Is the United States of America a "Totalitarian Democracy?" Permanent War, Military Industrial Complex and Civil Society

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Full Spectrum Dominance by William Engdahi is a serious investigative Report on the interface between the political and civilian institutions and the organs of the Military Industrial Complex which some analysts term the Deep State in the USA.  Bereft of its conspitorial shimmer, this book examines in great detail the policy frameworks and the ideological matrix within which total dominance over the world is sought to be achieved. Preparing the citizens for a state of Permanent War implies the ability to command the economic, cultural and human resource in favor of the stated goals of the US and to be able to draw upon the discourse of "Democracy", "Freedom" and "Human Right" to render such wars legitimate in the eyes of its people and the world. In short a Prapaganda Empire that can sustain the war effort. The author claims that these goals lie behind the Full Spectrum Dominance aspired to by the US. Liberation, Free Market and Democracy are the rallying cry of the New Empire of the USA. 

The enemity first with the USSR and after the disintegration of Soviet Union, the continuing saga of hostility needs to be explained. It appears that right from the time of George Kennan the Russia expert in the State Department, USA committed itself to a policy of "containment". This policy itself was predicated upon the Eurasia-Heartland--Rimland theory of Sir Halford Mackinder whose pseudo science of Geopolitics found avid disciples in Henry Kissinger and even President Carter's National Security advisor, Brezezenski were impressed with the idea that Russia was the pivot of History and it was therefore in American interest to harass and intimidate Russia in order to curtail its natural importance. The policy with regard to Russia-Ukraine War that is presently taking place is also guided by the same strategy of ensuring that Russia does not dominate Eurasia. When Sir Halford Mackinder wrote his famous "Geographical Pivot of History" both China and India were weak colonized subjucated countries and in that specific situation Mackinder may have been right. Now with a boyant China and resurgent India, Eurasia is no longer the sole playground of Russia. This exaggerated theory that stresses the importance of Russia in the geopolitcs of Eurasia is the hangover of the Golden Horde and the long history of Mongol supremacy over the region. A costly war in Ukraine is governed by pseudo scientific theories of the early 20th century. 

The Totalitarian Democracy is a National Security State in which important organs of the Security Apparatus are virutually beyon the reach and scrutiny of the civilians. The Pentagon, CIA, National Security Agency and Defence Intelligence Agency are all part of a sprawling network of secret and semi secret beauraucracies that run the American State. In recent years we have even seen the FBI, the AFT anf the Justice Department being used to suppress and crush dissent. The world has been watching  incredulously as President Trump is being prosecuted by the current Administration. The Deep State has always regarded Donald Trump as a threat and tried its best to defeat him in 2016 and today wants to ensure that he does not contest. All these raise questions over the democratic credentials of he USA. 

The Prussian historian Clausewitz defined war as politics by other means and the US has taken this to a whole new level. Using NGOs, Church, media organizations and academics the US has acquired a creditable control over the narrative space of the world. George Soros and his Open Society, National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and scores of such well funded fronts of the American state, pump money to create regime change all over the world. Successful regime change has been attempted in Ukraine, Myanmar, Tunisia, Egypt, Kosovo Khazakastan and other places. The tactic of "swarming" a event staged for the benefit of a photobgraphic crew with the international network of BBC and CNN ready at hand to amplify the message is seen in all these protests. In India too we have seen the same tactic in the anti CAA protests and the Farm Law Agitations. One added dimension was the support extended by the Governments of USA and Canada to these movements. These "Colour Revolutions" are the handiwork of the US Secret Service working in tandem with NGOs and Academics along with journalists.

The book brings out certain startling facts. For instance Winston Churchill wanted to send the 12 surrendeed divisions of the German Army into USSR in order to destroy the Soviet Union. USA even had a task force to identify Russian cities that would be bombed with nuclear bombs and it was Soviet demonstation of the Hydrogen Bomb in 1951 that ended US plans. And then there is the curious and tragic case of the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The western press launched a viciuos campaign against him and he even was arrigned before the International Court of Crimianl Justice. He died in prison before the not guity verdict was pronounced. And men like Obama, Bush, Blair, Clinton and others are walking free as leaders of the "free world".

This book must be read for the facts it presents.

India's Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through Its Elections: A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

India's Experiment with Democracy: The Life of a Nation Through its Elections

S Y Quraishi, IAS (retd)

New Delhi: Harper Collins 2023

Shri S Y Quraishi I A S (retd) has written a hastily written book on Indian Elections in which all the talking points of George Soros and his Merry Men who scream about India being a flawed "democracy" in which "back sliding" of norms has become endemic are sprinkled in ample measure all through this badly written and sloppily edited book. We expect some quality from men who hold high Constitutional Office and I am sorely disappointed having perused the turgid pages hoping for insight and elucidation. And both were not forthcoming, unfortunately.

