“It leaves the US joined at the hip with a genocidal and pariah Israel, bombing the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Iranian border.” Sums up our foreign policy: in the words of J Sachs, it’s “mayhem.”
A while back commenter History Lass asked if anyone could recommend a book on Palestine. I offered an old Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, ha. In that entry, the growth of Jewish settlement since the 19th century was fairly described -- farms, schools, hospitals, factories -- up to 1946, but never any details about how land was acquired.
I recently watched a PBS documentary "1913: Seeds of Conflict" which answers the question: who sold the land to the Jews for the Zionist project in Ottoman Palestine, and why. The focus of the documentary is on conditions as they developed in Palestine before the Balfour Declaration and British Mandate period. Jerusalem seems to have been at ecumenical peace. It is based on the book "Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Amy Dockser Marcus.
Looks worthwhile. It's about the same as if wealthy Chinese bought up most rental properties, then kicked the Round Eyes out--who had lived there for generations--and populated the properties with newly arrived Chinese, often illegal. Oh, and the Chinese employers in the area would refuse to hire Round Eyes or shop at Round Eye businesses. Only Chinese. And Chinese owned media--most of the media--would portray any resentment as anti-Sinite prejudice.
Current assisted migration patterns into Europe and into America do look a lot like colonization. Do we see our future in our past.
As to Jewish settlements in Palestine before the war, the documentary points out that all of Europe was in a very colonial mood to bring progress to benighted peoples, so the Zionists were not out of line with the best of progressive European thought.
As we all shudder to think what might happen to the world in the immediate future, I think it is useful to take a step back and consider the larger picture, so I am quoting from and linking to the following essay which I think evokes some useful thoughts.
"We therefore face a problem which is, I think, unique in western history. It can be summarised as follows. A shallow and incapable ruling class and its parasites are confronted with a series of subtle changes in the way the international political and economic system works, some linked, some not, that require the sort of careful analysis and thoughtful reactions of which they are inherently incapable. At the same time, the machinery of politics and economics in their own countries is breaking down, and they have no idea why, or what to do about it."
"Most cultures... have broad and long-term objectives, mixed with a great deal of flexibility in the short term, and a readiness to compromise. Liberalism does not have this luxury, because it proceeds from arbitrary a priori axioms about the world which it believes are universal, or should be, and which it expresses with a clumsy mixture of vague aspirations and over-precise language...."
An interesting essay from a macro, historical, root cause level. My apologies for linking to a different substack but this expressed my thoughts more eloquently than I ever could. Thanks, Mark, for your invaluable insight and reporting, and also for your forbearance and consideration of such links.
As you quote, "Liberalism does not have [the luxury of flexibility and a willingness to compromise], because it proceeds from arbitrary a priori axioms about the world which it believes are universal, or should be, and which it expresses with a clumsy mixture of vague aspirations and over-precise language."
Behold: a man can become a woman. That vague aspiration with over-precise language is positive law in these United States.
"...the traditional view that Law exists primarily to codify accepted values and practices, has been replaced in modern Liberal thinking by Law as a weapon for the normative deconstruction and remaking of other peoples’ societies and economies..." after destroying our own.
If there was ever any doubt that this bunch is totally bat shit crazy as well as suicidal, I think these latest escapades should put those doubts to rest. They tried like hell to get a war started in January but in spite of an heroic effort, came up empty handed so it looks like they decided to double down on their efforts in February.
No longer a question of “if” we’re going to have a war, but “when” and how big.
After the killings of 3 US troops, top State Dept. official Victoria Nuland declares that "the USA is not withdrawing from Syria." She adds that the US needs to stay to fight ISIS.
Pentagon documents show that this is a lie: the US is barely fighting ISIS. In fact, the US has let ISIS grow when it can threaten the Syrian government.
Which speaks to the real reason for the US occupation of Syria: as admitted quietly by a senior Biden official and other DC neocons, the US is there to steal Syria's oil and wheat in order to punish its people for successfully resisting the CIA-led regime change war.
Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraqi PMF militia which are part of the official Iraqi security forces under the Ministry of Interior. Any attack on Kataib is an attack on the state of Iraq.
Am I remembering correctly that Slo Joe was responsible for our troop withdrawal from Iraq under the Lightbringer administration? Didn’t he screw that up somehow? Something about not negotiating our troop presence with the Iraq government in a timely manner? Weren’t we pretty much told to get the hell out of their country? My point being that this latest fiasco in Iraq isn’t a new phenomenon with this bunch. Chaos and humiliation seem to follow everything they are involved in.
At 9:30 p.m. (Baghdad Time) February 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region. There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time.
The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect our people. We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety.
“It leaves the US joined at the hip with a genocidal and pariah Israel, bombing the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Iranian border.” Sums up our foreign policy: in the words of J Sachs, it’s “mayhem.”
But we knew that and we've known that for decades. Other's are waking up to it.
Yes, which makes it all the more grotesque.
