John Mearsheimer joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to lay out what’s happening in the Middle East, from Israel’s genocide in Gaza to its escalating attacks on Lebanon and Iran.
"But the fact is that we are supplying the Israelis with all sorts of arms, all sorts of diplomatic support, and we allow them to do pretty much anything they want."
Not only that, but Biden bullies any countries that dissent into silence, and even attacks Yemen, the one country thst stands up to Israel and the United States..
Let us make no mistake - the United States not only knowingly condones Israeli genocide, it actively and consciously aids and abets that genocide.
The entire Biden Administration should be charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, the US law that incorporates the Genocide Convention. This law has no statute of limitations. They are subject to this while in office, or out. May they have visions of prison all the days of their lives.
Our Middle Eastern wars were driven by a neocon agenda, and during the Bush/Cheney years they were on the republican side of the isle, but now they back the democrats and Blinken is a known neocon, as is Nuland, no longer in the Biden administration. They're driving an agenda of world wide hegemony, and in the end I really believe they will destroy us. Biden acknowledged being a Zionist to Netanyahu and his actions say he is, and he is a neocon who pushed all our wars and the one in Iraq more so since that was a war Richard Perle even wrote extensively about in A Clean Break meant for Netanyahu. You know whose great at telling this story is Jeffery Sachs.
I guess nothing. The whole idea of it makes me sick, and Mearsheimer seems to feel the Lobby no matter what the outcome in the Middle east will still have tremendous control. Like, why?
I read Miriam Adelson was going to give Trump a hundred million if he cleared the West Bank of Palestinians and made it a part of of Israel which I know Israel has been doing incrementally, and it's one of the reason's Hamas gave for it's assault. It's been written about and it's disgusting and how are we not up and arms about such an offer especially as we're helping to implement a genocide in Gaza?
I would take a look at the lunatics who want to build the Third Temple on the Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aksa compound. Trump has been cosying up to them for quite a while. Nothing could united the Shia and the Sunnis faster than destroying, or even taking a solid whack at destroying, that, to them, holy site. Reject the Uniparty, both of its candidates, now! (Or in November if you aren't voting by mail.)
"Well, I think that the Israelis believe that they alone cannot take out Iran's incipient nuclear weapons capability, but the United States and Israel, working together, can do that, and I think they'd like to drag us in so that we can eliminate the Iranian nuclear capability once and for all. "
No. If Israel were concerned with Iran and nuclear weapons, it would have insisted that the United States honor the JCPOA, which Iran had, by all accounts, adhered to scrupulously.
Israel seeks for the United States to do to Iran what it did at Israel's behest to Iraq, Libya and Syria, that is, turn each of these countries into failed states, and to do so on any conceivable pretext.
Excellent discussion. I have to say though that it was painful to hear Mearsheimer constantly using "we" to talk about the US, and grating to see how he he seems to take the sincerity of the US power structure for granted. Where's the evidence that "we" don't want a war with Iran, for example? And I would have liked to see much more about the Israel lobby and it's relationship to the US power structure. Is it really pulling the stings, or is that just a story that's been created to absolve the US of responsibility for its actions? And if it is actually pulling the stings, what can be done about it?
The United States of Genocide and the ZioNazi Colony are the same entity. There is no “Israel Lobby” blackmailing or bribing the US to do its bidding. They are one and the same thing. Pretending otherwise makes one look foolish.
It seems to me that the Americans would be quite happy to see the entire rest of the world go up in flames. They nearly managed to provoke war between Russia and Europe over Ukraine. They seem bent on a war between China and Taiwan. They would rekindle the Korean conflict if they could, maybe drag Japan into it. A general war in the middle east between Shia and Sunni would suit them fine. The Israelis think that US support for them is special - but it isn't - the US will drop Israel as soon as it's usefulness is over, just like every other country they got their mitts on. They don't regard India and Pakistan, or Africa or Latin America in any way as important enough to warrant the slightest notice. American exceptionalism and isolationism still rules, they think they are safely 5000 miles away from the fighting, so they don't give a monkeys. They basically think they would win a nuclear war, so yah boo sucks to the rest of us.