As the Chief Election Commissioner during the Man Mohan Singh regime, Shri S Y Quraishi for reasons that are quite obscure fails to highlight the two most important dangers faced by Indian Democracy: Corruption and Dynastic Politics. His tortured attempt to gloss over the conviction of Rahul Gandhi for his conviction in a criminal case of defamation shows bias in favor of the Congress and his insinuation that the case was instigated as vendetta makes one wonder about the quality of his judgement. He cites the Lily George judgement and is certainly aware of the consequences that stem from conviction. The purchase of criminals over Indian politics is hinted throughout the book but there is studied silence on Shahabuddin and Atiq Ahmed, the two most egregious instances of criminals masquerading as leaders. Giving more powers to the Election Commission of India to disqualify candidates is hardly a solution as this provision is likely to be used selectively on ideological grounds. Identity politics is reprehensible in whatever form it takes.

Apart from overweening bias, the book is flawed in that it takes a standard instrumental line when it comes to Democracy, Elections and Politics. The Indian Constitution does not mention Political Parties or their role in the affairs of the State and hence we can raise the question is the multi party democracy that flourishes in India alien to the letter and spirit of the Constitution. If political parties are not mentioned then it logically follows that defection cannot be regarded as an offence as the Constitution does not recognise the existence of political factions. This point is not addressed by Shri Quraishi though one of his predecessors Shri Navin Chawla thought it prudent to let the cat among the pigeons. Political Parties get legal status only through the enabling legislation, Representation of Peoples' Act. The founders of the Indian Constitution were perhaps aware of the ill of party democracy and hence avoided even according political parties constitutional recognition. 

The  Prime Minister has spoken of One Nation one Election as a solution to the constant election fever that grips the country. The Media has the distracting habit of reading election results as though state elections are referenda on the Central Government. This vital debate is not addressed except in a perfunctory casual manner. He rightly rejects NRI voting right but seems to bend towards allowing migrant voters the right to vote. Elections is India are in a federal context and the individual state must remain the locus of elections. On the Model Code of Conduct Shri Quraishi seems to think that giving it statutory powers will enable the Commission to be more effective. I think this will only lead to more litigation on the implementation of the code. 

Shri Quraishi seems to give far too much importance to Political Parties. May be for the Election Commission of India they remain its prime clients. However, political parties with a few honourable exceptions, have failed to maintain inter party democracy, failed to submit their election accounts to the Commission, failed to nominate candidates with good track record, and most have circumvented democracy by openly embracing dynastic fascism as the norm. Regional political parties are particularly prone to this tendency. And he has also failed to investigate the pernicious and corrosive practice of distributing money to the electorate. The Tirimangalam By election brought this before the Nation. And the author is discreetly silent on the huge sums of money seized during Elections. In Tamil Nadu, container lorries stuffed with currency notes were seized and till this day we do not know how the Election Commission of India disposed off the case. And the example of the Sivagangai Parliamentary Election result is still a lingering sore. Quraishi ignored all substantial issues dealing with money and crime in Indian elections. 

There is a great deal of repetition in the book. Passages are repeated verbatim and this only shows bad editing and poor writing and drafting. On page 218 and pg 222 we find the same sentence repeated dealing with corrupt practices. We find such instances throughout the book. It seems this hastily written book is designed to reinforce the George Soros and its affiliate Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) propaganda against India. India will remain a democracy in spite of the  poison emanating from white societies and their ideological partners and sepoys. 

Why should India and its former Election Commission have a  view on the elections in USA.  On pg 288 he write that President "Trump sought to cancel the 2020 election results an declare himself the victor". This is absolute nonsense. Trump sought to raise questions about the legal validity of the elections and nothing more. We do not expect a functionary of the Election Commission to accept uncritically the talking points from Washington Post and New York Times. His laboured effort to defend Muslim social practices as followed by Taliban in Afghanistan is not worth dealing with as a religion is judged not by what it preaches but what it practices. In any case that is an exercise in futility as far as the indigenous people of India are concerned.

This is a bad book. Written in a style that is full of North Block officialise and we are left with the wisdom that the Chief Election Commissioner ranks higher in the pecking order as seen in the Warrant of Precedence compared to a Principal Secretary. Hierarchy once again. 

George Soros, the Politics of Disruption and engineered political change

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

George Soros

 George Soros is an oligarch with a wealth of around 9.5 Billion US dollars. Through his Open Society Foundation, George Soros invests in Civil Society groups and other special interest groups like farmers and the like in order to create near total chaos in target countries. The Farmers 'Protest in India last year was only one of several protests organized with "seed capital" from organizations linked to the Open Society Foundation. The anti CAA protests and the signature Shaheen Bagh protests have been linked to people who have received huge funds from the Open Society Foundation. The purpose of such protests is to create an impression before the entire world, with the help of a compromised and pliant media, that the protests are symptomatic of resentment against what they describe as "nationalistic, authoritarian" "regimes". Only non white Government are designated as "regimes" and the sub text is of complete and total demonization of the leadership, a process amplified by the captive Media.

