I shouldn't be surprised, but one person replied to tell me I was spouting Kremlin talking points and that Russians are "animals," while another person told me that Ukraine is basically led by Nazis.
"Animals" against "Nazis": that's why I'm not hopeful about the war ending anytime soon.
The reason we have wars, is foreign entanglements. Having "allies" and enemies. See what group you cannot criticize, and be censored, fined, imprisoned, and you know who is pulling the strings. Our "ally" in the middle east, South of Lebanon is the hidden hand behind all wars. Just look at what UnConstitutional laws have become law of some States. Who members of Congress have to sign pledge of allegiance to?
The plain, simple, unadorned, incontestable, and irrefutable Truth is that the Mission, Function, and Purpose of the American military is NOT to protect the rights of its citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or the core values and principles of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of dissent.
The Mission, Function, and Purpose of America’s military is to protect returns on corporate investment, and access to markets and resources for the accumulation of economic and political power, control, and domination.
50 Years ago tomorrow ~ on March 29, 1973 ~ the last American combat troops left Vietnam, leaving that whole Goat Fuck entirely in the hands of the Vietnamese People. Exactly where it should have been after America’s doomed attempt to help the French re-establish their colonial empire in Southeast Asia ended in total and complete failure in 1954.
It would be another two years, on April 30, 1975, when the last Americans in Vietnam were lifted by helicopter off their Embassy roof top, starting a losing streak by the American military that has lasted to this day. We saw America in chaotic retreat and defeat again on August 30, 2021 fleeing from the rooftop of another Embassy, this one in Kabul, Afghanistan.
By the time it was all over, what the Vietnamese People termed “The American War” had killed between 1,450,000 and 3,595,000 Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. And America likes to make a big deal out of the mere 58,220 Americans killed in Vietnam.
Caitlin Johnstone’s latest rant ~ “It's Immoral To Serve In An Immoral Military” ~ lays the bottom line, bullet-hits-the bone TRUTH out for all to read who dare:
“Deciding to enter the military is only morally justifiable if your country's military is used in a moral and just way. There's a weird, power-serving taboo against saying this which is born of the idea that it's more important to protect the feelings of "our troops" than to discourage people from enlisting in the most murderous war machine on earth, but it's true.
“This doesn't mean that those military personnel are more responsible for the depravities they help enact than the government officials who sent them there, and it doesn't mean they're irredeemably evil — it just means they're doing something immoral. We all do immoral things and make bad decisions from time to time. All it means is they need to course correct.
“Yes, many of those who enlist in the military are just doing what they feel they have to do to make some money in an unjust system, but it's very revealing that people don't tend to extend this same charitable sympathy to those who turn to crime out of the desperation of poverty. Most people in prison are guilty of far less egregious offenses than the things US and allied military personnel are routinely ordered to do, because they didn't commit their crimes at the behest of a powerful government.
“And yes, to be sure those who join the military are pummeled with lies and propaganda by the culture they grew up in about what their military is and what it does, but many people who commit crimes are pummeled with false narratives and false promises by the people around them as well. That's exactly how joining a gang tends to work, for example. Those who Charles Manson manipulated into committing murder weren't exonerated just because they were manipulated. Manipulation is a mitigating factor in assessing morality, but it doesn't prevent military service from being immoral any more than it prevents Mafia murders from being immoral.
“UNLESS YOU LIVE IN A NATION WHICH USES ITS MILITARY SOLELY TO PROTECT ITS OWN BORDERS AND NEVER TO ABUSE ITS OWN CITIZENRY, THEN IF YOU CHOOSE TO ENLIST YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING IMMORAL. THE US ALLIANCE IS LITERALLY ALWAYS AT WAR OVERSEAS, AND ENLISTMENT IS THEREFORE NEVER MORAL. I guess it could even be theoretically possible for a military to always be at war overseas and still be moral, if it were fighting for moral reasons. There is no moral argument to be made that the US alliance does this, though; it wages wars of aggression for power and profit.
"REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT'S IMMORAL TO SERVE IN AN IMMORAL MILITARY SERVES NO ONE BUT MILITARY RECRUITERS, WAR PROFITEERS, AND THE IMPERIALISTS IN WASHINGTON DC AND VIRGINIA. MAKE THIS CLEAR AS A SOCIETY SO THAT PEOPLE CAN BEGIN COURSE-CORRECTING AWAY FROM THAT ABUSIVE PATH."
Question: “Is democracy even more tenuous and illusory in the U.S. than it is in Ukraine and Russia?”
Answer: yes. For evidence, wait a few days and read Stan Cox’s next post on TomDispatch. It’s about MAGA / corporate America’s stranglehold on state legislatures owing to fossil fuel businesses’ interests sustaining climate change against the people’s efforts to hold climate change in check. Where MAGA reigns, quick-buck money rules.
"...Putin may calculate that a negotiated peace would be better for him in the long run..."
He might, if he were a logical, reasonable person. I think, based on his public behavior---and the very fact that he invaded in the first place---he's stuck in an uber-macho, narcissistic world of his own, and more killing means nothing to him. If he gave a damn about casualties or how the world sees him, the civilian targeting, kidnappings, and other atrocities never would have happened.
At this point, the stated objective is regime change in Russia. As a former Cold Warrior, I'm appalled by the Total Spectrum Dominance policies and the Wolfowitz Doctrine. The left's onboard because they see it as Woke War III for their ideology worldwide. You're right, it's near impossible to find out the truth, because the propaganda is full on war fever with deceit the objective.
If the US government wanted peace, it would not have started this war.
Just a quick observation:
I shouldn't be surprised, but one person replied to tell me I was spouting Kremlin talking points and that Russians are "animals," while another person told me that Ukraine is basically led by Nazis.
"Animals" against "Nazis": that's why I'm not hopeful about the war ending anytime soon.
1. crimea is Russia. nato grabbing it is like usa denying the Vietnam plebiscite in 1955! same for Donbas, those elections are valid as Biden win.
2. wait for the neocon/neoliberal/pnac objects to be met for peace.
3. usa/nato instigate a war which perfectly fail all dictates of ‘just war’ doctrine iow no moral soldier can be absolved of murder.
The reason we have wars, is foreign entanglements. Having "allies" and enemies. See what group you cannot criticize, and be censored, fined, imprisoned, and you know who is pulling the strings. Our "ally" in the middle east, South of Lebanon is the hidden hand behind all wars. Just look at what UnConstitutional laws have become law of some States. Who members of Congress have to sign pledge of allegiance to?
The plain, simple, unadorned, incontestable, and irrefutable Truth is that the Mission, Function, and Purpose of the American military is NOT to protect the rights of its citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or the core values and principles of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of dissent.
The Mission, Function, and Purpose of America’s military is to protect returns on corporate investment, and access to markets and resources for the accumulation of economic and political power, control, and domination.
50 Years ago tomorrow ~ on March 29, 1973 ~ the last American combat troops left Vietnam, leaving that whole Goat Fuck entirely in the hands of the Vietnamese People. Exactly where it should have been after America’s doomed attempt to help the French re-establish their colonial empire in Southeast Asia ended in total and complete failure in 1954.
It would be another two years, on April 30, 1975, when the last Americans in Vietnam were lifted by helicopter off their Embassy roof top, starting a losing streak by the American military that has lasted to this day. We saw America in chaotic retreat and defeat again on August 30, 2021 fleeing from the rooftop of another Embassy, this one in Kabul, Afghanistan.
By the time it was all over, what the Vietnamese People termed “The American War” had killed between 1,450,000 and 3,595,000 Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. And America likes to make a big deal out of the mere 58,220 Americans killed in Vietnam.
