Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States?
Recently the words "fascism" and "fascist" have been used almost casually in political discourse, most notably in the form of the fusion word "Islamofascism" which seeks to conflate Islam with fascist ideology. The use of "fascism" to describe a political phenomenon is one of those convenient conversation stoppers, intended to evoke memories of the Second World War, of dictatorships and police states in Italy and Germany, and of racial laws and death camps as well as other atrocities.
Fascism is generally linked to ultra-right wing politics or attitudes even though 1930s fascists themselves believed that they did not fit into the traditional right-left political spectrum. The word Nazi is, in fact, an acronym for "national socialist," adroitly combining nationalism with socialism. It is generally accepted that a fascist is a totalitarian who supports an all-powerful and centralized state buttressed by the legal argument promulgated by Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt that government can do no wrong precisely because it is the government. Fascism differs from communism in that it accepts a robust private sector economy regulated by the state and it eschews class struggle, believing instead in a national popular consensus that unites behind what has been referred to as the "vanguard" fascist movement. Both Communism and Fascism believe in the destruction of parliamentary democracy, which they regard as decadent and subject to dominance by the bourgeois class. In the 1930s, the concept that the fascist party was the only legitimate representation of the national will enabled leaders like Hitler and Mussolini to ignore constitutional restraints and create one party dictatorships.
One can easily see how linking fascism to Islam is a non-starter unless one accepts the argument made by those who believe that at least some radical Muslims are trying to recreate the Caliphate, a political entity which would be totalitarian in nature. Other than that, Muslim militants do not have any interest in class struggle either pro or con, do not have an economic or foreign policy, and do not operate within and through the mechanism of a nation state. Call al-Qaeda what you will, but it is definitely not a fascist organization.
Defining fascism beyond that point is not easy as it has political, social, and economic elements and it varies considerably in its different forms based on national idiosyncrasies. The fascist parties also contained factions that disagreed on many economic and social policies, but there are common themes that generally surface when one speaks of fascist style states, like Peron’s Argentina and also the Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq. All fascist regimes have an identifiable leader and an assertive ultra-nationalism that frequently feeds off a sense of victimhood, i.e. that Germany was eviscerated by the treaty of Versailles while Italy, a victor in the war, was not rewarded commensurate with how much it had suffered. This need to assert a frequently mythical notion of national power and greatness, often through war or imperial expansion, generally produces a militarization of society as well as a rewriting of history to support the new agenda. Since fascist governments frequently use emergency decrees to eliminate or restrict parliamentary democracy, they frequently evolve into police states to suppress dissent and maintain the regime. Their economies are generally heavily regulated by the state and the government is often directly involved through state industries and favorable treatment meted out to businesses with links to the bureaucracy. Contemporary fascist regimes are, in summary, authoritarian, nationalist, single-party police states strongly promoting racial or ethnic identities and having economies heavily regulated or even dominated by the government.
Israel obviously has, increasingly, many attributes of fascism, but the melding of policies that have created what amounts to a national security state in both Washington and Tel Aviv has been an obvious consequence of the so-called war on terror, which seeks to establish security through total military dominance. Indeed, Israeli policies and security doctrines have been adopted wholesale by Washington, suggesting that the tiny client has asymmetrically influenced its larger patron. Concurrently, since the 1990s Israel’s government has been steadily moving in a rightward direction and the upcoming elections will reportedly continue that trend with the politicians seeking to outflank each other by moving harder and harder to the right.
So to what extent are both Israel and the United States trending towards a fascist model? In some areas the affinity is clear. Both Israel and the United States claim victimhood from terrorism and have used that as an excuse to maintain aggressive foreign policies that emphasize the use of force as a first option. Both spend far more proportionately on "defense" than other developed countries and both are actively engaged in proxy and shooting wars around the world. Israel exploits its alleged victimhood to occupy Palestinian land while the United States does the same to justify its continued presence in Afghanistan and its threats against both Iran and Syria.
The victimhood also feeds resentment that reinforces ultra-nationalism which in turn glorifies militarism. It is not surprising to note that both Israel and the United States have established military courts and tribunals to deal with perceived external threats, lessening the role of the independent civilian judiciary. This has in turn led to "antiterrorist" legislation that has infringed on what most western nations would consider to be fundamental liberties. The Israeli Shin Beth internal security services operates with a relatively free hand against regime critics and potential threats as does the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States under the auspices of the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts, leading many critics to observe that both countries are evolving into national security police states where official accountability is minimal as the respective governments are able to cite state security as a reason to avoid any exposure of illegal activities.