George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary, on August 12 1930 making him one a very senior oligarch. There are unconfirmed accounts that he saved himself from the Holocaust by changing his Jewish surname Schwartz to Soros and adopted the Christian religion. He seems to have collaborated with the Germans in identifying Jews and their property and if this is true he will be the most despicable of humans who being a Jew collaborated with the Germans and there is in the lexicon of the Holocaust a word to describe such individuals. Be that as it may, after the War he went to England where he studied in the London School of Economics where he came under the influence of Sir Karl Popper whose philosophy George Soros claims to be following and  his foundation is named after the most famous work of Popper, Open Society and its Enemies. We must point out that Popper wrote his classic wor against the backdrop of two huge totalitarian movement, Nazism and Communism and his life work was to sound the alarm bell if ever the world should drift towards these ideologies. Soros has quite cleverly transformed the central theme of his philosophy from Popperian attack on totalitarianism to Nationalism. Karl Popper did not attack Nationalism or the Nation State. He opposed illiberal  anti democratic ideologies and political practices which he equated with expanding and expansionist ideologies as National Socialism and Communism. George Soros is taking liberty with the very important and durable work of Karl Popper by attributing ideas to him which are contrary to his own stated positions. Such appropriation of the philosophy of Sir Karl Popper for spreading chaos and economic meltdown in parts of the world must be challenged.

George Soros has influenced events all over the world quite directly. He encouraged the establishment of Non Governmental Organizations all over Easter Europe and  provided financial support to the dissident movements in Europe, particularly in East Germany and Hungary and Romania that resulted in the fall of Soviet Union. This success was followed up by significant infusion of funds in the Arab world that resulted in the short lived Arab Spring and color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. The funding of protests movements and giving them both political legitimacy and international visibility through the mediation of Western media like Washington Post, New York Times and The Guardian shows that there is harmony of views between white media giants and the Soros ideological game plans. In fact these media houses and their journalists are known to receive huge subventions from the Open Society Foundation. On surface protest may appear uncoordinated and spontaneous but in reality they are planned and executed on the basis of "tool kits" produced in western capitals. 

The Open Society Foundation disburses grants worth 5 to 6 billion US dollars each year to organizations that adopt the western political and geopolitical objectives. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Climate Change activists, LGBTQ groups, and various other such entities are given funds with the main objective being to pitch them against other socio-economic groups. Thus labor rights and climate change activism come in handy to target economic plans and activities. Religious groups can be harnessed to crate disturbances in the name of "secularism" women can be encouraged to rail against "patriarchy" and of course LGBTQ is the latest arrival on the block. The fact that International Finance is in no way threatened by these protests as the failure of Occupy Wall Street Movement demonstrated very clearly. In fact white privilege and white financial hegemony over the world is being strengthened when identity politics is weaponised as is the case with George Soros and his "Open Society" foundation. 

George Soros has written a very revealing book, the Alchemy of Finance in which he outlines a pseudo scientific theory of "Reflexivity". He has forgotten the most important contribution of Sir Karl Popper: a scientific theory is open to refutation and Soros, our hero with a palindromic name, has given us a theory that is circular and self validating and therefore remains a hypothesis and not a theory. However, there is an important lesson lurking in this book. Market decisions are based on perceptions and market decisions are impacted by information as market values are not driven by economic fundamentals. Paul Krugman, the noted economist accused George Soros of triggering the collapse of the Bank of England in 1992, a collapse that saw people lose their savings and George Soros came off with a windmill profit of 1,5 Billion Pounds. Soros was convicted by the European Court for insider trading over the purchase of Societe Generale public equity. In India, the dramatic fall in the price of Adani stock has led to the conclusion that Hindenburg Report was the catalyst to bring about the "reflexivity" as Soros inelegantly puts in, in the market.

It is very clear that George Soros is targeting India and its economic potential by attacking the interests of Indian corporate houses that have to raise liquidity in western stock markets. It will be quite sometime when India can be a major player in the Global Financial Market and the attack has started. Earlier too the Press in India made huge uproar over Pegsus, the Raffale Deal and the Indian Vaccine. In all these cases funds from Soros and his Organization were deployed and the Congress Party particularly its mascot Rahul Gandhi seems to be thick with the Soros Foundation. Both politics and the market share a characteristic in common: Equilibrium and this equilibrium can easily be disturbed and that is the relevance of George Soros.

The misuse of Popper's ideas to promote the elitist conception of an oligarchy oriented politics is repugnant as it is both inhuman and anti democratic. Inciting violence and calling it democratic protests makes democracy weak. And it is sheer white arrogance on the part of men like George Soros to arrogate to themselves the right of certifying democracies. What he represents is a cabal of the financially rich oligarchs out to create mayhem in the democratic world. His support for the Black Lives Matter and the so called Antifa has made USA so unstable today that not a day passes without a mass shooting somewhere. Politics revolving around identity and sexual orientation make way for chaos, violence and authoritarianism. 

Will Soros and his cohorts in India, a band of reliable collaborators, hold overs from the bad days of UPA I and UPA II are coming out in strength to mouth the same tired lines. But 2024 will be a decisive mandate and the revulsion that most of us feel for such evil will fins expression in the ballot box.