Trump’s catastrophic miscalculation in Iran and refusal to accept the inevitability of defeat is pushing us towards a global depression and ensuring the suffering and immiseration of millions.
The goal in Iran, the real goal, ever always only to turn Iran into a failed state, much like what weas done to Iraq, Libya and Syria.
The United States and Israel will not hesitate to go nuclear, if that is what it takes. Neither Trump nor Netanyahu care about consequences that they personally do not pay.
What is never made clear is that all our Middle Eastern wars were fought for a greater Israel, and all those wars were based on lies. Initially there was outrage and marches not only in the states, but in Europe when we went to war with Iraq which was a groundless war based on lies. After that there was mostly silence during Obama's reign and many I knew who understood what these wars were about also went silent. He was off limits and only chastised for his love of droning. Iran was number one on Netanyahu's hit list but no doubt put off since it posed an outcome that we are witnessing now. Where was the outrage when Adelson bribed Trump with a 100 million, and some say 2 hundred million, to allow Israel to annex the West Bank which is against international law, and is now being carried out in a brutal fashion. The Iran war was always known to be on Israel's hit list and from the beginning, and that awareness was pushed aside, by almost everyone. I was glad that Obama made a real effort to try and prevent it. In other words sooner or later and known for decades the war with Iran was not only a possibility but a certainty based on our complicity and the degree of control that Israel has over the US. Interesting little talk of what's going on in Palestine, like lets not allow people to put two and two together, that is the long continuation of Israel's agenda in the Middle east, which is to have a fragmented Middle East, a greater Israel that has been emptied out of those "animals" and where their dominance reigns supreme.
That is not only what I am saying. This is a war that could have been prevented if Israel's agenda for a fragmented middle east didn't become ours due to Israel's control over American policy. AIPAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are 1000% correct. I'll admit that until Palestine, I hadn't put the pieces together, but collectively many more of us know now than before. Israel is the greatest danger to world peace, period. The question now is when will it be stopped and will it be soon enough for the world to survive?
Actually, I think, ideally, both the U.S. and Israelis would have liked to have seen the Islamic Republic overthrown and replaced by a regime headed by someone they could control, like the Shah's son. Basically, returning things to the status quo before the 1979 revolution, when Iran was an ally of the US and Israel. But the failed state option will suffice, if it can be made a reality. But as Chris notes, further bombing and a possible ground invasion of Iran carry enormous risks of retaliation, against Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
And amidst all this chaos, the Dow is over 50K, a sign of how twisted and perverse our government and the plutocrats who run it have become. This is a Golden Age -- for oligarchs -- and a rusted can for the rest of us. Classic imperial decline.
It’s like the roaring twenties all over again, except on steroids now. There is a likely economic depression coming that will make the previous one look like good times. And then a war to end all wars once and for all this time which may well end most if not all life on earth. USA! USA! USA!
At the moment it may not be crystal clear exactly how, but we can be assured that the planet, the Biosphere, will also end up paying a price for Mr. Trump's insistence on inventing his own reality. If nearly $100 billion and thousands of lives are meaningless, then certainly so are all those "lesser" organisms that Trump rarely thinks about unless as fodder with which to fill up his ugly pie hole.
Trurmp is just the king pin of the hour. The real evil squats behind him.........and most recently chosen leaders of the western world order.......Fossil fuels and fools my friend.....that's where the big money, and the deep psychopathy resides....nothing alive now matter so much as what's been sequestered by the Great Mother millennia ago.
You have that right. No respect for Mother Gaia, and it goes beyond just the fossil fuel fools as you frame it with such nice alliteration. All the tech "gods" support that "what me worry?" agenda. Data centers sucking more energy than entire state populations and built where there's lots of open land and scarce water; the insanity is pervasive. I got the Earth Goddess Blues. A song I'm working on, soon to be posted. Trump's a useful appendage for several scions of the oligarchy.
We're on the same page. They are certifiably insane....and their data centres prove it. No water???? NO PROBLEM...we'll steal it from some adjacent county...........or country.
Trump's real obsession with Canada? He imagines he could own our water....and rare earth minerals that surely must be hiding in our far north.
They are mad.......imagine, as Emerson said years ago of the transcendentalists....'that had they been present at the creation, they could have offered God some helpful suggestions'.
We remove them from the seats of power, or we're done like a badly cooked dinner.
And our so called Alberta oil patch is a fifth column his MAGA elites are already employing. Assume you've heard of the separatists operating in Alberta?
Remember that all our Middle Eastern wars were fought for Israel, and where we are now, not only involves Trump, but all who preceded him. Iran was always on Israel's hit list, but thankfully Obama made an effort to stop it, but obviously to no avail. Honestly, where was the outrage in either party when Adelson gave Trump a couple of hundred million to make the West Bank part of Israel, since to do so is against international law. There is lots of blame to go around, but I am in no way excusing Trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When one rejects both major US parties as flagrantly irrelevant toadies to big money, as I do, it becomes sort of moot who seems to be at fault -- or making a restraining effort -- at the top. Because it's all bloody theater. Money talks. Billions shout. Hundred billions scream demands. Corrupt shithead pols knee-jerk. That's the "game". Outrage? It's feigned.
What is, what was, has to change, if we get that chance. How is it possible that when growing up, and I am no spring chicken, is something I heard as a teenager from my mother, an anti-Zionist. I certainly didn't comprehend the politics, and she wasn't talking to me, but other grown ups who held her perspective, which was we were going to attack Iran, and why, for Israel. I remember one Middle Eastern state mentioned, Lebanon. I did understand this all had to do with Israel wanting greater control over larger areas in the Middle East, but trust me I kept my distance from what sounded like doomsday. As soon as the two crazies went to war with Iran it was so unnerving and the same scenario I heard as a child is playing out now, and I have a greater comprehension of the dynamics.
I can't agree more with Chris Hedge's last paragraph. I have little empathy left for the American empire, but the poor and mainly innocent people their wars kill..........the sadistic certainties with which American military experts have employed white phosphorus, depleted uranium shells and carpet bombing to bring middle eastern countries to their knees...........are war crimes of vast proportions.
