🗣👉‘… It has been a splendid little war, begun with the highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelligence and spirit, favored by that Fortune which loves the brave.’ — US Secretary of State John Hayin a letter to Theodore Roosevelt, July 27 of that year, musingon the 1898 Spanish-American War. This war—sparked in no small part by the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbour earlier that year, in what is considered by many to have been a “false-flag” event—ushered in the American Imperium and heralded its hegemonic ambitions.
🗣👉 ‘When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it’. — Frederic Bastiat.—
🗣👉 ‘What we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.’ — National Endowment for Democracy (NED) co-founder Allen Weinstein, 1991
Introduction: For those diligent students of history au fait with America’s perennial fondness for orchestrating coups and colour revolutions, ousting democratically elected leaders, and generally interfering in the affairs of other nations—to all intents the mainstay of U.S. foreign policy and the wrecking ball in its diplomatic toolbox—the recent events in Venezuela will come as little surprise. Venezuela is but one of many well-documented examples of this deja vu-infused track record.
Given the supreme ironies inherent in the political imbroglio in the U.S. that attended Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential elections, along with America’s implacable resolve to continue seeking regime change in Russia’s close ally Iran (to say little of the events in Ukraine, themselves representing hard-core blowback from a Washington engineered coup there in 2014, the ultimate aim of which is to relieve its long-serving, much reviled president Vladimir Putin of the burdens of power), it’s timely we revisit some of this history.
As I’m fond of saying: There’s nothing like a deep dive into the memory hole in order to sharpen our perspective on the present geopolitical milieu and the hegemonic forces which have fashioned it. Doing so presents us an opportunity to view the situations in both Ukraine and Venezuela, the compulsive Iran regime change ‘addiction’, along with the never ending turmoil in and across the Middle East and elsewhere on the geopolitical landscape within a broader, more nuanced historical context. Such a perspective then should come with sure signs of the existential dangers for global peace and stability and humanity at large of allowing our leaders in the West to continue, like the proverbial bull in the China shop, traipsing down this pathway unchallenged, one that is as well-worn as it’s fraught with ever greater peril.
This is the first episode in a series that explores the history and impact of the West’s interference in the affairs of other countries. Along with reminding those who may have memory holed it or not fully comprehended the implications therein, this series aims to bring this narrative to the forefront of the minds of people who are just beginning to grapple with the reality that all is not right with the world. And in doing do, then expose the role of the Anglo-American-Zionist establishment in creating that uncertainty and instability. — GM
Before getting into the meat of our narrative, I trust readers will indulge my opening gambit as I believe it will set out our stall well for what follows.
The Great Gonzo scribe himself, the inimitable Hunter S. Thompson, who knew a thing or three about politics and getting high on whatever was doing the rounds (to be sure regardless of whether it was his own supply or not), drew some intriguing parallels between the besetting ‘habits’ of practitioners of the darker political arts and those of us mere mortals grappling with more conventional forms of addiction.
‘Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is. They are addicts, and they are guilty and they do lie, cheat and steal—like all junkies. And when they get in a frenzy, they’ll sacrifice anything and anybody to feed their cruel and stupid habit, and there’s no cure for it.’ [Emphasis added.]
As practised in Washington then, and after drawing upon Thompson’s near pitch perfect analogy, it’s safe to say this: In few other areas where the “dark political arts” play out is that “addiction” more obvious, more destructive, or seemingly more incurable than in the arena of regime change.
Now I say “near” advisedly as the only quibble one might have with HST’s conclusion is his use of the word “guilty”. Yet even here one demurs slightly. Whilst he was right in labelling them “guilty” (as charged), few of us, including one supposes Thompson himself if he were still on the right side of the grass, would accuse too many of our political classes of ever willingly embracing any such angst. Some even claim bragging rights on not feeling any such pangs. [Mike Pompeo anyone? See Sidebar Below*].
