GILBERT DOCTOROW—There is even wild speculation in some social media that the U.S. will now use the pretext of Iranian aid to Hamas to bomb Iranian nuclear installations, with either conventional or tactical nuclear arms. The logic and the timing should be seen in the context of restoring U.S. credibility to the Saudis as their security umbrella, while removing the threat of a nuclear empowered Iran from the region.
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MNAR ADLEY—Israelis were killed, while Palestinians merely “died.” That’s the leading headline on the BBC after Israel pummeled Gaza, the world’s largest open-air prison, with Western-supplied bombs after Hamas’s surprise attack and rockets that hit Israel. Some media outlets are leading with images of injured Palestinian children while reporting on unverified crimes committed by Hamas. As if given the same script, corporate media anchors and journalists repeat the line that Israel has a right to defend itself as it bombs Gaza’s 2 million Palestinian population, targeting civilians violating international law.
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It looks like the fighting in Ukraine is coming to its climax. Against the background of the failed counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and heavy losses in manpower of the Ukrainian army, Russian Troops continue to massively destroy Western heavy equipment. According to the Russian military department, since February 2022, Russian troops have managed to destroy about 7,000 units of Western and Ukrainian artillery systems, including NATO self-propelled artillery installations.
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JIMMY DORE—Marc Lamont Hill was unceremoniously dumped from his position as a CNN anchor after criticizing Israel in terms some, including the Anti-Defamation League, considered antisemitic. So it was somewhat surprising for Hill to join his voice with the ADL to condemn Twitter-now-X CEO Elon Musk for allegedly allowing the social media platform to become a “cesspool of antisemitism.” Jimmy and Craig “Pasta” Jardula, along with special guest comedian Chrissie Mayr, discuss what might have compelled Hill to defend an organization that smeared him and led to his being “canceled.”
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EDITOR—Garland sorts out the inexorable logic behind fascism whether in Chile, Agentina, Italy, Germany or the modern contemporary West—either at the beginning or end of neoliberalism, just a weasel word for savage capitalism. Capitalism, suggests Garland, as a faux democratic foundation, is an engine for colossal wealth accumulation by the few at the expense and oppression of the many. During its not-openly fascist phases, it swamps the nation in debt. Generalised debt is a feature, not a flaw in capitalism. It helps to remember that in the postwar, as production expanded but fell short of consumer demand, the capitalist introduced credit cards to patch over the shortfall. They did not think of simply paying the workers a fair wage. Their preferred method was instead to “lend” them money at ridiculous rates. This was the beginning of the vaunted US middle class affluence and huge private indebtedness that haunts the economy today.
