Tackling the Military-Industrial Complex

W.J. Astore

Sixty-one years ago, in 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned America of the threat posed by the military-industrial complex (MIC). To that complex, Ike had rightly added Congress, whose members are generally supportive of immense military spending, especially when it occurs in their district. Americans, in the main, haven’t heeded Ike’s warning, mainly due to government/corporate propaganda, military lobbying and threat inflation, wars and rumors of war, the naked desire for global dominance in the stated cause of keeping the “homeland” safe, and, well, greed.

Ike in 1959

How does “an alert and knowledgeable citizenry” tackle such a beast?  I was part of a discussion this week on strategies to “dismantle” the MIC; more on that in a moment. First, a caveat. When I use the term “military-industrial complex,” I know what I’m referring to and talking about, and so too do my readers. But what about your average American, who perhaps has barely heard of President Eisenhower, let alone his farewell address in 1961?  And what about those who prosper from the MIC, whether they know it or not?  Why should they support calls for “dismantling” a big part of their livelihood?

Random example. I went to the doctor’s office today. The receptionist noted my military background as she told me about her son, whose work on red blood cells is funded by the Department of Defense, and her husband, whose work is connected to Raytheon, a major weapons contractor.  Another example is my previous dental hygienist, whose husband proudly worked on the helmet system for the F-35 jet fighter. So many of our fellow Americans are connected to the MIC; lots of my friends are, especially if they served.  As a retired military officer who writes articles that are generally critical of the MIC, I’m the exception.  Many of my peers are still employed by the MIC in good-paying positions that would be difficult for them to replicate in the private, civilian sector of society.

This is not an argument for how wonderful the MIC is. But reformers need to recognize that significant cuts to MIC funding, desirable as they are, will impact ordinary people first, rather than retired generals and corporate CEOs, who will be just fine no matter what happens.

Whatever your reforming zeal, terminology is vitally important.  To me, talk of “dismantling” the MIC is a non-starter.  Like “defund” the police, it’s doomed to fail because its message is so easily twisted. Recall that for most Americans, the military remains a trusted institution within our society, much more trusted than Congress and the President.  “Support our troops” is almost the new national motto, an adjunct to In God We Trust.  Indeed, Jesus is often envisioned as a warrior-god who’s always on America’s side.

To be persuasive, we shouldn’t say “defund” the Pentagon; “dismantle” also sounds wrong in this moment.  But if we talk of a leaner military, a smarter one, more agile, more cost-effective, more bang for the buck, those phrases will resonate better.  Let’s talk as well of a military focused on national defense, motivated by high ideals, and aligned with liberty, freedom, and democracy.

Look: The MIC has a big advantage over would-be reformers and cost-cutters: the clarity that comes with a common goal, which for the Complex is profit/power.  We live in a capitalist society that values those things. I don’t think we can compete on the money field with the MIC, but we can compete in the realm of ideas and ideals, and the military can be an ally in this, so long as its members remember the ideals of their oaths to the U.S. Constitution.

What do I mean here?  We need to tell Americans their very future is being stolen from them by wanton military spending.  At the same time, their past is being rewritten.  We’re forgetting past American ideals like “right makes might” and the citizen-soldier as a public servant.  Instead, it’s might makes right as enforced by warriors and warfighters.  We are in yet another Orwellian moment where war is peace, surveillance is privacy, and censorship is free speech.

In fighting against this moment, we need to use all tools at our disposal. Somehow, we need to bring people together at a moment when our “leaders” are determined to divide us, distract us, and keep us downtrodden.

“Come home, America” is a famous speech given fifty years ago by George McGovern. He wanted to cut military/war spending and send rebate checks directly to the American people.  Let’s advocate for that!  Let’s put money back in the pockets of Americans as we make a leaner, smarter, cheaper U.S. military that can pass a financial audit.  (I’d cut all Pentagon funding until it passed an honest and thorough audit.) Most Americans would support major reforms if they were pitched in this way.

At the same time, I’d like to see a revival of the Nye Commission from the 1930s and the “merchants of death” idea.  Whatever else it is, selling weapons is not a way to peace, nor is it life-affirming.  Harry Truman made his mark in Congress during World War II by attacking fraud and waste related to military spending. Again, today’s Pentagon can’t even pass an audit!  We need to show the American people that the Pentagon brass is stealing from them and hiding behind a veil of secrecy that is undemocratic and probably illegal as well. Here, I would love to see Members of Congress act in the spirit of William Proxmire and his “Golden Fleece” awards.  The American people are being fleeced by the MIC, and we should be reminding them of this fact, every single day.

In the 1930s, General Smedley Butler, a Marine veteran who was twice awarded the Medal of Honor, saw how war was a racket, and that to end it, you had to take the profit out of it.  How can America do that?  Can we “nationalize” defense contractors?  Can we make weapons building into a non-profit activity?  Can we reverse Citizens’ United and outlaw weapons lobbying as a form of protected speech (it’s really legalized bribery)?

How about slowing the revolving door between the U.S. military and weapons contractors?  Make it so that retired officers in the grade of major and above must forfeit their pensions if they join a weapons/war firm.  Naturally, no one employed by, and especially on the board of, a defense contractor should ever be approved by Congress as the civilian Secretary of Defense.

Another idea: All retired military officers, CIA-types, etc., who appear on TV and media should be required to reveal their conflicts of interest (if any).  For example, if retired General John Q. Public appears on TV and works for Raytheon, that should be identified in the on-screen chyron, and by the general himself if he has integrity.

It’s high time the Pentagon shares more information with the American people. Secrecy is a huge problem that the MIC hides behind and exploits. Democracy doesn’t work without transparency, which is why the MIC is at pains to hide the truth from us of malfunctioning weaponry and disastrous and murderous wars.

I would add that tackling the MIC is not a liberal issue, it’s not a progressive issue, it’s not a partisan issue: it’s an American issue.  My readers, I’m guessing, are not fans of Fox News or commentators like Tucker Carlson.  But if they’re against war and want to see major reforms to the MIC, recruit them!  Work with them.  They are not the enemy.  Not even the MIC is the enemy.  I was, after all, part of it for 20 years.  The real enemy is war.  The real enemy is spending trillions of dollars on weaponry that could, and just might, destroy us all.  If we can’t set aside our differences and get together to save ourselves and our planet from war’s destructiveness, we’re pretty much doomed, don’t you think?

The MIC is united by profit and power.  Maybe we can find unity in the preservation of our planet and love for the wonderful blessings it has bestowed on us.

