This is a time of change in West Asia, and it is having worldwide consequences. Israel is at the origin of the change because without it the U.S. would not have so many Zionists in its government and its foreign policy would be very different.

Israel will vanish, but in the present, it is causing the problems that we see. It is a major cause for the aggressiveness of the U.S., and for the reactions of other countries. It is at the source of the neoconservative movement in the U.S., which is today almost synonymous with Zionism.  This movement advocates constant war in order to crush every nation that fails to obey the U.S.

Countries are lining up on different sides, with the West, Israel, and the Arab monarchies on one side, and the sanctioned countries, Russia and China at the center of the other side But the U.S. and Israel are going too far. The rest of the world is starting to push back. The sanctioned countries are an example. They are beginning to find ways to trade outside the sanctions, without using dollars. This includes Russia, but also China, which is not yet under sanctions.

Countries are lining up on different sides, with the West, Israel, and the Arab monarchies on one side, and the sanctioned countries, Russia and China at the center of the other side, under the threat of the U.S. and its allies. Other countries are choosing or will soon have to choose sides.

I believe that the U.S. and Israel are overextending themselves. Military spending is already close to half all spending of both countries. The middle class is disappearing in the U.S. while the poor and homeless are multiplying. The infrastructure is crumbling. This is unsustainable.

What will happen when the U.S. fails? This is hard to say, but it could be very dangerous, and the U.S. will resist failure just as much as its victims will resist the U.S. 

If we have reasonable people in power in the U.S., they will accept the change and try to adapt in a peaceful way. But reasonable leadership is not what the U.S. seems to want, and its people appear to be easily manipulated by powerful and wealthy interests.

I wish I could be optimistic, but at the worst end, we must consider the possibility of nuclear war, which could, unfortunately, be too easily initiated by accident. Hopefully, we will somehow avoid that. On the other hand, if the rest of the world shows enough strength, perhaps there will be an American Gorbachev, who will decide that it is time to make the best deal it can and come to terms with the rest of the world. But the U.S. would probably have to liberate itself from its Zionist controllers in order to do that. Is that even possible, given their power? We can only hope.

Paul Larudee is an Iranian-born American political activist who is a major figure in the pro-Palestinian movement. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, he is involved with the International Solidarity Movement and was a founder of the Free Gaza Movement and the Free Palestine Movement.