Borrell’s metaphor of the jungle vs the garden goes beyond its terms. A garden is the exclusion of all life for the inclusion of some life while the jungle is the inclusion of all live and absence of exclusion. This is the thinking “garden” that must die if the jungle, and all life, must survive. Fascists and zionists must be an endangered species and ultimately buried in the past. We might owe to the Ukrainians and Palestinians this burial.
"Hah!" in Hudsonian language: "Would be good, but ... outcome not granted."
Don't forget his nickname: Doctor Doom = eternal skeptic/pessimist.
On the one hand ethnic cleansing of Gaza will not be allowed, and Hamas/resistance will rather grow than die.
On the other hand Samson option and the US will not allow ethnic cleansing of Israel.
IMO change will occur in the longer term (if no bigger war): declining US hegemon and bad economics for Israel, stranglehold by BRICS and neighboring countries. Suddenly settlers might find the land less "promised" and resettle in their Brooklyn homes on their own ...
Which is why I see the Two State solution as a gateway to one state, perhaps even to a confederation involving Syria or Jordan or Lebanon or all of them.
Zionism is and always was dependent on anti-semitism to feed it. The beauty of the system in Palestine is that it produces anti-semitism to feed the state's growth. It turned millions of Arabs from neighbourly tolerance into entrants on the antisemitic spectrum. It has been one of the Zionists' regrets that all their efforts (see Gaza in ruins) have produced very small dividends in terms of angry antisemtic reaction.
But they are working on it and nothing assists them more than the diaspora pledging its uncritical support for baby burning, hospital demolition, ethnic cleansing and other of genocide's less attractive features.
On the other hand every demo I 've been on in the past month has been charcterised by the participation of ordinary people of Jewish heritage who sympathise with the people of Gaza just as anyone not in need of psychiatric treatment does.
The cultivation of group/mass psychoses has a curious history in always being top->down: Crazed Christian Extremism that resulted in The Crusades, Inquisition, and the Papal Bulls rendering most of Humanity inhuman. Then there're the various extremist forms of nationalism--Nazism and Zionism, and also US Exceptionalism. And then there're non-state extremists that form the ranks of the Outlaw US Empire's Terrorist Foreign Legion that's operated on every continent and is also composed of those altered by extremist programming which IMO is an imposed Psychosis. And then nowadays there are certain drugs that exacerbate the state of psychosis into a frenzy.
One component of the Paradigm Change is overcoming Extremism and its twin Exceptionalism. Yes, there were examples that should have rallied the Global Majority before now, but they failed to do what the Gaza Genocide is doing in mobilizing resistance. But there's more to the Project that goes beyond that of the Zionists people must also learn about.
i think anti-zionist is a good term to start using... if someone accuses another of being anti-semite, they can challenge that by saying they are anti-zionist, not anti-semite.. and of course the palestinians are semites, so this trope is just that - a pill of b.s.
the 2023 book review of "Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes" is very interesting... are you familiar with this new book by tariq ali? - here is a 30 minute video review of it a friend sent me.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU5O9zfH9fE
Before enforcement there must be a mechanism for enforcement, the only current one being the inappropriately configured United Nations Security Council whose five senior members possess veto power making most controversial issues almost sure to be mired in inertia - as has been the case with the Israel project since inception (I suspect pretty much by design).
Jews have a deep intellectual bench with their rabbinical traditions and extensive networks in business, banking and politicking spanning centuries and many nations. Their trading houses have been in China long before Marco Polo, there were millions still living in Egypt at the time of Jesus and there are few people or business networks in the world with their collective experience and connections. They basically engineered not only the configuration of the United Nation but much of its early agenda. (There are arguments about the degree to which the Balfour Declaration held any sway or determined any outcome, some saying that its influence has been greatly exaggerated for self-promotional purposes by Zionist partisans long after the event; but there are documentary traces from contemporaries who thought otherwise (though I cannot now offhand remember any sources). In any case, the level of influence Jews enjoy in all major Western nations is quite obvious.)
My point being that they were very well aware from the get-go that there was no enforcement mechanism in the UN setup, both in general and specifically as regards Israel. The initial territorial shape was clearly unworkable. They then have been exploiting these deficiencies for decades in order steadily take over the territory, unclear as it is, gradually turning it into a Jewish-only State, since they couldn't get consensus on that earlier on, by driving all non-Jewish Palestinians out.
