The game motif is useful as a metaphor for the broader rivalry between nations and economic systems with the rise of imperialism and the pursuit of world power. This game has gone through two major transformations since the days of Russian-British rivalry, with the rise first of Communism and then of Islam as world forces opposing imperialism. The main themes of Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games include: * US imperial strategy as an outgrowth of British imperialism, and its transformation following the collapse of the Soviet Union; * the significance of the creation of Israel with respect to the imperial project; * the repositioning of Russia in world politics after the collapse of the Soviet Union; * the emerging role of China and Iran in Eurasia; * the emerging opposition to the US and NATO. As the critical literature on NATO, the new Russia, and the Middle East is fragmented, this work brings these elements together in historical perspective with an understanding from the Arab/ Muslim world's point of view, as it is the main focus of all the "Great Games”. It strives to bridge the gap between Western, Russian and Middle Eastern readers with an analysis that is accessible and appeals to all critical thinkers, and at the same time provides the tools to analyze the current game as it evolves. The Great Games of yore - Britain vs. Russia and their empires in the 19th century, and the US vs. the Soviet Union in the 20th century - no longer translate merely as the US vs. Russia or Russia/ China. A major new player is a collective one, NATO, which today is as vital as the emperor's clothes to justify the global reach of US imperialism. Today, the "playing field” - the geopolitical context - is broader than it was in either the 19th or 20th century games, though Eurasia continues to be "center field”, where most of the world's population and energy resources lie. The existence of Israel is an anomaly which seriously complicates the shaping of the geopolitical game. Its roles in the Great Games as both colony and an imperial power in its own right, is analyzed in the context of the history of Judaism and its relations with both the western Christian and the Muslim worlds.
Postmodern Imperialism
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"Those who think that the "Great Game" played for control of Central Asia is a superannuated relic of Europe's imperial past must read Walberg's epic corrective to their egregious error. In extensive, richly textured and carefully documented detail he reveals the evolution of this competition into the planetary quest for dominance it has become, as well as the imperatives animating its new "players," among whom many will find, to their surprise or consternation, tiny Israel and its symbiotic liaison with America Inc. Prime imperial architect, Zbigniew Brzezinski actually called the blood-soaked playing field The Grand Chessboard, but like all his rapacious forebears omitted to mention the pawns. Walberg places them at the heart of this much needed remediation of the sinister falsehoods propagated in a political culture manufactured from above and offers hope that this anti-human playboard may yet be overturned." -- PAUL ATWOOD, American Studies, University of Massachusetts and author of War and Empire: The American Way of Life (2010)
"Walberg's book is a sharp and concise energizer package required to understand what may follow ahead of the Great 2011 Arab Revolt and related geopolitical earthquakes. It's a carefully argued--and most of all, cliche-smashing--road map showing how the New Great Game in Eurasia is in fact part of a continuum since the mid-19th century. Particularly refreshing is how Walberg characterizes Great Games I, II and III--their strategies and their profiteers. Walberg also deconstructs an absolute taboo--at least in the West: how the US/Israeli embrace has been a key feature of the modern game. It will be hard to understand the complex machinery of post-imperialism without navigating this ideology-smashing road map." --PEPE ESCOBAR, roving correspondent for Asia Times, author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (2007)
"Imperialism is as alive today as in the days of the original Great Game. Central Asia and the Middle East are as strategically important today for the US and Great Britain as they were in earlier games, if for different reasons. Postmodern Imperialism is a continuation of Kwame Nkrumah's Neocolonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965) and carries forward the struggle of the pen against the sword." --GAMAL NKRUMAH, international editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo
"Walberg's provocative work traces the transformation of the imperial world through the twentieth century. It is a valuable resource for all those interested in how imperialism works, and is sure to spark discussion about the theory of imperialism and the dialectic of history." --JOHN BELL, author of Capitalism and the Dialectic (2009)
"Eric Walberg's treatise on the Great Games, on Empire, is an excellent read. It is not a blow by blow account of the rise and fall of empires involved with the Great Games, but an accounting of their methods and raison d'etre. It is a dense read, provocative, bold, touching on ideas that seldom appear in mainstream presentations. It is a significant and important addition to the geopolitical and political-military thinking of the global cultural environment of finance and wars." -- Foreign Policy Journal, July 22, 2011