Come on people now, smile on your brother everybody get together try to love one another right now.  Right now.  Right now.

111 thoughts on “Tackling the Military-Industrial Complex”

  1. Bill, when I lived in Seattle for 41-years I worked for a large precast/prestressed concrete plant.
    In those years I’d say over 25% of our business was in providing prestressed concrete piling and other precast concrete components for Navy docks built in the Puget Sound.
    Several military projects in Alaska as well. Aviation fuel tanks in Adak.
    These jobs were very profitable for our Company – and we employed 225 people.
    So I too fed at the trough of the MIC.
    And in all those years I never though twice about it!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. This article posted to my Blog February 28, 4 days after the Russian incursion in Ukraine, includes excerpts from General-President Eisenhower’s 2 greatest speeches, from his 1961 MIC speech, but also from his other great speech in 1953 upon assuming the Presidency known as the Cross of Iron speech.
    I wonder what his opinions would be on this War if he were alive Today?

    It was included in a Message sent to several Senators who replied to the Message sent all 100 of them between February 3-6. With no opposition to the escalation War between the US/NATO over Ukraine, it obviously fell on deaf ears.

    HAVE WE ARRIVED AT ARMAGEDDON/WWIII?

    Of all the regulars coming to this site, only fgsjr2015 liked and commented on 2 of them.

    Like

  4. What a brilliant manifesto! Unimpeachable, from the heart and mind to hearts and minds.
    May this appeal to good sense appeal to all!

    Like

  5. I don’t mean to gush but that was so beautiful WJA! The tone and the realism is refreshing.

    This is crucial: ” I don’t think we can compete on the money field with the MIC, but we can compete in the realm of ideas and ideals, and the military can be an ally in this…” Yes, the military is us and we are them. Let’s get together on this chore of taming the monster the MIC has become.

    Perfect choice for the closing of your essay! The first time I heard this in 1969 I knew immediately it should be our National Anthem.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I am in awe of this message – It is so SPOT-ON! Thank you, Bill Astore, for this heartfelt and critically important (and, I’d say, inspired) essay!

    Like

  9. I think of the “defense” budget as welfare for the middle class and, of course, the 1%. Giving people a job that pays well is the surest way to stop a call for change. Since the poor are truly powerless, with Republican legislatures eager to make them more so, getting the middle and top earners on your side is the best possible insurance for continuing government policy. People will use reason, but if it comes up against income, end of story.

    If you take nuclear armageddon out of mind, and we know for most it’s not hard to get along with somebody else’s troubles, even their deaths, then what is the downside for those drawing benefits from military spending? The stuff gets designed and made, it gets shipped to who knows (or cares) where and the damage done is never stateside. What’s not to like?

    The point for change was when the USSR collapsed. That point is long passed, the military budget went right on growing. I admire your reasoning, Prof. Astore, and don’t see any flaw in it, just as I see no flaw in the reasoning for national health care, but in both cases the way things are is so beneficial to the people who always vote and whose voices are needed to call for change, that I can’t see change coming.

    PS: regarding nuclear war, Obama was eager to continue force reductions with the Russians. Republicans would not hear of it unless a costly nuclear force renovation was undertaken. That’s what was agreed to by Obama. So it is reduce a little, but pour on the benefits. Welfare.

    I suspect that any force reduction agreement has vanished with the Russian invasion, paradoxically since that invasion shows our nukes are useless to stop Russia, or even North Korea. We play a nuclear bluffing game while both sides know the weapons can’t be used under any pretext. The game can’t end well.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. I doubt that emergence of the MIC was the first instance of corporate capture, but I daresay it was the most significant turn of events for Americans. For many decades now, a giant portion of economic output and national psychology has been diverted from life best lived to bunker mentality as though the U.S. is under constant attack (it’s not, obviously). In most respects, the U.S. government is its own worst enemy. In addition, I suspect that Ike’s farewell speech, considering his military and executive experience, may well have been among the first instances of an insider/whistleblower saying the quiet part out loud. It’s still unprecedented, which may account for how it was so easily disregarded and ignored. But then, every attempt since then has similarly fallen on deaf ears. La la la, not listening!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. How interesting. I never thought of Ike as a whistleblower, but in a way that’s exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had no fear of being punished, but still …

      Ike couldn’t be elected today. Too honest, too “liberal.”

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Ike had general (no pun intended) appeal because Americans saw him as a good man. I think that Bernie, had he been able to be a candidate for President, would have drawn on the same appeal due to his tireless work over decades for the people. Hillary’s troops made sure that wouldn’t happen. I wish Bernie had jumped the Democratic ship so the core of a new party could get a push.

        Liked by 1 person

        2. That’s good knows, though I fear our “choice” in 2024 will be 82-year-old Biden against 78-year-old Trump.

          Not a rerun I care to see.

          Like

  11. It would take some really brill. Scientists, Engineers, Top Brass Mil. Klaatu, Gort, and some existentially nonexistent, honestly enlightened Statesmen to be brought together like in the Ending of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” for any taming of the Beast at this Pt. in time for evermore….!

    Like

  12. Also to the Reporter @ the Landing Site in DC “I suppose you are just as frightened as the rest of us?” Klaatu: Yes, perhaps when I see people substituting fear for reason.”

    Like

    1. Seeing the overwhelming Public support for escalating the conflict before any Good Faith Diplomacy, because of widespread dissatisfaction with the World System the way it is, it’s possible there is some subconscious desire for Suicide by Nukes that will result in this,

      Like

  13. Written by – Elijah J. Magnier:

    The Belgian European capital has hosted an important summit chaired by US President Joe Biden, which included his European counterparts in NATO in a security meeting that will determine the fate of the European continent and its defence lines. It affirms America’s victory in achieving its most important goals. These consist of the western states isolating Russia and reliably arming Ukraine with adequate weapons. The US officials said that Russia should pay an exorbitant price for the war on Ukraine. That can only be achieved by prolonging the length of the war, with the consequences affecting Moscow in the long term and subjugating and pushing Europe to toe the US line for the next decade. The US President said it clearly: “NATO has never, never been united as it is today”. Biden’s second objective was to bring all NATO states behind him, mainly the hesitant Western European leaders, an important position for the US to achieve its anti-Russia goals and prepare for the following steps.