About Two-State: For a while creative thinkers were recommending One State - which is clearly the ideal - but as enmity has deepened it has become increasingly clear that as long as the Zionist agenda captivates so many Jews in Israel, they cannot share a state with others without insisting they be second class citizens. Further, any deal that might be made they would probably soon break, no doubt claiming to have been wronged by the other side. And Israel always rejects Two State using the argument that the other side, being terrorists, should not have the right to bear arms, i.e. not be a real State at all. And there is no organization or Power able to stand up to this objection - again because there is no enforcement mechanism in the mix.
That said, recently have begun to feel that Two State is the way to go, mainly because of some of what you expressed above, except I would put it this way: since they cannot share a state without undermining those they share it with, and moreover for the protection of other States, there needs to be Jewish State somewhere and Israel is their historic zone and they are already there. However one has to change the over-arching context from the current deficient one responsible for all the mess and suffering these past many decades. Only with the right context can the right solution be found, implemented and enforced.
Without saying much more, in response to your piece one element that must be injected is an enforcement mechanism. Any sort of Authority in any situation needs to have an enforcement mechanism otherwise it is not Authority, merely counsel or pointless politicking which can never achieve resolution, again as we have seen for decades now and counting. First that can be set up before any solution is formulated, then the ways of deliberating - by Council, Conference, whatever - can be determined. Rather than launching into endless arguments about various possible options without first setting up Authority.
I am not sure how such a mechanism can be engendered, but I have felt for years that the United Nations is not the right institution; it has not been set up to be a virtual World Emperor with over-arching Executive Power, nor should it be, rather it should be an Advisory Body without Executive power or most of the executive 'development' and other departments it currently has. If this were to be attempted it would be an artificial construct driven by shallow, feel-good ideology which could never stand the rigours of real crisis nor the test of time - nor inevitable Jewish manipulations!
Rather, I believe what was missing in the forties must be at last provided in the mix, namely a strongly united regional consensus with its own enforcement mechanism. In other words, they have to claim, as a Region, the right to manage their own Region and to set terms for the State f Israel, along with setting up a Palestinian State and to accept no other external Powers to gainsay their Regional Authority. They can also muster support from other Powers further afield, such as Russia and China, but this would be adjunctive to their own regional authority, not causative or superior, just as other powers do not trump one's own sovereign authority in one's own home or nation.
Something like that. But just debating about One, Two or No State without considering the overall context is a waste of time because there is no mechanism in place to determine such matters.
Somewhere sovereignty has to come into play because that is the agency of any sort of Authority, individual or collective. Sovereignty is not granted by superiors to inferiors, or by the larger to the smaller, or by one to another. It must be claimed and held.
Therefore, the Region itself must claim its own Authority. Or if not, accept that Israel has done so and will continue to do so and stop whining about it and simply resettle a few million Palestinians in its own nations, which they all could easily do if they wished. If they do not wish, then they need to step up and change the context in which all this is misfortune has been taking place for so long. For that matter, the Palestinians can do so on their own, but without help they may well find it only effective at rousing their spirits and clarifying their position. Still, it would probably be worth the effort.
Agreed, an enforcement mechanism is required, but will likely need to be arrived at outside the UNSC format as the Empire will veto it. IMO, given the gravity of the situation, the two major powers--Russia and China--must issue an edict/ultimatum with one voice to halt or the war widens with them forcing the Zionists to halt. The only other solution is the long-term siege with the Empire constantly attacked on the margins while Hamas continues to inflict heavy damage on IOF. Russia's Security Council met again today with Lavrov giving the main presentation but no other info was provided. Something is definitely in the works, but we aren't privy
There is a lot in what you have written that makes complete sense, but you have excluded completely the religious aspect. Orthodox Judaism sees itself in the right place at the right time. They have already elected the Council of Elders (about 15 years ago) to oversee the coming of the Moschiach (Messiah) and are totally committed to rebuilding the Temple.
I think it will be very difficult to separate the religious and secular elements to come to the type of equitable solution sane people such as ourselves seek for this clusterf**k. Hence I have come to the same conclusion that Karl is espousing in this post. Thanks again Karl - hope you are healing well after your surgery.
Yes, I'm not explicit about the marriage between Zionism and the Orthodox as I lump them altogether as Zionists as I'm quite clear--all those who support the Zionist Project are Zionists.
