What Happens When a Neo-Liberal Feels Threatened

This is quite an opinion piece in the Guardian where Nick Cohen spews out a stream of neo-liberal claptrap that is truly epic. No doubt it will receive praise on ToP.

Premise

Nigel Farage’s social call on Julian Assange’s hideaway in the Ecuadorian embassy was a clarifying moment that ought to have flooded light on a dark world. To those who are willing to see, it revealed that far left and far right are now one movement.

Two people met and it's the end of the world. Now Nick Cohen has never seen a western intervention he didn't like.


The west has a duty to intervene in Syria Nick Cohen

EU support for Arab rebels is shamefully late Nick Cohen
The only way to peace Nick Cohen [war of course]

As for the last one he still doesn't get it:
Ten years on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid Nick Cohen

Why the Guardian still publishes his nonsense beats me.

He sadly goes on and on.

Then the real reason pops up:

Chomsky and his many adherents on the defeated radical left say the masses are brainwashed into voting against their interests by journalists, who are under the control of rich proprietors and advertisers.

He also objected to the "Stop the War coalition" as far back as 2001, of course he did.

Ah it's all about Chomsky, really it is. All that gobbledegook to surround his real target. Laughable really.

Neo-liberal warmongers really tie themselves into Gordian knots to justify their past idiocy and the utter chaos and carnage they leave behind:

Of course he had to jump on the RUSSIA!!! bandwagon

Russian treachery is extreme and it is everywhere: Nick Cohen

Now I would not normally bother linking this neo-liberal trash-talk but time after time it is what leads us into wars for profit and a body count to match. Their wars have lead to much of the xenophobic hatred and the negation of many of our rights that we took for granted. They helped support, sponsor and create the "Surveillance State".They helped fuel the extreme rights rise through "fear and loathing", they joined merrily into the ignorance race of "we will keep you safe" by slaughtering others. Millions in refugee camps, thousands drowning in the seas, and explosion in the number of "terrorist groups" and the rise of authoritarians.

But you know what.

They still think they are right and the font of all wisdom.

If Hillary had won, as with Obama, every war could be justified, every child killed mere collateral damage for our freedoms. Spreading democracy and peace by drone strike.

Calling the left and the right the same is intellectually lazy and ignores expressly the reality. They seem to be determined to send us back to an all out cold war and to justify the cyber-war to come.

Yet they propose nothing to change the injustices of this world that are the root causes of extremism and what is universally called, no matter what the fundamental reasons are "terrorism". Terrorists are only rebels when they are "ours" is the clue.

Income inequality
Poverty
Famine
Discrimination

Women's rights only matter when justifying the carnage.

They have deliberately been divisive over the decades, using wedge issues as a flail, yet they have stoically ignored the catastrophe of the oligarchical neo-liberal agenda. Socialism only works for the rich, the rest of us are served up more crap because we are "too needy".

Oh and by the way, grievances can be bipartisan and there is more "truth" in them than the so called corporate centre want us to actually deal with.

Intellectually moribund, dysfunctional, deceitful and lap dogs of the wealthy the neo-liberals need to go. Centrists my ass, pillagers, radicals and extremists more like.

Democracy? Which of them actually gives a shit about that one?

Just a thought and a little too angry to be precise.

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Cassiodorus's picture

It's money that has the voice. This is the revolt of old money against the "populist" Right, which is relatively new money.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

@Cassiodorus depressing things on TV. The infotainment show piece that drives political discourse.

Listening is just so passé.

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It's been my view that the Guardian is shite & I don't ever look at it.

Cohen is just another voice for the imperialism loosed by global monopoly capital to exploit the earth and its people to enrich an exceeding tiny number of people. Outlets like the Guardian stay in business by parroting what they're fed.

It's been 100 years since the popular uprising in czarist Russia, and then the overthrow of the accomodationist government, by the workers party. It didn't survive Lenin's death but it shook things up and shows what could be.

Atmospheric CO2 is at 403+ which is over the point where the positive warming feedback loop kicks in. It has kicked in and may not be reversible. But since there's a "might" then humanity needs to fight for sustainable energy & agriculture and the entities that finance the planet killing regime of Big Petro & Industrial Ag. Obama has done his damage in service to global financial capital so the effort is resisting Trump and the financial centers in Tokyo and NW Europe.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

@duckpin monster now frightening the villagers.

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@LaFeminista have to be destroyed.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

I read your essays here religiously, if somewhat irreverently. At the bottom I get to the tag "A Muse" and can't help reading it as "Amuse". Maybe you can add anther tag for "In Sense".

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

@ghotiphaze the dichotomy/confusion caused. It's often somewhere between the two.

Wink

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It is replete with Berniebros, purists, and ponies. Fuckers. Don't click and give it oxygen unless you can't help it.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich oops clicked, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself!

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@dkmich @dkmich will be ignored by the Russia!!! Crowd
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/323479-diplomats-warn-of-russ...

Former U.S. ambassadors to Russia and Foreign Service diplomats are angered by what they view as a “witch-hunt” pursuing Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, warning that “hysteria” over Russia in Congress and the media will undermine U.S. interests abroad

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@LaFeminista HAS to be a bad actor. He hasn't had a 'heart attack' yet.

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There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.

