gd luck explaining that to all the wealthy muricans and europeans invested in General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rheinmetal, BAE systems…
90% of us stocks are in the hands of 10% of the households, in europe it's 30%. i don't think you'd have to explain to the majority of these minority 'investors' riding the gravy train that even that game is rigged and they don't really have a ticket.
And when the shit hits the fan who do you think will be sent to the trenches?
Never forget how "Civilized" Western Imperialist Oligarchy threw millions of their own working Class citizens into the WW1,2 meat grinders, and this is exactly how the term "Cannon fodder" was coined.
I think we all need to realize that the current capitalist system, driven by an unquenchable greed for more power and money, only promotes certain types of people to positions of power. We usually call them "psychopaths." And one of the specific traits these kinds of people have is the lack of empathy.
Pathocracy is a political term describing a system of government led by individuals with severe personality disorders—typically psychopathy, narcissism, sadism, or Machiavellianism. The term was notably used by psychiatrist Andrew Lobaczewski in his book Political Ponerology (written in the 1960s–70s, published much later).
Key characteristics of a pathocracy:
Leaders are psychopaths or sociopaths who rise to power by exploiting social chaos and normal people's psychological weaknesses.
Truth is systematically replaced with a controlled, distorted reality.
Cruelty, paranoia, and corruption become institutionalized.
Normal, empathetic individuals are weeded out or destroyed.
"A society of Altruists being ruled by Psychopaths.":
If civilians really wanted a revolution, they'd quit producing nasty little children in their homes and bedrooms. Military personell are just stupid humans wearing expensive attire... Same moronic behavior for over 8,000 years.
I have, literally, been waiting for that, and often working toward that happening, for 50 years. It should have happened way the hell back then. But the kakistocratic oligarchs have clearly won. No revolutionary mechanism or spirit ever really emerged to stop the fascism they've imposed on the world.
There have been thousands of revolutions in the past, and the species is 85 seconds from extinction.
Reducing and limiting the power of wealth can be done without a revolution. It depends on the people, and so far the people elect the most vile among us to lead the flock. Go figure!
I am not in the US but did live there for 24yrs. I personally would only vote in the midterms for someone who had NO money behind them. I see some States have wonderful people but what about the States who have just Reps. Dems. I would not vote for anyone.
Well then NO elections: Revolution. From what I understand a large proportion of the populace have guns?
The revolution is beginning here in France started by High School kids.
In the US system of government at the national level, every two or four years, the “people” are given the opportunity to choose between the lesser of two evils, or to choose differently. Typically, the two main evils have the support of the wealthiest sponsors who often hedge their bets by supporting and promoting both of the evils.
In such system, the outcome is typically evil by design. The “government” has demonstrated its willingness to use deadly force the circumvent the Bill of Rights that allegedly protects the “people”.
Unless the “people” are actually prepared and willing to use force to counter the government’s criminals, the oppression will continue as will the farce of “democracy” in a republic designed to ignore the will of the masses.
Can’t deny what you stated. It’s all about Money, or wealth. Since the capitalist system does not address how much wealth can be made, limiting the power of that wealth is an option, most especially in the human rights parameters,
...except, the voters--in 80% of the US, anyway--have zero control over HOW the votes get "counted", & there's zero proof that the "winners" actually got the most votes (even w/out such contrivances as The Electoral College). The ONLY solution to that problem is to refuse to participate in the fraud. Imagine how stupid The Winners will look when only 10% of the voters bother to vote.
Some of the Ancient Greeks selected government officials by lottery, much like jury duty in the USA. The Greeks didn’t except all of their randomly chosen officials to be perfect but, statistically, they did represent the will of the people — at least those who weren’t slaves.
The people should organize politically. They are too comfortable to do that and most of them aren't interested. Traditionally such things happen when the people go hungry. Today it might be when too many go bankrupt.
'Capitalism leads to dissatisfaction, so some charismatic wingnut stands up and goes “You know, the problem is that we haven’t capitalismed hard enough! Those fat cats at the top don’t want you do know this, but what we actually need is MORE capitalism! MORE wealth for the wealthy! MORE authoritarianism! MORE abuse of the marginalized! And we should probably also send way more money to Israel for some reason!”'
This would be so very amusing, if only it wasn't also so very true...
When Capitalism can no longer expand it destroys everything that has already been built in order to reuse the same markets by "rebuilding" them anew (like post WW2 "Marshall plan", which was also aimed at destruction of rising socialist movements across Europe and engineered its complete dependency on the U.S. youtu.be/-Kvqe2iY0aU?t=319).
