It sounds more like a system under which a certain type of 'intellectual' gets to shape policy without the bother of ever routing it through a democratic process. I can easily imagine this fuelling belief in a shadow 'world government'.
A solid and timely analysis, David... I confess I did not become aware of the extent of the problem until the recent Nonsense, which revealed that there was no further intention of upholding our human rights promises, and that from now on you just had to interpret your way out of obligations and duties in order to do whatever the hell it is that has been declared needful. While I've long been aware of the stark realities of realpolitik, it did serve as quite the rude awakening to realise that the protections established to limit the actions of nation states had become so malleable as to make the shape of the pretzel seem akin to a straight line.
A typical One Eyed, Cock-eyed American view of the Rest of the world, with the nation most responsible for wars and conflicts across the globe trying to impose their rules on the rest of the planet.
The US attempted to re-impose the supposed "Rules Based Order" when they discovered that they were being overtaken by the rest of the world, and could no longer compete on a level footing with others, and hoped to maintain control over a world which was not theirs to control, through hegemony, rather than showing prowess through competitive advantage.
The supposed "Rules Based Order" amounts to nothing more than a child's "my ball, my rules" scenario.
The world doesn't need policing, especially not by a nation that has failed to set an good example for others to follow through the "Leadership by Example" principle, but attempts to impose their rules on others, whilst hypocritically acting to the contrary of the rules.
Not only the US exhibited a lack of Leadership by Example, but they have also exposed their Gross Ignorance of the rest of the world and attempted to impose a failing US culture of some 300+ years of age, on cultures and religions which have existed for thousands of years.
It is not surprising that Putin has, on several occasions asked for clarity, on what the Supposed "Rules Based Order" rules are, since they are fluid just like US gender confusion, and change from day to day to suit the US, and Nobody else, and furthermore why Putin has asked who provided input in the establishment of these so-called "Rules" and "Rules Based Order", both of which are very rational questions which require rational and logical answers.
The US suffers from an inherent character and cognitive flaw, in that it is not Russia, China, Iran, who are either the enemies of the the US or the world for that matter, but the US, which has become its own worst enemy and enemy of the world, and this is clearly tevealed by the fact that none of these countries have launched direct attacks on the US, or US citizens or threatened to attack the US without US first provocation.
Whilst we have seen the US meddling in the affairs of China, Russia and Iran and undermine their Sovereignty.
While the world does require order, there is no better mechanism to foster peace and order, than through trade, something Russia and China have shown themselves extremely astute at expanding to ensure financial benefit to all parties for sustainable trade and global order, whilst the US continues to alienate others and provoke and support conflict.
My term for this is the 'soft machine': the touchy-feely network of stakeholders- who coined this one?- NGOs, the sprawling network of organisations like the UN, WEF etc, inhabited by layers and layers of the essentially parasitical busybodies who are steadily undermining what remains of our norms, beliefs, attachments and loyalties.
Manipulation trumps legislation; woke-speak ,complete with its barbarous assaults on good linguistic practice, bamboozles, misleads and confines us in a world of intolerant tolerance, where 'wrong speak' is punished, while shoplifting, violent mob behaviour, and concerted refusal to abide by 'problematic' rules and regulations is encouraged by the blob.
Our future looks bleak, as the west loses its way and can't decide whether to abolish the nation state, by means of the Open Borders debacle and the prevalent magical thinking still peddled by the networks in charge, or whether to change course, and pay heed to rising public discontent.
Unfortunately, apathy prevails amongst the many who have lost all hope and trust in our leaders.
At first I thought some of your remarks were ironic and meant to satirise the thinking of the "masters of the world"; but from your parting shots at Mr Putin and Hamas I infer that your criticisms are sincere.
Suffice it to say that Mr Putin, in the sharpest possible contrast to Western leaders, is moral and law-abiding to a fault. The so-called "invasion" of Ukraine was a preemptive move to prevent what was clearly shaping up to be a serious and highly dangerous massacre by the Kiev gang on behalf of its NATO paymasters.
As for Hamas, what can I say? So many people whose views I have come to appreciate and respect seem completely to have missed the sheer hideous immorality of Israel's very existence. They say things like, "the UN approved" and "the Jews needed a homeland". Can't they hear themselves?
The UN is a glove puppet for Washington; and what is this raving about "peoples" and "nations" and "homelands"? That's Nazi talk - or at least the vocabulary of the British and Americans about 1900, which was different from the Nazis' ideas only by being somewhat more extreme and unrestrained.
