Friday, November 12, 2010

A Final Word on the US Elections and Foreign Policy

The world should worry about the ramifications of the recent election in the US which saw a loss of the House of Representatives to the extreme Christian right as well as the loss of governorships in some states to those same extremists who will now form new voting districts – gerrymander - to their hearts’ content to assure they can never lose power while simultaneously disenfranchising anyone who is not white. The foreign policy these extremists want to pursue will make matters far worse for the US, particularly in the Middle East.

First, it is necessary to expose the people who fund the Christian and other right wing extremists in the US for their own gain – which does not translate into gains for their pawns, the tea baggers. The US has continued its descent to plutocracy, exemplified by the dangerous right wing libertarian beliefs of the Koch family. Although much of the policy issues that the brother’s Koch and the shadowy non-profit orginazation which they fund have a domestic focus, they also are establishing a foreign policy agenda that will bring back the Bush administration policies.

They have quietly organized a multi-million dollar assault on the US government and President Obama in particular. One only needs to study the gradual disintegration of the Roman Republic culminating with the Rubicon crossing of Caesar to see what is unfolding in the US. Among the Koch domestic targets are social programs for the needy and heavy funding of opponents climate change legislation which would affect their energy and chemical empire directly. These are the well hidden financiers behind the tea baggers whose incendiary language about those with whom they disagree will ultimately lead to violence. They are out to prevent any progressive initiatives and to destroy those that exist. But the plan goes further than just domestic US considerations.

The impact of the changing nature of US internal policies will spread to foreign policy issues.

In 2008 for example, Koch funding to a libertarian non-profit produced an anti-Muslim video designed precisely to frighten people into voting for McCain. This played to the religious fundamentalist tendencies within the Republican party. The recently elected swarm of religious right House Representatives will now unfailingly support any action, however illegal, undertaken by Israel and provide the support to the Netanyahu government to indulge in building on occupied territory – like the commencement of construction of 6,000 units in East Jerusalem. The Christian right think Israel should control all of “Palestine” forever to fulfill their sick interpretation of Old Testament prophecy and bring about the "end-times".

These same groups and their newly minted representative will oppose any discussions with Turkey regarding its views on how to defuse the Middle East and, indeed, will selectively provoke Turkey and Syria pushing the former into a the false choice of “us or them” while effectively subverting any progress with Syria and a peace deal with Israel. Their cheerleaders will be AIPAC and the Netanyahu government.

Next is the confrontation with Iran. The Netanyahu government will now be emboldened to push the newly elected US Congress to do more than impose sanctions. Expect a push for military action sooner rather than later as Senators, such as that false liberal Lieberman, grab the tail of the tea bagger dog for a free ride. Senator McCain is already there.

These same Representatives and Senators will also open a wide second front against the Obama administration beginning with the START treaty and extending to the planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Indeed, the latter has already started with McCain and Lieberman calling for a delay in the planned 2011 drawdown despite the fact that their handpicked leader in Kabul has happily accepted funds from Iran, falsified elections and is generally ridiculed by Afghans. Nevertheless, according the far right, more people need to die to support “democracy” in Afghanistan – the longest war ever engaged in by the US and which achieved its goal of breaking Al-Qaida central years ago.

Lest the rest of the planet think the plutocracy and right wing rise in the US is a passing phase, keep in mind that it is messianic. They even attacked George Bush’s plan for a Palestinian state. Messianic theology is centered on the belief in a hegemonic Israel as a necessary precursor to the second coming of Christ. Although this doctrine is certainly an important part of the Christian right's support of a militaristic and expansionist Jewish state, fundamentalist Christian Zionism in the United States ascribes to an even more dangerous dogma: that of Manichaeism, the belief that reality is divided into absolute good and absolute evil. This is how they intend to implement their foreign policy and it is a threat.

An argument can be made that President Obama controls foreign policy. Not exactly. The new Republican House will control spending and thus have significant influence on US foreign and military policy.

Republicans will also try to block deals with the EU on any issue - climate change, financial regulation, trade, and will throw wrenches into EU Mideast peace plans. Republicans will push that the EU fall in line with sharp changes in US policies toward Russia, the Muslim world, and China. Deeply hostile to Russia, they will try to block this entente and press deeper into the Russian backyards of the Caucuses, Central Asia and Black Sea regions. Expect a much harder line towards Cuba and Venezuela. Militarisaton and foreign policy will be interchangeable.

In 2012, unless the economy improves and the progressives get off their collective asses, the Koch’s will have won and will install another puppet in the White House, completing the next step in the destruction of the Republic. The US will then adversely affect the lives of millions and alter the foreign policies of dozens of nations - and not for the better as far as the US would be concerned. Friends will be hard to find, except maybe in Israel. The tail wags the dog.

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