With that said, let’s now return to the subject at hand, and our political classes “addiction” to it as the preferred method and means of diplomacy. Unsurprisingly for many, the recent Venezuelan elections have seen the U.S. government—which fully backed the opposition—expressing concerns over the result. As I write, the haggling continues, with the Beltway Bedlamites™️ arguing the toss about who won. Perhaps not unlike a strung out junkie accusing his ‘plug’ of burning him, the U.S. claims the vote didn’t reflect the ‘true will’ of the people, citing, sans any evidence or semblance of irony, ‘irregularities’ and ‘a lack of transparency’.
Conversely, we’ve seen widespread reports of U.S. interference in that nation’s affairs—a long-standing historical reality that as we’ll see is well-documented, though, then as now, not by the Western media—despite the fact the incumbent President Nicolás Madurowas by most independent accounts the clear winner.
When and where have we heard all this before? ‘Quelle surprise!’ we might say. Or “deja vu” all over again. Which isn’t to suggest that this dark history is common knowledge. Oh that were the case! Insofar as its history of meddling in the affairs of other nations goes, as noted America’s is a long and storied one. (This includes my own country Australia, which could well claim bragging rights as Uncle Sam’s most steadfast-to-a-fault vassal state. A story for a future episode.)
In the wake of Venezuela’s recent election result, after posing the not unreasonable question as to whether U.S. politicians know the ‘true will of the Venezuelan people’ better than the people themselves, one writer replied, “Obviously not”. He added:
‘The United States has significantly increased its interference in the affairs of Venezuela and other countries, attempting to reshape their political ecology through ideology. If a US-supported candidate wins an election, it will be described as fair and free;if not, it is labeled as unfair and lacking transparency. This…is a common method used by the US…’[Emphasis added.]
The Regime Renovators™️ Greatest Hits — Volume One: Latin America
— A Cruel and Stupid Habit
“Common” indeed! For those folks with the requisite sense of irony and historical perspective, none of this will come as a surprise. Yet whilst the rivers of irony run deep and wide through Washington, any such “perspective” therein is a dried up creek bed. In this and later in future outings, we’ll return to the Venezuelan situation—in part because this particular south of the border saga will doubtless be ongoing, and also because this doesn’t even begin to tell the full backstory.
At this point though, it’s instructive to consider the role of so-called Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). These non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a key role in advocating for political (read: regime) change in foreign countries. This is facilitated via more transparent (or overt) political, financial, and economic means running the gamut from propaganda, censorship, sanctions, boycotts, divestment and asset freezes to more sub rosa gambits such as hybrid warfare, covert action, proxy wars,colour revolutions, black-ops,psychological warfare (aka ‘psy-ops’), and other tried and true ‘family favourites’ of the cloak n’ dagger collective.
Such organisations engaging in the latter are what I’ve come to calling the “regime renovators” of the so named 'international rules-based order'. They are the geopolitical “Ghostbusters” if one likes, always at the ready to root out and exorcise the ever present gremlins, ghouls n’ hobgoblins in those nations who question or challenge the much touted, forever hallowed “order”. Their ostensible remit is ridding sovereign countries of any and all ‘undesirable’ home grown entities who are deemed to ‘threaten’ the target nation’s democracy and good governance, its freedom, its rule of law, its sovereignty and independence, and its own citizens’ presumed right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.
These “undesirable entities” invariably take the form of democratically elected leaders who have the chutzpah to stand up for their people’s inalienable rights and attempt to facilitate their “pursuit” thereof, and who themselves genuinely stand for greater self-determination separate from that aforesaid “order”. For the globalist overlords and their dutiful underlings in the Deep State, few “entities” scare the bejesus out of them more than those nationalist leaders who f*ck with their ‘business model’, and it’s Maduro—and prior to that his larger-than-life predecessor Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013)—who’s done just that!
Any country in particular attempting to assert economic independence by demanding more control over its own natural or strategic resources, and then seeks to distribute the derived wealth to its own citizenry in genuine nation building endeavours, places itself at grave risk of foreign intervention and from there, a complete regime makeover. This is in almost all situations the primary catalyst for these operations! Perhaps few nations exemplify this more so than Venezuela, which by most accounts holds the planet’s largest reserves of oil and gas, and the largest deposits of gold. Again, “quelle surprise!”, we might exclaim.