BTW after WW2 in France, the employers would deliberately maintain activity low during the Communist-supported ‘Battle for production’ of the immediate postwar. The aim was to make US support more necessary for the reconstruction, so that private property of the means of production would remain unchallenged. You can read about this (in French) in Le choix de Marianne, by Annie Lacroix-Riz.
***
Remember when the U.S. "liberated" Iraq, left half a million children dead, then handed Cheney's Halliburton a $39.5 Billion thank-you check for "reconstruction"?
Well, it's happening again in Ukraine. Only now it's BlackRock. New logo, same playbook:
"The wealth that's extracted from Imperialism goes into the coffers of the select few, whereas the costs of empire are paid out of the common treasure of the people."
***
"War Is a Racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about.
It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
- Smedley D. Butler, U.S. Marine Corps general, two time Medal of Honor recipient
The stupid establishment posing as the real counter-culture and saying that we live in socialism and are ruled by communists... it's straight out of the fascist playbook, and its being applied again.
The decision to go to war with Iran will go down as a geopolitical miscalculation of epic proportions, and the bill is only beginning to come due.
Before February 28, the U.S. military was the world's only 800-pound gorilla with global reach. The war exposed how little that reach is worth against a third-rate military that has mastered asymmetric warfare. Iran answered with waves of missiles and drones against Israel, the Gulf states, and U.S. bases, and shut the Strait of Hormuz. More than six months in, Iran still holds Hormuz and is still hitting U.S. bases in Kuwait.
The arithmetic is brutal: drones costing tens of thousands of dollars against interceptors costing millions. The U.S. has burned through nearly 80 percent of its THAAD interceptors and roughly half its Patriots, and CSIS estimates THAAD will take three years or more to rebuild. Iran, by intelligence estimates, still has about 70 percent of its missiles. Ukraine, which depends on those same Patriots, has seen deliveries delayed and launchers sitting empty during Russian barrages.
The Middle East is completely destabilized. The Gulf states hosting our bases have become exposed rear bases in a war they never joined. Our footprint is now a liability to our hosts, and it is only a matter of time before they ask us to leave — which means falling back onto the territory of our so-called ally, Israel. The hatred this war has generated will be felt for a generation. Israel will be increasingly targeted and increasingly vulnerable, and once its back is against the wall, there is a real possibility it uses nuclear weapons to save itself from annihilation.
Then there is China, the only country that can actually challenge American primacy. In August the U.S. pulled its last aircraft carrier out of Asia for the Iran campaign, leaving the western Pacific without one as China drilled near the Scarborough Shoal. World War III could now start in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or East Asia.
Finally, the dollar. The national debt passed $40 trillion in August, growing a trillion every five months. Foreign central banks have sold more than $80 billion in Treasuries since the war began, and central banks now hold more gold than dollar reserves for the first time. Reserve-currency status is not a law of nature. A plunge in the dollar at some future date is well within the realm of possibility, and these blunders have made it more likely.
In soccer terms, we have scored own goals at both ends of the field and then tipped the whole stadium on its head. This will prove to be the biggest geopolitical blunder in American history, and its consequences cannot be overstated.
For a deeper dive into the root causes, I invite you to read my new book, The NICE Formula: How to Save the Human Race from Itself and from Artificial Intelligence. It examines the threats to our future as a species — and, more importantly, what we can actually do about them.
"a third-rate military" Rather, a military that is entirely focused on self-defense, is intelligently led, is backed by the people, and isn't corrupt. Geography is strongly in their favor. Being a mountainous country helps a lot. The USA military can't get a secure supply line to Iran so invasion is impractical.
The result was entirely expected. USA simulation of war with Iran always led to an Iranian victory. Even I knew about that. Israel thought AI-powered mass assassinations were a game changer. Wrong.
Iran is a proud warrior nation that would rather die than surrender. Like Afghanistan, which is much weaker but won anyway. Maybe the USA thought victory was ordained by God.
Since European colonists stole this continent from its native inhabitants, it has always believed itself to be "blessed by God." Think the ignorantly revered anthem, God Bless America, sung at every sporting event in this country for 150 years. Maybe this is why the US has kept Israel as its closest ally for so long. Both criminal countries deeply believe God has chosen them to rule over the world.
