Remember Vietnam, the place we had to go to to fight them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here, became a place open to US corporations to outsource production, all so US consumers could buy more for less, and no one seemed to either notice or mind.
While at an anti war protest many years ago, I mentioned to someone there that I was a Vietnam vet and saying the Vietnamese won, as they should have, and he said to me, "No, they didn't win, Nike did." Smedley Butler said it nearly 90 years ago, "war is a racket", and somehow, people don't seem to notice that those who benefit the most, do not participate at all. Of course, with the draft eliminated and no new taxes (indeed, tax cuts from Repubs) to fund the wars, most people are content to go shopping, as we were told to do nearly 20 years ago.
In 1934, a colossal claim reached the American news media: There had been a plot to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in favor of a fascist government. Supposedly in the works since 1933, the claims of the conspiracy came from a very conspicuous and reliable source: Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most decorated war heroes of his time. Even more unbelievable were his claims of who was involved in the plot тАУ respected names like Robert Sterling Clark, Grayson M.P. Murphy, and Prescott Bush. While news media at the time mocked ButlerтАЩs story, recently discovered archives have revealed the truth behind Major General ButlerтАЩs claims.... hat tip to Arcadia Publishing.
We donтАЩt have to wait 20 years this time though. The corruption is moving along at digital speed nowadays. Maybe itтАЩs the lack of ideology involved. We couldnтАЩt set up shop immediately after Vietnam because of the multipolar Cold War. But today, in Afghanistan, there are no such considerations.
In fact, the only considerations Uncle Scam needed from the Taliban prior to pulling out were as follows... The ability to operate a gas pipeline across Afghanistan without interference. The 1998 O.G. Taliban were dead against it, but this isnтАЩt your daddyтАЩs Taliban. Today, the Taliban are far more politically and economically savvy. And they are allowing the energy pipeline in exchange for breathing space. Access for multinationals operating in Afghanistan was consideration number two. With this ensured, companies operating there during occupation can continue use looting... I mean... continue developing... AfghanistanтАЩs natural resources like those oh so yummy rare earth minerals and lithium. A promise to keep thwarting ChinaтАЩs development plans for Silk Road 2.0/ the belt and road initiative as the previous puppet gubmint did for his favorite uncle Scam.
There was nothing on our list of demands and assurances for withdrawal about ensuring womenтАЩs rights. Minority rights. The rights of people who donтАЩt want to party like itтАЩs 999 AD, and they are living in a pan-Islamic, fundamentalist caliphate. You know, all the things the marketing campaign for this atrocity said we were fighting for. Freedom and Democracy, equality under an impartial, codified legal system. An end to honor killings and other barbaric rituals. Nope, just some pipelines, a F.U. to China and a spot at the money trough for the rapacious multinationals to keep gorging.
But did we expect? After all, Uncle Scam plays nice with Fraudi Arabia, so surely he can turn a blind eye to the Human rights abuses perpetrated by some tin pot Taliban warlord. How different could it be, ignoring the worst excesses of another тАШmoderate regime and nominal allyтАЩ in the region? We do that 10 times before eating breakfast in the land of the thief and the home of the slave.
Be on the lookout for that soon. A new wave of conditioning as the reporting on Afghanistan continues to dwindle over the coming year. Conditioning us hoi polloi to regard the guys who bombed the towers as a moderate regime and regional ally. That might be the hard sell for the suit dummies running the nexus between the media and foreign policy apparatus. But the narrative managers will find a way, no matter how twisted the mental gymnastics and doublespeak becomes.
So true. It is impossible to overestimate the sheer evil and venality that courses through our duopoly and the corporate world they represent, and who for some inexplicable reason, Americans keep voting for, thinking that this time the (D) or (R) will make some fundamental difference. Perhaps Madeleine Albright's words as Secretary of State, who, as a grandmother, thought "it was worth it" to kill half a million Iraqi children during our bipartisan embargo of Iraq after Gulf War I, might be an indication as to their true nature.
The forest grew thinner. But still, the trees voted for the axe. You see, the axe was clever, and because his handle was made of wood, had convinced the trees he was one of them.
