The quote from Ezra Kaplan reflects a kind of loose-lipped non-think
now common in the United States, almost making a joke of mass-murder.
There was a time when most Americans regarded nuclear war as
unthinkable.
But the public culture does seem to have changed, and I
believe there are two key influences at work in changing it, and they are to a
considerable extent interrelated.
First, is a growing sense of the relative decline of America
is world affairs. This is something it is not easy for the average American to
accept, raised as they were in the faith that America was king of all that it
surveyed.
Yes, it has fearsome forces all over the world still, but,
day by day, more countries reach a level where they can challenge America's
bullying, and this is a phenomenon that will only continue as countries like
the BRICS start reaching their full potential.
A world with a state behaving as an international bully is
even more dangerous than an individual state run by a tyrant. A multi-polar
world is the only structure to safeguard the future until the likely remote
time that forms of proper international law and governance can evolve.
I think there is also a perception in America's
establishment that it only has a limited time to use its current strength to
re-inforce its geo-political domination before the relative decline becomes
more apparent.
Thus, we have events like the coup in Ukraine and the
reckless advance of NATO forces in Eastern Europe as well as America's
dangerous moves in the South China Sea. America’s new military doctrine,
sanctifying its right to invade any country but an ally, is the ultimate
official document supporting the establishment’s fears. It is, in effect, a
startling rejection of the Nuremberg Trials and of international laws and
accords.
Second is the genuinely pernicious influence of Israel's
government on public opinion in the US. Does a day pass that Netanyahu does not
threaten someone, rage about something, demand something, or actually attack
someone, generally killing many civilians, all the while claiming he stands for
human values and democracy?
His outrages are not criticised from the US and its sadly
obsequious partner, the EU, so that over time people begin to think of such
behavior as in some way normal.
The two causes are related in that Israel has a special
purpose in American geo-political thinking and enjoys an almost untouchable
position in the US press, almost no matter how savagely it acts: Israel serves
as an American quasi-colony in the Middle East.
That relationship too faces serious problems in the future
with the relative decline of America and the general failure of Israel to
become a self-sustaining entity. Israel is simply the most subsidized place on
the planet and maintains a military-intelligence structure that is tremendously
costly and out of all proportion to its economy, and that is not something
which can go on indefinitely.
Israel, too, is keen to secure its dominance before it faces
serious readjustments in its arrangements. This propels it do very dangerous
acts with little regard for its neighbors.
So I do think there are very dangerous times ahead, perhaps
the next couple of decades, and it is a good thing Russia has seriously re-invigorated
its deterrent. It is important to the entire world that America's growing
paranoia and uncertainty do not tempt to act as Israel does in its sphere.
