“Anyone in this country who questions Israel is going to get spanked. (I’ll get an e-mail slap from my uncle just for saying that.) I admire Cohen for not only asking tough questions but gleefully puncturing every Zionist piety. He’s sure to hear from his own Uncle Mort, as well as Aipac and other en forcers of Jewish correctness on Israel.” More…link to tr.im

Brilliantly said. And clearly correct.

I think we are probably in agreement about that, v, if you mean the elite have always wanted to dominate that part of the world that is of use to them.

Where we may differ, though, is in this: You seem to think that nothing is new; that America has always been driven by a desire to dominate the world; that so also has every other empire in history.

I see it differently. Of course, all empires eventually burn themselves out through over-extension; the center cannot hold. But not because they sought to dominate their entire known world – only the part that was of potential use to them or that might threaten their borders. As for America, it has never sought to dominate its entire known world until recently. (Some people like to point to Woodrow Wilson as an example of how the US in the past sought to dominate the world, forgetting that the country’s endemic isolationism blocked any thoughts he may have had along those lines.)

One can argue that “America” wants to dominate the entire world today in order to ensure its security and guarantee a steady flow of needed resources like oil. I think that is incorrect; that most of the American political power structure does not want or seek such world domination. But there is a very significant part of the power structure that does, the part that was responsible for the Project for a New American Century. Those are not idle words; they were carefully chosen, and they reflect the plans neocons and their fellow travelers have for America.

If Zionists like the neocons were a fringe element in the American power structure, we would have little to fear from them. But they are in fact the dominant element (still) in the formulation of US foreign policy – and that, mainly, is why America (with ally Israel) is still threatening to dominate the world with its military power.

That is what is new in the world balance of power.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Podesta’s think tank (what was the name again? so similar to project for america…) shed the progressive pretense and come out as full blown neoliberal.

Only problem I see is this: we all agree what a neocon is. Unfortunatetly no two seem to agree on what a neoliberal is. I am still looking for a definitive definition and wikededia is no help at all.

Most people in America, even today, don’t subscribe to the idea of world domination. But there are powerful elements in the US political and foreign policy establishments that do. Liberal interventionists generally do not. Some neoliberals do. But the people who are most consistently and justifiably associated with the notion of world domination by the US are the neocons. And these radical extremists are backed by powerful Zionist forces within the Israel Lobby.

Yes, there are other important elements within the US foreign policy and military establishments who want to see America dominating the rest of the world. But in America today the power behind that mindset is wielded mainly by neocons and the Israel Lobby.

It is flat wrong to fool yourself into thinking that this is the predominant American attitude toward the rest of the world. And if the US Establishment isn’t aware of that yet, they soon will be.