Recently in the American Empire…
US Isolated at the UN as Sole Veto over Gaza Ceasefire
The unflinching US support for Israel and its continued war against Hamas has become untenable, morally unjustifiable and politically fraught for President Biden. The backlash from the veto was swift and widespread, both domestically and internationally. It is painfully apparent that there is no framework for peace within a Netanyahu led Israel, leaving the US with a serious problem to navigate. Mere days after the veto, the Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, a Netanyahu political ally, contradicted US policy by ruling out a two-state solution, and the Israeli Knesset passed Decision 1129 which would allow settlement construction in the West Bank on an “industrial scale.” Israeli Defence Forces rules of engagement have been sharply called into focus as three Israeli hostages were shot and killed whilst waving a white flag of surrender. Suspicion grows that the true goal of the Gaza operation is one of Domicide; namely the ruination of the entire area to force the resettlement of the almost 2 million Palestinian inhabitants.
Share Buybacks and the Myth of “Trickle-down Economics”
If you needed an example of how capitalism in the American Empire is broken, look no further than share buyback schemes. Illegal until 1982 and deemed market manipulation, this is now common practice. In 2018 alone, $1.25 trillion was spent by firms buying their own stock, and last week global healthcare group Cigna became the latest example, authorising a $11 billion scheme to repurchase their own shares. Critics decry this practice as dangerous to the long-term economic health of the country and, as Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labour, Robert Reich states, they “don’t create more jobs. They don’t increase wages. They don’t grow the economy. The do one thing: make corporate execs richer.” Rampant inflation and an ongoing cost of living crisis would certainly seem to prove Reich correct in his assertions. The current capitalist model is broken and in dire need of repair. The Truth is Stranger than Fiction
The first trailer for Alex Garland’s (28 Days Later, The Beach, Ex Machina, Annihilation) new film Civil War dropped last week and it certainly has people talking. The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Nick Offerman and Jesse Plemons and depicts a dystopian future civil war in the United States. This theme is particularly resonant with the issues I discuss in The End of the American Empire, and I am glad to see that others are warning of this fate. It is avoidable, but the violent rhetoric and outright lies we can expect during the 2024 presidential campaign make this terrible scenario more likely than ever.
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