Steve Bannon is arguably the second most powerful man in the world, but his vision for where America and the world are headed is World War Three, writesShannon Ebrahim.

Steve Bannon is arguably the second most powerful man in the world, as the chief strategist in the White House and the kingpin on the US National Security Council. But Bannons vision for where America and the world are headed is World War Three.

For those that think one man cannot navigate the US into what Bannon calls a cleansing apocalyptic war against Islam, they should think again.

Bannon is a shrewd strategist who masterminded President Donald Trumps path to the White House. Since starting Breitbart news in 2012 an online news site and radio station, Bannon frequently invited Trump as a guest on his radio talk show. Trump admired Bannon for his impressive background at Goldman Sachs, a degree from Harvard Business School, and the fact he was independently wealthy.

Trump, traditionally conservative but not Republican, was easily sold on the ideology of the alternative right, commonly known as alt-right. Breitbart news was started as a platform to spread this ideology.

Alt-right proponents disavow human rights, and seek to rid America of anyone who does not conform to Christian values and way of life. Its proponents are proudly anti-Islam, anti-immigrant, and also happen to be anti-abortion, homophobic and patriarchal.

Diversity and multiculturalism are the very elements of modern western liberal culture that the alt-right want to destroy. Bannon subscribes to the idea that a successful society should not be based on human rights, social justice or equality.

In August 2016, Bannon left Breitbart news and took over the reins of Trumps campaign. It was Bannon who drafted Trumps inaugural speech, which was a synopsis of everything Bannon perceives as wrong with America crony capitalists in bed with the political establishment at the expense of the middle class.

From the first day of Trumps administration, it is Bannon who has been instrumental in drafting the slew of executive orders from banning Muslims from seven countries, revisiting torture and American black sites, and drafting a ban on immigrants with disabilities, to mention a few.

But his coup was ensconcing himself at the apex of the National Security Council (NSC). Bannon drafted the executive order for Trump to sign that made him a principal member of the NSC, while downgrading the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Director of Intelligence. Trump has even said that he doesnt need to read daily intelligence briefings, likely due to the fact that Bannon will provide him with everything he needs to know.

So what of the checks and balances in American society on the power of the executive? They still exist the judiciary, the attorney general, the congress but all are under threat from Trumps inner circle, which have embarked on a process of purging those with dissenting views. For those with opposing views that the White House is not in a position to fire, there are concerted campaigns to discredit and denigrate them.

Bannon has publicly called himself a Leninist saying, Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and thats my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of todays establishment. For Bannon that means the destruction of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

But Lenin was not an ardent racist who wanted to plunge the world into bloody violent conflict in order to remake the world according to a dark and exclusivist worldview, built on white supremacy and the Christian religion.

Perhaps most concerning is that Bannon wants to take the US into a cataclysmic war far more brutal than anything America has experienced. He believes there are four turning points in American history the American revolution, the American civil war, World War Two, and now World War Three.

In an interview Bannon did with professional historian David Kaiser, Kaiser recalled that Bannon emphasized more than once the fact that each of the preceding crises involved a great war, each increasing in scope and brutality. Bannon told Kaiser he expects that the time has come for a much bigger war as the US is in an existential crisis with Islam.

Bannon also suggested on Breitbart news that World War Three with China was around the corner. In March 2016 he asked one of his radio talk show guests, Were going to war in the South China Sea in 5-10 years arent we? If that seems farfetched, consider the fact that Trumps new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US would consider blocking access to islands in the South China Sea. This for China is a redline.

Breitbart News and its grand ideologue have extended their reach beyond the US, into strategic centres of Europe, with a view to popularizing the alt-right ideology and ushering in extreme right wing parties. Breitbart France has hired Marine le Pens niece Marion le Pen to run its operation, to whip up anti-immigrant and Islamaphobic sentiments.

Breitbart London had worked closely with Nigel Farage's UKIP prior to the last British elections with the same objectives. Spreading alt-right ideology in Germany is already underway with a view to destroy Chancellor Merkel and everything she represents.

We must remember what the New York Times said about Adolf Hitler in 1922 that Hitlers anti-semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, but he was using propaganda to catch the masses.

If we are to learn from history, we should realize that dark men pursue dark agendas, and just as Hitler sought to annihilate Jews, so Bannon seeks to annihilate Muslims, and all others who fail to conform to his worldview.

The warning signs are there, but too often we downplay them in the nave belief that the world has changed since Hitler, and the checks and balances to dictatorial power will save us in the end.

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Part 2: The brains behind Trump and WW3 - Independent Online