John's statement at 24:22 will surprise many realists:
"this is a case where you have a greater Israel and Hamas is a group that operates inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement that's what's going on here this is not Interstate relations REALISM DOESN'T HAVE ALOT TO SAY ABOUT RELATIONS BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL" (my emphasis).
He is consistent in saying that his theory doesn't have much to say about domestic politics ("inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement "), even from the perspective of the Domestic Determinant of International Politics: on pp10-11 'Tragedy' his "theory pays little attention to individuals or domestic political considerations ... tends to treat states like black boxes or billiard balls").
The idea that power politics doesn't have anything to say about powers that fight states ("inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement") or which are trying to capture state power for themselves leaves the field for realism much narrower than most Realist sub-schools.
It also betrays a peculiar view of International Politics which Offensive Realism officially eschews, of the primacy of legalism. The Palestinians are fighting to become a state, they have Observer status in the UNGA, and manifest many of the facets of a state (no less its war-making capacity), and yet John The Realist has little to say about it.
So much for Statism. Many Realists are coming to terms with Economics, and recognising Economic Power where it is in the Real World, at Systemic and at other levels. Yes, economic power is to be found in the State, but also underneath it, opposed to it, and regardless of it.
So don't you think John should re-evaluate his state-ment?!
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . . The fat, bulbous, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
Senior Defense Department leaders celebrating yet another Pride Month at the Pentagon sounding the alarm about the rising number of state laws they say target the LGBTQ+ community, warned the trend is hurting the feelings of the armed forces . . . “LGBTQ plus and other diverse communities are under attack, just because they are different. Hate for hate’s sake,” said Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, who also serves as DoD’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males?
What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, while Globohomo diversity brigades go door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . . NATO hates heterosexual white men . . . they said so themselves . . .
Seems only the Biden Administration thinks a two-state solution is still possible. I guess he hasn't looked at a map of the West Bank lately. Plus, all the rhetoric coming from Israeli officials these days shows there is absolutely no desire for Palestinian statehood in any form whatsoever.
In the most recent interviews Professor Mearsheimer has revealed his true self - as an "expert" biased against Israel or, in another word, an antisemite.
In this particular interview he just dismisses an argument that Hamas presents an existential threat to Israel.
Well, Hamas is more that an organization - it is an ideology, which is, unfortunately, shared by most Palestinians, an ideology that claims Jews cannot have their own state in their ancestral land.
I had visited Israel in 2001-2002 during the second intifada, when busses, restaurants and shopping malls where attacked by suicide bombers. The country was at a standstill, many were thinking about immigrating elsewhere, and the idea that that was the end of Israel was very mush in the air. On October 7th Palestinians and most of Muslim world had proved that they hate Israel and Jews.
And now this "realist" expert claims that this is not an existential threat and puts on this "moralist" hat and blindly accuses the Jewish state of all kinds of crimes?!?!
Well, masks are off, Professor and your bias is showing...
Great going, sir, another home run for Team Realism and coach Mearsheimer.
Perhaps we could get a piece on the much better alternatives Tel Aviv could have chosen on October 8; for example getting the UN to formally declare Hamas a terror group, cut off its funding from Qatar, and engaging a multi-national force to bring humanitarian aid and armed peacekeepers up from Egypt to arrest armed Hamas fighters and demilitarize Gaza (and especially confiscate their weaponized paragliders) instead of flattening the prison camp from the north downwards.
One comment on the Sayers video, one nation with nukes DID disappear: apartheid South Africa. South Africa ended its nuclear weapons programme in 1989. All the bombs (six constructed and one under construction) were dismantled. Black-run S. Africa is as different a country as a hypothetical Arab-run Israel would be.
This is because of the certainly irreparable damage to the image of the US & the West in the general populations of the global south. EG as an example do people buy iPhones, Microsoft and Google products because of technical specs after all, do the tech differences between Samsung, iphone and huawei make a real difference to the average users who make up the overwhelming no. of buyers?
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With fast rising economies and demographics in the global south, the US/West cannot function without foreign markets. Foreign governments may be forced to accept western products however, can you force populations ?
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SECONDLY,
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as an outsider looking into the US, it's seems obvious there will 200% be voter backlash against BIDEN. What's reported in the media is different from what majority feel about what's happening in Gaza.
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THIRDLY,
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Netanyahu should never have allowed western leaders to fly in for photo ops. That soiled the image of Israel as a weak country. Whereas I have clearly stated my understanding about Israels predicament here https://thinwa.substack.com/p/eurasian-civilisations-go-to-war the US specifically BIDEN has failed the world and especially PAX AMERICANA by failing to be the grownUp !!
Did the Palestinians vote for Hamas? Did Hamas state their goal was to destroy all Jews from the river to the sea? Does the the Palestinian parents teach their young to hate Jews?
When I was 15 years old a big kid suck punched me in the face for no good reason, I did nothing he out weighted me by 30 pounds. Soon after another older kid bullied me, I did nothing.
So I learned Karate.
I challenged the big kid to a fight for the next Friday after school. 200 kids showed up for the fight. When he came at me I gave him fare warning that I knew Karate, he kept coming.
He tried to kick me in the balls, he missed. I then hit him with a right hook, then I picked him off the ground an inch rotate him and threw him down on a parking stone on his back.
I then hit him 3 times in each kidney, chopped him on the neck and kicked him in the face. He did not go unconscious, but instead he had a look of horror on his face. He the got up and started running away. I tried to catch but after only 15 second I was gassed and couldn't catch him.
He losr a tooth and was pissing blood for a couple a days.
Was that overkill?
Anyway the rest of my time in school nobody challenged me again.
Completely wrong analogy, one that can only be made by omitting the elephant in the room: 56 years of brutal occupation and 16 years of siege, both illegal under international law and consistently condemned by 99% of the countries of the world. Israel is the bully, not the Palestinians. They are the occupied, deprived of their national and human rights. Hamas is in large part a creation of Israel -- both directly (Israel directly assisted the precursor of Hamas in the 1980s, and then again -- under Netanyahu! -- allowed huge amounts of Qatari funds for Hamas in the 2010s) and, more importantly, by creating the miserable conditions in Gaza that fosters hatred of, yes, occupiers. It's not surprising Hamas got a *plurality* (45%) of the vote in 2006, because Fatah was utterly corrupt and incompetent. And by the way, Israel and the US immediately rejected the results of a free election that they pushed for! (By comparison, Donald Trump, a racist extremist who tried to undermine US democracy and will again if elected, lost the popular vote in 2020, but should we blame all Americans for voting for him and therefore legitimate targets for genocidal massacre?) Wouldn't you hate the people who occupied you and denied your rights? Unfortunately, there is antisemitism among some Palestinians, just as there is a lot of anti-Arab/Palestinian racism among Israeli Jews, including by Netanyahu and his ministers alike.
Very interesting and feisty interview. Thank Prof Meerscheimer. Your insight and knowledge are greatly valued. Thank you Freddy for delving into the hard questions, something not attempted in most public media.
This was a "gotcha" style interview. I admire John's ability to say what he believes without hesitation and his rigorous and cold analysis. He exposes the facts and reality and leaves the moral judgment to viewer. Also as a human being he has every right to take a moral stance.
I wonder how Freddie Sayers takes a moral stance on Gaza massacre.
First question - asked and answered! Period! If he didn't like the answer don't ask it not to mention the stupidity of the question itself. You're more outraged about Israel than you were about Ukraine, why?
You can't possibly compare the two let alone PUTIN to Netanyahu! I am however ecstatic to see Johns indignation! Bravo my friend bravo!
