I am writing today simply to summarize and amplify the astonishing, unvarnished insights of a man who possesses the kind of unimpeachable establishment credentials that I do not. Major General Charlie Herbert is not a brown Muslim activist. He is a retired senior officer who spent 34 years in the British Army, rising from a private soldier to a Major General, with tours of duty in Northern Ireland, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is, by his own admission, a “rather establishment figure”. When a man with his background, who has spent his entire professional life bound by the laws of armed conflict, speaks out, it is my duty as a commentator merely to report what he has said. I am just the messenger, relaying his grave warnings about the collapse of the Western moral order, the reality of the US-Israel war, and the terrifying power of the lobby that ensures our collective silence.
The Myth of Proportionality and the Continuum of Violence
Major General Herbert’s departure from the silent ranks of military veterans began with what he observed in Gaza after October 7th. Speaking with the cold, precise expertise of a military tactician, Herbert states unequivocally that Israel’s military campaign lacked proportionality, lacked distinction, and fundamentally lacked legality. For him, this was not a matter of complex geopolitical gray areas; it was an “absolutely binary” breach of international law. “What Israel have done is a breach of law. It’s unlawful,” he notes, stressing that the actions witnessed in Gaza are not merely self-defeating from a military standpoint, but deeply immoral.
Crucially, Herbert urges us – and again, I am merely echoing his military assessment – to stop viewing the events since October 7th in isolation. He correctly frames the violence as part of a “continuum of violence” that has plagued the region for nearly a century. He dismisses the “lazy” and “clumsy” Western habit of simply labeling resistance factions like Hamas or Hezbollah as “terrorist organizations”. From his strategic vantage point, reducing governance structures and political entities to mere terrorist labels guarantees a self-defeating military approach. As Herbert points out, armed resistance is the inevitable, “no-brainer” consequence of brutal military occupation and the persistent denial of Palestinian statehood.
The US-Israel War on Iran: A Strategy of Chaos
The General’s analysis becomes even more searing when he turns his attention to the broader regional escalation, specifically the expanding US-Israel war against Iran. He dismantles the illusion that Washington is operating with some grand, sophisticated geopolitical strategy. “There is no strategy. They’re winging it,” Herbert observes of the American military posture.
Instead, he offers a far more disturbing reality: the United States has been entirely co-opted. Herbert explicitly describes the conflict as “an Israeli war being fought and enabled by the United States,” asserting that the US administration was “bounced into this by Netanyahu”. He describes the US leadership as a “puppet” manipulated by Tel Aviv to do its dirty work. Netanyahu, Herbert argues, is a dangerous opportunist who actively needs a “forever war” and perpetual regional chaos to ensure his own political survival and to guarantee that the US continues to pump money and military hardware into Israel.
While some might theorise that the US is engaged in a clever master plan to weaken China by disrupting global energy markets, Herbert rejects this outright. He views the diversion of American resources to a Middle Eastern war as a catastrophic error that fundamentally undermines the US’s own national security and diverts it from the Indo-Pacific. The US is blindingly supporting Netanyahu at the expense of everything else. Furthermore, Herbert highlights the staggering hypocrisy of the nuclear threat narrative. While the West fixates on Iran, Herbert points out that Israel possesses a robust, US-backed nuclear arsenal that operates completely outside the oversight of the International Atomic Energy Agency, because Israel, unlike Iran, never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Asymmetrical Economic War and Global Fallout
One of the most alarming aspects of Herbert’s analysis is his recognition that bombs and missiles are only a distraction from the true battlefront. There are two wars being fought: a noisy kinetic war waged by the US and Israel, and a devastatingly effective global economic war waged by Iran. And according to the Major General, “Iran is winning in every count”.
By effectively controlling and threatening the Strait of Hormuz – through which massive percentages of the world’s oil and fertilizer flow – Iran has secured an asymmetrical advantage. They are charging tolls in Chinese yuan, accelerating the de-dollarisation of the global economy, and holding Western purchasing power hostage. But the tragedy, Herbert notes with genuine heartbreak, is that the ultimate victims of this Western-engineered disaster will not primarily be Americans. The real price will be paid by the developing world, the Global South. With energy shortages already hitting nations like Ethiopia and Somalia, the disruption of fertilizer shipments threatens massive global food shortages, price spikes, and the exact socio-economic conditions that spark massive regional instability and starvation. The West is sleepwalking into a global economic catastrophe of its own making.
