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In their book Hitler-Buddha-Krishna
Victor and Victoria Trimondi have shown the
obsession of Nazi-Intellectuals by Eastern philosophy. In the centre one
could find a Holy Hindu Text, the Bhagavad Gita. Himmler did carry this booklet in his pocket
during the World War Two and justified the Holocaust by arguments from the Gita. (See: Heinrich Himmler: The Nazi Hindu) In the last chapter of the Trimondi Book the authors warn against the arising of a
new Warrior Ideology, which is based on Buddhist and Hindu texts and which
sees as their principal enemy Islamic Jihadism, which also is based on Holy scriptures in
the Koran and several Hadiths. Now the ideology
of the Warrior-Caste is arrived at the White House in the person of Steve
K. Bannon. Donald Trump’s chief strategist has been set to become one
of the most powerful men on the planet, because he has a potent influence
on the President. Bannon is almost obsessed with
military history, guerilla warfare, the general art of war and nationalist
foreign policy. In the centre of his obsession you can find the same text,
which fascinated Heinrich Himmler: The Bhagavad Gita.
Steve Bannon,
Dharma Warrior: Hindu Scriptures and the Worldview of Trump's Chief
Ideologue
by Akhilesh Pillalamarri
for The Diplomat
Steve Bannon’s
appreciation for the Bhagavad Gita
makes more sense than you might think.
The Hindu scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita, have
fascinated many public figures in the West for the last two centuries. Aldous Huxley had the Gita in
mind when he wrote Brave New World. Heinrich Himmler saw himself as
a disciple of its teachings. And Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted
the scripture when the first nuclear device was tested at Los Alamos: “Now
I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” (Bhagavad
Gita 11.32).
The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue from the mouth of god incarnate in
human form as Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on a
battlefield, exhorting him to remember the higher duty of establishing dharma
in the world over all else. The concept of dharma and the teachings
of the Gita continue to influence prominent
figures in the West, including Stephen Kevin “Steve” Bannon,
the chief strategist for U.S. President Donald Trump. This is despite the
fact that Bannon has spoken of the power of
Judeo-Christian norms in underpinning the capitalism that led to the
greatness of the West.
According to a former friend of Bannon’s, he “used to talk a lot about dharma — he felt
very strongly about dharma … one of the strongest principles throughout the
Bhagavad Gita.” Dharma,
a difficult term to translate from Sanskrit, can mean righteousness, but
also duty. Every human must follow his or her own dharma (duty, calling) in
accordance with his or her nature and social duties in order for society as
a whole to be following the path of dharma (righteousness, order) and be in
line with the cosmic order of things:
It is better to engage in one’s own
occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept
another’s occupation and perform it perfectly. (Bhagavad Gita 18:47)
Throughout Hindu scriptures and epics,
individuals are portrayed as either fighting for and
upholding dharma, both through self-actualization and actual sociopolitical
or military action, or going against it. Nonetheless, as a character from
the Hindu epic the Mahabharata points out, “Dharma is subtle.” It is
situational, and difficult for any one individual to say what exactly their
or anyone else’s dharma is exactly.
Given Bannon’s wolrdview, which sees the world,
and especially the West as being in a state of moral and economic crisis
resulting from the lack of mooring in traditional values (in other words, adharma, or lack of dharma or alignment with a
sacred worldview), his interest in dharma is not surprising.
In the Mahabharata, the Hindu epic that the
Bhagavad Gita is
situated in, the great Kurukshetra War that
occurs at its climax is not merely a dynastic dispute between cousins for a
kingdom, but an epic battle for the ages with metaphysical connotations. In
other words, it is a dharma yuddha or
war for dharma. This is why the divine gets involved:
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in
dharma….and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend
Myself, to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as
to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself
appear, millennium after millennium. (Bhagavad Gita 4.7-4.8).