Clearly this man doesn't know his facts and is simply regurgitating the same falsehoods being spewed elsewhere. How do you respond to Hamas deliberately putting centers of operations in civilian centers? This is clearly (thus far) a gothcha interview. Gaza is NOT that big of an area - basically the same size of Manhattan but more people per square mile - I would have shut him up and simply said the command center was NOT under the hospital and if you had done your research you would have known Israel certainly knew it was also five miles away - hence the staged evidence!
Then he goes on to say, you're saying (he's putting words in his mouth) you can't have a two state solution because of the antipathy people in Gaza and the West Bank feel towards Israel? John already had said the Israel's are determined to create a Greater Israel - (precisely what this conflict is about!)
I'm very upset John continues to say he doesn't have an opinion how this will end however I was overjoyed when he finally went back at him at the 14 minutes mark! The SOB went back to the first question - "I'm surprised how enthusiastically you "embrace" the rhetoric of Israel critics!" He keeps comparing the two!
Sorry but I had to stop watching when this imbecile (who clearly was paid by Israel do this interview) said: THE UNITED STATES IS THE FORCE IN THE THE WHOLE WORLD THAT IS RESTRAINING ISRAEL THE MOST!
Well at least after that when Freddy said if US didn't give Israel money, that would pose an existential threat, and John looked at him like he was nuts. He set him straight regarding that nonsense although I'm sure pretty boy John still believes it. You know, Israel is smack dab in the middle of all those nasty Arabs that have been dehumanized by Western world for so long. I'm pretty sure that's the story John has been told his entire life.
Hey Denise I think you may've accidently used the wrong names because the rest of your post makes total sense and would align with accidently switching them!
I couldn't watch it after the Putz said: The US is the only one in the whole world that is restraining Israel. You could hear me burst out laughing on the moon - I couldn't believe he said it nor could John.
So the Putz repeated that lie as well - if we don't give Israel money they're coming after us? Common sense tells you, the more we piss them off, the more we supply Israel with arms - the more will kill and maim innocent civilian's - the more we overthrow governments THE MORE THE EXISTENTIAL THREATS - now that we have opened the boarders to all!
I believe there is a systematic misunderstanding or bias in the minds of conservative westerns like Freddie. They are clearly buying every propaganda piece when it is against muslims and middle easterners. They should have been more sceptical about them as they did during covid and ukraine.
You are right that Freddie misbehaved and even made John upset.
Terrible terrible terrible - how dare he continue to spew the same egregious lies - he's a journalist - his very job is to seek out - uncover and report the truth! It all boils down to choosing sides and which is more profitable financial and otherwise. John is a man of great esteem - this putz however truly embarrassed himself!!
John needs to stick to shows like Glenn Greenwald and similar shows of his caliber!
Why is it that states can only apply Realist logic to only other states and not non-state actors? It can be argued that with the rise of asymmetric warfare, there is an increasing need for states to expand the scope of their security dilemma to include threats like the October 7th attacks even if the people threatening those attacks fall within the international boundaries of one state.
Notwithstanding how Israel withdrew from Gaza (albeit for mixed reasons), treating Hamas as an external army even if they don't have formal statehood is logical. This is how asymmetric warfare works where a state (in this case Iran) is conducting its policy from an arm's distance with a non-state actor as its vehicle. Realism stands to dictate that it is in Israel's strategic interest to not let Iran's proxies survive and operate and from that perspective civilian casualties start weighing less against hard security interests. The idea of the two state solution actually escalates this problem until Hamas remains in power. Even the American president agrees with that.
Should Israel find a better way? Sure, but states being rational actors also have to act within their limitations and creating a new paradigm of engagement with the Palestinians currently falls outside those limitations. It might be possible to recreate conditions that lead to that new paradigm on 'the day after the war' when the Israeli political establishment changes.
There is effrctively already only one state from the river to the sea, the problem is that this one state is NOT a democratic state of ALL its people but it is a terrorist supremacist state that elevates one group as superior over another, ruled by fanatical neo-nazi supremacists, mass-murderers, torturers and child-abusers who believe that those who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are vastly more valuable and important than others, and that their fake sectarian nationalist "god" (which is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what God/consciousness actually is) gave them the "divine" right to arrive from a different continent and proceed to engage in a century-long zionist project to disposss, throw out, annihilate, dehumanize and erase the local people of Palestine .
This is indicated not only their cruel murderous dispossesing genocidal actions against the local people, but also by the statements of the zionist leaders from the very beginning, as is clearly known to any student of history, such as myself, who has read their original writings and interviews and speeches. The dispossesion and erasure of the local people in order to make way for the superior "chosen people" was the point from the very beginning and was never questioned for even a moment)
You csn learn more about this from this wise Israeli historian in this mind-blowing discussion
And to learn the most recent iteration of the right-wing zionist immigrants/colonizers to destroy and disposses the local people of Palestine (even before the current genocide and Holocaust they are perpetrating) see this shocking documentary, which i can confirm is 100% true based on my own personal experience in the zionist occupation & dispossesion military forces https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3psMGQE0iW4
And then PLEASE don't miss this this short video https://youtu.be/CSff-Ip1kZs?si=udYd0XxYz6kbcDMb that tells you the horrific TRUTH of what is being done, everything that the mainstream media don't dare to mention.. please don't turn away, PLEASE watch this short video.
In my view the path forward out of this horror is not strictly in political arrangemnts (that's also important but secondary) but rather it lies in the heart of people, in the ability/capacity to see the humanity of another before viewing them as a label (palestinian, israeli, muslim, jew), as well as in coming to terms with and acknowledging the IMMENSE AND PROFOUND TRAUMA that each "side" has caused the other and in finding ways to heal together.
(and before I proceed I'd just like to say that unlike most Jews, I'm fully aware and acknowledge that the trauma that supremacist zionists caused the local people over the last century - in their brutal ruthless cruel project of dispossesion, annihilation, dehumanization and ERASURE of the local people in Palestine - is many many orders of magnitude greater than the other way around.
This capacity mentioned above, to step out of one's bubble and hear/see the humanity of another before seeing a label (and the stories attached to the label), requires having CONTACT between the "sides" so that they may hear each other's stories and each other's pain, but this contact is prevented and denied becasue of the incredible dominance of the sectarian nationalist divisive ideology in both sides.
As someone who was given at birth the label 'Jewish' and 'Israeli' (but have already long ago seen through their inaccurate, distorting, corrupting, limiting, imprisoning, divisive, sectarian and God-denying nature, and so have shed these labels) I notice that what allows this ongoing horror to happen (not only today but for more than a century now) is that there is such a total SEPARATION AND DISCONNECTION between the "sides" (this is one of the greatest successes of nationalism, to separate people) so that people from both "sides" have no full understanding of the life experience & trauma experience of those on the "other side".
From what I see, this total DISCONNECTION is exactly what allows people to cheer when "our hero fighters" (whom the other side calls terrorists or invaders/dispossesors) murder, torture, oppress, abuse, slaughter and bomb "them", because each side says "they are evil people who only want to harm us, take our land and kill us/kick us out", and each side has countless examples of actions by the other side that are supposed to "prove" the supposed rightness of their claim.
Each "side" is enclosed and contained within its own SECTARIAN BUBBLE and tells itself its own story, about its trauma and difficulties, and is completely unaware of the life experience and trauma of the "other side".
And so, when the other side reacts (in what it calls self-defense) then the first side interprets it as an attack (becasue of its DISCONNECTION from the stories and sense-making of the other side) and tells a story that "those people on the other side" are evil monsters who only want to harm our side for no reason
It's quite amazing how similar the story that each side tells itself to the story that the other side tells itself, it is practically the SAME STORY - we are the victims here who are only protecting ourselves from the aggression of those evil people over there who only want to harm us and hate us for no reason. We have no one to talk to and negotiate with, they are not human beings, they are sons of Satan who hate us from birth, who only want to destroy us and take our land and kick us out - each side speaks the exact same stories!!