I read a few of Zinn's books way back when, but that one escaped my notice. He's one of many almost totally ignored American prophets. Ignorant complacency is one of America's most respected virtues. Idiocracy lives!
The sad thing about all of this is that none of it had to happen. If we had taken John Mearsheimer's advice (and more or less followed what I call the Handsome Bouncer Theory in my book), we could have avoided the whole string of tragic blunders, from the Vietnam War right through to what is now the war in Iran. It would've been so simple: act with strategic prudence and keep a lid on things.
In some ways I share your sentiment. But if we don't try to straighten things out and get ahead of the problems we're facing now—especially with AI—we're playing with fire. Those of us who are getting a little older may not have as much at stake, but we should be thinking about future generations.
You're right about future generations, and I feel that way, too. But not if it means procrastinating the us-centric unipolar model, because that wouldn't solve our (and their) problems, for sure: quite the contrary, in fact.
I share your basic sentiments. If you're up for a longer read, take a look at my new book, The NICE Formula. It lays out what I think we should be trying to do about what we're up against. I'd like to hear what you think of it.
Yup. And it's also what you get when you elect a profoundly malignant narcissist with sociopathic tendencies to run the show, then hand him something close to unlimited power.
I suspect that the Israelis knew that the window in which they could count on blanket automatic unlimited American support was closing, so they had best strike now.
If oil were the concern, the US would be looking to make a deal with Russia, which desperately wants out of its war and desperately wants to be allowed to join The Club.
""Hi Caitlin. You are brilliant on Palestine, but I still don't get why you are not sympathetic to the people of Ukraine?""
Wow! This is an easy one... the U.S. gov't has lied us into every single war and aggression since WW2 (and even in WW2, there was absolutely zero moral justification for dropping two atomic bombs on a totally defenseless group of human beings). From that lying, we have been on the morally wrong side of every single war/conflict/aggression (and in the event that we happened to be on the "right" side, it was due to pure coincidence/accident).
At this point, believing the U.S. government's supposedly "moral" case for a war/aggression is like buying your 27th used car from the same salesperson... the one who sold you a lemon the 26 previous times.
So therefore, whenever the U.S. gov't tells us which "side" we need to be supporting, it's not that I lack sympathy for the people of that country (we, most or all of us, don't even know enough, or in most cases, anything at all, about them, that country, to even formulate a rational personal opinion)... it's that I reflexively call bullshit on the U.S. government's sales pitch. If the U.S. empire is backing it, you can be certain their real motive isn't humanitarian.
That's the answer I would always give to someone who asked that question.
Malcolm X described the situation in African-American ghettos of the Fifties as sociological dynamite— needing no fuse, but rather spontaneously combusting from within itself. This is of course true of all ghettos including Palestine. And through its sociopathological greed, the Military-Industrial complex has essentially fostered such ghettos worldwide.
"In order to bring a nation to support the burdens of maintaining great military establishments, it is necessary to create an external menace, and to keep it vividly before the mind of the people."
-John Ruskin, "War and Peace" (1892)
***
"There must be the portrayal of an external menace, and such a menace must be made to appear real, imminent, and dangerous."
-John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Secretary of State (1888-1959) and older brother of Allen Dulles (fmr head of the OSS/CIA), financed the Bond sales for Nazis to rearm Germany after WW1. BTW He was also pushing to drag the U.S. in the French colonial war with Vietnam back in 1954, and tho he failed to directly send the american troops, the US still paid as much as 80% of France's war cost (which was only revealed much later in the "Pentagon papers" by Daniel Ellsberg):
One of the main reasons for JFK assassination was his opposition to Vietnam war.
Directly after JFK’s assassination and LBJ ascendancy, he secured contracts for Brown and Root to construct the U.S. infrastructure of the Vietnam war: “The sharpest criticism would come from its work in Vietnam. Brown & Root was part of a consortium of four big construction companies known as RMK-BRJ. They were contracted by the Navy to build ports, airfields, bases, ammunition depots and hospitals in South Vietnam . It was the first time the US military had assigned private contractors on a large scale to do work usually performed by combat engineers and Navy Seabees. Brown & Root's portion of the contract would be worth $380 million.”
The military-industrial complex's financial gains from the Vietnam War were substantial, with billions made by major defense contractors.
This profit not only shaped the companies involved but also influenced U.S. military policy and spending in subsequent conflicts.