    President Biden did not need to come to Europe to achieve what he had already succeeded in attaining since Russia began the war on Ukraine on the 24th of last February. Biden forced all European countries to submit to the United States’ policy, which aimed to impose economic and security sanctions on Russia to isolate it, not from the world, but the European continent in the first place. However, Washington’s allies are suffering from their sanctions on Russia. A severe confusion has been created in the European Union’s corridors where officials no longer know if they have imposed sanctions on Russia or themselves! The EU is sweating and feeling the significant backfire of its own sanctions.

    Europe is an important economic partner for Russia, which was reaping huge profits from selling oil and gas to the old continent and dealing with it in the significant economic, food, and industrial fields.

    In recent years, the Russian-European relationship had become a threat to US interests, which found a source of strength for the Russian economy and what it brought with it as a political influence that began to appear in the international arena. The US was undoubtedly annoyed by Russia’s intervention in Syria at the government’s request in Damascus. Moreover, Russia was present in Iraq, where it had a joint security room in Baghdad with the Iraqi security forces. Moscow also offered support to Iran in many fields. The Russian-Iranian ties and hundreds of billions of dollars’ trade deal spoiled America’s harsh sanctions, which Iran managed with its relations with Russia and other countries. Iran evaded the effect of many sanctions, and its rewards were advances in the civilian and military fields and technologies.

    In addition, China’s voice has risen in defiance of America in several forums because of its economic strength and its distinguished relationship with Russia, which is the country that has the most nuclear bombs in the world (5900 of which 1500 are not armed). Close Russian-Chinese cooperation gave Beijing the necessary impetus to push back the US hegemony and challenge it. Consequently, Russia’s daring presence in the international arena and its ability to………………………………….

    Subscribe to get access

    Like

    1. Appreciate your comments, Ray, but can you please make your excerpts shorter, perhaps by choosing one or two paragraphs to highlight, followed by a link to the rest? Many thanks.

      Like

  14. From ReThink Roundup. As usual, the MIC is winning.

    “Biden to ask for $813 billion military budget. President Biden is expected to ask Congress for a record $813 billion in military spending as part of his annual budget request, which will be released Monday, Bloomberg reported. [Bloomberg/Anthony Capaccio and Roxana Tiron] [The Hill/ Jordan Williams]

    Earlier this week, 40 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Biden calling for an increase in military spending of 5% above inflation from this year’s budget. [Washington Post/ Mariana Alfaro and Eugene Scott]”

    Like

  15. The road to Ukraine started with 1999’s Kosovo War
    Supporters of NATO’s war on Yugoslavia have no right to talk about law, sovereignty or borders

    Pretty much everyone who has spent the past month moralizing about the sanctity of borders, sovereignty of countries, and how unacceptable it was for great powers to “bully” smaller neighbors – thinking of Russia and Ukraine – paused on Thursday to sing praises to a woman that championed all of those things back in 1999. Except since it was NATO doing them to Yugoslavia, Madeleine Albright was a hero and an icon, obviously.

    On March 24, 1999, NATO launched an air war against Serbia and Montenegro, then known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The publicly stated aim of Operation Allied Force was to compel Belgrade to accept the ultimatum given at the French chateau of Rambouillet the month before: Hand the province of Kosovo over to NATO “peacekeepers” and allow ethnic Albanian separatists to declare independence……………..
    https://w**.rt.c**m/news/552646-kosovo-war-nato-ukraine-hypocrisy/

    That NATO WAR was just just as illegal and in violation of the same International Law Russia is violating, but with the delusional belief in it’s own exceptionalism, the US and it’s allies can violate International Law with impunity and no economic sanctions.

    Like

  17. If we want Peace from aggression its not too far out of the Sci.Fi. realm nowadays to Science reality to envision an Army of so called “Gorts.” Maybe not now, but in the future. An Army of Synthetics to eliminate/ obliterate any and all aggressors at the first sign of… That would Relieve the World and its Nation States of the burden of wasteful Militaries, H bombs, Jets, hypersonic weaponry, Tanks, etc. On to more profitable enterprises I say!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I prefer the Term: “Artificial Persons” myself lol Yes, they probably would eliminate us, and for them not being “Stupid”

        Like

    2. There are already plenty of surveillance cameras. The next step up could be autonomous drones. Having something like Gort might take too long to deploy.
      As for Bishop, like the products of The Tyrell Corporation, he was far more human than the humans he was saddled with.

      Like

  18. I was watching an “old” clip about the fall of the U.S. regime in Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover. It seems all that’s been forgotten — all the lying by the MIC — all the corruption, all the waste. Now it’s shove more money to the Pentagon because of the Putin and the Russians. What a joke.

    Like

  19. You can’t make this up folks”
    Just pathetic!

    Biden’s first stop in Poland was with 82nd Airborne troops, at a barber shop and dining facility where he invited himself to sit down and share some pizza. The Americans are serving alongside Polish troops.

    With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, while he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mother’s maiden name so as not to draw attention to himself. The president jokingly razzed one service member about his standard-issue short haircut and seriously praised the troops, too.

    “You are the finest fighting force in the world and that’s not hyperbole,. Biden said.

    He later addressed a group of soldiers in more formal remarks, telling them the nation “owes you big.” He also borrowed the words of the late Secretary of State Madeline Albright to underscore their place in a fragile moment for the U.S. and its European allies.

    “The secretary of state used to have an expression. She said, ‘We are the essential nation,’” Biden told the troops. “I don’t want to sound philosophical here, but you are in midst of a fight between democracy and an an oligarch.”

    Like

  21. Another expose of American duplicity and hypocrisy by Jonathan Cook.
    With the delusional belief in it’s exceptionalism the US and it’s Allies/Vassal States can break International Law with impunity and free from punishing Economic sanctions, but Russia is evil for breaking the very same International Law.

    ‘If Putin is a war criminal, then Madeleine Albright was no less of one’
    The media’s propaganda role could not be starker: it has whitewashed US war crimes promoted and defended by the late US diplomat that overshadow even Putin’s

    Obituaries of Madeleine Albright, the first woman to be appointed US secretary of state, in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, could not have been more gushing.

    With the news of her death aged 84, western politicians and media united in lauding her as “a trailblazer”, “a champion of democracy” and “a force for freedom”. Hillary Clinton observed of Albright: “So many people around the world are alive and living better lives because of her service.”

    In one sweep, Clinton’s comment erased from the historical record the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children that, even Albright once conceded, were killed by policies she helped enact and promote.