"Those who think that the "Great Game" played for control of Central Asia is a superannuated relic of Europe's imperial past must read Walberg's epic corrective to their egregious error. In extensive, richly textured and carefully documented detail he reveals the evolution of this competition into the planetary quest for dominance it has become, as well as the imperatives animating its new "players," among whom many will find, to their surprise or consternation, tiny Israel and its symbiotic liaison with America Inc. Prime imperial architect, Zbigniew Brzezinski actually called the blood-soaked playing field The Grand Chessboard, but like all his rapacious forebears omitted to mention the pawns. Walberg places them at the heart of this much needed remediation of the sinister falsehoods propagated in a political culture manufactured from above and offers hope that this anti-human playboard may yet be overturned." --PAUL ATWOOD, American Studies, University of Massachusetts and author of War and Empire: The American Way of Life (2010)
"Walberg's book is a sharp and concise energizer package required to understand what may follow ahead of the Great 2011 Arab Revolt and related geopolitical earthquakes. It's a carefully argued--and most of all, cliche-smashing--road map showing how the New Great Game in Eurasia is in fact part of a continuum since the mid-19th century. Particularly refreshing is how Walberg characterizes Great Games I, II and III--their strategies and their profiteers. Walberg also deconstructs an absolute taboo--at least in the West: how the US/Israeli embrace has been a key feature of the modern game. It will be hard to understand the complex machinery of post-imperialism without navigating this ideology-smashing road map." --PEPE ESCOBAR, roving correspondent for Asia Times, author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (2007)
"Imperialism is as alive today as in the days of the original Great Game. Central Asia and the Middle East are as strategically important today for the US and Great Britain as they were in earlier games, if for different reasons. Postmodern Imperialism is a continuation of Kwame Nkrumah's Neocolonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965) and carries forward the struggle of the pen against the sword." -- GAMAL NKRUMAH, international editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo
"Walberg's provocative work traces the transformation of the imperial world through the twentieth century. It is a valuable resource for all those interested in how imperialism works, and is sure to spark discussion about the theory of imperialism and the dialectic of history." -- JOHN BELL, author of Capitalism and the Dialectic (2009)
"Walberg's book is a sharp and concise energizer package required to understand what may follow ahead of the Great 2011 Arab Revolt and related geopolitical earthquakes. It's a carefully argued--and most of all, cliche-smashing--road map showing how the New Great Game in Eurasia is in fact part of a continuum since the mid-19th century. Particularly refreshing is how Walberg characterizes Great Games I, II and III--their strategies and their profiteers. Walberg also deconstructs an absolute taboo--at least in the West: how the US/Israeli embrace has been a key feature of the modern game. It will be hard to understand the complex machinery of post-imperialism without navigating this ideology-smashing road map." --PEPE ESCOBAR, roving correspondent for Asia Times, author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (2007)
"Imperialism is as alive today as in the days of the original Great Game. Central Asia and the Middle East are as strategically important today for the US and Great Britain as they were in earlier games, if for different reasons. Postmodern Imperialism is a continuation of Kwame Nkrumah's Neocolonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965) and carries forward the struggle of the pen against the sword." --GAMAL NKRUMAH, international editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo
"Walberg's provocative work traces the transformation of the imperial world through the twentieth century. It is a valuable resource for all those interested in how imperialism works, and is sure to spark discussion about the theory of imperialism and the dialectic of history." --JOHN BELL, author of Capitalism and the Dialectic (2009)
"Eric Walberg's treatise on the Great Games, on Empire, is an excellent read. It is not a blow by blow account of the rise and fall of empires involved with the Great Games, but an accounting of their methods and raison d'etre. It is a dense read, provocative, bold, touching on ideas that seldom appear in mainstream presentations. It is a significant and important addition to the geopolitical and political-military thinking of the global cultural environment of finance and wars." -- Foreign Policy Journal, July 22, 2011
"Those who think that the "Great Game" played for control of Central Asia is a superannuated relic of Europe's imperial past must read Walberg's epic corrective to their egregious error. In extensive, richly textured and carefully documented detail he reveals the evolution of this competition into the planetary quest for dominance it has become, as well as the imperatives animating its new "players," among whom many will find, to their surprise or consternation, tiny Israel and its symbiotic liaison with America Inc. Prime imperial architect, Zbigniew Brzezinski actually called the blood-soaked playing field The Grand Chessboard, but like all his rapacious forebears omitted to mention the pawns. Walberg places them at the heart of this much needed remediation of the sinister falsehoods propagated in a political culture manufactured from above and offers hope that this anti-human playboard may yet be overturned." --PAUL ATWOOD, American Studies, University of Massachusetts and author of War and Empire: The American Way of Life (2010)
