Those of us in the West must resist our own governing systems, or we are complicit.
Counter protests, for and against Israel in London, May 25, 2024. (Alisdare Hickson, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
In Murder in Samarkand I describe how as a British ambassador, when I discovered the full extent of our complicity in torture in the War on Terror, I thought it must be a rogue operation and all I had to do was make ministers and senior officials aware and they would stop it.
When I was reprimanded and officially told that receipt of intelligence from torture in the “War on Terror” was approved from the prime minister and foreign secretary down, and it became clear to me that there was a deliberate promoting of false intelligence narratives through torture, which exaggerated the Al Qaida threat to justify military policy in Afghanistan and Central Asia, my worldview was severely shaken.
Somehow I mentally compartmentalised this as an aberration, due to overreaction to 9/11 and the unique narcissism and viciousness of then Prime Minister Tony Blair.
I did not lose faith in Western democracy or the notion that the Western powers, on the whole, were a positive force when contrasted with other powers.
It is a hard thing to lose the entire belief system in which you were brought up — probably particularly hard if like me, you had a very happy life right from childhood and were highly successful within the terms of the governmental system.
I have however now finally shed the last of my illusions and I am obliged to acknowledge that the system of which I am a part – call it “the West,” “liberal democracy,” “capitalism,” “neo-liberalism,” “neo-conservatism,” “imperialism,” “the New World Order” — call it what you will in fact, it is a force for evil.
Gaza has been an important catalyst. I am not lacking in empathy, but my knowledge of the horrid butchery by the Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya was an intellectual knowledge, not a lived experience.
Technology has brought us the Gaza genocide – which has so far killed fewer people than any of those earlier NATO- member perpetrated massacres – in gut wrenching detail.
I have just been looking at 75kg bags of mixed human meat handed over to relatives in lieu of an identifiable corpse, and am in shock.
A journalist asked me how I "feel" about Gaza today. How am I supposed to feel in the face of a Western-sponsored army relentlessly butchering people trapped in what resembles a circle of Dante's Hell?
I feel sick. https://t.co/ts5Cc1ay9u
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 10, 2024
That is not the worst we have seen in Gaza.
Mosul & Fallujah
If only the people of Mosul and Fallujah had had modern mobile phone technology, what horrors we would know.
Incidentally, I tried to find you some images of the massive U.S. destruction of Mosul and Fallujah in 2002-2004 and Google won’t give me any. It will, however, offer thousands of images from fighting there with ISIL in 2017. Which rather underlines my point about the extraordinary lack of imagery of the Second Iraq War.
Of the current genocide in Gaza, again I found myself naively thinking at some point this will stop. That Western politicians would not in fact countenance the total destruction of Gaza.
That there would be a limit to the number of Palestinian civilian deaths they could accept, the number of U.N. facilities, schools and hospitals destroyed, the number of little children torn into shreds.
I thought that at some stage human decency must outweigh Zionist lobby cash.
But I was wrong.
The Ukrainian Attack on Kursk
In July 1943, U.S.-supplied tanks of the Red Army infantry division advance to the frontline of the Battle of Kursk. (Mil.ru, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
The Ukrainian attack into Kursk also has a profound emotional resonance. The Battle of Kursk was arguably the most important blow struck against Nazi Germany, the largest tank battle in the history of the world by a wide margin.
The Ukrainian government has destroyed all the monuments to the Red Army which achieved this, and denigrates the Ukrainians who fought against fascism.
By contrast, it honours the very substantial Ukrainian components of the Nazi forces, including but not limited to, the Galician Division and their leaders.
[See: On the Influence of Neo-Nazism in Ukraine]
Kursk is therefore a place of great symbolism for Ukraine to attack now into Russia, including with German artillery and armour.
German politicians seem to have an atavistic urge to attack Russia, and support the genocide of Palestinians to an astonishing degree.
Germany has effectively ended all freedom of speech on Palestine, banning conferences of distinguished speakers and making pro-Palestinian speech illegal. Germany has intervened on Israel’s side in the genocide case before the ICJ, and intervened at the ICC to object to an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
I do not know how many civilian dead would assuage German lust for the expiatory blood of Palestinians — 500,000? 1 Million? 2 Million?
Or perhaps 6 Million?
The West are not the good guys. Our so-called “democratic systems” give us no ability to vote for anybody who may get into power who does not support the genocide and imperialist foreign policy.
