“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” -- US Army General Omar Bradley, Armistice Day 1948
Whee! Let's Start World War 3!
By Coast Watcher
Capitalism loves war! And it loves it with a passion Romeo and Juliet could only have dreamed of.
The profits that roll in from the vast military industrial complex’s sales to nations around the world alone are far greater than the GNP of most countries. Of course, in order to sell armaments there needs to be an actual war—or at least the threat of one. Armed tension is a great incentive for weapon sales. That way all those potent weapons systems can be bought and deployed immediately or at least stored until they could be used or sold on to others by their use-by date.
But not all weapons ever reach their intended user. According to a recent CBS News report up to 30% of the weaponry sent to Ukraine doesn’t make it to the front lines. [Editor's note: The CBS News link about black market arms sales in Ukraine was taken down because of the Ukrainian government's pressure, but you can now watch it here: https://www.bitchute.com/embed/g5OgTXkzzLy9/] Instead they find their way onto the lucrative black market, where they'll end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. (Generally this means people who’ve had enough from the US government and could use these weapons to make their point.)
It’s not only the MIC that profits from war or a perpetual state of armed tension. Big Oil in the shape of Standard Oil sold its product to both Axis and Allies during World War I. The vehicle industry makes out like bandits, too. GM and Ford continued to operate quite openly in Germany during the Nazi regime of World War II.
US corporations are rather practical-minded when it comes down to things such as working with Nazis. They figure making a buck means a buck made--whether or not it comes from your side or the other in a conflict.
Computer-related hardware sales are another major factor when it comes to starting a war, but sometimes the banging of war drums fails to achieve the desired effect. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan caused China to end trade in microprocessor chips of the kind that fit in the American Javelin missile system, the very weapon currently being sold by the US to Ukraine. Production of the weapon is now suspended until another supplier can be found.
Oops.
The Chinese government warned Biden that the Speaker’s visit would “cross a red line.” Biden retorted that he didn’t recognize red lines—something he also said prior to Russia’s similar warning about Ukraine's bombing of the Donbass region. Their intervention to defend ethnic Russians is nearing the point where over a quarter of the country is now under control of the Russian Army.
It’s quite reasonable to assume it won’t be long before negotiations are begun in earnest to end the Ukrainian war. What’s left of Ukraine will remain a poor relation in Europe, saddled with immense debt to the United States for generations. There are even rumors that parts of the country will be given to Poland as a reward for supporting the NATO forces in this entirely preventable conflict.
All this needless death and mayhem was set in motion by the US/NATO forgetting the Minsk Accords in order to shut down the Russian/German built Nord Stream 2 liquid natural gas pipeline so that Europe would be forced to purchase their energy supplies from the US. It's not like that this foolhardy military escapade has affected the price of gasoline and foodstuffs for average Americans though, right?
Pelosi's visit to Taiwan heralds the US military industrial complex's next money-generating event. Biden's recent remarks and Pelosi's trip have provoked the Chinese Navy to conduct exercises geared toward a possible intervention in their breakaway province. Naval exercises are to take place in both the island’s “national waters” (which aren’t officially recognized by any maritime nation) and in the Taiwanese Straits.
Biden has warned China that the latter move is violating a previous understanding about the Straits. This is a clear indication that the US is contemplating military action to protect Taiwan from invasion from the mainland. It’s practically a given that conventional military exchanges between the US and China could escalate to a full-on nuclear war, one that could annihilate the entire planet.
Could it be the capitalists' answer to global warming is a nuclear winter?
Has capitalism gone too far in its greed for new opportunities for weapon sales? Indications are that it has. Are the US and the West in general ready and prepared to wage an all out nuclear war, the final military conflict on Earth?
US plans to cope with a nuclear holocaust have been in place for decades. New York recently ran a series of public service announcements on TV showing what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. From the procedures outlined in the ads it amounts to little more than the old “duck and cover” ideas of the 1950s and are about as effective (read: not very). Experts agree that the best response to an attack with modern nuclear weapons is to put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye.
Most people dwell in a blissful mental state of denial, a place where the prospect of all out nuclear war is but a remote possibility. To these deluded folks today will be the same as yesterday. Tomorrow, of course, will be the same as today. There’s food to buy, a roof to keep over your head, work to think about... Existence as we know it and all life on Earth can’t possibly come to an end because of the simple and malevolent greed of the military industrial complex.
Can it?
