FAQ

US Secretary of Defense Austin has said Israel faces strategic defeat if Palestinian civilians are not better protected. The leader of a major DC think tank said in November 2023: “It is quite possible the war in Gaza will be the first war in Israel’s history that the army has fought and lost.” Meanwhile there is “a mutiny brewing” in the US State Department over lavish, open-ended US support for genocide against Palestinians. Millions have flooded into the streets everywhere. And the Israeli Defense Force has not been able to suppress the Palestinian resistance, either in Gaza or the West Bank.
See Chapter 3: What Does “Strategic Defeat” Look Like?

During the conflict in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government accused Russians of unspeakable atrocities, which were immediately echoed by Western governments, politicians and media, calling for Putin to be tried in The Hague for war crimes. Later investigation found it was the other way around.
See Chapter 8: Showdown at “Credibility Gulch”

Ever since the Chinese Revolution triumphed in 1949, the United States has tried to prevent it from advancing. In Taiwan, a Chinese island near the mainland’s southeast coast, the US fortified the “old guard” Kuomintang regime of Chiang Kai Shek, hoping it could keep ruling all of China. During the Korean War (1950-53) the US threatened to bomb China, which sent half a million troops to stop the US advance, and forced a “truce” dividing Korea. After that the US built up Taiwan and South Korea, as well as Hong Kong, hoping to weaken and dismember China. In China’s far west, the US sponsored separatists, first in Tibet and then in Xinjiang. So far none of these efforts have worked: trying to prevent China’s rise is like trying to keep the sun from rising.
See Chapter 15: Does China’s Rise Really Threaten the US?

Sanctions are a form of war. They function like old-fashioned blockades, attempting to strangle countries that refuse to submit to US dictates. Sometimes they work, like in Cuba, Venezuela, and other smaller countries whose people suffer when the US cuts off trade with them. And since the US dollar has been the standard “common currency” for world trade in recent decades, the US has tried to force its will on countries by cutting off their access to the world banking system. These types of sanctions are becoming less effective now, especially since the rise of BRICS, a China-led trading bloc that makes it possible for many countries to trade among themselves without using the dollar. This was Russia’s secret: when the US and western Europe sanctioned Russia, it switched its trade to China, India, and the Global South, and has become stronger economically than it was before.
See Chapters 22 and 24: Empire’s Debt Trap, and Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a World Economy

At the end of World War 2 in 1945, the US emerged intact while both its allies and former enemies were exhausted and devastated. US bankers consolidated the loans they had made to European allies during the war, and then “invested” much more to rebuild these countries, making them economic vassals of the US. They also took over much of the vast British and French empires in Asia and Africa – think of India, Indochina, Indonesia, West Asia, and most of Africa. Then they formed NATO, as a “defensive alliance” against the socialist bloc led by the USSR, effectively occupying Europe militarily and forcing the European countries to arm themselves with US military hardware. When the socialist bloc collapsed in 1990, the US moved in aggressively to establish a new “rules-based world order.” Finally, through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the US set up debt traps that make nearly all investment globally a means of profit and control worldwide: a “Pax Americana.”
See Chapter 21 and 22: Why It’s So Hard to Stop the U.S. War Machine and Empire’s Debt Trap

It won’t be easy, but things are changing, making things possible that were impossible before. Now, while the empire’s lie machine and war machine are linked, they are less invisible than previously, and more vulnerable. The lie about “terrorism” has been exposed, so now millions of people can see clearly that the US and Israel are openly using genocide, and have used state terror against Palestinians for generations. That makes it easier for people to see through the official narrative and lies against Russia and China. Meanwhile the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians has inspired a global wave of protest larger and louder than ever. And the countries of the Global South have found ways to work together to overcome the imperial stranglehold. The day of reckoning may come sooner than expected, as a result of the extremely bad gamble the US neocons are making against Russia, China, and the people of Palestine and West Asia.
See Conclusion: From Genocide to Global War?

1. Fear and loathing are normal reactions to disenfranchising “choices” between continued endless war and open appeals to fascism in the name of “peace.” People need to find ways to register a genuine vote for peace and social justice. The moment is ripe for a new political response that could lead to a united fight against war, racism and fascism. We need to stop business as usual and refocus the country on peace and justice – redirect the war economy to meet people’s needs; stop building weapons and invest in a liveable future, based on social equality and common prosperity.
   See Afterword – 2024 and Beyond