[onlooker]

Yes Ennui but the distinct difference is that these despots and despicable regimes mostly are nasty to their own people. On the other hand US bestrides the world and interferes and tampers with the lives of many in many countries. I recommend a book "Confessions of an Economic hitman" which details roughly how US inserts itself into the affairs of other countries.

[Withnail]

Yes Ennui but the distinct difference is that these despots and despicable regimes mostly are nasty to their own people. On the other hand US bestrides the world and interferes and tampers with the lives of many in many countries. I recommend a book "Confessions of an Economic hitman" which details roughly how US inserts itself into the affairs of other countries.

The US arms and otherwise supports despots and mass murderers worldwide.

[dissident]

Yes Ennui but the distinct difference is that these despots and despicable regimes mostly are nasty to their own people. On the other hand US bestrides the world and interferes and tampers with the lives of many in many countries. I recommend a book "Confessions of an Economic hitman" which details roughly how US inserts itself into the affairs of other countries.

The US arms and otherwise supports despots and mass murderers worldwide.

But when stated this way there is a cognitive dissonance recoil. A puckering up of the brain and knee-jerk denial. During the cold war the US was central to the installation and backing of all the death-squad juntas in Latin America. While Latin America has managed to break free of this dictatorial yoke, the US is still at it and has installed a death squad junta in Ukraine. Right sector goons (brown shirts) break up any attempt to demonstrate against the regime. BS "laws" have been passed to muzzle any criticism of the regime. Yet you hear no complaining in US-led NATO about these human rights abuses. The Kiev junta's war crimes in the Donbas are also systematically ignored and Orwellian lies are substituted as "facts": that the rebels are shelling themselves. We all know that Donbas residents are simply too retarded to use the Doppler effect to note the origin direction of shells and MLRS rockets coming from Kiev regime controlled territory.

[Withnail]

In other news, US ally Turkey has just commenced bombing US ally the Kurds in Iraq.

[onlooker]

That is the payment the Kurds get for being faithful enemies of Saddam and for helping in the fight against ISIS, basically stabbed in the back by the US. I say that because Turkey would not attack Kurds if US had not given the green light.

[MD]

Six... a snapshot of a Risk game as your global conflict image?

If we are playing Risk then we want an open border all the way to Panama. Control the canal and the coastlines all the way to the arctic, with a nicely mixed internal culture, and we're good to go.

Too bad reality isn't a board game.

[Withnail]

Because by being constantly in a state of war, the civilian population could be totally and utterly controlled.

I get the concept. What bothers me is people tend to want to apply the analogy to US foreign policy while ignoring places where this tactic of control is much more of an open-shut case, like North Korea.

Orwell was talking about the sophisticated and dangerous propaganda of a powerful and aggressive state like the USA not the laughably crude nonsense from somewhere like North Korea.

The US and its English speaking puppets have in many senses become what Orwell imagined as the superstate of Oceania.

Certainly there's been no change in Britain's status as 'Airstrip One'. We are still a US airstrip as we were in WW II.

[onlooker]

One more thing about a constant state of war. When that is the case, improvements to society and all other important matters that affect the population become sidetracked and forgotten with the obsessive focus on the war. I still remember vividly the book 1984, the passages that described the frenzied population watching giant screens detailing the progress in the war. Was not Saddam Hussein once our friend but then became our enemy. So in 1984, one day their was Enemy A, then the next day the Enemy was B, seamlessly and without second thought. Winning the war and who your fighting is irrelevant, just as long as the war continues.

[Withnail]

One more thing about a constant state of war. When that is the case, improvements to society and all other important matters that affect the population become sidetracked and forgotten with the obsessive focus on the war. I still remember vividly the book 1984, the passages that described the frenzied population watching giant screens detailing the progress in the war. Was not Saddam Hussein once our friend but then became our enemy. So in 1984, one day their was Enemy A, then the next day the Enemy was B, seamlessly and without second thought. Winning the war and who your fighting is irrelevant, just as long as the war continues.

Absolutely. It's transparently obvious with America's many recent and current conflicts that the priorities are that violence, instability, and most importantly the consumption of very expensive weapons should continue. Which involves the practical demonstration of such weapons. Which in turn prompts orders for such weapons.

If America wanted to win what it calls 'wars' it would win them like it did in WW II. Decisive, finished, over.

The whole thing is lies, and a racket.

What is ISIS realistically going to do to me here in the UK in my lifetime? Nothing. The odds are astronomically against me being blown up by terrorists.

What is America going to do to me? Make my life worse in many ways, via non labelling of GM food from the US, the Atlantic Free Trade deal, increased military spending, more and more neo liberal ideas in our so-called British politics. (Of course we are just a puppet of the US anyway).

America is a far greater threat to the quality of life of Europeans than ISIS could ever be.