And the ultra-nationalism also leads to the creation of national myths. Israel and the U.S. have at times encouraged the belief that Palestine and North America were empty lands waiting to be developed, a contention that is untrue in both cases. Israeli state sponsored archeology has worked assiduously to document Jewish presence east of the Jordan River while at the same time ignoring or even destroying historic sites demonstrating the persistence of non-Jews in the area.
And then there is the fascist economy, in which state enterprises and favored businesses are nurtured alongside a heavily regulated private sector. Israel is much farther advanced in that respect than is the U.S. and is notable for the manner in which its defense and security sectors feature government and industry working hand-in-hand. Indeed, government officials and senior military officers move freely between the public and private sectors helping Israel to become the eighth largest exporter of weapons in the world. In the United States, the military industrial complex plays a similar role though with far less direct government involvement and direction. Many would describe the whole system of Pentagon contracting for weapons systems that are not needed a form of government welfare for the arms producers who in turn support the politicians voting for the largesse.
And finally there is racism. Overt expressions of racism have gone out of fashion in the United States, though the assertion of "American exceptionalism" certainly contains racial overtones in its presumption that Washington can intervene in the affairs of others overseas. Israelis, many of whom see themselves as God’s chosen people with a divine right to all of Palestine, inevitably attribute that right to their racial and cultural superiority, a theme that was played on recently by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. A recent opinion poll reveals that two thirds of Israelis believe that Palestinians should be denied the right to vote if the West Bank were to be annexed while three quarters of Israelis support segregated Jewish-use-only roads. When an Israeli soldier kills a Palestinian he is rarely punished. Justin Raimondo notes how racism has become the leading issue in the upcoming elections. Many Israelis, including recently departed Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, have long held extreme racist views regarding Arabs and Muslims in general, but in recent months the reaction to African asylum seekers has demonstrated that there is an uglier racism lurking that is being as openly asserted in the political campaign as much as Jim Crow was in the American south in the 1950s and 1960s.
Naftali Bennett, head of Israel’s political party Jewish Home, rejects any kind of Palestinian statehood and has called for the immediate expulsion of all Africans to maintain the country’s "racial purity," surely an ominous phrase when coming out of the mouth of an Israeli politician. Such demands might well be regarded as eccentric, but Jewish Home is likely to emerge from upcoming elections as the nation’s third largest party and is strongly supported by young Israelis. Israel’s insistence that it be recognized as a Jewish State and proposed legislation demanding loyalty oaths from Arab citizens should also be seen as part and parcel of a racist agenda, reflecting the all too frequent demands by some politicians to expel all Arabs and occupy the entire West Bank.
The only area in which Israel and the United States are demonstrably not fascist is their avoidance of dictatorship, though even that is not as clear cut as it might be. The United States has, to be sure, two major parties that alternate in power, but both are wedded to a similar statist agenda, which is particularly evident in the area of foreign policy, where there is a national consensus in support of aggressive militarism. The concept of the unitary executive, embraced by both Democrats and Republicans, is intrinsically dictatorial in nature and there are legitimate concerns that another major terrorist attack inside the United States could well tip the balance to presidential rule by fiat with a complaisant congress, media, and supreme court following along behind. Israel likewise has a number of viable political parties, but the movement politically speaking has been to the right and one might argue that the national consensus is clearly hard right wing with Likud dominant. The only question decided in elections is just who the other players might be in the government coalition and lately they have been even more extreme than Likud.
So it would appear that the answer to the question whether Israel and the U.S. are developing into fascist-style states would have to be a qualified yes, meaning that they are not quite there yet but all the indicators are pointing that way. It is perhaps time for both the American and Israeli people to wake up to smell the roses and ask themselves what kind of government they really want to have. Will it be a nation governed by laws that apply to all citizens and with a ruling class reined in by constitutional restraints or will it be an all-powerful regime packed with generals and constantly at war both with its neighbors and ultimately with its own people. That is the choice that confronts us.
Read more by Philip Giraldi
- How Government Grows – January 2nd, 2013
- A Flat Earth New Year – December 26th, 2012
- Christmas in Connecticut – December 19th, 2012
- Why Remember Iraq? – December 12th, 2012
- The Protocols for Death – December 5th, 2012
Johnny in Wi.