Here in Britain we are continually being instructed that there is no such thing as a native British, English, Scots, Welsh, or Irish person. Anyone who comes to this country is automatically to be treated as British, whether they come of a long line of Poles, Kenyans, or Vietnamese. In the USA matters are even more extreme: the "melting pot" theory has maintained that there never has been a native US people. (The actual Native Americans, of course, were nearly wiped out early on and can thus be conveniently neglected).
How come the Jews are the only "people" who most have their "homeland", despite having been absent from it for 2,000 years? Especially since there is no clear definition of who is a Jew and who isn't. It's likely that many of the Palestinians who are to be ethnically cleansed have more genuinely Jewish genes than the Ashkenazis from Russia and eastern Europe who look down their long noses at them.
I wondred as the phrase came to mind whether some bigot would leap to the conclusion that "long noses" was a jibe at Jewish physiognomy. I am not ignorant enough to believe that Jewish people's noses are any longer or different in any way from those of others. (Indeed, as I said, I have great difficulty in understanding what is meant by "a Jewish person").
As for "homeland", that is the exact word that has been used for 150 years by Zionists; and today, of course, not only by Israelis and their government but also by the US and increasingly other governments.
The existence of Israel is hideously immoral because it is wrong for people who already have homes and citizenship to descend collectively on a poor, defenceless country and steal by violence its land and other property from those who already live there. Imagine, wherever you live, that a horde of, say, Mongols or Peruvians were suddenly to appear and order you and all your family and friends out of your homes, commandeering everything you own, and force you to flee as refugees. Now imagine they kill anyone who resists them.
Imagine that you run a tiny successful enterprise, which has survived over many years, despite endless persecutions, denunciations and extermination attempts, which your family and forbears have direct knowledge of.
The list is long: the Czarist pogroms, the mediaeval mass burnings and expulsions, the Inquisition's autos da fé, the mass expulsions by Spain's Catholic monarchs,the expulsions of the Mizrahim from the Middle East and many more,ending with Hitler's tour de force.
The last mass extermination attempt having failed, you are given the opportunity to return to a very small piece of land, following much political wrangling, there to settle and prosper.
However, this settlement was controversial, to say the least, and now you find yourself surrounded by those who not only oppose you, but who have openly declared that they wish to complete the previous extermination programme and finish you off for good; why? Because of your identity, which they envy, resent and hate.
So, you live in a constant state of siege, while the world's movers and shakers ostracise you and hold you to the double standards which do not apply to the rest of the world- including such thoroughly bad apples as Iran and Afghanistan.
We shall never agree on this, but I suggest that you visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, and that you speak
to the families who suffered in the most recent massacre and look at the bloodshed unleashed.
Many Jews were effectively dispossessed and homeless before Israel was founded and many others had resided in Palestine for centuries, surviving as a minority.
Finally I am not a bigot and I hope that the wealthy and influential gulf states will use their clout to bring about a ceasefire but, Israel has an absolute right to exist and 2 state solution is needed.
One more thing. It seems to me unarguable that the Jewish invasion of Palestine - in defiance not only of the rights of the Palestinians but of the UN and Britain which attempted vainly to maintain peace and order - was a crime of robbery aggravated by murder. Only on a very large scale.
If individual criminals commit such crimes, there is a well-established legal principle that any violent deaths or injury that arise from the crimes are wholly and entirely the responsibility of the criminals. To my mind all the violence and death that has taken place, from 1947 and before right up to the present day, happened because of the Jewish invasion of Palestine. Therefore it is solely the responsibility of the Israelis; the Palestinians have merely been trying, with increasing desperation, to defend themselves and assert their human rights.
If the Palestinians weren't led by a murderous intransigent Islamist movement - its leaders now living in luxury in Qatar-which has openly declared its wish to kill Jews and destroy Israel, their plight might not have been so awful.
Reports now available indicate that this latest massacre was planned many months ago, with Iran' s puppeteers in charge, with the aim of derailing the imminent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The arrival of Jews fleeing persecution and the Holocaust was nit an invasion in my eyes; it was a wish for safety and security and yes there was conflict, as there has been to this day.
Think, if you had escaped the gas chambers, the endless persecutions and loss, how would you have felt, knowing that the efforts of Weizmann and Hertzl were finally coming to frution?
On land grabs- slightly off piste here- how about the persecution of the Middle East's most ancient communities- the Assyrians, Chaldeans ,Copts and other Christians, the Yazidis, Zoroastrians, Buddhists,all driven out by the very same Islamists who want to destroy Israel and its Jewish inhabitants?