A while back commenter History Lass asked if anyone could recommend a book on Palestine. I offered an old Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, ha. In that entry, the growth of Jewish settlement since the 19th century was fairly described -- farms, schools, hospitals, factories -- up to 1946, but never any details about how land was acquired.
I recently watched a PBS documentary "1913: Seeds of Conflict" which answers the question: who sold the land to the Jews for the Zionist project in Ottoman Palestine, and why. The focus of the documentary is on conditions as they developed in Palestine before the Balfour Declaration and British Mandate period. Jerusalem seems to have been at ecumenical peace. It is based on the book "Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" by Amy Dockser Marcus.
https://1913seedsofconflict.com/
Looks worthwhile. It's about the same as if wealthy Chinese bought up most rental properties, then kicked the Round Eyes out--who had lived there for generations--and populated the properties with newly arrived Chinese, often illegal. Oh, and the Chinese employers in the area would refuse to hire Round Eyes or shop at Round Eye businesses. Only Chinese. And Chinese owned media--most of the media--would portray any resentment as anti-Sinite prejudice.
Current assisted migration patterns into Europe and into America do look a lot like colonization. Do we see our future in our past.
As to Jewish settlements in Palestine before the war, the documentary points out that all of Europe was in a very colonial mood to bring progress to benighted peoples, so the Zionists were not out of line with the best of progressive European thought.
As we all shudder to think what might happen to the world in the immediate future, I think it is useful to take a step back and consider the larger picture, so I am quoting from and linking to the following essay which I think evokes some useful thoughts.
"We therefore face a problem which is, I think, unique in western history. It can be summarised as follows. A shallow and incapable ruling class and its parasites are confronted with a series of subtle changes in the way the international political and economic system works, some linked, some not, that require the sort of careful analysis and thoughtful reactions of which they are inherently incapable. At the same time, the machinery of politics and economics in their own countries is breaking down, and they have no idea why, or what to do about it."
"Most cultures... have broad and long-term objectives, mixed with a great deal of flexibility in the short term, and a readiness to compromise. Liberalism does not have this luxury, because it proceeds from arbitrary a priori axioms about the world which it believes are universal, or should be, and which it expresses with a clumsy mixture of vague aspirations and over-precise language...."
https://aurelien2022.substack.com/p/the-newer-world-order?publication_id=841976&post_id=141432413&isFreemail=true&r=rjj5o
An interesting essay from a macro, historical, root cause level. My apologies for linking to a different substack but this expressed my thoughts more eloquently than I ever could. Thanks, Mark, for your invaluable insight and reporting, and also for your forbearance and consideration of such links.
As you quote, "Liberalism does not have [the luxury of flexibility and a willingness to compromise], because it proceeds from arbitrary a priori axioms about the world which it believes are universal, or should be, and which it expresses with a clumsy mixture of vague aspirations and over-precise language."
Behold: a man can become a woman. That vague aspiration with over-precise language is positive law in these United States.
"...the traditional view that Law exists primarily to codify accepted values and practices, has been replaced in modern Liberal thinking by Law as a weapon for the normative deconstruction and remaking of other peoples’ societies and economies..." after destroying our own.
Can't find anything in the MSM about this. Must not be accurate.
If there was ever any doubt that this bunch is totally bat shit crazy as well as suicidal, I think these latest escapades should put those doubts to rest. They tried like hell to get a war started in January but in spite of an heroic effort, came up empty handed so it looks like they decided to double down on their efforts in February.
No longer a question of “if” we’re going to have a war, but “when” and how big.
Aaron Maté
@aaronjmate
After the killings of 3 US troops, top State Dept. official Victoria Nuland declares that "the USA is not withdrawing from Syria." She adds that the US needs to stay to fight ISIS.
Pentagon documents show that this is a lie: the US is barely fighting ISIS. In fact, the US has let ISIS grow when it can threaten the Syrian government.
Which speaks to the real reason for the US occupation of Syria: as admitted quietly by a senior Biden official and other DC neocons, the US is there to steal Syria's oil and wheat in order to punish its people for successfully resisting the CIA-led regime change war.
Moon of Alabama @MoonofA
Kataib Hezbollah is an Iraqi PMF militia which are part of the official Iraqi security forces under the Ministry of Interior. Any attack on Kataib is an attack on the state of Iraq.
Am I remembering correctly that Slo Joe was responsible for our troop withdrawal from Iraq under the Lightbringer administration? Didn’t he screw that up somehow? Something about not negotiating our troop presence with the Iraq government in a timely manner? Weren’t we pretty much told to get the hell out of their country? My point being that this latest fiasco in Iraq isn’t a new phenomenon with this bunch. Chaos and humiliation seem to follow everything they are involved in.
It was the stupid war per Obama. Now that ‘Zhou’ is doing it it must be the smart war.
At 9:30 p.m. (Baghdad Time) February 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region. There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time.
The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect our people. We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety.
the expression
"War it is then"
best fits that media statement.