When empires go down they thrash. We are seeing the collective West collectively thrashing. This is an extremely dangerous situation--fasten your seatbelts, we're in for a bumpy ride, possibly with nuclear annihilation as the end point.
We are seeing the authentic self of the US Empire- shorn of any legal pretence or moral restraint. Might, 'shock and awe' are all that matter to a state in full blown geopolitical retrenchment .
Israel’s behaviour in Gaza and US (along with its Europoodles) complicity are of course horrific, but if you think this behaviour is new, then you either don’t know your country’s history or you have forgotten it. The US has been behaving like this since at least the Spanish American War, as Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket” details.
You lot have been a long time waking up, but better late than never, I suppose …
This piece is so coherent and relevant. Our problem though is that as probably over 90% of media is selling propaganda, it becomes difficult to enrage sufficient people to strike back.
U.S. Dem party loyalists believe if only Trump were gone, we'd revert to paradise. They don't like it when I remind them the D party went neolib decades ago. These Dem, Lib, and Labour neolibs dumped economics for the common good and abandoned the majority working class. They support an econopathy considering devastation of communities and ecosystems irrelevant externalities. Based on neoclassical economics, its theory assumes the only human motivation is the utility function, personal gain. Its advocates rely on argument by assertion, like Thatcher's "there are no alternatives." There are--the New Deal and Keynesianism--and they worked! Why the elites of the world hate them.
Add another fact Dem loyalists don't want to hear. The Dept. of State of the Biden administration was run by neocons trained by Republican creepy V.P. Dick Cheney. The neocon fantasy is a unipolar world; American empire enforced by a powerful military. In the short run, very profitable for multinational corporations. Who cares about the long run? Never mind the U.S. hasn't really won a war since that unfortunate misunderstanding around1776. We're taught we won WWI, but what was that about other than empires? We "won" WWII also. West Euros ineffective and Russians never are good.
U.S. economic colonialism is nothing new. Look up Gen. Smedley Butler (1881-1940), a Marine who started as an enlisted man and rose through the ranks. He fought in the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine-American War, and the Banana Wars (Central America and the Caribbean to protect American business interests.) After retiring, he spoke against war profiteering, American adventurism, and the possibility of American fascism. His book is titled //War Is a Racket.// He was right.
Perhaps we need to go, in peace to each head of state and explain carefully the consequences of not obeying international law, allowing one powerful country to dictate the rules and have everything their own way. Education and a clear understanding of colonial rule where the rich pretend to help a country and then move in and take their oil, or land etc. every school needs free access in welfare not warfare, at present big arms manufacturers are offering places in drone and technology to lure kids into a career of killing and theft. We must teach the next generation about love and FairPlay. BDSbarb
"The correct response to that genocide is silence."
No, the "correct response" is to NOT keep silent and to not shut up until we end this horrible genocide and lock up all who are responsible for it. 2026 is the year for all of us to get off our sofas and get in the streets. Boycott, divest and sanction ALL countries that are illegal rogues and pirates. General strikes to shut down the war machine. No more excuses!
Thank you for your great work as always Mr. Cook. It is really concerning and disturbing to hear the situation of chilled speech in Britain regarding criticism of the genocidal occupiers as someone across the pond, just as it is happening here. It is terrible to hear too how ICC judges have been placed under such duress and sanctions and denied access to their rightful funds and ability to travel, ditto for Ms. Albanese, who does tremendous work as UN special rapporteur documenting the truth of the genocidal occupation and those who support and enable it. I wish there was something we could do to help all those affected
As a U.S. citizen, I thank you, Mr. Cook. I knew about some, but not the extent of repression in the U.K. regarding anti-genocide protesters. Similarly, I did not know the number of judges in the international court who had been sanctioned and denied their means of basic survival. I have experienced each of the emotions and stages you describe. First, during the Biden Administration, disbelief turned to outrage, devolving into heartbreak. Anger is the most conducive to action. Heartbreak can lead to giving up. We can’t.
It must be recognized that "The path to Caracas – and potentially next to Colombia, Cuba and Greenland, other targets of Donald Trump’s colonial greed – was paved in Gaza " by Zionists, American, European, British and Israeli Zionists - or, simply saying, race-supremacists of a specific persuasion. It is Zionist hands that are in Venezuela, too. Just like they were bloodied in Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bolivia, South Africa, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan.