Only an Empire as narcissistic as America has become, as poorly educated and trained in logic, could do what Amerikkka has done around the globe since Vietnam. And yes.........most pundits now admit America lost those wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan............but I have yet to read much about the sins of America's war crimes, have seen little demanding that illegal international sanctions end, and America be required to compensate the people she has demonized.
People are waking up to the obscene relationship America has with Zionist Israel.........but AIPAC is not yet a criminal organization, and very few progressives call for such 'charities' to be outlawed. I suspect many of us know that the third partner in this obscene love fest is the Fossil Fuel industry, but most publicly prefer to rail against Trump......and leave both Neten yahoo and Big Fossil Fools in the shadows.
Fossil Fuels are the curse though. The people of the Middle East had the bad luck to be swimming in that dark 'wealth creator'..........we should celebrate its coming demise, given what it's plenty has done to the planet.
Instead it will take us to another Great Depression and than most likely to the last Father of All World Wars, may be Great Mother forgive the lot of us.
Your mention of poorly educated (and uncultured) "leaders" of the U.S. empire was reinforced when President Xi was speaking of the Thucydides trap and it was apparent Trump had no idea of what it meant - and (likely) who is this guy Thucydides? I assume the same could be said for most of the U.S. delegation.
I had a similar moment when I learned that the Ayatollah the west assassinated at the beginning of the war spoke 4 languages, loved literature and had read Les Miserables in English translation...........I've an English MA, and taught English for my working life.
We demonize so easily in the west....unaware demonization is simply the extreme form of the ad hominem fallacy....and we know so little of our own history.
I myself don't know the Thucydides trap...but I do know who he was!! Poor Donald, reified by an empire that doesn't do literacy tests!!!
"The tragedy is not that the empire is dying. The tragedy is that the empire is bringing so many innocents down with it.", Professor Hedges writes. I grieve for those killed and suffering from this empire's death throes; I celebrate the end of this empire.
I am ashamed to be affiliated with this empire: We're so crass and rude. To our fellow creatures, to the very skies and seas.
I want to be a participant in a healthy, vibrant, democratic, organic, non-toxic polity. We could get there, with a little imagination and some guts (see Zohran Mamdani). After all, about 90% of us are decent, kind folks.
So while I agree with Professor H that the true tragedy is the innocents we're taking down with us, another real tragedy is that the fall of this travesty, or empire, is taking so long.
The tragedy is that it is not dying faster. There is nothing in the American Empire but Capitalist overreach and deep and dedicated evil. The Empire needs to die, and the Iran idiocy is working to promote it. I wish them success, and soon.
While I wish what this doctor said is completely off base, I am afraid he has nailed where we are at with Trump now and who and what he truly is. If so, We are fucked is an understatement.
Trump is simply a sociopath. Always has been, always will be.
Most leaders in business and politics display behaviors indistinguishable from those of high-functioning sociopaths (that is, sociopaths who are able to fake empathy when called upon).
This result is inevitable in any system over time, as sociopaths are the humans who will do whatever it takes to get power.
And both major parties support this econopathy. A system based on the assumption of what econ dogmatists call the utility function--the only human motivation is individual personal gain. Implying any talk about labor solidarity, the common good, or empathy is the blather of fools or the deliberate lies of demagogues.
There will always be sociopaths among us. I’m not surprised at the breadth and depth of Trump’s depravity (well, I guess I am, to some extent). What has really stunned me, though, is the capitulation of so many others. I’m not so surprised by Congress, given its current makeup (am I remembering correctly that about a third of House members were election deniers?), but I am shocked by the ready accommodation of incipient fascism by our universities, most of our media, and to a lesser extent by the blatant, in our face corruption of the Supreme Court. Unlike most people I know, I consider John Roberts the most dangerous and most overlooked (under the radar) man in the U.S. Who has more power than a king (or, more accurately, a dictator)? A kingmaker. And that’s exactly the role Roberts assigned himself when he wrote Trump v. United States (the immunity decision). That decision, which had no grounding in the Constitution or precedent, effected a silent coup. And the recent Callais decision, which legitimized partisan gerrymandering, will not only dilute the Black vote, but will dilute the votes of most of us. A minority already rules in this country. In sum, I’m less shocked by Trump than I am at the failure of our institutions and those who control them to restrain him, and in many ways enable him.
This demonstrates the vulnerability of the globalized model of resource extraction, consumption, disgard, mentality we collectively possess.
The economy acts as the primary operating system. This lubricant keeps everything flowing on a one way trip to complete resource depletion, and violent competition to acquire those diminishing and ultimately finite resources.
When the costs of extraction exceeds the profits to be had, the system collapses under its own weight.
Regardless of what we do in this geopolitical morass, 8 billion people are heading for massive shortages of energy and materials. As we approach it, inflation will continuously rise, poverty and inequality spreads, nation/state tensions will grow, wars are inevitable.
We are well on our way up the slope. On this particular slope, there is no gentle descent. We can't tip toe our way down and then quietly go about our day. We will fall abruptly.
It will come in bursts.
That's a very dark and horrible world to think about. We continue on this journey of self-decapitation and cheer for ourselves as a species of superiority. Immune from the chemical, physical and biological laws that apply to everything else.
Reality comes down to the bio-physical laws that govern a planet, orbiting a mediocre star.
Our dominating run at harvesting the earth is a zero sum game, a one trick pony, a brief party of mass consumption, living the good life, absorbed in our technologically enhanced fantasies and absolutely blind to what we have actually created.
Humans have remarkable intelligence. From the subatomic to the cosmos, humans have probed the nature of the natural world we exist within.
For some strange reason we can't, as a collectively conscious species do the simple arithmetic of noticing that our home....earth... is finite in its reserves of desirable atoms and molecules....natural resources.
That means that the rate at which we consume energy and materials....matters.
Economic textbooks will inform you that the planet is a subset of the economy.
