Joe Biden relies on advisors who view the world through the prism of the West’s civilizing mission to the “lesser breeds” of the earth to formulate his policies towards Israel and the Middle East.
Beautiful writing, beautiful reading, and so very informative. Please watch "War Machine" starring Brad Pitt now streaming on Netflix. This excellent piece made me keep thinking of this great movie.
The US government is not only "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world" (MLK), but sometime during Clinton's presidency it became our actual enemy. The corporate owned and operated US government has COLONIZED ... us! Like Ralph Nader said in a 2000 campaign speech in Oakland, California, "You guys have less sovereignty than the American colonists had under King George".
We need to step up our activism to reflect the fact that we know that the people running our government (which is no longer OURS) are our enemies, and we need to feel that what they do to a Gazan child, they do to us! And we need to act accordingly.
Indeed. One quibble: the co-optation of our government long preceded Clinton. Eisenhower warned in 1961 that the military industrial complex he oversaw would destroy democracy and we all recall what happened to his successor. That said, every Democratic president since Clinton has taken dramatic steps to the right. My most recent column examines that unfortunately well-established pattern. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/fears-of-a-fascist-future-overlook
I totally agree, Shahid, and thanks for your comment. I only meant that, as Hedges wrote in 2014, "Clinton, in exchange for corporate money, transformed the Democratic Party into the Republican Party. This was diabolically brilliant. It forced the Republican Party to shift so far to the right it became insane. But it also destroyed the last vestiges of a liberal establishment that once made incremental and piecemeal reform possible within the system." I like to think of that as a pretty neat historical line, drawn by the great Chris Hedges, showing nearly the exact moment when America "jumped the shark" and became TOTALLY dysfunctional. Prior to that "moment", we were still enjoying the "dregs" of being a "free" (LOL) country, and "piecemeal reform was still possible". Now the working class has basically been colonized like any other Third World country.
Perhaps relatively, Americans still had their democracy. But we're watching a very well done retrospective into the CIA operations in the 1950's, called WORMWOOD....and my partner's aversion for American regime change reminded me that in 1953...the year the scientist featured in the movie was likely murdered, those same boys following the Assassination documents also engineered a coup in Guatamala.
Have a look at the WORMWOOD series and ask yourself whether or not your secret service agents weren't dicking around with other people's democracies as soon as WWII was wrapped up. I'm afraid the American attention span may have a bit of trouble discovering all the undemocratic messes your deep state operatives have engineered for at least 70 years. Preserving American 'interests' abroad.
I hear you. I just listened to a 10-hour history of the Korean War by 2 young, intelligent, witty historians. They give the Howard Zinn version: it was a full on war crime of immense proportions. Like I said, we enjoyed the "dregs", but only the dregs. It could be argued that we've NEVER even come close to being a democracy. I get that. But still, because humans were so cruel globally and have been so for 10,000 years, America actually WAS a bastion of "freedom" for a while, simply because relative to monarchy and dictatorship, there were some good things about living here and growing up here. You can listen to the podcast for free by getting the Blowback podcast.
The provisional ruling against 'Israel' (for the Crime of Genocide) by the ICJ is expected on Friday, January 26, 2024.
Regardless of the outcome- even if the Americans SHAMELESSLY Veto it at the UN or do something else to impede matters, the Future is clear:
A Causus Belli will exist to enact Blockades, Embargoes, Sanctions, etc., in a Bilateral fashion. The Beast of Zionism will be STARVED to death & implosion.
Which is why the Americans are making panicked moves (as of this writing) to withdraw forces *entirely* from Iraq & Syria.
Chris, there certainly must be a link between her eminence, Victoria “eff the EU”, PNAC, Kagan/Nuland and the insidious combination in the nexus of the entire inflaming of the Middle-East, Ukraine, Russia, and trying to lure Xi into “The Quiet American” duopoly Empire trap.
While the ‘ending’ is a zinger, the ‘starting point’ is the real underlying trick.