January 9th, 2013 at 10:38 pm
The USA is headed by a brown Peron or maybe Mussolini. One of the first things facists do is disarm the opposition. In Israel the Chosen have all the guns and rest of the people have rocks. In the USA Obama is using the Newtown tragedy like Hitler used the Reichtag fire. Obama has demonizing the law abiding people who have guns. He wants us as powerless as the Palistinians. Look at the leading advocates of gun grabbing Bloomberg, Emmanuel, Feinstein, Schumur, Boxer, Nadler, Blumenthal, and Lautenberg. Of course we have the Mussolini of New York, Cuomo, who wants to be Obama's replacement. We are already well on the way to economic facism with Obama and all his economic czars. We have cultural facism coming out of Hollywood. The adoption of Israeli torture and other policies are pushing forward an America Gestapo. We have unending wars for no sane reason. Free expression of dissidenting ideas is heavily controled by the mainstream media. About all that is keeping any freedom alive in this country is the internet and the 2nd Amendment. As long as a huge number of people are armed to the teeth, they can never get full control.
RickR30
January 9th, 2013 at 11:32 pm
Another instance of fascist economy is the corporate welfare for banks with secret bailouts for the bank mobsters in the trillions in addition to the billions they received initially and under false pretenses. Not to mention the bizarre justice system applied to bankers when they do all sorts of repuslive ilegal acts like laundering money for narco terrorists and "islamofashist" terrorists.
The whole war of terror is a racist war. How is it exceptional for the richest, most developed nation on earth to drone bomb, invade, and occupy the most misarable and poorest countries on earth populated by starving dark-skinned folk. But that's israel's policy, too- brutalize the defenseless and the weak. Surely a sign of racial, intellectual, religious superiority…
Democracy as forged by the US has been reduced to "free elections." And nothing else. Free in so far as a good chunk of the population can vote. But not so free when it comes to who can run for office. There is no democracy when the legislature can and does enact laws that are patently unconstitutional. There is no democracy without independent branches of government. There is no democracy when people are murdered by their own government (!) and incarcerated by their own government without trial. There is no democracy when "state secrets" are used to "legally" justify all government violations and worse, when the "justice" system goes along with that explanation.
We are far closer to a tyranny than this article suggests.
baz
January 10th, 2013 at 12:46 am
This may be something that is confronting us, Phil, but it is hardly a choice. We are losing rights and freedoms inch by inch in this country and Isreal is tilting more and more towards exposing its true nature, that of a fledgling racist military fascist not unlike the one germany turned into in 1939.
I do believe you are correct in that it would just take one more attack on US soil to permanently create a violently self preserving state, not just in DC but also in some localitues like NYC where mayor bloomberg already has a large army trained by shin bet and mossad
mickperry
January 10th, 2013 at 2:32 am
Thanks for this account Phil, and if you have never read George Orwell's Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters then I thoroughly recommend them to you.
He writes of being in political meetings in the '30's where you had to wait until the end to learn whether you were among fascists or communists, when the audience would rise to their feet either with extended hands or with clenched fists.
For myself I wonder whether what we are seeing today is not any re-emergence of fascism, but a descent into good old fashioned barbarism?
Ironically, the last time this happened in Europe it was Islam that eventually restored civilization for us.
Yonatan
January 10th, 2013 at 2:50 am
The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007 declares that in the event of a “catastrophic event”, George W. Bush can become what is best described as “a dictator”:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/new-presidential-dir…
The color of the skin of the Dear Leader is irrelevant, as is the nominal party e.g national socialist. A One Party state is a democratic sham.
Yonatan
January 10th, 2013 at 2:53 am
What do you think of Congress reaction to Netanyahu speech?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110…
It's like watching film footage of the old Politburo after Stalin gave a speech.
AIPAC has every one of those politicians by the short and curlies.
Don't ever cross AIPAC, ever.
Louise Danceanu
January 10th, 2013 at 3:29 am
Maybe Israel became “the only democracy in the Middle East”, just because SUA imposed puppet governments and dictators everywhere around. And the states that have not undergone this treatment became “enemies” or terrorist states. "Who is not our vassal, becomes our enemy!" We should have no doubt that SUA and Israel are developing into fascist-style states.
abe
January 10th, 2013 at 3:47 am
Everytime I hear that israel is America's only friend in Mideast; I recall that before israel America had no Mideast enemies.
