Many in the West chose to ignore the moral rot of neo-liberalism, unleashed by unfettered capitalism, that has overrun our societies.
Alberto Bradanini is a former diplomat. Among the positions he held, he was Ambassador of Italy in Tehran (2008-2012) and in Beijing (2013-2015). He is currently President of the Center for Studies on Contemporary China. He is the author of books and essays. He has published “Beyond the Great Wall” Ed. Bocconi 2018; “China, the irresistible rise”, Ed. Sandro Teti, 2022, and “China, from Nenni’s humanism to the challenges of a multipolar world”, Ed. Anteo, 2023.
1. The depressing reflection of the Western media – from which we strive to escape as much as possible – would lead us to the deepest depression, if we were not helped by faith in the advance of man’s self-consciousness in history, since in the short term there is currently no hope of glimpsing even the faintest trace of a more serene horizon. George Bernard Shaw said: The more I live, the more I am convinced that this planet is used by other planets as a madhouse of the universe. One cannot blame him. Yet, if it is necessary to give meaning to the time that remains to be lived, it is to destroy with the weapon of truth everything that can be destroyed.
Not a day goes by that Israel does not intentionally kill Palestinian journalists in Gaza1 (202 in the last 14 months, among the 45,000 Palestinians slaughtered and 150,000 injured!), while preventing those outside from entering the Strip to hide the inhumane massacres of which “the only democracy in the Middle East” is guilty before humanity, international justice, the ethics of nations and history, protected and armed by its hidden accomplice, the United States of America.
In Syria, at the same time, the Israeli army, which together with the American and Turkish connivers, gave the green light to the jihadist cutthroats, expands beyond the Golan – which it had illegally occupied since 1967 – and invades other Syrian lands (which B. Netanyahu declares will never be returned!) in the polite silence of the so-called Western democracies, staunch advocates of International Law. Not only that, while on paper it signs the ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Jewish State never stopped bombing Lebanese villages already battered, resulting in dozens of victims every single day. All this under the dully distracted gaze of the president of the EU Commission, the toxic von der Leyen, corporal major of the gloomy NATO army, whose only noteworthy feature is obedience to the Atlantic globalism of endless wars. In NATO, with the lead soldier Jens Stoltenberg we thought we had hit rock bottom, but this is not the case! In his place as Secretary General we now have a certain Marc Rutte, who arranges on our behalf to reduce the appropriations for pensions and health to produce weapons destined, according to such a managing director, to defeat Russia! Here, in a coherent world, the Rutte lineage should set a good example, abdicating the care of the superb NATO hospitals, renouncing the generous pensions that await servants like him and instead leave immediately for the front to save Europe!
In the face of such turpitude, the reply of our rulers was arrogant and indignant. They immediately played down Rutte’s blunders, confirming this for what it is, a further affront to the constitutions and sovereignty of NATO member nations. Notoriously, only on paper of course, we know how to take care of this. A concept that translated into the conventional European lexicon stands for: there is no need for any Rutte to impoverish our people and fatten the arms manufacturers, we know how to do it ourselves.
2. Despite the deluge of propaganda, it is evident that the retainers on duty are led by the sick plutocracy of the empire, an empire in decline, but unfortunately not resigned. The mode is tried: when someone tries to raise an impertinent question, it is mocked, discredited or simply ignored. If the question keeps re-emerging, it is submerged by an effluvium of useless news that fills a space that could be occupied by serious questions.
No one even discusses respect for the lowest common denominator of a democracy, which the advanced nations of the West conceive only as a formal religion. The mass disinformation media attack selected Romanians, Georgians, and Moldovans, guilty of having woken up from a Long Sleep, together with Venezuelans, who in the midst of a thousand difficulties, sanctions and threats, try in their own way to get out of underdevelopment without bowing to imperial orders. Speaking of Venezuela, on December 17, the President of the impalpable European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, awarded the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, the latter recognized by the EU as the legitimate and democratically elected president of Venezuela. Instead of Venezuelan citizens, in the dystopian Western Planet it is parliamentarians from other continents who decide who won elections in a faraway country that they barely know where it is. Ridiculous and outrageous! Perhaps some might suspect that U.S. hostility toward the menacing Venezuelan nation has something to do with all of this. It is only a suspicion, of course. In such a distressing scene, on the other hand, no one cares about the United Nations, international law, the principle of peaceful coexistence, and non-interference in the affairs of others.
3. If even five-year-old children, to make their parents happy, pretend to believe fairy tales they hear before falling asleep, it remains a painful unsolved mystery that millions of adult individuals, in apparent robust mental health, can bend their intellect in front of the mountain of lies that daily defies the laws of physics. In an endless list, let’s try to illustrate some of them.