"Walberg's book is a sharp and concise energizer package required to understand what may follow ahead of the Great 2011 Arab Revolt and related geopolitical earthquakes. It's a carefully argued--and most of all, cliche-smashing--road map showing how the New Great Game in Eurasia is in fact part of a continuum since the mid-19th century. Particularly refreshing is how Walberg characterizes Great Games I, II and III--their strategies and their profiteers. Walberg also deconstructs an absolute taboo--at least in the West: how the US/Israeli embrace has been a key feature of the modern game. It will be hard to understand the complex machinery of post-imperialism without navigating this ideology-smashing road map." --PEPE ESCOBAR, roving correspondent for Asia Times, author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (2007)
"Imperialism is as alive today as in the days of the original Great Game. Central Asia and the Middle East are as strategically important today for the US and Great Britain as they were in earlier games, if for different reasons. Postmodern Imperialism is a continuation of Kwame Nkrumah's Neocolonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965) and carries forward the struggle of the pen against the sword." -- GAMAL NKRUMAH, international editor, Al-Ahram Weekly, Cairo
"Walberg's provocative work traces the transformation of the imperial world through the twentieth century. It is a valuable resource for all those interested in how imperialism works, and is sure to spark discussion about the theory of imperialism and the dialectic of history." -- JOHN BELL, author of Capitalism and the Dialectic (2009)
About the Author
is known worldwide as a journalist specializing in the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia. A graduate of University of Toronto and Cambridge in economics, he has been writing on East- West relations since the 1980s, He has lived in both the Soviet Union and Russia, and then Uzbekistan, as a UN adviser, writer, translator and lecturer. Presently a writer for the foremost Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, he is also a regular contributor to Counterpunch, Global Research, and Al-Jazeerah. His articles also appear in Russian, Spanish, German and Arabic.
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35 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Walberg's Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Games is the best introduction to geopolitics that I have seen. Walberg begins by citing such classic theoreticians as Mackinder, Haushofer and Ratzel in his description of how the imperial center drains the resources of its periphery, and how the earth's geography has dictated a struggle between Eurasian land powers (Russia, China, Germany, Islamdom ) and maritime rimlands (US, Britain, Japan) in which the latter are generally the aggressors -- though you wouldn't know that from their propaganda, which is probably all you ever see if you live in the West.
Walberg traces the evolution of Great Game I (pre-Russian revolution) into Great Game II (the Cold War era) and finally Great Game III (today's US-British-Israeli war for world conquest). Unlike the functional psychopaths who dominate in Political Science departments and policy-making positions, Walberg never loses sight of the almost unimaginable depravity of the whole enterprise, and the tidal wave of human suffering in which imperialism has nearly drowned the world.
What makes Walberg's book a real stand-out -- and what probably made it unpublishable by the major corporate houses -- is his honest analysis of the way the hardline Likudnik Zionists have seized power and dominated Great Game III. Though Walberg does not come right out and say that 9/11 was staged by the Mossad as a Zionist coup d'état, that is the unstated implication of the picture he paints, in which Zionist interests in destabilization and sheer mindless destruction of their Islamic enemies have trumped US interests in stabilizing and exploiting the Islamic rimlands. He hints at this in his introduction when he describes watching 9/11 on TV from Tashkent: "My immediate reaction was that their (the Twin Towers') collapse simply could not be the work of a band of poorly-trained Muslims orchestrated by someone in a cave in neighboring Afghanistan. Subsequent study has confirmed to me that the events of 2001 had far more to do with US imperialism --and Israel--than Islam." (p. 16)
Walberg's exemplary honesty extends to his discussion of the role of Jewish financiers in the creation of the British-American empires, in which the real power resides with bankers, not governments, and the way those same financial powers have established the "postmodern imperialism" of Great Game III: "The importance of the financial world and its use as parapolitics to the game strategy in Great Game III...like the importance of the Rothschilds to the strategies of Great Games I and II, cannot be overestimated. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was initially viewed and continues to be seen by many as the program of an emancipated nineteenth century Jewish financial elite using Freemasonry as a vehicle to achieve world power. The worth of the Protocols is not assessed here. It is enough to trace the development of the politics of Zionism from attributable sources and to observe the moves it gives rise to." (p. 178). While the usual suspects will undoubted call him names, I think Walberg considerably understates the case. If, in fact, the Protocols were real, the actual, documented psychopathic viciousness and mendacity of Zionism would make their authors seem relatively benign by comparison.
