I'm not getting any younger, my memory may not be all it used to be, but kindly remind me what our "greatest ally" has ever done for The Home of Bacon Cheeseburgers, Midnight Madness Sales, and the 4-6-3 Double play?
That aside, I don't believe any of the so-called world leaders have any idea as to just how fragile the planet is. To do so, they'd have to listen to scientists drone on about the long-term effects of current policies. Not gonna happen with people who are only concerned with the timeline to the next election. They'd also have to turn a deaf ear to any and all talk about nuclear "first strike" and "retaliatory strike" capabilities and the need to upgrade the nuclear arsenal. Recall General Turgidson in Dr Strangelove: Casualties might be "no more than ten to twenty million tops, depending on the wind." What's it take to see no one wins in a nuclear exchange? More vision than anyone's elected leaders have displayed within recent memory.
Recommended reading: "The Doomsday Machine" by Daniel Ellsberg.
What we are stuck with is the all-encompassing effects of vulture capitalism on the human race and ecosystems. This won't change as long as the general population remains divided because the vulture capitalists have divided us. As long as the only goal of capitalists is simply to make money, then nothing good will ever get done. If you want to save ecosystems and species, that has to be your goal. The goal can't be "can we figure out how to make money saving the planet from ourselves?"
According to former surgeon generals, Americans are in a mental health crisis. Depression, anxiety, loneliness and isolation. The homeless are mentally ill because they are unable to afford a place to live.
This is the biggest lie of all.
The mental health crisis doesn't reside in the people, it's in the government and corporations leadership. There are at most a few thousand people causing the problems out of six billion. Perhaps only a few hundred. Something to carefully consider.
Americans are suffering from a "mental health crisis" because of the government policies and economic system that supports war and profit over well being of it's citizens and the planet as a whole. Normal mental health has been redefined as what our government decides.
It's glaringly obvious that there are better ways forward. Those ideas however, are labeled as "crazy" as is the person promoting them.
Trump at best is a pathological lier. A narcissist sociopath with delusions of grandeur at worst and yet is being allowed to run for president again.
We have a president who is actively involved, supporting and enabling a genocide with the full support of the Congress. Mass murderers. A government which is ignoring the impending doom of climate change by the continued growth of fossil fuels and a climate change plan which the main concern is continued economic growth in junk consumer goods. Considering nuclear warfare as a viable option. Blatantly lying to the people who they are supposed to represent and serve.
Is there a better definition of insanity?
The lunatics are running the asylum.
Earth may indeed be the only planet in the galaxy given the extraordinary conditions necessary for life to arise and evolve.
99% of all the species of the planet have gone extinct in the evolutionary process. Those are odds even I'D take in a Las Vegas casino. Those species however died off by themselves and didn't cause a mass extinction. This mass extinction will be caused by one species. The planet will recover in millions of years since life seems to be so tenacious and a part of the creation of the universe (however infrequently it arises).
Unfortunately in this extinction humans will be causing the extinction of all the other species which may in fact be as intelligent or more so than humans.
Should we define humans as being the most intelligent species given what we are doing to the planet and each other? You decide.
This is by far your best essay (of those I have read). I wish that it would be read from every pulpit of all denominations/religions this coming weekend and replace the vapid sermons that are the regular spiritual faire that most congregations get. I am an octogenarian who has observed the world since the end of WW II. I am also a trained historian who knows a fair bit of history (both ancient and modern). Humankind is indeed in its most existential crisis ever. I won’t have much of a future, but I am deeply disturbed because the future of my children, grandchildren and their contemporaries is in danger. Your reference to Henry Kissinger’s supposed use and admiration of “Bismarckian Realpolitik” would surprise Bismarck who, after the creation of a unified modern German state in 1871, did everything in his power to prevent war at any cost. He prevented war with astute diplomacy for forty years. Even during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870/71 he wasn’t ruthless enough according to American general Sheridan. “You must see the smoke rise from the French villages to win” said the American to the Prussian statesman. I wish we had statesmen (women) like Bismarck directing the affairs of the western powers. I know this is wishful thinking. The looming ecocide is certainly another very concerning issue that needs cooperation from all nations. Unfortunately, again western greed is insatiable and out-of-control and our mainly western leadership has been (and is) kicking the ball down the road till it roles into planetary abyss.
The Really interesting ~ and Very disturbing ~ thing about the House passing the FISA re-authorization Bill was what Speaker of the House Johnson said in explaining his switch from being anti- to pro-FISA:
“Though Johnson was once a vocal critic of FISA’s Section 702 – which handed US intelligence agencies sweeping powers to spy on Americans in the wake of the 9/11 attacks – he quickly reversed course after his promotion to House speaker.