In 2020, the former future president of the United States confessed candidly (the interview can be heard on the web2) that he had ordered American troops (in Syria since 2011, in violation of the UN Charter, the principle of non-interference and every conceivable norm) not to abandon that land, because there was oil there! The reader perhaps believes that the _expression_ is exaggerated, that the reflection of that authoritative head of state was more articulated. But no, that’s exactly what he said. Indeed, for fear of not being understood, Donald Trump repeated oil, oil (!), so that even the deaf would understand the reason why American soldiers were left in Syria (where they are now doubled to 2000 units).
That oil – the then tenant of the Black House forgot to point out (the colour white, in our naivety, is suitable for other places) – was owned by the Syrian government, an insignificant detail, escaped by the Atlantic Prince, the noble leader of the only indispensable nation in the world (Madeleine Albright, 1996, then repeated by B. Clinton, 1999, and other historically bizarre folks). It is no wonder that Syria – hit by the harshest sanctions since 2011 – has been unable to defend itself from terrorists armed and paid by the self-confessed looter of other people’s oil.
Although it was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, a rare pearl in the Middle East, al-Assad’s Syria was certainly not a model of democracy. And precisely for this reason it had to be helped to progress through trade, investments, scientific and cultural exchanges. No one can now rule out that history will take its revenge against the Western warmongers, turning the tasty initial dish into poison. The terrorists today differently coloured could trade bread for cake to the Turkish invaders (the mercenaries sell themselves to the first bidder), to the Israelis (how long can the truce of hatred that animates them against the children of Zion last?) and to the Americans (will they be able to hold back the Turks intent on getting rid of the Kurds of Rojava once and for all?). In turn, it is plausible that Iraq is also involved, a country that has already paid with a senseless and totally unjustified war that has caused a million deaths, a war perpetrated by the United States to serve Israel and its pathology of common universal domination together, a war that forgetful Western circles and mainstream media tend to hide under a shameful carpet.
We thought we were vaccinated to so many lies. Instead, we continue to be amazed by listening to the media megaphone, the interchangeable masks of politics, the mercurial venerable television preachers to the silent majorities. In a deafening effluvium of words and concepts, between causes and effects, ethics and realism, history and legend, the celestial beacon of the Kingdom of Good stands majestic, advocate of peace, human values, progress, freedom of thought, and so on.
Perhaps in such an enchanted world, as even its most orthodox defenders recognize, there is no lack of defects, but perfection is not of this world. We know well – echoes that Voice from above – that the world is not going in the best condition and that it should get better, but be careful, it could also grow worse, indeed much worse. But fortunately, there is someone – up there – capable of containing the chaos and barbarism: the friendly advice that comes to us is therefore to judge world events with moderation and not to get too agitated! Since 2021, the Black House has then had a new tenant (who will remain there until January 20, 2025), an elderly gentleman whose language is understood only by the Eskimos, if we exclude Sanskrit scholars, and who will be remembered by posterity for the atrocities against the Palestinian people for which he is jointly responsible with Israel, for the war against Russia with massive loss of Ukrainian lives and territory, for the cover-ups of his scoundrel sons‘ actions, for the inclination to fall down the stairs of planes and the loss of orientation at the end of press conferences. A pacifying smile would escape us, if we did not have to deal with death and devastation, and if that elderly gentleman were not the bearer of a briefcase that can put an end to humanity. When this question is timidly raised, the defenders of the Empire of Good reply annoyed that in reality that briefcase is in the hands of people with heads on their shoulders. But if this is really the case, please, who are they, who controls these controllers, who delegated this gigantic responsibility to them? Questions that remain dramatically unanswered.
4. Another of the infinite pearls of the Unipolar Master leads us to a certain Pompeo, Mike, former director of the CIA (2017-2018) and secretary of state (2018-2021), who in a moment of unexpected truth publicly admits3 that the CIA is paid to steal, deceive, defraud. Hearing such an unusual confession, the audience present (University of Texas!), instead of calling the police, explodes in empathetic laughter followed by affectionate applause. Clearly, not only for the confessed offender, but also for American academic ethics, stealing, deceiving and defrauding is considered a prestigious task of a US public institution!
Among the nations that benefit from the selfless services of the Western Empire to protect their security we find of course Ukraine. Let’s also set aside the omnipotence complex together with the obvious, that a country that entered the war for its survival and that has 6500 nuclear warheads, before being defeated, would resort to atomic weapons. Ukraine remains a devastated nation, however, ruled by a mediocre comedian, winner of an election with a peace programme, then passionate about war with the support of a miraculous white powder. He, surrendering to the nostalgic caresses of a new democracy with a hooked cross, together with the noble Atlantic values (dollars), when he is not cruising around the world dressed as an orderly room soldier (let the others go to the front!) spends his time naming squares and streets after the worshippers of the father of the Ukrainian homeland, the heroic slaughter of Poles and Jews, Stepan Bandera. The clock ticks on, memory vanishes, conscience is silent.
