Who by his own hand? Who by his Lady’s command? Who shall I say is calling? Leonard Cohen
The US and collective West are in decline: in some countries more rapidly than in others; in some self-accelerated. On the latter, Britain’s economically suicidal Brexit springs to mind, as does Europe’s equally suicidal roll of the dice in the Ukraine, and doubling down on the same once the extent of its miscalculations had become clear. While the causes of Brexit are a local cauldron of simmering sub plots, those of Europe’s surrender to Washington, never more fully than over the proxy war against Russia, are global and, for those paying attention, more easily understood:
The entire Left in most Western countries – by ‘Left’ I mean the Social Democratic Left, the Green Parties and perhaps most of the entire political establishment – is now led by individuals who have been through the US ideological factories … the think tanks, the annual meetings etc. You know, the Leaders of Tomorrow type programs for which these people go to the USA on junkets, and become part of a network of leaders with a similar understanding of what is to be done, both domestically and internationally. People like Starmer, Macron, Von der Leyen and Baerbock … they belong to these circles. So in answer to the question – why are European governments acting so manifestly contrary to the interest of their economies, their people etc? – the only reason I can find is that at the present moment the United States is in this sweet spot where the people it has groomed have taken power in major European capitals.
Radhika Desai
Short of some extraordinary rift, led by courageous and skilled leaders at present nowhere in sight, the fate of the West is in the hands of US ruling elites. Who, instead of adapting to the end of their licence to bully and exploit the planet, mean to fight it economically, monetarily, fiscally and by force of arms.
In a nuclear age.
I have been writing about this for some time; others much longer. All of us have benefited from the work of a man I regard as our greatest living economist. Those who follow him, directly or at one step removed through sites like this, will recognise in the informed and forceful cogency of Ben Norton’s replies to Danny Haiphong the ideas of one of very few within his discipline to have foretold – when predictive power is as close as we get to a gold standard for knowledge – the neoliberally induced 2007/8 crash.
Over to Ben, Danny – and the spirit of Michael Hudson. Today’s a Sunday. You do got two hours to spare, right?
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