Imagine my surprise to discover that my very mild concerns about the state of Israel are utterly dwarfed by serious research published by Ron Unz - a very well-known and extremely respectable Anerican Jew.
For anyone who is interested in getting to the truth, this would be a useful starting point:
Accipiter, I find little in your last comment to disagree with. The long history lesson seems roughly valid, but it has nothing at all to do with the ethical horror of invading a small defenceless country and seizing all the property, while killing anyone who objects. Your reply does not address the harm done to the Palestinians.
I am reminded of a person accused of murder whose lawyer pleads in extenuation that the accused had a terrible childhood and has been persecuted and disadvantaged all his life. While possibly accepting such a plea in extenuation - perhaps by a slightly lighter sentence such as life imprisonment instead of death - no judge or jury would acquit the accused on such grounds. It is wrong to commit murder and robbery. Even the Ten Commandments say so.
Robert Heinlein, in his SF novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", has a vignette that comes to mind. I hope the parallel is obvious.
"They stood for quite a while in front of a cage containing a large family of capuchins, watching them eat, sleep, court, nurse, groom and swarm aimlessly around the cage, while Jill surreptitiously tossed them peanuts despite “No Feeding” signs.
"She tossed one to a medium sized monkey; before he could eat it a much larger male was on him and not only stole his peanut but gave him a beating, then left. The little fellow made no attempt to pursue his tormentor; he squatted at the scene of the crime, pounded his knuckles against the concrete floor, and chattered his helpless rage. Mike watched it solemnly. Suddenly the mistreated monkey rushed to the side of the cage, picked a monkey still smaller, bowled it over and gave it a drubbing worse than the one he had suffered – after which he seemed quite relaxed. The third monk crawled away, still whimpering, and found shelter in the arm of a female who had a still smaller one, a baby, on her back. The other monkeys paid no attention to any of it.
"Mike threw back his head and laughed – went on laughing, loudly and uncontrollably. He gasped for breath, tears came from his eyes; he started to tremble and sink to the floor, still laughing".
It sounds more like a system under which a certain type of 'intellectual' gets to shape policy without the bother of ever routing it through a democratic process. I can easily imagine this fuelling belief in a shadow 'world government'.
A solid and timely analysis, David... I confess I did not become aware of the extent of the problem until the recent Nonsense, which revealed that there was no further intention of upholding our human rights promises, and that from now on you just had to interpret your way out of obligations and duties in order to do whatever the hell it is that has been declared needful. While I've long been aware of the stark realities of realpolitik, it did serve as quite the rude awakening to realise that the protections established to limit the actions of nation states had become so malleable as to make the shape of the pretzel seem akin to a straight line.
A typical One Eyed, Cock-eyed American view of the Rest of the world, with the nation most responsible for wars and conflicts across the globe trying to impose their rules on the rest of the planet.
The US attempted to re-impose the supposed "Rules Based Order" when they discovered that they were being overtaken by the rest of the world, and could no longer compete on a level footing with others, and hoped to maintain control over a world which was not theirs to control, through hegemony, rather than showing prowess through competitive advantage.
The supposed "Rules Based Order" amounts to nothing more than a child's "my ball, my rules" scenario.
The world doesn't need policing, especially not by a nation that has failed to set an good example for others to follow through the "Leadership by Example" principle, but attempts to impose their rules on others, whilst hypocritically acting to the contrary of the rules.
Not only the US exhibited a lack of Leadership by Example, but they have also exposed their Gross Ignorance of the rest of the world and attempted to impose a failing US culture of some 300+ years of age, on cultures and religions which have existed for thousands of years.
It is not surprising that Putin has, on several occasions asked for clarity, on what the Supposed "Rules Based Order" rules are, since they are fluid just like US gender confusion, and change from day to day to suit the US, and Nobody else, and furthermore why Putin has asked who provided input in the establishment of these so-called "Rules" and "Rules Based Order", both of which are very rational questions which require rational and logical answers.
The US suffers from an inherent character and cognitive flaw, in that it is not Russia, China, Iran, who are either the enemies of the the US or the world for that matter, but the US, which has become its own worst enemy and enemy of the world, and this is clearly tevealed by the fact that none of these countries have launched direct attacks on the US, or US citizens or threatened to attack the US without US first provocation.
Whilst we have seen the US meddling in the affairs of China, Russia and Iran and undermine their Sovereignty.
