Netanyahu and Zelensky will bring down the American Empire

Hardly a month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky had agreed to a ceasefire proposal that would have ended the war on condition that Ukraine declare itself neutral and give up its NATO ambitions. At the last minute, Boris Johnson showed up with a message; keep fighting! All of NATO is behind you. We are committed to providing everything it takes for as long as it takes. And don’t forget, the most powerful country in history, the USA, leads NATO and guarantees your victory over the aggressor. Besides, our sanctions from hell will cripple Russia within weeks. Zelensky bought it. What could go wrong when the mightiest military on earth has your back? This was the country, after all, that was so omnipotent it shaped the world’s reality, as Karl Rove put it. This was the country, which according to Michael Ledeen, “ could throw some crappy little country against the wall every ten years or so, just to show we mean business.” And throw crappy little countries against the wall was what they did with depressing regularity. Zelensky should have taken some pause for thought. The mighty empire that routinely devastated crappy little countries had nevertheless just been run out of Afghanistan after a twenty year war against lightly armed religious fanatics and goat herders. In fact, the mightiest military in history hadn’t come out on the winning side of any war in over 75 years. Two and a half years and half-a-million dead Ukrainians later, it has become obvious that the combined NATO does not have what it takes. Maybe in a few years, but Ukraine is out of time. “Whatever it takes for as long as it takes” turned out to be an empty promise. Zelensky put his faith in Uncle Sam, and where has it got him? There’s another world leader who has embarked on a poorly thought-out war on the assumption that Uncle Sam will save his bacon if things go south; Israel’s Netanyahu. Yes, after October 7 Israel had to respond. It could have inflicted immense damage on Hamas in a week’s worth of targeted strikes, but no, Netanyahu decided a full-scale ground invasion was the way to go. Ten months later, this has become by far the longest war in Israel’s history, and Israel is not winning. Israeli media report the IDF is short of tanks, munitions, and manpower. Israeli society is fracturing along multiple fault lines. Most of the world is repulsed by what is by any conventional appraisal an on-going genocide. But Bibi’s strategy at his point is to keep the slaughter going at least till the US election. He assumes a Trump regime will be more inclined to step in when he expands his losing war to Iran. He may be right. Trump is the guy who whacked Soleimani, after all. That’s a very steep gamble. He’s betting the future of Israel on two unknowns. Would America go all-in on a war with Iran? Secondly, would that make a difference? UK and American warships have been patrolling the Red Sea since January in a vain attempt to stop Houthi attacks on shipping. US-allied Arab dictatorships Egypt and Jordan are already struggling with restless populations who demand their leaders do more to support Palestine. Direct US involvement in a war on behalf of Israel would blow the lid off the regional pressure-cooker. America not only has no stomach for that kind of boots-on-the-ground war, it lacks the industrial base to sustain such a war, let alone win it. Back to back humiliations in both Ukraine and the Middle East will bring down the American Empire.