We had a lovely country. The knock-on effects of corporate capitalism have degraded our environment, and our commitment to ideals that foster cooperation and sharing.
Our capitalists are not satisfied with just ravaging North America because there are huge profits available for the purpose of ravaging the world. Our reckless overseers want Russia, also China, and what they don't want is any resistance from us.
The results of our resisting and overcoming these gluttons will be far less catastrophic than the not so subtle resistance provided by other entities in our little world.
Comprehensive shredding of the reputations of names with which I was only peripherally aware. Incompetence shrouded by cleverness and ideological intent. Thanks for the reading EW and for the intelligence CH.
But the death of Zionism? ... no way, never, not in our lifetime ...
The cynicism that characterizes Zionism is welded into our culture here in the U..S. ...
It's in the DNA of the banking system and sets both the tone and unwritten rules of what we can and cannot say not only on MSM, but also "independent media" ...
The supposed death of Israel may impact attitudes towards international relations, but it will continue to smother the global working class ... and the notion that Netanyahu is finished is also beyond ridiculous ... he may distance himself from these heinous crimes, but his contagious cynicism has afflicted too many of his sycophants to stop the bleeding ... Hedges really nailed it a couple years back when he pointed out how the principles of "primacy of profit, primacy of self" now seem to dominate the way we rationalize our decisions ... I notice more people who have spouses and families and ideological soul mates, but anyone outside their immediate circle is now fair game.
Thank you for helping this Canadian understand the regime of Genocidal Joe. I knew he was a war monger but didn't realize he was an extreme Zionist.
Many American foreign policies are incomprehensible unless one assumes the worst possible motives. E.g. Bush the Lessor's comment about war being good for the economy. And the everlasting persecution of Cuba.
As one who has relatives in Cuba, I thought things were improving when Obama made some conciliatory gestures. But nearly a decade has passed and Cubans are still being starved. If the reason for that is to please the Cuban exiles in the U.S,, it's not worth it. People are dying and some are fleeing the island. If it's because of chagrin over the fact that Cuba won't bend to imperialism, It would be better to hand the state department over to a gaggle of nine year olds.
Many thanks for this Chris. As Canadians, we are often gob struck as to what America thinks she is achieving by backing the obvious genocide in Gaza......a few short months since many western commentators blithely accused Russia of genocide in the snailmate that is the Ukrainian war.
If at all literate, we can't help but conclude that the term 'genocide' is just one more propaganda piece in the American arsenal....not to be used against allies. Still it seems inconceivable that the American government can be so stupid as to imagine the rest of the world doesn't see what's happening in he hell hole that is present day Gaza.
This piece helps expose the ideologues and bureaucrats behind the last three decades of American interference in the oil rich Middle East. That the wealthiest country on earth would send bureaucrats who don't even speak Arabic....or have any interest in listening to it in translation......to regime change a country like Iraq.........gives western arrogance a whole new dimension.
America has a lot of blood on her hands. And yes, she could stop the bleeding by refusing to arm genocidal maniacs like Neten Yahoo. By the sound of this report, she's too far into hubris to consider such a foreign policy reboot.
So sad for all the good Americans forced to choose between Biden and Trump.
Chris Hedges has deserted the U.S. working class ...
I've now counted 54 posts made here since OCT 7, and only 3 have dwelled on topics other than the ISR-Palestinian conflict ... wouldn't it make more sense to alternate his commentary between the Gaza genocide and the specific affects of U.S. war funding on the suffering in the U.S. working class?
Hedges actually abandoned us upon the MAR '20 lockdowns ...
For the past two decades, he gave us every indication that he'd be leading our fight against tyranny in the U.S. when the time came, but exactly the opposite has occurred ... he describes his report here on Substack as "Covering US foreign policy, economic realities, and civil liberties in American society" ... there ARE things going on in the U.S. that may not be as urgent, but in a big picture sense are much more important to our survival than Gaza ... and there are people out there like Hedges' friend Naomi Wolf, former Phizer exec Karen Kingston and Dr Peter McCullough who are literally risking their lives to expose the truth ...
