CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

When Is It Too Late? The NDAA, US-Israel Military Fusion, and the Point of No Return

Photograph by Michael Leonardi

We are long past the moment when we could pretend the warning signs were not there.

Just as climate scientists have spent decades warning of tipping points — the irreversible collapse of ice sheets, the die-off of coral reefs, the sudden release of methane from thawing permafrost — a different kind of catastrophe has been building in plain sight. This one is political, constitutional, and strategic. And like climate change, it has been enabled by denial, short-term thinking, and the capture of power by entrenched interests.

The latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) moving through Congress represents one of those tipping points. In provisions that have received far too little public scrutiny, the bill begins the formal fusion of critical elements of the U.S. and Israeli militaries: shared command structures, integrated technology development, aligned intelligence architectures, and interlocking supply chains. What was once a close alliance is being quietly transformed into something far more dangerous — a de facto merged military apparatus.

This is the political equivalent of passing 2°C. The feedback loops are strengthening. Once these structures are locked in, unwinding them will require a political effort on the scale of dismantling the entire military-industrial complex.

The Constitutional Surrender

These NDAA provisions do not simply increase aid or coordination. They create mechanisms for the “consolidation” and “alignment” of U.S. and Israeli military planning, technology, and operations across multiple federal agencies. This is the architecture of irreversible entanglement.

The Constitution never envisioned — and does not permit — the quiet merger of........

© CounterPunch