11 Comments

With foreign policy failures right and left and more looming on the horizon, will the Biden Administration ever wake up to the fact that our military interventions have failed, are failing, and will continue to fail? Because the U.S. is now backing a genocide in Gaza, it's no longer clear that George W. Bush is the worst president in living memory..

Expand full comment

Once you understand that the people running Washington (and Jerusalem) exhibit behaviors indistinguishable from those of sociopaths, people for whom *everything* is a zero-sum no-holds-barred winner-takes-all game, their actions make a sort of sense.

Expand full comment

"The U.S. and British governments can pretend that there is no connection between the two things all they like, but it will get them no closer to solving the problem."

The U.K. does a lot of pretending, doesn't it? By the way, speaking of pretending that there is no connection between what the Houthis are doing and what Israel is doing to Gaza, did you notice that Rod Dreher has been doing the same kind of pretending?

On January 12, Dreher had this to say about the attack on the Houthis:

"Concur. The Houthis deserve this and worse. The US and Western navies cannot allow these pirates to disrupt global shipping. I can’t fault Biden for finally (!) acting to defend America’s vital national security interests. The Houthis had it coming."

Not a word about Gaza. Not a word about Israel. But pretending that the Houthis are "pirates" and that Biden's decision somehow defends "America's vital national security interests."

You probably saw my comment on his substack. If not, I'll post the link if you want it.

Expand full comment

The UK basically wants to demonstrate its slavish loyalty to its American Master. Europeans love being slaves.

I don't read Dreher much, but part of his M.O. is that, rather than chase truth, he twists himself into knots to justify those he perceives as friends.

Expand full comment

Yes, I agree that the uk wants to demonstrate its loyalty. What makes it even more pathetic is that it does so as if it's still the British Empire. Rule Britannia and all that. While at home in the UK things are not going so well, are they?

Expand full comment

That's the funny part. Being a slave in no wise benefits europe, but they convince themselves that this is some great arrangement that they have. They actually do this to themselves!

Didn't none other than Borrell say something about europe as a "garden", as opposed to the scary "jungle" without American hegemony?

Expand full comment

Being slaves does benefit the elite, though, at least to some extent. They enjoy the solidarity of slavery and a. higher allotment of crumbs from the master's table.

Actually, I think the global western elite (I know, it's a bit of a contradiction in terms) is separate from the societies over which they rule. I think that is true both in the U.S. and in the rest of the west.

Expand full comment

Well, it's worth pointing out that the european political class flaunts how out of touch they are, how little they care for the concerns of the peasants. Baerbock said point blank that she does not care whether germans freeze or starve over Ukraine.

Expand full comment

The EU like the Houtis -like Palestinians, -like Ireland need to reassess their relationship with both the USA and NATO. I think they already are. Both Isreal and the US are making a mess in their backyard. Time to weed the garden EU.

Expand full comment

The EU should do so, but among the european political classes, questioning American hegemony is like interrupting a High Papal Mass to ask who just farted.

Yoo Just Don't Do That, and if they are nothing else, europeans are all about The Done Thing. This is why they make such loyal slaves.

Expand full comment

“Congress should...”

Today’s Congress is not functional.

Expand full comment