The most salient observation in Lawrence Freedman’s book Strategy: A History, comes early, paraphrasing Frans De Waal’s seminal study Chimpanzee Politics, Freedman writes, “De Waal concluded that rather than changing the social relationships, the fights [to become or overthrow and alpha or to wage war] tended to reflect the changes that had already taken place.”
This “Chimpanzee Framework” is a useful way of understanding the catastrophe unfolding in the Persian Gulf today and the accelerating collapse of American power globally. The “Chimpanzee framework” clarifies just how and why American foreign and economic policy actions resemble a honey drenched giant fighting off an hungry sleuth of bears more than a smart, historically informed nation. American policy and its actions are uncoordinated, moored in shared delusion and filled with several metric shit-tons of hopium. (See, more proof ‘Muricans can do Metric!)
Why would American actions be otherwise? America inhabits a fundamentally different world than it did a decade ago. The unipolar moment is gone; multipolarity is fact, not wishful thinking. BRICS grow faster every day, searching for the perfect red-pill of knocking the dollar off its hegemony throne. Meanwhile, the United States cannot affect international policy change to its liking regardless where it acts. Not in the Ukraine. Not in Iran. Worse, the inevitable defeat in Iran will cascade into Venezuelan and Cuban failure as the small shrug off the rotten shackles of a wounded giant.
America’s inept inefficacy is not limited to international policy: economic policy vis-a-vis tariffs is an abject failure as it was under Biden. The United States will find re-industrializing an impossible adjustment when the reality of a nationwide collapse of its standard of living happens. Reindustrializing starts with a vigorous textile industry, not more computer and AI chip plants.
So, just how many Americans are willing to work for peanuts in sweat-shops? How many machinists can we realistically turn out in five, ten, even fifteen years? Do Americans even know what machinists do? How many high school graduates can use a lathe, much less know what one is? Our domestic reality is as equally grim as our international one, except our international collapse will compound already enormous burdens pervading an economy of misaligned priorities and a poorly performing one at that.
In Strategy, Freedman also discusses the utility and efficacy of coalition building among chimpanzees, their alphas and those tribes they war against. In his most striking note, he describes the political complexities, violence and the necessity of building stronger, effective coalitions, be they to wage war for a nearby fig tree or to install a new alpha. His conclusion is counterintuitive and profound: chimpanzee violence doesn’t represent an overthrow or revolution. It confirms a preexisting reality.
Henry Kissinger made the same argument in his doctoral dissertation, later published as A World Restored, not regarding chimpanzees, but in the context of Metternich’s formation of the Sixth Coalition against Bonaparte. The Befreiungskriege, as it was called in Metternich’s native German, confirmed the reality on the ground that Bonaparte’s 1812 invasion of Russia was a mortal own goal for the French; the War of the Sixth Coalition merely confirmed it; and the subsequent peace codified it for almost a hundred years.
The same argument can be made regarding the United States and its quickly deteriorating Western coalition of the unwilling. Not to mention its Far East allies who are quickly tiring of American shenanigans, outright betrayal and economic, tariff-related fuckery. That this coalition, a coalition that dominated the post-Cold War world, cannot now manufacture more artillery shells than a single nation, the Russian Federation, is proof positive of a deeply misunderstood alignment of power and an pre-existing altered reality is met with blank stares and outright denial.
That this coalition is blindly following a great power lead by the nose by a tiny, recalcitrant and criminal regime running Israel has historical precedent. Think Serbia and Russia in the days before August 1914. The Serbs were deeply complicit in the assassination of the Austrian Archduke (read Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark for proof). And Russian mobilization in support of their little Slav Brothers (or if you really need me to spell it out in today’s terms, those who we share Judeo-Christian values with) guaranteed German entry into the war.
Freedman’s “Chimpanzee framework” goes far in explaining the escalating devastation of petroleum related infrastructure and targeting of natural gas fields in the Persian Gulf. The world desperately needs to move away from fossil fuels. And many nations have made great efforts to do so. Thus, the destruction in the Persian Gulf of petroleum assets, refineries, gas wells, LNG and oil terminals, represents a symptom of a larger global reality: the world has turned an epoch making corner on fossil fuels. The day of fossil fuels is far from over, but this is the beginning of the end. There will be winners and losers, cliché I know, and yet countries that have made strong investments in renewable energy will make the inevitable and painful adjustments successfully. The losers like the USA, are those who will maintain their reliance on petroleum, come hell or high-water.