This apocalyptic worldview is frequently
found in Bannon’s thought. Ordinary conflicts are
thus parts of and transcended by issues far greater than the mundane. Who
is banned or who is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court is irrelevant, or
not all that important, in the larger scheme of things, which is to push
the world toward the war for dharma. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas, the group of cousins who were wronged, sought
to avoid war for years in order to spare the lives of millions, but were
eventually convinced that they must go to war, not for themselves or their
stolen kingdom, but for the stake of dharma itself.
Compare this with Bannon’s
thoughts. Bannon said: “We’re at the very
beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict…fight for our beliefs
against this new barbarity that’s starting, that will completely eradicate
everything that we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000, 2,500 years.”
When one sees oneself as part of a cosmic moment, thoughts of popularity,
approval, or right and wrong vanish, and one becomes an instrument of a
higher metaphysical drama, a key theme of the Bhagavad
Gita. A man of dharma goes forward, trusting in
fate, and not worrying about the fruits (karmaphala)
of his actions:
These warriors arrayed in lines, opposing
your men, even without you, will have perished! Arise, therefore, and seize
upon your glory! With your foe conquered, enjoy thriving kingship! I have
destroyed your enemy already: serve as my tool, O ambidextrous
archer! (Bhagavad Gita 11.32-11.33).
Bannon seems to have a worldview in
accordance with some of the teachings of the Gita
that see the world as a cosmic battlefield, possibly imaging himself as
warrior of dharma, adapted around his idea that the defense of capitalism
and Christianity should be militarized and seen in the context of a great
clash of civilizations and ideas. But like dharma, the Bhagavad
Gita is also more complex and subtle than merely
being the blueprint for warfare waged for the establishment of dharma. It
also preaches wisdom, restraint, nonviolence in many cases, and the
thoughtfulness that comes from deep meditation. And it says that the wise
do not see any difference between different types of beings, whether the
high or the low (5.18).
Source and ©: http://thediplomat.com/2017/02/steve-bannon-dharma-warrior-hindu-scriptures-and-the-worldview-of-trumps-chief-ideologue/
Steve Bannon’s Long Love Affair With War
Steve Bannon,
the National Security Council’s newest
member, has long been obsessed with waging wars.
by Asawin Suebsaeng
Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s White House chief strategist, was
already set to become one of the most powerful people on the planet—even
before Trump appointed him to the National Security Council last weekend.
Those who have known Bannon for years, and
before he ascended to executive power, describe a man almost obsessed with
military history, guerilla warfare, and the general art of war and
nationalist foreign policy.
In his Hollywood days, Bannon could easily
play war, writing vast landscapes of warfare and conflict into his scripts,
sometimes set in outer space.
Thanks to Donald J. Trump, Bannon now
could get to do it for real.
That’s because in a presidential memorandum this past weekend, Trump
gave his chief strategist a permanent seat at the National Security Council
table, while military and intelligence leaders were effectively downgraded.
The move to elevate Bannon, a purely political
adviser, was unusual to provoke outcry from even fellow Republicans.
For instance, Bannon has very limited
experience in U.S. government, and has little relevant experience for the
position. Bannon did serve seven years in the
Navy several decades ago, before making his name in the private sector,
conservative Hollywood, and then politics.
“This is literally the most terrifying thing that’s ever happened,”
a former Hollywood associate of Bannon’s (who
requested anonymity for fear of retribution, describing Bannon
as “vindictive”) told The Daily Beast when discussing the new
national-security position.
“He constantly used military terms, used military terms to describe
people who worked for him… like, ‘grunts,’” one former Breitbart
staffer recalled. “He always spoke in terms of aggression. It was always
on-the-attack, double down... macho stuff. Steve has an obsession with
testosterone.”
It’s a habit that will likely continue into his time in the
executive branch. The New York Times reported that last week’s avalanche
of Trump of executive orders was primarily hatched by Bannon
and his team, and doubled as an effort “at disorienting the ‘enemy.’”
“If there’s one sort of movie theme that encapsulates Steve Bannon’s philosophy on this, it’s that line from Team
America: World Police: ‘You have balls – I like balls‘” Ben Shapiro,
former Breitbart editor-at-large, said.