It is not an accident and it is not genius that makes a man-child like Elon Musk worth $100 billion. The power structures of society are deliberately designed by those with wealth to promote massive concentration of wealth in favour of those who already have it, exploiting and disempowering the rest of society.
The rise of the multi-billionaires is not a fluke. It is a plan, and the misallocation of more than adequate resources is the cause of poverty. The attempt to shift blame onto the desperate constituents of waves of immigration forced into life by Western destruction of foreign countries, is also systematic.
There is no longer any free space for dissent in the media to oppose any of this.
We are the Bad Guys. We resist our own governing systems, or we are complicit.
In the United Kingdom it falls to the Celtic nations to try to break up the state which is a subordinate but important imperialist engine. The paths of resistance are various, depending where you are.
But find one and take one.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. His coverage is entirely dependent on reader support. Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
This article is from CraigMurray.org.uk.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
“Our so-called “democratic systems” give us no ability to vote for anybody who may get into power who does not support the genocide and imperialist foreign policy.”
We in the US can vote for Jill Stein who opposes the Gaza genocide. You may quibble about whether she can “get into power” but she will be on the presidential ballot in over 50 US states, this November.
Yes, the US is an imperial power. It disguises itself a democratic power and promoter of liberal democracy across the globe, but it is an imperial power in every sense of the word. Post-WWII and unlike the European empires such as Great Britain or France, the US does not attempt to hold colonial territories abroad (with a few exceptions such as Puerto Rico and the Pacific island possessions). Instead it supports semi-autonomous/semi-vassal US-friendly governments around the world and these can be recognized by the presence of US military bases, which number between 700 and 800 (it’s hard to get an exact count). When the governments of those countries stray from the fold, the US instigates coups, revolts, color revolutions, and general economic deprivation to bring the country back under control.
Chalmers Johnson wrote extensively and lucidly about the American empire and his books are well worth reading.
I’ve heard that empires ultimately collapse from within, due to the various contradictions and distortions and social tensions that result from overextending the center’s resources. To maintain an empire is very expensive and energy-intensive; it relies on continuous influx of resources from the periphery and requires increasing expenditure to keep control of that periphery. Meanwhile, conditions decay at the center due to corruption, graft, and general neglect of the ordinary citizens. The erstwhile democracy at home declines toward dictatorship and tyranny. At least, that seems to be a common theme.
Based on that, I think the American empire is well into decline and will collapse under its own weight in the near future. Still, we can each play a role by raising awareness of the imperial nature of America, as Mr. Murray has done here. And we can do our best to mitigate the damage done, at home and abroad, by raising our voices in public protest.
I’m for a general boycott and isolation of the Zionist nation of Israel. Harsh sanctions, something like what the US has imposed on North Korea and Venezuela. Israel has become a rogue nation and a pariah. It is no longer part of the international community.
”With every ”object of anxiety” which has emerged with our society in recent decades – terrorism, the climate problem, the coronavirus, – this process has leapt forward.) The threat of terrorism induces the necessity for a surveillance apparatus , and our privacy is now seen has an irresponsible luxury: to control climate problems we need to more lab-printed ‘meat’ sic) electric cars, and an online society. to protect us against COVID-19, we have to replace our humanity with mRNA vaccine induced artificial immunity.
”The Psychology of Totalitarianism” – Mattias Desmet – 2022.
“Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and perpetrator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself — a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.”
? Frank Herbert, Children of Dune
You hit the nail squarely on the head, Mr. Murray… thank you!
Indeed “Dave Z”, Craig Murray has been hitting this proverbial nail on the head for a long time; as did you good sir with the Frank Herbert quote.
As Usual,
EA
Perhaps, to initiate change, the essential first step is achieving self-awareness. This process can be challenging, whether pursued individually or collectively, as it requires confronting our failures, limitations, weaknesses, and darker aspects—elements that fundamentally define our humanity.
Our culture often vilifies human frailty; we are frequently urged to maintain a positive outlook and focus exclusively on our commendable traits. However, this mindset can impede both personal and collective growth by fostering denial and repression.
Cultures characterized by guilt or shame are particularly prone to this cognitive error, allowing “evil” to thrive in environments that suppress and distort information and deny inherent human qualities.