Most Americans dispute the idea that we higher primates and chimpanzees have a common ancestor or share any commonalities for that matter. They are in need of a rethink. Our politics are too similar, our warmaking just as brutal and our collective decision-making is too catastrophe prone to deny.
So, anyone got a fig? Or know where a fig tree is?
j
I’m not too sure about the war represents an already existing reality of turning away from fossil fuels, but it might very well represent that turn being expedited.
This will be water to China’s mill. With the huge investments and massive production capability of renewables they have built up in the recent years, they will end up owning the market, and picking up a lot of good eco PR on the way.
Not sure it’s what Trump intended when he started the Epstein War though.
j
The Chimpanzee war in general seems spot on though. And isn’t it also basically what the Thucydides Trap is about? Every declining empire goes to war against what is already set in stone…
spud
a great nation makes all sorts of things, big to little, and they know how to protect their economy from rich parasites and leeches.
ben franklin spelled it out before he passed away.
under clinton/biden who destroyed Trumans higher education for the masses, along with universal health care. clinton/biden said, you want higher education and health care, here, borrow $300.000 for thirty years, then you can get educated, maybe even find a job with health care benefits.
but the job has such high over head, because capitalism cannot work for very long without socialism, that the capitalist cannot compete with socialism.
so fascism is the response from the rich parasites and leeches, to socialism.
child labor is already here now, slavery is beginning to appear regularly now, just like hitlers thirteen year old soldiers and forced labor camps fighting the russian socialists.
we cannot re industrialize, way way to many leeches and parasites are feeding unleashed by the clintonites.
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Steve Keen criticizes the economic policies of the Clinton era, particularly the deregulation and free trade agreements like NAFTA, which he argues contributed to deindustrialization in the U.S. and negatively impacted the working class. His perspective highlights the long-term consequences of these policies on economic inequality and labor dynamics.
Steve Keen’s Perspective on Deindustrialization and Clinton’s Policies
Economic Context
Steve Keen, an Australian economist, critiques traditional economic theories and their impact on real-world issues, including deindustrialization in the United States. He argues that policies from the 1990s, particularly those during Bill Clinton’s presidency, contributed to significant economic shifts.
Clinton’s Economic Policies
Deregulation: Clinton’s administration focused on deregulating the financial sector, which some argue led to increased inequality and deindustrialization.
NAFTA: The North American Free Trade Agreement, supported by Clinton, aimed to boost trade but also resulted in job losses in manufacturing sectors as companies moved operations to countries with lower labor costs.
Impact of Deindustrialization
Job Losses: The shift in manufacturing jobs has had lasting effects on the American workforce, contributing to economic instability for many communities.
Labor Movement: Keen highlights that the decline of organized labor during this period was exacerbated by corporate policies and insufficient support from the Democratic Party, which included Clinton’s administration.
Conclusion
Keen’s analysis suggests that the economic policies of the Clinton era, while initially successful in reducing unemployment, ultimately set the stage for long-term deindustrialization and increased economic inequality in the U.S.
https://sacramento.newsreview.com/2023/11/03/lessons-from-the-bust-that-followed-bill-clintons-economic-boom/
Historian Nelson Lichtenstein’s new book details the price we have paid for free trade, deregulation and failed health care reform.
By Kelly Candaele, Capital & Main
Lessons from the bust that followed Bill Clinton’s economic boom
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https://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Harry_S_Truman_Education.htm
Harry S Truman on Education
Department of health & education: schools for all citizens
One fundamental aim of our democracy is to provide an adequate education for every person. Our educational systems face a financial crisis. It is deplorable that in a Nation as rich as ours there are millions of children who do not have adequate schoolhouses or enough teachers for a good elementary or secondary education. If there are educational inadequacies in any State, the whole Nation suffers. The Federal Government has a responsibility for providing financial aid to meet this crisis.
In addition, we must make possible greater equality of opportunity to all our citizens for education. Only by so doing can we insure that our citizens will be capable of understanding and sharing the responsibilities of democracy.
The Government’s programs for health, education, and security are of such great importance to our democracy that we should now establish an executive department for their administration.
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https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/challenge-national-healthcare
In 1945, President Truman proposed a national healthcare plan to Congress. In his plan, he outlined five main goals:
Address the lack of trained healthcare professionals in all communities.
Grow public health services.
Increase funding to medical research and education.
Lower the cost of individual medical care.
Bring attention to the loss of income when severe illness takes hold.