The Collapse of Western Morality and the Rules-Based Order
As a commentator who frequently addresses the Global South, I found Herbert’s reflections on the complete moral collapse of the Global North to be validating – though, of course, I am only summarizing his perspective. Herbert expresses a deep, existential disillusionment with the very institutions he spent his life defending. The rules-based international order, he argues, has been exposed as nothing more than a “US-based rules-based order where they can do what they like but nobody else can”.
He points to the unbearable hypocrisy of Western governments: we rightly condemn Russia for bombing a civilian theater in Ukraine, yet our governments stand entirely silent when Israel massacres civilians in Gaza or when the US bombs a school in Iran. “How does that make us any better than the Russians?” he asks. By repeatedly dismissing the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to protect Israel, the US and the UK have entirely discredited the Global North in the eyes of an increasingly powerful Global South. Herbert’s conclusion is bleak: “America’s defeating itself at the moment… I’m not sure we aren’t the good guys anymore”.
He is equally scathing regarding the United Kingdom’s deep complicity. He castigates both Conservative and Labour governments for their unconditional support of Israel, noting that the UK has utterly failed to utilize any diplomatic or military leverage to stop the slaughter. He even advocates that British dual-nationals who travel to serve in the IDF should be investigated by counter-terror police upon their return, just as the state investigates those who join other foreign conflicts, especially given the ongoing genocide cases at the ICJ.
The Chilling Power of the Pro-Israel Lobby
Perhaps the most crucial part of Major General Herbert’s interview, and the part that resonates most deeply with my own precarious position in the media landscape, is his candid discussion of the pro-Israel lobby.
Herbert admits that while he always knew a powerful lobby existed in the US, he had never truly comprehended the sheer, terrifying dominance it exercises over the United Kingdom. He explicitly states that this lobby “owns and controls most of our mainstream media” and “dominates parliament”. British politicians receive massive financial support from these groups, which directly influences government decision-making. Respected public broadcasters, most notably the BBC, have subverted their mandates to feed the public heavily filtered, pro-Israel narratives.
But it is the lobby’s enforcement mechanisms that are truly chilling. When Herbert simply started speaking out against the IDF, he was immediately targeted by a media “hit job” in the Daily Telegraph, a punishment beating designed to smear his reputation. He reflects on how this systematic intimidation operates across all sectors of society. “If you speak out you’re excluded. And yet we all know it’s happening,” he notes, citing the destruction of careers ranging from prominent media stars to young culinary chefs. The lobby is so powerful, so entrenched, that it requires enormous self-sacrifice for anyone in a key position to challenge it.
If a decorated British Major General, a white man of the highest establishment pedigree, is subjected to these ruthless punishment beatings simply for demanding adherence to international law, one can only imagine the utter devastation that awaits a brown Muslim public figure who dares to articulate the exact same truths. This is why I must tread so carefully. This is why I am forced to write this essay through the protective veil of his words rather than my own.
Conclusion: The Unavoidable Truths
Major General Charlie Herbert has articulated a devastating indictment of Western hegemony, Israeli military impunity, and the domestic forces that manufacture our consent. He has shown us that the wars in Gaza and Iran are not strategic necessities, but chaotic, self-defeating campaigns driven by Israeli opportunism and American complicity. He has warned us that the real threat to the Western order is not a grand conspiracy by China or Russia, but the West’s own hypocrisy, its total abandonment of international law, and its subservience to a lobby that prioritizes a foreign power over our own national interests and moral standing.
I leave you with his analysis. It is a terrifying picture of a world spiraling into economic ruin and moral bankruptcy, dictated by a political class too compromised to stop it. These are not the radical musings of an anti-imperialist mind. These are the somber, calculated conclusions of a man who spent three decades in the upper echelons of the British military. I am merely reporting his findings. But one does not need to be a Major General to look at the world he describes and see why many observers, across disciplines, find his verdict difficult to dismiss.
* * *
While I find much of Major General Herbert’s analysis insightful and grounded in his extensive operational experience, it is important to clarify that I do not necessarily adopt every element of his verdict as my own position. As a scholar whose work has long examined questions of radicalisation, imperialism, ethnic conflict, and power asymmetries in the Middle East and beyond, I can understand and relate to several of the structural and historical dynamics he highlights — particularly the long-term patterns of violence, the challenges of applying international humanitarian law in asymmetric conflicts, and the difficulties of open public discourse on these issues. However, my role here is primarily to amplify and contextualise his perspective as an establishment military voice, rather than to provide my personal endorsement or a comprehensive scholarly assessment. Readers should engage with these ideas critically, recognising both their value and the complexity of the underlying debates.