US citizens and politicians have absolutely no consciousness of the Empire and no remorse and no understanding of the massacres it is committing across the world, an American writer and political analyst says.

Daniel Patrick Welch, a political commentator in Boston, Massachusetts, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Tuesday while commenting on US expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats.

Trump on Monday ordered 60 Russian diplomats that Washington considers spies to leave the country in solidarity with Britain over the alleged nerve-agent poisoning of Skripal, and closed Russia’s consulate in Seattle, senior administration officials said.

The officials said all 60 Russians were spies working under diplomatic cover, including a dozen at Russia's mission to the United Nations.

They said the expulsions meant to send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the "unacceptably high" number of Russian intelligence operatives in America.

“I think this flurry of EU vassal states joining the UK, which is subservient to the US, in terms of signaling their willingness to go to war with Russia is significant in a couple of ways,” Welch said.

“One is that they couldn’t get what they want through EU as a whole because it is so ridiculous. You know there is no proof. You are asking the Russians to prove a negative here. It’s the opposite of everything that Western law pretends to represent-- being guilty until proven innocent,” he added.

“But what they still have, what they show is that the Empire is not going without a fight, certainly not ready to go quietly into that good night, they can exert bilateral pressure on all of these [countries]. This is just the same version all of these countries like they do with the Coalition of the Willing. You have, you know, Micronesia and Vanuatu and Palau sending ink and printer supplies in the latest US imperial intervention,” the analyst stated.

“But what I think this is also quite significant that it comes on the cusp of this so-called wave of protests in the United States. It’s actually a kind of ironic, maybe fitting that it happened right after this weekend when literally millions of people marched in the streets to oppose so-called gun violence,” he noted.

‘Propaganda matrix’

This is a crucial part of the analysis, Welch stressed, since until Americans themselves connect these dots, there will be no domestic pressure to stop the unending wars that threaten a war-weary world. “The propaganda matrix has such a lock on the idea of what gun violence connotes. Which is to say someone using an AR-15 to kill kids in a school, and it ignores the broader picture.”

“What is gun violence in the streets of the US compared to children being shot down by drones and weddings being blown up? It is ridiculous to restrict the discussion. And if they don’t broaden it they are bound to be irrelevant.”

There is a long tradition of connecting these arguments, the analyst noted, though it has not yet caught fire. And there is little hope unless the new wave of protesters embrace “what Dr. King mentioned over 50 years ago when he said that you cannot talk about violence—and certainly not gun violence—you can’t even begin unless you start by confronting ‘the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. And that is the US government.”

Sadly, Welch feels, the obsession with Russia is designed to prevent this consciousness from taking root. “Now the Russia thing, you can see encompasses both wings of the war party in the United States. There is zero, absolutely zero voice on a prominent stage calling out for anti-war movement. You have the left edge of acceptable debate which is Senator Sanders or ‘Senator F35’ who is defending war contracts that provide profits for multinationals and jobs in his home state. That is the only consideration that American politicians take seriously.”

“There is absolutely no consciousness of Empire and no remorse and no understanding of the massacres that they are committing throughout the world. Or even the police state violence domestically. That the system is committing by shooting down black men by the hundreds. The idea of confronting violence is so limited that it is bound to fail,” he emphasized.

‘On Russia kick’

"And the scary part is that now we’re on this Russia kick. What has happened is that the ruling class has been fighting this dichotomy for years now. The only question is: ‘China and Russia are dangerous to us (meaning ‘them’ of course, not you and me). Do we go after China or do we go after Russia or do we go after both?’ And Trump—or at least the non racist part of his following—was an attempt by one wing of the ruling class to say ‘maybe we can peel off Russia and just attack China—have a semi détente with Russia and that will buy us time. And the other half is saying let’s go full bore against all of them all the time," he said.

"Remember, this is the only truth for the American Empire. This comes from the horse’s mouth—their National Security Strategy defense document, which says ‘China and Russia challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity,’” he stated.

“That is the only driving force, both internationally and domestically. And until, domestically, any sort of resistance understands that, or internationally until the Russians and Chinese [I think by the way they actually do understand this, and that is why there will be no turning back]. So I think the endgame is already played out in Syria, and the Empire is circling the drain, but obviously refusing to go down without a fight," the writer concluded.