IMO, Humanity must have an open debate/discussion on the topic of Metaphysics that would also dig into the actual history of the Abrahamic religions since they've been distorted well beyond their roots into agents of power. Science has advanced to the point where most all phenomena is proven to have natural causes, thus the need for religions to provide answers to questions has evaporated. I still intend to write my own essay on this topic, but it won't appear until Solstice.
As long as the premise of Israel is based on some sort of understanding that it is the Jewish peoples' destiny thanks to superior genes or a covenant with God to end up with X territory or Y Global Rulership status, then any separation of secular and religious is word games, aka bafflegab. Which of course some people love playing with lifetime after lifetime...
But since you raise the topic (!): in the modern era several nations tried pure non-religious states but they have problems too, generally not accessing human and humane value systems which pervade the society holding it together in virtue, which is the basis of a good versus a bad collective. Ideology alone doesn't cut it.
Russia seems to be dipping into the well of traditional, religion-derived value systems, principally from the Orthodox Russian Christian tradition, whilst going forward as a modern state embracing technology and so on. The West held onto traditional mores but mainly because its ruling class found such traditions useful to keep the sheople happy in their pens; but they are running out of road with that approach as the gap between rhetoric / theory and reality has become too wide and obvious so their authority is slipping, their ability to engender consent of the governed is evaporating though still potent. However, once a break happens, what will replace the current order?
We will be staring into a collective void, much as Russia did in the 90's I suspect. It will be challenging, but therein we might rediscover the essential character in our various Western European nations which are not nearly as bad as decades of neomarxist whining has made it out to be and which most of us now believe. There was some goodness and glory in the old cultures as well as cruelty, greed and bigotry. One can see it still in the buildings and countryside - undeniable goodness.
In any case, hopefully we will have learned a lesson and never, ever, ever let the merchant classes be in charge again. There's a reason why traditional societies going back millennia always put the priest, warrior and administrative (Mandarin) classes above them; always! (It is also unwise to turn peasants into Kings despite what the socialists and marxists say....)
I commented here at the’Gym’ two days ago suggesting that the Zionists consider an exodus to a soon to be de-nazified Ukraine. You might imagine the “Hah!” that I uttered upon seeing Professor Hudson suggesting the same in reply to your email! I see other commenters on “the same page “as well (“Birds of a feather....”) . This exodus may start to happen sooner than later as Israelis realize that their rabid leaders have thoroughly “pissed the cheerios” of the Israeli Nation and the ship of state is sinking fast as the horror of the new Nakba becomes common knowledge across the globe. The zealot West Bank “settlers “ may even be useful in clearing the Banderite Nazis from the remaining Ukraine territories. Palestine belongs to the true Semites who have been there for millennia (and I don’t exclude Mizrahi Jews)
It's hard to get a good estimate for the number that have fled Occupied Palestine, but my WAG is @1 Million along with much capital. When the real economic pressure begins, more will leave. Zealotry combined with delusion has several very disastrous contemporary examples, one we're currently witnessing.
thank you, karl, for your reply. i'd considered subs, but decided on 2 fairly non threatening types---mother doesn't; need to blast & shout & it's not really in china's character either. the backup band will be mr. kinzhal & EW. the point isn't to confront but calmly let empire know things are moving in a new more reasonable way.
the axis of resistance: hamas, yemen, hezbollah, iran, iraq's emerging militias will prevail, time is not on the side of the zionists, israel will lose & from the river to the sea will once more be palestine.
the zionazis believe if they slaughter every palestinian residing in gaza & the west bank israel will be theirs, they cannot conceive of palestinians, edward said's grandchildren, returning from all corners of the world. zionazis believe the right of return will never be over-ruled as they own all courts of law. hubris blinds them so they cannot conceive of defeat.
in the interim i like to imagine, russia parking a vessel on one side of dwight & china parking on dwight's other side. & both simply anchor there, with the simple message: genocide is halted. food, water, fuel, medical facilities will be set up immediately. we shall deliver aid, solace & emergency medical facilities. from this moment onward, all agreements hitherto agreed upon & signed between palestine & israel will be implemented immediately. if any citizen of israel chooses to board any of america's many carrier groups to be transported to whatsoever safe harbour of their choosing. america ought to agree to oblige.