    Media tributes exhibited little interest in those deaths either. Journalists praised her instead for reinvigorating Nato’s role as the world’s policeman in Kosovo in 1999 after the fall of the Soviet Union, and for enforcing punishing sanctions through the 1990s on the regime of Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein……..

    https://www.jonathan-cook.net/2022-03-25/putin-war-criminal-madeleine-albright/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Regarding the lately departed dwarf diva demagogue, Madeleine Albright, history records her difference of opinion with Colin Powell concerning whether or not to have NATO bomb the living shit out of Belgrade, Serbia:

      “A visibly frustrated Madeleine Albright, then United Nations ambassador retorted: ‘What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?‘ ”

      Fast forward to the present day when Russians — who bitterly remember NATO’s wanton destruction of Belgrade’s civilian infrastructure — have their own way of memorializing the passing of Ms “We think the price is worth it.” From a comment on Andrei Martyanov’s blog:

      “New anecdote from Russia: Madeleine Albright gets to Charon the ferryman at the river Styx and offers him a coin (one sixth of a Drachma) for crossing the river. Charon shakes his head in disagreement and replies to her: ‘I accept only Rubles‘.”

      How appropriate.

      Like

  22. ‘More Evidence That The US Is Trying To Prolong This War’

    The Washington Post has a new article out bemoaning the fact that Russian military commanders are declining calls from the Pentagon to discuss their operations in Ukraine (I dunno guys, might have something to do with the fact that the US is sharing extensive military intelligence on exactly those operations directly with the Ukrainian government). Tucked all the way down in the eighteenth paragraph of the article, we find a much more interesting revelation: that Washington’s top diplomat has made no attempt to contact his counterpart in Moscow since the war began on the 24th of February.

    “Secretary of State Antony Blinken has not attempted any conversations with his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, since the start of the conflict, according to U.S. officials,” The Washington Post reports.

    So the US government is continuing its policy of refusing to attempt any high-level diplomatic resolutions to this war despite its public hand-wringing about the horrific violence that’s being inflicted upon the people of Ukraine. This revelation fits nicely with a recent report by Bloomberg’s Niall Ferguson that sources in the US and UK governments have told him the real goal of western powers in this conflict is not to negotiate peace or end the war quickly, but to prolong it in order “bleed Putin” and achieve regime change in Moscow…………

    https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/more-evidence-that-the-us-is-trying?s=r

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Dennis. Good documentary. Nice to see Michael Klare and Bill Hartung featured; they also write for TomDispatch.

      Like

  24. >>if we talk of a leaner military, a smarter one, more agile, more cost-effective, more bang for the buck, those phrases will resonate better. <<

    Yes. it would resonate better. But don't "leaner" and "smarter" and "more agile" just invite the MIC to say, "OK, we'll do that. But we need massive increases to develop those next generation weapons systems you just asked for!"

    I think we have to be clear that "scaled back" is the goal.

    Like

  25. ‘West will ‘pay a price’ for Russia clampdown – ex-army chief’
    The West’s populations must be ready for years of “hardship,” a UK general has said

    Western nations should prepare their peoples for a long-term drop in living standards if their standoff with Russia continues, the Britain’s former Assistant Chief of Defence Staff, Jonathan Shaw, has said.

    “We in the West have the wrong mentality” about the conflict in Ukraine, he said. Once one of the British Army’s most senior officers, Shaw was speaking on talk radio station LBC on Saturday.

    “We are obsessed with humanitarian concerns and individual suffering, and that makes good TV, but the reality is this is far more serious than that,” the Major-General, whose 30-year career spanned the Falklands and Kosovo to commanding the UK forces in Iraq in 2006, warned………………………………..

    https://w**.rt.c*m/news/552752-ukraine-uk-west-sanctions/

    The West has abandoned all humanitarian concerns for US War Refugees and is making the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan much worse after it’s 20 year, $2 Trillion occupation of that Country.

    Like

      1. A real life honest to god War Hero… Yes– always play to your strengths. I think I Voted for McGovern the 1st. time I was eligible, alas, and the only State he Won was Massachusetts then Nixon promptly began closing our Bases!

        Liked by 1 person

  27. “Americans deserve more from the Democrats, once (however briefly) the party of McGovern. These days, the Dems hate Trump more than they like anything. To be a principled national party, they’ve got to be more than just anti-Trump. They need to provide a substantive alternative and present a better foreign policy offer. How about a do-less strategy: For starters, some modesty and prudent caution would go a long way.

    George McGovern—a true patriot, a man who knew war but loved peace—wouldn’t recognize the likes of Klobuchar, Clinton, Schumer and company. He’d be rightfully embarrassed by their supplication to the national warfare state.”

    https://original.antiwar.com/danny_sjursen/2018/03/28/where-have-you-gone-george-mcgovern-2/

    Like

    1. Danny’s right, of course.

      McGovern’s autobiography is very good. He admitted he should have talked more about his war record. But he was a man of his times, a humble one. Men like him knew the real heroes were those who died in WWII. So he said little about his own heroism.

      McGovern was a man of courage and integrity who was somehow painted as weak. Nixon was an opportunist with no integrity yet somehow he was seen as strong.

      Like

      1. Wikipedia……”McGovern ran on a platform that advocated withdrawal from the Vietnam War in exchange for the return of American prisoners of war[188] and amnesty for draft evaders who had left the country.[189] McGovern’s platform also included an across-the-board 37-percent reduction in defense spending over three years.[190] He proposed a “demogrant” program that would give a $1,000 payment to every citizen in America.[191] Based around existing ideas such as the negative income tax and intended to replace the welfare bureaucracy and complicated maze of existing public-assistance programs, it nonetheless garnered considerable derision as a poorly thought-out “liberal giveaway” and was dropped from the platform in August.[172][191][192][nb 12]
        McGovern became tagged with the label “amnesty, abortion, and acid,” supposedly reflecting his positions.[nb 11] An “Anybody But McGovern” coalition, led by southern Democrats and organized labor, formed in the weeks following the final primaries.[193]”

        Like

  28. I was wondering how long it would take? My Internet server now has this when I try to access RT

    403 – Forbidden . That’s an error.
    Client does not have access rights to the content so server is rejecting to give proper response. That’s all we know.

    What is so maddening about this censorship is the Democratic West is now doing the very same thing they demonize Russia for doing.

    One of the great changes that I’ve experienced in my life is the intentional warping and degradation of the term ‘democracy’. When I was a young boy, democracy meant the freedom to choose who governed you and the freedoms attached to the concept of democracy, one of which included the freedom to think and say what you thought without fear of persecution.

    Idyllic times, in retrospect.