The primary raison d’être of these CSOs/NGOs is via the methods and means described above to create maximum economic chaos, political bedlam, and social instability in those countries that don’t ‘shake their booty’ to the tune of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, at least until such time as they learn how to ‘dance’ to it properly. The motto of the renovators could well be: “And you will know us by the trail of dead and debt”, as that’s pretty much what usually precedes, accompanies and/or follows any given regime change gambit, whether successful or not.
Again, the above scenario encapsulates neatly—if tragically—the Venezuelan situation. Most plain folks though might be forgiven for thinking otherwise, as the establishment media almost always report only the official talking points pitched to them by the renovators and their ilk, and not the reality on the ground.
REFRAIN: 🗣👉 ‘…I’ve seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate [people]….We’ve gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should be our pleasure and duty to make people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way...[I] am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.’ — Mark Twain,reflecting with uncanny prescience on the real objectives and future implications of America’s war with Spain.
Mike Pompeo — A Poster Boy for The Renovators. He Lied, He Cheated, He Stole you know? He even had training courses.
*SIDEBAR: Here we are compelled to recall the immortal words of Mike Pompeo, the CIA Director in the early part of the Trump administration and thereafter Donald Trump’s Secretary of State. The estimable Pompeo is on record in a rare moment of candour infamously admitting that under his watch as CIA chief, presumably recalling his own regime renovation track record ‘...We lied, cheated, we stole...we had entire training courses.’
That Pompeo freely offered up this admissionwhilst laughing his ample ass off, as if recalling in his dotage some "Boy's Own Adventure" from his misspent youth with a bunch of his scaly mates down at the local pub, only served to underscore his own chutzpah and hubris and the surreal nature of mindset that prevails in the Imperium. This may also have been one of the few times in his wretched existence that the ‘addicted’ Pompeo—albeit absent any sign of “guilt” on this occasion—didn’t speak with a forked tongue.
Even taking his true confessions mo’ into account, along with nodding Thompson’s colourful metaphor as cited above, it’s uncertain to what extent he, firstly as the CIA chief and later as SoS, ‘lied, cheated, and stole’ as part of his own contribution to the destabilisation activities in the lead up to the 2019 Venezuelan election. But with a foot in both the intelligence community and the political/diplomatic realms, there can be little doubt Pompeo was/is a card carrying member of the regime renovators’ inner clique, and from there it’s safe to assume he would’ve had his dog in the fight at some point on some level. A given then. [Emphasis added.]— GM
— The Colour Revolution Will not be Televised
Outside of “The Company” (the CIA) itself, although there are many CSOs in the US and elsewhere, perhaps the preeminent (read: most notorious), one-stop-shop Stateside for the orchestration of such gambits is the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose unofficial positioning statement might as well read: "In Regime Change, We Trust". As Kit Klarenburg and Max Blumenthal from The Grayzone reported recently, the NED is Washington’s go-to “regime change laboratory”.
After noting its ‘lavish funding of anti-government opposition groups in countries where Washington has sought regime change’, the US government-funded NED they said, ‘earned a reputation over its four decades in existence as an “overt operator” doing the work the CIA used to do in the shadows.’In essence then, the NED is a glorified CIA ‘cutout’. A 'front company' for The Company then, in layman's terms!
They added the following:
‘Critics have long pointed to the destabilizing effects of NED’s meddling in places like Nicaragua,Venezuela,Ukraine, and Haiti, where the [NED] has systematically undermined elected governments which undertook policies seen as violating the Washington Consensus. They referenced documents demonstrating the group’s origins in the Central Intelligence Agency of Ronald Reagan, and cited quotes by NED founders and [NEDpresident Carl] Gershman himself boasting about their orchestration of coups and color revolutions.’ [Emphasis added.]