Another masterpiece of a summary of what is going on by Chris Hedges. This world is going to Hell in a hand-basket thanks not merely to Sociopathic Felon Trump, but mostly to all those brainless dolts who believed-and STILL believe-that this person was ordained by God to be our president. THEY are really a big reason we're here. Now, do not think for a moment I am relieving Democrats, Congress or basically anyone anywhere close to DC of THEIR inaction and capitulation to the chaos that's been unleashed. Party BE DAMNED!! We are now a rogue nation, allowing this psycho bully Trump to do as he pleases without congressional approval, including a murderous War Act. Shame on all those in Congress who are allowing it to go on unchecked. What does this inhuman garbage pile Trump have on all of these people, that he does all this and they stay quiet??? The USA is going to suffer a very long and hard downfall, and we the everyday working citizens are going to feel the pain the most. Felon Trump will abandon this country faster than you can say "Epstein Files" and head to who-knows-where with pole dancing whore Melania, never to be seen here again, I am certain. Hitler had his bunker, Felon Trump has his jets and secret getaway, somewhere. And our nation will be done for, a failed experiment brought to a close by this satanic felon and his team of moronic dolts, along with a supplicating congress. I gnash my teeth in fury over so much stupidity here, while I weep in sadness and fear for the world my precious three grand kids are going to have to survive in. Goddamn Donald J. Trump & Co.
A bleak, but honest, report on the state of affairs, Mr Hedges.
I have vague memories (read sarcasm) of being literally screamed at for “catastrophizing” in 2015 when I predicted that a Trump presidency would spell the end of the American Empire. Does, “The US is too big to fail”, ring any bells, I ask sarcastically? And I disagree with anyone who thinks everything would “return to normal”, whatever the hell that means, if Trump were to disappear today. With precious few exceptions, both major parties support the war in Iran because they unconditionally support Israel. (As an aside, look at Thomas Massie’s race in Kentucky. Israel has poured millions into the coffers of his opponent.)
The number of people who should be charged with war crimes grows daily, but, pray tell, who’s around to enforce international law?
Trump has pushed the limits of the law his entire adult life, and why not, I ask? Very few have stopped him. A fine here and there is not justice.
I apologize for rambling, but I’m living in a constant state of impotent rage. I have to laugh at everyone who tells me to “vote harder”. Vote harder for whom?
Don't vote harder. Vote using your good sense for a third party which probably will not win but at least you have made public your disappointment with our traditional parties.
That is what I did in 2024, and what I will do again. I’m still taking heat for having voted for Jill Stein, but I will never apologize for. The two major parties are done for me.
I'm glad to hear that at least we are two. So, after the election I did'n regret anything but on the contrary I celebrated that I actually won for not voting for either of the two parties.
My partner and I would have voted for Jill as well, but here in Nevada the Democrats conspired to remove her from the ballot. The Democrats don't believe in democracy along with their MAGA brethren. They made that clear when they cancelled most of the primaries and forced Biden on us, until he was too far gone to support. And then they forced Kamala on us without any choice either. Both parties need to be eliminated once and for all.
Thank you, Ron. I also got yelled at when I called John Fetterman a fraud. “But he’s a man of the people”, they crowed, “Just look at his clothes.” Nobody believed me when I told them he had inherited $17 million from his father. And they apparently didn’t care that he had chased an unarmed Black man with a gun.
Now the same people are demanding that he be primaried. I think he should be recalled, especially after I listened to his interview with Bill Maher. He’s done zippo for Pennsylvanians, but he’s 100 percent with Israel and the war in Iran.
I had hoped he was real; maybe a few calling themselves Ds were reviving a party once proud to fight for us! But no. I was a blue collar labor activist for 28 years and a local D campaign mgr. I fought the neolib takeover, their subsequent dumping of the New Deal, and their abandonment of us, the majority working class. The Ds have done their best ever since to make nation and world safe for econopathic capitalism. After '08, the Ds bailed out Wall St. while the millions of us who lost jobs, pensions, and homes got nothing. Add the costly fantasy of a unipolar econ empire backed up by endless wars--not just of Rs, but Ds too. And despite the heavy propaganda, we can see the ugly truth about Zionism. How can the D elite not understand why we despise them?
Let's not forget what a change of regime domestically will do. End this war, probably; that would be good. But the D party elite is neolib and neocon just like the Rs. So the internal destruction of the majority working class as well as the forever wars to enforce econ empire globally will go on. They'll just be less crudely obvious about it.
There's an implication in the "No Kings" demonstrations. Like the Ds want us to believe if Trump were gone, paradise would return. Why no signs calling for "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats?!" Because we nobodies are to accept the decisions of our betters. We can vote for the Ivy D oligarchs representing upper middle class professionals or we can vote for the R plutocrats representing 1%ers, Wall St. banksters, and techie anarcho-capitalists. Both parties same sponsors.
The democratic party made a big mistake when it turned up its entitled nose at Bernie Sanders........he's the real mcCoy.....and for sure.
American Capitalism doesn't believe it can afford socialism. Universal free medical care????
WE can give it to Israel, but Americans have to go without.......we can starve Cuba, where they've had single payer for decades, but we'd rather gut the centres for disease control and public health than have to pay for them.
For absolute certain: the USA has drunk the free market capitalist ideology, and now is paying that pied piper.
We will have to wait to see the results of this war. It's dificult to find true information about its development on main news and that is why independent reporting like this one is so important. Two days ago I saw on YouTube Col. Larry Wilkerson talking about a devastating destruction of the Israeli tank fleet in Lebanon by a new type of Iran missiles and he gave very convincing facts to support this news. Unfortunatelly I just tried to find this clip on YouTube to share it but it seems it was erased.
Suspect the same might be true for most of the 'military' experts on youtube.
What's most disturbing about your country is how much influence the military mind has on your politics............still, its nice to hear from some who have retained the ability to think.
The U.S does not produce more oil than we consume. The U.S. is a net importer of crude oil, about 6 million barrels/day. As for the amount of petroleum product imported to the U.S., it is about 7 million barrels a day more than the amount of crude oil we consume.