My guess is that at some point the regional group Pepe covered which is travelling around garnering input and consensus will, with Russia and China's backing, insist on a cease fire. The cease fire is the first thing. And they will send in troops to enforce that cease fire along current borders of Gaza and West Bank. They will not interfere in internal politics of any party but they can establish and enforce cease fire. And then they must hold it for several years until the parties in question are used to there no longer being overt belligerence. And the Zionists understand that they no longer have free rein to do whatever they want in the Region which is able to impose some Authority over it. If the US-West refuse this cease fire, then a drastic sanctions regime will be imposed upon it, an energy and manufactured good embargo for example. Again: no interference, but resolute non-participation in the West's insistence on genocide as perfectly justifiable when perpetrated by Exceptionalists.
Something like that. So no solution need be found but the situation and paradigm has to change. And enforcing a cease fire would indeed be a game changer.
good stuff karl.. thanks for sharing yours and michaels view in the exchange... it is a sign of hope when it doesn't look like there is any hope... cheers..
Ah, yes… the Great Awakening, present form. What is the threshold? It if dare, re-remeber, something like 51% to push the collective to awareness? Hum, cannot say for sure. Old lady with a virtual cat❤️🐈⬛Thank you, I do like to keep current with you, and Dr. Hudson. All the best, in all ways❤️🐴🧲
Believe me Israel and most importantly Zionist understand this way more than any of us. This is exactly what makes them so dangerous. They understand that there is only one way Israel continues to exist and that is if the US continues to occupy and dominate the region. This would require continued bloody aggression and "bombing back to the stone age" with a focus on Iran.
This scenario looks more and more unlikely which only increases the risk of wildly striking out at any and all.
As I have pointed out before if the US and collective west lose dominance of West Asia/Africa it spells total collapse for them, not recession, not depression, collapse. So the US has huge motivation to go all out too.
At the rate this war is demolishing the Zionists economy, they may just decide to leave Palestine on their own. Disperse to various "gardens" around the world. There economic situation will only get worse as more countries recognize them for the pariah they are and start boycotting Israel.
I think Russia & China still pushing their two state solution is divorced from reality, gather they do so as have nothing else to offer. Hard to see these two sides ever being able to agree now on anything, they can't live together, and will likely never agree on the details of a split in territory.
Michael Hudson's comment about moving the Jews to Ukraine was actually a comment I also made yesterday as would solve a multitude of problems, but deleted as it sounded so absurd. Then we look at the Western push to get every breathing Ukrainian into the meat grinder and you do wonder.
There are many who think this has been in the mix for a while, that the SMO is a deal worked out by all sides to empty the land (or enough of it) so that the Jews can have a homeland where actually more of them really do come from than Israel. Could turn out that way.
They commit atrocities now in Gaza and the West Bank making it impossible for them to stay since resistance will be organized (finally!) against them. The settlers will have to accept that their bridges have now been burned. Their rabbis can persuade them that Ukraine is the best option and that what matters is that at some point they rule the world, that Israel is the Jewish people, not a small patch of land populated mainly by Muslims.
Personally, I hope this happens, but reality is seldom so clear-cut.
The problem with Ukraine is people already live there. What must be smashed is the Zionist Project and the ISM that powers it, then the people deprogrammed. Only then might they possibly be capable of co-existing with other humans.
Dealing with this problem will involve untangling knots that have been constraining and distorting the West for centuries. No small thing.
Just as the West needs to be exhausted to finally stop its marauding and meddling, so also Zionists need at some point to look around the corpse-strewn rubble they have created in what could be Paradise and resolve to change their Way. This cannot be imposed from without. What can be imposed from without is boundaries, limits. Something which has not yet been attempted, but one way or another must be. Pepe's other recent article is hopeful since it shows developing exactly what I think is needed, namely Regional solidarity and authority.
Borrell borrowed that garden analogy from Ariel Sharon who, as I recall it. described Israel as a 'Villa in the jungle.'
Monticello was pretty well the same thing.
Borrell’s metaphor of the jungle vs the garden goes beyond its terms. A garden is the exclusion of all life for the inclusion of some life while the jungle is the inclusion of all live and absence of exclusion. This is the thinking “garden” that must die if the jungle, and all life, must survive. Fascists and zionists must be an endangered species and ultimately buried in the past. We might owe to the Ukrainians and Palestinians this burial.
Thanks!
"Hah!" in Hudsonian language: "Would be good, but ... outcome not granted."