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_casualties ]
Caitlin Johnstone’s latest rant ~ “It's Immoral To Serve In An Immoral Military” ~ lays the bottom line, bullet-hits-the bone TRUTH out for all to read who dare:
“Deciding to enter the military is only morally justifiable if your country's military is used in a moral and just way. There's a weird, power-serving taboo against saying this which is born of the idea that it's more important to protect the feelings of "our troops" than to discourage people from enlisting in the most murderous war machine on earth, but it's true.
“This doesn't mean that those military personnel are more responsible for the depravities they help enact than the government officials who sent them there, and it doesn't mean they're irredeemably evil — it just means they're doing something immoral. We all do immoral things and make bad decisions from time to time. All it means is they need to course correct.
“Yes, many of those who enlist in the military are just doing what they feel they have to do to make some money in an unjust system, but it's very revealing that people don't tend to extend this same charitable sympathy to those who turn to crime out of the desperation of poverty. Most people in prison are guilty of far less egregious offenses than the things US and allied military personnel are routinely ordered to do, because they didn't commit their crimes at the behest of a powerful government.
“And yes, to be sure those who join the military are pummeled with lies and propaganda by the culture they grew up in about what their military is and what it does, but many people who commit crimes are pummeled with false narratives and false promises by the people around them as well. That's exactly how joining a gang tends to work, for example. Those who Charles Manson manipulated into committing murder weren't exonerated just because they were manipulated. Manipulation is a mitigating factor in assessing morality, but it doesn't prevent military service from being immoral any more than it prevents Mafia murders from being immoral.
“UNLESS YOU LIVE IN A NATION WHICH USES ITS MILITARY SOLELY TO PROTECT ITS OWN BORDERS AND NEVER TO ABUSE ITS OWN CITIZENRY, THEN IF YOU CHOOSE TO ENLIST YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING IMMORAL. THE US ALLIANCE IS LITERALLY ALWAYS AT WAR OVERSEAS, AND ENLISTMENT IS THEREFORE NEVER MORAL. I guess it could even be theoretically possible for a military to always be at war overseas and still be moral, if it were fighting for moral reasons. There is no moral argument to be made that the US alliance does this, though; it wages wars of aggression for power and profit.
"REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT'S IMMORAL TO SERVE IN AN IMMORAL MILITARY SERVES NO ONE BUT MILITARY RECRUITERS, WAR PROFITEERS, AND THE IMPERIALISTS IN WASHINGTON DC AND VIRGINIA. MAKE THIS CLEAR AS A SOCIETY SO THAT PEOPLE CAN BEGIN COURSE-CORRECTING AWAY FROM THAT ABUSIVE PATH."
Continued at https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/its-immoral-to-serve-in-an-immoral ; EMPHASES added.
Question: “Is democracy even more tenuous and illusory in the U.S. than it is in Ukraine and Russia?”
Answer: yes. For evidence, wait a few days and read Stan Cox’s next post on TomDispatch. It’s about MAGA / corporate America’s stranglehold on state legislatures owing to fossil fuel businesses’ interests sustaining climate change against the people’s efforts to hold climate change in check. Where MAGA reigns, quick-buck money rules.
"...Putin may calculate that a negotiated peace would be better for him in the long run..."
He might, if he were a logical, reasonable person. I think, based on his public behavior---and the very fact that he invaded in the first place---he's stuck in an uber-macho, narcissistic world of his own, and more killing means nothing to him. If he gave a damn about casualties or how the world sees him, the civilian targeting, kidnappings, and other atrocities never would have happened.
At this point, the stated objective is regime change in Russia. As a former Cold Warrior, I'm appalled by the Total Spectrum Dominance policies and the Wolfowitz Doctrine. The left's onboard because they see it as Woke War III for their ideology worldwide. You're right, it's near impossible to find out the truth, because the propaganda is full on war fever with deceit the objective.
Bill. I think to answers your questions we might relook at Jean Kirkpatrick 1990 essay on America as a Normal Nation. We missed her call to return to the defense of our republic which is our only real mission.https://davereaboi.com/jeane-kirkpatrick-a-normal-country-in-a-normal-time-1990/