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Zionism, Militarism,
AND THE Decline OF US Power
BY James Petras
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 0-932863-60-4 || 978-0-932863-60-7 ||
192 pages







see below for
SYNOPSIS    CONTENTS    AUTHOR  
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    SYNOPSIS

    Criticizing and exposing the powerful public role of American Zionism in shaping US policy in the Middle East is the biggest
    taboo in US politics. Politicians, academics, journalists, prelates and ordinary American citizens who publicly voice their
    dissent are targeted for political purges, denied academic tenure, and access to the mass media and scurrilously labeled
    as ‘anti-Semites’ by the Zionist power configuration.

            This book challenges the claims of Zionist apologists who argue that the ‘Israel power configuration’ is just another
    lobby, by empirically examining several major policies.The case studies demonstrate conclusively that today issues of war
    and peace, trade and investment agreements by US, European and Asian oil companies and banks in the Middle East, multi-
    billion dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia are all subject to ZPC scrutiny and veto.  

            The new ‘broad definition’ of what affects Israel includes Lobby backing for Bush’s shredding of Constitutional restraints
    on his war powers.  It is not merely regional expansion which ‘interests Israel’ but economic and military aid and sales—
    namely who determines what military goods the US can sell to Arab states as well as what high end military technology the
    US should provide to the world’s  fourth biggest arms merchant—Israel (which is also the US’s arms export competitor).the
    Zionist power configuration (ZPC) in the US Congress has blocked trade and sales to Saudi Arabia, despite the backing of
    the US oil and military-industrial sectors. Thanks to its influence in the mass media, the ZPC effectively delayed, degraded
    and then marginalized a long-awaited report by16 US national intelligence agencies on Iran’s non-military nuclear program
    in favor of dubious bellicose claims issued by the state of Israel.

            Only Zion-Con demands and Israeli interests can explain the current US moves against Iran---threats, infiltrations, naval
    blockades, US Treasury-imposed sanctions on the entire Iranian financial sector including threats to global finance for any
    linkages---policies which are contrary to the interests of Big Oil, US corporations, and the weakened US military.  

            Petras empirically demonstrates that while the interests of the US do not in fact coincide with those of Israel, the effective
    power of the pro-Zionist Lobby gives Israel the capacity to replace the US agenda with its own.  

            At a time when our national economy is in deep crisis, the Israel Lobby is pushing for a new military confrontation and
    war with Iran, oblivious to its catastrophic consequences for the American people. Major pro-Israel officials and politicians in
    Homeland Security, the National Security Council, the Congress and the White House are passing more police-state
    legislation to control and silence the growing majority opposition to the expansion of wars in the Middle East promoted by the
    Israel Lobby.

            This book establishes the reasons why coming to grips with the impact of Israel and the Israel Lobby on US policy is so
    essential to bringing peace to the Middle East, restoring public freedoms in our country and taking back our right to decide
    not only US foreign policy, but our domestic policy as well, in the interests of the vast majority of the American people.

    AUTHOR

    James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 63
    books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological
    Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Journal of Peasant Studies.  He
    has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation,
    Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, Temps Moderne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and
    his commentary is widely carried on the internet.   His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview,
    Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Life Time Career Award, Marxist Section, of
    the American Sociology Association, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western
    Political Science Association in 1968. Some recent titles include  Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First
    Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), Unmasking Globalisation (2001),
    System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005),
    co-author) Multinationals on Trial (2006).  His most recent title, The Power of Israel in the United States (Clarity Press, Inc.
    2006), has been acquired for Japanese, German, Italian, Indonesian and Arabic editions. He has a long history of
    commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973-76
    he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the
    Mexican newspaper, Le Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo.  He received his B.A. from Boston
    University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.
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    TABLE OF CONTENTS

    PART I. ZIONISM AND US MILITARISM
    1. How Zionist Power in the US Promotes US Wars in the Middle East / 15
    The True Cause of the War on Iraq: From Pretexts to Cover-ups / 15
    The War for Oil Argument / 16
    The National Security Argument /19
    From Iraq War Cover-up to Iran War Propaganda / 20
    Israel, the ZPC and the Run-up to the Invasion of Iraq / 22
    War with Iran: The Highest Priority for the ZPC (and Israel) / 25
    Zionist Power in the United States / 27
    ‘Jewish Vote’, ‘Israel Lobby’ or ‘Zionist Power Configuration’? / 29
    War for Oil or for Israel: What the Public Record Reveals / 31
    Zionist Warmongering: Fear and Venom / 34
    From a Scratch to Gangrene: The Transition from Zionism to Zion-Fascism / 35
    Deflecting Peace Initiatives / 37
    The ZPC and Armenian Holocaust Denial: At the Service of Israel / 39
    Anti-Iraq War Democratic Presidential Candidates Pro-War on Iran / 40
    The Impact of Zionist Authoritarianism on American Democracy / 42

    2. War on Iran:
    The American Military versus the Israel Firsters / 55
    Introduction / 55
    Recent History of the Civilian Militarists versus Anti-War Movements / 56
    American Military Fights the ZPC over Middle East Wars / 56
    Israel-Firsters Win Round One / 57
    Round Two: American Military Resists War on Iran / 58
    Making the IAEA Report Safe for American Public Consumption / 63
    Fundamental Issues in Dispute by the US Military and Israel-Firsters / 64
    Military/Zion-Con: Punch and Counterpunch 68
    Conclusion 69