The real reason for wreaking havoc on Vietnam was providing a rescue package for the Military Industrial Complex, which was on the verge of bankruptcy before Lyndon B. Johnson signed off on committing the US to the slaughter:
Under Clinton, when the Cold war was over, Lockheed Martin's guy named Bruce P. Jackson (son of William Jackson, National Security Adviser under Eisenhower) spent millions of dollars on the committee for NATO expansion in order to push a bunch of Eastern European countries into NATO.
He also helped found the neocons' Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and bankrolled the committee for the war in Iraq:
Lockheed CEO Norman Augustine established the practice of maintaining at least two Lockheed-Martin employees operating in each US Congressional district to “honestly” say that local jobs were dependent upon Lockheed/Martin defense contracts.
No member of Congress wanted to be accused of denying job opportunities in his or her district. So they typically voted for any legislation or contract that would benefit Lockheed Martin. Since that time, that practice has spread to other corporations in the military industrial complex.
As Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney took a game to the next level by outsourcing virtually any and all non-combat roles to private contractors. After leaving his secretary of defense position, Cheney became CEO of Halliburton – a major defense contractor that benefits from Dick Cheney’s policies.
***
Later as vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney ensured that Halliburton and Kellogg Brown root would be awarded lucrative no bid contracts to support the undeclared US wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair in his 1934 book I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked
It is a sad commentary on the typical human that every single new insight and discovery is classified and then weaponized.
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا والسعودية وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والنازية الجديدة والماسونية والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
"What comes after people see through the scam" People don't like to admit they were wrong. They'll cling to it until they day they die. Any failures will be blamed on unbelievers and traitors who didn't want to make America great again. They were in the pay of Russia.
Heck, in 1980 my aunt in Livermore had a neighbor who still believed in Hitler.
Unfortunately Hitler was trying to save Germany from the globalist Bankers and fight Communism at the behest of the corporatists while dragging his people out of starvation due to sanctions incurred from WWI. What we have now is the same thing facing Europe in the oughts and the 30s. EU desperately wants a war with Russia. A bankers war is brewing and thriving as a cold war yet again and is about to pop off into a hot war... unless?
These murderers are stealing billions of dollars off of taxpayers and stuffing them into their own pockets. Where is the audit of the pantygon? Shouldn't that creepy A/i dude who knows all be able to sort through the corruption?
"In other words, Israel’s PR problem is caused by Israeli behavior." Zionism teaches them that they are supreme beings, so they have the right to kill whomever they choose. "Meta has been algorithmically favoring right wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro over President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva".....Zuckerberg's Zionism has taken him over."Capitalism leads to dissatisfaction, so some charismatic wingnut stands up and goes “You know, the problem is that we haven’t capitalismed hard enough!" Capitalism and Zionism are bosom buddies.
Nothing will change without a revolution by the people for the people.
gd luck explaining that to all the wealthy muricans and europeans invested in General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rheinmetal, BAE systems…
90% of us stocks are in the hands of 10% of the households, in europe it's 30%. i don't think you'd have to explain to the majority of these minority 'investors' riding the gravy train that even that game is rigged and they don't really have a ticket.
And when the shit hits the fan who do you think will be sent to the trenches?
Never forget how "Civilized" Western Imperialist Oligarchy threw millions of their own working Class citizens into the WW1,2 meat grinders, and this is exactly how the term "Cannon fodder" was coined.
***
youtube.com/watch?v=rIB4e8AfPcM
youtube.com/shorts/RdbTIEqcScQ
Invest in success.
the problem is the people! what you think aliens are doing this? It's people...
Correct. People kill people, and many make a living of it...
i think it is a system.
I think we all need to realize that the current capitalist system, driven by an unquenchable greed for more power and money, only promotes certain types of people to positions of power. We usually call them "psychopaths." And one of the specific traits these kinds of people have is the lack of empathy.
Pathocracy is a political term describing a system of government led by individuals with severe personality disorders—typically psychopathy, narcissism, sadism, or Machiavellianism. The term was notably used by psychiatrist Andrew Lobaczewski in his book Political Ponerology (written in the 1960s–70s, published much later).
Key characteristics of a pathocracy:
Leaders are psychopaths or sociopaths who rise to power by exploiting social chaos and normal people's psychological weaknesses.
Truth is systematically replaced with a controlled, distorted reality.
Cruelty, paranoia, and corruption become institutionalized.
Normal, empathetic individuals are weeded out or destroyed.
