At the end stages of empires the priorities of its elite diverge radically from those of its citizens.

“The United States can certainly afford wars on two fronts,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Sky News.

Not to be outdone in the boasting department, Joe Biden announced– “We’re the United States of America for God’s sake! The most powerful nation in the history of the world! We can take care of Israel and Ukraine and still maintain our overall international defense.”

Once again I ponder what-the-fuck they are smoking? 

And let me get this straight–we are told endlessly that we can’t afford to feed and house homeless Americans, or provide childcare, or healthcare, or college education, but 2 wars, no problem?

Furthermore, a country that can’t manufacture enough ammunition wants to fight a two-front war?

The US may be able to afford to fight two wars, or three, but it physically cannot produce the goods to do so on a larger scale over the longer term, because of late stage financial-capitalism. The neoliberal geniuses shipped so many of its military industry supply-chains offshore, and left those at home as bloated monopolists so that the US can’t manufacture enough ammunition, weapons and armaments.

Ironically the endless wars are making the US less safe and bleeding out credibility and prestige on the world stage. All of this for an empire that largely doesn’t benefit the average American, which is why we’re subjected to non-stop propaganda.

As Caitlin Johnstone notes–“When empire simps berate you and accuse you of treasonous malfeasance for talking about the causes of terrible world events, what they are really saying is, “Stop asking questions. Stop thinking. Believe only what you are told. Become stupid. Become a drooling moron with American flags in your eyes. Stop using that tongue to question authority and affix it firmly to the imperial boot forever.”

So true. I’ve long thought that US propaganda can be boiled down to Matt Parker and Trey Stone’s South Park formulation–America-fuck-yeah!

The propaganda deluge may work on Americans but the rest of the world is not buying it. Yves Smith, at Naked Capitalism, writes–“The US, in a continued demonstration of the degree of enbubblement of what passes for its leadership, seems to believe it still has the force and soft power to be able to bully talk its way out of its geopolitical messes. Yet this week we have stunning examples of how critical players in the rest to the world no longer buy what the US is selling. The gap between the American establishment’s connection to reality and facts on the ground has opened up to a yawning chasm…”

The Financial Times too is warning of the loss of American credibility. “Western support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has poisoned efforts to build consensus with significant developing countries on condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine, officials and diplomats have warned. We have definitely lost the battle in the Global South,” said one senior G7 diplomat. “All the work we have done with the Global South [over Ukraine] has been lost . . . Forget about rules, forget about world order. They won’t ever listen to us again.” 

I don’t think our elite got the memo. In a live address last night, Biden told the country–“American leadership is what holds the world together.”

Unfortunately, this is the reality for late stage empires as they stumble from one crisis to the next, mismanaged by a clueless and corrupt elite that are in way over their heads.

Update: Apparently the adults in the Biden Administration plan to attack Syria and finally overthrow President Bashar Assad while the Russians are busy in Ukraine.

Update 2: Putin declares that the Russian Aerospace Forces will conduct patrols over the Black Sea with MiG-31 fighter jets armed with the Kinzhal hypersonic weapons, a move that puts the two US aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean in the cross-hairs. “This is not a threat… Based on my instructions, the Russian Aerospace Forces will begin patrols on a permanent basis in the neutral zone of airspace over the Black Sea, and the MiG-31 aircraft will be armed with Kinzhal systems,” Putin said as cited by state news agency Interfax.

Buckle up.