    3. Burying the National Intelligence Estimate / 73
    Introduction / 73
    Israel Rejects “the Intelligence Report from the Other Side of the Earth” / 77
    The “International Community” Climbs on Board / 78
    The Drumbeat Goes On / 80

    4. Provocations as Pretexts for Imperial War:
    From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 / 85
    Provocation as Pretext for the US War Against Japan / 86
    Provocation as Pretext for the US War Against Korea / 87
    The US Indochina War: Johnson’s Tonkin Pretext / 89
    Provocation as Pretext: 9/11 and the Afghan/Iraq Invasions / 91
    The Politics of Military Provocations / 94
    Military-Driven Empire Building: The Zionist Connection / 96
    The Terror Bombing: White House and Zionist Complicity / 98
    Provocations and Pretexts: The Israeli/US War Against Iran / 99
    Zion-Con Zelikow, the 2002 National Security Strategy and 9/11 / 102

    II. EMBRACING THE ISRAELI MODUS OPERANDI OF ENDLESS WAR
    5. The Palestinian Sewage Disaster: The Political Ecology of US/Israeli Responsibility in Microcosm / 107
    6. General Petraeus: From Surge to Purge to Dirge / 111
    Introduction / 111
    Petraeus’ Phony Success in Northern Iraq / 112
    An Armchair Strategist / 113
    Madness in His Method: The Petraeus Manual / 114
    Petraeus’ Double Discourse / 118
    Petraeus’ Political Ambitions / 119
    Petraeus Panders to Israel’s Fifth Column: “The Iran Threat” / 120
    Conclusion / 121

    III: MILITARISM AND THE DECLINE OF US POWER
    7. Military-Driven over Market-Driven Empire Building: 1950-2008 / 125
    Introduction / 125
    Immediate Post-WWII: The Combination of Market and Military Roads to Empire / 126
    Divergence in the World Economy: US-Europe-Japan / 127
    Market Versus Military Empire Building in the 1990s / 128
    Historic Comparison of Market- and Military-Driven Imperialism / 131
    From the Gulf, to the Gulf and Back to the Gulf: 1990-2008 (and beyond) / 132
    Military-Driven Empire Building and Zionism / 132
    Imperial Wars, Social Revolutions and Capitalist Restorations / 134
    Was ‘Socialism a Detour to Capitalism’? / 135
    Were ‘Imperial Wars Necessary for Capitalist Expansion’? / 136
    Military-Driven Imperialism Today and the Newly Emerging Imperial Powers / 138
    Market-Driven Versus Militarist Alliances / 138
    Conclusion / 141

    8. US Militarism and the Expanding Israeli Agenda / 145
    Introduction / 125
    New Directions for US Policy: A Moderate Arab Agenda? / 146
    ‘New Facts’ and the New Middle East Realities / 147
    The Iraq War: A Success for Israel / 1149
    Democrats Capitulate to the Pro-Israel Lobby on Bush War Powers / 151
    Israel-AIPAC-US Middle East Wars / 152
    Democratic House Majority Leader Serves as Israel’s Messenger / 154
    Buying Israeli Permission for Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia / 155
    Democratic Party Presidential Candidates Truckle to the Lobby / 156
    The Lobby Versus Federal Prosecutors: The AIPAC Spy Trial / 157
    AIPAC Trial Inadvertently “Outs” Israel’s Strategic Informant in the White House / 158
    Israel Pushes Islamo-Fascism Rhetoric / 159
    Re-arming Clients: The Washington/ZPC War Machine Rolls On / 159
    In Lebanon / 160
    In the Occupied Territories / 160
    In Iraq / 161
    In Somalia / 162
    Judeo-Centrism: From Ghetto Defense to Imperial Ambitions / 163

    V: CHALLENGING THE LOBBY
    9. American Jews on War and Peace: What the Polls Do and Don’t
    Tell Us / 169
    Introduction / 169
    The Poll: A Re-Analysis / 170
    The Failure of Jewish Anti-Zionist Resistance / 171
    Israeli Anti-Arab/Muslim Racism / 172
    The Role of American Jews in the Peace Movement / 173

    10. Why Condemning Israel and the Zionist Lobby Is So Important / 175
    Introduction / 175
    ZPC Deniers: Phony Arguments for Fake Claims / 175
    The Careful Crafting of Critiques of Israel /the ZPC / 177
    The ZPC Lobbies For War / 178
    “Democratic” Israel Diminishes Democracy in the United States / 179
    Israeli Interests Trump US Interests / 180
    Social Opposition and Political Impotence / 182
    What Happened to the Peace Movement? / 183
    No Naming and Shaming for the Israel War Lobby / 184
    Why Confronting the Lobby Matters / 185

    INDEX / 188
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    On December 8 2010 The Club of Mexican Journalists awarded James
    Petras  its prestigious International Journalism Prize for Investigation and
    Analysis of the News within the global context.

     "Dr. James Petras is one of the greatest personalities of critical intellect of our time. His
    numerous books, which have been translated into many languages, and his opinion articles
    which are invariably defined by their rigor and decisive data, widely documented and
    placed within their social context, have turned this thinker into one of the most lucid and
    coherent minds of recent times. Naturally, this has earned Dr. Petras the resentment of
    those who feel affected by his tireless efforts. Nevertheless, countless readers all over the
    world seek the words of this thinker to defend themselves from propaganda that intends to
    make us sympathize with the single-minded thinking of neoliberalism."