"A society of Altruists being ruled by Psychopaths.":
http://youtu.be/VQ4_y3rkX5Q?t=108
"Blaming the victims" is Propaganda 101.
I said people. last I checked, the perpetrators of wars and genocide are people. That is not victim blaming dumb dumb..
If civilians really wanted a revolution, they'd quit producing nasty little children in their homes and bedrooms. Military personell are just stupid humans wearing expensive attire... Same moronic behavior for over 8,000 years.
I have, literally, been waiting for that, and often working toward that happening, for 50 years. It should have happened way the hell back then. But the kakistocratic oligarchs have clearly won. No revolutionary mechanism or spirit ever really emerged to stop the fascism they've imposed on the world.
There have been thousands of revolutions in the past, and the species is 85 seconds from extinction.
Reducing and limiting the power of wealth can be done without a revolution. It depends on the people, and so far the people elect the most vile among us to lead the flock. Go figure!
But........who are you going to vote for to change things?
All you have is a duopoly.
And no matter who you vote for, you invariably get John McCain.
Voting without organization is pointless.
Not sure I understand your point?
Jenny,
There were other candidates on the 2024 U.S, presidential ballot. The duopoly for many was self- imposed.
Going out on a limb, but what if there are no elections?
I am not in the US but did live there for 24yrs. I personally would only vote in the midterms for someone who had NO money behind them. I see some States have wonderful people but what about the States who have just Reps. Dems. I would not vote for anyone.
Well then NO elections: Revolution. From what I understand a large proportion of the populace have guns?
The revolution is beginning here in France started by High School kids.
In the US system of government at the national level, every two or four years, the “people” are given the opportunity to choose between the lesser of two evils, or to choose differently. Typically, the two main evils have the support of the wealthiest sponsors who often hedge their bets by supporting and promoting both of the evils.
In such system, the outcome is typically evil by design. The “government” has demonstrated its willingness to use deadly force the circumvent the Bill of Rights that allegedly protects the “people”.
Unless the “people” are actually prepared and willing to use force to counter the government’s criminals, the oppression will continue as will the farce of “democracy” in a republic designed to ignore the will of the masses.
Can’t deny what you stated. It’s all about Money, or wealth. Since the capitalist system does not address how much wealth can be made, limiting the power of that wealth is an option, most especially in the human rights parameters,
...except, the voters--in 80% of the US, anyway--have zero control over HOW the votes get "counted", & there's zero proof that the "winners" actually got the most votes (even w/out such contrivances as The Electoral College). The ONLY solution to that problem is to refuse to participate in the fraud. Imagine how stupid The Winners will look when only 10% of the voters bother to vote.
Clearly the USA is not at all concerned about looking stupid.
“The only solution “??? How about no elections?
Some of the Ancient Greeks selected government officials by lottery, much like jury duty in the USA. The Greeks didn’t except all of their randomly chosen officials to be perfect but, statistically, they did represent the will of the people — at least those who weren’t slaves.
some have brought up the ancient athenian democratic practice of sortition.
The infamous org chart, showing upper management as sociopaths, line management as clueless, and the workers as losers, comes prominently to mind.
The people should organize politically. They are too comfortable to do that and most of them aren't interested. Traditionally such things happen when the people go hungry. Today it might be when too many go bankrupt.
Here's my revolution: Demand a UBI as high as whatever Congress is paying itself.
You mean “the actual people” — not just those of the class of the few wealthy elites who called themselves “We the People” 250 years ago.
'Capitalism leads to dissatisfaction, so some charismatic wingnut stands up and goes “You know, the problem is that we haven’t capitalismed hard enough! Those fat cats at the top don’t want you do know this, but what we actually need is MORE capitalism! MORE wealth for the wealthy! MORE authoritarianism! MORE abuse of the marginalized! And we should probably also send way more money to Israel for some reason!”'
This would be so very amusing, if only it wasn't also so very true...
"War is capitalism with the gloves off".
And Capitalists/Imperialists absolutely LOVE war.
When Capitalism can no longer expand it destroys everything that has already been built in order to reuse the same markets by "rebuilding" them anew (like post WW2 "Marshall plan", which was also aimed at destruction of rising socialist movements across Europe and engineered its complete dependency on the U.S. youtu.be/-Kvqe2iY0aU?t=319).