Along the way, Walberg bravely voices the obvious but taboo answer to the question: Why in the world did the British, the world's greatest empire, give away Palestine to the Zionists? What was the quid-pro-quo? The answer, as everyone knows but as very few are brave enough to say out loud, is as follows:
"The promise of a Jewish state in Palestine was a direct result of Zionist lobbying of both the British and Germans as World War I dragged on. Jewish bankers were financing both sides in World War I. Rothschild and the Jewish Conjoint Foreign Committee (JCFC) lobbied the British government intensely during World War I to push for a commitment to a post-war Jewish state. As British fortunes ebbed, the JCFC assured Lord Robert Cecil that American Zionists would lobby for US entry into the war if the British were to promise a Jewish state in Palestine after the war."
In other words, the Zionists were responsible for the slaughter of the 117,465 Americans killed, and the 205,690 Americans wounded, in that utterly meaningless (for the US) war. Compared to the Zionist slaughter of Americans in World War I, the 1967 USS Liberty incident (34 killed, 170 wounded) and the Israeli-Zionist attacks on New York and Washington on 9/11/2001 (2,977 killed immediately, untold thousands wounded and killed by toxic dust, and more than 7,500 dead in the 9/11 wars) were small stuff.
Another potentially controversial bit of truth-telling is Walberg's discussion of the does-the-tail-wag-the-dog debates (p. 214 - 219). His conclusion is that yes, the Israeli tail does wag the American imperial dog, and more and more people are figuring this out. Walberg cites Anatole Lieven's argument that Israel offered the US strategic advantages during the Cold War, but has since become "a very serious strategic liability...This is not a case of the tail wagging the dog, but of the tail wagging the unfortunate dog around the room and banging its head against the ceiling." (p.218).
One of my favorite publishers, Margo Baldwin of Chelsea Green, told me during our radio interview that the biggest taboo in American publishing is criticism of Israel. I hope that the brave folks at Clarity Press continue to bust that taboo, and that Walberg's brilliant Postmodern Imperialism follows the path blazed by James Petras's The Power of Israel in the United States (which has now gone through seven printings) to become an underground bestseller.
Walberg traces the evolution of Great Game I (pre-Russian revolution) into Great Game II (the Cold War era) and finally Great Game III (today's US-British-Israeli war for world conquest). Unlike the functional psychopaths who dominate in Political Science departments and policy-making positions, Walberg never loses sight of the almost unimaginable depravity of the whole enterprise, and the tidal wave of human suffering in which imperialism has nearly drowned the world.
What makes Walberg's book a real stand-out -- and what probably made it unpublishable by the major corporate houses -- is his honest analysis of the way the hardline Likudnik Zionists have seized power and dominated Great Game III. Though Walberg does not come right out and say that 9/11 was staged by the Mossad as a Zionist coup d'état, that is the unstated implication of the picture he paints, in which Zionist interests in destabilization and sheer mindless destruction of their Islamic enemies have trumped US interests in stabilizing and exploiting the Islamic rimlands. He hints at this in his introduction when he describes watching 9/11 on TV from Tashkent: "My immediate reaction was that their (the Twin Towers') collapse simply could not be the work of a band of poorly-trained Muslims orchestrated by someone in a cave in neighboring Afghanistan. Subsequent study has confirmed to me that the events of 2001 had far more to do with US imperialism --and Israel--than Islam." (p. 16)
Walberg's exemplary honesty extends to his discussion of the role of Jewish financiers in the creation of the British-American empires, in which the real power resides with bankers, not governments, and the way those same financial powers have established the "postmodern imperialism" of Great Game III: "The importance of the financial world and its use as parapolitics to the game strategy in Great Game III...like the importance of the Rothschilds to the strategies of Great Games I and II, cannot be overestimated. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was initially viewed and continues to be seen by many as the program of an emancipated nineteenth century Jewish financial elite using Freemasonry as a vehicle to achieve world power. The worth of the Protocols is not assessed here. It is enough to trace the development of the politics of Zionism from attributable sources and to observe the moves it gives rise to." (p. 178). While the usual suspects will undoubted call him names, I think Walberg considerably understates the case. If, in fact, the Protocols were real, the actual, documented psychopathic viciousness and mendacity of Zionism would make their authors seem relatively benign by comparison.
