To fully understand Crooke’s disjointed explanation, one must watch and listen closely to his chat today with Judges Napolitano—I do wish a transcript was available as much of import is said but not as clearly if he were writing.
thanks karl.. your closing line is kind of scary, but perhaps it goes with this man made 'whole of society' concept... funny enough, i had read about this concept in the past 2 weeks, as my brother pointed it out to me in an article by jacob siegel, a fellow mentioned in this article.. i hadn't heard the term before...
as i understand it - the desire on most people to find a balance between the individual and the collective is being upended with this concept - 'whole of society'.. instead the individual rights are superseded by the ''rights'' of the collective... so we see in canada - everyone has to take the covid 19 vaccine, or you are not being a 'good neighbour', or as i read earlier today - there will be 100 pound fines in kent, england for anyone caught swearing - its for the good of the society... essentially free speech is being controlled for the ''whole of society'' and only the ''approved'' narratives will be allowed.. the other views will be found to be wrong according to the 'truth' outlets that oversee what the truth is, lol... it is all very orwellian!!
Agreed, not so much 'predictive programming' WRT to George Orwell as 'Intuitive Insight' IMO and there is the notion that the original title of the book was '1948' but he was persuaded to alter it.
So here we are; I did 'copy' an extract from the SCF article, which dealt with the apparent genesis of the "... ‘whole of society’ approach ... [with] the Obama administration’s ... [ironic] attempt to pivot in the ‘war on terror’ to what it called ‘CVE’ – countering violent extremism. [As if the WoT wasn't violent extremism!] The idea was to surveil the American people’s online behaviour in order to identify those who may, at some unspecified time in the future, ‘commit a [thought] crime’."
Sick Cur Starmer - our particular imperial stooge - has gone full 'whole of society' since his mud-slide victory in the UK's General Selection.
I know you're not really a fan of this style of music, but think 'thought crime' during the chorus to get a feel for the vibe:
thanks... i like the eurythmics... i hadn't heard the book might have been called 1948.. funny enough i had never read the book but am 2/3rds of the way thru the book at present.. i thought it would be a good idea to read it... there are real parallels with the book and what is happening here in the world today.. i am not happy about that..
As to "... here are real parallels with the book and what is happening here in the world today ...", it might have something to do with the attempts to assassinate the author's character I've encountered on the world wide web. He's not the only one being maligned of course. This also counts as a 'Like'. Cheers.
There appears to be one narrative that suggests that Sick Cur's apparent volte face vis-a-vis Occupied Palestine's genocide situation and the various international court rulings encouraged British Zionista Nationalists under little Tommy Robber to make trouble.
Another narrative suggests Sick Cur and the fake Robber fella could be working together in order to tighten the censorship laws, which of course has happened.
Generally, the British deep state prepared the way for Starmfuhrer to take over from their previous front-person in order to continue with their plans.
As to our deep state's plan, I have no idea why any group that obviously came about to guide the British empire would willingly subject itself to the one located in Byzantium DC. Other than the basic process of imperialisation by another state, which is based upon the willing compliance of the existing elite.
I have toyed with the idea that the various hypothetical deep states in Europe and UK are actively encouraging the Yankee Establishment, in order that the Outlaw American empire crumbles in order to free themselves up to screw their own working people for their own exclusive benefit.
At the same time one trend that seems to dominate WRT the various schemers and their plans is that those plans invariably back-fire and release unexpected consequences, which tend to be more positive than the chaos hoped for by the shadowy forces of oppression. For example:
I'm in the process of consulting Arno Mayer's works about events 100+ years ago and the groups that enabled them. In "The persistence of the Old Regime : Europe to the Great War," he puts forth a very excellent point that the ancien regime was never routed and was able to retool itself by assimilating the new forces that came along, thus it remains at the core of Western elite. and when we look at the control policies being invoked and the type of economy being pursued, the very close similarity of today with those of the past is too close to be happenstance. And the details of the opposing sides as the world fractures into two main blocs can also be seen as being consonant with the past as the main fight continues to be Imperialism versus Democratic/Republican/ Human Rights/Freedom or as Mayer puts it, the forces of control versus the forces of movement. I came across this article written after Mayer's recent passing that does a good job of summarizing his historicity, https://jacobin.com/2023/12/arno-mayer-obituary-history-counterrevolution-marxism
that was a depressing read in many respects - link on the bottom.. i want to walk away from all the conflict and polarization going on at present, but of course it is impossible.. i do believe the root of this is a class war... targeting specific groups - muslim or whatever - is a distraction from targeting the elite and wealthy who always seem to avoid being the target... thanks for your response!