An old Turkish proverb to sum up duopoly. We get to choose between a red handled axe or a blue handled axe, but either way, Tiiiiiimmmmberrrrr!
I know a lot of those Vietnam guys. The still functioning ones paste bumper stickers like "Honor the Warrior, Not the War" to try to assuage the pain of their sacrifice .. . service.
A lot of the boys coming back from the ME seem dazed, confused and angry. 1000 yard stares.
*Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knees
But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes
John Prine died in early April of this year after becoming sick with the Covid-19 virus, he was 73.
His songs tell important stories about average people and and deep thoughts.
"Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" criticizes people who use piety and patriotism as a cover for supporting an unjust war тАФ a theme he'd revisit on 2005's album "Some Humans Ain't Human," which pulls no punches slamming both hypocritical people and the Iraq War started by George W. Bush.
Rest in peace John Prine, we need more of your kind in this world!
I miss John Prine. Survived brain cancer only to be taken down by Covid-19.
I once heard him say that when you're having a really good time, the last thing you want to do is stop what you are doing, pick up a pen and write about what a good time you are having.
Few people spoke to me like ex postal worker John Prine. RIP
Since Trump, the GOP base has officially joined the antiwar movement. I also sense some on the left have joined conservatives in criticizing big tech censorship. Viva la Revolucion.
Why would you, someone who publicly declares yourself a "Covid denier", choose to post this nonsense on a three week old memorial post dedicated to a great artist who died as a result of contracting Covid-19тЭФ
You are not a part of a Revolution, you are simple revoltingтА╝
I am so sorry for your family's loss, it's at such times we find the true value of both them and our friends.
Death in any war is a tragedy, but death in a pointless war, based on lies, with no ultimate accountability for anyone, results in anger, rage and finally, a loss of respect for the institutions that govern us, and that leads to some form of societal collapse.
Ultimately, there is a cost for everything, especially when the payment is delayed.
I'm happy for the Vietnamese, but their economy, like that of the PRC, is a mix of private and state.
In an earlier post, I commented that a couple weeks ago, for no particular reason, I looked at a Google maps of the A Shau valley, the site of my last operation in Vietnam in late summer 1968, which at that time was nothing but mountains with triple canopy forest and a floor that was elephant grass, that is where we hadn't bombed it, with bomb crater inside of bomb crater, the only man made object being a deserted Special Forces camp.
Looking at it today, seeing villages, hotels, restaurants, markets, even a guided tour to Hamburger Hill, the place where a couple years after my time there, the 101st suffered horrible casualties taking that hill, only to then leave it and to once again be NVA controlled, I was certain there was some mistake, so I zoomed out, going eastward, and sure enough, there were the familiar foothills, the Perfume river, Hue and finally the ocean.
What was in my brain, just as what has been in the brains of our political and military elite regarding these disastrous wars, has all been an illusion, one of American exceptionalism, and a world view we had better reject.
The difference between those beliefs was quite different, however; mine was one based on a youthful memory and quite harmless; theirs has led to vast human suffering and waste of money and resources, with absolutely no accountability at all, nor will there ever be.
No, I won't go back, and while I know they tend to like Americans, they should hate me, and that is a fact I cannot forget.
See, Afghanistan was not a failure. It accomplished everything it was supposed to do except for turning Pashtuns into westernized consumers.
Just wait awhile.
Remember Vietnam, the place we had to go to to fight them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here, became a place open to US corporations to outsource production, all so US consumers could buy more for less, and no one seemed to either notice or mind.
While at an anti war protest many years ago, I mentioned to someone there that I was a Vietnam vet and saying the Vietnamese won, as they should have, and he said to me, "No, they didn't win, Nike did." Smedley Butler said it nearly 90 years ago, "war is a racket", and somehow, people don't seem to notice that those who benefit the most, do not participate at all. Of course, with the draft eliminated and no new taxes (indeed, tax cuts from Repubs) to fund the wars, most people are content to go shopping, as we were told to do nearly 20 years ago.
