Yesterday afternoon, on my first day ‘back on the job’ following a two week vacation, I appeared on two of the widely viewed interview programs to which I have been privileged to be invited these past several months: ‘Dialogue Works’ hosted by Nima Alkhorshid and ‘Judging Freedom’ hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano.
There is another scholar who agrees with you that Israel is the proxy for the US: economist Michael Hudson. For me there is something that always flies past and nobody pays any attention to: oil as vital energy for the West and Israel. Why not simply cut the Straights of Hormuz? Why doesn't Erdogan stop the flow of oil to Israel? In all I agree, Israel is the ultimate American aircraft carrier.
The salient portion begins at 31m in. Here's a synopsis..
Dmitri Laskaris is an accomplished interviewer and Matthew Hoh a knowledgeable ex military guest. In a recent video, Laskaris set up the ongoing debate between Mersheimer and Doctorow as follows..
Doctorow believes the US controls the Israeli’s and that the US admin is fighting a proxy war in the ME to regain imperial hegemony and status after humiliating defeats in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine as well as to avenge itself against adversaries. This analysis is seconded by Finkelstein and Chomsky, among others. Mersheimer believes roughly the opposite, that Israel controls the US President and Congress through corruption and legalized bribery. MacGregor on the other hand believes the US is rudderless, reacting chaotically to events. That’s a hard and useful framing of an important debate among the Alt Media pundits I follow. And I’m glad Doctorow mixes it up with the other “Senior Contrarians” to coin a term for the Alt Media pundits I’ve followed since the Ukr/Rus war began 2.5 years ago.
Having posed the two sides of the debate, Laskaris said he was on the Doctorow/Finkelstein/Chomsky side. Then Matthew Hoh in a long discursive reply said all 3 sides are correct and that there was a “chicken v egg” issue. Hoh noted the historical change in US policy in the 1990s when neocons took over foreign policy with Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the Jews, Perl, Wolfowitz, etc. He said they had different motives: Cheney wanted war because it was good for Halliburton, Rumsfeld wanted war to assert US Imperial dominance, and the Jewish neocons wanted war for Israel.
Hoh went on to say it was never true that money was always the key, or that ideology always the key, or that any single factor was ever the sole reason for any policy or decision. Hoh offered an analogy of a family going to a restaurant. The husband likes the pasta, the wife the desserts, the kids the prizes, the teenage son the waitresses ass.
Also, as Hoh correctly noted, the errand boys of empire like current “US ME negotiators” Hockstein (an IDF soldier and dual citizen) and McGurk get their jobs only by approval of the Israel lobby, and by their MIC bonifides and elite resumes. Equally important, the US system is corrupt to the core with many interests paying for access and power. The pharm industry controls medicine, Big Ag controls farm policy, the MIC controls the defense budget, Wall Street controls finance and the economy.. and Israel controls our US Mideast policy. So.. it’s not one or the other of the three arguments above, its all of them combined in a gigantic, deadly maelstrom.
I was at first on your side of this argument.. then Hoh convinced me it was more complicated. But much respect for starting the debate, and for pushing back on what has become dangerously close to group think among the Alt Media dons.
There is another scholar who agrees with you that Israel is the proxy for the US: economist Michael Hudson. For me there is something that always flies past and nobody pays any attention to: oil as vital energy for the West and Israel. Why not simply cut the Straights of Hormuz? Why doesn't Erdogan stop the flow of oil to Israel? In all I agree, Israel is the ultimate American aircraft carrier.
Mr Doctorow, I'd like to bring your attention to an excellent follow-on video by Dmitri Lascaris with guest Matthew Hoh..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61lEPnxwG_0&t=1899s&ab_channel=DimitriLascaris
The salient portion begins at 31m in. Here's a synopsis..
Dmitri Laskaris is an accomplished interviewer and Matthew Hoh a knowledgeable ex military guest. In a recent video, Laskaris set up the ongoing debate between Mersheimer and Doctorow as follows..
Doctorow believes the US controls the Israeli’s and that the US admin is fighting a proxy war in the ME to regain imperial hegemony and status after humiliating defeats in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine as well as to avenge itself against adversaries. This analysis is seconded by Finkelstein and Chomsky, among others. Mersheimer believes roughly the opposite, that Israel controls the US President and Congress through corruption and legalized bribery. MacGregor on the other hand believes the US is rudderless, reacting chaotically to events. That’s a hard and useful framing of an important debate among the Alt Media pundits I follow. And I’m glad Doctorow mixes it up with the other “Senior Contrarians” to coin a term for the Alt Media pundits I’ve followed since the Ukr/Rus war began 2.5 years ago.
Having posed the two sides of the debate, Laskaris said he was on the Doctorow/Finkelstein/Chomsky side. Then Matthew Hoh in a long discursive reply said all 3 sides are correct and that there was a “chicken v egg” issue. Hoh noted the historical change in US policy in the 1990s when neocons took over foreign policy with Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the Jews, Perl, Wolfowitz, etc. He said they had different motives: Cheney wanted war because it was good for Halliburton, Rumsfeld wanted war to assert US Imperial dominance, and the Jewish neocons wanted war for Israel.
Hoh went on to say it was never true that money was always the key, or that ideology always the key, or that any single factor was ever the sole reason for any policy or decision. Hoh offered an analogy of a family going to a restaurant. The husband likes the pasta, the wife the desserts, the kids the prizes, the teenage son the waitresses ass.
Also, as Hoh correctly noted, the errand boys of empire like current “US ME negotiators” Hockstein (an IDF soldier and dual citizen) and McGurk get their jobs only by approval of the Israel lobby, and by their MIC bonifides and elite resumes. Equally important, the US system is corrupt to the core with many interests paying for access and power. The pharm industry controls medicine, Big Ag controls farm policy, the MIC controls the defense budget, Wall Street controls finance and the economy.. and Israel controls our US Mideast policy. So.. it’s not one or the other of the three arguments above, its all of them combined in a gigantic, deadly maelstrom.
I was at first on your side of this argument.. then Hoh convinced me it was more complicated. But much respect for starting the debate, and for pushing back on what has become dangerously close to group think among the Alt Media dons.