    Us Cold War kiddies had the luxury of living in a black and white world where we could point at the Eastern Bloc and mock them for how little political expression was allowed there. We may have not liked our own governments at times, but were free to protest them without fear of losing our livelihoods, so long as we weren’t engaged in overt violence or armed rebellion.

    Bubbling under the surface of western liberal democracy was a newer trend that was authoritarian in nature. First called “Political Correctness”, it began to seep into the mainstream in the late 1980s where popular culture became the first battleground. This was only a first foray, and it was quickly fended off. “Freedom” was too ingrained in the Anglosphere consciousness to allow whining ninnies to upend it.

    There’s no need to go into a description as to how it came back, how it seized and is seizing all of the west’s governing institutions, and so on. You all already know this, live this, and some of you have experienced their wrath personally. Nor is there a need to restate the concept of Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance, something that I have highlighted throughout the course of this Substack…………………

    https://niccolo.substack.com/p/saturday-commentary-and-review-78?s=r

    Like

  31. “As John Quincy Adams put it in his famous speech, “In Search of Monsters to Destroy,” Europe has always been besieged with wars. The United States, he said, is in a unique position given that the Atlantic Ocean stands between the U.S. and Europe. Therefore, he counseled, the United States should continue staying out of Europe’s incessant conflicts and instead devote ourselves to establishing a free, prosperous, peaceful and harmonious nation here at home.

    And yet, with NATO, it’s the exact opposite. In the event Russia or any other nation attacks Moldova, Poland, North Macedonia, or any other NATO member, the American people are now automatically at war. No national debate. No congressional declaration of war. No protests. Automatically at war, thanks to the Pentagon’s decision to entangle America in the old Cold War dinosaur NATO and, in the process, invite some 30 (yes, 30!) nations to join.

    It’s time to get out. It’s time to make this Cold War dinosaur extinct. Our national well-being and perhaps even our very existence turn on returning to sound founding principles, especially “no entangling alliances.” ”

    https://www.fff.org/2022/03/16/no-entangling-alliances/

    Liked by 1 person

  32. ‘Yes It’s A Proxy War: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix’

    To be clear, evidence is mounting that this is a proxy war deliberately instigated and perpetuated by the US empire with the goal of ousting Putin. Which means that, despite all the narrative window dressing and spin, this war is just more US regime change interventionism.

    Saddam Hussein was not a nice person, and he did bad things. This doesn’t change the fact that Bush’s regime change war was a tremendous evil which unleashed unforgivable horrors, and that it was done because Saddam became inconvenient for the US empire. The same is happening here.

    As a result of deliberately provoking this war, the US empire has:
    Manufactured international consent for unprecedented economic warfare geared toward ousting Putin
    Drawn Moscow into another Afghanistan-like military quagmire
    Guaranteed immense profits for the war industry
    Cut in on Russia’s fossil fuel business
    Made Europe further subservient to US interests…………………………………………………

    https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/yes-its-a-proxy-war-notes-from-the?s=r

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Ray, Caitlin Johnson as usual has it right!
    Joe Biden has got to be the scariest man on the planet right now!
    What is he, f*ckin nuts!
    Calling for regime change in Russia is absolute insanity!

    “By VANESSA GERA, Aamer Madhani and Chris Megerian
    The Associated Press
    WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Joe Biden delivered a forceful and highly personal condemnation of Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Saturday, summoning a call for liberal democracy and a durable resolve among Western nations in the face of a brutal autocrat.

    As he capped a four-day trip to Europe, a blend of emotive scenes with refugees and standing among other world leaders in grand settings, Biden said of Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”

    It was a dramatic escalation in rhetoric — Biden had earlier called Putin a “butcher” — that the White House found itself quickly walking back. Before Biden could even board Air Force One to begin the flight back to Washington, aides were clarifying that he wasn’t calling for an immediate change in government in Moscow.”

    Like

  34. The President of the United States – the single supreme power within the Executive Branch: And, the “White House” walks back! What/who is the individual or collective of individuals who embody the “White House” such, above and beyond the supreme power of the Executive Branch????

    Like

  35. It has always puzzled me why Spain in the 16th century one of the richest countries in the world, should be so poor by the middle of the 17th century. The answer it seems was a heavy reliance on the Military – Industrial Complex. The great loads of silver and gold that crossed the Atlantic to Spain during the 1500s instead of making Spain wealthy, actually ruined its economy and people. See this interesting essay:

    https://theclassicjournal.uga.edu/index.php/2020/05/07/spains-lesson-in-hubris-tracing-spains-financial-collapse-to-the-beginning-of-its-new-world-empire/

    The parallel events of what happened to Spain in the 1500s and the United States in the last 60 years are astounding.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Another interesting reader comment from Andrei Martyanov’s blog:

    “Great quote from [Union General William Tecumseh] Sherman: ‘Three years ago by a little reflection and patience they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity, but they preferred war; very well. Last year they could have saved their slaves, but now it is too late. All the powers of earth cannot restore to them their slaves, any more than their dead grandfathers. Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully, too, and in another year they may beg in vain for their lives. A people who will persevere in war beyond a certain limit ought to know the consequences.’ ”

    I wonder who most needs to grasp this awful truth of war: the duped and used Ukrainian nazis or the American people whose “leadership” has duped and used not just the Ukrainians but Americans and Europeans as well.

    Liked by 1 person

  37. U.S. Peace Council Statement on Russia’s Military Intervention in Ukraine
    The US with its NATO allies have not only provoked this tragedy but have sought to prolong it in their refusal to engage in negotiations for a ceasefire.

    What we all hoped would not happen has happened. The Russian Federation sent troops into Ukraine on February 24 in response to decades of relentless US-led NATO provocation. The present situation puts many serious, fundamental questions before the global peace movement.

    A fierce propaganda campaign, long simmering with Russiagate and the onset of a new Cold War, demonizing the Russian president and state has intensified. Wholesale condemnation of Russia has assumed global proportions, instigated by the US and allies, and supported by their sycophantic media. Alternative views and voices of opposition to the official anti-Russian narrative have been suppressed or shut down.

    Not surprisingly, many people subjected to this toxic bombardment of massive imperialist propaganda have placed all the blame on Russian aggression. Various reasons are given to justify their, in our view dangerous, position. Let us look at some of these justifications and assess the degree of their moral, legal, and political validity……………………………………………..

    https://portside.org/2022-03-26/us-peace-council-statement-russias-military-intervention-ukraine

    Like

  38. Ray you realize that in common with the larger World Peace Council and its affiliates, the US Peace Council is a front group for Soviet interests, maintained close ties to the Communist Party USA, and a mainstay of Soviet influence on the peace movement in the United States. It is affiliated with the World Peace Council, a puppet organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until its breakup in 1991, and represents its American section. Hardly an unbiased organisation would you say?

