BRUCE LERRO—More than Realists, Neoliberals put a high preference on ideas. The first think-tanks came out of the Rand Foundation and global capitalists such as the Rockefeller brothers who set up not just think-tanks but foundations and organizations such as the Council of Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, all in the service of opposing communism. New Deal liberal gatekeepers acted as “controlled opposition” such as the Ford Foundation. The Neoliberal notions about human nature are not as bleak as Neoconservative Realists. Under certain conditions, state actors can cooperate. Game theory is a neoliberal attempt to understand the conditions that are likely to promote competition or cooperation among states.
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RAMIN MAZAHERI—On a practical level – could Ukraine have not gone down the path they have chosen?
Absolutely, and easily – but it is a failed state, with a failed ideology, structures, goals, etc and etc. Todd accurately stresses how the proofs of this suicide are legion. What else can we call but suicidal Kiev’s decision to keep courting a totally uninterested (and rapacious, I’d add) EU instead of Russia, with whom its major industries were already linked? A “victory” there is economic suicide, unless they can vastly expand the production of surrogate babies. What can we call the elimination of the Russian language, church and culture – all inextricably linked and seemingly dialects of the same concepts – but more suicidal self-hatred?
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P. GREANVILLE—This project, which as an added benefit creates jobs in the US, something badly needed at this point, costs a pittance compared to the obscene sums (such as the US$ 95 billion recently approved by our non-representative political class) to be squandered on repulsively criminal regimes in Ukraine and Israel, not to mention to pick an idiotic and equally criminal fight with China. Criminal because a war with China will be mind-boggingly destructive to everyone on this planet, including Americans, who—assuming they survive— will see their already tenuous standard of living plummet dramatically as a result of a conflict “of choice” started by the US establishment.
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EDITOR—Iran carried out a strike over the weekend of April 13 and 14 in retaliation for the Israeli bombing on April 1 of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. Embassies are the sovereign territory of the country represented, effectively making it an Israeli attack on Iran.
In the West, the Iranian response, which was announced in advance and targeted only a military base, has received significantly more attention. Pundits and politicians called it a grave escalation, the opposite of reality.
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LARRY JOHNSON—I am always honored to be invited to appear on The Duran with Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris. They were the first one I stumbled upon at the start of the SMO who talked intelligently about the political and military dynamics. I was fortunate to come to their attention and have appeared several times since March 2022. We discussed the situation in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine. With respect to Ukraine, I explain the significance of the 12 CIA bases that the New York Times claims are scattered throughout Ukraine.
