Humanity is being corralled into its own annihilation. The events of the last two months make that clearer than ever. First the Trump administration, which has now been intimidated by the deep state into promoting the Russia narrative, started positioning U.S. missile protocol towards potentially striking Russia. Then the bogus justification for this action-the claim that Russia could strike the U.S. without provocation-was acclimated into the American consciousness with Mueller’s theatrical indictment of 13 supposed Russian election saboteurs.
Then this last week, when Putin inevitably responded by reminding the U.S. of Russia’s nuclear capacities, the new cold war propaganda machine flipped the guilt of nuclear provocations around. For the first time in more than a generation, Russia is made out to be the irrationally aggressive, cartoon villain who’s threatening to start nuclear war out of sheer hatred for America. The liberals who believed the government when it baselessly claimed “Russian hacking” are now believing this absurd view of Russia’s intentions. The cold war has come full circle, and nuclear conflict has a much better chance of happening this time.
The success of this war campaign hasn’t come from a special gullibility among liberals, but from the weakness human beings have to manipulations towards hysteria and fear. As the Nazi propagandist Hermann Goering said: “Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same way in any country.”
Powerful manipulators like Goering dominate the government, and they seemingly have for at least a lifetime. The American war state has literally collaborated with Nazis several times, like when the CIA hired Reich officials after World War II, and when the U.S. backed (and continues to back) Ukrainian neo-Nazis in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Litanies of dictators and terrorists, including Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda, have been partners with the U.S. at some point. This war state has no sense of allegiance or morals. The leaders who claim commitment to American values will work with whatever monsters that are convenient allies in the moment. There are no nations or laws. Only corporations and the brutal actions they’ll take to turn higher profits.
The machine’s decision to restart the cold war is based in a coldly strategic urge to preserve U.S./NATO hegemony, and to bully Russia into handing over Syria for regime change. Ironically, this makes the aggressions towards Russia the most rational of the conflicts the U.S. empire is creating as it lashes out against its own decline: unhinged presidential threats towards North Korea, a country that’s opento disarmament talks and has stated it won’t strike the U.S. first. Pentagon characterizations of China as a nuclear aggressor, with McCarthyite demonizationsof the Chinese from U.S. officials. Warmongering charges of Iran holding WMDs, which are so transparently false that the New York Times recently ran an op-ed denouncing them.
Between the U.S.’ already bombing eight countries on record levels, and between the constant barrage of media distractions, stopping World War III now looks like an innocuous task. The frenzy of this moment makes everything, including the potential global catastrophes, fade into an undifferentiated morass. “After 16 straight years of war, why wouldn’t the political neurons be frayed?” wrote Jeffrey St. Clair in January. “Each day the fear factor is being ratcheted up. New threats are being targeted. New wars being planned. A paralytic dread hangs over the Republic.”
There are actions we can take to stop the worst outcome. We can use social media and online journalism to counter the government’s propaganda. We can put daily pressure on our representatives to fight the war efforts. We can resist paying war taxes. We can start an anti-war protest movement that, if sustained, could work out the same as the opposition to the Vietnam War. The war machine has obstacles put up everywhere to our being able to do these things. But we need to do them, if we think our world is worth saving.
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