Billy BobStreamed live on 10/17/2023 • Episode 25 of Blowback:
Exposing Imperial Decline with special guest Leo He Zhao.
PRECIS
Regarding the Palestinian (Hamas) confrontation with Israel, the panel discusses several intriguing aspects of this extraordinary event: Is this a false flag, a new 9/11, set up by Israel to finally get carte blanche to "cleanse" all Palestinians out of "Israeli territory"? Was it done to deligitimate Hamas, an organisation that at one point did work with the West (collaborating in the dirty Jihad against Syria, for example)? Hamas, however, has apologised for that, for being supporters of the color revolution in Syria. But it's widely known that Hamas was aided by Israel and the West to become a top player in Palestinian politics, one capable of implementing moves favorable to the Zionist state's ultimate goals. Netanyahu himself has been quoted by the Israeli and even Western media cynically suggesting that anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state "has to support the bolstering of Hamas." This came as recently as 2019, with Netanyahu addressing fellow Likudists.
And how far can Israel go? A ground invasion of Gaza can prove a bloodbath for Israel, a country notorious for its reluctance to suffer casualties, and whose army of weekend warriors, unaccustomed to the brutal hardships of a war with real enemies capable of inflicting serious pain, is no match for warriors truly capable of urban warfare. The repercussions of that disaster, the highly probable military defeat (as other Arab and international factions may also join the fight— Hezbollah, the Chechens, Iranians, other nationals from the Middle East and even Pakistan and Turkey—could trigger chaos in Israel, throwing the country cloder to even a civil war. Meantime, Biden is trying his best to keep the Middle East from exploding, and oil prices going through the rood, right in front of his election, thus he is busy talking to one and all, including Venezuela's president Maduro, to increase oil production.
It's clear that the hypocritical West, starting with the US, is becoming aware that this war and Israel's barbaric behaviour, have opened the door to a true turning point in the Middle East and globally, with the US quickly losing more of its vaunted hegemonic power. Washington and Brussels are quite aware that a civilisational war with the Arab/Muslim world united against Israel, precisely at a point when the West is militarily quasi depleted due to Ukraine, could prove a huge catastrophe. This serious probability has justified some observers to think that Hamas may have in fact set up a trap for Israel, betting on its depraved behaviour to finally shake world opinion out of the usual moral torpor induced by Western managed "news".
All that, plus the usual discussions about the nature of capitalist society and the roots of its multitude of failings. Panelist Leo He Zhao reminds everyone that the march toward socialism is inexorable, and that humanity has slowed down in this quest only because the capitalists have systematically attacked young socialist republics and murdered their leaders. Colonialism and imperialism are on a continuum, notes, Zhao. Colonialism applies to the domestic conditions of a country, while imperialism applies to many.