I agree, it will probably drag on another few years, 5,10, 20 - who knows? - but I think follow the money applies - eventually, surely, US taxpayers will cotton on that Ukraine is not buying all these multi million dollar missiles, it's the US Government who buys them, with taxpayers money, burning their hard earned dollars in a bonfire 5,000 miles away. And the military morons will get bored with it, the politicians will not find votes in it. Or maybe the Russians will go for some kind of final solution - at any rate as it is on their border, they will keep on and on with it because they have no choice - they cannot allow 'the West' - i.e. NATO, i.e. the USA, to win - it is unthinkable. The Americans forget that Russia sacrificed 20 million people in the second world war to ensure their territorial integrity, and will do so again, and again. Meanwhile it is like a game to the US. The Europeans want to buy the gas from the Russians, and grain from Ukraine, and to sell them fridges and cars. Why our government can't see how we are being used is beyond me.
Please don't think that the American people - at least the majority who don't fall for the propaganda - want to be in a war. Most of us are far more concerned about the problems we face at home. Look at Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina! We want our fellow citizens to be taken care of in a natural disaster, not to be sending billions of dollars to foreign governments.
thanks Susan - I usually say "the US Government", or "the US military industrial complex" or things like that. But lately I have begun to think this is a cop out (as we used to say back in the day). Here in the UK it's the same - everyone here (at least everyone I know) just wants the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza stopped. To my mind the only power we have is to stop sending arms (we have to admit that Ukraine will never win the war) and in that way open a path to negotiations with Russia, and to force the Israelis to negotiate because they will run out of weapons. It would also help to calm things in the rest of the region. But ... but - our respective governments are beyond our control, and as citizens we have to take responsibility for that. Instead of the minimal effort of posting on facebook or on blogs like this, where my bubble agrees with me, I should be harassing my MP, demonstrating in the streets, writing letters to people in government.
Maybe my biggest emotion, beyond feeling for the suffering of everyone affected directly, is resentment that I am made into a passive collaborator, the perpetrators of atrocities dragging me down to their bestial level, and a feeling of frustration that I have to point out, endlessly, what is so starkly obvious to me that I simply cannot comprehend how our 'leaders' like Keir Starmer or Joe Biden - or any of the interchangeable stooges - can sleep at night as they actively support and promote war.
Thank you so much, Mr Hedges, Professor Mearsheimer, for this discussion. I wish that folks like you could be in charge of our foreign policy. I always learn a lot from your show, Mr. Hedges
The folks who are in charge of our policy are, as they've repeatedly demonstrated, clueless, and the team coming in soon (as seems highly likely) under Trump are even more delusional and equally if not more craven. It doesn't look like this is going to end well, and, as usual, those who pay the highest price for this folly are the best of us, these being the Palestinians.
This was a particularly informative discussion, gentlemen. Thanks again.
I had this idea a few nights ago, what do you think? Can you help or know those who can?
I was in a Zoom virtual vigil last Thursday night for two executions scheduled for Texas and Alabama. It was a moving, powerful, and motivating experience.
It occurred to me that we need an on-going, non-stop, 24/7, every-time zone, virtual vigil for all the victims of Gaza, for what has happened on and since October 7, 2023. (Full well knowing it didn’t start then.)
There could be religious leaders sharing their rituals honoring the dead. We could read the names of everyone killed.
Invite musicians, poets, and others to share their artistry. I'm sure that there is much else that could be part of this.
It could have people from all over the world, all religious faiths, and leaders, all us atheists too. I am not claiming it will solve the issue, but it might help ease a bit of the pain, might help build community, show solidarity, and let us know we are not alone.
Is it a good idea? If so, who has the skills and contacts to do this? How can we make this happen?
Israel has shown itself to be ruled by nutcases. I wouldn't put it past them, given their government, to talk themselves into believing that they COULD send ground troops into Iran. Always assuming, of course, that they can depend on their Ace in the Hole, the US government, to back them up. And, looking at the US government, they're crazy enough to go along with it.
THANK YOU, prof. mersheimer and chris hedges, for continuously providing information i so thoroughly miss from the media in my [EU] home country which provides huge amounts of weaponry to israel - out of an ill-conceived need for "unconditional support!" following the horrors inflicted upon jews during WWII.
