is it because of the Israel lobby, or because Israel serves some sort of strategic purpose?
Mearsheimer seems to think that it's mostly because of the lobby. I think I agree with him; I really can't think of any unique strategic purpose that Israel serves for the US. if Israel disappears tomorrow, the US still has colossal military bases in the Gulf states, it still has friendly governments in Jordan and Egypt, it occupies Syria and Iraq, it has ISIS to stage crazy terrorist attacks, etc. what exactly does Israel do that's worth all the negatives for the US?
I watched Finkelstein's recent interview on Al Jazeera and he mentioned he disagreed with Mearsheimer. just curious what everyone here thinks.
To destroy Europe, as a short to medium-term goal.
Just like with Ukraine, the de-stabilization of the Middle East especially in Levant will generate a huge wave of war refugees emigrating from the region, and the most likely place they’re going to end up in is Europe.
The influx of refugees over the next decade will strain the European economy to its limits, which is already undergoing a permanent de-industrialization phase as the continent pursues an austerity measure following the sanctions blowback against Russia and Nord Stream sabotage.
Stoking cultural and social tensions, the rise of far right nationalist/fascist parties becomes imminent, and deteriorating living standards will force Europeans (especially the younger generations and skilled professionals) and in turn to flee from their home country.
The US will reap the benefit by absorbing the European capital and immigrant labor fleeing from a dying region as the events continue to unfold.
What you need to understand is that the US is now fully a financial/landlord empire. It simply cannot compete on industrial terms, especially against China. The only way it can move forward and stay afloat is by devastating the other regions and reaping the gains from the fall out, just like how private equity firms leveraging high stake loans to buyout established corporations and hollowing them out from the inside, then bail with bags of money while the husk of the corporations are left saddled with huge ton of debt.
These financial capitalists have no interests in building or running the corporations, just using various kinds of tricks and means to suck a corporation dry before latching onto a new host. This is exactly what the US is doing to Europe today.
And Israel is simply one of their means of achieving the broad strategic goals of the US empire.
Implying that “refugees” will hurt “Europe” is fucking racist
It’s not, it’s a capitalism problem. Europe is now a dead zone and it does not and will not have the economic capacity to absorb an influx of refugees. You have to understand that the European capital is already fleeing to the US thanks to Biden.
This is why so many countries are afraid of climate refugees over the next few decades. It’s going to stoke social and cultural tensions to their max and bring about a wave of fascist regimes all across Europe. The Ukrainian refugees are already taking a toll on the European economy, and it’s only going to get worse from there.
America, on the other hand, is well situated to absorb the European refugees and most importantly, the capital they bring. As I said, it’s a capitalism problem, and the empire is doing exactly what it does best to reap the benefits from this.