While the world does require order, there is no better mechanism to foster peace and order, than through trade, something Russia and China have shown themselves extremely astute at expanding to ensure financial benefit to all parties for sustainable trade and global order, whilst the US continues to alienate others and provoke and support conflict.
My term for this is the 'soft machine': the touchy-feely network of stakeholders- who coined this one?- NGOs, the sprawling network of organisations like the UN, WEF etc, inhabited by layers and layers of the essentially parasitical busybodies who are steadily undermining what remains of our norms, beliefs, attachments and loyalties.
Manipulation trumps legislation; woke-speak ,complete with its barbarous assaults on good linguistic practice, bamboozles, misleads and confines us in a world of intolerant tolerance, where 'wrong speak' is punished, while shoplifting, violent mob behaviour, and concerted refusal to abide by 'problematic' rules and regulations is encouraged by the blob.
Our future looks bleak, as the west loses its way and can't decide whether to abolish the nation state, by means of the Open Borders debacle and the prevalent magical thinking still peddled by the networks in charge, or whether to change course, and pay heed to rising public discontent.
Unfortunately, apathy prevails amongst the many who have lost all hope and trust in our leaders.
At first I thought some of your remarks were ironic and meant to satirise the thinking of the "masters of the world"; but from your parting shots at Mr Putin and Hamas I infer that your criticisms are sincere.
Suffice it to say that Mr Putin, in the sharpest possible contrast to Western leaders, is moral and law-abiding to a fault. The so-called "invasion" of Ukraine was a preemptive move to prevent what was clearly shaping up to be a serious and highly dangerous massacre by the Kiev gang on behalf of its NATO paymasters.
As for Hamas, what can I say? So many people whose views I have come to appreciate and respect seem completely to have missed the sheer hideous immorality of Israel's very existence. They say things like, "the UN approved" and "the Jews needed a homeland". Can't they hear themselves?
The UN is a glove puppet for Washington; and what is this raving about "peoples" and "nations" and "homelands"? That's Nazi talk - or at least the vocabulary of the British and Americans about 1900, which was different from the Nazis' ideas only by being somewhat more extreme and unrestrained.
Here in Britain we are continually being instructed that there is no such thing as a native British, English, Scots, Welsh, or Irish person. Anyone who comes to this country is automatically to be treated as British, whether they come of a long line of Poles, Kenyans, or Vietnamese. In the USA matters are even more extreme: the "melting pot" theory has maintained that there never has been a native US people. (The actual Native Americans, of course, were nearly wiped out early on and can thus be conveniently neglected).
How come the Jews are the only "people" who most have their "homeland", despite having been absent from it for 2,000 years? Especially since there is no clear definition of who is a Jew and who isn't. It's likely that many of the Palestinians who are to be ethnically cleansed have more genuinely Jewish genes than the Ashkenazis from Russia and eastern Europe who look down their long noses at them.
'Hideous immorality of Israel's existence'?
Ayatollah Khamenei who took it upon himself to describe Israel as a'cancerous tumour' would congratulate you.
I am a Gentile but the tone of your comment sickens me: ' long noses, "homeland".
I wondred as the phrase came to mind whether some bigot would leap to the conclusion that "long noses" was a jibe at Jewish physiognomy. I am not ignorant enough to believe that Jewish people's noses are any longer or different in any way from those of others. (Indeed, as I said, I have great difficulty in understanding what is meant by "a Jewish person").
As for "homeland", that is the exact word that has been used for 150 years by Zionists; and today, of course, not only by Israelis and their government but also by the US and increasingly other governments.
The existence of Israel is hideously immoral because it is wrong for people who already have homes and citizenship to descend collectively on a poor, defenceless country and steal by violence its land and other property from those who already live there. Imagine, wherever you live, that a horde of, say, Mongols or Peruvians were suddenly to appear and order you and all your family and friends out of your homes, commandeering everything you own, and force you to flee as refugees. Now imagine they kill anyone who resists them.
Would that not be hideously immoral?
Imagine that you run a tiny successful enterprise, which has survived over many years, despite endless persecutions, denunciations and extermination attempts, which your family and forbears have direct knowledge of.
The list is long: the Czarist pogroms, the mediaeval mass burnings and expulsions, the Inquisition's autos da fé, the mass expulsions by Spain's Catholic monarchs,the expulsions of the Mizrahim from the Middle East and many more,ending with Hitler's tour de force.
The last mass extermination attempt having failed, you are given the opportunity to return to a very small piece of land, following much political wrangling, there to settle and prosper.