THANK YOU, prof. mersheimer, for pointing out that our intellectuals - including our journalists - are AWOL! how i miss their outrage in the face of israel's atrocities. how i missed their efforts to help solve the plight of the palestinians decades before 10/7/23. how i now miss their unconditional support for the ICJ in holding the perpetrators of a more than "plausible genocide" to account! [while we know that the west has no glorious record of taking all its war criminals to court!]
my country's ministers of defense and foreign affairs should be made aware of your talk, they should see, again and again, the horrid pictures of the judgement day death and destruction israel wreaks in palestine, and they should finally COME to their SENSES: "never again!" should mean: "never again!"
beyond their unachieved short-term goals, have they considered, even remotely, what the region will look like with endless numbers of people maimed, orphaned - traumatized on both sides of the divide - for generations to come? considered that their actions today are breading nothing but utter despair, hatred, zero pacification or reconciliation tomorrow? [miracles are hard to come by.]
while real estate magnates will sell beach front property to the heartle$$ few who decide to thrive on land soaked~with~the~blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives ...
The best thing Pope Francis could ever do is to make his stand in Gaza, or Bethlehem. He has an opportunity that is unequalled, to say "no" to genocide. If Gaza is no longer an option, thanks to the total blockade by Israel. He could even go to the West Bank, Beirut, or even Teheran, and say, “Not in our name, not on our watch.”
"But the fact is that we are supplying the Israelis with all sorts of arms, all sorts of diplomatic support, and we allow them to do pretty much anything they want."
Not only that, but Biden bullies any countries that dissent into silence, and even attacks Yemen, the one country thst stands up to Israel and the United States..
Let us make no mistake - the United States not only knowingly condones Israeli genocide, it actively and consciously aids and abets that genocide.
The entire Biden Administration should be charged under 18 U.S. Code § 1091, the US law that incorporates the Genocide Convention. This law has no statute of limitations. They are subject to this while in office, or out. May they have visions of prison all the days of their lives.
Our Middle Eastern wars were driven by a neocon agenda, and during the Bush/Cheney years they were on the republican side of the isle, but now they back the democrats and Blinken is a known neocon, as is Nuland, no longer in the Biden administration. They're driving an agenda of world wide hegemony, and in the end I really believe they will destroy us. Biden acknowledged being a Zionist to Netanyahu and his actions say he is, and he is a neocon who pushed all our wars and the one in Iraq more so since that was a war Richard Perle even wrote extensively about in A Clean Break meant for Netanyahu. You know whose great at telling this story is Jeffery Sachs.
All this is obvious.
What does anyone propose to do about it?
I guess nothing. The whole idea of it makes me sick, and Mearsheimer seems to feel the Lobby no matter what the outcome in the Middle east will still have tremendous control. Like, why?
Because they can. Israel is what you get when any group of humans gets unlimited rights and zero obligations.
I read Miriam Adelson was going to give Trump a hundred million if he cleared the West Bank of Palestinians and made it a part of of Israel which I know Israel has been doing incrementally, and it's one of the reason's Hamas gave for it's assault. It's been written about and it's disgusting and how are we not up and arms about such an offer especially as we're helping to implement a genocide in Gaza?
I would take a look at the lunatics who want to build the Third Temple on the Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aksa compound. Trump has been cosying up to them for quite a while. Nothing could united the Shia and the Sunnis faster than destroying, or even taking a solid whack at destroying, that, to them, holy site. Reject the Uniparty, both of its candidates, now! (Or in November if you aren't voting by mail.)
$100M in the scheme of things is chicken feed.
There are much simpler answers.
Did you read From Dictatorship to Democracy? Dr Gene Sharp describes how we can do it.
"Well, I think that the Israelis believe that they alone cannot take out Iran's incipient nuclear weapons capability, but the United States and Israel, working together, can do that, and I think they'd like to drag us in so that we can eliminate the Iranian nuclear capability once and for all. "
No. If Israel were concerned with Iran and nuclear weapons, it would have insisted that the United States honor the JCPOA, which Iran had, by all accounts, adhered to scrupulously.
Israel seeks for the United States to do to Iran what it did at Israel's behest to Iraq, Libya and Syria, that is, turn each of these countries into failed states, and to do so on any conceivable pretext.
Biden is entirely on board with this.
Excellent discussion. I have to say though that it was painful to hear Mearsheimer constantly using "we" to talk about the US, and grating to see how he he seems to take the sincerity of the US power structure for granted. Where's the evidence that "we" don't want a war with Iran, for example? And I would have liked to see much more about the Israel lobby and it's relationship to the US power structure. Is it really pulling the stings, or is that just a story that's been created to absolve the US of responsibility for its actions? And if it is actually pulling the stings, what can be done about it?
The United States of Genocide and the ZioNazi Colony are the same entity. There is no “Israel Lobby” blackmailing or bribing the US to do its bidding. They are one and the same thing. Pretending otherwise makes one look foolish.
It seems to me that the Americans would be quite happy to see the entire rest of the world go up in flames. They nearly managed to provoke war between Russia and Europe over Ukraine. They seem bent on a war between China and Taiwan. They would rekindle the Korean conflict if they could, maybe drag Japan into it. A general war in the middle east between Shia and Sunni would suit them fine. The Israelis think that US support for them is special - but it isn't - the US will drop Israel as soon as it's usefulness is over, just like every other country they got their mitts on. They don't regard India and Pakistan, or Africa or Latin America in any way as important enough to warrant the slightest notice. American exceptionalism and isolationism still rules, they think they are safely 5000 miles away from the fighting, so they don't give a monkeys. They basically think they would win a nuclear war, so yah boo sucks to the rest of us.
The Americans and their loyal european buttbois are not done in Ukraine.
Wait until after the US elections.
Do you REALLY believe that we can vote our way out of this? Oh, please!
I do not recall saying that we could. The escalation is coming, regardless who wins.
Yes, I certainly agree with that
I agree, it will probably drag on another few years, 5,10, 20 - who knows? - but I think follow the money applies - eventually, surely, US taxpayers will cotton on that Ukraine is not buying all these multi million dollar missiles, it's the US Government who buys them, with taxpayers money, burning their hard earned dollars in a bonfire 5,000 miles away. And the military morons will get bored with it, the politicians will not find votes in it. Or maybe the Russians will go for some kind of final solution - at any rate as it is on their border, they will keep on and on with it because they have no choice - they cannot allow 'the West' - i.e. NATO, i.e. the USA, to win - it is unthinkable. The Americans forget that Russia sacrificed 20 million people in the second world war to ensure their territorial integrity, and will do so again, and again. Meanwhile it is like a game to the US. The Europeans want to buy the gas from the Russians, and grain from Ukraine, and to sell them fridges and cars. Why our government can't see how we are being used is beyond me.
This is not about money for the West.
Please don't think that the American people - at least the majority who don't fall for the propaganda - want to be in a war. Most of us are far more concerned about the problems we face at home. Look at Hurricane Helene in Asheville, North Carolina! We want our fellow citizens to be taken care of in a natural disaster, not to be sending billions of dollars to foreign governments.
thanks Susan - I usually say "the US Government", or "the US military industrial complex" or things like that. But lately I have begun to think this is a cop out (as we used to say back in the day). Here in the UK it's the same - everyone here (at least everyone I know) just wants the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza stopped. To my mind the only power we have is to stop sending arms (we have to admit that Ukraine will never win the war) and in that way open a path to negotiations with Russia, and to force the Israelis to negotiate because they will run out of weapons. It would also help to calm things in the rest of the region. But ... but - our respective governments are beyond our control, and as citizens we have to take responsibility for that. Instead of the minimal effort of posting on facebook or on blogs like this, where my bubble agrees with me, I should be harassing my MP, demonstrating in the streets, writing letters to people in government.
Maybe my biggest emotion, beyond feeling for the suffering of everyone affected directly, is resentment that I am made into a passive collaborator, the perpetrators of atrocities dragging me down to their bestial level, and a feeling of frustration that I have to point out, endlessly, what is so starkly obvious to me that I simply cannot comprehend how our 'leaders' like Keir Starmer or Joe Biden - or any of the interchangeable stooges - can sleep at night as they actively support and promote war.
Yes, the US CAN do something to stop Israel: stop sending them bombs!