“’When I was a member of [the House Judiciary Committee], I saw all of the abuses of the FBI – there were terrible abuses, over and over and over,’ Johnson told reporters earlier this week, explaining his about-face.
“’And then WHEN I BECAME SPEAKER, I… GOT THE CONFIDENTIAL BRIEFING FROM SORT OF THE OTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THAT, TO UNDERSTAND THE NECESSITY OF SECTION 702 OF FISA AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY. AND IT GAVE ME A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE,’ he added.”
So the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is privy to information that nobody else in the House has; and “from that sort of OTHER perspective on that,,,,” at that.
That being the case, then how are those Representatives supposed to make decisions on what to vote for and against so as to best serve and protect the well-being and interests of their Constituents and this Nation?
One can only wonder ~ and guess ~ at who else was in those “confidential briefings.” And why they want warrantless surveillance of and spying on American Citizens to continue, thus totally obliterating any respect for and protection of the not just American ~ but Human ~ Right to Privacy.
This is very interesting to read in The Jerusalem Post Today!
"The situation is tense on all levels of the government and the IDF. On the one hand, the general assessment is that Iran does not want an all-out war and it is with that assessment that the IDF reportedly came to the security cabinet when recommending that missiles be fired at a building in Damascus to kill Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi."
There's no discussion of the FACT, the Israeli attack on Iranian Sovereign Diplomatic Territory in Damascus, not in Iran itself is in FACT, an Israeli Declaration of WAR on IRAN and a gross violation of International Law. Israel can get away with consistently violating International Law and geting a free get out of Jail pass since 1967 when the US World KNEW Israeli Settlements in OCCUPIED PALESTINE were a violation of the Real International Law and said don't do it, but did nothing to stop it.
With all the expert panels, there's no talk on CNN & MSNBC how dangerous that Israeli ESCALATION in violation of International Law is for the World. With that Israeli ACT OF WAR, Israel just put the World on Notice: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!
ARMAGEDDON is on the WAY if the People don't wake up before that END is too late to stop!
Israel and the US already told Iran if they retaliate against Israel's ACT of WAR against Iran, together they will retaliate against Iran-again! NO ONE IN THIS WORLD ANYWHERE WILL ESCAPE THE CONSEQUENCES!
The Jerusalem Post is FREE to read, and give a thumbs up or down, but it $costs to make a comment, and it's not cheap!
thank you for this arresting, elucubrating, and eloquent comment, toma. as w/ me and multifarious readers of astore's timely articles, we are old, on our way out, and are subsumed to naught but venting. nonetheless, the least we valetudinarians can do at this end-stage in our respective lives, is endeavour to divulgate astore's beseechings, his anti-war perfervidities, and his readers' comments to the hoi-polloi, or at the least, to the more operose, puerile youngsters in our personal ambits.
Your friend William D. Hartung the senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft wrote this in February.
"Military Spending Isn’t the Economic Galvanizer You Think it Is"
The opportunity costs of throwing endless trillions of dollars at the military means far less is invested in other crucial American needs.
"If current trends continue, the military economy will only keep on growing at the expense of so much else we need as a society, exacerbating inequality, stifling innovation, and perpetuating a policy of endless war. We can’t allow the illusion—and it is an illusion!—of military-fueled prosperity to allow us to neglect the needs of tens of millions of people or to hinder our ability to envision the kind of world we want to build for future generations. The next time you hear a politician, a Pentagon bureaucrat, or a corporate functionary tell you about the economic wonders of massive military budgets, don’t buy the hype."
Yes, war is an abomination, a nuclear exchange unthinkable.
But even absent any consideration of war---even if another shot were never fired, another bomb never dropped---if we do nothing to stop climate change, the result will be the equivalent of many thousands of Hiroshimas. Ecocide will bring about planetary genocide. The tragic part is that we'll take all the other animals with us.
Bill, you keep writing articles like this and I will keep linking them @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ as I see nothing to disagree with, with your logic!!!!!!!!!
It’s hard to make sense of Israel’s Massacre and blatant Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their Homes in Gaza the World can see if not Israelis.
Israel did 2 stupid things on April Fools Day 2024, escalating the World’s horror of Israeli behaviour, as if Israel deliberately wants to turn the World against it so it could take even more drastic measures in Gaza, the Middle East and the World!
The 1st stupid thing Israel did April 1 was to deliberately target the World Central Kitchen convoy delivering the insufficient aid reaching besieged Gaza. If only Palestinians were killed, most probably it wouldn’t have been hyped like it was by the Global Media, but white Europeans were killed, and that changed everything! The World was finally outraged!