Don't forget his nickname: Doctor Doom = eternal skeptic/pessimist.
On the one hand ethnic cleansing of Gaza will not be allowed, and Hamas/resistance will rather grow than die.
On the other hand Samson option and the US will not allow ethnic cleansing of Israel.
IMO change will occur in the longer term (if no bigger war): declining US hegemon and bad economics for Israel, stranglehold by BRICS and neighboring countries. Suddenly settlers might find the land less "promised" and resettle in their Brooklyn homes on their own ...
Yes, a forced exodus is one possibility I've considered, but conditions must be created to force that to happen.
I agree.
Which is why I see the Two State solution as a gateway to one state, perhaps even to a confederation involving Syria or Jordan or Lebanon or all of them.
Zionism is and always was dependent on anti-semitism to feed it. The beauty of the system in Palestine is that it produces anti-semitism to feed the state's growth. It turned millions of Arabs from neighbourly tolerance into entrants on the antisemitic spectrum. It has been one of the Zionists' regrets that all their efforts (see Gaza in ruins) have produced very small dividends in terms of angry antisemtic reaction.
But they are working on it and nothing assists them more than the diaspora pledging its uncritical support for baby burning, hospital demolition, ethnic cleansing and other of genocide's less attractive features.
On the other hand every demo I 've been on in the past month has been charcterised by the participation of ordinary people of Jewish heritage who sympathise with the people of Gaza just as anyone not in need of psychiatric treatment does.
The cultivation of group/mass psychoses has a curious history in always being top->down: Crazed Christian Extremism that resulted in The Crusades, Inquisition, and the Papal Bulls rendering most of Humanity inhuman. Then there're the various extremist forms of nationalism--Nazism and Zionism, and also US Exceptionalism. And then there're non-state extremists that form the ranks of the Outlaw US Empire's Terrorist Foreign Legion that's operated on every continent and is also composed of those altered by extremist programming which IMO is an imposed Psychosis. And then nowadays there are certain drugs that exacerbate the state of psychosis into a frenzy.
One component of the Paradigm Change is overcoming Extremism and its twin Exceptionalism. Yes, there were examples that should have rallied the Global Majority before now, but they failed to do what the Gaza Genocide is doing in mobilizing resistance. But there's more to the Project that goes beyond that of the Zionists people must also learn about.
i think anti-zionist is a good term to start using... if someone accuses another of being anti-semite, they can challenge that by saying they are anti-zionist, not anti-semite.. and of course the palestinians are semites, so this trope is just that - a pill of b.s.
Absolutely james! I've been making that point for years.
the 2023 book review of "Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes" is very interesting... are you familiar with this new book by tariq ali? - here is a 30 minute video review of it a friend sent me.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU5O9zfH9fE
No. I'll try to find time for the vid.
goes into the white supremacist and zionist ideology that churchill supported and contributed towards..
At the rate the Zionists are alienating eveyone, they will soon destroy their economy. Then they will probably migrate on their own.
That's a component of the siege plan. Many have already left.
Before enforcement there must be a mechanism for enforcement, the only current one being the inappropriately configured United Nations Security Council whose five senior members possess veto power making most controversial issues almost sure to be mired in inertia - as has been the case with the Israel project since inception (I suspect pretty much by design).
Jews have a deep intellectual bench with their rabbinical traditions and extensive networks in business, banking and politicking spanning centuries and many nations. Their trading houses have been in China long before Marco Polo, there were millions still living in Egypt at the time of Jesus and there are few people or business networks in the world with their collective experience and connections. They basically engineered not only the configuration of the United Nation but much of its early agenda. (There are arguments about the degree to which the Balfour Declaration held any sway or determined any outcome, some saying that its influence has been greatly exaggerated for self-promotional purposes by Zionist partisans long after the event; but there are documentary traces from contemporaries who thought otherwise (though I cannot now offhand remember any sources). In any case, the level of influence Jews enjoy in all major Western nations is quite obvious.)
My point being that they were very well aware from the get-go that there was no enforcement mechanism in the UN setup, both in general and specifically as regards Israel. The initial territorial shape was clearly unworkable. They then have been exploiting these deficiencies for decades in order steadily take over the territory, unclear as it is, gradually turning it into a Jewish-only State, since they couldn't get consensus on that earlier on, by driving all non-Jewish Palestinians out.