Patrick
January 10th, 2013 at 5:05 am
Great article Phil. The “war powers” that Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, and Joe Lieberman claim the Commander in Chief (the President) has to detain American citizens under the law of war in section 1021 of the NDAA because the United States is the “battlefield,” would also permit the Commander in Chief to confiscate every civilian owned gun in America, if he chose to exercise it. That is what was done in Hawaii, a territory then but under the Constitution, by the Commander there after Pearl Harbor. The military wouldn’t relinquish control until finally ordered by the President after some civilian’s case, Duncan v. Kahamoku, reached the Supreme Court. Furthermore, under these same war powers brought into effect, with virtually 100% Republican support, the Commander in Chief could shut down news sites and militarily detain journalists and critics, as was done in the precedents from the Civil War that the government cites to in the Military Commissions. Yet too many Republican Brownshirts squeal about the Democrats, rather than look at their own party’s far greater role in moving the U.S. toward a police state.
MoT
January 10th, 2013 at 5:18 am
Color is irrelevant except to those who slither up to this murderous cat and purr while he kills other brown people on the other side of the planet. Somehow "their guy" can seemingly do no wrong while the "other guy" was, and is, as guilty as hell.
MoT
January 10th, 2013 at 5:30 am
One thing I've noticed for years when it comes to the usual "slippery slope" arguments is how words are used. For one thing we need to stop asking IS America "becoming" a fascist nation when its long since been one. That's the kind of vocabulary people in denial cling to in their feeble hope that the illusion of the America that once "was" will somehow return. Forget about it. That mythical land doesn't exist. It's the faint echo of propaganda we've all been fed for generations through the indoctrination centers of this nation, AKA "public education", cultural Kommisars in Hollywood, and the Ministry Of Truth masquerading as News. We also need to drop the "left/right" monikers attributed to our bi-factional one-party state. Best to describe things as either being "hard" or "soft" statism as that ultimately, when you boil it down, is really what it's all about.
MoT
January 10th, 2013 at 5:37 am
I should have added that for true liberty loving people, such as myself, that statism, fascism, nationalism etc. should be rejected. When you blindly rally around that flag, and suck the teat of government for whatever reason, you're a danger to everyone including yourself.
Kolya Krassotkin
January 10th, 2013 at 6:22 am
Philip, I have friends well-informed about almost all current events, yet except for my independent conservative friends none is even aware of the sinister turn Israeli politics and society have taken these last few years. (Almost none has heard of Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beitenu,Naftali Bennet, Shas or Joseph Ovadia.) If any other country had chosen leaders that took this turn to the very, very far right, that nation would have been called fascist or even n***. Yet with regard to Israel, nothing but silence. Is it any wonder people who are still intellectually honest and morally decent are disgusted with Israel and America's leaders prostituting themselves for her?
die Wahrheit zählt
January 10th, 2013 at 6:23 am
Excellent comment.
mickperry
January 10th, 2013 at 6:24 am
The US electoral system appears to be deeply dysfunctional. According to the Robert Kane Pappas 2003 documentary 'Orwell rolls in his grave' available on You Tube, the old Politburo had a return rate of 92%, which compares quite favourably to the US Congress return rate of 98%.
As for Binyamin, if Israel's rightward drift continues then expect to see him replaced with Avigdor the Barbarian once the latter's legal problems are resolved.
Congress no doubt will oblige him with another record-breaking round of standing ovations.
didi
January 10th, 2013 at 6:38 am
I have experienced fascism/Nazism live albeit as a youngster. Nevertheless, I am astonished by the almost total lack of knowledge/understanding of the fundamentals of fascism in Italy, Germany, and Spain that is often displayed. For openers every one of these nations had not merely a single party but these parties had an armed and violent enforcement organization. In Germany that was the SA. Where is our SA? The leaders had their special and very large security organization. In Germany that was the SS. Where is our SS? All workers in these nations were forced to become members of a single fascist labor union. All other unions were forbidden. Where is our fascist labor union? There was only one youth organization. In Germany that was the Hitler Jugend and the BDM. Where is our HJ and BDM? The notion that Adolf Hitler did the bidding of Germany's entrepreneurs and bankers is laughable. Soon after he became Chancellor they knew that acting against his will was very dangerous and the same was true in Italy and even more so in Spain. The typical complaint here is that our government is in the thrall of the 2%. Exactly the opposite of a fascist regime. Furthermore, the media and the arts were nationalized and totally controlled. Every commentator on AW.C would by now be in a concentration camp.
