NATO’s goals can seem abstract when the sympathy and anguish of the world’s people are focused on the systematic destruction in Gaza. It is the most unequal struggle imaginable. Yet the Palestinian resistance is so powerful that Zionist planners and generals admit that they have failed to break this indomitable liberation struggle, even after nine months. Palestine solidarity is a global phenomenon.
With [Zionism’s] foreign minister an invited attendee at the NATO Summit, while publicly carrying out these repeated and utterly criminal attacks on defenseless civilians, the people of the world can only assume one thing: The intended NATO message is that war without limit is the new norm.
NATO seeks to normalize relentless war on civilian populations. It is a desperate effort to maintain its deteriorating world position through sheer terror. Such acts will fuel far greater resistance in West Asia and worldwide.
The theory about neocolonialism was created to explain the hands-off approach the colonial powers were taking to the world. They weren’t settling the world anymore, they were just setting up local colonial managers to control their holdings from afar with no intention of actually annexing the territory. It was distinct from settler-colonialism, that was the entire point.
This isn’t distinct from settler-colonialism.
I agree completely that it’s distinct from settler-colonialism and that the development of theory on neocolonialism was in recognition of the less explicit but often more sinister forms of control that “decolonized” countries were thrown into. As a nitpick, neo-colonialism wasn’t meant to just distinguish from settler-colonialism but also the non-settler forms.
But I do think the term has been used, including by Nkrumah, to describe states that also had settler-colonialism. There were/are states retaining settler-colonial character while also being subjected to imperialism by the US-dominated financial system that dictates policies, for example. Nkrumah described basically every African settler-colonial (and even apartheid!) country in these kinds of terms in Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism.
So in a way both stipulations are true. Neo-colonialism is distinguished from settler and non settler colonialism and that’s 100% the point of it. But a state (or non-state) can have both characters. I would disagree that one excludes the other by definition, particularly if one analyzes a country’s relationship with multiple states / projects.
I think my real contention is that Israel is hardly subjected to US imperialism. It’s an equal partner in their relationship, as such, Israel is not a US colony. Israel is a settler-colony that has no mother country. It relies on the US, for sure, but their relationship is codependent and they rely on each other. Portraying Israel as just a US vassal is wrong.
I wouldn’t call Israel an equal partner, it is just very useful for US interests and has developed how to exploit its position. Economically, I would put it somewhere in between subimperialist and a secondary imperialist power in its own right when it comes to global geopolitics overall, in between something like South Korea and something like Denmark. Its own working class is exploited relative to its national bourgeoisie, it eats from the Imperialist trough, but it does not have anything like true independence, it is subordinate to the seat of international capital and is highly dependent on it militarily and economically. With regards to Palestine, it is a settler-colonial project that uses an array of means of control, including those of neocolonialism - and so does the US (towards both Palestine and Israel but far more towards the former). With regards to its other neighbors, it acts as a destabilizing force for all anti-imperialist projects, nearly always with heavy American support (and often direction). It is very similar to apartheid South Africa in all of these respects, though it is more industrialized.
One way to think of it is through the legacy of the deconstruction of the Ottoman Empire, with the British sponsoring the Zionist project there and then handing over to the new global seat of capital mid-century. The British Empire treated Palestine as a quasi-colony almost immediately, helped set up the anti-Palestinian policies Zionists clamored for, and aided the Zionist project militarily. This lasted even until the “decolonial” period where neocolonialism replaced explicit colonialism as part of American-led capitalism, of a unipolar capitalist order. Palestine was subjected to both the settler-colonialism of Zionists from this period forward and also the mechanisms of neocolonialism. Palestine outside Israel was left to the economic order of Imperialized countries. Low industrialization, cheap exports, the creation of food aid dependency, the constant bombardment of comprador campaigns, etc.
Israel will get tossed aside the moment the US no longer sees an interest in maintaining it and if it hadn’t already collapsed by that point, it would shortly after. In contrast, if Israel cut ties or imploded, the US would chug along looking for myriad angles to continue propping itself up. It would perceive a crisis and pivot rather than immediately collapse. Of course, these fates aren’t independent - a weak US will also mean a weak Israel and the US is unlikely to stop seeing an interest in maintaining Israel until it is in its own crisis.
It’s critical to US interests and its a keystone in the US’s power over oil, trade, and migration in the region. It’s necessary for the control of North Africa and the Middle East and the suppression of pan-Arab/pan-African nationalisms within the actual neocolonies in the region. Without Israel the US’s ability to control the periphery of its empire would crumble.
If Israel did not exist the United States would have to create it to serve her interests in the region.
When Israel falls, the US will soon follow.
The US would indeed just invent Israel - by strongarming multiple states in the region, leveraging bases like those in Jordan, and maintaining several carriee groups. Israel’s primary contribution is intel and bombings and the US would just manufacture consent for the necessity of invading Syria, Lebanon, Iran, etc.
It would be expensive and require a complacent world order just like the loss of any substantial US interest.
Re: oil so long as trade routes are controllable and the US has power over the Saudis, they would be fine. We can see both pieces of leverage struggling at the moment even with a more rabid Israel. The former is weaker now as evidenced by Yemen, arguably a result of the US’ policy that uses Israel in exactly the way we’ve described, it’s blowback and the development of anti-imperialist forces in the region that correctly identify the US and Israel as the primary enemy. The latter is mostly due to an ascendant China and the US undermining itself repeatedly, mostly wrt Russia but that has had huge knock-on effects.
The US can strong-arm multiple states in the region because Israel is its unsinkable aircraft carrier. Without Israel, other states become unruly.
Also, as you say, it would require a complacent world order - one which does not exist because China is ascendant. If Israel were gone, China could suddenly leverage the Belt and Road to become the dominant player in both West Asia and North Africa. That makes Israel so utterly critical as to be irreplaceable.
I still maintain they’re partners, rather than a superior-subordinate arrangement.
I think we are basically 99% in agreement aside from this one conclusion lol. I agree with all of the specifics you’ve just mentioned, for example, I just think there is a level of depravity thatand control the US may still be able to pull off. I think China is similarly wary, not that this makes my conclusion correct.
I hope your analysis is the correct one, as the current trajectory is of both the US and Israel being paper tigers.
The one wildcard I am uncertain about are the nukes, both Israel’s nukes and the US’s
If the US really believed Israel was in serious danger I don’t know how it would respond. As it is, I think we might see troop deployment if Israel comes under serious threat from its neighbors. That would totally upend everything and make all my predictions worthless lol