You get some of it from Alberta Canada........where the dirtiest tar on earth is exhumed.......and sent to your upgraders for the first step in an expensive refining process........that has it in the end, exported back to us as gasoline. I'm an Albertan. I know about this one crooked but very profitable supply chain. (around all our necks.)
Given the degree to which you run everything on fossil fuels and fools........it's surprising what most don't know.
Around 1950 when the state of Israel was first established with the support of the Western world & the UN. The Jews had recently suffered from a massive GENOCIDE; plus near endless antisemetic attacks. Surely they were due a BREAK.
Today the Palestinians are refugees in their own land. That God supposedly gave the land to the Jews thousands of years ago does not obviate the title of those who have lived there since. The fact we supported their removal from a relatively small area does not mean we support booting them out of the entire region. The reality that the Yon Kippur attack of a few years ago was a brutal & disgraceful attack on civilians; does not licence the Jews to keep escalating & expanding the conflict.
The intention of the past was that both parties SHARE the land & if NEITHER wants to share then the western world no longer has a SIDE in this conflict. The only way peace can be obtained is if Israel & Islam build a WORKING MULTICULTURE as so much of the wider world is doing.
Both Netanyahu & Trump should be charged with WAR CRIMES. As for Hormuz given the immense damage Trump has inflicted on Iran; it has a RIGHT to levy charges on shipping in order to recover the costs of a REBUILD. Either that or America should pay as it is paying now; just NOT TO IRAN.
Agreed, but although Genesis is just a delusion and says that god gave the levant to Abraham's descendents, it has also been selectively interpreted because Abraham has among other sons, Isaac (Genesis 21): The son of Abraham and his wife Sarah and is considered the father of the Jews, and Ishmael (Genesis 16): The firstborn son, born to Abraham and Sarah's handmaid Hagar and considered the father of the Arabs
Julio; you seem to hold that the Bible is simply a FANTASY. May I ask; have you ever seen a moral; an ethic; a social value; a principle or any of the humanities walking down the street? Of course not; these have no material or physical existence but are DEVELOPED ABSTRACT CONCEPTS. Yet despite that they exercise significant INFLUENCE on human affairs. At first all these were developed separately so lay scattered all over the landscape disconnected from each other.
Next we bought forth a SUPER DEVELOPED ABSTRACT CONCEPT name of GOD; which assembled all these other abstract concepts plus the humanities into a working inter-relationship with each other within a COMMON BODY.
If things like Morals & the Humanities can exercise considerable influence on human affairs; why can't this GREATER ABSTRACT CONCEPT?
Ken, I agree with you. That GREATER ABSTRACT CONCEPT has too much influence. One example of that is the genocide we are witnessing at Palestine or the past holocaust and persecution of Jews in Europe, or the current Islamofobia and Judeofobia increased in America by the actions of Israel. Yes, delusions have Real consecuences.
But, if your question was why I consider the bible a fantasy then I have to say that science shows it is.
"The Bible's Buried Secrets" NOVA's science documentary shows that
the Israelites were Canaanites. Canaan consisted of well-fortified city-states, each with its own king, that in turn served Egypt and its pharaoh. These city-states contained elite upper-class Canaanites as well as lower-class commoners, serfs, and slaves. Archeological evidence suggests that, rather than conquering the Promised Land from outside territories as a separate people (as described in the book of Joshua), the Israelites were actually disenfranchised Canaanites who joined in a revolt to overthrow the elites. Out of these people who overthrew the ruling class, a culture of Israelites emerged which worshiped the canaanite god EI (Elohim) who presided over a divine consul of other gods including his wife the goddess of fertility Asherah and others like Baal, Anat and Astarte. Later when the Israelites wanted a separate identity they created the myths of Abraham coming from Ur, the exodus, Moses and Joshsua.
The word Israel means "EI perseveres" Only much later after the Babilonian captivity the prophets established a true monotheism.
And in relation to the New Testament, It is my time to ask you. Have you read any of the 34 books published by bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman including the New York Times best sellers Misquoting Jesus (2005) God's Problem (2008) Jesus Interrupted (2009) Forged (2011) How Jesus Became God (2014) and The Triumph of Christianity (2018)? After reading some of them it is clear to me that the scriptures are nothing else than delulions of some authors and that their original writings have been adultered through time.
Thank you for replying to my previous post, These are very important issues that most people prefer not to discuss. I'm agnostic and curios about the beliefs of others.
As with other failed wars there appears to have been a pretty significant failure by America’s intelligence agencies. The estimates of the damage done to Iran’s missile forces are clearly way off the mark. I remember reading an article that Iran had adopted a policy for its missile forces which was termed mosaic meaning a distributed system able to survive first and subsequent strikes and to strike back not just at the two major opponents but also at other states which support them. So, Trump finds himself mired in the same morass as Biden, Obama, Bush JR, Clinton and Reagan. What is eerily familiar is the premature declaration of victory particularly when we recall Bush JR declaring mission accomplished.
Another wealth transfer happening in front of the world's eyes & another depopulation effort (famine) w/a coming technocratic police & surveillance state imposed by LDS aka lucifer (peter thiel), the devil (netanyahu), & satan (trump) & their "acolytes". "We all get the gov't we deserve". Have you seen any population uprising? Any )ew uprising in a synagogue? Yeah, me either. All is see is written articles, memes, tweets, & podcasts that do absolutely nothing to the rising hate. Just singing to the choir who's the minority but it pays well.
The goal in Iran, the real goal, ever always only to turn Iran into a failed state, much like what weas done to Iraq, Libya and Syria.
The United States and Israel will not hesitate to go nuclear, if that is what it takes. Neither Trump nor Netanyahu care about consequences that they personally do not pay.