National Endowment for Democracy — The “Ghostbusters” of the International Rules Based Order
Yet as Klarenburg and Blumenthal further revealed—recently via an exclusive Grayzone report on the organisation which, much to the chagrin of its former founders and a few senior old school operatives, aired some of its dirty linen in the public square—inside the inner sanctum of the NED there’s currently ‘trouble at mill’ as it were. Whilst space limits a blow-by-blow of the argy-bargy pertaining to this factional bunfight, folks are encouraged to ‘entertain’ themselves with the backstory. If nothing else, the details promptly call forth that eye-rolling adage “you couldn’t make this sh*t up”.
It's enough to say that for those who enjoy nothing better than suckin' up the schadenfreude that comes in the form of misfortune befalling those whose very own raison d’être is visiting same on others, then I’d aver this one is for you. It’s hard to beat, even if that "misfortune" is small karma compared to what these malfeasants and mayhem merchants past and present have wreaked on their countless victims over decades; we take what we can get.
Perhaps more pertinent for our purposes herein, the internal NED imbroglio as laid bare by Grayzone provides us a fascinating glimpse into this organisation, its inner workings, and its inglorious history. It further reveals important insights into the nature of Washington’s regime change apparatus and the prevailing sub rosa mindset that’s been forever and a day it seems such an integral—albeit disastrous and counterproductive—component of US foreign policy.
Moreover, this sordid history it needs be noted has always been a largely bi-partisan project, whose principal players (the Beltway Bedlamites™️ as I've 'baptised' them henceforth), all of whom would have had close ties to the NED and no doubt still do—include the notorious neo-conservatives and the so-named "liberal (or humanitarian) interventionists" amongst others. As to whether these internal ructions (none of which as it transpires appear to be directly related to the NED’s basic remit; that’s apparently not in contention), will cramp its style going forward in the pursuit of its entrenched mission objectives once the dust-up settles is another matter entirely; only time will tell.
Given its rap-sheet and the unsavoury rep that comes with it—to say little of the "geopolitical zeitgeist" and the toxic mind virus that’s infected any remaining semblance of collective common sense in US political, foreign policy, diplomatic, intelligence or media circles—one suspects that the NED will be back in to the fray doing what it does best (with or without an internal purge) before one can shout "viva le colour revolucion".
There aren't too many things we can say are a 'dead cert' these days. But this has to be one of them. Cue more delirium in the imperium then.
REFRAIN: 🗣👉 ‘In the science of society, leadership reserved the right to lie, cheat, deceive, be generally faithless wherever advantage presented itself...and not only to do so to the enemy but to one's own if need be, a moral code well suited to a fast-moving warrior people.’ — John Taylor Gatto
— The True Colours of Corporate Coups & Revolutions
Much of course has been written about America’s and the West’s meddling in the affairs of other countries. Yet this is one aspect of the Grand American Narrative where there’s always room for another spin on the yarn. In future episodes I’ll draw upon the fine work of many who’ve taken the deep dives themselves into said said “hole” in order to chronicle this hidden-in-plain-sight history and to keep the flame of awareness burning. (N.B.: Readers will find a short list of recommended authors and their respective efforts at the end of this article.)
Insofar as looking deeper into the state of affairs in Venezuela though, for our purposes herein it is Anya Parampil’s Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empireto which we’ll now turn. The author chronicles therein the history of Washington's relentless, multi-pronged, decade spanning regime renovation gambit against Venezuela. In her recently released book—augmented by several follow up interviews, including amongst others with Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire—Parampil examines the legacy of Maduro’s political mentor and charismatic predecessor Hugo Chávez, who passed away in 2013. She further explores the impact of “Chavismo”, the eponymous political movement he inspired—and the subsequent leadership under Maduro’s watch.
The core narrative centres on the events of January 2019, when then POTUS Donald Trump’s Administration inexplicably recognised as the President Juan Guaidó, a little known opposition lawmaker, bypassing the actual government led by Maduro. Along with evincing Trump’s own ham-fisted, amateurish foreign policy chops, this unprecedented, ill-judged ‘diplomatic’ gesture by the US aimed to instigate regime change by the simple expedient of declaring their preferred candidate the winner without so much as a ‘by your leave’, but it failed as the incumbent retained control.