Truman’s plan was that all Americans would pay a certain amount in fees and taxes each month to cover the new healthcare program’s costs. With a Democratic controlled House, Truman’s proposal turned into a bill that would end up as part of the Social Security expansion, but it was quickly shot down as people began to fear an increase in taxes. Some people even feared the program would be a “Communist” act, giving too much control to the federal government.
This fear was spread specifically by the American Medical Association (AMA). The bill was also halted by Republican Senator Robert Taft’s Taft-Smith-Ball Bill, which would allow states to make healthcare private. As Republicans regained control of the House in 1946, Truman’s healthcare bill died. Truman considered this a failure of his presidency.
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I think it;s time for a new prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is soooo yesterday.
I think the new prize, or honor if you will, should be named the Adelson War Prize after Miriam Adelson who, effectively, paid King Donald to start this war.
The inaugural Adelson War Prize goes to King Donald, the Prince of Peace.
I yearn for the day we can round up MAGA and put them in work camps. We cannot pretend none of this ever happened IF we get through it at all. We cannot cohabitate with these vermin. They must be put down for good and their wealthy benefactors.
spud
i predicted that the leeches and parasites running america, won’t care if middle east oil is cut off, they will make more money, and here it is,
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-gas-prices-jump-strikes-091517434.html?pl2=everyday-hero_latest
US crude prices surged above $100 a barrel after Politico reported the US will not implement an export ban.
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i bet the leeches and parasites, were behind the scenes agitating for the strikes saying this will end the war, and trump took the bait.
Sean Paul Kelley
@j: No, not every collapsing empire engages in an outburst of destructive violence against a rising rival. But most have. I pray we are not stupid enough to think we can defeat China. I hope a humiliating loss against Iran will chasten us.
spud
well the price of oil fell so far today after soaring, because, israel announced today they going to help trump reopen the straights!
well to put this in perspective, you would have to be really really sheltered from reality and paying a price for your follies if you believe that’s gonna happen when they can’t even stop in coming missiles from turning their country into rubble.
so most likely its going to be the ultimate bomb, and china and russia better be prepared to respond in kind. i have a hunch north korea will respond in kind. if they don’t, their next.
Sean Paul Kelley
@spud: Guan Yin help us!
j
I mean yes, me saying every empire is a bit oversold. From Allison, over the last 500 years, war 12 times out of 16. I can’t recall if someone has looked up all of the earlier instances.
The humiliating loss has me a bit worried. When France got humiliated in the Napoleonic wars and the aftermath, and lost Rhineland and Westphalia with no hope of getting them back, they decided that Algeria had always been a core part of France, and went pretty much straight in with the army to make it happen. Which was basically a genocide, so yeah.
On the other hand the US has been going from one humiliation to another since the invasion of Iraq in 2001, and they simply don’t seem to care. So I’m not sure the capability for such introspection exists in DC. It’s more likely all they see is nice war money for govt cronies.
But this war money will always need, and will therefore have, a reason to flow. From Iraq to Afghanistan to Ukraine to Gaza to Iran. As long as the reserve dollar is there to pay for it, and the uniparty regime is there to spend it, there will be another target.
spud
Sean Paul Kelley:
the zionist’s running israel will run interference for the U.S.A. and drop it. then trump can say we did not know this was going to happen. like the response to the bombing of the gas fields.
they are that deluded that they think no one will respond in kind to that bomb being dropped.
we have a system built that gives immunity and limited liability, so that no elite ever pays for their follies.
NGG
Made the mistake of listening it MSM tonight — the Rebugs are all in – destroy Iran.
Stating – Iran was weeks away from attacking US with a nuke. This statement is absurd. The political bullshit – is trying to obfuscate the truth.!
Jan Wiklund
One doesn’t have to include chimps. According to Dale Copeland: Economic interdependence and war, most great power wars since 1790 have been started by the great power that felt vulnerable in the economic struggle and wanted to change arena. And they usually lost.
Sean Paul Kelley
@Jan Wiklund: true. But including chimps irritates a lot of people, even some well educated liberals get a little freaked when compared to chimps. I like to stir the pot from time to time.
Geoff Dewan
I am forwarding this to as many of my political friends who will still talk to me
Any essay that pens the connection from Kissinger to Metternich to chimpanzees is worth considering.
Especially enjoying the comments.
Sean Paul Kelley
@Geoff Dewan: thank you. Your comment elicited a hearty laugh of appreciation from me. Made my day.