On Israel and the Mainspring of US Policy in the Middle East: Who Is Really Setting the Agenda?
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PATRICE GREANVILLE
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OpEds
Billy Bob
Does this question permit a categorical answer?
First run 3 Jan 2024
If the Israeli lobby were truly the tail wagging the US dog, the US would have started a war with Iran long ago. But, the US knows that there is no viable military option to defeat Iran. So, in this situation, the imperialistic interests of the US ruling class trump the regional interests of their Zionist proxy. Those who claim that Israel dictates US foreign policy, are simply mistaken.
Israel and Ukraine are examples of imperialist proxies who are willing to wage war, kill, and die in order to promote and advance the interests of imperialism while simultaneously advancing their own odious ultranationalist political projects.
Overlapping interests explain why and how this relationship exists and operates. The oligarchs and ultranationalists of both Ukraine and Israel rely on the US for their military and economic support while the US benefits from a foreign population that is willing to do its dirty work... dirty work that does not result in a backlash from the empire's domestic population.
The US ruling class has learned from its mistakes and understands that it would receive tremendous resistance from its domestic population (as it did in Vietnam and Iraq) if US troops were asked to die in Gaza or Ukraine. So, proxies become essential for the empire's strategy of maintaining global hegemony.
Imperialist war is the ultimate expression of exploitation. The transfer of wealth, from the bottom to the top is its primary function. Savvy capitalists, who care only about increasing their share of wealth, power, and privilege, are experts at exploiting deeply-held tribalistic ideologies including nationalism, ethnic chauvinism, and religion, in order to further their control over resources and markets.
While Zionists heavily influence US foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, they don't ultimately control it, argues the author
Identity politics, racism, and a strong affiliation with one's group, promote an "us versus them" mentality which is easy to manipulate both domestically and internationally. This has always been the approach of the imperialists as they re-drew borders in a way that avoided racial or religious homogeny. Their new borders inevitably promoted inequality and diversity where a religious, ethnic, or racial minority, was often empowered to rule over a majority population group.
So whether it was the Sunni minority in Iraq ruling over a Shia majority, or the Tutsi minority in Rwanda, ruling over the Hutu majority, the imperialists were keen to draw up borders that promote diversity in order to facilitate their divide and rule agenda.
This brings us to the ideology of Zionism and the psychopathy that has resulted among far too many self-identified Zionists who put their own warped perspective of what is best for Israel, above any other possible consideration of decency, morality, or justice.
Since well before 1948, Zionism has advocated and proliferated truly despicable and genocidal policies, including racism, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and land theft, in order to benefit the Zionist colonial project and the creation of "Greater Israel". Far too many Zionists are eager to endorse genocidal policies against those who are obstructing their political agenda. Far too many Zionists are eager to lie, cheat, steal, and murder, if it benefits their evil project. Far too many Zionists have lost their humanity and are trapped in an insanely tribalistic mentality that is incapable of recognizing its own psychopathy. Far too many Zionists demonstrate a jaw-dropping cluelessness and hypocrisy when they embrace the "victim" identity while simultaneously advocating for the most barbaric and cruel acts of genocide that our planet has seen in generations. Their inhumanity is threatening the existence of their colonial project and their misguided efforts to "protect and defend" at any cost, their shitty, racist, apartheid state, is only quickening its collapse.
What a tremendous tool these people are from the perspective of the imperialists. What tremendous exploitative value these narrow-minded brainwashed partisans have for those intent on maintaining Western hegemony in lands far far away. It's no wonder that Zionism has been so empowered, supported, embraced, and promoted within the most dominant and influential political, as well as religious circles. It's no wonder that all the politicians and all the organized religious institutions, and all the billionaire-owned media platforms, incessantly praise and support Israel and uphold the lie that Zionism is a virtuous ideology.
This multi-generational ad campaign can end though, just as quickly as it began. The minute Zionism becomes a liability for the empire or the minute Israel decides it is no longer interested in promoting imperialist interests, it will be dropped like the bad habit that it is. The Western ruling class doesn't really have any loyalty to Jewish people, or to any of their colonial projects. The ruling Western elite isn't truly principled when it comes to protecting the state of Israel (or Ukraine for that matter). They only truly care about themselves and their own wealth and power. Not a single one of our ruling elites would sacrifice anything to help the Israelis or Ukrainians, unless they could get something out of it.
Karl Marx was absolutely correct when he observed "The ideas of the ruling class are, in any age, the ruling ideas". But there comes a time when humanity must wake up from its propaganda induced stupor and recognize that we all must live on this planet together and it makes no sense to continue to allow a tiny minority of psychopathic elites to get away with their divide-and-conquer scam by pitting us against each other for their own material benefit. People need to wake up, embrace humanity in all it's full and glorious diversity, and let the elites know that they aren't going to be able to use our differences to pit us against each other anymore.
We are ready for a world that is opposed to imperialism. We are ready for a world united around a single humanity and not fractured by an infinite number of ever-changing "identity groups". The world is changing and there is a great opportunity to prove to ourselves as a species just what we are capable of, when we identify and reject the selfish and inhumane motivation and machinations of the bourgeoisie.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(s)
Billy Bob is a dedicated anti-imperialist activist and blogger. You can reach him at his Facebook page HERE.
All image captions, pull quotes, appendices, etc. by the editors not the authors.
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