All this took place against a backdrop of failed coups, psy-ops, endless economic sanctions and everything else they have in their playbook, all designed to bring the country to its knees and back under the jackboot of the lords of the global imperium. This remains a project that as I write, and notwithstanding the more recent election outcome in favour of the incumbent, shows no sign of easing up anytime soon. (Say what you will about the regime renovators, but such has been the relentless pursuit and subsequent success of their interventionist endeavours over decades and across swathes of the geopolitical landscape, their Standard Operating Procedure might read like this: “When you’re on a good thing, stick to it!”)
Parampil also provides important background on key players in the Venezuelan government, establishment and the opposition, revealing the deep connections between Guaidó’s shadow government and sundry globalist corporations. Her book is essential reading for those looking for a more accurate account of the Venezuelan situation.
More broadly then “Corporate Coup”—by showcasing Venezuela as a text-book case study—shines another disturbing light on the hyper-aggressive nature of US foreign policies, the immense, ever expanding economic and geopolitical power of the corporate and financial globalist elites, whilst highlighting deeper implications for international peace, security and stability, which for those who haven’t noticed, evidences a patently clear shift towards a multipolar world and the decline of US hegemony. Amongst other things, those wishing to see up close and personal the “international rules-based order” for what it truly represents will find much within Parampil’s book upon which to chow down.
AUTHOR NOTE: Some of the finest reporting on Washington’s regime change machinations in Venezuela in 2019 was undertaken by one Ken Silverstein. Readers should go to the link here for a more detailed exposition. Beyond the reportage on Venezuela, Mr Silverstein’s aptly titled Washington Babylon—Shocking True Stories and Political Sleaze is a must visit.
— Full Spectrum Delirium (Inside the Imperium)
At this point, it’s worth recalling the pearl-clutching umbrage andrampant hysteriaover the largely evidence-free accusations by Washingtonof interference by Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. For showcasingthe unvarnished chutzpah, hypocrisy, and impressive hubris of the Bedlamites, a more instructive case study is difficult to find. The double standards characteristic of this crowd are so glaring one could easily be blinded by the light.
Which is to say, one of the manifest realities attending that infamous Beltway blockbuster soap opera is of America’s own track record of interference in the affairs of other countries, comprising as we’ll see so many instances and forms, the Venezuelan situation being the latest iteration (that we know of). I say “realities” rather than ironies here as “irony” almost by definition is infused with a measure of nuance and subtlety, neither of which could it be said were in surplus in this utterly contrived, self-serving political and media beat-up.
Yet for most folks, this reality remained out of sight and out of mind throughout. (Let’s not even talk about how much the U.S. during Bill “Slick Willy”Clinton’s singularly patchy tenure in the White House interfered in Russian politics during the years Boris Yeltsin occupied the Kremlin throne room in his own 24/7 vodka-soaked delirium. A story for another time.)
As I write, it should come as no surprise that the Bedlamites™️ are again turning over the dog-eared pages of the same old playbook for this year’s US election, hoping they might still milk some residual fear n’ loathing from the electorate regarding such alleged interference. (See here, here, here, and here. For a further measure of just how “contrived” and “self-serving” this conspiracy theory was back then, see here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Insofar as Russia’s much touted “meddling” in U.S. politics went back in the day and the animus that attended the hysteria, as Oliver Stone discovered at the time during an appearance on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert—itself hot on the heels of his much publicised meet ‘n greet with Russian president Vladimir Putin in which it was earlier raised—he was at pains to impress upon his host that Israel had a much bigger case to answer than did Russia.
Of course Stone was on the shekel here. The unalloyed reality of the power, control and influence that Israel exerts within and across the morally and ethically desertified landscape that is the nation’s capital is a given. The Middle East’s only ‘democratic’ settler-colonial, genocidal, apartheid regime leaves few stones undisturbed—whilst exhibiting little discretion and subtlety but revealing equal parts chutzpah and subterfuge—in how it wields then leverages that influence to its advantage and against the national interest of its principal patron and benefactor. Who would argue that that power and influence has been more evident in past years than it is now? Anything Russia may have done by way of interfering in America’s political processes pales in comparison.