What is never made clear is that all our Middle Eastern wars were fought for a greater Israel, and all those wars were based on lies. Initially there was outrage and marches not only in the states, but in Europe when we went to war with Iraq which was a groundless war based on lies. After that there was mostly silence during Obama's reign and many I knew who understood what these wars were about also went silent. He was off limits and only chastised for his love of droning. Iran was number one on Netanyahu's hit list but no doubt put off since it posed an outcome that we are witnessing now. Where was the outrage when Adelson bribed Trump with a 100 million, and some say 2 hundred million, to allow Israel to annex the West Bank which is against international law, and is now being carried out in a brutal fashion. The Iran war was always known to be on Israel's hit list and from the beginning, and that awareness was pushed aside, by almost everyone. I was glad that Obama made a real effort to try and prevent it. In other words sooner or later and known for decades the war with Iran was not only a possibility but a certainty based on our complicity and the degree of control that Israel has over the US. Interesting little talk of what's going on in Palestine, like lets not allow people to put two and two together, that is the long continuation of Israel's agenda in the Middle east, which is to have a fragmented Middle East, a greater Israel that has been emptied out of those "animals" and where their dominance reigns supreme.
Of course. There is no agreement that Iran can make that Israel will be satisfied with.
That is not only what I am saying. This is a war that could have been prevented if Israel's agenda for a fragmented middle east didn't become ours due to Israel's control over American policy. AIPAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are 1000% correct. I'll admit that until Palestine, I hadn't put the pieces together, but collectively many more of us know now than before. Israel is the greatest danger to world peace, period. The question now is when will it be stopped and will it be soon enough for the world to survive?
I was never arguing otherwise.
Yep. If we can’t control a non-nuclear state, we must destroy it.
Iran was foolish not to have gotten The Bomb when it could have.
I wish it would have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just to be clear: its not welcome to the nuclear club....that's for rich white boys only.
Actually, I think, ideally, both the U.S. and Israelis would have liked to have seen the Islamic Republic overthrown and replaced by a regime headed by someone they could control, like the Shah's son. Basically, returning things to the status quo before the 1979 revolution, when Iran was an ally of the US and Israel. But the failed state option will suffice, if it can be made a reality. But as Chris notes, further bombing and a possible ground invasion of Iran carry enormous risks of retaliation, against Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.
And amidst all this chaos, the Dow is over 50K, a sign of how twisted and perverse our government and the plutocrats who run it have become. This is a Golden Age -- for oligarchs -- and a rusted can for the rest of us. Classic imperial decline.
It’s like the roaring twenties all over again, except on steroids now. There is a likely economic depression coming that will make the previous one look like good times. And then a war to end all wars once and for all this time which may well end most if not all life on earth. USA! USA! USA!
At the moment it may not be crystal clear exactly how, but we can be assured that the planet, the Biosphere, will also end up paying a price for Mr. Trump's insistence on inventing his own reality. If nearly $100 billion and thousands of lives are meaningless, then certainly so are all those "lesser" organisms that Trump rarely thinks about unless as fodder with which to fill up his ugly pie hole.
Trurmp is just the king pin of the hour. The real evil squats behind him.........and most recently chosen leaders of the western world order.......Fossil fuels and fools my friend.....that's where the big money, and the deep psychopathy resides....nothing alive now matter so much as what's been sequestered by the Great Mother millennia ago.
You have that right. No respect for Mother Gaia, and it goes beyond just the fossil fuel fools as you frame it with such nice alliteration. All the tech "gods" support that "what me worry?" agenda. Data centers sucking more energy than entire state populations and built where there's lots of open land and scarce water; the insanity is pervasive. I got the Earth Goddess Blues. A song I'm working on, soon to be posted. Trump's a useful appendage for several scions of the oligarchy.
We're on the same page. They are certifiably insane....and their data centres prove it. No water???? NO PROBLEM...we'll steal it from some adjacent county...........or country.
Trump's real obsession with Canada? He imagines he could own our water....and rare earth minerals that surely must be hiding in our far north.
They are mad.......imagine, as Emerson said years ago of the transcendentalists....'that had they been present at the creation, they could have offered God some helpful suggestions'.
We remove them from the seats of power, or we're done like a badly cooked dinner.
Oh hell yeah. Beware, Canadians, he'll try to rob you blind.
And our so called Alberta oil patch is a fifth column his MAGA elites are already employing. Assume you've heard of the separatists operating in Alberta?
Remember that all our Middle Eastern wars were fought for Israel, and where we are now, not only involves Trump, but all who preceded him. Iran was always on Israel's hit list, but thankfully Obama made an effort to stop it, but obviously to no avail. Honestly, where was the outrage in either party when Adelson gave Trump a couple of hundred million to make the West Bank part of Israel, since to do so is against international law. There is lots of blame to go around, but I am in no way excusing Trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When one rejects both major US parties as flagrantly irrelevant toadies to big money, as I do, it becomes sort of moot who seems to be at fault -- or making a restraining effort -- at the top. Because it's all bloody theater. Money talks. Billions shout. Hundred billions scream demands. Corrupt shithead pols knee-jerk. That's the "game". Outrage? It's feigned.
What is, what was, has to change, if we get that chance. How is it possible that when growing up, and I am no spring chicken, is something I heard as a teenager from my mother, an anti-Zionist. I certainly didn't comprehend the politics, and she wasn't talking to me, but other grown ups who held her perspective, which was we were going to attack Iran, and why, for Israel. I remember one Middle Eastern state mentioned, Lebanon. I did understand this all had to do with Israel wanting greater control over larger areas in the Middle East, but trust me I kept my distance from what sounded like doomsday. As soon as the two crazies went to war with Iran it was so unnerving and the same scenario I heard as a child is playing out now, and I have a greater comprehension of the dynamics.
I can't agree more with Chris Hedge's last paragraph. I have little empathy left for the American empire, but the poor and mainly innocent people their wars kill..........the sadistic certainties with which American military experts have employed white phosphorus, depleted uranium shells and carpet bombing to bring middle eastern countries to their knees...........are war crimes of vast proportions.
Only an Empire as narcissistic as America has become, as poorly educated and trained in logic, could do what Amerikkka has done around the globe since Vietnam. And yes.........most pundits now admit America lost those wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan............but I have yet to read much about the sins of America's war crimes, have seen little demanding that illegal international sanctions end, and America be required to compensate the people she has demonized.