Historically, our culture has faced difficulties in evolving due to a tendency to externalize problems, viewing evil as something that exists solely in others rather than recognizing it within ourselves.
Statements from our leaders about Russia, Iran, and China might provide critical insights into our identity and existential problems. Projection is an effective approach for understanding both personal and collective “selves”.
A positive aspect of our challenging time is the emergence of self-awareness; we now have a unique opportunity to implement radical and valuable cultural changes that will enable future generations to thrive and progress as humans rather than animals.
I believe that patience, determination and self-awareness are all it takes to achieve meaningful changes
Murray ends this piece with, ” The paths of resistance are various, depending where you are.
But find one and take one.”
Does Craig Murray thing choosing whatever resistance d’jour is the solution? As the capitalist vultures perch upon their high wires looking down at the working class carrion and solidifying their organization around how to pick us all clean, Murray is telling the populace to choose any path of resistance you like as long as you choose one.
There is only one path and that path is for the global working class to educate themselves to their power to eradicate the capitalist system for a socialism of, for, and by the working class, that is based solely on human need. There is no other path. If humanity continues down whatever path of resistance they so choose the vulture class will be sure to leave their nicely picked clean bones at the end of those paths because those paths will always end, and they will end in either pointless incrementalism or demoralizing defeat.
Making a vague statement like choosing and taking a path of resistance does nothing to address the capitalist system of barbarism and rising fascism we live under that has its boot heel to our throats and is suffocating the life out of us. What is Murray hoping for? Is it the reformation of the capitalist system by resisting the bad guys and replacing them with good guys? In capitalism there are no good guys to replace the bad, it’s a system that rewards psychopathy and eliminates anyone with a conscience.
Also, Mr. Murray should replace the obfuscating ” We ” he mentions with, ” the capitalist ruling class and its lap dog governments.” In the US, the whole system is rigged to keep the consent of the governed pilloried in the town square while being forcibly fed endless, lying diatribes about protecting their freedom and democracy and voting for a better future that will never come.
I’d say Kurt hits the nail squarely on the head and drives it as deep as it can go.
Kurt does all of that and more. Makes me think, as I’ve done for some years now, that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe for all the world. Being raised in the US, I, along with everyone else, was force fed the lies and propaganda that have produced this corrupt system of a small, but powerful, ruling class, and a huge class of passive, idle consumers, that are only too happy to being led around by their noses. As I understand more and more about the history of the post WW2 period, it seems to me that the US was invariably on the wrong side of history, and that the USSR was not. No better example of this can be found in the treatment of defeated nazis. The US incorporated many into government positions, whereas the Soviets resolutely punished them. Now when you look around the country, you notice that the nazis and our ruling class are being fused together into a new type of american nazi, and what better proof of that is the genocide in Gaza, and the servile prostration before netanyahu. Marx resonates even more, and if ever there was a class that needs to be punished, it is this one, the bad one. It is our own.
The world at large know that America is and has been the biggest threat to world peace . They are at it as we speak, aiding the genocide of Gaza and at the same time pretending to seek peace . They are the biggest hypocrites on the planet and biggest war mongers . They drop bombs like farmers sow seeds ,but only on those that can’t return fire .
And what is your practical plan to overthrow capitalism?
Just asking, because I’ve been thinking about that for more than half a century and I still don’t see how to do it. If you have an idea, I’d love to hear it. I’ve solved a lot of hard problems and that nut remains uncracked.
As far as your suggestion that, “There is only one path and that path is for the global working class to educate themselves to their power to eradicate the capitalist system for a socialism of, for, and by the working class, that is based solely on human need”, that’s a goal, not a path. And you assume for your purpose that there is an recognizable population called “the global working class” which is inherently coherent and just needs a bit of self-education to wake itself up and realize its power.
That is beyond naïve; it is delusional.
And you assume otherwise that there isn’t a recognizable population called the global working class? 99% of the global working population is working class in this multinational corporatized world. They’re all being exploited in their workplaces and by the corporate capture of their governments, who absolutely fear the rising militancy amongst workers, as well as by the willing complicity of their union bureaucracies to be lap dogs to the corporations they’re suppose to be defending their rank and file against. The rank and file are awakening to that exploitation, both union and non-union workers, and the education I mention is the education to organize the rank and file to the power they have to eliminate union bureaucracies, form rank and file committees in every workplace where the decisions are made by workers and for workers on their shop floors, not in secret closed door meetings. They cannot afford to fall into the dead end of, ” choosing whatever resistance floats their boat.”