Our nation has deeply troubling problems and trends but a fascist nation it is not. Please stop this nonsense.
didi
January 10th, 2013 at 6:48 am
I have seldom read such utter nonsense. What will prevent our nation from becoming a Nazi state is not the internet and the 2nd amendment but its large ethnic and racial diversity. We are at heart an anarchist people and that too is a strong preventative.
Subsidies for all | FINANCE
January 10th, 2013 at 7:02 am
[...] Ways on How U.S. Could Save 2 Trillion on Health CostsRichard Jenkins “Social Identity”Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States? by Philip Giraldi — Antiwar.com .recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 [...]
didi
January 10th, 2013 at 7:03 am
Fascist governments in the past did not "bail out" their banks, they controlled their banks via a single national bank. Do you really believe that the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco were controlled by their banks?
RickR30
January 10th, 2013 at 7:43 am
That's the thing, the distinction today between banks and government is as unclear as it was back then. And the sectret "bail outs" prove it. We have central bank. It's called goldmansuckscitimorganstanleyetc.
Wolfgang9
January 10th, 2013 at 7:47 am
Becoming??
They are, for quite some time already Fascist!!
W9
John Watson
January 10th, 2013 at 8:00 am
Becoming fascist States? But they've always been fascist States.
Benjacomin Bozart
January 10th, 2013 at 9:42 am
I recall an article on this site bemoaning the Republicans setting up a Fascist police state while liberals waste their time going on about gay marriage and abortion.
omop
January 10th, 2013 at 10:14 am
Once again the adage of "birds of a feather flock together., etc,."
Still if one were to look backward in time/history one is able to conjecture as what US fascism will do to the minority of its God's chosen people. As far as Israel is concerned its been doing its fascism acts for many a year already.
mulegino
January 10th, 2013 at 11:01 am
I would say that, from an entirely objective perspective, the US (for the last 70 or so years) and Israel (since its inception) have been far more destructive than either National Socialist Germany or Fascist Italy.
Hitler wished merely to make Germany the most powerful nation in continental Europe. Mussolini wished to make Italy dominant in the Mediterranean and in North Africa; neither aspired to world conquest or anything as mad as "full spectrum dominance" or global domination. Neither did either wish, as does Israel, to live in a state of perpetual war with their neighbors. Hitler wanted an alliance with Poland to thwart the Soviet Union, and friendly relations with England and France.
Rather than fascist, I think that the US could more correctly be called a Cromwellian plutocracy and Israel an ethnocentric kleptocracy.
rwe2late
January 10th, 2013 at 11:05 am
didi
“History may not repeat, but it often rhymes”
Did not business leaders support the NAZIs (over the “communists”)? Their relationship before and after the NAZI takeover was based on mutual self-interests at least as much as fear.
The SA, I understand, was abolished once the NAZIs controlled the government.
SS? DHS? Habeas Corpus? Torture? Indefinite detention? FBI/CIA.
Yes there are differences, but do consider US government practices.
Massive prison system. Surveillance. Militarized police.
Wars of aggression and military (martial law) occupation.
Support for dictatorships and police states.
World-wide assassination program.
Are we to believe leaders who approve the vilest excesses abroad would always refrain at home?
You are right. There is no one big union. The IWW was outlawed. Hardly any unionization except the impotent AFSCME.
There's freedom of speech. Legally. As long as we do not reveal any of the ever-widening “state secrets”, or are deemed by the state to be “supporting” any of its ill-defined “enemies”.
So how far along the way do we have to get before becoming concerned about arriving there?
richard vajs
January 10th, 2013 at 11:23 am
The word "fascist" sounds too organized; too rationally thought out; too open to converts to describe modern America or Israel. America is now a genuine plutocracy ruled by financial hustlers. Israel is just a tribal society much like some African hellhole, wherein the superior tribe takes everything and tries to slaughter, in masse, the inferior tribe(s) – think Rwanda.
@charleycaruso
January 10th, 2013 at 11:38 am
The US became a fascist state when Obama signed the indefinite detention law.
mulegino
January 10th, 2013 at 11:52 am
We, as a nation, are more militarized than the Third Reich was. Our mainstream media- hence much of our "culture"- views war as a genre of political entertainment, as opposed to a sober and terrible reality. We have more people in detention or in prison- abroad and domestically- than Hitler's Germany did at the height of the camp system. Our freedom of movement is subjected to outrageous violations of privacy; even in the authoritarian National Socialist state, I doubt that children were subject to genital pat downs, or octogenarians to nude scanners. Open political demonstrations are subject to intense police scrutiny and frequent brutality, and our law enforcement is becoming increasingly militarized to the point where one cannot distinguish between them and the army.