BTW after WW2 in France, the employers would deliberately maintain activity low during the Communist-supported ‘Battle for production’ of the immediate postwar. The aim was to make US support more necessary for the reconstruction, so that private property of the means of production would remain unchallenged. You can read about this (in French) in Le choix de Marianne, by Annie Lacroix-Riz.
***
Remember when the U.S. "liberated" Iraq, left half a million children dead, then handed Cheney's Halliburton a $39.5 Billion thank-you check for "reconstruction"?
Well, it's happening again in Ukraine. Only now it's BlackRock. New logo, same playbook:
youtu.be/QRIi7snn4K4?t=607
...same wildly-regressive American taxation footing the bill....
"The wealth that's extracted from Imperialism goes into the coffers of the select few, whereas the costs of empire are paid out of the common treasure of the people."
***
"War Is a Racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about.
It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
- Smedley D. Butler, U.S. Marine Corps general, two time Medal of Honor recipient
The stupid establishment posing as the real counter-culture and saying that we live in socialism and are ruled by communists... it's straight out of the fascist playbook, and its being applied again.
The decision to go to war with Iran will go down as a geopolitical miscalculation of epic proportions, and the bill is only beginning to come due.
Before February 28, the U.S. military was the world's only 800-pound gorilla with global reach. The war exposed how little that reach is worth against a third-rate military that has mastered asymmetric warfare. Iran answered with waves of missiles and drones against Israel, the Gulf states, and U.S. bases, and shut the Strait of Hormuz. More than six months in, Iran still holds Hormuz and is still hitting U.S. bases in Kuwait.
The arithmetic is brutal: drones costing tens of thousands of dollars against interceptors costing millions. The U.S. has burned through nearly 80 percent of its THAAD interceptors and roughly half its Patriots, and CSIS estimates THAAD will take three years or more to rebuild. Iran, by intelligence estimates, still has about 70 percent of its missiles. Ukraine, which depends on those same Patriots, has seen deliveries delayed and launchers sitting empty during Russian barrages.
The Middle East is completely destabilized. The Gulf states hosting our bases have become exposed rear bases in a war they never joined. Our footprint is now a liability to our hosts, and it is only a matter of time before they ask us to leave — which means falling back onto the territory of our so-called ally, Israel. The hatred this war has generated will be felt for a generation. Israel will be increasingly targeted and increasingly vulnerable, and once its back is against the wall, there is a real possibility it uses nuclear weapons to save itself from annihilation.
Then there is China, the only country that can actually challenge American primacy. In August the U.S. pulled its last aircraft carrier out of Asia for the Iran campaign, leaving the western Pacific without one as China drilled near the Scarborough Shoal. World War III could now start in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or East Asia.
Finally, the dollar. The national debt passed $40 trillion in August, growing a trillion every five months. Foreign central banks have sold more than $80 billion in Treasuries since the war began, and central banks now hold more gold than dollar reserves for the first time. Reserve-currency status is not a law of nature. A plunge in the dollar at some future date is well within the realm of possibility, and these blunders have made it more likely.
In soccer terms, we have scored own goals at both ends of the field and then tipped the whole stadium on its head. This will prove to be the biggest geopolitical blunder in American history, and its consequences cannot be overstated.
For a deeper dive into the root causes, I invite you to read my new book, The NICE Formula: How to Save the Human Race from Itself and from Artificial Intelligence. It examines the threats to our future as a species — and, more importantly, what we can actually do about them.
"a third-rate military" Rather, a military that is entirely focused on self-defense, is intelligently led, is backed by the people, and isn't corrupt. Geography is strongly in their favor. Being a mountainous country helps a lot. The USA military can't get a secure supply line to Iran so invasion is impractical.
The result was entirely expected. USA simulation of war with Iran always led to an Iranian victory. Even I knew about that. Israel thought AI-powered mass assassinations were a game changer. Wrong.
Iran is a proud warrior nation that would rather die than surrender. Like Afghanistan, which is much weaker but won anyway. Maybe the USA thought victory was ordained by God.
Since European colonists stole this continent from its native inhabitants, it has always believed itself to be "blessed by God." Think the ignorantly revered anthem, God Bless America, sung at every sporting event in this country for 150 years. Maybe this is why the US has kept Israel as its closest ally for so long. Both criminal countries deeply believe God has chosen them to rule over the world.
Yeah. You’re in good company — Howard Zinn shared your views in his book “The Myth of American Exceptionalism”.
I read a few of Zinn's books way back when, but that one escaped my notice. He's one of many almost totally ignored American prophets. Ignorant complacency is one of America's most respected virtues. Idiocracy lives!
