices, and someone else talks them into it. That's the other downside to this. Combat veterans are easier to persuade into doing violent things when someone can frame those things as good for a cause or for patriotism. Those are the ones we need to watch out for. Those who've been convinced that what they're doing is for a greater good. Self-sacrifice is not something they worry about, as they were quite willing to lay down their lives wearing the uniform. Doing so for a cause they think they believe in will be no different.
Excellent interview, again.
Aside from the long trail of US imperialism that Trump inherited by default, he is catering to a psychological addiction of control, wealth...(more like unearned excessive material accumulation), power etc.
But for what it's worth, that's whose driving the great big beautiful bus we're on.
Here's a nice little depressing 2 part documentary you may want to watch
Al Jazeera "Praying For Armageddon "
I’m reminded of how Tim Cook banned The Savant, an Apple TV drama series starring Jessica Chastain as a young FBI officer going undercover to help expose right wing extremism. Trump had seen the trailer and called Cook to cancel it. It dealt with exactly the same issues in this article. Similarly Trump’s continuing battle against Comey’s current crime novels dealing with extremism and violence