But that’s clearly a narrative that doesn’t bode well in the Beltway at the best of times, and more rational, clear-eyed folks know the reasons why. For one, the establishment media, for the most part doesn’t entertain such verities. Even if they were inclined to do so, the omnipotent Israel Lobby would cut them off at the knee-caps. For his part, the ever smarmy Colbert, presumably aware upon which side his bagel is best buttered, was reluctant to take Stone’s bait, much it seemed to his interviewee’s frustration.
Beyond just interfering in U.S. politics, along with the parent Empire la perfide Albion, one of America’s steadfast partners-in-crime in the regime renovation business are the ubiquitous and iniquitous Israelis, an observation underscored by Against our Better Judgment author Alison Weir on her blogIf Americans Knew. Long targeted by Israel, for Weir, Iran especially provides an instructive example herein. With the Saudis as back-up, it is Israel—ably supported by its own Praetorian Guard AIPAC and its ilk along with its traitorous shills in Congress—that’s been the hard-core driver of Washington’s irrational animus towards all things Iran.
— Would You Like ‘Israelite Lies’ With That?
And along with underscoring Israel’s clout in Washington, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2015 Congressional dog ‘n pony show fiercely opposing the Iran Nuclear agreement at the time being negotiated by the Obama administration provided then and now some of the best evidence for this. Again, Netanyahu’s more recent ‘command performance’ therein underscored this for those with short memories, or for those who think matters might’ve improved since then.
The nuclear agreement aside, Iran remains still a high priority on the ‘to do’ list for the Regime Renovators. (See also here, here, here, and here.) In addition to the relentless propaganda campaign pursued by Israel at the time the aim of which was to paint Iran as the existential threat du jour, despite the fact that U.S. intelligence agencies and others in the know didn’t then support the allegations about its mythical nuclear weapons program, Weir had the following eminently instructive observations to make:
‘Israel and the U.S. deployed a computer virus against Iran in what’s been called the world’s first digital weapon. Iranian nuclear physicists [were] assassinated by Israel, and the U.S. instituted a blockade against Iran that caused food insecurity and mass suffering among the country’s civilians. (Such a blockade can be seen as an act of war.) Democratic Congressman and Israel partisan Brad Sherman admitted the objective of the sanctions: “Critics of sanctions argue that these measures will hurt the Iranian people. Quite frankly, we need to do just that.”’
(That sentiment hasn’t changed since he [Sherman] expressed it. Israel’s recent assassination of a senior Hamas leader, and Netanyahu’s increasing belligerence and unceasing war mongering is evidence of that.)
Most folks then who don’t regularly dine out on the McDonald’s (‘would you like lies with that?’) media diet that is the establishment (or corporate) news are as well aware of Uncle Sam’s recidivistic predisposition towards meddling in the affairs of other nations, engineering coups and colour revolutions, and ousting their duly elected leaders as they are of the bespoke misinformation and disinformation—the ‘real’ fake news—that’s tailored to suit the official narrative that goes with it.
Along with the ongoing Syrian War, the 2014 Ukraine coup is one of the most egregious examples of this, with again Stone’s confab with Putin—along with Tucker Carlson’s more recent meet n’ greet with the Hitler du jour—providing an alternative perspective on both counts.
Yet even here the majority of Americans and others in the West would attribute the Ukraine war to “Russian aggression” and the Syrian War largely to Bashir Al-Assad’s ‘despotism’; it’s simply what they are told by the media at the time, and insofar as they’re concerned [they] have little reason to doubt this even now. Much the same goes for the Iran WMD narrative, despite the fact that we’ve heard that one before with Iraq over twenty years ago. Yet the bottom line is that behind most of this mayhem are Israel’s fifth columnists in Washington.
