MAIN EDITORS—10/4/2024 Episode 114 of Blowback: Exposing Imperial Decline with special guests Christopher Black and Max Parry.
The panel debates the question of who is actually setting global foreign policy in the US, especially in the Middle East, where many believe the Zionist lobby wields disproportionate influence. Is the Israeli lobby actually the most important factor in US foreign policy? Can it be said that this is a case of the tail wagging the dog?
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EDITORS—HIGHLIGHT: Given the huge size and number of the “bunker busters” used to flatten a whole residential area in Beirut to kill Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, the general supposition is now that this attack was made possible by the participation of US/NATO warplanes. The Western media has kept almost totally mum about this story.
Garland and Laith dissect the literally explosive situation in the Middle East, and how the rise of an increasingly well armed resistance impacts and complicates the global politics of US imperialism. Laith and Garland concur that this will likely be a long war, similar to the Algerian war of liberation, or the Vietnam War. Liberation wars don’t come cheap in terms of lives and infrastructure lost. As well, the team discusses how a Mideast war may affect the politics throughout the West, precipitating huge economic and political shifts in Europe, the US and Japan. As a result of a war in the ME pushing oil prices sky-high, Laith and Garland visualise the possibility of enormous disruptions in the imperial core itself, obligating (or providing the opportunity to) the ruling establishment to declare Martial Law, suspend elections, assassinate Trump, or implement other shifts and extreme policies across the globe.
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DANNY HAIPHONG—In this MEGA Livestream, Professor Jeffrey Sachs joins in the first half of the show to discuss Israel’s path to all out war in Lebanon and what it means for the future of the conflict raging in the Middle East plus a full update on the multipolar world. Professor Mohammad Marandi then joins from Beirut on Iran’s possible response to the escalations in Lebanon as Israel war widens.
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EDITOR—The Israeli government presents this invasion as a “limited” one, but as many have pointed out the same was said about the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. That led to years of brutal warfare and an occupation that lasted nearly until the end of the century. The Israeli government often describes its aggressive operations as “limited” to gain support in the West, but somehow they never stay “limited.”
Akbar Shahid Ahmed spoke to a career U.S. official who said that the administration was permitting “a nihilistic regional murder spree.” That is unfortunately all too accurate. Among other things, Israeli forces recently bombed Yemen by targeting critical civilian infrastructure once again. They seem to delight in devastating the vital infrastructure of the poorest parts of the region. The Netanyahu government’s first instinct appears to be to inflict collective punishment of the civilian population of other countries.
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CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—The message is clear: Israelis dying is a terrible tragedy, while Palestinians dying is just the normal way for things to be. An Israeli dying should matter as much to you as your own family or friends dying, while a Palestinian dying should be regarded as a routine and natural event like a drop of rain falling from the sky.
And that’s an important message for westerners to be indoctrinated with. Can you imagine if we all started caring about western bombs being dropped in the Middle East as much as we would care if they were being dropped on our own country, or on a country we’ve been conditioned to sympathize with? All their carefully manufactured consent would crumble, and people would cease allowing the western empire to do what it needs to do to dominate the planet.