About Two-State: For a while creative thinkers were recommending One State - which is clearly the ideal - but as enmity has deepened it has become increasingly clear that as long as the Zionist agenda captivates so many Jews in Israel, they cannot share a state with others without insisting they be second class citizens. Further, any deal that might be made they would probably soon break, no doubt claiming to have been wronged by the other side. And Israel always rejects Two State using the argument that the other side, being terrorists, should not have the right to bear arms, i.e. not be a real State at all. And there is no organization or Power able to stand up to this objection - again because there is no enforcement mechanism in the mix.
That said, recently have begun to feel that Two State is the way to go, mainly because of some of what you expressed above, except I would put it this way: since they cannot share a state without undermining those they share it with, and moreover for the protection of other States, there needs to be Jewish State somewhere and Israel is their historic zone and they are already there. However one has to change the over-arching context from the current deficient one responsible for all the mess and suffering these past many decades. Only with the right context can the right solution be found, implemented and enforced.
Without saying much more, in response to your piece one element that must be injected is an enforcement mechanism. Any sort of Authority in any situation needs to have an enforcement mechanism otherwise it is not Authority, merely counsel or pointless politicking which can never achieve resolution, again as we have seen for decades now and counting. First that can be set up before any solution is formulated, then the ways of deliberating - by Council, Conference, whatever - can be determined. Rather than launching into endless arguments about various possible options without first setting up Authority.
I am not sure how such a mechanism can be engendered, but I have felt for years that the United Nations is not the right institution; it has not been set up to be a virtual World Emperor with over-arching Executive Power, nor should it be, rather it should be an Advisory Body without Executive power or most of the executive 'development' and other departments it currently has. If this were to be attempted it would be an artificial construct driven by shallow, feel-good ideology which could never stand the rigours of real crisis nor the test of time - nor inevitable Jewish manipulations!
Rather, I believe what was missing in the forties must be at last provided in the mix, namely a strongly united regional consensus with its own enforcement mechanism. In other words, they have to claim, as a Region, the right to manage their own Region and to set terms for the State f Israel, along with setting up a Palestinian State and to accept no other external Powers to gainsay their Regional Authority. They can also muster support from other Powers further afield, such as Russia and China, but this would be adjunctive to their own regional authority, not causative or superior, just as other powers do not trump one's own sovereign authority in one's own home or nation.
Something like that. But just debating about One, Two or No State without considering the overall context is a waste of time because there is no mechanism in place to determine such matters.
Somewhere sovereignty has to come into play because that is the agency of any sort of Authority, individual or collective. Sovereignty is not granted by superiors to inferiors, or by the larger to the smaller, or by one to another. It must be claimed and held.
Therefore, the Region itself must claim its own Authority. Or if not, accept that Israel has done so and will continue to do so and stop whining about it and simply resettle a few million Palestinians in its own nations, which they all could easily do if they wished. If they do not wish, then they need to step up and change the context in which all this is misfortune has been taking place for so long. For that matter, the Palestinians can do so on their own, but without help they may well find it only effective at rousing their spirits and clarifying their position. Still, it would probably be worth the effort.
Agreed, an enforcement mechanism is required, but will likely need to be arrived at outside the UNSC format as the Empire will veto it. IMO, given the gravity of the situation, the two major powers--Russia and China--must issue an edict/ultimatum with one voice to halt or the war widens with them forcing the Zionists to halt. The only other solution is the long-term siege with the Empire constantly attacked on the margins while Hamas continues to inflict heavy damage on IOF. Russia's Security Council met again today with Lavrov giving the main presentation but no other info was provided. Something is definitely in the works, but we aren't privy
There is a lot in what you have written that makes complete sense, but you have excluded completely the religious aspect. Orthodox Judaism sees itself in the right place at the right time. They have already elected the Council of Elders (about 15 years ago) to oversee the coming of the Moschiach (Messiah) and are totally committed to rebuilding the Temple.
I think it will be very difficult to separate the religious and secular elements to come to the type of equitable solution sane people such as ourselves seek for this clusterf**k. Hence I have come to the same conclusion that Karl is espousing in this post. Thanks again Karl - hope you are healing well after your surgery.
Yes, I'm not explicit about the marriage between Zionism and the Orthodox as I lump them altogether as Zionists as I'm quite clear--all those who support the Zionist Project are Zionists.