Russian President Vladimir (“Vlad the Derailer”) Putin — He Derailed Uncle Sam’s Syrian Regime Renovation Plans.
To be sure then, Uncle Sam’s “track record’ in respect of interfering in the affairs of other countries is as well documented and [as] well traversed as it’s both known and abhorred by most commentators in the alternative media space and their more enlightened readers. At the same time, it’s one subject that doesn’t raise an eyebrow much less a mention from those in the establishment ‘mediaverse’, no matter how pertinent it might be to the narrative in hand. It’s another of what I’ve come to calling the ‘no-fly-zones’ of political discourse and public debate, the real estate therein expanding at a rate of knots as we speak.
As the Praetorian Guards of the Empire’s Liar’s, the complicity of the media in promoting and facilitating the regime change agenda, and then camouflaging it as something quite different from what it really represents is, whilst reprehensible and indefensible, understandable. As we’ll continue to explore in further episodes, the “establishment” media—again largely controlled by Israel and those sympathetic to it—is defined so for a reason.
With everything that is presently transpiring in the U.S., it’s clear America’s foreign policy agents provocateurs du jour are always on the lookout for their next big fix, a reality underscored by the fact they still have Iran in their sights, with the blowback in Ukraine and Syria still a work in progress. The policy of regime change—as hitherto noted the wrecking ball in the foreign policy toolbox—continues to hold sway, permeating the rarefied atmosphere of the Imperium, with Venezuela holding pole position on the regime renovators dance-card.
It seems though that with every successive effort by the U.S. and its proxies to destabilize countries and dethrone their elected leaders, they pay less attention to disguising their real motives and covering their tracks, and more attention to ignoring their failures and downplaying their disasters. That this reality should awaken more folks to the hollowness and hubris of America’s much-touted rep as a “force for good in the world” or a “beacon of freedom” is a given for those of us with a more clear-eyed view of how much chaos, destruction, and geopolitical instability this default policy prescription engenders and leaves in its wake.
When considering America’s role in global affairs such as they are at the present, its high time we all re-arranged the furniture in our cognitive living rooms, and further contemplate the following: nothing is going to change in the execution of U.S foreign policy, until pretty much everything else does.
On a slightly different note to wind up, I recall vividly from many years ago an interview with the infamous beat writer/poet and unreconstructed misanthrope William Burroughs, whose view of his fellows (even on a good day) might’ve at best been described as ‘darkly pessimistic’. When asked if he held out much hope for the future of humanity at large given our seemingly inherent, implacable complacency (perhaps the root cause of our current existential malaise), his reply was an unequivocal ‘No!’
For Burroughs (like the already name checked Thompson, was no slouch when it came to addiction and viewing politics and its practitioners through a dark lens), the future was as bleak as it was straight to the point: ‘The only thing that might save humanity [from itself]’, he opined unambiguously, ‘was a good, swift kick up the collective arse’.
Seems we might be in for that “good, swift kick up the collective arse” sooner rather than later. The bad news is that “good, swift kick” up the patootie and any epiphanies that might come with it may well arrive too late for us all.
Here is a list of authors and their books that critique America's interventionist foreign policy:
William Blum
America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy – The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
Noam Chomsky
Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance
Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
John Perkins
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption
Stephen Kinzer
Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
Andrew Bacevich
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History
Chalmers Johnson
Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, & the End of the Republic
Michael Parenti
Against Empire
The Face of Imperialism
Jeremy Scahill
Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Greg Grandin
Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism
End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America
Dean Henderson
Big Oil & Their Bankers In the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families and Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics and Terror Network
These books provide in-depth analyses and critiques of US foreign policy, often focusing on the consequences of military interventions, economic influence, and political strategies employed by the United States across different regions and historical periods. I’ll list more in Episode Two. There’s a big menu to choose from.— GM
We changed regimes and all we did was exchange one form of government slavery for another. It has now happened in the US, once thought to be the freest of all nations.
We changed regimes and all we did was exchange one form of government slavery for another. It has now happened in the US, once thought to be the freest of all nations.