Hedges has deftly sided with the globalists on the issues of climate change and vax-related bodily autonomy ... he has also called those of us who question the motives of our elected officials members of "the lunatic fringe" and "conspiracy theorists" ... listen to this extremely divisive comment he made here is his otherwise terrific AMERICAN SADISM speech:
He then brazenly refused to stand with the U.S. working class against the COVID vax mandates and passports ... just watch him dance to avoid a direct answer to a question on mandates and passports during a 2021 Jimmy Dore interview ...
He blew it off by simply saying: "... that was a decision that I made" ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's vax trial data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years! ... the release of this data proved that the COVID vax was not "safe & effective" ... but then, just 30 days later ...
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made this comment on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54):
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ...
He could have said it's a personal decision, but no ...
Most people would never tell another person to "walk the plank" if they knew better, but that's exactly what Hedges did here ... he knew the VAX was rushed to market after only one year (the average is 10 years), he knew about the explosive FDA FOIA release and he had to have seen the many videos of vax-injured people ... but he chose to push the "safe & effective" narrative anyway! ... and then about 2m after making that same comment during the interview above, Hedges openly admitted that he "does not trust Moderna or Phizer" ... clearly, this man did not give a hoot about the consequences ...
Here you go again - all negativity over some pet peeve which you will not let go of... Go and write your own blog and cover the areas you delight in taking CH to task over. You are like the Evil Fairy at SnowWhite's christening! Fair dinkum.
I've followed Hedges as closely as anybody for the past decade and all of my criticisms of him are simply based on bench-marking his actions against his public statements ... that's why nobody ever questions the credibility of my claims ... all they can do is call me a troll and tell me I'm out of line to criticize him on his own blog ... for the past two decades, he has urged us to confront tyranny, even when things look bleak ... and now that things are dicey, he's nowhere to be found ... he now hides behind Gaza and Assange and I for one, will not give him a pass ... you sound like a real free speech type, Jim ... I stand for the integrity of the spoken word and all you can do is call me evil ...
Fascism. In THE CULTURE OF MAKE BELIEVE...Derrick Jenson has a great many stories of American 'lurches to the right' going back to the last years of the 19th C.
It's why you don't have single payer health care, why you still have the death penalty, why child poverty is so great in your country....at its core, fascism is so horrific that most of us are repelled by it. But soft fascism....the worship of military elites, the fear of the other, the religious bigotry that posits only two ideas, one of them wrong......a life lived for competition, material success and luxury perks....but for your kind of folks only.......
A majority of Americans likely subscribe to that soft fascism almost without knowing it. We blame the poor for their poverty, the addict for his/her addiction, and we spend more time defending what we have than using our advantages to make anything better. I'm Canadian, so we have it here also. Most of us are not bad people..........but we're miles away from being the good people we like to see ourselves as...
Many westerners are passive aggressive fascists. Most of the time, we do nothing. But we do that nothing with more fierceness than would be necessary if we actually lived in a social democracy.
And oh yes...!!! SOCIAL democracy???? Even using that term raises the hackles of the soft fascist.
Beautiful writing, beautiful reading, and so very informative. Please watch "War Machine" starring Brad Pitt now streaming on Netflix. This excellent piece made me keep thinking of this great movie.
The US government is not only "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world" (MLK), but sometime during Clinton's presidency it became our actual enemy. The corporate owned and operated US government has COLONIZED ... us! Like Ralph Nader said in a 2000 campaign speech in Oakland, California, "You guys have less sovereignty than the American colonists had under King George".
We need to step up our activism to reflect the fact that we know that the people running our government (which is no longer OURS) are our enemies, and we need to feel that what they do to a Gazan child, they do to us! And we need to act accordingly.