People are waking up to the obscene relationship America has with Zionist Israel.........but AIPAC is not yet a criminal organization, and very few progressives call for such 'charities' to be outlawed. I suspect many of us know that the third partner in this obscene love fest is the Fossil Fuel industry, but most publicly prefer to rail against Trump......and leave both Neten yahoo and Big Fossil Fools in the shadows.
Fossil Fuels are the curse though. The people of the Middle East had the bad luck to be swimming in that dark 'wealth creator'..........we should celebrate its coming demise, given what it's plenty has done to the planet.
Instead it will take us to another Great Depression and than most likely to the last Father of All World Wars, may be Great Mother forgive the lot of us.
Your mention of poorly educated (and uncultured) "leaders" of the U.S. empire was reinforced when President Xi was speaking of the Thucydides trap and it was apparent Trump had no idea of what it meant - and (likely) who is this guy Thucydides? I assume the same could be said for most of the U.S. delegation.
I had a similar moment when I learned that the Ayatollah the west assassinated at the beginning of the war spoke 4 languages, loved literature and had read Les Miserables in English translation...........I've an English MA, and taught English for my working life.
We demonize so easily in the west....unaware demonization is simply the extreme form of the ad hominem fallacy....and we know so little of our own history.
I myself don't know the Thucydides trap...but I do know who he was!! Poor Donald, reified by an empire that doesn't do literacy tests!!!
"The tragedy is not that the empire is dying. The tragedy is that the empire is bringing so many innocents down with it.", Professor Hedges writes. I grieve for those killed and suffering from this empire's death throes; I celebrate the end of this empire.
I am ashamed to be affiliated with this empire: We're so crass and rude. To our fellow creatures, to the very skies and seas.
I want to be a participant in a healthy, vibrant, democratic, organic, non-toxic polity. We could get there, with a little imagination and some guts (see Zohran Mamdani). After all, about 90% of us are decent, kind folks.
So while I agree with Professor H that the true tragedy is the innocents we're taking down with us, another real tragedy is that the fall of this travesty, or empire, is taking so long.
The tragedy is that it is not dying faster. There is nothing in the American Empire but Capitalist overreach and deep and dedicated evil. The Empire needs to die, and the Iran idiocy is working to promote it. I wish them success, and soon.
Just watched this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evh09P3Qpa8
While I wish what this doctor said is completely off base, I am afraid he has nailed where we are at with Trump now and who and what he truly is. If so, We are fucked is an understatement.
Trump is simply a sociopath. Always has been, always will be.
Most leaders in business and politics display behaviors indistinguishable from those of high-functioning sociopaths (that is, sociopaths who are able to fake empathy when called upon).
This result is inevitable in any system over time, as sociopaths are the humans who will do whatever it takes to get power.
And both major parties support this econopathy. A system based on the assumption of what econ dogmatists call the utility function--the only human motivation is individual personal gain. Implying any talk about labor solidarity, the common good, or empathy is the blather of fools or the deliberate lies of demagogues.
There will always be sociopaths among us. I’m not surprised at the breadth and depth of Trump’s depravity (well, I guess I am, to some extent). What has really stunned me, though, is the capitulation of so many others. I’m not so surprised by Congress, given its current makeup (am I remembering correctly that about a third of House members were election deniers?), but I am shocked by the ready accommodation of incipient fascism by our universities, most of our media, and to a lesser extent by the blatant, in our face corruption of the Supreme Court. Unlike most people I know, I consider John Roberts the most dangerous and most overlooked (under the radar) man in the U.S. Who has more power than a king (or, more accurately, a dictator)? A kingmaker. And that’s exactly the role Roberts assigned himself when he wrote Trump v. United States (the immunity decision). That decision, which had no grounding in the Constitution or precedent, effected a silent coup. And the recent Callais decision, which legitimized partisan gerrymandering, will not only dilute the Black vote, but will dilute the votes of most of us. A minority already rules in this country. In sum, I’m less shocked by Trump than I am at the failure of our institutions and those who control them to restrain him, and in many ways enable him.
God Almighty! I just watched the video. Now I am sick to my stomach, in realization of knowing just how bad our situation is.
This demonstrates the vulnerability of the globalized model of resource extraction, consumption, disgard, mentality we collectively possess.
The economy acts as the primary operating system. This lubricant keeps everything flowing on a one way trip to complete resource depletion, and violent competition to acquire those diminishing and ultimately finite resources.
When the costs of extraction exceeds the profits to be had, the system collapses under its own weight.
Regardless of what we do in this geopolitical morass, 8 billion people are heading for massive shortages of energy and materials. As we approach it, inflation will continuously rise, poverty and inequality spreads, nation/state tensions will grow, wars are inevitable.
We are well on our way up the slope. On this particular slope, there is no gentle descent. We can't tip toe our way down and then quietly go about our day. We will fall abruptly.
It will come in bursts.
That's a very dark and horrible world to think about. We continue on this journey of self-decapitation and cheer for ourselves as a species of superiority. Immune from the chemical, physical and biological laws that apply to everything else.
Reality comes down to the bio-physical laws that govern a planet, orbiting a mediocre star.
Our dominating run at harvesting the earth is a zero sum game, a one trick pony, a brief party of mass consumption, living the good life, absorbed in our technologically enhanced fantasies and absolutely blind to what we have actually created.
Humans have remarkable intelligence. From the subatomic to the cosmos, humans have probed the nature of the natural world we exist within.
For some strange reason we can't, as a collectively conscious species do the simple arithmetic of noticing that our home....earth... is finite in its reserves of desirable atoms and molecules....natural resources.
That means that the rate at which we consume energy and materials....matters.
Economic textbooks will inform you that the planet is a subset of the economy.
In reality, it's the other way around.