But let’s take a step back. In March 2007, Wesley Clark, a former four-star general, NATO commander in the war in Kosovo, gave an interview4 that should be read and meditated upon. On September 20, 2001, after a conversation with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and his deputy Wolfowitz, Clark was informed (by a superior whose name is not mentioned) that the United States intended to attack Iraq. To his bewilderment: “Are we attacking Iraq? why?”, he answered: “I don’t know”. “Have they found any evidence linking Saddam to al-Qaeda?” “No, there is nothing new. The decision was made because, I suppose, they don’t quite know what to do after 9/11. If you have a hammer, you see nails everywhere.”
In another meeting, a few weeks later, Clark asks: “Are we really going to go to war on Iraq?” And the other: “Oh, it’s worse than that” and reaching over the desk, he takes a sheet of paper and says: “They gave it to me a while ago at the Secretary of Defense’s office. It is a memo that describes how to destroy seven countries in five years, first Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and finally Iran”. Before leaving, Clark asks: “but is it a classified document?” and the other: “certainly”. “Well, then don’t let me see it.” After a year, Clark meets that general again and asks: “Do you remember that memo?” and the other: “what are you talking about? I never showed you that memo!” Clark ends the interview by stating: “if I think back to that episode and see what is now happening in the Middle East, then everything becomes clear”.
Six of those nationss have been invaded/destabilized, millions of dead, injured and refugees, infrastructure razed to the ground and the social environment returned to mere survival. Only one is missing, Iran, and we already hear the drums beating. The aggression against that country, assuming that Tehran does not first equip itself with nuclear weapons, would set the Middle East on fire, would strike a fatal blow to Western economies, would cause millions of deaths, but it would benefit those who sit at the top of the pyramid and Israeli colonial expansionism, in the smug pride of a nation, the United States, which in 250 years of existence has lived in a state of peace only 16 years, and which with 4.3% of the world’s population intends to dominate a planet of 8 billion people!
5. As for Libya, until 2011 according to the United Nations that country was the one with the highest human development index in all of Africa. In that year, the country was bombed and destroyed by NATO for no plausible reason, in violation of any international law, and of course against European interests (in particular of Italy, at the time linked by profitable relations with Gaddafi), opening the doors to illegal immigration which is now destabilizing all of Europe. For the United States, that war was in line with the so-called rules-based order, a principle that if one calls comical is a compliment, based on the daily fickleness of imperial hierarchies and quoted at the top of his lungs by the icy charlatan of falsehoods, Blinken, Antony – one of the worst Secretaries of State in American history, paired with his drinking buddy, the national security adviser Sullivan, Jake, also at the bottom in his category. An enchanting rules-based order, also defended by the Italian Prime Minister on a visit to Beijing a few months ago, perhaps in the belief that the Chinese had a ring on their noses and took seriously her witty reasoning on world geopolitics.
We have said several times about the gloomy European Union, a colonized entity accustomed to the violation of relevant principles of public and private ethics. It helps to alleviate depression the consciousness that the EU has long ceased to be a protagonist on the international scene. A noteworthy aspect is the care that its leaders reserve in polishing the buttons of the butler’s livery, which they wear, however, with great dignity! It is a source of relative consolation that the Global South – the resistant and emerging nations – is looking for other horizons, towards a plural and multipolar world, no longer subservient to globalist finance led by American corporations and the warmongering deep/permanent state of the declining American Empire. The BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other continental groupings constitute an encouraging manifestation of the recovery of sovereignty by the Global South that could one day project a beneficial influence even on the West.
The ruse is there, you can see it, but strangely no one cares! Distraction, obfuscation of the intellect, prefabricated confusion, news overload, pervasive skepticism, and more, all tinged with the belief that society is an immutable given. And this is bad.
However, although we see no sign of palingenesis in the Empire (the power structure within the United States), we remain hopeful that the axis of resistance will strengthen the barricade of resistance. We cannot anticipate the times, but we keep believing that sooner or later men of good will will see the dawn of a new horizon. We won’t be there, never mind. The memory that we have contributed will be enough.
Where lies prevail, truth inspires terror, generates disorder, annihilates the solipsistic illusion of power, emerges as a gigantic leap in the dark. On the other hand, it remains indispensable for those who seek salvation. If man wants to destroy the world of the fabricators of death, and survive, he will not be able to escape that horizon. The truth will annihilate what must be annihilated.
“Blocking the way,” said J. M. Keynes, the great liberal economist of the twentieth century, defender of an ethical economy in favour of shared well-being and the essential needs of men, “are only a few elderly gentlemen, tightly wrapped in their cassocks, who need to be treated with a little friendly irreverence and thrown down like skittles.”
In a society where the majority appears resigned to slavery of pervasive alienation, narcotized in the smartphoneic torpor or in front of a TV screen, Franz Grillparzer’s salvific thought comes to the rescue: if my time wants to oppose me, I let it do it quietly. I come from other times, and to others I hope to go.
1 https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/that-which-can-be-destroyed-by-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=82124&post_id=153183786&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=13lc4d&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email