[lbo-talk] Behind the News: Heightened Intra-capitalist Conflict under Secular Stagnation

Ralph Johansen mdriscollrj at charter.net
Fri Jan 6 10:53:52 PST 2017


Just to keep it together, here's the content I'm responding to: / On Dec 14 03:27:22 PST 2016 /*David Martin wrote

*The CIA is not a creature of the executive branch but of Wall Street and the corporatocracy, and, just like capital itself, it is rife with contradictions and conflicts. Looking at Steve Bannon's resume -- from the Security Studies program at Georgetown (the academic arm of U.S. intelligence agencies) and naval intelligence officer to Goldman Sachs and Hollywood propaganda films and Breitbart, I can say with a high degree of confidence that he is a covert operative serving an intelligence agency with a non-official cover. (I've known operatives with similar resumes as well as look at John Perkins' resume as an EHM). So what we are witnessing is factional warfare breaking out within the CIA and military, as one faction stole the election from another. One faction wants to provoke a crisis with Russia to provide a pretext for expanded military spending (e.g. Boeing and Lockheed Martin) while the other wants to integrate Russia into the global capitalist system more deeply to obtain its vast natural resources (e.g. ExxonMobil). This latter faction is also in alliance with the vulture capitalists (Mercer) and Wall Street investment banks (Goldman Sachs) that profit from financial speculation and crises, but the volatility and the deflation from financial crises negatively affect the production planning and commodity realization for global commodity producers with a manufacturing base in China (e.g. Silicon Valley). Like a "Godfather," Trump is now threatening the other faction with shots across the bow to get them in line. It is no accident that in midst of this conflict that Trump created a crisis with phone call with the President of Taiwan -- threatening to disrupt the GVCs of Sillicon Valley) or that he has threatened the largest military contractors with loss of contracts (e.g. Air Force One, F-35). That is, Trump is creating crises that threaten the other faction from which they must seek his protection -- and force them to kneel before the Godfather and kiss his ring, while he rewards the vulture capitalists, Wall Street investment banks, Big OIl, and CIA/military faction who support him with cabinet posts. A little carrot and stick from the carrot face and yellow top.

What do you think? What am I missing in this analysis? Thx! D

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This morning Glenn Greenwald untangled much of the toxic snare that official Washington and its media outlets have been weaving around Assange, Snowden and his own organization and what they represent, in a sorry world of very few exiled people in a position to say publicly, and having the courage to say what is crying out for expression.

In the dialogue with Amy Goodman (https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/6/what_impact_will_trump_presidency_have) Greenwald describes the animosity toward them and toward Trump displayed all over a part of the power grid that includes the Democrats and the CIA, with their open hostility towards Trump.

All of which called to my mind what you have written here. Without further information it's hard to judge accurately, but the perspective you offer is well to keep in mind, because from other information coming out it comports with the way sides have been chosen toward Russia.

When I put together Trump dissing Lockheed Martin and Boeing and the intelligence community, the position that Silicon Valley and the technology companies are taking toward Trump ("By attacking companies like Amazon (for tax avoidance) and Apple (for outsourcing labor on its products), Mr. Trump was able to signal his opposition to the technological elites just as he went after Hillary Clinton’s highly paid speeches to Goldman Sachs." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/opinion/silicon-valley-helped-create-trump-and-thats-bad-for-it.html,); Trump's unusual phone call to the head of the Taiwan government in an open dump on China (and by implication on the rentiers in Silicon Valley); the patently evasive stance that the Democrats and the intelligence branches have taken in blaming Russia when faced with the election results and, caught out by the whistleblowers, on the contents of leaked emails and other documents; the obvious interest that Exxon and their like have in partnering to exploit Russian energy resources (https://rdln.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/trump-and-the-us-russia-china-triangle/); and the likelihood from all indications that Trump has settled himself in the corner of the energy giants -- all consistent as you suggest with the respective positions being taken toward Russia.

It'll all come into the light possibly at some point soon, but your observation seems to me to be astute, and thanks for putting it out there.

Ralph ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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