In response to your penultimate paragraph contending that the european elite are 'encouraging the yankee establishment .... to crumble'. My immediate thought is that such a crumble will crash a global debt system of an immense size and simultaneously see their own economies confronted by the overtaking express train of Chinese manufacturing PLUS the current high energy cost trap they are caught in. So I doubt UKEU will have any joy at all in the crash of the USA. But then they are addled by their illusions and egos I guess :(
US deficit for June 2024 is $244 Billion, defense spending, $71 B, interest $81 B.
US like Japan needs more printing the fiat. Known as quantitative easing. Graham’s resource grab is needed, same as Henry II needing to grab most of France from his cousin!
MoA commenter report Russian ISR outed an Israel/CIA infiltration into Yemen, that was eliminated. Imagine Chinese and Korean vols show up in Kursk.
This has gotten out of hand. Not Scarecrow’s fault.
Hi Ed, I saw you Q at MoA but haven't found time yet to answer it as it will be lengthy. I have another short item to post this evening and I'll be gone most of the day tomorrow. I'll likely PM you my answer via substack.
I read that a group of 70 Israeli commandos wanted to raid Yemen in collaboration with American mercenaries. Russia is said to have discovered this and passed it on to Iran, which informed Yemen. The group is said to have been ambushed. I’m trying to find the post, but can’t find this anymore.
Serves the arrogant buggers right! Even if the news has been ‘scrubbed’ it will still be spread far and wide as a totally plausible rumor. I’m a believer! Wonderfully encouraging news!
The US oligarchs as a whole understand that their power in the world is diminishing with the rise of China, Russia and The Rest. Like all imperial ruling classes, they refuse to compromise with reality and cling on in increasingly desperate ways to that power - both abroad and at home.
At the same time we have the US Christian Zionists seeing their flock and power slowly diminish year after year and the US Jewish Zionists see a majority of Jews under 40 are anti-Zionist. They have a remaining window of perhaps 10 years before their political power in the US is severely diminished. They sense this, hence the increasing claims of victimhood and extremist hatred for others.
The above is driving the Zionist regime of Occupied Palestine to attempt to drive a final solution before their US protector becomes less powerful and support for Zionism within the US fades.
At the same time the Zionist regime is rent by a conflict between the "liberal" Zionists (preferring a slower less visible Palestinian genocide) and the extremist Zionists who are the Jewish equivalent of ISIS (with people like Ben Gvir opining for a war with "Gog and Magog") and with whom Netanyahu is aligned. Netanyahu has used the Gazan genocide to radicalize into a blood fury much of the Zionist Jewish population.
I agree with Crooke that these ingredients point to major conflict. It is the patience and care of China, Russia and Iran that has stopped a wider conflict occurring for the past decade, and the US oligarchy and the Zionist regime only seem to understand continued escalation. The hope is that elements within the US oligarchy, or even perhaps US and Zionist militaries, will work with China, Russia and Iran and keep us from the brink.
The US Empire and the Zionist regime have lost the support and respect of the Other 7 Billion, and an increasing number of their own populations. They must be helped to die quietly and peacefully rather than going out with a bang.
Israel is a dead regime walking, it is now just a matter of time. The only question will be whether or not they are allowed to take the Middle East and perhaps the world with them. The US state and politics is utterly saturated with Zionists, both Jewish and Christian, the question is how do we get through the next decade until their influence wanes?