To keep what is unfolding in the ultra-Religious Middle East in perspective, People must be aware the Old Testament Jewish Establishment Religion became the Israeli government under Netanyahu in January 2023 whose soul goal is to establish on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza the Likud Party platform which expressly says, “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
One also has to bear in mind Nuclear armed Israel Today, is a recreation from the Jewish Old Testament some 2700 years ago. For them, the Old Testament trumps Today’s International Law, whether we in the irreligious US West likes it or not, deluding ourselves into thinking it can’t affect MY Future Plans and Goals.
The United Nations Secretary-General said the plain obvious TRUTH, “October 7 didn’t happen in a vacuum” but Israel, in it’s WAR Propaganda where TRUTH is still the 1st casualty of War, wants the World to believe the 17 year Israeli siege and control of Gaza had no influence that led to October 7.
The 2nd stupid thing Israel did on April Fools Day 2024 was to effectively expand the Gaza Massacre with it’s deliberate ESCALATION of the War by Israel’s ACT OF WAR attacking Iran’s Sovereign Diplomatic Mission in Damascus in a gross VIOLATION of International LAW the US West still will not recognize and hype as Israel has drawn in the US into backing Israel’s aggression directly to Iran without conditions.
HOUSE VOTES TO EXTEND WARRANTLESS SPYING POWERS by Will Porter /antiwar.com 12 Apr 24
US lawmakers have passed a bill reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), A LAW WHICH ALLOWS THE GOVERNMENT TO SURVEIL AMERICAN CITIZENS WITHOUT A WARRANT. A small group of Republicans previously blocked the vote, but allowed it to proceed following a minor amendment to the law.
The two-year extension passed the House on Friday in a bipartisan vote of 273-147, with 126 Republicans and 147 Democrats supporting the bill, which will now proceed to the Senate. Though lawmakers also debated an amendment that would have forced federal agencies to obtain warrants before spying on Americans, it failed in a tie vote.
“THIS IS HOW THE CONSTITUTION DIES… THIS IS A SAD DAY FOR AMERICA,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said after the amendment went “down in flames.” He noted that House Speaker Mike Johnson provided the tie-breaking vote to kill the warrant requirement.
There is, indeed, only one “Spaceship Earth” in this Solar System.
And, as Toma pointed out earlier: “Earth may indeed be the only planet in the galaxy given the extraordinary conditions necessary for life to arise and evolve.”
My guess, hunch, and in fact, Belief, is that across the vast expanse of The Known Universe, that there are many, many, perhaps countless “Spaceship Earths,” or whatever the most intelligent Life Form there calls their Home Planet wherever those extraordinary conditions arise so that Evolution can take place. [And perhaps at least a few in our Milky Way Galaxy.]
And each of those Home Planets and their Life is exactly what Earth is: An Experiment.
An Experiment to see what happens when Energy, Waves, and Particles emerge out of a Void, and are acted upon by Forces and Fields in accordance with the Laws, Rules, and Constants of this particular and specific Space-Time Continuum, resulting from and/or in Information and/or ~ but ultimately ~ Entropy.
If Human Beings succeed in destroying themselves and, in the process, even all of Life on this Planet, that will be the end of the Experiment in this region of that Space-Time Continuum. But the Experiment will go elsewhere. And will continue to go on until the end of this Universe.
Or, as Ian McHarg once put it:
"Man, far out in space, looks back to the distant earth, a celestial orb, blue-green oceans, green of verdant land, a celestial fruit. Examination discloses blemishes on the fruit, dispersed circles from which extend dynamic tentacles. The man concludes that these cankers are the works of man and asks, 'Is man by a planetary disease?'"
And
"The nuclear cataclysm is over. The earth is covered with gray dust. In the vast silence no life exists, save for a little colony of algae hidden deep in a leaden cleft long inured to radiation. The algae perceive their isolation; they reflect upon the strivings of all life, so recently ended, and on the strenuous task of evolution to be begun anew. Out of their reflection could emerge a firm conclusion: 'Next time, no brains'." Source: https://www.gardenvisit.com/biography/ian_mcharg .
An excellent and wide ranging essay. We Americans want what we want, want it now, want it to be supplied in unlimited quantity and look forward to a future that provides even more stuff.
I'd like to address a specific issue, a big one in our downfall to date - the situation with Israel.
I'd say the war of ideas is over and money has won. Our foreign policy in the Middle East is directed by Israel, whose lobby power is unequalled and if Israel is successful in bringing Iran to war I have no doubt Biden, a Zionist in his bones, will immediately go in with Israel without a second thought.
Please stay with me. Right now the world is waiting for a response from Iran to the Israeli bombing of Iran's consulate in Syria. Iran has put up with humiliation after humiliation from Israel over the decades including assassinations of Iranians inside Iran and the incredible assassination of Qassam Soleimani by Trump at Netanyuhu's behest. Yet Iran doesn't want war with the US and has shown restraint throughout. Israel is eager for the US to fight a war with Iran. All of the neo-cons, Jews or not, have been to a man/woman, Zionists.
