Foreign Policy Disconnect Between America's Rulers And The American People

Defense Priorities (“The Hub of Realism and Restraint in Washington”) has an interesting new poll out:

Defense Priorities @defpriorities

NEW POLL—Defense Priorities commissioned a survey to assess the general public's feelings on pressing foreign policy issues. The data reveals a disconnect between Washington's policies and the preferences of the American people. View the results here:

Poll: American foreign policy views - Defense Priorities

3:10 PM · Aug 8, 2024

I know what you’re thinking: Since when did the preferences of the American people make a difference in Anglo-Zionist imperial policy? A bit of gaslighting, and they’ll follow the pied piper, right? Two points:

1. It’s not that simple any longer. People have access to more information than ever before, and the the effects of forever wars have begun to hit home. Americans aren’t up for more wars—they’re no longer even up for joining the military.

2. However, I’m gonna suggest that the full effect of normal American attitudes has yet to be felt. That will happen when the effect of more war—which seems likely—begins to pinch on daily life. Right now, the most support for throwing our imperial weight around comes from the seniors. I believe they’ll bail when the going gets a bit tougher. That’s when people will begin to think about these issues much more seriously.

Both of those points have to be tempered and filtered by the fact that Americans generally continue to be shielded from the harsh realities of war by the two major oceans on the planet. Attitudes about the border situation—strongly negative across the board—are a foretaste of what reactions are likely to be if war hits closer to home.

Now, that little graph above presented only the Ukraine portion of the poll. There are two more portions—China and the Middle East. Here’s the summary. You can follow the link for more detailed analysis, but here are the Key Takeaways:

Key takeaways

Ukraine-Russia

1. Most respondents (80%) indicated the U.S. should either make aid to Ukraine conditional, reduce aid, or cut aid to Ukraine entirely.

2. A majority of respondents (52%) did not think Ukraine can win the war against Russia.

3. A plurality of respondents (42%) expected the Ukraine-Russia war would end through negotiations or a ceasefire, and 26% expected ongoing fighting and trench warfare that may slow or stall but not formally end.

4. A plurality of respondents (47%) strongly agreed (22%) or somewhat agreed (25%) the U.S. should not allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory with U.S. weapons because it could escalate the war and lead to direct NATO-Russia conflict.

#4 is an illustration of the gaslit La-la land so many Americans live in. They think that America is somehow not already engaged in a war of aggression against Russia. A rude awakening could await, because neither Russia nor China will be disposed to make easy deals with the US.

China-Taiwan

1. Just 30% of respondents said the U.S. should defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion given the potential costs.

2. A plurality of respondents (44%) strongly agreed (19%) or somewhat agreed (25%) that avoiding war with China is more important than Taiwan’s political autonomy from Beijing.

3. Twice as many people (66%) think the U.S. should require Taiwan to invest more in capabilities to deter China as a prerequisite for any commitments from the U.S. to defend Taiwan.

Israel-Hamas and Saudi Arabia

1. More than twice as many respondents (47% vs. 20%) indicated the U.S. should use its leverage to encourage Israel to not expand the conflict into Lebanon by going to war with Hezbollah.

2. A large majority (81%) of respondents opposed a U.S. commitment to send U.S. servicemembers into combat to fight and die to defend Saudi Arabia.

View the full poll results.

I’m gonna suggest that that 81% of Americans who oppose having Americans fight and die for KSA could serve as a proxy for American attitudes more generally. I believe that, had the pollsters asked, they would have received a similar response with regard to Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel. The numbers regarding Taiwan are already highly indicative of that attitude, without even asking pointed questions about fighting and dying. So far the US military has avoided any mass casualty events. Should such an event occur, I suspect the public reaction would be along the lines of, fire some missiles and bug out. We may find out. Either way, a day of reckoning could be approaching for imperial foreign policy. Both branches of the Anglo-Zionist Uniparty are talking up imperial power projection because that’s where they get their money. But there’s always the finesse part of trying to govern without the consent of the governed to be reckoned with.