And all this lack of understanding happens simply because there is NO CONTACT between the "sides". This is the tremendous success of nationalism/tribalism, there is a complete disconnection, so that I don't hear the story that the other side tells itself and how they make sense of things, I don't experience their life experience, I don't know anything about their pain, I don't realize how much the story they tell themselves is the same as the story I tell myself, and therefore there is no possibility of experiencing the HUMANITY (the fear, the search for security) that motivates the other, just as it motivates me, and therefore also indifference to the trauma that the other goes through at the hands of "our heroic fighters"
It seems to me that those who have fallen into the abyss of sectarianism/tribalism/nationalism (and especially those whose tribalism also involves divisive, excluding, supremacist and God-denying sectarian religious beliefs) have been conditioned to believe that their saftey & security will be found through group separation and exclusion and a sense of uniqueness from the rest of humanity (a feeling that is so deeply imprinted in those who believe that the label of "Jewish" is who they actually are), that security will be found through an attempt to ensure the safety of ONLY one group of people, only those who were born into the "correct" religious-national label (and anyone who was not born into the correct national-religious label can go to hell. She matters a little but not nearly as much as the Chosen People, the most valuable and important people in the universe). It sounds ridiculous, but this is a VERY common & mainstream worldview in the extremely nationalist, ethnocentric, fascistic & exclucivist Israeli society, and it plays a huge part in what brought about this conflict in the first place, since the very early days of sectarian exclucivist zionist nationalism, and its arrival in the middle east from (mostly) eastern Europe.
To me, this is precisely the blindness of the sectarian nationalist-religious identity: trying to create security ONLY for one group, only for a part of the whole (through division, exclusion, separation from the whole and working to secure the narrow interests of only one nationalist-religious identity), such an attempt - of trying to create security ONLY for the part and ignore what this does to the whole - such an attempt can NEVER ever lead to real security but exactly the opposite - this is the number one factor that creates constant conflict and INSECURITY!!!
TRYING TO CREATE SECTARIAN SECURITY (SECURITY ONLY FOR THE PART AND NOT THE WHOLE, ONLY FOR ME AND MY GROUP) IS THE VERY CAUSE OF INSECURITY!!!
In my understanding, tribalism/nationalism and sectarian divisive exoteric religion (which is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what God/Consciousness actually is) is the great disease and blindness of humanity. Is the most destructive and deadly invention that humans have ever invented (not because we are bad, but because we have not psychologically matured yet, and are still blind, and in our ingnorance & blindness we believed that this is how we will find safety & security, without understanding what we are doing, without realizing that we are actually creating constant INSECURITY when we search for security through the sectarian divisive nationalist-religious identity, when we seek security only for the part and not for the whole).
IMHO, the bloodshed can never stop and there will never be security for anyone unless we have the courage to step out of our sectarian bubble and actually listen and truly understand the profound trauma we inflict (this is true for both sides but especially so for Israelis who are incredibly brainwashed and ignorant of the UNSPEAKABLE HORROR CRUELTY INHUMANITY AND TRAUMA that supremacist right-wing zionist immigrants/colonizers inflicted and inflict on the local people.
Without feeling the pain endured and understanding what palestinians are actually reacting to, indoctrinated supremacist zionists will just continue with the dispossession, cruelty, throwing-out and erasure of the local people, and keep telling themselves 'they are hostile to us for no reason, simply becasue they are evil antisemite monsters by nature..'
Forgive me for having a bit of fun but as I read your opening lines - all I could picture was Hillary Clinton saying ALL OF THIS but changing the word Jew to Palestinians! This is how delirious they are - which is why I conjured up the image!
{There is effectively already only one state from the river to the sea, the problem is that this one state is NOT a democratic state of ALL its people but it is a terrorist supremacist state that elevates one group as superior over another, ruled by fanatical neo-Nazi supremacists, mass-murderers, torturers and child-abusers who believe that those who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are vastly more valuable and important than others}
Yes, I hear you. And when it comes to securing the domination of the billionaire ruling class over humanity, it makes very little difference if it's Clinton, Trump, Biden, Bush or Obama in office. for example, I just read this fully-referenced article about who created and funds Hamas & ISIS as well as other so-called 'islamic terrorism'. A must read article.
The history of NeoCon/Zionist-generated "terrorism", not just since 2001, but really since 1948, has been a deception manufactured by Western and Israeli intelligence agencies (regardless of whether it's the liberal or conservative wing of the empire in power) https://swprs.org/why-israel-created-hamas/
As for why the US-UK-Zionist billionaire ruling class (and their conservative/liberal salesmen in office) do that? That is discussed in this detailed and VERY important essay, which i think every human should read, every human who wishes to understand from where the world's tribalistic divisions hostilities and conflcts ACTUALLY come from (directed by the divide-and-conquer strategy that the ultra-wealthy hierarchical anti-egalitarian ruling class employs against the rest of us, through the constant use boogeyman enemies )
And how this strategy is specifically applied in the case of Zionism & Hamas, can be seen here in this excellent article which shows quite well how Hamas and the Zionist ruling class operate according to the same ultra-conservative right-wing religious supremacist ideology and why they need each other; how each of them (Hamas and Zionist ruling class) take actions that strenghthen the other (in the eyes of its own public), and help each other keep a grip on its "own people", each of them provides for the other with the perfect boogeyman - a cruel monstrous enemy - with which to frighten its "own people" into obedience and support for them, the rulers of each of the societies, who present themselves as "protectors of the nation" against the scary monstrous boogeyman enemy over there. A truly eye-opening article https://www.pdrboston.org/israeli-leaders-hamas-need-each-oth
Why would the zionist ruling class do that (Both created Hamas AND ensure that the zionist forces inflict as much cruelty, inhumanity and trauma as possible on the local people), the reason is this - like the USA, the Israeli government is run by a very wealthy zionist upper class that economically severely oppresses and exploits Israeli ordinary people (Israel has the third largest gap between rich and poor in the world and the highest poverty rate in the developed world. 18 families own 77% of the entire country's GDP, and same oligarch families also own almost the entire media spectrum). The right-wing zionist billionaire class uses tribal divide-and-rule to brainwash ordinary Israelis by pretending to be our righteous and patriotic "protector" against our boogeyman enemy-- those "evil scary monstrous" Palestinians.
To make the Palestinians be an effective boogeyman enemy, the zionist billionaire class needs Hamas (which it created and funds and keeps in power) to be as frightening to Jews as possible, it needs the boogeyman zionist-funded Hamas to espouse religious supremacist views that are threatening to non-muslims (and which are, by the way, a mirror image of the exclucivist sectarian religious views espoused by right-wing Jewish supremacists, who are the mainstream in Israeli culture and make up the Israeli govt), and it needs Hamas to deliberately direct lethal violence against non-combatant Israeli civilians (i.e. to commit terrorism) in order to make it seem (to propagandized Israelis and others) as if ordinary Palestinians want to kill all Jews..
Hamas plays the role of the scary monstrous Palestinian antisemitic terrorist perfectly; it is exactly what the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class needs in order to scare ordinary Israelis into obediance (to not bring up the severe grievances against the billionaire ruling class which screws us all, but to "patriotically unite" around our great leader and rally around the flag in a tribalistic/nationalist frenzy to "fight the evil monster enemy of the nation") and thus it is exactly what the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class needs in order stay in power and continue to transfer society's wealth upwards from the people to the ultra-rich.