In 1934, a colossal claim reached the American news media: There had been a plot to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in favor of a fascist government. Supposedly in the works since 1933, the claims of the conspiracy came from a very conspicuous and reliable source: Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most decorated war heroes of his time. Even more unbelievable were his claims of who was involved in the plot тАУ respected names like Robert Sterling Clark, Grayson M.P. Murphy, and Prescott Bush. While news media at the time mocked ButlerтАЩs story, recently discovered archives have revealed the truth behind Major General ButlerтАЩs claims.... hat tip to Arcadia Publishing.
And FDR let the plotters escape with their heads and fortunes.
Imagine the world today if they had all been executed for treason and sedition?
We donтАЩt have to wait 20 years this time though. The corruption is moving along at digital speed nowadays. Maybe itтАЩs the lack of ideology involved. We couldnтАЩt set up shop immediately after Vietnam because of the multipolar Cold War. But today, in Afghanistan, there are no such considerations.
In fact, the only considerations Uncle Scam needed from the Taliban prior to pulling out were as follows... The ability to operate a gas pipeline across Afghanistan without interference. The 1998 O.G. Taliban were dead against it, but this isnтАЩt your daddyтАЩs Taliban. Today, the Taliban are far more politically and economically savvy. And they are allowing the energy pipeline in exchange for breathing space. Access for multinationals operating in Afghanistan was consideration number two. With this ensured, companies operating there during occupation can continue use looting... I mean... continue developing... AfghanistanтАЩs natural resources like those oh so yummy rare earth minerals and lithium. A promise to keep thwarting ChinaтАЩs development plans for Silk Road 2.0/ the belt and road initiative as the previous puppet gubmint did for his favorite uncle Scam.
There was nothing on our list of demands and assurances for withdrawal about ensuring womenтАЩs rights. Minority rights. The rights of people who donтАЩt want to party like itтАЩs 999 AD, and they are living in a pan-Islamic, fundamentalist caliphate. You know, all the things the marketing campaign for this atrocity said we were fighting for. Freedom and Democracy, equality under an impartial, codified legal system. An end to honor killings and other barbaric rituals. Nope, just some pipelines, a F.U. to China and a spot at the money trough for the rapacious multinationals to keep gorging.
But did we expect? After all, Uncle Scam plays nice with Fraudi Arabia, so surely he can turn a blind eye to the Human rights abuses perpetrated by some tin pot Taliban warlord. How different could it be, ignoring the worst excesses of another тАШmoderate regime and nominal allyтАЩ in the region? We do that 10 times before eating breakfast in the land of the thief and the home of the slave.
Be on the lookout for that soon. A new wave of conditioning as the reporting on Afghanistan continues to dwindle over the coming year. Conditioning us hoi polloi to regard the guys who bombed the towers as a moderate regime and regional ally. That might be the hard sell for the suit dummies running the nexus between the media and foreign policy apparatus. But the narrative managers will find a way, no matter how twisted the mental gymnastics and doublespeak becomes.
So true. It is impossible to overestimate the sheer evil and venality that courses through our duopoly and the corporate world they represent, and who for some inexplicable reason, Americans keep voting for, thinking that this time the (D) or (R) will make some fundamental difference. Perhaps Madeleine Albright's words as Secretary of State, who, as a grandmother, thought "it was worth it" to kill half a million Iraqi children during our bipartisan embargo of Iraq after Gulf War I, might be an indication as to their true nature.
The forest grew thinner. But still, the trees voted for the axe. You see, the axe was clever, and because his handle was made of wood, had convinced the trees he was one of them.
An old Turkish proverb to sum up duopoly. We get to choose between a red handled axe or a blue handled axe, but either way, Tiiiiiimmmmberrrrr!
@ GeetchnixonЁЯСН
Your axe metaphor is excellent! It appears that I'm going to have to find another subscription fee in my piggy bank.ЁЯд╖тАНтЩВя╕П
EA
Omg you hit the nail on the head these corrupt bastards I despise them
Thank you for your service I lost two cousins in Vietnam
I lost my brother. He came back, but his mind remained elsewhere ever since.
I know a lot of those Vietnam guys. The still functioning ones paste bumper stickers like "Honor the Warrior, Not the War" to try to assuage the pain of their sacrifice .. . service.
A lot of the boys coming back from the ME seem dazed, confused and angry. 1000 yard stares.