IMO, Humanity must have an open debate/discussion on the topic of Metaphysics that would also dig into the actual history of the Abrahamic religions since they've been distorted well beyond their roots into agents of power. Science has advanced to the point where most all phenomena is proven to have natural causes, thus the need for religions to provide answers to questions has evaporated. I still intend to write my own essay on this topic, but it won't appear until Solstice.
As long as the premise of Israel is based on some sort of understanding that it is the Jewish peoples' destiny thanks to superior genes or a covenant with God to end up with X territory or Y Global Rulership status, then any separation of secular and religious is word games, aka bafflegab. Which of course some people love playing with lifetime after lifetime...
But since you raise the topic (!): in the modern era several nations tried pure non-religious states but they have problems too, generally not accessing human and humane value systems which pervade the society holding it together in virtue, which is the basis of a good versus a bad collective. Ideology alone doesn't cut it.
Russia seems to be dipping into the well of traditional, religion-derived value systems, principally from the Orthodox Russian Christian tradition, whilst going forward as a modern state embracing technology and so on. The West held onto traditional mores but mainly because its ruling class found such traditions useful to keep the sheople happy in their pens; but they are running out of road with that approach as the gap between rhetoric / theory and reality has become too wide and obvious so their authority is slipping, their ability to engender consent of the governed is evaporating though still potent. However, once a break happens, what will replace the current order?
We will be staring into a collective void, much as Russia did in the 90's I suspect. It will be challenging, but therein we might rediscover the essential character in our various Western European nations which are not nearly as bad as decades of neomarxist whining has made it out to be and which most of us now believe. There was some goodness and glory in the old cultures as well as cruelty, greed and bigotry. One can see it still in the buildings and countryside - undeniable goodness.
In any case, hopefully we will have learned a lesson and never, ever, ever let the merchant classes be in charge again. There's a reason why traditional societies going back millennia always put the priest, warrior and administrative (Mandarin) classes above them; always! (It is also unwise to turn peasants into Kings despite what the socialists and marxists say....)
I commented here at the’Gym’ two days ago suggesting that the Zionists consider an exodus to a soon to be de-nazified Ukraine. You might imagine the “Hah!” that I uttered upon seeing Professor Hudson suggesting the same in reply to your email! I see other commenters on “the same page “as well (“Birds of a feather....”) . This exodus may start to happen sooner than later as Israelis realize that their rabid leaders have thoroughly “pissed the cheerios” of the Israeli Nation and the ship of state is sinking fast as the horror of the new Nakba becomes common knowledge across the globe. The zealot West Bank “settlers “ may even be useful in clearing the Banderite Nazis from the remaining Ukraine territories. Palestine belongs to the true Semites who have been there for millennia (and I don’t exclude Mizrahi Jews)
It's hard to get a good estimate for the number that have fled Occupied Palestine, but my WAG is @1 Million along with much capital. When the real economic pressure begins, more will leave. Zealotry combined with delusion has several very disastrous contemporary examples, one we're currently witnessing.
thank you, karl, for your reply. i'd considered subs, but decided on 2 fairly non threatening types---mother doesn't; need to blast & shout & it's not really in china's character either. the backup band will be mr. kinzhal & EW. the point isn't to confront but calmly let empire know things are moving in a new more reasonable way.
Usher it toward the door as Pepe Escobar suggests, https://strategic-culture.su/news/2023/11/24/the-eviction-notice-is-being-written-and-will-come-in-four-languages/
the axis of resistance: hamas, yemen, hezbollah, iran, iraq's emerging militias will prevail, time is not on the side of the zionists, israel will lose & from the river to the sea will once more be palestine.
the zionazis believe if they slaughter every palestinian residing in gaza & the west bank israel will be theirs, they cannot conceive of palestinians, edward said's grandchildren, returning from all corners of the world. zionazis believe the right of return will never be over-ruled as they own all courts of law. hubris blinds them so they cannot conceive of defeat.
in the interim i like to imagine, russia parking a vessel on one side of dwight & china parking on dwight's other side. & both simply anchor there, with the simple message: genocide is halted. food, water, fuel, medical facilities will be set up immediately. we shall deliver aid, solace & emergency medical facilities. from this moment onward, all agreements hitherto agreed upon & signed between palestine & israel will be implemented immediately. if any citizen of israel chooses to board any of america's many carrier groups to be transported to whatsoever safe harbour of their choosing. america ought to agree to oblige.