We don't that's why smart money, even liberal rose colored glasses billionaires like Zuckerberg have built luxury bunkers which can sustain life for over 20 years in case of nuclear winter. The professional management/investment class, the in crowd, know what's coming and not a week goes by I don't read a story about one of them building a bunker to survive the Thucydides Trap - this time with canned sunshine.
The Thucydides Trap is a ruse. Sparta wasn't a commercial empire, meaning there wasn't any rivalry with Athens over trade. The formulation of the "trap" was to justify naming China as the Outlaw US Empire's #1 foe.
It’s entirely possible the Outlaw US Empire’s Deep State Functionaries admire and adhere to the Hannibal Doctrine where it doesn’t matter who you are if you fall in the way of Imperial goals being attained.
Forgive me, but I thought that this is the way it has been for many, many years.
The one over riding factor of all those derivatives is that should they go belly up only the elites
the markits and their wealth goes up in flames. Back during the 07-08 GFC Geitner and Paulson were amazed that the economy just kept on going while the banks were exploding.
The whole society meme the whole society of by for the elites, us commoners don't count
Reading Crooke's article at Strategic Culture was illuminating as I hadn't come across "whole of society", so it has power in explaining how narratives are created and distributed instantly within the machinery.
It was interesting when at the beginning of SMO not everyone was on board with barring Russia from SWIFT, but bankers be damned, it happened anyway. The chip war with China is breaking supply chains, industry isn't happy, but their concerns are moot and the escalations will continue.
It's apparent that the neocon crowd and their economist handmaidens are totally without any experience and I'd agree with Andrei Martyanov - they're uncultured credentialed morons.
So now wrong think will get you jailed. That makes it clear we're flying through the abyss and a miasma of stupid is what obscures the hard floor that awaits.
It's highly debatable viz the Zionists and US who is proxy to whom. It is probably unknowable at this point, so intertwined they have become since the US Civil War period, thus regarding them as separate is perhaps making distinctions without differences.
'The whole of society' is rather reminiscent of a concept termed Totalität (totality) which has been used in Germany by Theodor Adorno to defend his policies against opposition at a critical junction; when he couldn't refute by argument, he switched tactics and invented a mirrored accusation against his conservative foe, Arnold Gehlen. Adorno came out victorious, the debate is seen as one of the key steps in forming post-war Germany.
Here's the argument in short:
Adorno, who proclaimed to be a Marxist and therefor conceptualized society as the interactions between its members, gave the full set (the sum) of these interactions its own term, totality. Then the Frankfurter Schule began to dismantle society, reducing all major institutions that had been the backbone of state and society - church, family, school, university, tradition, art, sexuality, and so on. The process is still ongoing today. At one point, Adorno tried to proclaim that german poetry had ended forever 'because Auschwitz'. The same argument was used to influence upbringing and education of youth, quoting him again: 'we need to establish air superiority above the cribs'.
This had Arnold Gehlen, a prominent conservative at the time (some say reactionary) who had done sociological work on the topic of institutions, start a major argument with the Frankfurter. Dispute went on for many months and was very much publicized. Gehlen's objection went like this: 'You, Adorno, want to uproot everything. But how can you sleep at night, when destructions happens yet we cannot predict what the outcome will be? To estimate the consequences, you would need actual knowledge of the totality, which clearly you haven't!"
Adorno replied, 'because Auschwitz' but the German public was not convinced. As I believe it can be said, indeed Adorno's position at this point is hopeless. Trying to defend his aims, the argument took the shape by which it is known today, the Positivismus-Streit. Gehlen fixed Adorno by calling out his argument as a form of positivism. But Adorno had the backing of the German media, and together they managed to turn the debate around completely. Adorno started to accuse Gehlen of being a positivist, the media had his back with immense volumes of news, radio broadcasts (10 years of six days/week for one hour at prime time with Hessischer Rundfunk) and books (30m with Suhrkamp).
Very interesting and thanks for that input. I assume the Americans were refereeing given they controlled West Germany at the time. Have you ever heard of Karl Haushofer?