Along the way, Walberg bravely voices the obvious but taboo answer to the question: Why in the world did the British, the world's greatest empire, give away Palestine to the Zionists? What was the quid-pro-quo? The answer, as everyone knows but as very few are brave enough to say out loud, is as follows:
"The promise of a Jewish state in Palestine was a direct result of Zionist lobbying of both the British and Germans as World War I dragged on. Jewish bankers were financing both sides in World War I. Rothschild and the Jewish Conjoint Foreign Committee (JCFC) lobbied the British government intensely during World War I to push for a commitment to a post-war Jewish state. As British fortunes ebbed, the JCFC assured Lord Robert Cecil that American Zionists would lobby for US entry into the war if the British were to promise a Jewish state in Palestine after the war."
In other words, the Zionists were responsible for the slaughter of the 117,465 Americans killed, and the 205,690 Americans wounded, in that utterly meaningless (for the US) war. Compared to the Zionist slaughter of Americans in World War I, the 1967 USS Liberty incident (34 killed, 170 wounded) and the Israeli-Zionist attacks on New York and Washington on 9/11/2001 (2,977 killed immediately, untold thousands wounded and killed by toxic dust, and more than 7,500 dead in the 9/11 wars) were small stuff.
Another potentially controversial bit of truth-telling is Walberg's discussion of the does-the-tail-wag-the-dog debates (p. 214 - 219). His conclusion is that yes, the Israeli tail does wag the American imperial dog, and more and more people are figuring this out. Walberg cites Anatole Lieven's argument that Israel offered the US strategic advantages during the Cold War, but has since become "a very serious strategic liability...This is not a case of the tail wagging the dog, but of the tail wagging the unfortunate dog around the room and banging its head against the ceiling." (p.218).
One of my favorite publishers, Margo Baldwin of Chelsea Green, told me during our radio interview that the biggest taboo in American publishing is criticism of Israel. I hope that the brave folks at Clarity Press continue to bust that taboo, and that Walberg's brilliant Postmodern Imperialism follows the path blazed by James Petras's The Power of Israel in the United States (which has now gone through seven printings) to become an underground bestseller.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read a lot -- across 98 categories (access my Amazon reviews via category at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog). WITHOUT HESITATION, this book is easily a solid five. Early in the book I have it as a four, annoyed by the shallowness of some of the pieces and the error on Jonathan Pollard--this treasonous scum-bag went to other countries before he got to Israel, in no way is he a Jewish hero, only a traitor--but by the time I finish the book I am tempted to go with a six (10% of my reading). It is a solid five. Those that think less of this book are missing the knowledge foundation necessary to appreciate what the author has done in 300 pages covering the last hundred years.
Two foundation books for appreciating this work include Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time and The Naked Capitalist. Current books that bracket this one, the first cited by the author, include Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids.
I mention those up front to frame my view of this book as a serious combination of scholarly research and investigative journalism. Had the author included a who's who of key individual players as an appendix, this would have been a six.
By the end of the book I have a really strong appreciation for the manner in which the author has chosen to present his understanding of Great Game I (pre-WWI, UK versus Spain, Portugal, Russia, Germany, and emergent USA); Great Game II (US vs USSR and emerging new nations in play between them and original Great Game I players); and finally, Great Game III (USA as host to a parasitic Zionist Israel not to be confused with Jews generally or Judaism specifically).
The author focuses on the Middle East and Central Asian regions as a foundation for discussing how each of the "great powers" has sought to exploit the natural resources and geophysical locations of the elements of this region. While the author is brutally critical of the USA, and much in favor of local populations breaking free of the artificial boundaries imposed on them by various colonial powers (a topic covered very able in The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State), the real villain in this group is the global Zionist web comprised of the Israeli government, Jewish banking interests led by the Rothchilds in Europe and Goldman Sachs in the USA.