I cannot help but sometimes hope it comes all crashing down on their heads, even if it means some hard times ahead for all of us
The sad thing about all of this is that none of it had to happen. If we had taken John Mearsheimer's advice (and more or less followed what I call the Handsome Bouncer Theory in my book), we could have avoided the whole string of tragic blunders, from the Vietnam War right through to what is now the war in Iran. It would've been so simple: act with strategic prudence and keep a lid on things.
In some ways I share your sentiment. But if we don't try to straighten things out and get ahead of the problems we're facing now—especially with AI—we're playing with fire. Those of us who are getting a little older may not have as much at stake, but we should be thinking about future generations.
You're right about future generations, and I feel that way, too. But not if it means procrastinating the us-centric unipolar model, because that wouldn't solve our (and their) problems, for sure: quite the contrary, in fact.
I share your basic sentiments. If you're up for a longer read, take a look at my new book, The NICE Formula. It lays out what I think we should be trying to do about what we're up against. I'd like to hear what you think of it.
On further note, I wouldn't say gulf States didn't ask for this war (especially the likes of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates)
Their opinion was not welcome.
Yup. And it's also what you get when you elect a profoundly malignant narcissist with sociopathic tendencies to run the show, then hand him something close to unlimited power.
The Iran War is a war with Chynah.
Right. The true goal is to reduce the oil supply to China. And I can prove that.
*cough* Israel *cough*
That's important too. But they've been plumping for this war for 40 years. It was the China angle that put it over the top.
I suspect that the Israelis knew that the window in which they could count on blanket automatic unlimited American support was closing, so they had best strike now.
If oil were the concern, the US would be looking to make a deal with Russia, which desperately wants out of its war and desperately wants to be allowed to join The Club.
""Hi Caitlin. You are brilliant on Palestine, but I still don't get why you are not sympathetic to the people of Ukraine?""
Wow! This is an easy one... the U.S. gov't has lied us into every single war and aggression since WW2 (and even in WW2, there was absolutely zero moral justification for dropping two atomic bombs on a totally defenseless group of human beings). From that lying, we have been on the morally wrong side of every single war/conflict/aggression (and in the event that we happened to be on the "right" side, it was due to pure coincidence/accident).
At this point, believing the U.S. government's supposedly "moral" case for a war/aggression is like buying your 27th used car from the same salesperson... the one who sold you a lemon the 26 previous times.
So therefore, whenever the U.S. gov't tells us which "side" we need to be supporting, it's not that I lack sympathy for the people of that country (we, most or all of us, don't even know enough, or in most cases, anything at all, about them, that country, to even formulate a rational personal opinion)... it's that I reflexively call bullshit on the U.S. government's sales pitch. If the U.S. empire is backing it, you can be certain their real motive isn't humanitarian.
That's the answer I would always give to someone who asked that question.
"It's all about money." -- Marnie Tynen
I don't know who Marnie Tynen is... but, man, I sure agree with what she/he said.
I once tried to talk to her about politics. That was all she had to say. Shut me up but good. I had nothing further to offer.
Hahahahaha... that's actually pretty funny.
Malcolm X described the situation in African-American ghettos of the Fifties as sociological dynamite— needing no fuse, but rather spontaneously combusting from within itself. This is of course true of all ghettos including Palestine. And through its sociopathological greed, the Military-Industrial complex has essentially fostered such ghettos worldwide.
"In order to bring a nation to support the burdens of maintaining great military establishments, it is necessary to create an external menace, and to keep it vividly before the mind of the people."
-John Ruskin, "War and Peace" (1892)
***
"There must be the portrayal of an external menace, and such a menace must be made to appear real, imminent, and dangerous."
-John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Secretary of State (1888-1959) and older brother of Allen Dulles (fmr head of the OSS/CIA), financed the Bond sales for Nazis to rearm Germany after WW1. BTW He was also pushing to drag the U.S. in the French colonial war with Vietnam back in 1954, and tho he failed to directly send the american troops, the US still paid as much as 80% of France's war cost (which was only revealed much later in the "Pentagon papers" by Daniel Ellsberg):
youtu.be/YOqmjCmloZk?t=98
***
One of the main reasons for JFK assassination was his opposition to Vietnam war.
