Know Thy Enemy (er… Ruling Class)

PATRICE GREANVILLE

Surely you don't think this man is actually crafting US foreign policy? (TGP design)

In recent days we have published a number of posts focusing on the central issue that should concern anyone subject to a ruling class that does not represent their interests, or which, more often than not, is criminally inimical to their interests. Fine minds like Garland Nixon and Joti Brar (see here, for example), historian Eric Zuesse, and the Blowback/Billy Bob roundtable —inter alia—have provided great explorations of this topic, but the complexity of the US imperial ruling class makes it hard to pin down. This a historically unusual class due to its many layers of hypocrisy, an enormous machinery of distraction and deception, the diversity and dispersion of its interlocking power centers (conjuring up the "Deep State"), and its sheer overall size.  There is no question that in magnitude alone nothing compares in history to the US ruling class and its satellite components. (Its mediocrity and stupidity are also probably quite unique, but that's another story). The main unifying trait holding this unwieldy agglomeration together, as we should expect, is that Western capitalists are for the most part attitudinally, feudo—capitalists—borrowing, as the term indicates, the worst traits of feudalism and capitalism, as the latter has degenerated into its finance-imperialist phase giving rise to kingly concentrations of wealth across the globe, inevitaby bringing with it the accoutrements and mentality of such environment. This means these people and their closest servants see the world in their own image as a jungle of corrupt, shifting social hierarchies open to subversion and conquest; act instinctively in individualist undemocratic ways; assume that might makes right, and worship at the altar of selfishness, all the while pretending to great piety and magnanimity. Anyone who has read Balzac on the bourgeoisie has a pretty good idea of what kind of animal this is. But, especially in the America, as C.W. Mills indicated, this crowd also suffers from arrogant short-term thinking (a grave malformation derived from their corporate way of life), plus other vices inherent in the predatory Atlanticist political culture which the new world has apparently amplified.

So when we ask, "Who rules America?" we want to know with more specificity who is actually in charge, not just that a bunch of capitalists are at the helm (taking us all to ruination, as it is), but in some detail providing a vision of their political anatomy. How are the tasks of governing—at the highest sphere—sorted out and executed? Well, Gui Rochat, an astute reader of The Greanville Post has sent us a terrific snapshot, which I reproduce below. I should add that, in every age of the Empire, as human affairs go, some favorite courtiers and intriguers stand out in their stratum: Metternich and Talleyrand at the dawn of the 19th century; in our time Kissinger, Brzezinski, and later the Neocon mob—Wolfowitz, McCain, Boeing's own Senator, Henry Jackson, the Kagans, the Nulands, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Samantha Power, Condi Rice, Mike Pompeo, Lindsey Graham, etc., etc. All criminal and execrable by definition. Every single one a good candidate for a new Nuremberg tribunal. The list is long, even at the top of the executive pyramid, which receives and supposedly coordinates inputs from subaltern centers of power, since, like everything else, the "consigliere" profession has become an industry in America.

Well, without further eloquence as Mr Dooley might say, here's Gui's commentary. I hope you find it as insightful as I did:

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