[onlooker]

So true Nail and certainly we here in the US have seen our quality of life slowly eroding in terms of education healthcare, jobs etc. There are actually several nefarious and ulterior motives for wars we just have hit on some. Another one is the Bankers get richer lending to both sides and repossessing valuable assets once debtors cannot pay. I recommend Nail, a book which I have not read in full just excerpts, Naomi Klein "Disaster Capitalism" which details how not just wars but other disasters including economic are opportune times for all sorts of economic entities to take possession of a country and its assets as well as a good time to install a government to the liking of the Neo-Liberals / Imperialists. Iraq is a casebook example.

[Withnail]

I recommend Nail, a book which I have not read in full just excerpts, Naomi Klein "Disaster Capitalism" which details how not just wars but other disasters including economic are opportune times for all sorts of economic entities to take possession of a country and its assets as well as a good time to install a government to the liking of the Neo-Liberals / Imperialists. Iraq is a casebook example.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Yeah I have it, great book.

[careinke]

In other news, US ally Turkey has just commenced bombing US ally the Kurds in Iraq.

Wow that's quite a deja vu moment for me. At the end of Desert Storm, my AWACS crew was sent from Riyadh KSA up to Turkey to kick off "Provide Comfort" the mission was to drop food to the Kurds in Northern Iraq.

Sometimes the Turks would bomb the same people we were dropping food to. At the time, the Turks were concerned (rightfully so) with the PKK a Kurdish "Terrorist" group.

But from my viewpoint the whole thing was crazy. Here we were, with the French and Brits, operating out of a Turkish airbase, dropping food to the Kurds. While at the same time, and sometimes from the same base, the Turks were bombing in the same areas we were dropping food.

[ennui2]

Was not Saddam Hussein once our friend but then became our enemy.

We fought England twice and then bailed it out twice. The USSR was our friend in WWII. There's no law that says friends should always stay friends or enemies should always be enemies. See what's now happening in US relations with Iran and Cuba before continuing to pound the "US wants all war all the time."

Really, some of the analysis here is incredibly childish and simplistic.

[ennui2]

If America wanted to win what it calls 'wars' it would win them like it did in WW II. Decisive, finished, over.

The idea of that died in Vietnam. Conventional wars like that only are winnable when the other side is willing to fight fair, to a certain extent. And as bad as Germany was during WWII, when they knew they were truly beaten, they gave up, and did not just go insurgent like in the middle-east and elsewhere.

What that means is that the most successful way to handle things these days is to keep boots off the ground, which results in some form of long-term containment.

What is ISIS realistically going to do to me here in the UK in my lifetime? Nothing. The odds are astronomically against me being blown up by terrorists.

But it happens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_20 ... n_bombings

What is America going to do to me? Make my life worse in many ways, via non labelling of GM food from the US

Not everyone thinks GMO is bad for you, ya know. And nobody forces you to eat american produce.

Of course we are just a puppet of the US anyway

Ah, I guess you're screwed then. What's left for you to do? Join ISIS I guess. After all. The enemy of your enemy must be your friend, right? And I know they're happy to take in converts who can speak english. Sounds like you're ready to sign up to me. By the sound of your rage I'd imagine you'd find no greater joy than to saw off a head if it was attached to an american.

[onlooker]

"US wants all war all the time."
Yes, but the War on Terrorism is a whole new ballgame. It has been quoted by senior officials has having an "indefinite" timetable. One can always extrapolate that their are terrorists out there somewhere.

[sparky]

.
and if there are no terrorists out there . we will make them
the dreaded STASI , the East German political police had been so efficient at wiping out any trace of organized opposition
they were facing their own demise , in a gesture of true German ingenuity they created their own !
Stasi "agent provocateurs" were canvassing potential opponents into discussion groups
to create nucleus of something to spy on , everybody was spying on everybody else (usually under duress and blackmail)
then there was street protests in Dresden and other places ,
the panicky agents were phoning headquarters "what should we do "
answers "keep your cover ,organize the protests "

Something like that happened in Romania when the Securitad agents were the amongst the first ones on the street protesting against the government .

for the culturally educated in bolshevik trivia , the 1905 Russian insurgency happened when a street protest organized by the priest Gappon , an Okrana agent , was machine-gunned in St Petersburg , revolution broke out.

a police state is a police organized insurrection in waiting

[onlooker]

Good point Sparky. If I am not mistaken is that not common to here protestors around the world complaining that infiltrators were provoking the police. I heard about that in protests in Seattle and also the Occupy movement. Just another example of the total domination which the elites around the world want.

[Withnail]

Ah, I guess you're screwed then. What's left for you to do? Join ISIS I guess. After all. The enemy of your enemy must be your friend, right? And I know they're happy to take in converts who can speak english. Sounds like you're ready to sign up to me. By the sound of your rage I'd imagine you'd find no greater joy than to saw off a head if it was attached to an american.

I prefer to leave terrorism to the United States and its proxies.

[PrestonSturges]

What is America going to do to me? Make my life worse in many ways, via non labelling of GM food from the US,

If it makes you feel any better, the American anti-GMO movement has been largely taken over by the anti-vaxxers, who are generally regarded as deranged.