Another masterpiece of a summary of what is going on by Chris Hedges. This world is going to Hell in a hand-basket thanks not merely to Sociopathic Felon Trump, but mostly to all those brainless dolts who believed-and STILL believe-that this person was ordained by God to be our president. THEY are really a big reason we're here. Now, do not think for a moment I am relieving Democrats, Congress or basically anyone anywhere close to DC of THEIR inaction and capitulation to the chaos that's been unleashed. Party BE DAMNED!! We are now a rogue nation, allowing this psycho bully Trump to do as he pleases without congressional approval, including a murderous War Act. Shame on all those in Congress who are allowing it to go on unchecked. What does this inhuman garbage pile Trump have on all of these people, that he does all this and they stay quiet??? The USA is going to suffer a very long and hard downfall, and we the everyday working citizens are going to feel the pain the most. Felon Trump will abandon this country faster than you can say "Epstein Files" and head to who-knows-where with pole dancing whore Melania, never to be seen here again, I am certain. Hitler had his bunker, Felon Trump has his jets and secret getaway, somewhere. And our nation will be done for, a failed experiment brought to a close by this satanic felon and his team of moronic dolts, along with a supplicating congress. I gnash my teeth in fury over so much stupidity here, while I weep in sadness and fear for the world my precious three grand kids are going to have to survive in. Goddamn Donald J. Trump & Co.
A bleak, but honest, report on the state of affairs, Mr Hedges.
I have vague memories (read sarcasm) of being literally screamed at for “catastrophizing” in 2015 when I predicted that a Trump presidency would spell the end of the American Empire. Does, “The US is too big to fail”, ring any bells, I ask sarcastically? And I disagree with anyone who thinks everything would “return to normal”, whatever the hell that means, if Trump were to disappear today. With precious few exceptions, both major parties support the war in Iran because they unconditionally support Israel. (As an aside, look at Thomas Massie’s race in Kentucky. Israel has poured millions into the coffers of his opponent.)
The number of people who should be charged with war crimes grows daily, but, pray tell, who’s around to enforce international law?
Trump has pushed the limits of the law his entire adult life, and why not, I ask? Very few have stopped him. A fine here and there is not justice.
I apologize for rambling, but I’m living in a constant state of impotent rage. I have to laugh at everyone who tells me to “vote harder”. Vote harder for whom?
Don't vote harder. Vote using your good sense for a third party which probably will not win but at least you have made public your disappointment with our traditional parties.
That is what I did in 2024, and what I will do again. I’m still taking heat for having voted for Jill Stein, but I will never apologize for. The two major parties are done for me.
I'm glad to hear that at least we are two. So, after the election I did'n regret anything but on the contrary I celebrated that I actually won for not voting for either of the two parties.
I laugh sardonically every time someone tries to shame me by telling me that Harris would be better than this. We’re not alone, Julio.
My partner and I would have voted for Jill as well, but here in Nevada the Democrats conspired to remove her from the ballot. The Democrats don't believe in democracy along with their MAGA brethren. They made that clear when they cancelled most of the primaries and forced Biden on us, until he was too far gone to support. And then they forced Kamala on us without any choice either. Both parties need to be eliminated once and for all.
I remember that. It outraged me.
Well stated. I bet those who yelled are wishing they'd have agreed with you...
And I agree that the Zionist extremists from Israel run this country, not us.
Thank you, Ron. I also got yelled at when I called John Fetterman a fraud. “But he’s a man of the people”, they crowed, “Just look at his clothes.” Nobody believed me when I told them he had inherited $17 million from his father. And they apparently didn’t care that he had chased an unarmed Black man with a gun.
Now the same people are demanding that he be primaried. I think he should be recalled, especially after I listened to his interview with Bill Maher. He’s done zippo for Pennsylvanians, but he’s 100 percent with Israel and the war in Iran.
I had hoped he was real; maybe a few calling themselves Ds were reviving a party once proud to fight for us! But no. I was a blue collar labor activist for 28 years and a local D campaign mgr. I fought the neolib takeover, their subsequent dumping of the New Deal, and their abandonment of us, the majority working class. The Ds have done their best ever since to make nation and world safe for econopathic capitalism. After '08, the Ds bailed out Wall St. while the millions of us who lost jobs, pensions, and homes got nothing. Add the costly fantasy of a unipolar econ empire backed up by endless wars--not just of Rs, but Ds too. And despite the heavy propaganda, we can see the ugly truth about Zionism. How can the D elite not understand why we despise them?
I can’t voice my frustration any better than this.
Let's not forget what a change of regime domestically will do. End this war, probably; that would be good. But the D party elite is neolib and neocon just like the Rs. So the internal destruction of the majority working class as well as the forever wars to enforce econ empire globally will go on. They'll just be less crudely obvious about it.
There's an implication in the "No Kings" demonstrations. Like the Ds want us to believe if Trump were gone, paradise would return. Why no signs calling for "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats?!" Because we nobodies are to accept the decisions of our betters. We can vote for the Ivy D oligarchs representing upper middle class professionals or we can vote for the R plutocrats representing 1%ers, Wall St. banksters, and techie anarcho-capitalists. Both parties same sponsors.
The democratic party made a big mistake when it turned up its entitled nose at Bernie Sanders........he's the real mcCoy.....and for sure.
American Capitalism doesn't believe it can afford socialism. Universal free medical care????
WE can give it to Israel, but Americans have to go without.......we can starve Cuba, where they've had single payer for decades, but we'd rather gut the centres for disease control and public health than have to pay for them.
For absolute certain: the USA has drunk the free market capitalist ideology, and now is paying that pied piper.
We will have to wait to see the results of this war. It's dificult to find true information about its development on main news and that is why independent reporting like this one is so important. Two days ago I saw on YouTube Col. Larry Wilkerson talking about a devastating destruction of the Israeli tank fleet in Lebanon by a new type of Iran missiles and he gave very convincing facts to support this news. Unfortunatelly I just tried to find this clip on YouTube to share it but it seems it was erased.
North Americans are among the most propagandized people on earth. Getting anywhere near the truth is a mammoth task, but we also appreciate the Col.
He has a mind that goes to the end of its thought........something quite rare in the west.