SnappleBC's picture

@dkmich Mostly because I don't think they care about clicks and subscriptions and all those mundane bits of running an actual business. I assume their money comes from the oligarchs.

My observation was that the entire thing is mired down in a mindset I no longer share. Liberals? Conservatives? Centrists? Progressives? I don't even know what those things are any more and I barely care. I remain much more worried about vertical groupings than horizontal ones.

In between the lines in that piece I got the sense that my vote was something for them to "pick up"... as if they could, by the proper strategy and messaging get my vote. They can't... not without a complete ideological change. The author knows that and doesn't comment.

Go figure.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh to have made quite a comeback in neo-liberals.

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Bollox Ref's picture

No surprise. Journalism and punditry over at The Guardian have taken a nosedive in quality. You can't move for anti-Trump or anti-Russia diatribes...... or 'resistance' glop ('look at my hat').

Remember when Greenwald agreed with Ron Paul on one point......... and became a Libertarian Satan almost overnight on Dead State? Obviously, Assange and Farage are soulmates. Who could fail to notice (/s).

(Edited)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref They called dibs on the white hats.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@LaFeminista all picked out.

It's absolutely NOT a white hat. Smile

http://montanapeaks.net/portfolio-items/james-caan-replica/

What can I say, I want to be the not-perfect guy.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks

http://www.barmahhats.com.au/

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Socialprogressive's picture

@LaFeminista

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

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Socialprogressive's picture

@LaFeminista

The dunce cap is for Nick Cohen and all the others that always get it wrong.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

@Bollox Ref

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annieli's picture

yep

As for the last one he still doesn't get it:
Ten years on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid Nick Cohen

Why the Guardian still publishes his nonsense beats me.

But concerned platitudes about the need to redress liberal failures miss that Putin, Trump, Farage, Assange and their many imitators are not always brainwashing their followers in a Chomskyan fashion. Their admirers positively welcome their tearing up of the old rules on honesty in public discourse, their contempt for facts, for human rights, for foreigners and all others who can be defamed by a demagogue on the make. They want a strongman who can pummel his enemies. They are entertained by his brags and impressed by how well he cheats. Many of the men among them revel in a leader who can boast about grabbing pussy or will pass a law allowing them to beat their wives. Many of the women want a real man in charge.

As I keep saying, the problem is not the liars, it is the millions who want to be lied to.

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@eState4Column5

Lily O Lady's picture

@annieli

problem may be that we assume that someone is telling the truth. Obama failed to deliver change, killing hope. Is it any wonder people look elsewhere?

Cohen's ability overlook such obvious cause and effect makes him just another liar. I guess he's looking for some of those people who want to be lied to.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@annieli to "Ten years on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid Nick Cohen" was yet you quote from today's article.

People have be lied to for decades, by everyone and most effectively by the neo-liberals, warmongers and trickle down proponents. All to keep the owners happy, fuck the people, that is why I blame them for the success of people like Trump, Farage and LePen.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Why the Guardian still publishes his nonsense beats me.

The Guardian's management is obviously Akkadian.

They seem to be quite happy to suffer Nick Cohen to continue to Babylon...

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

in a blue state.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/noam-chomsky-supports-hillary-clin... January 25, 2016

In May, 2016, he said:

"In the primaries, I would prefer Bernie Sanders," Chomsky says. "If Clinton is nominated and it comes to a choice between Clinton and Trump, in a swing state, a state where it’s going to matter which way you vote, I would vote against Trump, and by elementary arithmetic, that means you hold your nose and you vote Democrat. I don’t think there’s any other rational choice."

https://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/16/chomsky_on_supporting_sanders_why_he

In August 2016, he made an 8 point case for lesser evil voting (for Hillary)

http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/noam-chomskys-8-point-rationale-vo...

After the election, he chided those who refused to vote for Hillary.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/noam-chomsky-donald-trump-hilla...

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@HenryAWallace

?? Chomsky always said he would vote for Hillary if he lived in a blue state..... After the election, he chided those who refused to vote for Hillary.

Just goes to show you that even the great Noam Chomsky is completely and totally full of shit from time to time.

Just like the rest of us!

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides

Chomsky, like Sanders, is a LOTE guy. I am not happy about that, but it is what it is.
Nick Cohen, however, said this about Chomsky in the Guardian:

Chomsky and his many adherents on the defeated radical left say the masses are brainwashed into voting against their interests by journalists, who are under the control of rich proprietors and advertisers.

Chomsky advocated LOTE voting. Hillary lost. So, we can say Chomsky was defeated. However, Chomsky's defeat had nothing to do with the radical left. Furthermore, I question whether anyone who advocates LOTE voting is radical. It's a totes borderline centrist thing to do at this point.

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yellopig's picture

... you said:

Socialism only works for the rich...

Socialism is only applied to the rich. It would work for the 99%, but we are not allowed to have it.

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“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett

@yellopig

Corporate welfare, estate tax welfare, MIC welfare. With a welfare here, and a welfare there, here a welfare, there a welfare, everywhere a welfare. And I don't want to work on old Maggie's Farm no more, either!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bada983zTw width:350 height:350]

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvmL84sQR9M width:350 height:350]

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k9disc's picture

It's Corporate Centrists and their sponsors against the world.

I wonder how the Center Right is going to react to the illiberal smear. Talk about a rock and a hard place...

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu