Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

From Obama to Trump to Biden and back to Trump, the country has been devastated by US air strikes Related “Made in France” war in Yemen ‘ Houthi Hunting Club. Red Sea 2023-2024’

“The book suffers from American exceptionalism that sees Trump as an aberration of the post-WWII order.”

“The myth of ‘Western values’ died in Gaza. Myths do not die. They are debunked or refuted. They often persist for a long time and are adaped to new contexts; they are part of a belief system. I remember well after Iraq and Afghanistan how people invoked ‘democracy’ and ‘Western values’ in a way not dissimilar from what the Bushes and Blairs and later the Obamas and Bidens articulated them. Recently, a student at the ‘best’ European university in social sciences told me that the myth of sectarianism in the Middle Ast is still being repeated. A white liberal, ‘MeeToo’ English woman what Russia was doing in Ukraine was ‘a Russian thing. It's in their history’. Zelenskyy's recent rise in ‘popularity’ among many is built upon ‘the myth of Western values’ defending Ukraine against an authoritarian Russian regime. Myths are strentghned through amnesia. History is brushed aside and Pavlovian conditioning is enforced.  We should remember how the emergence of ISIS was analysed. How ...

“[W]hy take the time to engage with global and regional history, international political economy, imperialism theory, and war studies just to find oneself in the uncomfortable position of being at odds with the propaganda and power of Western liberal states and state media and their interests?”

“Rather than watching an orchestrated, forgettable set piece featuring smiling foreign dignitaries and heads of state visiting an ever-so-polite president in the Oval Office, it was refreshing to witness a blatant exhibition of the crudeness, rudeness, and brutishness of power politics that usually occurs far, far away from the cameras and, hence, reporters and the public” Related Zelenskyy:  a supporter of Israeli oppression

‘But we liberals are not responsible’.  This is just a brief comment as there are many things to say about the editorial. Notice the use of the word ‘imperialism’. Since when the Guardian uses such a term in its editorials? Imperialism did not apply to the ‘liberal order’ prior to Trump except in some articles in the opinion section. “Vance, Elon Musk and hard-right agitators such as Steve Bannon have a vision of a Europe run not by elected liberal-progressive coalitions but by people like themselves.” Trump and ‘new order’ have come out of a blue sky. We were sleeping. The morning after, there was Trump and an ‘illiberal order.”  No historical background, no sociology . The so-called liberal progressives were innocents in the room. They did not have blood in their hands. Nor did they preside over an imperialist international order. Selectivity. Perpetuating Amnesia. Ignoring structure and systemic analysis. Furthermore, their decades had not to do with the political-economic ...

  “[I]f Cuba does not respect its citizenry’s human rights, it is necessary for the beacon of said rights across the water to starve those citizens into revolt. This is a special kind of tough love for the ordinary Cuban that emanates in particular from Florida and New Jersey fogies still embittered over things lost in the revolution; one deep enough to perdure for two thirds of a century, despite being forever in vain – those ordinary Cubans having bafflingly failed, decade after decade, to overthrow their government, however much hunger and desperation they are subjected to.” Abject gesture

Asked by a reporter how he could blame diversity programmes for the crash when the investigation had only just begun, the president responded : "Because I have common sense." Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen — Albert Einstein

Myth 1: Trump put pressure on Netanyahu. That has been depicted by many as if it was him who arm-twisted the Israeli genocidal leader to put an end to the war. Myth 2: The depiction of the current truce as a victory for Hamas. by  Gilbert Achcar

From 2019 “It doesn’t take Ariel long to get used to this new world without Palestinians. He and others do feel flashes of regret and fear. A bartender at the nearby Chez George tells Ariel, ‘Maybe the Arabs will crawl out of every corner like zombies and return to exact revenge’. But twenty-four hours after the disappearance, no zombies show up. In fact, ‘They didn’t find a single drop of blood. They were relieved that the army either wasn’t responsible for the disappearance, or it had executed it perfectly’.” The Book of Disappearance Related Dutch-politician calls for ‘transfer’ of Palestinains to Jordan

Myth 1: Trump put pressure on Netanyahu. That has been depicted by many as if it was him who arm-twisted the Israeli genocidal leader to put an end to the war. Myth 2: The depiction of the current truce as a victory for Hamas.  أسطورتان متعلقتان بوقف إطلاق النار في غزّة 

Gideon’s liberal take on Trump falls within filtering and selective reading of history by making Trump look like an abnormal and an unprecedented product of the American society. Fundamentalist liberals are in the defensive because people like Trump upsets their staus quo and their own way of ‘democratic genocidal killings’, destruction of nature, plunder, capital accumulation, massive inequality, economic domination, demonising the Other, commodification of everything … Trumps upsets liberals because his barbarism might outdo theirs. It is another belief system that a guru like Martin Wolf, another FT columnist, keeps defending what he calls ‘the free market democracy’. No, Gideon. The US has been a rogue state for decades. Even if someone has only heard of the victims of its wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and its support of the genocidal Israeli regime would be able to question why only now the term rogue is being used.  Back in 2000 William Blum had already mapped why the US is a rog...

This is an excellent taster of the book  

Harris or Trump will soon occupy the most violent elected office in their homeland (and the world). Trump and Harris “are destroying what is left of the democratic institutions of this country.” ‘Democratic institutions’? When were they ‘democratic’?  “ The existing two parties are identical in their genocidal militarism and backing of the Israeli settler colony, with one openly planning its  fascist takeover  of the entire country.”  The 50/60 per cent of eligible Americans who do vote “are conditioned by the commercial logic of their degenerate capitalism to choose between Coke and Pepsi, McDonald's and KFC, Nike and Reebok, Apple and Samsung, or Trump and Harris.” I have always liked Dabashi’s articles . I fear though he is sliding into repeating sentences with different words and tone.

The mainstream press has been afraid to say this directly and succinctly.  As it was argued when Trump lost to Biden, Trumpism is here to stay even if it looses to Harris.

 واشنطن والسوريالية

Some good arguments. I see the absence of the American political economy in shaping its imperialism. Hinting to China and ‘normalisation’ with Israel does not allow us to delve into the structural, but we remain in the strategical. For example, what is the purpose of the U.S.’s drive to stabilise the region through pushing for ‘normalisation’? After all, ‘stability’ in the Middle East has been a Western aim for decades. The support of authoritarian regimes has been one of the mechanisms used. When one mentions hegemony, what does this hegemony consist of? American military, the wars, the massive sales of weapons, its NATO-led interventions, its ‘culture’ etc. what are they for? The unravelling of the U.S. position in the Middle East Palestinians transport the injured to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip on October 9, 2023. Via meer.com

Fall in line, be ‘a liberal free-marketeer’ and open your country to our capital. If we don’t invade you, we make sure we kill you slowly. “Cubans have lived under a US economic embargo since 1962. Now, following a disastrous currency reform, inflation is spiralling, food and medicines are in short supply, and the black market is rampant. Food scarcity drives prices up: queueing for vegetables, Havana, 31 March 2023.  Adalberto Roque · AFP · Getty After a period of relaxation during Barack Obama’s second term (2013-17), Donald Trump brought in 243 new sanctions. In 2019 alone, 54 ship owners and 27 companies were fined for carrying fuel to Cuba.  That same year, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 34 vessels operated by the companies Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Ballito Bay Shipping (headquartered in Liberia) and Proper In Management (registered in Greece). Trump expanded the embargo, enabling individuals and companies to be prosecuted for investing in former American com...

“It is fair to assume that the different fractions of the ruling class in a country sometimes have diverging, even opposing interests. But if the country is the empire that dominates the world, on one point at least the ruling classes will agree: they do not want to see the basis of their power (i.e., the nation-empire) weakened. Those who have power intend, at a minimum, to maintain it, if not consolidate or expand it. So it is reasonable to infer that the conflicting interests between the various fractions manifest themselves in different strategies for ruling the world, in different conceptions of empire. “ Despite all his bombastic proclamations, Trump has not started any wars. Under Biden we are already on the second.” Elective affinities

A geopolitical summary and ‘forecasts’ “Rather than transforming the Middle East … the war may leave intact the ‘security architecture’ built by Trump and Biden. Yet the instability of this edifice has been proven. It would only be a matter of time before it buckles once again.” The US and the war on Gaza Illustrasjon: Knut Løvås, knutlvas@gmail.com