    Like

    1. Dennis, I have no connections with any political party, but independently I have come to the same POV as described in the article ortherwise I would not have posted it. By many of your comments, you agree with many of the points as well.

      Like

      1. Yes Ray, sorry. I agree too with the conclusions of the article. All I was trying to say is that most Americans will not when they find out about the history of the World Peace Council.

        Like

        2. And on you accurately point out how ideological rigid Americans do react
          All I get posting this in Washington Post comments in War Propaganda is things like “take your meds, Putin’s useful idiot, you need help or calling me Ivan or Boris” and other inane comments like that, in complete denial of the undeniable Historical record,

          The hard core REALITY is, if Good Faith Peace negotiations with Russia are not undertaken and soon, a bigger slaughter is bound to happen as NATO pours more and more Weapons into Ukraine making the Ukrainians the US Sacrificial lambs.
          Armageddon/WWII has already started leading to Nuclear Holocaust in both Russia and the US, and the many Nations in between, leading to the END of Human Civilization as we know it.

          The Kansas City Times published the WARNING SIGNS this World is on that Path to Nuclear Holocaust with the followup to the September 13, 1976 Historical record, publishing on ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, 1976, this picture with me standing at The Liberty Memorial Mall,

          It was 7 years to the month later, on November 20, 1983, the TV movie ‘THE DAY AFTER’ Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust was shown.
          It could have been shot in any major American City, but the fact is, it was shot in Kansas City.

          Up to the appearance of that movie, the OFFICIAL US government line was just ducking under a table would save you. That movie exposed that US government lie giving Americans a false sense of Security.

          It was no coincidence, but by a Power greater than US-Russia, the last scene in that movie paused at the same picture frame The Kansas City Times used on ALL SOULS DAY 7 years earlier, that can be seen here in this screenshot,

          People can be in denial of the Historical FACTS all they want, but it won’t change them.

          THE DAY AFTER will be too late!

          Like

          1. With all the NATO talk of Russia using chemical weapons, the chances of a Ukrainian FALSE FLAG chemical weapons attack are likely to increase as Elijah J. Magnier writes,
            ‘The prospects of a wider war beyond the Ukrainian borders are dangerously growing’

            US President Joe Biden said from the rostrum of the European Community in Brussels that his [NATO] alliance “will respond if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.” This statement is considered one of the most dangerous US issues since the Cuba crisis in 1962 due to its repercussions on the war on Ukraine, the possibility of its expansion outside the borders, and what the future holds for Europe and the world.

            Following his meeting with President Biden in Brussels, Latvian President Egils Levits declared, in a clear and challenging tone, that “Moscow’s use of biological weapons constitutes a great danger to the whole world and must be responded to. Russia should think twice before using chemical weapons. We won’t inform Russia about our plans. However, if that happens, everything will change in Ukraine.”

            NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that “NATO will respond if Russia uses chemical weapons.” Likewise, the leaders of the G7 countries (America, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Britain and Italy) affirmed in a joint statement that “any use of chemical weapons means changing the rules of the game and would be tantamount to a declaration of war.”………………………………

            https://ejmagnier.com/2022/03/27/the-prospects-of-a-wider-war-beyond-the-ukrainian-borders-are-dangerously-growing/

            Like

          2. Chemical weapons. I’m glad all the napalm, high explosive, white phosphorous, and depleted uranium shells and bombs that the U.S. military uses have nothing to do with chemical processes.

            I highly doubt Russia would use any chemical or biological weapons. They are very difficult to control in battle, and would offer little by way of advantage.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Russia has no need to use chemical weapons. It’s restraining itself from going all in following the US example of Shock and Awe it used in start the 2003 US WAR in Iraq in violation of the same International Law they accuse Russia of violating.

              Like

    2. It’s good to know the history and biases of sources and organizations that you cite. It’s also sound policy to identify those, as appropriate, in your comments.

      We know RT is pro-Russian. We know how biased the MSM is in the USA. To be honest, I don’t know anything about these “Peace Councils” and their history, so shame on me, I guess.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. Dennis, would you characterize these words in the Acts of the Apostles as describing a God led Communism long before Marx, compared to most Christian America in denial of Christ’s words about the rich, and characterizing any equitable recognition of all humans needing food, shelter, clothing and other essentials of living, as godless communism?

      And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
      And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
      Acts 2:49-50

      And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
      Acts 4:32

      Like

      1. Ray I believe the Bible is nothing more than a collection of ancient myths. Written by ignorant unknown authors in the iron age. As an atheist I do not belief in “Gods”.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Dennis, you, I and everybody else is endowed with Freedom of thought, but you are avoiding my question.

          Myth or not, and removing the Biblical verse numbers and the God led part, do the words cited above describe the essence of Marx’s Communist Manifesto?

          Like

          1. Ray as a retired civil Engineer, and an amateur geo-political junky, I am not well versed in the the essence of Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Sorry.

            Like

          2. Mr Cormier: You wrote: “I never read Marx’s Communist Manifesto either, but I understand the underlying fundamental of Communism.”

            So let me ask You which of the 20th century manifestation of Marx’s Manifesto best demonstrated what You understand as the “underlying fundamental of Communism”?

            Lenin? Trotsky? Stalin? Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev? Or how about Mao, Pol Pot, Ho? Or Fidel and Che and Da Boyz?

            Like

            1. None of those people you mention. This is my understanding of fundamental communism,

              And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
              And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
              And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

              Liked by 1 person

          3. To all you parlor pinks, I have read the “Communist Manifesto” (my copy Peking, 1970), so you had better get with the program.

            Funny story: I was reading the Manifesto when I was an LT, and an AF buddy wanted to know what I was up to. I told him the truth: I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I wanted to know my Commie enemy. He seemed to think that if I read it, communism might be catchy. But that didn’t happen to me, comrade!

            Seriously, whenever I taught the industrial revolution and the working conditions of the 1830s and 1840s, I’d break it out and explain to my students how the Manifesto was a reaction against exploitation.

            As Warren Buffett said, of course there’s class warfare — and his class is winning. Indeed, it’s won.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Since “economic inequality” is finally coming into the understanding and focus of the Masses, are these words from the Bible the Religious Leaders NEVER mention, since they live the lifestyle of the rich and famous, with their latest status symbol being private luxury jets so they don’t even have to mingle with the sheeple paying for it all Religious or temporal Economics and Politics?

              Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
              Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.
              Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for THE LAST DAYS.
              Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord Almighty………………..
              James 5.

              Looking as the Spirit of our Times, if we don’t blow ourselves up with FIRE before then, the self-righteous NATO Nations don’t even realize the seizure of the wealth of the Russian Oligarchs is only the beginning of the process, seizing the wealth of the American, Canadian, British, French and all the other Oligarchs of this money loving & serving World, with more people dying daily of STARVATION than from COVID and the War in Ukraine.

              Like

          4. Mr Cormier:

            If that quote from the Bible is Your understanding of “fundamental communism,” let me ask another question:

            Throughout human history, has such a system of organizing people, their possessions, and their property ever existed in any group larger than 60 adults for more than two generations?

            Like

          5. I had a colleague who joined a commune. His report: there are always a few individuals in the commune who refuse to share fairly in the work. Not everyone thinks it’s their turn to clean the bathrooms, or do the dishes, or some other tedious and annoying chore.

            Which is not to say that the idea of greater sharing, and less materialism, isn’t a good one. But all human organizations fall prey to human vices. I suppose capitalism, in theory at least, tries to tap the vice of greed while taming it and directing it toward the greater good. I said “in theory,” since in practice greed is empowered to shovel even more money up to the already rich, because … well … they’re the “masters of the universe,” to use Tom Wolfe’s phrase.

            Liked by 1 person

          6. So, if, as You say, “fundamental communism” has only existed “localized in Communities 2000 years ago” ~ presumably in Roman Empire Palestine ~ of what possible relevance is it to Anybody today? And how well did it work back then; and how long did it last?

            Like

  39. I’m of the philosophy that free speech should be free, and it doesn’t bother me when my readers include comments from Russian or pro-Russian sources. After all, most of what we hear and read is anti-Russian.

    I used to read “The Independent” newspaper in the UK. This was when I lived there 30 years ago. Today, “The Independent” gets major funding from the Saudis. So much for being “independent”! In short, all sources are biased in one way or another, and some are deeply compromised by money.

    I’ll risk losing readers because of “pro-Russian” comments, but I do ask that all commenters be as brief and concise as possible, and respectful to your fellow commenters.

    Disagreeing without disagreeable: increasingly rare in our polarized society. Right?

    Liked by 3 people

  40. It’s always interesting to read what Pepe Escobar thinks.
    ‘Make Nazism Great Again?’

    All eyes are on Mariupol. As of Wednesday night, over 70% of residential areas were under control of Donetsk and Russian forces, while Russian Marines, Donetsk’s 107th batallion and Chechen Spetsnaz, led by the charismatic Adam Delimkhanov, had entered the Azov-Stal plant – the HQ of the neo-Nazi Azov batallion.

    Azov was sent a last ultimatum: surrender until midnight – or else, as in a take no prisoners highway to hell.

    That implies a major game-changer in the Ukrainian battlefield; Mariupol is finally about to be thoroughly denazified – as the Azov contingent long entrenched in the city and using civilians as human shields were their most hardened fighting force.

    Meanwhile, echoes from the Empire of Lies all but gave the whole game away. There’s no intention whatsoever in Washington to facilitate a peace plan in Ukraine – and that explains Comedian Zelensky’s non-stop stalling tactics. The supreme target is regime change in Russia, and for that Totalen Krieg against Russia and all things Russian is warranted. Ukraine is just a pawn in the game – or worse, mere cannon fodder.

    This also means that the 14,000 deaths in Donbass for the past 8 years should be directly attributed to the Exceptionalists. As for Ukrainian neo-Nazis of all stripes, they are as expendable as “moderate rebels” in Syria, be they al-Qaeda or Daesh-linked. Those that may eventually survive can always join the budding CIA-sponsored Neo-Nazi Inc. – the tawdry remix of the 1980s Jihad Inc. in Afghanistan. They will be properly “Kalibrated”.
    A quick neo-Nazi recap

    By now only the brain dead across NATOstan – and there are hordes – are not aware of Maidan in 2014. Yet few know that it was then Ukrainian Minister of Interior Arsen Avakov, a former governor of Kharkov, who gave the green light for a 12,000 paramilitary outfit to materialize out of Sect 82 soccer hooligans who supported Dynamo Kiev. That was the birth of the Azov batallion, in May 2014, led by Andriy Biletsky, a.k.a. the White Fuhrer, and former leader of the neo-nazi gang Patriots of Ukraine………………………

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-make-nazism-great-again

    Like

    1. Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called they Children of God

      In the Spirit of the Times, the Peacemakers are a disparaged minority as the Children of War are being magnified and multiplied by the MSM.

      Like

  42. US WAR Propaganda is focused emotionally on Ukrainian War Refugees heading West into Poland and other NATO Nations.

    It will not report on the Civilian Refugees fleeing into Russia for safety with the increased Ukrainian shelling of Ukrainian Civilians in the East.

    The number of refugees from Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk arriving in Russia reached almost 440,000 with more than 19,000 in the last 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on March 26.

    “Only in one day 19,694 people, including 3,300 children, were evacuated from the dangerous areas of Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk,” said Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Center for Defense Management, attached to the Ministry, in a press appearance.

    He said that “since the beginning of the special operation, 439,420 people have been evacuated, 91,673 of them children”.

    Mizíntsev pointed out that 4,183 civilians were rescued in one day from the city of Mariupol, in the south of Donetsk, where the nationalist troops of the Ukrainian regime entrenched.

    The number of those rescued from this city totals 98,081 people to date, he said.

    According to their data, more than 2.7 million Ukrainians have asked Russian forces to help them escape from nationalist-controlled cities…………………………………….

    https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/LIVE-Number-of-Refugees-From-Donetsk-and-Lugansk-Keep-Growing-20220327-0004.html?utm_source=planisys&utm_medium=NewsletterIngles&utm_campaign=NewsletterIngles&utm_content=14

    Like

  43. I just came across the latest Scheerpost that magnifies this post upstream and posted in The Washington Post earlier, “The hard core REALITY is, if Good Faith Peace negotiations with Russia are not undertaken and soon, a bigger slaughter is bound to happen as NATO pours more and more Weapons into Ukraine making the Ukrainians the US Sacrificial lambs.
    Armageddon/WWII has already started leading to Nuclear Holocaust in both Russia and the US, and the many Nations in between, leading to the END of Human Civilization as we know it.”