Indeed. One quibble: the co-optation of our government long preceded Clinton. Eisenhower warned in 1961 that the military industrial complex he oversaw would destroy democracy and we all recall what happened to his successor. That said, every Democratic president since Clinton has taken dramatic steps to the right. My most recent column examines that unfortunately well-established pattern. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/fears-of-a-fascist-future-overlook
I totally agree, Shahid, and thanks for your comment. I only meant that, as Hedges wrote in 2014, "Clinton, in exchange for corporate money, transformed the Democratic Party into the Republican Party. This was diabolically brilliant. It forced the Republican Party to shift so far to the right it became insane. But it also destroyed the last vestiges of a liberal establishment that once made incremental and piecemeal reform possible within the system." I like to think of that as a pretty neat historical line, drawn by the great Chris Hedges, showing nearly the exact moment when America "jumped the shark" and became TOTALLY dysfunctional. Prior to that "moment", we were still enjoying the "dregs" of being a "free" (LOL) country, and "piecemeal reform was still possible". Now the working class has basically been colonized like any other Third World country.
Perhaps relatively, Americans still had their democracy. But we're watching a very well done retrospective into the CIA operations in the 1950's, called WORMWOOD....and my partner's aversion for American regime change reminded me that in 1953...the year the scientist featured in the movie was likely murdered, those same boys following the Assassination documents also engineered a coup in Guatamala.
Have a look at the WORMWOOD series and ask yourself whether or not your secret service agents weren't dicking around with other people's democracies as soon as WWII was wrapped up. I'm afraid the American attention span may have a bit of trouble discovering all the undemocratic messes your deep state operatives have engineered for at least 70 years. Preserving American 'interests' abroad.
I hear you. I just listened to a 10-hour history of the Korean War by 2 young, intelligent, witty historians. They give the Howard Zinn version: it was a full on war crime of immense proportions. Like I said, we enjoyed the "dregs", but only the dregs. It could be argued that we've NEVER even come close to being a democracy. I get that. But still, because humans were so cruel globally and have been so for 10,000 years, America actually WAS a bastion of "freedom" for a while, simply because relative to monarchy and dictatorship, there were some good things about living here and growing up here. You can listen to the podcast for free by getting the Blowback podcast.
The provisional ruling against 'Israel' (for the Crime of Genocide) by the ICJ is expected on Friday, January 26, 2024.
Regardless of the outcome- even if the Americans SHAMELESSLY Veto it at the UN or do something else to impede matters, the Future is clear:
A Causus Belli will exist to enact Blockades, Embargoes, Sanctions, etc., in a Bilateral fashion. The Beast of Zionism will be STARVED to death & implosion.
Which is why the Americans are making panicked moves (as of this writing) to withdraw forces *entirely* from Iraq & Syria.
Zionism is Moribund, & its Death approaches!
(For those interested)
If you wish to read (& listen!) to more of My commentary, here is my Main Stack:
https://thefallofthewest.substack.com
Thank You Kindly to everyone!
#PeaceNow #ceasefire #releaseallhostages #FreePalestine
Is there any possibility of the US changing its disastrous policies -with a new President ?
Obviously not Biden - probably not Trump - and while I was hopeful maybe RFK, as he’s anti war
BUT
He seems wooed by the Israeli lobbying
Or
Afraid to buck them
What hope does America have in this?
What hope do the Palestinians have period?
🫤
Chris, there certainly must be a link between her eminence, Victoria “eff the EU”, PNAC, Kagan/Nuland and the insidious combination in the nexus of the entire inflaming of the Middle-East, Ukraine, Russia, and trying to lure Xi into “The Quiet American” duopoly Empire trap.
While the ‘ending’ is a zinger, the ‘starting point’ is the real underlying trick.
I urge Chris Hedges to immediately establish a GAZA SUPPORT FUND ...
WHY NOT?
He has 60k subscribers here on Substack ... many of whom would promptly chip in, including me! ... this idea fits like a glove!
We had a lovely country. The knock-on effects of corporate capitalism have degraded our environment, and our commitment to ideals that foster cooperation and sharing.
Our capitalists are not satisfied with just ravaging North America because there are huge profits available for the purpose of ravaging the world. Our reckless overseers want Russia, also China, and what they don't want is any resistance from us.
