There is no rhyme or reason/ For any of this slash & burn/ Everybody gets a season/ This time round it's Brazil's turn (With apologies to Alistair Hulett)
***
Top analysis from James Petras: Trump's alliance with body-choppers, death squads & child-killers: Saudi Arabia, Brazil & Israel:
"In recent weeks the White House has embraced the contemporary version of the world's most murderous regimes. President Trump has embraced the Saudi Arabian 'Prince of Death' Mohammad bin Salman who has graduated from chopping hands and heads in public plazas to dismembering bodies in overseas consulates - the case of Jamal Khashoggi.
"The White House warmly greeted the electoral success of Brazilian Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, ardent champion of torturers, military dictators, death squads and free marketeers.
"President Trump grovels, grunts and glories before Israel, as his spiritual guide Benjamin Netanyahu celebrates the Sabbath with the weekly murders and maiming of hundreds of unarmed Palestinians, especially youngsters.
"These are President Trump's 'natural allies'. They share his values and interests while each retains their particular method of disposing of the cadavers of adversaries and dissenters.
"We will proceed to discuss the larger political-economic context in which the trio of monsters operate...
"President Trump's intimate ties with the world's most unsavory regimes flows from several strategic interests. In the case of Saudi Arabia, it includes military bases; the financing of international mercenaries and terrorists; multi-billion dollar arms sales; oil profits; and covert alliances with Israel against Iran, Syria and Yemen. In order to secure these Saudi assets, the White House is more than willing to assume certain socio-political costs. The US eagerly sells weapons and provides advisers to Saudi's genocidal invasion, murder and starvation of millions of Yemenis. The White House alliance against Yemen has few monetary rewards or political advantages as well as negative propaganda value. However, with few other client states in the region, Washington makes do with Prince Salman 'the salami slicer.' The US ignores Saudi financing of Islamic terrorists against US allies in Asia (the Philippines) and Afghanistan as well as rival thugs in Syria and Libya. Alas, when a pro-US collaborator like Washington Post journalist and US resident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated, President Trump was forced to adopt the pretense of an investigation in order to distance himself from the Riyadh mafia. He subsequently exonerated butcher boy bin Salman: he invented a flagrant lie - blaming 'rogue elements' in charge of the interrogation, - read torture.
"President Trump celebrated the electoral victory of Brazilian neo-liberal fascist Jair Bolsonaro because he checks all the right boxes: he promises to slash economic regulations and corporate taxes for multi-national corporations. He is an ardent ally of Washington's economic war against Venezuela and Cuba. He promises to arm right-wing death squads and militarize the police. He pledges to be a loyal follower of US war policies abroad. However, Bolsonaro cannot support Trump's trade war especially against China which is the market for almost 40% of Brazil's agro-exports. This is especially the case since agro-business bosses are Bolsonaro's principal economic and congressional supporters. Given Washington's limited influence in the rest of Latin America, Brazil's neo-liberal fascist regime acts as Trump's principal ally.
"Israel is the White House's mentor and chief of operations in the Middle East, as well as a strategic military ally. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has seized and colonized most of the West Bank and militarily occupied the rest of Palestine; jailed and tortured tens of thousands of political dissidents; surrounded and starved over a million Gaza residents; imposed ethno-religious conditions for citizenship in Israel, denying basic rights for over 20% of the Arab residents of the self-styled 'Jewish state'.
"Netanyahu has bombed hundreds of Syrian cities, towns, airports and bases in support of ISIS terrorists and Western mercenaries. Israel intervenes in US elections, buys Congressional votes and secures White House recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.
"Zionists in North America and Great Britain act as a 'fifth column' securing unanimous favorable mass media coverage of its apartheid policies.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu secures unconditional US financial and political support and the most advanced weaponry.
"In exchange Washington considers itself privileged to serve as foot soldiers for Israeli targeted wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Somalia... Israel collaborates with the US in defending Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Netanyahu and his Zionist allies in the White House succeeded in reversing the nuclear agreement with Iran and imposing new and harsher economic sanctions.
"Israel has its own agenda: it defies President Trump's sanctions policies against Russia and its trade war with China. Israel eagerly engages in the sales of arms and high-tech innovations to Beijing." (petras.lahaine.org, 16/10/18)
***
In addition to his slashing and burning of Brazil, Bolsonaro, a throwback to the Brazilian military dictatorship of 1964-1985, has declared, on US television, that the first country he will visit as a Christian will be Israel.
The final word I'll leave to this 29/10 tweet of Netanyahu:
"I spoke this evening with the president-elect of Brazil, @jairbolsonaro. I congratulated him on his victory. I told him I'm certain his election will lead to a great friendship between our peoples and a strengthening of BrazilIsrael ties. We are waiting for his visit to Israel!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I feel inclined to make many comments on this, MERC, but I'll restrict to three:
1. There was no big fuss in the Western media when Saudi Arabia bombed a Yemeni bus full of schoolchildren a few weeks ago, but we have had day after day of front page press coverage of the Khashoggi killing. Why? Come on, someone from the media, please explain.
2. From pieces I have read by people with serious knowledge of what is happening in the US Government (apologies for no citation but I'm busy and google is available) Sheldon Adelson was the person who had the JCPOA overturned, forced the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and pushed the appointments of Bolton and Pompeo. His reward for supporting Trump's campaign.
3. The Israeli Lobby forced (very little forcing was necessary of course) the US Congress to pass the Qualitative Military Edge legislation that requires the US to provide Israel with technological, tactical, and other resources to maintain its military edge over all potential adversaries. Ally or no ally (and that's an argument for another day), how can any country pass such legislation? What will happen when other countries have better military systems than the US is capable of providing?
Post a Comment