Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator

L: Doug, last time we conversed, you said: “Let’s talk about what Clausewitz called ‘the extension of politics’ next time – I think the odds are increasing that we may see war rear its ugly head again soon.”

There’s been a lot in the news lately about Israel blockading the Gaza strip and about the potential for the Middle East to boil over. Is that what you had in mind?

Doug: I just got back from a trip to the Middle East – Iraq, actually. There’s a feature article on what I found there in this month’s Casey Report. Doing country studies has long been a specialty of mine, and I’ve got to say that most of what most people think they know about the place just ain’t so. But yes, I do think there is a very significant chance that we are headed for something that might vaguely resemble WWIII.

L: That’s going to be a pretty shocking statement to a lot of people – too much cognitive dissonance for most to let themselves think about it. Many readers might say that folks in the Middle East have been squabbling for years without the world going up in flames. Did you have a guru moment while there? Why now?

Doug: Well, people, especially Americans, forget that war, far from being an alien experience only read about in books, is actually a commonplace occurrence. Major powers have had major wars periodically throughout history. There’s no reason to imagine mankind has kicked the habit. It may not be the conflagration people once expected from a conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but it could still happen, and I suspect that the Middle East, Israel in particular, will be the epicenter.

One thing that drew my attention to this possibility again at this time is not what’s going on in Gaza but a friend of mine who had just been to a conference with an ex-director of the CIA, some high FBI officials, a whole bunch of defense department wonks, and similar types from Israel. He reports that all those spooks and military types really think Israel is going to attack Iran. The situation looks very serious to them. And one of Obama’s top military advisors has just said the U.S. itself has plans formulated, and they would be put into effect should the Iranians be proved to have nukes.

You add that to all you see in the news, including Iran’s new reactor plans and so forth, and we could be pretty close to the edge.

Read the rest: http://www.lewrockwell.com/casey/casey53.1.html

Photo/caseyresearch.com

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