[lbo-talk] stupidity is most dangerous in people with high IQ

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Thu May 16 11:51:26 PDT 2013



> Yes. I think it was a failure....except for the arms suppliers.
>
> But we do have a military presence in the Middle East, it's called Israel.
>
> Joanna

--------

No. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of world capital in the neoliberal age. Less abstractly, it oversimplifies the relations between Israel & U.S. policy. That relationship is _not_, of course, the frequently claimed subordination of the U.S. to Israel: the tail does not wag the dog. But NEITHER is Israel (to maintain the metaphor) a very obedient and dependable tail. It is a gross exaggeration to speak of it as constituting a "U.S. presence" in the Middle East.

And I don't see how you can consider the Iraq invasion a failure, unless you are judging from some merely ideal criterion of a good war and a good peace. The present situation in Iraq is as good for world capital as can be realistically expected. Were such a condition remotely possible to achieve in Iran there would be U.S. troops in Tehran right now.

Carrol



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