We do- thank God- still have the right to free speech, and of the press. For how much longer, only God knows.
Phil Giraldi
January 10th, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Thank you rwe2late for explaining things to didi. If you read my article I did not state that the US and Israel are exact models of the 1930s fascism, but that they are modern day versions trending in the same direction. Does didi seriously claim that the US and Israeli governments do not have "armed and violent enforcement" at their disposal? Unions are no longer important issues since workers are powerless, nor is control of the young since we have a corporatist education system that does that job. As you note, Hitler definitely had banking and other capitalists/industrialists as part of his support group during his rise to power, just as today's leaders benefit from money that arrives clandestinely from the same sources.
Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States? | 9/11 - A Cheap Magic Trick
January 10th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
[...] Read more [...]
Sean
January 10th, 2013 at 1:33 pm
Well said.
Benjacomin Bozart
January 10th, 2013 at 2:11 pm
Possibly when the Shrub said the Constitution was a G*d#%$#% piece of paper and Republicans all chimed in that it wasn't illegal if the President did it? Obama is Bush's third term. Everyone screamed make us safe by taking our rights away and the government, for a change, did what they were asked. A majority say Inquisition torture chambers are cool with them and the NDAA the rubber stamped Star Chamber murder was bipartisan.
rosemerry
January 10th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
Just one point "victimhood, i.e. that Germany was eviscerated by the treaty of Versailles"
Any interpretation of that treaty shows its impossibility and that the Germans really did have a reason to feels aggrieved, if not victims.
baz
January 10th, 2013 at 2:36 pm
What is important to realise is that modern fascism does not just have a military face, it is run through economics and financial control. This is the new order of things. Back in the day, fascist leaders had no problem taking your life and property. Now they are taking your money and your welfare and you dont even know they are doing it because it is so masterfully deceptive and invisible to those who do not understand how the worlds money and trade system works
wars r u.s.
January 10th, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Right. I get the impression some people can't remember who was president when the patriot act, military tribunals and the rest of the bullshit started. Or what shape our economy was in when that little turd left office. obomba is no doubt a terrible president but he is no worse than what he followed. Other than skin pigmitation and a better vocabulary, there isn't a pinch of shit differensce between the two.
MoT
January 10th, 2013 at 3:15 pm
The Nazis of old would cream in their pants had they the means that our modern day fascists hold today. Security forces? Those are all the militarized police forces across the nation. They don't have to come out and admit as much but they damn sure act like it. The third reichs "ambitions" are miniscule compared to the jack-booted Amerikanishes Reich staring us in the face.
John_Muhammad
January 10th, 2013 at 7:55 pm
In other words, if you're not a part of the state apparatus, *you* are the problem.
It is sad to think, though, that the US plays the 'victim card' when we have never, ever had the horrors of war visited upon us. We haven't had to go to sleep to the sound of enemy bombers overhead, or dodge incoming missiles, or wonder if the troops in our streets are ours or theirs.
Yes, 9/11 was a terrible day- but compare that one incident to the fate of Dresden, or Hiroshima, or Nagasaki during WW2 and it's pretty clear that in comparison we got off with a pinprick's worth of pain. That one pinprick has caused our once-great nation to fear *everything* and when you're afraid of everything you become dangerous- and that's how much of the world sees us now. Sadly enough, we're just as dangerous to ourselves as to others.
Andrewp111
January 10th, 2013 at 8:17 pm
Israel was fascist from at least back in the 1980s, if not earlier. There is nothing new here.
Radical Islam is fascist since the Caliphate is their clearly stated goal. Islam does not recognize national boundaries. There is only the domain of Islam and the domain of war. Interestingly, Islam was allied with the Nazis in WW II.
The USA has been drifting toward fascism for a long time. Long before 9-11.
jojo a
January 11th, 2013 at 8:40 am
Sorry bud–911 pinprick—self done -had nothing to do with outside attack
Dan
January 11th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
What!!! Take out the word "Becoming". This has never been a good, normal country. I remember it as always being Fascist, racest, etc. God have mercy! Wake up.