QUOTE (34): The ideology that shapes each game creates a mind-set that captures the players' thinking processes, making them for the most part willing handmaidens to the game logic, losing their moral compass.
Others have examined how easily entire populations lose their moral compass, I will link to just two here: The Manufacture Of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System, and The Pathology of Power.
The author discusses how "free trade," the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, standing armies, and "exceptionalism" as code for non-accountability, all enable recurring grave atrocities against indigenous peoples.
I am fascinated by the author's discussion of how the CIA supported Saudi Arabian export of the Wahhabist version of Islam, and how Saudi Arabia is funding what is in essence an off the books CIA (also known as the Safari Club) that is completely beyond any form of accountability under the US Constitution or its laws.
The author's discussion of specific Jewish appointments in the US Government, including 5 Cabinet officers and 2 Supreme Court justices under Bill Clinton, and his reference to the Judaization of the Department of State, is quite interesting in the larger context of the book.
There are areas where the author over-reaches, for example in over-stating US influence over UN agencies, but his discussion of how virtually all non-governmental and non-profit organizations have some form of funding from a mix of the CIA and the foundations and the banking families, is worthy of careful review.
I am fascinated by the author's presentation of Global Game IV as a financial game in which banks combine with criminal networks and intelligence agencies facilitating global drug trafficking set out to actually destroy many nation-states.
As the book draws to a close I am impressed by the discussion of the Russia-Iran axis; the discussion of Russia, India, and China; the growing power of non-state actors pressing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS); the rejection by Jesus, Mohammed, and Marx of usury and interest; and the potential importance of what he calls the paleoconservatives (Patrick Buchanan, Ron Paul, and Eric Margolis.
Several appendices at the end of the book add value, my only quibble is that the author missed the past coup in Qatar and does not address the near-term coup very likely to topple the existing Qatar royal network that has been setting up billion dollar exit strategies around the world.
This is one of those books that just does not go far enough or deep enough for the topic it takes on. I give the author very high marks for his insights and research and general presentation, but adding up everything, I put the book down very disappointed that the author was unable to include a "map" of the key organizations and key individuals that represent the "fatal embrace" and parasitic control he profers as existing between Zionist Israel and a very corrupt US Government no longer representing the US public.
With my three remaining links I am hard-pressed to select from among the 1,800 books that support this author's general thrust, so here are three, with the recommendation that those interested in seeing my reviews of all the other books organized into a positive and a negative list of lists of book reviews, search for the two lines following these three:
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
DVD: Inside Job
See all the books in all the lists organized within the two lines below:
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Positive)
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Negative)
Robert David STEELE Vivas
THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust
Two foundation books for appreciating this work include Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time and The Naked Capitalist. Current books that bracket this one, the first cited by the author, include Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids.
I mention those up front to frame my view of this book as a serious combination of scholarly research and investigative journalism. Had the author included a who's who of key individual players as an appendix, this would have been a six.
By the end of the book I have a really strong appreciation for the manner in which the author has chosen to present his understanding of Great Game I (pre-WWI, UK versus Spain, Portugal, Russia, Germany, and emergent USA); Great Game II (US vs USSR and emerging new nations in play between them and original Great Game I players); and finally, Great Game III (USA as host to a parasitic Zionist Israel not to be confused with Jews generally or Judaism specifically).
The author focuses on the Middle East and Central Asian regions as a foundation for discussing how each of the "great powers" has sought to exploit the natural resources and geophysical locations of the elements of this region. While the author is brutally critical of the USA, and much in favor of local populations breaking free of the artificial boundaries imposed on them by various colonial powers (a topic covered very able in The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State), the real villain in this group is the global Zionist web comprised of the Israeli government, Jewish banking interests led by the Rothchilds in Europe and Goldman Sachs in the USA.
QUOTE (34): The ideology that shapes each game creates a mind-set that captures the players' thinking processes, making them for the most part willing handmaidens to the game logic, losing their moral compass.
Others have examined how easily entire populations lose their moral compass, I will link to just two here: The Manufacture Of Evil: Ethics, Evolution, and the Industrial System, and The Pathology of Power.
The author discusses how "free trade," the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization, standing armies, and "exceptionalism" as code for non-accountability, all enable recurring grave atrocities against indigenous peoples.