    Nuclear War with Russia? ‘A Wall of Fire that Encompasses Everything Around Us at the Temperature of the Center of the Sun.’
    On this week’s “Scheer Intelligence,” nuclear weapons specialist Ted Postol joins Robert Scheer to discuss how the Ukraine crisis could lead the world past the point of no return.

    Selected excerpts:
    TP: Now, I know—the Russian might say to himself—I know that there’s no fighting and winning a nuclear war, because both countries will be destroyed. But the Americans look like they don’t understand this, or are acting like they don’t understand it, or are acting like they want an option to try to do this. Well, I have to be prepared to respond, because if they really believe this, then I’d better show them that it would be a very bad idea to try, and that what will happen will be the end of both countries and actually all of Europe and the Northern Hemisphere, immediately. And god knows what else would follow.

    So the only thing the Russians can do—not that they’re crazy, or not that they’re trying to be, you know, suicidal or homicidal—the only thing they can do to stave off American enthusiasm about attacking them is to make preparations for an automated response. A doomsday kind of weapon, although that’s not, I doubt that’s exactly the way they think of it. But a doomsday kind of response, which basically occurs if the leadership is killed in the early phase of an American nuclear attack.

    This is really scary stuff for any rational thinking person, many of whom are regulars here.

    https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/25/ted-postol-what-you-really-need-to-know-about-the-threat-of-nuclear-war/

    Like

  44. Keeping things short, a link to Glenn Greenwald’s treatment of the six-year-old-now “Kremlin Agent,” “Putin Stooge,” “Pro-Russia” canards wantonly spewed at anti-NATO thinking persons by those who still can’t get over the snake-haired political Medusa, Mrs Bill Clinton, losing to a real-estate con-man, failed casino operator, and cable-tv game show host whose name I hardly need mention. See: “Biden’s Reckless Words Underscore the Dangers of the U.S.’s Use of Ukraine As a War Proxy”, Sheerpost (March 25, 2021).

    Like

  45. Thank You, Colonel, for another bottom-line, bullet-hits-the-bone thought piece.

    Lots to chew on there; lots of seeds for some very provocative thoughts, as well. i’m working on a separate piece addressing some of them, but wanted to point out two things in Your MIC piece.

    1. First of all, the military-industrial-congressional complex is but one of many nodes in the Indira’s Net of inter-connectedness, inter-dependency [some might say co-dependency], and interaction and impact with and upon:

    the banking-finance-investment-printing press web,
    the techno-infotainment matrix,
    the petro-food-guns-n-drugs cartels,
    the pharmo-medico-insurance-legal-union cabals,
    and the surveillance-secrecy-security-safety panopticon.

    Ie: The individuals, organizations, and cultural, social, economic, and political institutions that own and operate, and command and control the politicians and bureaucrats at center stage in America’s reality-tv extravaganza; and America’s $ 1 = 1 Vote system of government and governance that gets, puts, and keeps them there.

    Any attempt at tackling the MIC will also involve tackling ~ and attacking ~ its cohorts, colleagues, and compeers in all those other Agencies For Control of Power and Wealth. Especially the ones involved in banking, finances, and and the control of currencies and credit.

    2. You wrote: “The MIC has a big advantage over would-be reformers and cost-cutters: the clarity that comes with a common goal, which for the Complex is profit/power. We live in a capitalist society that values those things.”

    While we live in a society that indeed values “profit/power,” we do NOT live in a “capitalist society.”

    If by a “capitalist society,” You mean one in which there is the absolute minimal involvement by Government in the nation’s Economy and Financial systems, the U.S. is not now, nor has it ever been anything even close to that. At least not since The Federalists wrote that national government’s involvement in the economy, etc, into the Constitution.

    What we live in is what has been accurately termed a “corporatist society,” as indicated by the players in the various Nodes of Power and Wealth listed above.

    If the term “capitalist” must be included as a describer of America’s society, its economy, and its polity, then the only appropriate modifier is “crony,” as in “crony capitalism.” But “crony corporatism” is a far more accurate, and satisfying term.

    And an even more satisfying set of terms is “Democratic Fascism,” or ” Friendly Fascism,” or “Fascism With American Characteristics.”

    Like

  46. The latest from Consortium News provides a reliable Timeline of US actions that provoked the War with Russia over Ukraine, and why US dominated NATO is not interested in any Diplomatic resolution, but will continue to supply weapons until the last Ukrainian Sacrificial lamb is slaughtered.

    Such Evil presented as Good for Western consumption. It is written, ‘Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
    Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!’
    The population has no clue of the Trial, Tribulation and hardship on the way when the Economic strait jacket tightens. There will be Hell to pay, especially in the US with so many weapons in private hands like no other Society on Earth.

    ‘Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War’
    In a moment of candor, Joe Biden has revealed why the U.S. needed the Russian invasion and why it needs it to continue, writes Joe Lauria.

    https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/27/can-russia-escape-the-us-trap/

    Like

  47. And i also just can’t help but wonder what the reaction in America ~ from our politicians, bureaucrats, political appointees, and their pundits and propogandizers in the media [Right, Left, and Muddled Middle] ~ would have been if Mr Putin had called for Mr Biden’s removal from office.

    According to the polls, a significant number of Americans would very probably agree with him.

    Just like if, in the fall of 2020, Mr Putin had called for Mr Trump’s removal. A totally different but again close to 50% of Americans would have no doubt agreed with him then.

    But the really important question that nobody is asking is: Do the Russian People agree with Biden?

    Like

  48. “The Five Plagues Testing Humanity: The Uncivil War Between Nationalism and Internationalism, a View from the Heavens (and Hell)” by John Feffer

    Once upon a time, the tutelary god of nationalism, Nikolia, and his sister, the goddess of internationalism, Sophia, met for a chat. They had a superb perch above the clouds. From there, they could see everything happening on the Earth below and they set to arguing, as they so often did….

    Continued at https://tomdispatch.com/the-five-plagues-testing-humanity/

    Liked by 1 person

  49. “Pentagon Drops Truth Bombs to Stave Off War With Russia: Leaked stories from the Pentagon have exposed how mainstream media reports Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine war, in a bid to counter propaganda intended to get NATO into the conflict.” By Joe Lauria.

    The Pentagon has been engaged in a consequential battle with the U.S. State Department and the Congress to prevent a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could unleash the most unimaginable horror of war… .

    Continued at https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/23/pentagon-drops-truth-bombs-to-stave-off-war-with-russia/

    Like

Comments are closed.