Lunatics Running The Asylum

Today has been a bit of a mental health day. We had physical therapy—going well, and my wife is looking into “dry needling” for her sciatica. Then we had a birthday dinner at a Turkish restaurant. Interspersed was the usual walk and trying to keep up with the world.

Judge Nap had an interesting conversation with Tony Shaffer earlier in the day. It was a strange conversation. Shaffer made some excellent observations, but also engaged in some foolishness. I’m thinking in particular of Shaffer’s two reasons with which he explained the war in Ukraine—that’s pretty much how he sees it, rather than as a war on Russia. The way Shaffer sees it, the war is a war for Ukraine’s and the Black Sea’s resources—NATO wants those resources for the EU, Russia wants them for itself.

That’s the foolishness part. It’s typical of America’s default libertarian theory of everything—Homo Economicus is all it takes to understand everything. No weight whatsoever is given to cultural factors or history, to national feelings of ethnic Russians or the cultural and ideological divides within Ukraine—however that amorphous entity is defined. Worse, Shaffer seems unaware of the public proposals for the partition of Russia, to include freely available maps:

As if Russia isn’t aware of all this! Russia is well aware that Anglo-Zionist plans go well beyond Ukraine, that Ukraine is no more than a step toward the Final Solution. Shaffer seems to still be living in the Cold War. However …

It’s worth waiting through that to get to Shaffer’s second reason. I apologize for spelling this out, but for those who are not up on their history of Marxist thought, Trotsky was born Lev Bronstein, a Ukrainian Jew, and became the champion of world wide Bolshevik revolution, over against the Stalinist advocacy for achieving “socialism in one country” first. Virtually all of the prominent early Neocons, mostly East European Jews, were former Trotskyites. With that intro, back to Shaffer—with this caveat, that I have no idea what Shaffer means by “Neocon self-loathing”. Self loathing is simply not in the psychological makeup of Neocons:

The second reason has to do with essentially the Neocon self-loathing. I know they're all Trotskyites, but maybe they're kind of looking for revenge for the assassination of Trotsky all those years ago. They hate Putin, they hate the Russian system, so I think this is another way they really believe they can destabilize and take out Putin. That's why this is not rational. It's all anger and they don't want to give it up. So the resource thing is a justification, semi-rational, but the emotional issue of, 'We just want to get Putin and destabilize Russia,' is the second reason. That's why they'll continue to do it if you give them the opportunity.

Comments.

Michael Hudson, who was well acquainted with Trotskyites, has long maintained that the war on Russia is driven in major part by ethnic (i.e., Jewish) grievances and a desire for revenge on Russia and Russians. It’s not an accident that Neoconnism is driven by Jews with Polish and Ukrainian backgrounds.

The hatred for Putin is based on the accurate perception that Putin rescued post Cold War Russia from the looting by Russian Jewish “oligarchs” and their Western accomplices. Putin is hated for thwarting the big picture goal of partitioning Russia and restoring Russia to Big Power status.

The hatred is not directed at the “Russian system”—whatever that might be. The hatred is directed at Russian culture and the Russian nation, as Hudson correctly perceived.

The goal is not the “destabilization” of Russia. The goal is the partition and subjugation of Russia. Ukraine is no more than the first step, and Putin is hated for stopping that first step.

Shaffer is totally correct: The Neocons will never stop as long as they’re given the opportunity. They are driven by an obsessive hatred that’s a sign of mental illness. Unfortunately, few Americans get this. Our default libertarianism too often blinds us to these factors and, even when not totally blinded, leads to a failure to give full weight to non-economic factors. Even Shaffer—who does see the irrational, hatred driven elements—is led astray in fundamental ways by this characteristic American failing.

Now, given the fact that the same people driving the war on Russia are also enabling the drive for Jewish Supremacy in the Middle East—to the brink of another major war. The Cradle provides—for those not previously acquainted with this—an eye opening glimpse of the craziness behind the Zionist project as it has developed to this point:

'Jewish state will extend from Jerusalem to Damascus': Israeli finance minister

In a new documentary, Bezalel Smotrich says the Zionist goal of conquering parts of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia is part of Israeli public discourse

Just as the proposed partition of Russia is part of American public discourse—for those who follow the fever swamps of Neocon ideology—so too the topic of Jewish Supremacy in the Middle East is not at all hidden from public view.

In a new documentary, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich detailed his desire to conquer not only all Palestinian territory to the Jordan River but also the Syrian capital of Damascus and territories extending as far as Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Smotrich, the Finance Minister in the Israeli cabinet and head of the Religious Zionism party, made the comments in a recently released documentary entitled Israel: Extremists in Power. The documentary was produced by Arte Reportage, a Franco-German broadcast news magazine.

…

Israel has been building illegal Jewish settlements on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank ever since.

The interviewer then asked Smotrich whether he thought the borders of the Jewish state should extend past the Jordan River.

Smotrich responded by saying, “Absolutely, but slowly … Our great religious elders used to say that the future of Jerusalem was to extend as far as Damascus.”

The documentary narrator then added, “Bezalel Smotrich has a maximalist vision of the promised land. And it includes all Palestinian lands, but also territories in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt. Even in Saudi Arabia. A radical vision admittedly, but one that is accepted in public debate in Israel.”

Whatever the proposed boundaries—and it’s noteworthy that Israel has never defined its borders—it’s clear that these Zionist notions are a recipe for unending war and human suffering.