Bannon and a spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on this
story. He has, however (as The Daily Beast previously reported), described
himself as a “Leninist,” with regard to his goals of political
insurrection.
“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too,” Bannon said at a book party in Washington, D.C., in
November 2013. “I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
Lenin isn’t the only communist military or political victor who Bannon seemed to admire, for tactics and ruthlessness,
if not leftist ideology. Bannon did not write
very many articles at Breitbart, but one of the
pieces that bears his byline is an October 2013 obituary for the “‘Red’
Napoleon” of the Vietnam War: Gen. Võ Nguyên Giáp, a famous
commander of the Vietnam People’s Army who (like Bannon)
once worked in journalism before defeating entrenched establishment powers.
“Giap’s tenacity and ruthlessness became
his trademarks as he fought two of the world’s most technologically
advanced militaries,” Bannon wrote.
You can also find Bannon’s affection for
military and strategic ruthlessness in what he reads. According to two of Bannon’s former friends from his West Coast days, two
of his favorite books are Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, the hugely
influential ancient Chinese text on military strategy, and the Hindu Bhagavad Gita.
The latter tells the story of a holy war to establish dharma.
Julia Jones, Bannon’s longtime Hollywood
writing partner and former close friend, recalls seeing him excitedly
flipping through both books, and talking about them lovingly and often. She
would frequently see various “books all over [Steve’s place] about battles
and things,” among his clutter of possessions and interests. (Late last
year, Jones—who identifies as a “Bernie Sanders liberal”—had a falling out
with Bannon due to his work on the Trump
presidential campaign, a role that she said absolutely
“disgusted” her.)
“Steve is a strong militarist, he’s in love with war—it’s almost
poetry to him,” Jones told The Daily Beast in an interview last year, well
before Trump won the election and Bannon landed
his new job. “He’s studied it down through the ages, from Greece, through
Rome... every battle, every war… Never back down, never apologize, never show weakness… He lives in a world where it’s
always high noon at the O.K. Corral.”
Jones said that Bannon “used to talk a lot
about dharma—he felt very strongly about dharma... one of the strongest
principles throughout the Bhagavad Gita.”
She also noted his “obsession” with the military victories and epic
battles of the Roman Empire’s Marcus Aurelius and Julius Caesar. But a
personal favorite of Bannon’s was the subject of
the Peloponnesian War fought between Athens and Sparta.
“He talked a lot about Sparta—how Sparta defeated Athens, he
loved the story,” Jones said. “The password on his [desktop] computer at
his office at American Vantage Media in Santa Monica was ‘Sparta,’ in
fact.”
This is the mindset of Trump’s top White House aide who just earned
himself a seat at the table on the National Security Council. Regarding
foreign policy and national security, Bannon has
a few top priorities: He favors “aggressive military action” to defeat
Islamist terror networks (action he thought was lacking during the Obama
administration), and wants to build strong ties with far-right, nationalist
political parties across Europe.
“He has long wanted to work with all of those parties, but that was
only in promoting them with Breitbart,” a source
close to Bannon told The Daily Beast in November. “Now he has the
power of the White House to do it.”
Those who remain and become Bannon’s
closest allies on issues of national security and foreign policy will most
likely end up being whoever Bannon sees as tough
and ruthless—much in the same way he sees himself and his preferred
military leaders of history.
“‘Hammer’ was one of his favorite words,” a former Bannon associate (another person requesting anonymity
for fear of reprisals) told The Daily Beast. “‘You’re a hammer,’ he’d say
if he really liked you… if you’re ruthless.”
Source and ©: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/31/steve-bannon-s-long-love-affair-with-war.html
Further Readings:
Heinrich Himmler: The Nazi Hindu
– Interview with Victor, Victoria Trimondi
Genocide and war as a
civilizing foundation sacrifice
Bookreview of “Hitler-Buddha-Krishna” by
Manuel Sarkizyanz
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