Inflection Points

Extremely good interview! Very many themes of interest.

To take just one theme, he actually seems to believe we are in the Mid East in virtue of terrorism! Amazing. If the area specialized in growing asparagus and other truck crops, and had no oil at all, we would not be there. We have invaded. People don't like to be invaded. We have unleashed an enormous amount of violence and we will reap the consequences. The overall issue is resources. "It's the oil, stupid!" It's the ring of bases in greater Caspian, trying to make sure the Chinese and Russians don't control the oil. It's the "war" in Sudan to try to control the transport of oil, etc., etc. I don't think "our" interests are fragmented at all. It's about hegemony for US corporate interests, which are internationalist in vision, and not national, and the entire system absolutely requires oil the way the human body requires blood. Energy determines all. The global corporations, including the financiers, don't think in terms of "America", but in terms of global power. Their view is planetary, not national. I quote from Brzezinski: "The nation state as a fundamental unit of man's organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state." Brzezinski, Zbigniew, Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era (New York: Viking Press, 1973), p. 246.

He is right that the media view of globalism is wrong. What is happening is a restructuring of planetary power: East and West. It's about money on the one hand, as a tool of conquest, but energy and ecological imbalances engendered by unbridled industrialism and resource wars will have the last word. Our bloated military is a classic albatross.

Regarding taxes and economy, things have changed absolutely since Bretton Woods. A fiat currency is not a convertible currency; a nation sovereign in its currency is in a different position than one that does not, as is the case with the Europeans. Please see:

http://pragcap.com/resources/understanding-modern-monetary-system

and its excellent resource page.

Forgetfulness is human nature: it's the march of folly.

I agree: very interesting interview.

To expand on one other item: the discussion on decline was excellent in noting the lack of American realization of the special circumstances that caused its rise in the 20th century to the dominate power. But Mr. Kanin failed to cite one of the (perhaps the) greatest factors (which William gets completely): mid-century, the U.S. had the oil and was the Saudi Arabia of the world. Cheap energy is largely why the U.S., not Germany, triumphed in WW II. With the U.S. peak in 1970, the downhill trajectory was inevitable.

For a good discussion of decline, check out this post at Morris Berman's site:

http://morrisberman.blogspot.com/2010/12/death-throes.html#links

On topic:

The Doomsday Project, Deep Events, and the Shrinking of American Democracy

Peter Dale Scott

http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-Doomsday-Project-Deep-in-Best_Web_OpEds-110124-317.html

It occurred to me that this is a good discussion of the "imperialist thrust" of the American ethos:

Modern-Day American Imperialism: The Middle East and Beyond

http://www.zcommunications.org/modern-day-american-imperialism-the-middle-east-and-beyond-by-noam-chomsky

I would only add that Chomsky does not emphasize the religious element enough. I think it is fundamental. Americans are always doing "God's work". This goes back to the very beginnings of the Puritan era. Our "manifest destiny" is essentially a religious conception tied to a certain version of Christianity, which is an evangelizing religion, and which gives its adherents an unshakeable sentiment of superiority, all the more so as it forms an amalgam with Western "civilizationism."

[I agree that religion is a central feature of American history. g.]

Brendan's comments about religion in US history reminded me of a very interesting argument from Thierry Meyssan (and others) about how the forms of Protestantism that took root in the United States may be the key explanatory factor for the immense cultural power of Zionism in the US.

The argument goes something like this:

1. Religious Zionism predates the secular racial Zionism of Herzl by a few centuries at least, and arose among elements of Protestantism (particularly English and Dutch).

2. That beyond the issue of Armageddon, the strong emphasis on the Old Testament fostered the view among certain elements of Protestantism that their adherents are a new Chosen people, much like the original Chosen people (the Israelites), and are blessed for dominion over a promised land themselves. Thus you have 2 Chosen peoples who are to share a special place above all the other nations.

3. Consequently, Zionism, seen broadly, has been a kind of Protestant religious ideology to which Jews rallied much later on.

The situation is very different in Continental Europe where there is no such cultural rapport. Consequently, as noted by Jean Bricmont and others, the Israeli state and its loyalist organizations depend instead on the manipulation of the collective memory of the Jewish Holocaust for their cultural influence.

Now, with the combination of economic decline, continuing large scale immigration from Muslim countries, and growing urban delinquency wracking Europe, Jerusalem and its supporters have added a different tack : "We white Europeans must stand together against the hordes of Saracan barbarians at our gates. We have problems with our Arabs...you have problems with yours...".

It is almost funny to watch because the pro-Israeli organizations in Europe have for the last few decades denounced ferociously any assertion of European nationalist identity as being fundamentally anti-Semitic and furthermore have been among the strongest voices in support of mass Muslim immigration.

[For me, the key American Protestant characteristic is an early emphasis on salvation through the power of belief instead of through scriptural learning. That strain of anti-intellectualism runs deep. g.]