Agreed. Unfortunatelly and understandibly Wilkerson started talking only until he retired.
Suspect the same might be true for most of the 'military' experts on youtube.
What's most disturbing about your country is how much influence the military mind has on your politics............still, its nice to hear from some who have retained the ability to think.
The U.S does not produce more oil than we consume. The U.S. is a net importer of crude oil, about 6 million barrels/day. As for the amount of petroleum product imported to the U.S., it is about 7 million barrels a day more than the amount of crude oil we consume.
You get some of it from Alberta Canada........where the dirtiest tar on earth is exhumed.......and sent to your upgraders for the first step in an expensive refining process........that has it in the end, exported back to us as gasoline. I'm an Albertan. I know about this one crooked but very profitable supply chain. (around all our necks.)
Given the degree to which you run everything on fossil fuels and fools........it's surprising what most don't know.
Around 1950 when the state of Israel was first established with the support of the Western world & the UN. The Jews had recently suffered from a massive GENOCIDE; plus near endless antisemetic attacks. Surely they were due a BREAK.
Today the Palestinians are refugees in their own land. That God supposedly gave the land to the Jews thousands of years ago does not obviate the title of those who have lived there since. The fact we supported their removal from a relatively small area does not mean we support booting them out of the entire region. The reality that the Yon Kippur attack of a few years ago was a brutal & disgraceful attack on civilians; does not licence the Jews to keep escalating & expanding the conflict.
The intention of the past was that both parties SHARE the land & if NEITHER wants to share then the western world no longer has a SIDE in this conflict. The only way peace can be obtained is if Israel & Islam build a WORKING MULTICULTURE as so much of the wider world is doing.
Both Netanyahu & Trump should be charged with WAR CRIMES. As for Hormuz given the immense damage Trump has inflicted on Iran; it has a RIGHT to levy charges on shipping in order to recover the costs of a REBUILD. Either that or America should pay as it is paying now; just NOT TO IRAN.
ken.maynard7@gmail.com
Agreed, but although Genesis is just a delusion and says that god gave the levant to Abraham's descendents, it has also been selectively interpreted because Abraham has among other sons, Isaac (Genesis 21): The son of Abraham and his wife Sarah and is considered the father of the Jews, and Ishmael (Genesis 16): The firstborn son, born to Abraham and Sarah's handmaid Hagar and considered the father of the Arabs
Julio; you seem to hold that the Bible is simply a FANTASY. May I ask; have you ever seen a moral; an ethic; a social value; a principle or any of the humanities walking down the street? Of course not; these have no material or physical existence but are DEVELOPED ABSTRACT CONCEPTS. Yet despite that they exercise significant INFLUENCE on human affairs. At first all these were developed separately so lay scattered all over the landscape disconnected from each other.
Next we bought forth a SUPER DEVELOPED ABSTRACT CONCEPT name of GOD; which assembled all these other abstract concepts plus the humanities into a working inter-relationship with each other within a COMMON BODY.
If things like Morals & the Humanities can exercise considerable influence on human affairs; why can't this GREATER ABSTRACT CONCEPT?
ken.maynard7@gmail.com
Ken, I agree with you. That GREATER ABSTRACT CONCEPT has too much influence. One example of that is the genocide we are witnessing at Palestine or the past holocaust and persecution of Jews in Europe, or the current Islamofobia and Judeofobia increased in America by the actions of Israel. Yes, delusions have Real consecuences.
But, if your question was why I consider the bible a fantasy then I have to say that science shows it is.
"The Bible's Buried Secrets" NOVA's science documentary shows that
the Israelites were Canaanites. Canaan consisted of well-fortified city-states, each with its own king, that in turn served Egypt and its pharaoh. These city-states contained elite upper-class Canaanites as well as lower-class commoners, serfs, and slaves. Archeological evidence suggests that, rather than conquering the Promised Land from outside territories as a separate people (as described in the book of Joshua), the Israelites were actually disenfranchised Canaanites who joined in a revolt to overthrow the elites. Out of these people who overthrew the ruling class, a culture of Israelites emerged which worshiped the canaanite god EI (Elohim) who presided over a divine consul of other gods including his wife the goddess of fertility Asherah and others like Baal, Anat and Astarte. Later when the Israelites wanted a separate identity they created the myths of Abraham coming from Ur, the exodus, Moses and Joshsua.
The word Israel means "EI perseveres" Only much later after the Babilonian captivity the prophets established a true monotheism.
And in relation to the New Testament, It is my time to ask you. Have you read any of the 34 books published by bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman including the New York Times best sellers Misquoting Jesus (2005) God's Problem (2008) Jesus Interrupted (2009) Forged (2011) How Jesus Became God (2014) and The Triumph of Christianity (2018)? After reading some of them it is clear to me that the scriptures are nothing else than delulions of some authors and that their original writings have been adultered through time.
Thank you for replying to my previous post, These are very important issues that most people prefer not to discuss. I'm agnostic and curios about the beliefs of others.
As with other failed wars there appears to have been a pretty significant failure by America’s intelligence agencies. The estimates of the damage done to Iran’s missile forces are clearly way off the mark. I remember reading an article that Iran had adopted a policy for its missile forces which was termed mosaic meaning a distributed system able to survive first and subsequent strikes and to strike back not just at the two major opponents but also at other states which support them. So, Trump finds himself mired in the same morass as Biden, Obama, Bush JR, Clinton and Reagan. What is eerily familiar is the premature declaration of victory particularly when we recall Bush JR declaring mission accomplished.
Another wealth transfer happening in front of the world's eyes & another depopulation effort (famine) w/a coming technocratic police & surveillance state imposed by LDS aka lucifer (peter thiel), the devil (netanyahu), & satan (trump) & their "acolytes". "We all get the gov't we deserve". Have you seen any population uprising? Any )ew uprising in a synagogue? Yeah, me either. All is see is written articles, memes, tweets, & podcasts that do absolutely nothing to the rising hate. Just singing to the choir who's the minority but it pays well.