That's the reason that the right-wing Zionist billionaire ruling class wanted to weaken the secular PLO and strengthen religious fundamentalist Hamas, because the Zionist billionaire ruling class intensely FEAR the possibility of Israeli have-nots (ordinary Israeli citizens) viewing Palestinians as human beings, as non-threatening human beings who want to live in safety & security just like them and to not be oppressed by the thieving heartless right-wing billionaire ruling class, just like them.
The ultra-wealthy hierarchical and anti-egalitarian ruling class intensely fear reconcilliation, equality and cooperation of Jews, Muslims and Christians, fear the possibility that the entire land between the Jordan river and the meditarranean sea be a secular democracy, a state of ALL its citizens (not a supremacist state where the immigrants/colonizers who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are dominate and abuse the local palestinian people of the land but) a secular democratic state in which Jews Muslims Christians other religions and the non-relgious would have equal rights under the law and live without war in mutual respect, dignity, safety, prosperity, equality and freedom.
THIS is exactly the reason why the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class began funding Hamas—to ensure that ordinary Israelis would (wrongly) perceive ordinary Palestinians as wanting to kill all Jews and therefore as their enemy, To ensure that ordinary Israelis & Palestinians would fear each other and so will never unite to create a thriving human-centered egalitarian and democratic joint entity where we're equal under the law and where we can live together in mutual respect, dignity, security, freedom, peace, equality and prosperity (by throwing off our warmongering manipulative hierarchical cruel billionaire ruling class that intentionally divides us and pits us tribalistically against each other, and screws us all by moving society's wealth into the hands of the anti-egalitarian fear-driven love-less ultra-wealthy few..
The billionaire ruling class (in israel, in the muslim world and all across the globe) thrives on a mentality of tribalistic fear of the other, of nationalist division, hatred, conflict, violence and trauma. The more they can generate such a traumatic, violent and nationalist hate-filled reality, the more they can keep ordinary people divided and fearful of each other, and clinging onto them (the ultra-wealthy right-wing ruling class in each society) to be our so-called "protectors of the nation" from "those evil people" over there, that scary boogeyman over there who supposedly "just wants to kill us all"
And that is also why the right-wing supremacist zionist ruling class do everything in their power to inflict as much cruelty and inhumanity and traumatize the local people of Palestine as much as possible, because they know that the more they can cruelly traumatize the Palestinians, the higher the likelihood that the palestinians will feel deep anger and resentment and hatred towards the abusive terrorist zionist state and its citizens, and will lash out in retaliation to the constant abuse dispossesion violence theft dehumanization and cruelty directed at them, retaliation which is then cynically used by the zionist ruling class to further depict palestinians as "antisemite monsters" who hate jews for no reason (and the zionists can get away with such cynical manipulation because the billionaire-owned zionist media never shows the context of what palestinians are actually reacting to, but only show the reaction itself without any context, which makes it seem violent and hateful for no reason)
The nonstop cruelty, inhumanity, dispossesion, murder and abuse that the zionist supremacists inflict on palestinians, and the palestinian inevitable reaction, in turn make reconcilliation impossible, which is precisely what the billionaire ruling class wants (reconcilliation and peace between ordinary people is the arch-enemy and the greatest fear of the right-wing billionaire class) AND the palestinian anger & resentment at the constant abuse discrimination inhumanity dispossesion & violence directed at them make palestinians appear very threatening and scary to ordinary Israelis (which, again, ensures that no cooperation would be possible, but rather that hateful trauma-driven nationalism will always reign, ensures that ordinary people will keep being bamboozeled into believing that our enemies are the ordinary people of 'the other side' and thus keep voting for the representitives of the right-wing billionaire class to be our rulers (because these nationalist deceivers pretend to be "the patriotic protectors of the nation" against those 'scary evil monsters over there'; even though IN REALITY the ultra-wealthy ruling class and their vile sectarian tribaliatic representitives do THE EXACT OPPOSITE of providing security, but they are in fact the ones ensuring that the nation is in a constant state of hateful conflict antagonism & war (against the boogeymsn "scary monster enemy") AND ensure that people' wealth keeps flowing upwards to the ultra-rich, while the rest struggle just to keep the head above the water
PS. from the amount of links shared it might seem like that is my website, but it isn't :-) I just think the author is very insightful. Here's his substack, by the way https://johnspritzler.substack.com/
PPS. The term 'right-wing' above refers to BOTH the conservative & liberal wings of the global corporate-capitalist empire
Jesus Christus! as my Icelanders friends say. That guy have pushed you against the ropes!
My dear professor: all along my hearing your public appearances, debates, lessons, even in translating them to my language (Catalan) I've never, never, seen you such ballistacly emotional than in Gaza's war. In the very same conversation you hold your cold realism judging Russia and Ukraine, even China, but, turning to Israel, man, your moral judgement goes far beyond power might, numbers, and national interests.
I have a suspicion that you have been really beaten in some way by the Jewish lobby (maybe because of your book about them). Otherwise I can not understand that deeply moral concern on Gazans that you haven't showed in any other human atrocity (I WW for instance).
Of course you have the right to be, but let some of your devoted supporters be a little shocked, stupefied.
Russian-Ukrainian War is more of a soldier to soldier. Also John tried so hard to convince the parties of this war to de-escalate.
Regarding the Gaza War, every human being feels desperate because Israel and USA are too powerful and they dont hesitate to massacre an entire population in front of our eyes. I think John did the right thing taking a direct stance.
I like Unherd and appreciate Freddie Sayers. But his interview - from the outset - was hostile and tendentious. He looked uncomfortable. On the other hand, you, John, did very well indeed, keeping your cool and responding directly and sensibly to the questions.
I will also use the opportunity of this comment to commend you for talking to a very wide range of people, including the Judge. Somewhere I read someone say, sniffingly, "look at who he talks to!" My reply is: yes, please do look. It shows that John Mearsheimer is not just a smart guy. He is also not a snob.
Peter, in my personal opinion this was a typical gotcha interview. His facts were wrong he was hostile and disrespectful and certainly tried to put word's in his mouth. The other side of that coin is although John is clearly a man of esteem and obviously a very distinguished gentleman - I was glad to see him put him in his place!
John's statement at 24:22 will surprise many realists:
"this is a case where you have a greater Israel and Hamas is a group that operates inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement that's what's going on here this is not Interstate relations REALISM DOESN'T HAVE ALOT TO SAY ABOUT RELATIONS BETWEEN HAMAS AND ISRAEL" (my emphasis).
He is consistent in saying that his theory doesn't have much to say about domestic politics ("inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement "), even from the perspective of the Domestic Determinant of International Politics: on pp10-11 'Tragedy' his "theory pays little attention to individuals or domestic political considerations ... tends to treat states like black boxes or billiard balls").
The idea that power politics doesn't have anything to say about powers that fight states ("inside of Greater Israel and this is a resistance movement") or which are trying to capture state power for themselves leaves the field for realism much narrower than most Realist sub-schools.
It also betrays a peculiar view of International Politics which Offensive Realism officially eschews, of the primacy of legalism. The Palestinians are fighting to become a state, they have Observer status in the UNGA, and manifest many of the facets of a state (no less its war-making capacity), and yet John The Realist has little to say about it.
So much for Statism. Many Realists are coming to terms with Economics, and recognising Economic Power where it is in the Real World, at Systemic and at other levels. Yes, economic power is to be found in the State, but also underneath it, opposed to it, and regardless of it.
So don't you think John should re-evaluate his state-ment?!
In what the late Saddam Hussein once dubbed “the great Satan,” roughly two-thirds of the United States enlisted military corps is white . . . The fat, bulbous, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin once confirmed in a 93-2 vote of the U.S. Senate, immediately embarked on a whirlwind media tour of duty, telling the pseudo-secular sycophants in the state-controlled tabloid press and state-controlled television talk show circuit about how the U.S. Army is full of bad racist white men.
Senior Defense Department leaders celebrating yet another Pride Month at the Pentagon sounding the alarm about the rising number of state laws they say target the LGBTQ+ community, warned the trend is hurting the feelings of the armed forces . . . “LGBTQ plus and other diverse communities are under attack, just because they are different. Hate for hate’s sake,” said Gil Cisneros, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness, who also serves as DoD’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
And now the U.S. Army is doing ads begging for more young white males?
What happened?
Even with a full-on declaration of war from Congress, and even if Gavin Newsome could be cheated into the Oval Office by ZOG somehow, while Globohomo diversity brigades go door-to-door looking to impress American children into military service, they will be met with armed, well-trained opposition, the invasion at the Southern border is going full tilt, and the drugs are flowing in like never before . . .
With the borders of Europe and the USA wide open, civil warfare within the USA, Britain, and most of Europe is a certainty if foreign wars are initiated. Nobody is going to fight a war for Biden, he is dumber than Bush . . . Nobody is going to fight a war for that kikesucking Zionist ass-whore Nikki Haley, and I mean nobody.
Get ready for it . . . the fat old devil worshipping fags on Capitol Hill, on Wall Street, in Whitehall, and in Brussels are in no shape to fight a war themselves, and most Americans are armed to the teeth with their own guns . . . NATO hates heterosexual white men . . . they said so themselves . . .
https://cwspangle.substack.com/i/138320669/nato-an-anti-white-and-anti-family-institution
Seems only the Biden Administration thinks a two-state solution is still possible. I guess he hasn't looked at a map of the West Bank lately. Plus, all the rhetoric coming from Israeli officials these days shows there is absolutely no desire for Palestinian statehood in any form whatsoever.
In the most recent interviews Professor Mearsheimer has revealed his true self - as an "expert" biased against Israel or, in another word, an antisemite.
In this particular interview he just dismisses an argument that Hamas presents an existential threat to Israel.
Well, Hamas is more that an organization - it is an ideology, which is, unfortunately, shared by most Palestinians, an ideology that claims Jews cannot have their own state in their ancestral land.
I had visited Israel in 2001-2002 during the second intifada, when busses, restaurants and shopping malls where attacked by suicide bombers. The country was at a standstill, many were thinking about immigrating elsewhere, and the idea that that was the end of Israel was very mush in the air. On October 7th Palestinians and most of Muslim world had proved that they hate Israel and Jews.
And now this "realist" expert claims that this is not an existential threat and puts on this "moralist" hat and blindly accuses the Jewish state of all kinds of crimes?!?!
Well, masks are off, Professor and your bias is showing...
Great going, sir, another home run for Team Realism and coach Mearsheimer.
Perhaps we could get a piece on the much better alternatives Tel Aviv could have chosen on October 8; for example getting the UN to formally declare Hamas a terror group, cut off its funding from Qatar, and engaging a multi-national force to bring humanitarian aid and armed peacekeepers up from Egypt to arrest armed Hamas fighters and demilitarize Gaza (and especially confiscate their weaponized paragliders) instead of flattening the prison camp from the north downwards.
One comment on the Sayers video, one nation with nukes DID disappear: apartheid South Africa. South Africa ended its nuclear weapons programme in 1989. All the bombs (six constructed and one under construction) were dismantled. Black-run S. Africa is as different a country as a hypothetical Arab-run Israel would be.
FIRSTLY,
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Gaza will hit the US & the West where it matters most…in the wallet. IMAGE IS EVERYTHING.
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Take it from one out here…this https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/research-insights/economy/the-world-in-2050.html will take shape MORE likely on or BEFORE the close of this decade or 500% MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH earlier than envisaged by PWC.
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This is because of the certainly irreparable damage to the image of the US & the West in the general populations of the global south. EG as an example do people buy iPhones, Microsoft and Google products because of technical specs after all, do the tech differences between Samsung, iphone and huawei make a real difference to the average users who make up the overwhelming no. of buyers?
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With fast rising economies and demographics in the global south, the US/West cannot function without foreign markets. Foreign governments may be forced to accept western products however, can you force populations ?
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SECONDLY,
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as an outsider looking into the US, it's seems obvious there will 200% be voter backlash against BIDEN. What's reported in the media is different from what majority feel about what's happening in Gaza.
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THIRDLY,
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Netanyahu should never have allowed western leaders to fly in for photo ops. That soiled the image of Israel as a weak country. Whereas I have clearly stated my understanding about Israels predicament here https://thinwa.substack.com/p/eurasian-civilisations-go-to-war the US specifically BIDEN has failed the world and especially PAX AMERICANA by failing to be the grownUp !!
Did the Palestinians vote for Hamas? Did Hamas state their goal was to destroy all Jews from the river to the sea? Does the the Palestinian parents teach their young to hate Jews?
When I was 15 years old a big kid suck punched me in the face for no good reason, I did nothing he out weighted me by 30 pounds. Soon after another older kid bullied me, I did nothing.
So I learned Karate.
I challenged the big kid to a fight for the next Friday after school. 200 kids showed up for the fight. When he came at me I gave him fare warning that I knew Karate, he kept coming.
He tried to kick me in the balls, he missed. I then hit him with a right hook, then I picked him off the ground an inch rotate him and threw him down on a parking stone on his back.
I then hit him 3 times in each kidney, chopped him on the neck and kicked him in the face. He did not go unconscious, but instead he had a look of horror on his face. He the got up and started running away. I tried to catch but after only 15 second I was gassed and couldn't catch him.
He losr a tooth and was pissing blood for a couple a days.
Was that overkill?
Anyway the rest of my time in school nobody challenged me again.
So are the innocent Palestinians really innocent?
Completely wrong analogy, one that can only be made by omitting the elephant in the room: 56 years of brutal occupation and 16 years of siege, both illegal under international law and consistently condemned by 99% of the countries of the world. Israel is the bully, not the Palestinians. They are the occupied, deprived of their national and human rights. Hamas is in large part a creation of Israel -- both directly (Israel directly assisted the precursor of Hamas in the 1980s, and then again -- under Netanyahu! -- allowed huge amounts of Qatari funds for Hamas in the 2010s) and, more importantly, by creating the miserable conditions in Gaza that fosters hatred of, yes, occupiers. It's not surprising Hamas got a *plurality* (45%) of the vote in 2006, because Fatah was utterly corrupt and incompetent. And by the way, Israel and the US immediately rejected the results of a free election that they pushed for! (By comparison, Donald Trump, a racist extremist who tried to undermine US democracy and will again if elected, lost the popular vote in 2020, but should we blame all Americans for voting for him and therefore legitimate targets for genocidal massacre?) Wouldn't you hate the people who occupied you and denied your rights? Unfortunately, there is antisemitism among some Palestinians, just as there is a lot of anti-Arab/Palestinian racism among Israeli Jews, including by Netanyahu and his ministers alike.
Very interesting and feisty interview. Thank Prof Meerscheimer. Your insight and knowledge are greatly valued. Thank you Freddy for delving into the hard questions, something not attempted in most public media.
"I don't have to provide a consistency of approach", said the professor.
And that pretty much sums it up.
This was a "gotcha" style interview. I admire John's ability to say what he believes without hesitation and his rigorous and cold analysis. He exposes the facts and reality and leaves the moral judgment to viewer. Also as a human being he has every right to take a moral stance.
I wonder how Freddie Sayers takes a moral stance on Gaza massacre.
I'm going to comment as I watch this:
First question - asked and answered! Period! If he didn't like the answer don't ask it not to mention the stupidity of the question itself. You're more outraged about Israel than you were about Ukraine, why?
You can't possibly compare the two let alone PUTIN to Netanyahu! I am however ecstatic to see Johns indignation! Bravo my friend bravo!
Clearly this man doesn't know his facts and is simply regurgitating the same falsehoods being spewed elsewhere. How do you respond to Hamas deliberately putting centers of operations in civilian centers? This is clearly (thus far) a gothcha interview. Gaza is NOT that big of an area - basically the same size of Manhattan but more people per square mile - I would have shut him up and simply said the command center was NOT under the hospital and if you had done your research you would have known Israel certainly knew it was also five miles away - hence the staged evidence!
Then he goes on to say, you're saying (he's putting words in his mouth) you can't have a two state solution because of the antipathy people in Gaza and the West Bank feel towards Israel? John already had said the Israel's are determined to create a Greater Israel - (precisely what this conflict is about!)
I'm very upset John continues to say he doesn't have an opinion how this will end however I was overjoyed when he finally went back at him at the 14 minutes mark! The SOB went back to the first question - "I'm surprised how enthusiastically you "embrace" the rhetoric of Israel critics!" He keeps comparing the two!
Sorry but I had to stop watching when this imbecile (who clearly was paid by Israel do this interview) said: THE UNITED STATES IS THE FORCE IN THE THE WHOLE WORLD THAT IS RESTRAINING ISRAEL THE MOST!
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN - Oh! My! God!
Well at least after that when Freddy said if US didn't give Israel money, that would pose an existential threat, and John looked at him like he was nuts. He set him straight regarding that nonsense although I'm sure pretty boy John still believes it. You know, Israel is smack dab in the middle of all those nasty Arabs that have been dehumanized by Western world for so long. I'm pretty sure that's the story John has been told his entire life.
Hey Denise I think you may've accidently used the wrong names because the rest of your post makes total sense and would align with accidently switching them!
I couldn't watch it after the Putz said: The US is the only one in the whole world that is restraining Israel. You could hear me burst out laughing on the moon - I couldn't believe he said it nor could John.
So the Putz repeated that lie as well - if we don't give Israel money they're coming after us? Common sense tells you, the more we piss them off, the more we supply Israel with arms - the more will kill and maim innocent civilian's - the more we overthrow governments THE MORE THE EXISTENTIAL THREATS - now that we have opened the boarders to all!
Oops, I sure did.
I believe there is a systematic misunderstanding or bias in the minds of conservative westerns like Freddie. They are clearly buying every propaganda piece when it is against muslims and middle easterners. They should have been more sceptical about them as they did during covid and ukraine.
You are right that Freddie misbehaved and even made John upset.
Terrible terrible terrible - how dare he continue to spew the same egregious lies - he's a journalist - his very job is to seek out - uncover and report the truth! It all boils down to choosing sides and which is more profitable financial and otherwise. John is a man of great esteem - this putz however truly embarrassed himself!!
John needs to stick to shows like Glenn Greenwald and similar shows of his caliber!
Why is it that states can only apply Realist logic to only other states and not non-state actors? It can be argued that with the rise of asymmetric warfare, there is an increasing need for states to expand the scope of their security dilemma to include threats like the October 7th attacks even if the people threatening those attacks fall within the international boundaries of one state.
Notwithstanding how Israel withdrew from Gaza (albeit for mixed reasons), treating Hamas as an external army even if they don't have formal statehood is logical. This is how asymmetric warfare works where a state (in this case Iran) is conducting its policy from an arm's distance with a non-state actor as its vehicle. Realism stands to dictate that it is in Israel's strategic interest to not let Iran's proxies survive and operate and from that perspective civilian casualties start weighing less against hard security interests. The idea of the two state solution actually escalates this problem until Hamas remains in power. Even the American president agrees with that.
Should Israel find a better way? Sure, but states being rational actors also have to act within their limitations and creating a new paradigm of engagement with the Palestinians currently falls outside those limitations. It might be possible to recreate conditions that lead to that new paradigm on 'the day after the war' when the Israeli political establishment changes.
Read this analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by notable commentators including John Mearsheimer https://open.substack.com/pub/realpolitik/p/global-communications-analysis-edition-ff5?r=1nsvqs&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true
There is effrctively already only one state from the river to the sea, the problem is that this one state is NOT a democratic state of ALL its people but it is a terrorist supremacist state that elevates one group as superior over another, ruled by fanatical neo-nazi supremacists, mass-murderers, torturers and child-abusers who believe that those who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are vastly more valuable and important than others, and that their fake sectarian nationalist "god" (which is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what God/consciousness actually is) gave them the "divine" right to arrive from a different continent and proceed to engage in a century-long zionist project to disposss, throw out, annihilate, dehumanize and erase the local people of Palestine .
This is indicated not only their cruel murderous dispossesing genocidal actions against the local people, but also by the statements of the zionist leaders from the very beginning, as is clearly known to any student of history, such as myself, who has read their original writings and interviews and speeches. The dispossesion and erasure of the local people in order to make way for the superior "chosen people" was the point from the very beginning and was never questioned for even a moment)
You csn learn more about this from this wise Israeli historian in this mind-blowing discussion
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nUjdDYoTZG0
Or also from this profound interview with this (different) insightful and truth-dedicated Israeli historian https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MuzWDWBn55g&list=WL&index=8&pp=gAQBiAQB
And to learn the most recent iteration of the right-wing zionist immigrants/colonizers to destroy and disposses the local people of Palestine (even before the current genocide and Holocaust they are perpetrating) see this shocking documentary, which i can confirm is 100% true based on my own personal experience in the zionist occupation & dispossesion military forces https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3psMGQE0iW4
And then PLEASE don't miss this this short video https://youtu.be/CSff-Ip1kZs?si=udYd0XxYz6kbcDMb that tells you the horrific TRUTH of what is being done, everything that the mainstream media don't dare to mention.. please don't turn away, PLEASE watch this short video.
In my view the path forward out of this horror is not strictly in political arrangemnts (that's also important but secondary) but rather it lies in the heart of people, in the ability/capacity to see the humanity of another before viewing them as a label (palestinian, israeli, muslim, jew), as well as in coming to terms with and acknowledging the IMMENSE AND PROFOUND TRAUMA that each "side" has caused the other and in finding ways to heal together.
(and before I proceed I'd just like to say that unlike most Jews, I'm fully aware and acknowledge that the trauma that supremacist zionists caused the local people over the last century - in their brutal ruthless cruel project of dispossesion, annihilation, dehumanization and ERASURE of the local people in Palestine - is many many orders of magnitude greater than the other way around.
This capacity mentioned above, to step out of one's bubble and hear/see the humanity of another before seeing a label (and the stories attached to the label), requires having CONTACT between the "sides" so that they may hear each other's stories and each other's pain, but this contact is prevented and denied becasue of the incredible dominance of the sectarian nationalist divisive ideology in both sides.
As someone who was given at birth the label 'Jewish' and 'Israeli' (but have already long ago seen through their inaccurate, distorting, corrupting, limiting, imprisoning, divisive, sectarian and God-denying nature, and so have shed these labels) I notice that what allows this ongoing horror to happen (not only today but for more than a century now) is that there is such a total SEPARATION AND DISCONNECTION between the "sides" (this is one of the greatest successes of nationalism, to separate people) so that people from both "sides" have no full understanding of the life experience & trauma experience of those on the "other side".