"Orthodox Jewish judge Alvin Hellerstein to preside over Maduro case in Manhattan
The 92-year-old senior judge, an Orthodox Jew, will oversee the high-profile Manhattan prosecution of the Venezuelan leader, a longtime ally of Iran who has repeatedly attacked Israel and Zionism"
Back on Boxing Day, there were huge protests at the CF Eaton Centre here in Toronto. A Zionist then wrote this article, claiming these peaceful protestors were calling for the deaths of all Jews...
Thank you, Jonathan for speaking the truth in all its infuriating details. We need to know what is going on, and voices, such as yours, provide illumination in these dark hours.
No wonder American comedian/actor John Mulaney last year compared the Donald Trump presidency to a horse that has broken loose inside a hospital: “It’s never happened before. No one knows what the horse is gonna do next, least of all the horse. He’s never been in a hospital. He’s as confused as you are."
It's a very funny analogy, however legitimately worrying. Trump is the very unstable, vengefully angry and self-centered/-serving type willing to take the world for a most brutal spin, perhaps even for the sake of him making it into the historical-'greatness' books.
Early on Nov.6 of 2024, Donald Trump publicly stated: “Many people have told me that God spared my life [from two assassination attempts] for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” … Then again, Adolf Hitler also escaped assassination attempts made against him, most notably that foiled effort called the July Plot or Operation Valkyrie, and may have also mused that something divine or mystical spared his life.
The institutional ‘Christians’ who still vocally and politically support Donald Trump tend to see him as literally Godsent. Many also perceive Trump’s presidency as divinely-intended punishment against liberals. If anything, he's evidence of a great evil being unleashed onto a largely powerless world. Ergo, if Trump does end up boding well for the world, it will have been accidental.
Thank you Jonathan for having the continuing courageous articles, detailing the duplicitous actions the US
When empires go down they thrash. We are seeing the collective West collectively thrashing. This is an extremely dangerous situation--fasten your seatbelts, we're in for a bumpy ride, possibly with nuclear annihilation as the end point.
We are seeing the authentic self of the US Empire- shorn of any legal pretence or moral restraint. Might, 'shock and awe' are all that matter to a state in full blown geopolitical retrenchment .
Israel’s behaviour in Gaza and US (along with its Europoodles) complicity are of course horrific, but if you think this behaviour is new, then you either don’t know your country’s history or you have forgotten it. The US has been behaving like this since at least the Spanish American War, as Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket” details.
You lot have been a long time waking up, but better late than never, I suppose …
This piece is so coherent and relevant. Our problem though is that as probably over 90% of media is selling propaganda, it becomes difficult to enrage sufficient people to strike back.
U.S. Dem party loyalists believe if only Trump were gone, we'd revert to paradise. They don't like it when I remind them the D party went neolib decades ago. These Dem, Lib, and Labour neolibs dumped economics for the common good and abandoned the majority working class. They support an econopathy considering devastation of communities and ecosystems irrelevant externalities. Based on neoclassical economics, its theory assumes the only human motivation is the utility function, personal gain. Its advocates rely on argument by assertion, like Thatcher's "there are no alternatives." There are--the New Deal and Keynesianism--and they worked! Why the elites of the world hate them.
Add another fact Dem loyalists don't want to hear. The Dept. of State of the Biden administration was run by neocons trained by Republican creepy V.P. Dick Cheney. The neocon fantasy is a unipolar world; American empire enforced by a powerful military. In the short run, very profitable for multinational corporations. Who cares about the long run? Never mind the U.S. hasn't really won a war since that unfortunate misunderstanding around1776. We're taught we won WWI, but what was that about other than empires? We "won" WWII also. West Euros ineffective and Russians never are good.
U.S. economic colonialism is nothing new. Look up Gen. Smedley Butler (1881-1940), a Marine who started as an enlisted man and rose through the ranks. He fought in the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine-American War, and the Banana Wars (Central America and the Caribbean to protect American business interests.) After retiring, he spoke against war profiteering, American adventurism, and the possibility of American fascism. His book is titled //War Is a Racket.// He was right.
Perhaps we need to go, in peace to each head of state and explain carefully the consequences of not obeying international law, allowing one powerful country to dictate the rules and have everything their own way. Education and a clear understanding of colonial rule where the rich pretend to help a country and then move in and take their oil, or land etc. every school needs free access in welfare not warfare, at present big arms manufacturers are offering places in drone and technology to lure kids into a career of killing and theft. We must teach the next generation about love and FairPlay. BDSbarb
"The correct response to that genocide is silence."