Dick
January 11th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
How sweet and good you are. Are you for real?
me2u
January 11th, 2013 at 6:48 pm
To Hell with the Palestinians, they have the whole Middle East.
Patrick
January 11th, 2013 at 7:08 pm
He wouldn't have had the biill to sign if McCain, Ayotte, Graham and the Republican;s favorite libeal, Joe Lieberman hadn't given him the bill to sign and dared him not to. This isn't defending Obma but pointing out to the Obama haters that it is the Republicans that keep moving the Fascist state further along. Read the floor debates and look at the authors of these bills. Putting all the blame on Obama only allows the real culprits to pose as defenders of libert whike they advance the Fascist state with their unitary executive theories.
kpryan
January 11th, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Surely by now many can recognize the US has indeed descended into abject fascism.
'Too Big to Fail' corporate people; Banks that receive taxdollars as 'bailouts' yet the same people paying the taxes have their homes repossesed by the very same banks; giants that produce more and more un-needed weapons of war; the now permanent war footing established by bush and co and continued unabated by obama and co.; laws being passed that allow for Americans (or anyone else) to be locked away forever, never to face their occuser or have a chance to defend themselves; laws that now allow police to enter people's homes without warrant or cause; spying on the public in every conceivable manner…. the list goes on and on.
I'm of the belief that Drones are to be the final nail in the coffn. Corporate interests and local militarized police and the Feds will be using them to kill whomever or whatever they view as a threat.
We're very far down the Fascist Dictatorial road.
Thank you for the well thought out and written article, Mr. Giraldi.
richard vajs
January 12th, 2013 at 6:10 am
(Irony Alert!) "They have the whole Middle East"? Strange, then that they prefer to live in overcrowded Gaza with ten of thousands per square mile, instead of some place where they are free to move around annd have private estates. Given this "silly" preference by the Palestinians, it is nice that the Israelis control the flow of food into Gaza to keep everyone on a near starvation diet – wouldn't do to have too many fat people jammed on top of each other. The German Nazis had the same nice consideration for the Polish Jews who weirdly decided to crowd themselves into the Warsaw Ghetto.
Trish
January 12th, 2013 at 10:51 am
Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States?
What?!!!!
Both are fascist states already, where have you been Mr. G… wake up
richard vajs
January 12th, 2013 at 12:48 pm
(Irony Alert) And to further illustrate what ninnies these Palestinians can be, there are cases of Palestinians living in squalid refugee camps who actually hold clear title to nice properties in places like Tel Aviv. Why they prefer to live in a refugee camp when they own nice properties in Israel is unreasonable. Of course, nice Jews are living in these properties, protecting them until the real owners come to their senses.
liberranter
January 12th, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States?
"Becoming?"
Phillip Giraldi + The 'fascist' states.
January 12th, 2013 at 4:12 pm
[...] [...]
#Dhimmi: Philip Giraldi Runs To Defend Islamic Supremacy, Calls Opponents “Fascists” « Zionism's Survival: Surviving Under The Coming Nazi Regime
January 12th, 2013 at 10:59 pm
[...] the wRONg Paul crowd has Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense it still didn’t stop Giraldi to call both the USA and even Israel “Fascist” states. Even though Israel has caved to every [...]
Are Israel and the U.S. Becoming Fascist States? | Heinrichplatz TV
January 12th, 2013 at 11:47 pm
[...] http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2013/01/09/are-israel-and-the-u-s-becoming-fascist-states/? [...]
ch162
January 13th, 2013 at 2:42 am
The claims of the writer on beyon redicilous…. it is the typical left wing mentality of propping up dictatorships world wide while blaming the libral democracies of the world. Discusting if you ask me. The Arab citizens of Israel are teh only ones in all teh mideast with human rights, they are memebers of parliment, judges (including in the High court) and have one vote like everyone else… As for the laughable claim of throwing out African to ethnically cleanths the country. These are migrant workers who are killed in Egypt as tehy try to infatrate Israeli borders. Israel simply wantt o send them home. This is the same country that has brought 10's of thousands of Etheopians to its borders, and actually paid their way here and give them extra benifits when they get here..
This article is pure Anti- Israel hate with no basis in fact…..
robertB
January 14th, 2013 at 3:00 pm
"… the legal argument promulgated by Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt that government can do no wrong precisely because it is the government."
That's just Sovereign Immunity, which every country in the world has always declared and always will declare.