From what I see, this total DISCONNECTION is exactly what allows people to cheer when "our hero fighters" (whom the other side calls terrorists or invaders/dispossesors) murder, torture, oppress, abuse, slaughter and bomb "them", because each side says "they are evil people who only want to harm us, take our land and kill us/kick us out", and each side has countless examples of actions by the other side that are supposed to "prove" the supposed rightness of their claim.
Each "side" is enclosed and contained within its own SECTARIAN BUBBLE and tells itself its own story, about its trauma and difficulties, and is completely unaware of the life experience and trauma of the "other side".
And so, when the other side reacts (in what it calls self-defense) then the first side interprets it as an attack (becasue of its DISCONNECTION from the stories and sense-making of the other side) and tells a story that "those people on the other side" are evil monsters who only want to harm our side for no reason
It's quite amazing how similar the story that each side tells itself to the story that the other side tells itself, it is practically the SAME STORY - we are the victims here who are only protecting ourselves from the aggression of those evil people over there who only want to harm us and hate us for no reason. We have no one to talk to and negotiate with, they are not human beings, they are sons of Satan who hate us from birth, who only want to destroy us and take our land and kick us out - each side speaks the exact same stories!!
And all this lack of understanding happens simply because there is NO CONTACT between the "sides". This is the tremendous success of nationalism/tribalism, there is a complete disconnection, so that I don't hear the story that the other side tells itself and how they make sense of things, I don't experience their life experience, I don't know anything about their pain, I don't realize how much the story they tell themselves is the same as the story I tell myself, and therefore there is no possibility of experiencing the HUMANITY (the fear, the search for security) that motivates the other, just as it motivates me, and therefore also indifference to the trauma that the other goes through at the hands of "our heroic fighters"
It seems to me that those who have fallen into the abyss of sectarianism/tribalism/nationalism (and especially those whose tribalism also involves divisive, excluding, supremacist and God-denying sectarian religious beliefs) have been conditioned to believe that their saftey & security will be found through group separation and exclusion and a sense of uniqueness from the rest of humanity (a feeling that is so deeply imprinted in those who believe that the label of "Jewish" is who they actually are), that security will be found through an attempt to ensure the safety of ONLY one group of people, only those who were born into the "correct" religious-national label (and anyone who was not born into the correct national-religious label can go to hell. She matters a little but not nearly as much as the Chosen People, the most valuable and important people in the universe). It sounds ridiculous, but this is a VERY common & mainstream worldview in the extremely nationalist, ethnocentric, fascistic & exclucivist Israeli society, and it plays a huge part in what brought about this conflict in the first place, since the very early days of sectarian exclucivist zionist nationalism, and its arrival in the middle east from (mostly) eastern Europe.
To me, this is precisely the blindness of the sectarian nationalist-religious identity: trying to create security ONLY for one group, only for a part of the whole (through division, exclusion, separation from the whole and working to secure the narrow interests of only one nationalist-religious identity), such an attempt - of trying to create security ONLY for the part and ignore what this does to the whole - such an attempt can NEVER ever lead to real security but exactly the opposite - this is the number one factor that creates constant conflict and INSECURITY!!!
TRYING TO CREATE SECTARIAN SECURITY (SECURITY ONLY FOR THE PART AND NOT THE WHOLE, ONLY FOR ME AND MY GROUP) IS THE VERY CAUSE OF INSECURITY!!!
In my understanding, tribalism/nationalism and sectarian divisive exoteric religion (which is the POLAR OPPOSITE of what God/Consciousness actually is) is the great disease and blindness of humanity. Is the most destructive and deadly invention that humans have ever invented (not because we are bad, but because we have not psychologically matured yet, and are still blind, and in our ingnorance & blindness we believed that this is how we will find safety & security, without understanding what we are doing, without realizing that we are actually creating constant INSECURITY when we search for security through the sectarian divisive nationalist-religious identity, when we seek security only for the part and not for the whole).
IMHO, the bloodshed can never stop and there will never be security for anyone unless we have the courage to step out of our sectarian bubble and actually listen and truly understand the profound trauma we inflict (this is true for both sides but especially so for Israelis who are incredibly brainwashed and ignorant of the UNSPEAKABLE HORROR CRUELTY INHUMANITY AND TRAUMA that supremacist right-wing zionist immigrants/colonizers inflicted and inflict on the local people.
Without feeling the pain endured and understanding what palestinians are actually reacting to, indoctrinated supremacist zionists will just continue with the dispossession, cruelty, throwing-out and erasure of the local people, and keep telling themselves 'they are hostile to us for no reason, simply becasue they are evil antisemite monsters by nature..'
Hey H & H
Forgive me for having a bit of fun but as I read your opening lines - all I could picture was Hillary Clinton saying ALL OF THIS but changing the word Jew to Palestinians! This is how delirious they are - which is why I conjured up the image!
{There is effectively already only one state from the river to the sea, the problem is that this one state is NOT a democratic state of ALL its people but it is a terrorist supremacist state that elevates one group as superior over another, ruled by fanatical neo-Nazi supremacists, mass-murderers, torturers and child-abusers who believe that those who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are vastly more valuable and important than others}
Yes, I hear you. And when it comes to securing the domination of the billionaire ruling class over humanity, it makes very little difference if it's Clinton, Trump, Biden, Bush or Obama in office. for example, I just read this fully-referenced article about who created and funds Hamas & ISIS as well as other so-called 'islamic terrorism'. A must read article.
The history of NeoCon/Zionist-generated "terrorism", not just since 2001, but really since 1948, has been a deception manufactured by Western and Israeli intelligence agencies (regardless of whether it's the liberal or conservative wing of the empire in power) https://swprs.org/why-israel-created-hamas/
As for why the US-UK-Zionist billionaire ruling class (and their conservative/liberal salesmen in office) do that? That is discussed in this detailed and VERY important essay, which i think every human should read, every human who wishes to understand from where the world's tribalistic divisions hostilities and conflcts ACTUALLY come from (directed by the divide-and-conquer strategy that the ultra-wealthy hierarchical anti-egalitarian ruling class employs against the rest of us, through the constant use boogeyman enemies )
https://www.pdrboston.org/oppressors-need-bogeyman-enemies
And how this strategy is specifically applied in the case of Zionism & Hamas, can be seen here in this excellent article which shows quite well how Hamas and the Zionist ruling class operate according to the same ultra-conservative right-wing religious supremacist ideology and why they need each other; how each of them (Hamas and Zionist ruling class) take actions that strenghthen the other (in the eyes of its own public), and help each other keep a grip on its "own people", each of them provides for the other with the perfect boogeyman - a cruel monstrous enemy - with which to frighten its "own people" into obedience and support for them, the rulers of each of the societies, who present themselves as "protectors of the nation" against the scary monstrous boogeyman enemy over there. A truly eye-opening article https://www.pdrboston.org/israeli-leaders-hamas-need-each-oth
Why would the zionist ruling class do that (Both created Hamas AND ensure that the zionist forces inflict as much cruelty, inhumanity and trauma as possible on the local people), the reason is this - like the USA, the Israeli government is run by a very wealthy zionist upper class that economically severely oppresses and exploits Israeli ordinary people (Israel has the third largest gap between rich and poor in the world and the highest poverty rate in the developed world. 18 families own 77% of the entire country's GDP, and same oligarch families also own almost the entire media spectrum). The right-wing zionist billionaire class uses tribal divide-and-rule to brainwash ordinary Israelis by pretending to be our righteous and patriotic "protector" against our boogeyman enemy-- those "evil scary monstrous" Palestinians.