Change will come from nowhere else other than the awareness of the global working class recognizing that their exploitation has no national boundaries while also recognizing that the antiquated nation state system is used to purposely divide them and obfuscate their common identity as workers.
The rise of fascism around the world is once again the reaction of the ruling class to workers awareness of the growing imperialist nature, genocidal sadism, threats of nuclear armageddon, and the endless austerity placed upon them to pay for this psychopathy. This will not be, a bit of self-education but an organized collective one, and it will not be easy. If you think this path to that goal is naive and delusional than you fall into the trap the ruling class has set to snare us in hopelessness, doubt and defeat.
Idealistic, perhaps, but not delusional. If enough people merely stopped participating in the current capitalist economy, and circled the wagons, there might be a substantial shift.
Yes we all wish there were more clear-cut, simple answers to “how?”. Most everyone is trapped having to survive within a system that works against them, while at the same time challenging it. Almost a futile catch-22. What would you suggest?
Amen, sir!
What took you so long? To me the evil nature of the West began during the Vietnam War in which I goo a granular interest in. It was obvious then what is obvious now–Vietnam was fought for money and drugs as well as “serving” in that unfortunate country brought an automatic promotion and increased pay for officers.
Subsequently, I started looking into the ’63 assassination of JFK and realized that what I saw on the “street”, i.e., the world of drug dealing actually extended all the way to the top of the power-elite. To be more specific, the criminal street offered a scenario of organized crime. crooked comps, local politicians who “fixed” things for some people, insurance rackets, scams to cheat the government out of anti-poverty funds, various hustles against all manner of vulnerable people. I never took, for example, anti-drug policies because I saw that some dealers were allowed to remain–in fact I was involved in a very stupid deal that cause the big drug-dealer in the area to call the feds on us–I avoided jail by a whisker and got out of town quickly. I was around twenty at the time and very, very stupid and out of my league. After all that I stayed away from the drug world and adopted a completely different way of life.
After I realized the government killed JFK it wasn’t a stretch to see the government’s hand in the MLK and RFK assassination and, of course, 911. The weird thing is that in evaluating the evidence from all sides the official stories for all these events is obviously wrong but people want to believe, like Murray, that are the “good guys” (btw, I don’t accept the good/bad guy thing–most people are very mixed). My own late father who was a retired diplomat and who was involved in Vietnam policy at the State Department between 1965 and 1968 ruined his career by not supporting Rusk’s policy in private–he never went public. When I confronted him with the obvious problems with the official 911 narrative he said to me “I refuse to believe it even if what you say is true.”
Just sharing. But I don’t think we are the “bad” guys–the people in power pursue their interests as people in power always do. Sometimes people in power care about the people below them but most of the time they don’t. We’ve been lucky in the USA at least to have people in power who somewhat mean well–but the system is now rigged so that acting morally (we must redefine what that means) is almost impossible because corruption is now systemic and institutions cannot be reformed.
What evidence is there that the government killed JFK? I’m asking in good faith; I want to check it out.
Yep. Sounds about right. I started having doubts in 1972, when I was helping bomb Vietnam and did NOT defend democracy in the Philippines. They’ve only grown larger and larger as I’ve gone up and down and to and fro i n the world. We Americans are brainwashed in childhood with a pseudo-religion, Americanism, but some of us are deprogrammed by life and the writings of people like Craig Murray. Keep it up, please!
Thank you Craig, I agree with you. We are loosing our capacity for decency. Our elected leaders no longer use the word. We are no longer citizens. We have become cattle, consumers and slaves.
Why has this happened? BECAUSE WE HAVE LET IT HAPPEN! Our ignorance and avoidance of what some Oligarchs are up to is stunning. The Oligarchs are not simply a phenomena found in Russia. They exist throughout the world where they have found their way to the critical nodes of most governments and the heart of international economics…control of the money supply.
In our private lives most of us know right from wrong. Most of us have a sense of decency. We mind our own business and we expect our government to reflect these values. We naturally expect our government to be guided by it’s Constitution. This simple minded sense of American individualism has encouraged and permitted a few self absorbed Oligarchs to purchase our leaders and direct our foreign policy… while we have been watching sports.