I don't know Haushofer, perhaps his time and field of work falls outside of my focus, which is philosophy of science. Also, geopolitics is an almost taboo topic in public discourse in Germany. Everyone remotely connnected to the Nazis is actively cancelled, to quip, even the Autobahnen aren't good 'because Hitler' lol.
I was interested to actually study the subject for a while, which isn't easy to do because only a few minuscule institutes are actively teaching to students; most others are private endowments and NGO's, basically the usual suspects, with the possible exception of the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt der Bundeswehr, which may or not be solid. Their record isn't that good, but it may have been intervention by political circles: After 30 years of working through the archives of Operation Barbarossa, just one question remained open - who had actually started the war? As you know, it was found that Hitler did it, and there are very remarkable arguments available that this isn't true. The latest work on that is by Bernd Schwippers who had access to the Russian archives and built a case out of that - we've discussed this before on MoA.
I found and visited an institute where geopolitics is taught, going under the name of 'peace studies' and being a tiny, desolate few offices far away from the main campus in Hamburg. I didn't start, and went with close reading of MoA instead. Never looked back.
I have a colleague who is a contrarian and history buff, with whom I shall bring it up.. Interesting enough of a figure of his times, it seems, thanks for the heads-up; how is he relevant today, or isn't he so much?
This paper from 1942, https://archive.ph/Oi9z1#selection-2065.2-2065.34 was published a few months after an excellent study of him was published in the USA, "The world of General Haushofer : geopolitics in action." I believe his views are key to understanding why the USA so drastically altered its war aims from what was pronounced in January 1941 and included in the UN Charter, to what actually occurred at Bretton Woods and at Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the USA was already busily breaking the UN Charter and its own constitution and reinstalling rightist/reactionary governments in the liberated areas under its control and put us on course for what's happening today.
Sad news to digest but then the USAI elite is in the grip of cult madness. To see the Democrat Party apparatchiks turn on a dime was sobering given Harris' background and performance. But then Biden was much worse in background and performance. The Cult of Mammon has them firmly in its mesmer.
I though Crooke's discourse with "the judge" was excellent. His metaphor of the inverted pyramid entirely effective as a lucid description of both the obscenity of its power and the vulnerability of its stability or permanence. Meanwhile the whole of society needs to organise and take the political reins in hand or these maniacal cult nutters will be our ruin.
I am not clear why Karl began his essay with "Crooke’s disjointed explanation" as I found nothing at all 'disjointed' about Crooke's exegesis of the text of world events. His is a unique voice in the criticism of the West's ways, its greed, its 'inverted totalitarianism'—Sheldon Wolon. My (simple) take is that we have in our Western leaders a cabal of little boys (and perhaps some women) who never learned to control their greed.
I think back to the 1980s - slogans like “he who dies with the most toys wins”, “Greed is good” , disco and all that cocaine…. Peace, Love and Understanding was ‘so yesterday’….John Lennon assassinated…. Dark times indeed. The Deep State was learning new ways to flex its muscles- I remember thinking that Bill Clinton was cool because he could play the saxophone…… live and learn but remember - the more you learn, the less you know!!
I called it disjointed because Crooke doesn't combine all the parts he's explained over several months of essays and distill them into a definition. But then I'm guilty of that too, which is something I will soon attempt to rectify.
thanks karl.. your closing line is kind of scary, but perhaps it goes with this man made 'whole of society' concept... funny enough, i had read about this concept in the past 2 weeks, as my brother pointed it out to me in an article by jacob siegel, a fellow mentioned in this article.. i hadn't heard the term before...
as i understand it - the desire on most people to find a balance between the individual and the collective is being upended with this concept - 'whole of society'.. instead the individual rights are superseded by the ''rights'' of the collective... so we see in canada - everyone has to take the covid 19 vaccine, or you are not being a 'good neighbour', or as i read earlier today - there will be 100 pound fines in kent, england for anyone caught swearing - its for the good of the society... essentially free speech is being controlled for the ''whole of society'' and only the ''approved'' narratives will be allowed.. the other views will be found to be wrong according to the 'truth' outlets that oversee what the truth is, lol... it is all very orwellian!!