To make the Palestinians be an effective boogeyman enemy, the zionist billionaire class needs Hamas (which it created and funds and keeps in power) to be as frightening to Jews as possible, it needs the boogeyman zionist-funded Hamas to espouse religious supremacist views that are threatening to non-muslims (and which are, by the way, a mirror image of the exclucivist sectarian religious views espoused by right-wing Jewish supremacists, who are the mainstream in Israeli culture and make up the Israeli govt), and it needs Hamas to deliberately direct lethal violence against non-combatant Israeli civilians (i.e. to commit terrorism) in order to make it seem (to propagandized Israelis and others) as if ordinary Palestinians want to kill all Jews..
Hamas plays the role of the scary monstrous Palestinian antisemitic terrorist perfectly; it is exactly what the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class needs in order to scare ordinary Israelis into obediance (to not bring up the severe grievances against the billionaire ruling class which screws us all, but to "patriotically unite" around our great leader and rally around the flag in a tribalistic/nationalist frenzy to "fight the evil monster enemy of the nation") and thus it is exactly what the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class needs in order stay in power and continue to transfer society's wealth upwards from the people to the ultra-rich.
That's the reason that the right-wing Zionist billionaire ruling class wanted to weaken the secular PLO and strengthen religious fundamentalist Hamas, because the Zionist billionaire ruling class intensely FEAR the possibility of Israeli have-nots (ordinary Israeli citizens) viewing Palestinians as human beings, as non-threatening human beings who want to live in safety & security just like them and to not be oppressed by the thieving heartless right-wing billionaire ruling class, just like them.
The ultra-wealthy hierarchical and anti-egalitarian ruling class intensely fear reconcilliation, equality and cooperation of Jews, Muslims and Christians, fear the possibility that the entire land between the Jordan river and the meditarranean sea be a secular democracy, a state of ALL its citizens (not a supremacist state where the immigrants/colonizers who were given at birth the label 'Jew' are dominate and abuse the local palestinian people of the land but) a secular democratic state in which Jews Muslims Christians other religions and the non-relgious would have equal rights under the law and live without war in mutual respect, dignity, safety, prosperity, equality and freedom.
THIS is exactly the reason why the right-wing zionist billionaire ruling class began funding Hamas—to ensure that ordinary Israelis would (wrongly) perceive ordinary Palestinians as wanting to kill all Jews and therefore as their enemy, To ensure that ordinary Israelis & Palestinians would fear each other and so will never unite to create a thriving human-centered egalitarian and democratic joint entity where we're equal under the law and where we can live together in mutual respect, dignity, security, freedom, peace, equality and prosperity (by throwing off our warmongering manipulative hierarchical cruel billionaire ruling class that intentionally divides us and pits us tribalistically against each other, and screws us all by moving society's wealth into the hands of the anti-egalitarian fear-driven love-less ultra-wealthy few..
The billionaire ruling class (in israel, in the muslim world and all across the globe) thrives on a mentality of tribalistic fear of the other, of nationalist division, hatred, conflict, violence and trauma. The more they can generate such a traumatic, violent and nationalist hate-filled reality, the more they can keep ordinary people divided and fearful of each other, and clinging onto them (the ultra-wealthy right-wing ruling class in each society) to be our so-called "protectors of the nation" from "those evil people" over there, that scary boogeyman over there who supposedly "just wants to kill us all"
And that is also why the right-wing supremacist zionist ruling class do everything in their power to inflict as much cruelty and inhumanity and traumatize the local people of Palestine as much as possible, because they know that the more they can cruelly traumatize the Palestinians, the higher the likelihood that the palestinians will feel deep anger and resentment and hatred towards the abusive terrorist zionist state and its citizens, and will lash out in retaliation to the constant abuse dispossesion violence theft dehumanization and cruelty directed at them, retaliation which is then cynically used by the zionist ruling class to further depict palestinians as "antisemite monsters" who hate jews for no reason (and the zionists can get away with such cynical manipulation because the billionaire-owned zionist media never shows the context of what palestinians are actually reacting to, but only show the reaction itself without any context, which makes it seem violent and hateful for no reason)
The nonstop cruelty, inhumanity, dispossesion, murder and abuse that the zionist supremacists inflict on palestinians, and the palestinian inevitable reaction, in turn make reconcilliation impossible, which is precisely what the billionaire ruling class wants (reconcilliation and peace between ordinary people is the arch-enemy and the greatest fear of the right-wing billionaire class) AND the palestinian anger & resentment at the constant abuse discrimination inhumanity dispossesion & violence directed at them make palestinians appear very threatening and scary to ordinary Israelis (which, again, ensures that no cooperation would be possible, but rather that hateful trauma-driven nationalism will always reign, ensures that ordinary people will keep being bamboozeled into believing that our enemies are the ordinary people of 'the other side' and thus keep voting for the representitives of the right-wing billionaire class to be our rulers (because these nationalist deceivers pretend to be "the patriotic protectors of the nation" against those 'scary evil monsters over there'; even though IN REALITY the ultra-wealthy ruling class and their vile sectarian tribaliatic representitives do THE EXACT OPPOSITE of providing security, but they are in fact the ones ensuring that the nation is in a constant state of hateful conflict antagonism & war (against the boogeymsn "scary monster enemy") AND ensure that people' wealth keeps flowing upwards to the ultra-rich, while the rest struggle just to keep the head above the water
PS. from the amount of links shared it might seem like that is my website, but it isn't :-) I just think the author is very insightful. Here's his substack, by the way https://johnspritzler.substack.com/
PPS. The term 'right-wing' above refers to BOTH the conservative & liberal wings of the global corporate-capitalist empire
Well! I certainly have my (reading) work cut out for me today! Thank you ever so kindly for taking the time to explain and help educate us!
Jesus Christus! as my Icelanders friends say. That guy have pushed you against the ropes!
My dear professor: all along my hearing your public appearances, debates, lessons, even in translating them to my language (Catalan) I've never, never, seen you such ballistacly emotional than in Gaza's war. In the very same conversation you hold your cold realism judging Russia and Ukraine, even China, but, turning to Israel, man, your moral judgement goes far beyond power might, numbers, and national interests.
I have a suspicion that you have been really beaten in some way by the Jewish lobby (maybe because of your book about them). Otherwise I can not understand that deeply moral concern on Gazans that you haven't showed in any other human atrocity (I WW for instance).
Of course you have the right to be, but let some of your devoted supporters be a little shocked, stupefied.
WW1 is far history. Nobody is so emotional.
Russian-Ukrainian War is more of a soldier to soldier. Also John tried so hard to convince the parties of this war to de-escalate.
Regarding the Gaza War, every human being feels desperate because Israel and USA are too powerful and they dont hesitate to massacre an entire population in front of our eyes. I think John did the right thing taking a direct stance.
I'm hoping you're implying that was the underlying intent of this schmuck!
By the way, 'what's good for the goose is good for the gender', I learned that from you.
I like Unherd and appreciate Freddie Sayers. But his interview - from the outset - was hostile and tendentious. He looked uncomfortable. On the other hand, you, John, did very well indeed, keeping your cool and responding directly and sensibly to the questions.
I will also use the opportunity of this comment to commend you for talking to a very wide range of people, including the Judge. Somewhere I read someone say, sniffingly, "look at who he talks to!" My reply is: yes, please do look. It shows that John Mearsheimer is not just a smart guy. He is also not a snob.
Peter, in my personal opinion this was a typical gotcha interview. His facts were wrong he was hostile and disrespectful and certainly tried to put word's in his mouth. The other side of that coin is although John is clearly a man of esteem and obviously a very distinguished gentleman - I was glad to see him put him in his place!
At least Meatshammer knows Ukraine and Russia cannot compromise or negotiate. Ukraine will win.