As Leo Tolstoy said “War is the vilest thing in the world.” I have long been aware of the West’s unwarranted sense of superiority,
which makes excuses for the evil it perpetrates in the world, massacring other peoples for its own benefit.
I have long said that We Are The Evil Empire Now.
Oh, the West being malevolent has been quite clear to the rest of the world for a long time.
Remember the unlawful and unjust bombing of Serbia?
We, in Eastern Europe, have a saying regarding the West, specifically U.S.A: at least with the Soviets you knew what to expect?
This shows how insidious, treacherous and backstabbing the West can be.
The Ukrainians have yet to open their eyes to this.
Thank you Mr Murray. I’ve come to the same conclusion.
Thank you Craig. You are right, we are not the good guys we thought we were. This is an uncomfortable conclusion to arrive at, but it is the inevitable conclusion of any honest right-minded person who manages to throw off the blanket of Western propaganda and censorship under which they were raised.
The good guys we “said”, we “claimed”, we “pretended”, we were. Individuals may be good guys, but our governments are not. Our institutions are not. This morning I read an article captioned “Orchestra Cancels Acclaimed Pianist Who Acknowledged Journalists Killed in Gaza”. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra cancels people who dare to speak of Israel’s unspeakable crimes in Gaza. The rot is institutionalised.
Update: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has said it made “an error” in cancelling the performance of an acclaimed pianist who dedicated a piece to slain journalists in Gaza. An “error”? When exposed, our institutions are always cowardly. Expose them.
I agree TOTALLY!! And then trying to backtrack….
jk
The English speakers and their colonial descendants sure have kept intact the traditional devastating aggressiveness and deep class divisions, haven’t they? While at the same time trying to convince the world that their motivation has always been their superior Enlightenment ideals.
I believed in those ideals, too. But when a neolib elite usurped the U.S. Dem party, then dumped the New Deal and abandoned the entire majority working class, I couldn’t keep ignoring the truth.
Thanks for explaining why Kursk. However, there’s nothing “neo” about it–celebration of the WWII Ukrainians allied with the Nazis has been going on ever since. Openly so since the fall of the USSR.
“…it is a force for evil.” That’s the terrible reality. We’re in thrall to a western neolib/neocon cabal. These few have no limits as to what they will do to preserve their failing empire.
The U.S. Dem party has used ‘the lesser of two evils’ argument for decades. The adage when someone shows you who they are, believe them certainly fits here. Consider what the Dem claim really means–they’re part of the evil! The title of Chris Hedges’ 2022 book says it clearly: “The Greatest Evil Is War.” No ‘lesser’ about it. Yet too many citizens of western countries are still in denial; they actively avoid looking at the horror.
While courageous journalists who report the truth are deplatformed or imprisoned.
Thank you for your superb recognition of our tribalist delusions, which are so painful to cast off.
The social and economic dependencies of most upon their tribe makes them fear dissent, the perfect opportunity for the tyrant personalities of every tribe, who demand power as defenders, and start wars to elevate themselves and reward supporters.
Those who dedicate our lives to truth and justice are rarely appreciated and often demonized as tribal enemies.
As H.L. Mencken put it “The average man avoids the truth as diligently as he avoids arson, regicide, and piracy on the high seas, and for the same reasons: it is dangerous, no good can come of it, and it doesn’t pay.”
“TRIBAL”?! WHY has this pejorative become such an intellectual fad currently?
Please notice to whom the term was applied historically. Sub-Saharan Africans, the indigenous nations of the Americas and Australia…you know, the inferior, the colonized, the insufficiently white. Whereas Euro groups are “ethnicities.”
Then consider the actual behavior of those “lesser” cultures–how many 30 or 100 years wars? How much salt plowed into the agricultural fields of opponents? Yes, occasionally there were deadly battles. But most often there were ritual negotiations that prevented people who respected traditions from committing these unjust and uncivil acts. How long would the power crazed last when the rest of the group, who’d known them since childhood, were not about to put up with such arrogance?
The nations of North America were appalled by the crude behavior of the colonists. And they were puzzled by negotiators who didn’t even bring their women. How wise could they possibly be?
How do you suppose current Native Americans and Canadian First Nations view the two World Wars, A and H bombs, and the wonderful high tech WMDs developed by Euro and Euro descendant scientists? Who are the MAD ones–the so-called “tribal” or you proud descendants of the Enlightenment?