Yep, the usual use of lipstick on a pig--the Animal Farm reference is intentional.
Agreed, not so much 'predictive programming' WRT to George Orwell as 'Intuitive Insight' IMO and there is the notion that the original title of the book was '1948' but he was persuaded to alter it.
So here we are; I did 'copy' an extract from the SCF article, which dealt with the apparent genesis of the "... ‘whole of society’ approach ... [with] the Obama administration’s ... [ironic] attempt to pivot in the ‘war on terror’ to what it called ‘CVE’ – countering violent extremism. [As if the WoT wasn't violent extremism!] The idea was to surveil the American people’s online behaviour in order to identify those who may, at some unspecified time in the future, ‘commit a [thought] crime’."
Sick Cur Starmer - our particular imperial stooge - has gone full 'whole of society' since his mud-slide victory in the UK's General Selection.
I know you're not really a fan of this style of music, but think 'thought crime' during the chorus to get a feel for the vibe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcTP7YWPayU
thanks... i like the eurythmics... i hadn't heard the book might have been called 1948.. funny enough i had never read the book but am 2/3rds of the way thru the book at present.. i thought it would be a good idea to read it... there are real parallels with the book and what is happening here in the world today.. i am not happy about that..
Hard not to like them ;o)
As to "... here are real parallels with the book and what is happening here in the world today ...", it might have something to do with the attempts to assassinate the author's character I've encountered on the world wide web. He's not the only one being maligned of course. This also counts as a 'Like'. Cheers.
what do you think of what is happening in the uk today? i know it's a big question!
There appears to be one narrative that suggests that Sick Cur's apparent volte face vis-a-vis Occupied Palestine's genocide situation and the various international court rulings encouraged British Zionista Nationalists under little Tommy Robber to make trouble.
Another narrative suggests Sick Cur and the fake Robber fella could be working together in order to tighten the censorship laws, which of course has happened.
Generally, the British deep state prepared the way for Starmfuhrer to take over from their previous front-person in order to continue with their plans.
As to our deep state's plan, I have no idea why any group that obviously came about to guide the British empire would willingly subject itself to the one located in Byzantium DC. Other than the basic process of imperialisation by another state, which is based upon the willing compliance of the existing elite.
I have toyed with the idea that the various hypothetical deep states in Europe and UK are actively encouraging the Yankee Establishment, in order that the Outlaw American empire crumbles in order to free themselves up to screw their own working people for their own exclusive benefit.
At the same time one trend that seems to dominate WRT the various schemers and their plans is that those plans invariably back-fire and release unexpected consequences, which tend to be more positive than the chaos hoped for by the shadowy forces of oppression. For example:
https://redflag.org.au/article/there-are-many-many-more-of-us-than-you-british-anti-racists-mobilise-against-far-right-onslaught
I'm in the process of consulting Arno Mayer's works about events 100+ years ago and the groups that enabled them. In "The persistence of the Old Regime : Europe to the Great War," he puts forth a very excellent point that the ancien regime was never routed and was able to retool itself by assimilating the new forces that came along, thus it remains at the core of Western elite. and when we look at the control policies being invoked and the type of economy being pursued, the very close similarity of today with those of the past is too close to be happenstance. And the details of the opposing sides as the world fractures into two main blocs can also be seen as being consonant with the past as the main fight continues to be Imperialism versus Democratic/Republican/ Human Rights/Freedom or as Mayer puts it, the forces of control versus the forces of movement. I came across this article written after Mayer's recent passing that does a good job of summarizing his historicity, https://jacobin.com/2023/12/arno-mayer-obituary-history-counterrevolution-marxism
that was a depressing read in many respects - link on the bottom.. i want to walk away from all the conflict and polarization going on at present, but of course it is impossible.. i do believe the root of this is a class war... targeting specific groups - muslim or whatever - is a distraction from targeting the elite and wealthy who always seem to avoid being the target... thanks for your response!
