Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
With a title containing "Cowboys", "Yankees" and "Patriots" it sounds
The Yankees are the financial titans in New York and London. The Cowboys are the agrarian and military industries. Benz says that the factions use their political power and tools (sanctions for Yankees and military/regime change for Cowboys) to control foreign policy to their benefit. If a country is not cooperating with the American sugar industry, then they get an upgraded leader. If a country is not trading in dollars, then the financial hammer is dropped on them. He said it basically started with the Monroe Doctrine and continues to this day.
The Cowboys have evolved some by adding oil/energy to their set of titans and the Yankees have big tech/venture capital, but the tension between the Yankees and Cowboys has always existed. Sometimes this results in a Yankee president like JFK being replaced by a Cowboy like LBJ or vice versa with a Cowboy like Nixon getting replaced with a Yankee like Ford. There was never a war between them, but there was always a battle for preeminence in the State Department, CIA, and DOD.
Things changed in 2014, though. The usual color revolution technique failed in Crimea and was soon followed by Brexit and the election of Trump. Populism/democracy was a threat to their power and they joined forces to destroy the Patriots. Trump and his ilk would be run out of office, jailed, and bankrupted. The foreign policy makers would turn their weapons inward and engage in lawfare, censorship, and propaganda to restore the Order. Do you know what time it is?
I don't know that Benz should be taken literally, but I think he provides a good metaphor for understanding the split nature of foreign policy and now domestic policy.
Discussion (9)
We use words like "Neocon". Sounds like the Cowboys to me.
I agree that the forces of the establishment joined to destroy Trump. And that includes Conservatism, Inc. Cowboys, aren't they?
It's so funny. I don't love Trump. I'd love someone else. Trump is who we have.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Sounds like what started with Jefferson and Hamilton, well, maybe not Jefferson but some of his cohort.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Everything old is new again.
I remember reading about the Yankee and Cowboy conflict about 50 years ago.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Oglesby graduated from the University of Michigan (go blue!) where he joined a commie like organization. He is credited with coining the term "Global South", which we hear a lot these days. Wikipedia had this link to a speech summarizing the book. The book can be read here.
You're seeing five of nine comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.