*Sam Stone came home
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served
Had shattered all his nerves
And left a little shrapnel in his knees
But the morphine eased the pain
And the grass grew round his brain
And gave him all the confidence he lacked
With a purple heart and a monkey on his back
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose
Little pitchers have big ears
Don't stop to count the years
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios
Thanks to John Prine.
John Prine died in early April of this year after becoming sick with the Covid-19 virus, he was 73.
His songs tell important stories about average people and and deep thoughts.
"Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore" criticizes people who use piety and patriotism as a cover for supporting an unjust war тАФ a theme he'd revisit on 2005's album "Some Humans Ain't Human," which pulls no punches slamming both hypocritical people and the Iraq War started by George W. Bush.
Rest in peace John Prine, we need more of your kind in this world!
EA
I miss John Prine. Survived brain cancer only to be taken down by Covid-19.
I once heard him say that when you're having a really good time, the last thing you want to do is stop what you are doing, pick up a pen and write about what a good time you are having.
Few people spoke to me like ex postal worker John Prine. RIP
@Ethan Allen
Penetrating Post ! Thank you !
@ AtmaтЬФ
You mean....as in a "Bunker Buster"?
EAЁЯШО
Since Trump, the GOP base has officially joined the antiwar movement. I also sense some on the left have joined conservatives in criticizing big tech censorship. Viva la Revolucion.
@ Danno ЁЯжи
Why would you, someone who publicly declares yourself a "Covid denier", choose to post this nonsense on a three week old memorial post dedicated to a great artist who died as a result of contracting Covid-19тЭФ
You are not a part of a Revolution, you are simple revoltingтА╝
EA
also John Prine:
"we lost Davy in the Korean War,
"and I still don't know what for,
"don't matter anymore"...
from the song, "Hello in There" (Album: Prime Prine)
I am so sorry for your family's loss, it's at such times we find the true value of both them and our friends.
Death in any war is a tragedy, but death in a pointless war, based on lies, with no ultimate accountability for anyone, results in anger, rage and finally, a loss of respect for the institutions that govern us, and that leads to some form of societal collapse.
Ultimately, there is a cost for everything, especially when the payment is delayed.
Robert Stone: "The bill always comes due."
@michael t nola
As ever, well observed. Thanks
Vietnam's average wealth has increased enormously since it went to a market economy. It's actually quite stunning. You should visit again.
I'm happy for the Vietnamese, but their economy, like that of the PRC, is a mix of private and state.
In an earlier post, I commented that a couple weeks ago, for no particular reason, I looked at a Google maps of the A Shau valley, the site of my last operation in Vietnam in late summer 1968, which at that time was nothing but mountains with triple canopy forest and a floor that was elephant grass, that is where we hadn't bombed it, with bomb crater inside of bomb crater, the only man made object being a deserted Special Forces camp.
Looking at it today, seeing villages, hotels, restaurants, markets, even a guided tour to Hamburger Hill, the place where a couple years after my time there, the 101st suffered horrible casualties taking that hill, only to then leave it and to once again be NVA controlled, I was certain there was some mistake, so I zoomed out, going eastward, and sure enough, there were the familiar foothills, the Perfume river, Hue and finally the ocean.
What was in my brain, just as what has been in the brains of our political and military elite regarding these disastrous wars, has all been an illusion, one of American exceptionalism, and a world view we had better reject.
The difference between those beliefs was quite different, however; mine was one based on a youthful memory and quite harmless; theirs has led to vast human suffering and waste of money and resources, with absolutely no accountability at all, nor will there ever be.
No, I won't go back, and while I know they tend to like Americans, they should hate me, and that is a fact I cannot forget.
Capitalism cures poverty.
"Raises all boats but only if you have a boat"
Worst economic system, except all others.
Agreed by now it needs to be labeled "Crony Capitalism" not free market...Monopolies without enforcement
@ corbu
The "free market" is "Crony Capitalism", the fair market is the more viable alternative; in my opinioЁЯСМ.
EA
@Madjack
That's what Churchill thought as well.
for some. but not all.
For all with caveat that you gotta want it.
@Nathan
I agree with your description, and I applaud your suggestion.
Simply know that for *many Vietnam Vets, going back can be
the *ultimate "big lift".