Directly after JFK’s assassination and LBJ ascendancy, he secured contracts for Brown and Root to construct the U.S. infrastructure of the Vietnam war: “The sharpest criticism would come from its work in Vietnam. Brown & Root was part of a consortium of four big construction companies known as RMK-BRJ. They were contracted by the Navy to build ports, airfields, bases, ammunition depots and hospitals in South Vietnam . It was the first time the US military had assigned private contractors on a large scale to do work usually performed by combat engineers and Navy Seabees. Brown & Root's portion of the contract would be worth $380 million.”
historynewsnetwork.org/article/brown-amp-root-a-company-with-a-history
***
The military-industrial complex's financial gains from the Vietnam War were substantial, with billions made by major defense contractors.
This profit not only shaped the companies involved but also influenced U.S. military policy and spending in subsequent conflicts.
The real reason for wreaking havoc on Vietnam was providing a rescue package for the Military Industrial Complex, which was on the verge of bankruptcy before Lyndon B. Johnson signed off on committing the US to the slaughter:
youtube.com/watch?v=_zSnolpYkCA
Yup, there are reasons why Ike's Farewell Address isn't common knowledge among Americans.
Under Clinton, when the Cold war was over, Lockheed Martin's guy named Bruce P. Jackson (son of William Jackson, National Security Adviser under Eisenhower) spent millions of dollars on the committee for NATO expansion in order to push a bunch of Eastern European countries into NATO.
He also helped found the neocons' Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and bankrolled the committee for the war in Iraq:
youtube.com/watch?v=t0DLNDAgAwU
***
Lockheed CEO Norman Augustine established the practice of maintaining at least two Lockheed-Martin employees operating in each US Congressional district to “honestly” say that local jobs were dependent upon Lockheed/Martin defense contracts.
No member of Congress wanted to be accused of denying job opportunities in his or her district. So they typically voted for any legislation or contract that would benefit Lockheed Martin. Since that time, that practice has spread to other corporations in the military industrial complex.
As Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney took a game to the next level by outsourcing virtually any and all non-combat roles to private contractors. After leaving his secretary of defense position, Cheney became CEO of Halliburton – a major defense contractor that benefits from Dick Cheney’s policies.
***
Later as vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney ensured that Halliburton and Kellogg Brown root would be awarded lucrative no bid contracts to support the undeclared US wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
No Caitlin, it's not the military, it's your beautiful humanity. Always was the story, always will be.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair in his 1934 book I, Candidate for Governor, and How I Got Licked
It is a sad commentary on the typical human that every single new insight and discovery is classified and then weaponized.
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا والسعودية وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والنازية الجديدة والماسونية والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
"What comes after people see through the scam" People don't like to admit they were wrong. They'll cling to it until they day they die. Any failures will be blamed on unbelievers and traitors who didn't want to make America great again. They were in the pay of Russia.
Heck, in 1980 my aunt in Livermore had a neighbor who still believed in Hitler.
Unfortunately Hitler was trying to save Germany from the globalist Bankers and fight Communism at the behest of the corporatists while dragging his people out of starvation due to sanctions incurred from WWI. What we have now is the same thing facing Europe in the oughts and the 30s. EU desperately wants a war with Russia. A bankers war is brewing and thriving as a cold war yet again and is about to pop off into a hot war... unless?
Like my aunt's neighbor said, "he was a good man. Misunderstood."
These murderers are stealing billions of dollars off of taxpayers and stuffing them into their own pockets. Where is the audit of the pantygon? Shouldn't that creepy A/i dude who knows all be able to sort through the corruption?
Been sorted. Who wants to die trying to stop Moloch?
"In other words, Israel’s PR problem is caused by Israeli behavior." Zionism teaches them that they are supreme beings, so they have the right to kill whomever they choose. "Meta has been algorithmically favoring right wing candidate Flavio Bolsonaro over President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva".....Zuckerberg's Zionism has taken him over."Capitalism leads to dissatisfaction, so some charismatic wingnut stands up and goes “You know, the problem is that we haven’t capitalismed hard enough!" Capitalism and Zionism are bosom buddies.
The only thing the bankers false currency is backed on, is war crimes.
THAT can be beaten. BUT the MILITARY DEFEAT, will be the FIRST STEP.
AFTER we defeat the NATO, and every rat bastard in it, the banker will try to ESCAPE out the back door, and leave it pinned on the host culture.
We have to FINISH IT, by rounding up the culprit,
who called the shots, funded the crime, and created the situation.
👏👏👏👏