President Biden’s 11th hour decision to escalate the war in Ukraine is the kind of quixotic, unilateral exercise of power that we have been told to expect from Donald Trump.
Nothing has disappointed me more about the Biden administration than their appetite for war and indifference to the human suffering caused by it. Blood thirstiness, however, is not the sole province of the Democratic Party. Instead, it is a symptom of a larger and more malignant rot that set into American foreign policy after 9/11.
In January 2022, I received a call from retired British commando Nug Benham. He told me that he was departing for Kiev the next morning to reconnect with his defense contractor colleagues “before things kicked off.” On January 27, 2022, one month before the Russian invasion, I published, “Ukraine 1: Anomalies, Collapsing Paradigms, and the Courage To Draw Conclusions.” While this essay was partially about the coming war in Ukraine, it was also the collapse of America’s post 9/11 foreign policy paradigms.
By 2022, Bush’s “full-spectrum” global military dominance had given way to the false benevolence of the Obama/Biden administrations’ “soft power.”
In January 2022, I received a call from retired British commando Nug Benham. He told me that he was departing for Kiev the next morning to reconnect with his defense contractor colleagues “before things kicked off.” On January 27, 2022, one month before the Russian invasion, I published, “Ukraine 1: Anomalies, Collapsing Paradigms, and the Courage To Draw Conclusions.” While this essay was partially about the coming war in Ukraine, it was also the collapse of America’s post 9/11 foreign policy paradigms.
By 2022, Bush’s “full-spectrum” global military dominance had given way to the false benevolence of the Obama/Biden administrations’ “soft power.”
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Slavi Ukraini. Russia is the aggressor and has to be defeated.
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ReplyDelete"To me, America’s retreat from Afghanistan in 2021 was a metaphor for the collective failures of two decades of U.S. statecraft. However, the humiliating, tail-between-legs withdrawal did prevent our leaders from making embarrassing assertions of exceptionalism, virtue and entitlement to rule the world."
At what point are people going to realise that the huge profits the US Military-Industrial complex is the only thing the US actually cares about? They don't care about being seen as being victorious, they care about their wallets. A state of perpetual war is their gravy train. It suits them to leave Afghanistan and leave their material behind because it just means more profit for the Lockheed Martins et al.
People in the West live in a movie of "goodies and baddies", the powerbrokers behind the veil live in a world of superprofits at any cost.
Ukraine is about resources, not the Ukrainian people. If it was a desert and not rich in hydrocarbons or rare earth minerals nobody would give a fuck.
Perhaps Steve could talk about the Russian military industrial complex because it is their violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine that is the cause of the war.
ReplyDeleteThe Russian military industrial complex that's buying crap off North Korea and drafting their soldiers, that one Barry?
DeleteThe American Military Industrial Complex dwarves all others. It probably feels it needs to given its aggressive foreign policy and the fact that it has waged more wars than any other nation state since World War 2.
DeleteOne source estimates that:
From 1945 to 2001, among the 248 armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions of the world, 201 were initiated by the United States, accounting for 81 percent of the total number.
Not just that Anthony, when they withdraw they leave a lot of equipment behind for the local forces to use. This is part of their long game strategy. The locals use the equipment and become proficient in its use so in a decades time the US Military Industry can say " Look how sophisticate these bad guys are, you better give us more money for new tech and weapons".
DeleteThey are not stupid and saying they leave with their tails between their legs is wrong. They do it on purpose.
Steve, it seems to me that you are deflecting from the fundamental issue of Russian imperialism and how it threatens Georgia, the Baltic States, Moldova as well as it's aggression in Ukraine. Apologies if I am wrong.
DeleteFuck knows how you arrive at thon conclusion Barry, I've been on TPQ many times criticising Putins aggression. The fact that I also critique Western imperialism via military industrial capitalism doesn't negate that.
DeleteSteve - given that the greatest threat to world peace has long been the West's neo-imperialism, you have been consistent in your position.
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