The results of our resisting and overcoming these gluttons will be far less catastrophic than the not so subtle resistance provided by other entities in our little world.
Comprehensive shredding of the reputations of names with which I was only peripherally aware. Incompetence shrouded by cleverness and ideological intent. Thanks for the reading EW and for the intelligence CH.
"The Death of Israel" ... maybe ...
But the death of Zionism? ... no way, never, not in our lifetime ...
The cynicism that characterizes Zionism is welded into our culture here in the U..S. ...
It's in the DNA of the banking system and sets both the tone and unwritten rules of what we can and cannot say not only on MSM, but also "independent media" ...
The supposed death of Israel may impact attitudes towards international relations, but it will continue to smother the global working class ... and the notion that Netanyahu is finished is also beyond ridiculous ... he may distance himself from these heinous crimes, but his contagious cynicism has afflicted too many of his sycophants to stop the bleeding ... Hedges really nailed it a couple years back when he pointed out how the principles of "primacy of profit, primacy of self" now seem to dominate the way we rationalize our decisions ... I notice more people who have spouses and families and ideological soul mates, but anyone outside their immediate circle is now fair game.
I don't go there Jon ... I'm not Jewish ...
But Scandinavians like me can hold a grudge with the best of them.
Can't argue with you on that point Jon ...
Netanyahu wants their land, their plans are known ...
But I believe the land grab is not their primary reason for the cleansing ...
So why are they doing this? ...
They're doing this because THEY CAN, it's as simple as that ... and to not do so would be an affront to the ego of the hyper-masculine capitalist ...
Rand Paul “Never Vikki” Web site -- https://nevernikki.net/
Note: Google YouTube is cleverly hiding it with many fake sites
Is it true that the CIA is now involved in the genocide?
Sounds like reading the Old Testament for Christians - with the Lord smiting enemies right, left and centre!
Thank you for helping this Canadian understand the regime of Genocidal Joe. I knew he was a war monger but didn't realize he was an extreme Zionist.
Many American foreign policies are incomprehensible unless one assumes the worst possible motives. E.g. Bush the Lessor's comment about war being good for the economy. And the everlasting persecution of Cuba.
As one who has relatives in Cuba, I thought things were improving when Obama made some conciliatory gestures. But nearly a decade has passed and Cubans are still being starved. If the reason for that is to please the Cuban exiles in the U.S,, it's not worth it. People are dying and some are fleeing the island. If it's because of chagrin over the fact that Cuba won't bend to imperialism, It would be better to hand the state department over to a gaggle of nine year olds.
Many thanks for this Chris. As Canadians, we are often gob struck as to what America thinks she is achieving by backing the obvious genocide in Gaza......a few short months since many western commentators blithely accused Russia of genocide in the snailmate that is the Ukrainian war.
If at all literate, we can't help but conclude that the term 'genocide' is just one more propaganda piece in the American arsenal....not to be used against allies. Still it seems inconceivable that the American government can be so stupid as to imagine the rest of the world doesn't see what's happening in he hell hole that is present day Gaza.
This piece helps expose the ideologues and bureaucrats behind the last three decades of American interference in the oil rich Middle East. That the wealthiest country on earth would send bureaucrats who don't even speak Arabic....or have any interest in listening to it in translation......to regime change a country like Iraq.........gives western arrogance a whole new dimension.
America has a lot of blood on her hands. And yes, she could stop the bleeding by refusing to arm genocidal maniacs like Neten Yahoo. By the sound of this report, she's too far into hubris to consider such a foreign policy reboot.
So sad for all the good Americans forced to choose between Biden and Trump.
Chris Hedges has deserted the U.S. working class ...
I've now counted 54 posts made here since OCT 7, and only 3 have dwelled on topics other than the ISR-Palestinian conflict ... wouldn't it make more sense to alternate his commentary between the Gaza genocide and the specific affects of U.S. war funding on the suffering in the U.S. working class?
Hedges actually abandoned us upon the MAR '20 lockdowns ...
