tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post243995827224138411..comments2023-11-05T06:59:04.593-05:00Comments on Pen and Sword: Make the World Go AwayJeff Huberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-86225486203727617462009-10-25T13:05:12.550-04:002009-10-25T13:05:12.550-04:00You may have ended up at the same place that Gen. ...You may have ended up at the same place that Gen. Smedley Butler did, for the same reasons - but the reasons are the same as they were in the 1930s, and in the teens which gave him the experience that set him on this path of rejection-of-empire: Empire is profitable, to a certain narrow set of profiteers, and warmongering is profitable, to the Undershafts of the world. <br /><br />So long as Undershaft and Lazarus can keep on buying senators, all the good will and rationality in the country won't stop the engine that was rolling long before we were waterboarding POWs and burning villages to save them in the Philippines in 1901, let alone when Butler called out the racketeers in the Thirties for on the one hand menacing Japan with war games off their coast and punitive laws against their citizens and on the other hand selling them "bits of the old Sixth Avenue El" - and that doesn't take into account at all the cheerleading squad of those who think that the coming of the Four Horsemen will be better than all the Superbowls ever, combined.<br /><br />Meddling in the affairs of countries with strategic and resource value, peddling weapons to all sides, is just too profitable for us to stop playing the Great Game. Until there's a way to break the complex that even Eisenhower feared, I just don't see this happening. Not before we go the way of Ninevah & Tyre, at least.bellatryshttp://bellatrys.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-27805433624171803322009-10-24T18:24:53.674-04:002009-10-24T18:24:53.674-04:00EXCELLENT ARTICLE---EXCELLENT ARTICLE.EXCELLENT ARTICLE---EXCELLENT ARTICLE.Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-9725683747181074132009-10-24T02:48:00.077-04:002009-10-24T02:48:00.077-04:00Does "fixing our own problems" include c...Does "fixing our own problems" include closing the overseas bases and repatriating the troops? I would so totally vote for that. It might be a good idea to start doing that anyway, since the next energy price spike (or maybe the one after that) may make moving troops and equipment difficult, if not unaffordable. Dmitri Orlov has been warning us for years about the possibility of U.S. troops being stranded overseas in the event of a Soviet-style collapse in the USA.<br /><br />There would be a hell of a lot of social inertia to overcome to implement such a policy. American politicians are unlikely to appreciate having hundreds of thousands of people being dropped in the middle of a contracting economy that is shedding jobs. I don't see it happening, even with widespread public support (and that might also be hard to come by). <br /><br />Reality will arbitrate all of this, obviously, but you can be sure that our lords and masters will wait until the last possible moment before they acknowledge that fact.jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-21781972679134574172009-10-23T19:14:06.153-04:002009-10-23T19:14:06.153-04:00Reasons to listen to George Washington:
We are be...Reasons to listen to George Washington:<br /><br />We are being had by the Europeans.<br /><br />Today, the NATO defense ministers, in keeping with their functions as chief cheerleaders for the old and new worlds' war profiteers endorsed wasting more resources in Afghanistan.<br /><br />My reply is great! Time for NATO to stand up.<br /><br />In terms of ratios and contributions the US share is usually 40%.<br /><br />Then the rest of NATO needs to ante up 24000 of McCrystal's 40000 new troops.<br /><br />Of course in those countries that would require a major build up.<br /><br />Canada is pulling out in 2011 and the UK likely in 2012.<br /><br />So easy for the neo con press to grab on to an excuse for the US tax payer to give up its living standard while NATO/Europe is along for the free ride.<br /><br />Loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-71380214138109873422009-10-23T19:08:02.579-04:002009-10-23T19:08:02.579-04:00The TV commercial ends with "Force for good.....The TV commercial ends with "Force for good....."<br /><br />I took the "for good" to mean wasting the tax payers' dougher forever.<br /><br />Loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-81027054393897360612009-10-23T14:08:40.948-04:002009-10-23T14:08:40.948-04:00Jeff,
Your comment about "being a force for ...Jeff,<br /><br />Your comment about "being a force for good in the world by blowing things up" got me thinking about the brillant new slogan and PR campaign unveiled by the Navy this month: "America's Navy: A Global Force for Good"<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3wtUCPWmeI<br /><br />As an officer myself, I have my own opinions about the notion of our navy as a global super cop, but I'd love to see an article, or a sequal to Bathtub Admirals on this nonsense.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Nuggetnuggethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11024114565469574927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-68822674901686777812009-10-23T13:49:03.323-04:002009-10-23T13:49:03.323-04:00And what is the rest of the world saying?And what is the rest of the world saying?Filostratohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04469903260877069258noreply@blogger.com