Cool idea, like two subs surfacing to bracket the carrier. That would take some very ballsy submariners and some very stealthy subs.
My guess is that at some point the regional group Pepe covered which is travelling around garnering input and consensus will, with Russia and China's backing, insist on a cease fire. The cease fire is the first thing. And they will send in troops to enforce that cease fire along current borders of Gaza and West Bank. They will not interfere in internal politics of any party but they can establish and enforce cease fire. And then they must hold it for several years until the parties in question are used to there no longer being overt belligerence. And the Zionists understand that they no longer have free rein to do whatever they want in the Region which is able to impose some Authority over it. If the US-West refuse this cease fire, then a drastic sanctions regime will be imposed upon it, an energy and manufactured good embargo for example. Again: no interference, but resolute non-participation in the West's insistence on genocide as perfectly justifiable when perpetrated by Exceptionalists.
Something like that. So no solution need be found but the situation and paradigm has to change. And enforcing a cease fire would indeed be a game changer.
Yes, one step at a time.
good stuff karl.. thanks for sharing yours and michaels view in the exchange... it is a sign of hope when it doesn't look like there is any hope... cheers..
Ah, yes… the Great Awakening, present form. What is the threshold? It if dare, re-remeber, something like 51% to push the collective to awareness? Hum, cannot say for sure. Old lady with a virtual cat❤️🐈⬛Thank you, I do like to keep current with you, and Dr. Hudson. All the best, in all ways❤️🐴🧲
Believe me Israel and most importantly Zionist understand this way more than any of us. This is exactly what makes them so dangerous. They understand that there is only one way Israel continues to exist and that is if the US continues to occupy and dominate the region. This would require continued bloody aggression and "bombing back to the stone age" with a focus on Iran.
This scenario looks more and more unlikely which only increases the risk of wildly striking out at any and all.
As I have pointed out before if the US and collective west lose dominance of West Asia/Africa it spells total collapse for them, not recession, not depression, collapse. So the US has huge motivation to go all out too.
At the rate this war is demolishing the Zionists economy, they may just decide to leave Palestine on their own. Disperse to various "gardens" around the world. There economic situation will only get worse as more countries recognize them for the pariah they are and start boycotting Israel.
Lets put them on Elon's Starship and send them to Mars.
I think Russia & China still pushing their two state solution is divorced from reality, gather they do so as have nothing else to offer. Hard to see these two sides ever being able to agree now on anything, they can't live together, and will likely never agree on the details of a split in territory.
Michael Hudson's comment about moving the Jews to Ukraine was actually a comment I also made yesterday as would solve a multitude of problems, but deleted as it sounded so absurd. Then we look at the Western push to get every breathing Ukrainian into the meat grinder and you do wonder.
There are many who think this has been in the mix for a while, that the SMO is a deal worked out by all sides to empty the land (or enough of it) so that the Jews can have a homeland where actually more of them really do come from than Israel. Could turn out that way.
They commit atrocities now in Gaza and the West Bank making it impossible for them to stay since resistance will be organized (finally!) against them. The settlers will have to accept that their bridges have now been burned. Their rabbis can persuade them that Ukraine is the best option and that what matters is that at some point they rule the world, that Israel is the Jewish people, not a small patch of land populated mainly by Muslims.
Personally, I hope this happens, but reality is seldom so clear-cut.
The problem with Ukraine is people already live there. What must be smashed is the Zionist Project and the ISM that powers it, then the people deprogrammed. Only then might they possibly be capable of co-existing with other humans.
The only way to do that is by
a) mass murder or
b) mass enlightenment.
The latter is better, of course, but VERY rare!
Dealing with this problem will involve untangling knots that have been constraining and distorting the West for centuries. No small thing.
Just as the West needs to be exhausted to finally stop its marauding and meddling, so also Zionists need at some point to look around the corpse-strewn rubble they have created in what could be Paradise and resolve to change their Way. This cannot be imposed from without. What can be imposed from without is boundaries, limits. Something which has not yet been attempted, but one way or another must be. Pepe's other recent article is hopeful since it shows developing exactly what I think is needed, namely Regional solidarity and authority.
https://globalsouth.co/2023/11/23/gaza-a-pause-before-the-storm/
I cited Escobar's Cradle piece at the end of my screed.