I take your points Ray and they are true at least to some extent and even to a great extent in some ways.
But as an outsider looking in to the USA, WAR![TM] is not all the province of the manipulative bosses acting in concert to generate sales and profits for GE and Westinghouse military supply companies.
The average man in the street and these days woman too, are gun-toting cowboys [if only in self-deluded mythology acted out for real in their SUVs which are their trusty steed for roaming the prairies looking for bad guys]. USA suburbia is armed to the teeth and shoot 'em ups have been part of the culture for centuries.
When the British used to corner serious IRA terrorists, there would be a long discussion, food would be sent in to enable reasoning to continue and eventually the IRA man or men would surrender and do some time in prison. In the USA, some screw-loose militia or Waco group decides to go AWOL. Next thing you know there's a giant siege, loud music, non-negotiable demands and a shoot 'em up with bodies strewn around.
The NRA is a popularly supported lobby and hordes of people are armed and like it that way.
One of my early memories in states and military and so on was a propaganda poster by Nazis [I saw it years later in the early 1960s I suppose] of the USA as a Dr Strangelove type bomber, a bit like the poster in Iran of the American flag with bombs at the end of the stripes. I was puzzled by it because I didn't have any idea of that being a reasonable representation of the USA's military proclivities. As the years rolled by and Nixon carpet bombed acres of Vietnam and Cambodia with B52s and I learned this that and the other, I could see the point.
It's the culture.
Since megalomania is the culture of all too many people from Saddam to Pol Pot, Mao, Zemin, Jintao, Stalin, the Iron Curtain rulers, south American generals and all sorts, I don't much mind having a USA counterpoint which in my opinion operates are comparatively highly civilized authoritarianism with a high degree of latitude for USA serfs to amuse themselves and make some money.
I'm quite happy for example for the USA to have decided to defeat Saddam's gang by war. It's not perfect as a solution, but it's a step in the right direction. Beating Omar's Taleban was a good thing too. Defending Taiwan and NOT appeasing Jintao is a good thing too. Look at the foaming at the mouth jingoistic Chinese who are now threatening Japan, whose generals swapped military hats with some Russian generals, but said that while they wanted to remain good friends, they thought Taiwan should not be attacked.
The Feather Duster manoeuvres are no doubt being planned and China's population stirred up to "defend" the Motherland, Fatherland or whatever they call it.
If as you say the rulers of the USA want war, and China wants war, and North Korea isn't too worried, and Russia is feeling its oats and wants big trade deals and alliance with China in the absence of the old Warsaw Pact gang, and Japan isn't shrinking and Oz is playing Tonto to King George II, then we are more than likely to get it.
The echo chamber is positively reverberating. I don't think there's much concealed that matters though the average bloke and sheila in Beijing, Peoria, Sapporo and Darwin wouldn't be able to give a coherent account of matters.
I note China has now got India onside, maybe. Now, we need a shot heard around the world once the alliances are set, a Sarajevo starter's pistol, and a war to end all wars can begin to sort everything out once and for all. So that we can say yet again, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" and "Lest we forget" and "Never again" and "What were they thinking" and "Don't let a slogan do your thinking for you".
Bear in mind that GE depends on a soundly functioning economic system. Minor wars in distant deserts might be okay for sales, but overall, I doubt that GE management would think wars are a good thing for their bottom line. Preparing for them might be okay. Training wears out equipment, and there's obsolescence. Having Chinese nukes landing in Washington would NOT be fun.
Those media moguls and government rulers like to think they have all that secret power and self-importance, but they don't. They are mostly just grown up 12 year old boys playing secret clubs and feeling important. You seem to be able to see through it all and so can other people.
Personally, I think everyone should buy CDMA cyberphones, forget the belligerence, and enjoy peace, light, harmony, happiness, health, prosperity, longevity, fun and love. QCOM needs the sales. I note though that CDMA is very useful in military applications so that should keep profits rolling in.
Mqurice |