Thank you so much, Mr Hedges, Professor Mearsheimer, for this discussion. I wish that folks like you could be in charge of our foreign policy. I always learn a lot from your show, Mr. Hedges
The folks who are in charge of our policy are, as they've repeatedly demonstrated, clueless, and the team coming in soon (as seems highly likely) under Trump are even more delusional and equally if not more craven. It doesn't look like this is going to end well, and, as usual, those who pay the highest price for this folly are the best of us, these being the Palestinians.
This was a particularly informative discussion, gentlemen. Thanks again.
Clueless is much too kind. I would suggest, psychopath is more appropriate for what we are witnessing.
Thank you both so very much.
Yes such efforts as yours are a huge sacrifice, and I understand that.
sad horrific situations we all could've lived without.
Much of humanity is such a disappointment. ...
I had this idea a few nights ago, what do you think? Can you help or know those who can?
I was in a Zoom virtual vigil last Thursday night for two executions scheduled for Texas and Alabama. It was a moving, powerful, and motivating experience.
It occurred to me that we need an on-going, non-stop, 24/7, every-time zone, virtual vigil for all the victims of Gaza, for what has happened on and since October 7, 2023. (Full well knowing it didn’t start then.)
There could be religious leaders sharing their rituals honoring the dead. We could read the names of everyone killed.
Invite musicians, poets, and others to share their artistry. I'm sure that there is much else that could be part of this.
It could have people from all over the world, all religious faiths, and leaders, all us atheists too. I am not claiming it will solve the issue, but it might help ease a bit of the pain, might help build community, show solidarity, and let us know we are not alone.
Is it a good idea? If so, who has the skills and contacts to do this? How can we make this happen?
And I'm sure that Mohammed - may he be eternally blessed - is entirely in support of Shias and Sunnis working together.
Israel has shown itself to be ruled by nutcases. I wouldn't put it past them, given their government, to talk themselves into believing that they COULD send ground troops into Iran. Always assuming, of course, that they can depend on their Ace in the Hole, the US government, to back them up. And, looking at the US government, they're crazy enough to go along with it.
I look forward to watching this. Two people who’ve been critical in providing info and counter narratives to US propaganda on these matters
THANK YOU, prof. mersheimer and chris hedges, for continuously providing information i so thoroughly miss from the media in my [EU] home country which provides huge amounts of weaponry to israel - out of an ill-conceived need for "unconditional support!" following the horrors inflicted upon jews during WWII.
THANK YOU, prof. mersheimer, for pointing out that our intellectuals - including our journalists - are AWOL! how i miss their outrage in the face of israel's atrocities. how i missed their efforts to help solve the plight of the palestinians decades before 10/7/23. how i now miss their unconditional support for the ICJ in holding the perpetrators of a more than "plausible genocide" to account! [while we know that the west has no glorious record of taking all its war criminals to court!]
my country's ministers of defense and foreign affairs should be made aware of your talk, they should see, again and again, the horrid pictures of the judgement day death and destruction israel wreaks in palestine, and they should finally COME to their SENSES: "never again!" should mean: "never again!"
beyond their unachieved short-term goals, have they considered, even remotely, what the region will look like with endless numbers of people maimed, orphaned - traumatized on both sides of the divide - for generations to come? considered that their actions today are breading nothing but utter despair, hatred, zero pacification or reconciliation tomorrow? [miracles are hard to come by.]
while real estate magnates will sell beach front property to the heartle$$ few who decide to thrive on land soaked~with~the~blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives ...
Thank you.
The best thing Pope Francis could ever do is to make his stand in Gaza, or Bethlehem. He has an opportunity that is unequalled, to say "no" to genocide. If Gaza is no longer an option, thanks to the total blockade by Israel. He could even go to the West Bank, Beirut, or even Teheran, and say, “Not in our name, not on our watch.”
Please sign the petition and share widely.
https://chng.it/gkvBfY44rq
Hey, Teddy Roosevelt said, "WALK SOFTLY and carry a big stick," not "Go beat your neighbors up with a big stick."
The most compelling and intelligible analysis on the topic I have seen yet. Kudos for Mr. Mearsheimer. We need people like him in politics.