In response to your penultimate paragraph contending that the european elite are 'encouraging the yankee establishment .... to crumble'. My immediate thought is that such a crumble will crash a global debt system of an immense size and simultaneously see their own economies confronted by the overtaking express train of Chinese manufacturing PLUS the current high energy cost trap they are caught in. So I doubt UKEU will have any joy at all in the crash of the USA. But then they are addled by their illusions and egos I guess :(
Thanks for the redflag link.
US deficit for June 2024 is $244 Billion, defense spending, $71 B, interest $81 B.
US like Japan needs more printing the fiat. Known as quantitative easing. Graham’s resource grab is needed, same as Henry II needing to grab most of France from his cousin!
MoA commenter report Russian ISR outed an Israel/CIA infiltration into Yemen, that was eliminated. Imagine Chinese and Korean vols show up in Kursk.
This has gotten out of hand. Not Scarecrow’s fault.
Hi Ed, I saw you Q at MoA but haven't found time yet to answer it as it will be lengthy. I have another short item to post this evening and I'll be gone most of the day tomorrow. I'll likely PM you my answer via substack.
No worries,
Tx
Here is an alleged video of the aftermath of the massacre of Zionist scum.
https://x.com/seriouspi/status/1821759074490577039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1821759074490577039%7Ctwgr%5Eb82e1954c070d40664f61983f6eb4d616f3e3d21%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dhttpsmoothiex12blogspotcomt_u%3Dhttp3A2F2Fsmoothiex12.blogspot.com2F20242F082Fmore-of-visuals.htmlt_d%3DReminiscence20of20the20Future...203A20More20Of20The20Visuals...t_t%3DReminiscence20of20the20Future...203A20More20Of20The20Visuals...s_o%3Ddescversion%3D4cca83b0da0691f931ef86061fb7db43
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/us-colonel-claims-israeli-special-forces-american-legionaries-killed-in-yemen-38381/
Thank you. I previously read about this on Simplicius' twitter, but haven't read anything else about it. do you know if there is more information?
No, that's all there is unfortunately. I wonder if the internet scrubbers have been busy.....
I read that a group of 70 Israeli commandos wanted to raid Yemen in collaboration with American mercenaries. Russia is said to have discovered this and passed it on to Iran, which informed Yemen. The group is said to have been ambushed. I’m trying to find the post, but can’t find this anymore.
Serves the arrogant buggers right! Even if the news has been ‘scrubbed’ it will still be spread far and wide as a totally plausible rumor. I’m a believer! Wonderfully encouraging news!
The US oligarchs as a whole understand that their power in the world is diminishing with the rise of China, Russia and The Rest. Like all imperial ruling classes, they refuse to compromise with reality and cling on in increasingly desperate ways to that power - both abroad and at home.
At the same time we have the US Christian Zionists seeing their flock and power slowly diminish year after year and the US Jewish Zionists see a majority of Jews under 40 are anti-Zionist. They have a remaining window of perhaps 10 years before their political power in the US is severely diminished. They sense this, hence the increasing claims of victimhood and extremist hatred for others.
The above is driving the Zionist regime of Occupied Palestine to attempt to drive a final solution before their US protector becomes less powerful and support for Zionism within the US fades.
At the same time the Zionist regime is rent by a conflict between the "liberal" Zionists (preferring a slower less visible Palestinian genocide) and the extremist Zionists who are the Jewish equivalent of ISIS (with people like Ben Gvir opining for a war with "Gog and Magog") and with whom Netanyahu is aligned. Netanyahu has used the Gazan genocide to radicalize into a blood fury much of the Zionist Jewish population.
I agree with Crooke that these ingredients point to major conflict. It is the patience and care of China, Russia and Iran that has stopped a wider conflict occurring for the past decade, and the US oligarchy and the Zionist regime only seem to understand continued escalation. The hope is that elements within the US oligarchy, or even perhaps US and Zionist militaries, will work with China, Russia and Iran and keep us from the brink.
The US Empire and the Zionist regime have lost the support and respect of the Other 7 Billion, and an increasing number of their own populations. They must be helped to die quietly and peacefully rather than going out with a bang.