Which group accepts an econ system that considers human and natural resources as things to be used up? An old Comanche medicine man told the great psychiatrist Carl Jung: “The difference between the red man and the white man is that for us everything is alive while the white man treats everything as dead–even other people.”
There was a joke in the ’60s about the TV characters the Lone Ranger and his Native sidekick Tonto. They’re surrounded by what appear to be hostile Indians. The Lone Ranger says: “We have to fight them, Tonto!” Tonto replies “What’s this ‘we,’ white man?!” Exactly. Same for “our.”
So please Europeans, Euro North Americans, and any other theorists to whom this should apply:
QUIT using “tribal” as a synonym for your own uncivilized behavior.
I am American not British, and I never worked within my government other than my time in the U.S. Marine Corps. Nevertheless, I resonated with the emotions expressed in this article. To lose completely the faith one had in “the system,” the Western way, has been difficult. But the evidence is to compelling. Yes, we are the evil ones.
I submit that Western governments are all banker colonies. They have nothing to do with democracy or any of the warm and fuzzy pronouncements from on high we are subjected to ad nauseam. Foreign policy has always been about increasing profits for the ruling class. It took me until I reached my 40s to finally reach the conclusion that western governments were not governments at all. They throw us a few crumbs in order to prop up the illusion that we have representation. We are learning the hard way that this master class has no compunction about slaughtering millions if they think it will maintain their supremacy over humanity. With the advent of nuclear weapons, it is near impossible to restrain their blood lust. It is going to take something like a sustained global worker strike to shut this death machine down. Make them go bankrupt. Not an easy thing to plan and carry out. I just don’t see any other solution. Although the BRICS may assist in that effort by de-dollarizing the global economy.
Precisely, it is those with extreme wealth that have guided western policy for centuries, not based on anything other than lust for power and wealth. I fear nothing will ever get fixed unless and until there is a “Great Expropriation” where their ill-gotten wealth is returned to the people. It is not just that billionaires should not exist, it is that there never should have been any in the first place. It should not have been allowed. Now, it will required expropriation. Otherwise their wealth will continue to grow, as will their control over us.
Agreed, just the mere fact that such deep disparities in income and wealth are so passively accepted, even admired, by so many, I find deeply disturbing. And one is often accused of bitterness and envy for speaking on it. It is not envy, and the bitterness is to be expected, so unjust it is. We have failed our own species to a spectacular degree.
Germany’s support for Israel partly, if not fully, stems from it being an occupied nation. Both the USA and UK refused to sign a peace treaty with ANY German regime since 1945. Thusly, the German government is nothing more than a puppet regime, brutally held down by those who are the attack dogs for the evil ones in City of London and Wall Street. Their long-held aim is to keep Germany down and Russia out.
For many decades Britain, a member of the Five Eyes since the end of WWII has been a pawn, a vassal and complicit in war crimes and other delicacies along with the other members of that unholy brotherhood. Therefore not only America but all of them qualify for the gallows. Only regime change will bring about a settling of accounts to the guilty parties.
I agree, but I would say the UK is not a vassal, it is a Jr. Partner in the continuation of the Anglo-US hegemony and empire. The British Empire’s baton was handed off to the new superpower after WWI and WWII financially bankrupted the UK. The US in many ways is continuing a long tradition of British foreign policy. Many of the same interests in the UK benefit, just ask the folks at BAE systems and Tony Blair
As usual, I agree with you, Jonny. When you learn that the Brits had everything to do with the creation of the CIA — when the OSS was supposed to be disbanded after WWII — are still exploiting their former colonies for whatever they can steal, when they allow their government to be under the fist of the ethno-state just like the US is, I think “vassal” is a little weak. USUK is a joint venture.
I agree that the UK is not a vassal, it is a partner. People think that because the UK is a small island with a small military, compared with the US, that it must not be an important player. But the UK remains a major player in the financial realm. All that wealth that flows upwards to the elites, much of it is flowing through the City of London and out to the 15 or so tax havens the UK still owns around the world.