However, this settlement was controversial, to say the least, and now you find yourself surrounded by those who not only oppose you, but who have openly declared that they wish to complete the previous extermination programme and finish you off for good; why? Because of your identity, which they envy, resent and hate.
So, you live in a constant state of siege, while the world's movers and shakers ostracise you and hold you to the double standards which do not apply to the rest of the world- including such thoroughly bad apples as Iran and Afghanistan.
We shall never agree on this, but I suggest that you visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, and that you speak
to the families who suffered in the most recent massacre and look at the bloodshed unleashed.
Many Jews were effectively dispossessed and homeless before Israel was founded and many others had resided in Palestine for centuries, surviving as a minority.
Finally I am not a bigot and I hope that the wealthy and influential gulf states will use their clout to bring about a ceasefire but, Israel has an absolute right to exist and 2 state solution is needed.
One more thing. It seems to me unarguable that the Jewish invasion of Palestine - in defiance not only of the rights of the Palestinians but of the UN and Britain which attempted vainly to maintain peace and order - was a crime of robbery aggravated by murder. Only on a very large scale.
If individual criminals commit such crimes, there is a well-established legal principle that any violent deaths or injury that arise from the crimes are wholly and entirely the responsibility of the criminals. To my mind all the violence and death that has taken place, from 1947 and before right up to the present day, happened because of the Jewish invasion of Palestine. Therefore it is solely the responsibility of the Israelis; the Palestinians have merely been trying, with increasing desperation, to defend themselves and assert their human rights.
If the Palestinians weren't led by a murderous intransigent Islamist movement - its leaders now living in luxury in Qatar-which has openly declared its wish to kill Jews and destroy Israel, their plight might not have been so awful.
Reports now available indicate that this latest massacre was planned many months ago, with Iran' s puppeteers in charge, with the aim of derailing the imminent rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The arrival of Jews fleeing persecution and the Holocaust was nit an invasion in my eyes; it was a wish for safety and security and yes there was conflict, as there has been to this day.
Think, if you had escaped the gas chambers, the endless persecutions and loss, how would you have felt, knowing that the efforts of Weizmann and Hertzl were finally coming to frution?
On land grabs- slightly off piste here- how about the persecution of the Middle East's most ancient communities- the Assyrians, Chaldeans ,Copts and other Christians, the Yazidis, Zoroastrians, Buddhists,all driven out by the very same Islamists who want to destroy Israel and its Jewish inhabitants?
The list is long
Imagine my surprise to discover that my very mild concerns about the state of Israel are utterly dwarfed by serious research published by Ron Unz - a very well-known and extremely respectable Anerican Jew.
For anyone who is interested in getting to the truth, this would be a useful starting point:
https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-israel-gaza-and-broader-issues/
Accipiter, I find little in your last comment to disagree with. The long history lesson seems roughly valid, but it has nothing at all to do with the ethical horror of invading a small defenceless country and seizing all the property, while killing anyone who objects. Your reply does not address the harm done to the Palestinians.
I am reminded of a person accused of murder whose lawyer pleads in extenuation that the accused had a terrible childhood and has been persecuted and disadvantaged all his life. While possibly accepting such a plea in extenuation - perhaps by a slightly lighter sentence such as life imprisonment instead of death - no judge or jury would acquit the accused on such grounds. It is wrong to commit murder and robbery. Even the Ten Commandments say so.
Robert Heinlein, in his SF novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", has a vignette that comes to mind. I hope the parallel is obvious.
"They stood for quite a while in front of a cage containing a large family of capuchins, watching them eat, sleep, court, nurse, groom and swarm aimlessly around the cage, while Jill surreptitiously tossed them peanuts despite “No Feeding” signs.
"She tossed one to a medium sized monkey; before he could eat it a much larger male was on him and not only stole his peanut but gave him a beating, then left. The little fellow made no attempt to pursue his tormentor; he squatted at the scene of the crime, pounded his knuckles against the concrete floor, and chattered his helpless rage. Mike watched it solemnly. Suddenly the mistreated monkey rushed to the side of the cage, picked a monkey still smaller, bowled it over and gave it a drubbing worse than the one he had suffered – after which he seemed quite relaxed. The third monk crawled away, still whimpering, and found shelter in the arm of a female who had a still smaller one, a baby, on her back. The other monkeys paid no attention to any of it.
"Mike threw back his head and laughed – went on laughing, loudly and uncontrollably. He gasped for breath, tears came from his eyes; he started to tremble and sink to the floor, still laughing".