Nancy Pelosi, Stay Out of Taiwan!
https://www.wsws.org/en/
A Brief History of Taiwan https://www.thoughtco.com/
From The War Does Not Want A Global NATO:
In 1955, 10 years after the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima (Japan), the Turkish poet Nâzim Hikmet wrote a poem in the voice of a 7-year-old girl who died in that terrible act. The poem was later translated into Japanese by Nobuyuki Nakamoto as “Shinda Onnanoko” (“Dead Girl”) and frequently sung in commemorations of that atrocity. Given the harshness of war and the escalation of conflict, it is worthwhile to reflect once more on Hikmet’s beautiful, haunting lyrics:
I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread.
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.
I’m only seven, although I died
In Hiroshima long ago.
I’m seven now as I was then.
When children die, they do not grow.
My hair was scorched by swirling flame.
My eyes grew dim; my eyes grew blind.
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.
I need no fruit, I need no rice.
I need no sweets, nor even bread.
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.
All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of the world
May live and grow and laugh and play.
Related Articles:
Where We Stand on August 6 and 9, 2022 https://popularresistance.org/where-we-stand-on-august-6-and9-2022/
The World Does Not Want A Global NATO https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/01/the-world-does-not-want-a-global-nato/
NATO-Backed Network of Syria Dirty War Propagandists Identified https://mate.substack.com/p/nato-backed-network-of-syria-dirty
US empire preparing to discard Zelensky regime, pivoting to Taiwan to make up for its losses https://popularresistance.org/amnesty-international-report-exposes-ukraines-violations-of-international-law-deliberate-use-of-civilians-as-human-shields/
War With Iran (podcast/article) https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-war-with-iran#details
"Russian Propaganda" Just Means Disobedience https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/russian-propaganda-just-means-disobedience
Westerners Think They Are Free-Thinking Individualists And It's Effing Adorable https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/westerners-think-they-are-free-thinking
The US made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1114964240/new-battery-technology-china-vanadium
Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars https://popularresistance.org/the-chris-hedges-report-soldiers-speak-out-against-americas-misguided-wars/
Big Chip In US China Crisis
https://popularresistance.org/big-chip-in-us-china-crisis/
Scott Ritter & Richard Medhurst: Will Taiwan Be the Next Ukraine? (video) https://youtu.be/J4rhvCv5_hc
This Is How It Ends (Pelosi's Destroying Ongoing Chinese/American Negotiations Over Climate Change) https://rumble.com/v1f7zg3-this-is-how-it-ends.html
Government Secrets Podcast: How GM & Ford Helped The Nazis
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/governmentsecrets/id/23833361
Seen on Twitter:
The only people who are applauding the Democrats are the ones financially and physically healthy.
— Jacob 🌹⸸ 🏴⚛️︻╦╤─ ☮️🏳️🌈💚 (@JacobPenn13) August 6, 2022
So, the Democrats passed an Inflation Reduction Act that will have minimal impact on inflation and a Climate Bill that will make things significantly worse...and now we're supposed to believe those are good things?
— Gritty is the Way (@Gritty20202) August 8, 2022
True dat. The satanic heartless slave-drivers use all the means at their disposition to maintain the ‘world order’ that is always rigged to profit only the 1% status quo. In the #US 1/2 of all the tax money is used to protect & defend the global 1% https://t.co/V5sEM0Lyzn pic.twitter.com/ySVq6W6d0l
— Robert Reed, MLIS | 🍀🍀#freeAssange !🍀🍀 (@RobertR41182121) August 8, 2022
When Will Foreign Leaders Start Asking To Speak To America's REAL Government?
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 8, 2022
"We can see that the empire moves the same way on important matters regardless of who we elect by simple naked-eye observation of the empire's behaviors from year to year."https://t.co/zc5nz3IaBf
I alternate between thinking even capitalists don't want to risk nuclear war because it's bad for business, and thinking they just want to wipe us out so they can reclaim the Earth for their selfish selves. Is their answer to global warming a nuclear winter?
ReplyDeleteI believe capitalists aren't all that smart. They're willing to destroy ALL their potential for profit by provoking a nuclear armageddon and destroying their marketplace? That sort of behavior doesn't strike me as a group with members possessing very high IQs. Let's just hope that those who wish the preserve life on this planet do have the brains, compassion and empathy to do so, and that the stupid, selfish capitalists get the hell out of their way.
ReplyDelete