No, the "correct response" is to NOT keep silent and to not shut up until we end this horrible genocide and lock up all who are responsible for it. 2026 is the year for all of us to get off our sofas and get in the streets. Boycott, divest and sanction ALL countries that are illegal rogues and pirates. General strikes to shut down the war machine. No more excuses!
You took that sentence out of context; of course Jonathan isn't advocating silence about genocide. The rest of your comment is right and correct.
Thank you for your great work as always Mr. Cook. It is really concerning and disturbing to hear the situation of chilled speech in Britain regarding criticism of the genocidal occupiers as someone across the pond, just as it is happening here. It is terrible to hear too how ICC judges have been placed under such duress and sanctions and denied access to their rightful funds and ability to travel, ditto for Ms. Albanese, who does tremendous work as UN special rapporteur documenting the truth of the genocidal occupation and those who support and enable it. I wish there was something we could do to help all those affected
As a U.S. citizen, I thank you, Mr. Cook. I knew about some, but not the extent of repression in the U.K. regarding anti-genocide protesters. Similarly, I did not know the number of judges in the international court who had been sanctioned and denied their means of basic survival. I have experienced each of the emotions and stages you describe. First, during the Biden Administration, disbelief turned to outrage, devolving into heartbreak. Anger is the most conducive to action. Heartbreak can lead to giving up. We can’t.
It must be recognized that "The path to Caracas – and potentially next to Colombia, Cuba and Greenland, other targets of Donald Trump’s colonial greed – was paved in Gaza " by Zionists, American, European, British and Israeli Zionists - or, simply saying, race-supremacists of a specific persuasion. It is Zionist hands that are in Venezuela, too. Just like they were bloodied in Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bolivia, South Africa, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan.
https://medium.com/@dubhelloco/the-blood-never-dries-latin-america-nazi-friends-drugs-and-genocide-business-layer-3-15784bd5f6e0
https://medium.com/@dubhelloco/the-blood-never-dries-the-right-to-exist-and-commit-genocide-layer-2-090e1de34ff3
https://medium.com/@dubhelloco/the-blood-never-dries-a-synopsis-of-fine-tuned-genocide-layer-1-51ec1ebce7d7
The Ubermenschen did it.
Y-Net News (Israel):
"Orthodox Jewish judge Alvin Hellerstein to preside over Maduro case in Manhattan
The 92-year-old senior judge, an Orthodox Jew, will oversee the high-profile Manhattan prosecution of the Venezuelan leader, a longtime ally of Iran who has repeatedly attacked Israel and Zionism"
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1rqksvvzx#
Back on Boxing Day, there were huge protests at the CF Eaton Centre here in Toronto. A Zionist then wrote this article, claiming these peaceful protestors were calling for the deaths of all Jews...
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/matthew-taub-eaton-centre-mob-wasnt-a-protest-it-was-a-warning
Thank you, Jonathan for speaking the truth in all its infuriating details. We need to know what is going on, and voices, such as yours, provide illumination in these dark hours.
No wonder American comedian/actor John Mulaney last year compared the Donald Trump presidency to a horse that has broken loose inside a hospital: “It’s never happened before. No one knows what the horse is gonna do next, least of all the horse. He’s never been in a hospital. He’s as confused as you are."
It's a very funny analogy, however legitimately worrying. Trump is the very unstable, vengefully angry and self-centered/-serving type willing to take the world for a most brutal spin, perhaps even for the sake of him making it into the historical-'greatness' books.
Early on Nov.6 of 2024, Donald Trump publicly stated: “Many people have told me that God spared my life [from two assassination attempts] for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” … Then again, Adolf Hitler also escaped assassination attempts made against him, most notably that foiled effort called the July Plot or Operation Valkyrie, and may have also mused that something divine or mystical spared his life.
The institutional ‘Christians’ who still vocally and politically support Donald Trump tend to see him as literally Godsent. Many also perceive Trump’s presidency as divinely-intended punishment against liberals. If anything, he's evidence of a great evil being unleashed onto a largely powerless world. Ergo, if Trump does end up boding well for the world, it will have been accidental.
Thank you for spelling it out so clearly. What is harder to do is to take effective action. Any thoughts?
A brilliant summary of the terrifying situation in which we find ourselves. It clearly illustrates the inadequacy of the British political class.
I'm not sure but that 'inadequacy' might be a wee bit too nice a term for them.