Is the US the Puppet Master Behind Israeli Aggression?

Is the United States the puppet master behind Israel's current aggression?

Last December 19th I made a post describing how, in political science terms, Israel is what is known as a client state of the United States.

A client state, otherwise known as a puppet state, depends on another, more powerful nation for support and protection. Think South Vietnam during the Vietnam War period. Israel is not actually an American ally. No treaty exists between the U.S. and Israel. The U.S. is under no legal obligation to protect or defend Israel. And vice versa of course. If the U.S. were to be attacked Israel would be under no obligation help us either. That is what allies do and Israel is not an ally, it's a puppet state.

Israel would not be able to continue its genocide in Gaza, nor its fresh assault on another country, against the Palestinians living in Lebanon, without material support from the United States.

Israel simply cannot make enough weapons to keep this war going. They must import them, which they do. Follow these links for some amusing pictures of American politicians Nikki Haley and Mike Pence writing their signatures on missiles in Israel. Won’t the voters back home just love it? How quaint.

In my earlier post I emphasized that American corporations and stockholders benefit from the sale of these weapons. Since October 7th, 2023 the US has spent a record $17.9 billion in military aid for Israel. That is money that US taxpayers pay to US weapons manufacturers to send war materiel to Israel. Total US aid to Israel this year is almost $23 billion - which averages to $2,400 in US tax money spent on every Israeli citizen. Compare that to the $770 per person offered to survivors of Hurricane Milton.

All this makes me wonder if analysts perhaps give too much agency to Israel’s actions. Are Israelis really acting entirely on their own? People believe they must be partly because our political class spend so much time pretending they can’t control Israel. When in reality Joe Biden can tell Israel to stop any time he likes. With a phone call. Ronald Reagan did it in 1982. Here's a New York Times article from when that happened.

Since Israel is the puppet state and the US is the puppet master, why might the puppet master want the puppet state to keep acting so provocatively?

It's possible that America's ruling class perceive a benefit to Israel’s actions. Hoping, perhaps, that Israel might provoke a war with Iran, a pretext to seize the Straight of Hormuz. The Straight of Hormuz, remember, is a vital choke point in global oil trade. About 20 percent of the world's oil flows through the Straight of Hormuz. Additionally, news reports already say that Israel is likely to target Iran's pipelines that run oil and gas deeper into Asia... home to China - chief competitor for America’s continued hegemony on the planet.

It's possible that by helping Israel provoke a war with Iran, the US thinks it can hurt China. According to the New York Times, China buys half of all oil exported from Iran. Iran brings in about $150 million a day from its trade with China. Iran supplies China with about 15 percent of its oil.

War with Iran is a way to hurt China. Slow its growth. Should war materialize, American corporate profits for defense and big tech would surge. American oil industry profits would go exponential. Word is derivatives markets are already trading on this likelihood.

This adds a new dimension to the picture. Could a war with Iran prevent China from threatening US global domination? (Also known as US hegemony.)

Of course such a scenario would make a US war with China much more likely. I would suggest that is perceived as a feature, not a bug, by the American ruling class.

But don't forget that China is a nuclear power! Any direct warfare with China is virtually guaranteed to go nuclear. Nuclear winter, which is what happens in a nuclear war, could block all sunlight from the earth's surface, putting all life on earth in danger of extinction.

But you and I know that's absurd! The American rich would never consider risking all life on earth just so they can stay rich! Right? So perhaps a proxy war between Israel and Iran is just a nice consolation prize for American elites. You can bet both Democrats and Republicans, especially those sponsored by AIPAC, would leap to support such a conflict.

Also we cannot dismiss the ideological value of such a conflict. China, big red, the largest most successful nation on earth to ever call itself communist. Another epic battle in the century-old effort to defeat communism and defend capitalism everywhere, all the time. It is practically America's identity. Anticommunism first last and always. Plus, war in Iran!!! Finally revenge for 1979. Do you remember that? When Iran told American imperialism to take a hike? The empire never forgets. Iran and China are a plainly considered an impediment to Uncle Sam being the biggest baddest daddy on earth.

 In his book The Corporation, writer Joel Bakan noted that pathological pursuit of profit makes American corporations behave psychopathically. I guess this is what happens when corporations rule the world, corporate profit potential takes precedence over the public interest. Corporate profits can also take precedence over the continued survival of the human species. This is just one downside of having a money-driven political system.

But hey, that’s just my conjecture. Yet before dismissing my surprisingly plausible suggestions, just remember which country is the puppet master. And ask yourself what the puppeteer really wants.

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Let’s make them pay.