I am fascinated by the author's discussion of how the CIA supported Saudi Arabian export of the Wahhabist version of Islam, and how Saudi Arabia is funding what is in essence an off the books CIA (also known as the Safari Club) that is completely beyond any form of accountability under the US Constitution or its laws.
The author's discussion of specific Jewish appointments in the US Government, including 5 Cabinet officers and 2 Supreme Court justices under Bill Clinton, and his reference to the Judaization of the Department of State, is quite interesting in the larger context of the book.
There are areas where the author over-reaches, for example in over-stating US influence over UN agencies, but his discussion of how virtually all non-governmental and non-profit organizations have some form of funding from a mix of the CIA and the foundations and the banking families, is worthy of careful review.
I am fascinated by the author's presentation of Global Game IV as a financial game in which banks combine with criminal networks and intelligence agencies facilitating global drug trafficking set out to actually destroy many nation-states.
As the book draws to a close I am impressed by the discussion of the Russia-Iran axis; the discussion of Russia, India, and China; the growing power of non-state actors pressing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS); the rejection by Jesus, Mohammed, and Marx of usury and interest; and the potential importance of what he calls the paleoconservatives (Patrick Buchanan, Ron Paul, and Eric Margolis.
Several appendices at the end of the book add value, my only quibble is that the author missed the past coup in Qatar and does not address the near-term coup very likely to topple the existing Qatar royal network that has been setting up billion dollar exit strategies around the world.
This is one of those books that just does not go far enough or deep enough for the topic it takes on. I give the author very high marks for his insights and research and general presentation, but adding up everything, I put the book down very disappointed that the author was unable to include a "map" of the key organizations and key individuals that represent the "fatal embrace" and parasitic control he profers as existing between Zionist Israel and a very corrupt US Government no longer representing the US public.
With my three remaining links I am hard-pressed to select from among the 1,800 books that support this author's general thrust, so here are three, with the recommendation that those interested in seeing my reviews of all the other books organized into a positive and a negative list of lists of book reviews, search for the two lines following these three:
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism
DVD: Inside Job
See all the books in all the lists organized within the two lines below:
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Positive)
Worth a Look: Book Review Lists (Negative)
Robert David STEELE Vivas
THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust
6 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book posits that since the term "Great Game" (shorthand for the competition between Russia and Great Britain in the mid-to-late 19th Century) appeared, two forces have successively opposed "Imperialism". The first force that it says opposed imperialism was "communism".
Let's examine that idea for a minute. The idea that Communism opposed Imperialism would be news in the 1920s to (among others) Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and all the peoples of the Caucasus region. And wasn't there also that Soviet invasion of Poland in the 1920s? Then there's that rather awkward deal that the USSR made with the Nazis until they're double crossed, that included the killing in cold blood of the cream of Polish intellectual life and their aristocracy (luckily, at Katyn the NKVD made films of how to liquidate class enemies on a large scale which they later used to train the North Koreans: you've got to capture "best practice" somehow if it is to spread). Then, of course, the USSR kept numerous countries in Eastern Europe in their Imperium by force (think Hungary in 1956; the Czechs in '68), etc. Meanwhile, anti-Imperialist Communists in China invaded Tibet in 1950s, and helped the hellish experiment that is North Korea "succeed", before funding violent guerrilla movements along the periphery of China.
In short, if words have meaning to you, you will find this book is utter rubbish - the worst sort of "black is white" pseudo-intellectual posturing.
Let's examine that idea for a minute. The idea that Communism opposed Imperialism would be news in the 1920s to (among others) Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and all the peoples of the Caucasus region. And wasn't there also that Soviet invasion of Poland in the 1920s? Then there's that rather awkward deal that the USSR made with the Nazis until they're double crossed, that included the killing in cold blood of the cream of Polish intellectual life and their aristocracy (luckily, at Katyn the NKVD made films of how to liquidate class enemies on a large scale which they later used to train the North Koreans: you've got to capture "best practice" somehow if it is to spread). Then, of course, the USSR kept numerous countries in Eastern Europe in their Imperium by force (think Hungary in 1956; the Czechs in '68), etc. Meanwhile, anti-Imperialist Communists in China invaded Tibet in 1950s, and helped the hellish experiment that is North Korea "succeed", before funding violent guerrilla movements along the periphery of China.
In short, if words have meaning to you, you will find this book is utter rubbish - the worst sort of "black is white" pseudo-intellectual posturing.