This response is to both Jorge Scordamaglia & Jonny James…
The original “Five Eyes” was, and still is, an entity called “Echelon” {see hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON }
founded in the early 1960’s to collect all telecommunications of any description. The idea was to avoid, by circumvention, the existing national laws preventing all such illegal secret invasions of privacy of any country’s citizens or business entities. As the “wikipedia” citation above will in most part impart, this massive “spying program” has technologically modernized and transformed into a cyber-weapon of enormous power. Strangely, the foundational organizing secret of this so-called success is somehow not mentioned. The member governments, each having prohibitions in their laws against their government spying on its own citizens, simply contractually agreed to locate each of the collection locations geographically in one of the other member’s country.
It is certain, economically militarily speaking, the US is presently by far the dominant force. It follows that literally all of its fellow conspirator “partners” in this decades-old paranoid and international crime-scheme have become mere political toadies and servile proxies to the biggest bully.
As the journalist Scott Ritter demonstrated yet again in an earlier article here on CN today, it’s long past time for all of us to become informed activists before our malignant narcissistic government, and its largely uninformed flock of sleepwalking sheep stumble into some stupid fatal global power driven mistake.
Thank you both!
As Usual,
EA
Britain has been a colony of America since 1940. That was when it lost its sovereignty and never regained it. All UK leaders since then have been nauseating, obsequious, lickspittle grovelling toadies, prostrating themselves before their US masters, just as US leaders whore themselves out to their Zionist masters.
Incidentally Kursk was not the biggest tank battle in history.
We the people of the USA are being run not by the good guys. What happened on 9/11/01 was an inside job to begin with. A corporation is not a person. Russiagate was a false flag. The genocide of Palestinians is evil. Russia was provoked in invading
Ukraine by US staging 2014 coup.
@barbara
and even if 9/11 was not an inside job,
bush & co failed to see it coming – despite
CIA, FBI + all other [sp]eyes everywhere.
their wrath [named “war on terror!”]
has cost over four million human lives
and counting …
How many times does the vast American nation have to read or hear of the criminality of its government before SOP is no longer a consideration? Americans are presented two inadequate choices to lead by a contemptible billionaire class that is high on its own fines.
Too many still refuse to accept that humanity is being stared down by an injured planet, and vigorous ideologists who can’t refuse an opportunity to profit from hate.
thank you so much, mr murray!
i draw much courage from your
outspokenness and i very much
agree with your assessments.
if the insatiable [settler] colonial west/north
doesn’t change course immediately we will lose
what little might still be left of our credibility
as advocates of “freedom and deMOCKracy”.
in the eyes of people in the global south we
have probably lost that credibility long ago.
hypocrisy, double-standardry, heart- and
soulless greed ‘n’ arrogance are all we flaunt.
i’m particularly shocked that current f.lawmakers
in my EU country, which initiated two world wars,
are as hell-bent on bloodshed [and fact twisting]
as their forebears were. how on earth can that be?
how utterly hollow calls for “NIE WIEDER!” ring.
“never again!” is happening again and again and
yet again …
You mean the UK*? I thought they Brexited out of the EU.
(* hat tip to Jim Macgregor and Gerry Docherty)
Thank you. Indeed.
Not far back enough. Atrocities in Turkey, Africa, certain islands with valuable spices. Not just UK. I wish the lessons about carefully defending husbandry could be learned. Growing highly valued plants, animals, and other life forms threatens the lives of persons skilled at husbandry. Japanese groups trained in fighting worked for both farmers and for those wishing to steal from farmers. My favorite film about defending is Gods Must Be Crazy, the African/Australian fusion-defense story.
“If only the people of Mosul and Fallujah had had modern mobile phone technology, what horrors we would know.”
Robert Fisk had a website around that time with photos of the horrific abnormalities in newborn babies, resulting from the depleted uranium bullets the US used.
As for Germany, i believe they supply 30% of weapons to Israel.
And already they have convicted a pro-Palestinian activist:
Xxxx//www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/06/german-court-due-to-rule-on-from-the-river-to-the-sea-case-in-test-of-free-speech
You are not alone in your disillusionment Mr. Murray.
…see – hear;
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu8R8CQpYBE
Robert Fisk on his opus: “The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East”
Germany supplied 6 Dolphin class advanced nuclear missile submarines to Israel, at 1 billion euros a pop. All supplied completely free, gratis, courtesy of Fritz the German taxpayer. They didn’t cost Israel a single shekel. These may shortly be used to launch nuclear missiles in the region, in which case our German friends will have another genocide on their hands. Just as all the billions of US weapons cost Israel precisely nothing – not a bean.