Israel is a dead regime walking, it is now just a matter of time. The only question will be whether or not they are allowed to take the Middle East and perhaps the world with them. The US state and politics is utterly saturated with Zionists, both Jewish and Christian, the question is how do we get through the next decade until their influence wanes?
We don't that's why smart money, even liberal rose colored glasses billionaires like Zuckerberg have built luxury bunkers which can sustain life for over 20 years in case of nuclear winter. The professional management/investment class, the in crowd, know what's coming and not a week goes by I don't read a story about one of them building a bunker to survive the Thucydides Trap - this time with canned sunshine.
The Thucydides Trap is a ruse. Sparta wasn't a commercial empire, meaning there wasn't any rivalry with Athens over trade. The formulation of the "trap" was to justify naming China as the Outlaw US Empire's #1 foe.
It’s entirely possible the Outlaw US Empire’s Deep State Functionaries admire and adhere to the Hannibal Doctrine where it doesn’t matter who you are if you fall in the way of Imperial goals being attained.
Forgive me, but I thought that this is the way it has been for many, many years.
Yeah, but it needs to be said not just nodded at, IMO.
The one over riding factor of all those derivatives is that should they go belly up only the elites
the markits and their wealth goes up in flames. Back during the 07-08 GFC Geitner and Paulson were amazed that the economy just kept on going while the banks were exploding.
The whole society meme the whole society of by for the elites, us commoners don't count
so much if at all
And with LBJ, it was his still-born Great Society.
Reading Crooke's article at Strategic Culture was illuminating as I hadn't come across "whole of society", so it has power in explaining how narratives are created and distributed instantly within the machinery.
It was interesting when at the beginning of SMO not everyone was on board with barring Russia from SWIFT, but bankers be damned, it happened anyway. The chip war with China is breaking supply chains, industry isn't happy, but their concerns are moot and the escalations will continue.
It's apparent that the neocon crowd and their economist handmaidens are totally without any experience and I'd agree with Andrei Martyanov - they're uncultured credentialed morons.
So now wrong think will get you jailed. That makes it clear we're flying through the abyss and a miasma of stupid is what obscures the hard floor that awaits.
It's highly debatable viz the Zionists and US who is proxy to whom. It is probably unknowable at this point, so intertwined they have become since the US Civil War period, thus regarding them as separate is perhaps making distinctions without differences.
'The whole of society' is rather reminiscent of a concept termed Totalität (totality) which has been used in Germany by Theodor Adorno to defend his policies against opposition at a critical junction; when he couldn't refute by argument, he switched tactics and invented a mirrored accusation against his conservative foe, Arnold Gehlen. Adorno came out victorious, the debate is seen as one of the key steps in forming post-war Germany.
Here's the argument in short:
Adorno, who proclaimed to be a Marxist and therefor conceptualized society as the interactions between its members, gave the full set (the sum) of these interactions its own term, totality. Then the Frankfurter Schule began to dismantle society, reducing all major institutions that had been the backbone of state and society - church, family, school, university, tradition, art, sexuality, and so on. The process is still ongoing today. At one point, Adorno tried to proclaim that german poetry had ended forever 'because Auschwitz'. The same argument was used to influence upbringing and education of youth, quoting him again: 'we need to establish air superiority above the cribs'.
This had Arnold Gehlen, a prominent conservative at the time (some say reactionary) who had done sociological work on the topic of institutions, start a major argument with the Frankfurter. Dispute went on for many months and was very much publicized. Gehlen's objection went like this: 'You, Adorno, want to uproot everything. But how can you sleep at night, when destructions happens yet we cannot predict what the outcome will be? To estimate the consequences, you would need actual knowledge of the totality, which clearly you haven't!"
Adorno replied, 'because Auschwitz' but the German public was not convinced. As I believe it can be said, indeed Adorno's position at this point is hopeless. Trying to defend his aims, the argument took the shape by which it is known today, the Positivismus-Streit. Gehlen fixed Adorno by calling out his argument as a form of positivism. But Adorno had the backing of the German media, and together they managed to turn the debate around completely. Adorno started to accuse Gehlen of being a positivist, the media had his back with immense volumes of news, radio broadcasts (10 years of six days/week for one hour at prime time with Hessischer Rundfunk) and books (30m with Suhrkamp).