For the past two decades, he gave us every indication that he'd be leading our fight against tyranny in the U.S. when the time came, but exactly the opposite has occurred ... he describes his report here on Substack as "Covering US foreign policy, economic realities, and civil liberties in American society" ... there ARE things going on in the U.S. that may not be as urgent, but in a big picture sense are much more important to our survival than Gaza ... and there are people out there like Hedges' friend Naomi Wolf, former Phizer exec Karen Kingston and Dr Peter McCullough who are literally risking their lives to expose the truth ...
Hedges has deftly sided with the globalists on the issues of climate change and vax-related bodily autonomy ... he has also called those of us who question the motives of our elected officials members of "the lunatic fringe" and "conspiracy theorists" ... listen to this extremely divisive comment he made here is his otherwise terrific AMERICAN SADISM speech:
Go to the 44:32 mark:
https://scheerpost.com/2021/06/29/chris-hedges-speaks-on-american-sadism/
He then brazenly refused to stand with the U.S. working class against the COVID vax mandates and passports ... just watch him dance to avoid a direct answer to a question on mandates and passports during a 2021 Jimmy Dore interview ...
He blew it off by simply saying: "... that was a decision that I made" ...
Go to the 8:12 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NusQH0pnX7Y
And then, on DEC 2, 2021 ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's vax trial data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years! ... the release of this data proved that the COVID vax was not "safe & effective" ... but then, just 30 days later ...
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made this comment on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54):
Go to the 1:08:47 mark:
https://krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/p/episode-54-audio-chris-hedges#details
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ...
He could have said it's a personal decision, but no ...
Most people would never tell another person to "walk the plank" if they knew better, but that's exactly what Hedges did here ... he knew the VAX was rushed to market after only one year (the average is 10 years), he knew about the explosive FDA FOIA release and he had to have seen the many videos of vax-injured people ... but he chose to push the "safe & effective" narrative anyway! ... and then about 2m after making that same comment during the interview above, Hedges openly admitted that he "does not trust Moderna or Phizer" ... clearly, this man did not give a hoot about the consequences ...
Thx for nothin' Chris
Here you go again - all negativity over some pet peeve which you will not let go of... Go and write your own blog and cover the areas you delight in taking CH to task over. You are like the Evil Fairy at SnowWhite's christening! Fair dinkum.
Say what you want Jim ...
I've followed Hedges as closely as anybody for the past decade and all of my criticisms of him are simply based on bench-marking his actions against his public statements ... that's why nobody ever questions the credibility of my claims ... all they can do is call me a troll and tell me I'm out of line to criticize him on his own blog ... for the past two decades, he has urged us to confront tyranny, even when things look bleak ... and now that things are dicey, he's nowhere to be found ... he now hides behind Gaza and Assange and I for one, will not give him a pass ... you sound like a real free speech type, Jim ... I stand for the integrity of the spoken word and all you can do is call me evil ...
ta ta ...
Fascism. In THE CULTURE OF MAKE BELIEVE...Derrick Jenson has a great many stories of American 'lurches to the right' going back to the last years of the 19th C.
It's why you don't have single payer health care, why you still have the death penalty, why child poverty is so great in your country....at its core, fascism is so horrific that most of us are repelled by it. But soft fascism....the worship of military elites, the fear of the other, the religious bigotry that posits only two ideas, one of them wrong......a life lived for competition, material success and luxury perks....but for your kind of folks only.......
A majority of Americans likely subscribe to that soft fascism almost without knowing it. We blame the poor for their poverty, the addict for his/her addiction, and we spend more time defending what we have than using our advantages to make anything better. I'm Canadian, so we have it here also. Most of us are not bad people..........but we're miles away from being the good people we like to see ourselves as...
Many westerners are passive aggressive fascists. Most of the time, we do nothing. But we do that nothing with more fierceness than would be necessary if we actually lived in a social democracy.
And oh yes...!!! SOCIAL democracy???? Even using that term raises the hackles of the soft fascist.