Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

A liberal view

“The truth of the matter is, it’s all within our wheelhouse and nobody has to be punished. No one’s standard of living would change. Nothing would fundamentally change.” –Joe Biden The failure of neoliberalism has undercut U.S. capitalism’s ability to compete within—and by extension dominate—the world system. That is why there is broad support among business elites and the political establishment for Biden’s turn and why it is a dangerous illusion to present it as a concession to the Left. His imperialist Keynesianism is designed to re-cohere a deeply divided nation, rehabilitate the foundations of U.S. capitalism, and reassert U.S. hegemony over the world state system—especially against China, its rising imperial rival. Biden’s proposed expansion of welfare state spending will do little to mitigate the profound social inequalities of the U.S. As Susan Watkins argues, if enacted the plans will not even bring the U.S. welfare state up to the current level of those in Europe, which thems

The US Never Interferes in Other Countries’ Elections? Related Joe, here is a book on the CIA website Killing Hope - US Military & CIA Interventions Since WWII

Is he really trying to redistribute wealth to workers? ‘Redistribute’, not ‘distribute’ implies that wealth was once distributed to workers. No, what happened between 1945 until the ascent of the neoliberal form of capitalism was a social contract based on compromise between the state, capital and trade unions.  Are the profits too high? I don’t think so. One of the reasons we are in an “era of anaemic economic growth” is that the low rate of profit/of return to capital is not high enough to incentivise the capitalists to invest. Thus some governments are intervening and pouring money into the economy and corporations as well as giving financial support to families and individuals, especially because of the pandemic. As Cédric Duran put it: “  Is this shift sufficient to tackle the century’s social and ecological crises? Not nearly. Does it alter essential class relations? On the contrary: it strives to re-legitimize the social order. Is it unambiguous? No: while private finance has be

  Why he cannot even condemn Israeli violence Related “If Israel didn’t exist, the U.S. would have to invent one.” It’s “a three-billion-dollar-investment.” He said that in 1986. And “the Saudi are not bad guys; they’re fine people.” Listen to him

This book is definitely a must read. It implies though that there is no alternative to capitalism. State intervention should remedy the ills of the system. The review concludes with a typical misleading suggestion: “If Biden truly intends to establish a more just and egalitarian economic order, he would do well to consult both the achievements and the tragedies of U.S. development documented in Levy’s book.” The use of the comparative form implies that there is already a sort of ‘just and egalitarian economic order’, which an absurd thing to say. Biden could make that order more just and egalitarian. Why does one not just state: “if Biden truly intends to establish a just and egalitarian order...”? Portrait of the United States as a Developing Country

A comparison between the left’s programme and Biden’s

  Good points here. However, I don’t agree with this: Those who share love and admiration for a pluralizing world must unite across differences of race, class, gender and theology in their efforts to restore our democracy. The author believes in class collaboration. Class is central in the same system of imperialism he is condemning yet he advocate a unity across differences regardless of class. What sort of democracy is a one that maintains class opression? Biden’s characterisation of Putin applies to ‘Neoliberal Ideologies’, too.

  Smarter Empire 

From a magazine that supported the invasion of Iraq, supported Israel —and probably still does—and it is now ‘baptised’ as ‘progressive’. The question remains: it is not about individuals—individualising regimes is a prevalent narrative—but about an imperialist state that strives to maintain its hegemony through violence—among other means— in a changing world. In this particular case, I can do it and get away with it. An ally of mine, Israel, can do it and get away with it. New President, Same Old Forever War

 An online event Repression and Political Prisoners in Egypt

Warning:  If you read this article, you might wake up tomorrow morning from uneasy dreams and found yourself transformed in your bed into a gigantic anti-Semitic. American mouthpieces for Israeli government had unrivalled access to Obama White House

Saudi-led coalition loses its grip

Among those who propagated the ‘lesser evil’ argument were Noam Chomsky and socialist historian Howard Zinn.  Thanks to Joseph Massad for reminding me. Why US progressives back Biden Related Chomsky, Zinn and Obabma

 Very good! Biden replaces Trump: A malignant ‘normalcy’ is restored

 “ I think we can get too distracted by minor doctrinal disputes between self-proclaimed centrists and right-wingers and miss the fact that the default intellectual culture in Anglo-America is overwhelmingly right wing. It tends to take reactionary and anti-left positions and has done so for a long time. The names can change. People can switch institutional affiliations. But the defense of the establishment and the US-led liberal order and other Cold War verities such as classical liberalism, Western values, the Enlightenment, and Zionism remains their primary task. This is the legacy of the lucrative conformism noted by Alfred Kazin and Czeslaw Milosz.” The Liberal Establishment is ‘a Stranger to Self-Examination’

The no vote polled the highest national vote with 37%.  There were another 20m voting age Americans excluded from the poll for various nefarious reasons (they had committed a felony or the state administration had refused their registration). In fact, the turn out was 58%. And make no mistake, if the election was not held in an unprecedented situation, i.e. the pandemic, Trump would have won. Contrary to “Biden will unite and heal the country,” some liberals have no illusions:    It’s still Trump’s America