The rest is history
Very interesting and thanks for that input. I assume the Americans were refereeing given they controlled West Germany at the time. Have you ever heard of Karl Haushofer?
I don't know Haushofer, perhaps his time and field of work falls outside of my focus, which is philosophy of science. Also, geopolitics is an almost taboo topic in public discourse in Germany. Everyone remotely connnected to the Nazis is actively cancelled, to quip, even the Autobahnen aren't good 'because Hitler' lol.
I was interested to actually study the subject for a while, which isn't easy to do because only a few minuscule institutes are actively teaching to students; most others are private endowments and NGO's, basically the usual suspects, with the possible exception of the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt der Bundeswehr, which may or not be solid. Their record isn't that good, but it may have been intervention by political circles: After 30 years of working through the archives of Operation Barbarossa, just one question remained open - who had actually started the war? As you know, it was found that Hitler did it, and there are very remarkable arguments available that this isn't true. The latest work on that is by Bernd Schwippers who had access to the Russian archives and built a case out of that - we've discussed this before on MoA.
I found and visited an institute where geopolitics is taught, going under the name of 'peace studies' and being a tiny, desolate few offices far away from the main campus in Hamburg. I didn't start, and went with close reading of MoA instead. Never looked back.
I have a colleague who is a contrarian and history buff, with whom I shall bring it up.. Interesting enough of a figure of his times, it seems, thanks for the heads-up; how is he relevant today, or isn't he so much?
He's very relevant. He coined the Indo-Pacific concept and his writings on geopolitics were very influential on Americans. The first ten or so paragraphs of this long essay provides some of that essence, https://monthlyreview.org/2024/07/01/imperialism-in-the-indo-pacific-an-introduction/
This paper from 1942, https://archive.ph/Oi9z1#selection-2065.2-2065.34 was published a few months after an excellent study of him was published in the USA, "The world of General Haushofer : geopolitics in action." I believe his views are key to understanding why the USA so drastically altered its war aims from what was pronounced in January 1941 and included in the UN Charter, to what actually occurred at Bretton Woods and at Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the USA was already busily breaking the UN Charter and its own constitution and reinstalling rightist/reactionary governments in the liberated areas under its control and put us on course for what's happening today.
Sad news to digest but then the USAI elite is in the grip of cult madness. To see the Democrat Party apparatchiks turn on a dime was sobering given Harris' background and performance. But then Biden was much worse in background and performance. The Cult of Mammon has them firmly in its mesmer.
I though Crooke's discourse with "the judge" was excellent. His metaphor of the inverted pyramid entirely effective as a lucid description of both the obscenity of its power and the vulnerability of its stability or permanence. Meanwhile the whole of society needs to organise and take the political reins in hand or these maniacal cult nutters will be our ruin.
I am not clear why Karl began his essay with "Crooke’s disjointed explanation" as I found nothing at all 'disjointed' about Crooke's exegesis of the text of world events. His is a unique voice in the criticism of the West's ways, its greed, its 'inverted totalitarianism'—Sheldon Wolon. My (simple) take is that we have in our Western leaders a cabal of little boys (and perhaps some women) who never learned to control their greed.
I think back to the 1980s - slogans like “he who dies with the most toys wins”, “Greed is good” , disco and all that cocaine…. Peace, Love and Understanding was ‘so yesterday’….John Lennon assassinated…. Dark times indeed. The Deep State was learning new ways to flex its muscles- I remember thinking that Bill Clinton was cool because he could play the saxophone…… live and learn but remember - the more you learn, the less you know!!
I called it disjointed because Crooke doesn't combine all the parts he's explained over several months of essays and distill them into a definition. But then I'm guilty of that too, which is something I will soon attempt to rectify.
Thank you Karl.
Thank you Karl. The metaphor of the 'inverted pyramid' sums it up.