Years ago Israel preferred the US take out Iran, but settled for Iraq. Now Israel wants to go the last mile and get Iran and the US fighting. Given the Israeli attitude of "everything we do to others is righteous because we do it, anything they may do to us is the start of a second holocaust" I would not put it beyond the possible that Israel might make war with Iran unavoidable and drop a nuclear bomb on an Iranian city, knowing that 1) Iran would have to declare war and 2) Joe Biden would immediately go in with Israel. Israel uber alles.
(an aside - why have we always thought Iran as pure evil to be kept from nukes while Israel, given the view we know it has, is to be totally trusted with them?)
Now lets consider the crazy guy Trump. He is dedicated to nothing but making money and self glorification. He will not hesitate to denounce anyone no matter what position they hold or the content of their character. He is the sun around which all must orbit reflecting his glory. He demands respect but gives none. If not enough respect and admiration are coming his way, he will readily praise himself. This is the key to his popularity. He leads an army of enraged citizens who want him to get into power to break things and to tell people in positions of power to go to hell. I have no doubt he will deliver if elected and take pleasure in doing so. He's not hiding anything, we all know what he is about and many want him to have at it, impatient for November.
Now I don't want Trump or Biden as president and there is no chance I will vote for either one, but consider the following. Should Israel do something horrendous to Iran that leaves Iran no choice but to declare war, what would Trump do? As mentioned, he has no respect for anything or anyone and in fact denounced Netanyahu for supposedly tricking Trump into killing Soleimani and then (Netanyahu) saying Israel was not involved. Trump does not forget lese majeste. I think there is a real possibility that Trump would respond to Iran declaring war on Israel, after a deliberate attack by Israel on Iran, that Israel can go pound sand.
Think of it! The commander in chief refusing to start a war after so many years of presidents leading the US into one after another as Trump defiantly (his best pose) proves he is like no other before him. Congress would go nuts in deference to AIPAC by suddenly trying to exert its long dormant Constitutional right to declare war to force the US to fight Iran. Trump would use his bully pulpit to the max, nobody in Congress would be safe to defy him.
What we know is true, our capture by Zionism, would be on full display for everyone to see and who would the American people support? Trump would be the lone man standing against all to keep the US out of a war with no benefit for us. It would be the ultimate ego boost as under full attack by the most powerful lobby, he holds the line for the country! We the people would go wild absolutely swamping every member of Congress with approval of Trump's stand. AIPAC destroyed in a stroke. Trump's dream of ultimate glory would be fulfilled. The United States saved by a crazy man.
I'm not getting any younger, my memory may not be all it used to be, but kindly remind me what our "greatest ally" has ever done for The Home of Bacon Cheeseburgers, Midnight Madness Sales, and the 4-6-3 Double play?
That aside, I don't believe any of the so-called world leaders have any idea as to just how fragile the planet is. To do so, they'd have to listen to scientists drone on about the long-term effects of current policies. Not gonna happen with people who are only concerned with the timeline to the next election. They'd also have to turn a deaf ear to any and all talk about nuclear "first strike" and "retaliatory strike" capabilities and the need to upgrade the nuclear arsenal. Recall General Turgidson in Dr Strangelove: Casualties might be "no more than ten to twenty million tops, depending on the wind." What's it take to see no one wins in a nuclear exchange? More vision than anyone's elected leaders have displayed within recent memory.
Recommended reading: "The Doomsday Machine" by Daniel Ellsberg.
What we are stuck with is the all-encompassing effects of vulture capitalism on the human race and ecosystems. This won't change as long as the general population remains divided because the vulture capitalists have divided us. As long as the only goal of capitalists is simply to make money, then nothing good will ever get done. If you want to save ecosystems and species, that has to be your goal. The goal can't be "can we figure out how to make money saving the planet from ourselves?"
According to former surgeon generals, Americans are in a mental health crisis. Depression, anxiety, loneliness and isolation. The homeless are mentally ill because they are unable to afford a place to live.
This is the biggest lie of all.
The mental health crisis doesn't reside in the people, it's in the government and corporations leadership. There are at most a few thousand people causing the problems out of six billion. Perhaps only a few hundred. Something to carefully consider.
Americans are suffering from a "mental health crisis" because of the government policies and economic system that supports war and profit over well being of it's citizens and the planet as a whole. Normal mental health has been redefined as what our government decides.
It's glaringly obvious that there are better ways forward. Those ideas however, are labeled as "crazy" as is the person promoting them.
Trump at best is a pathological lier. A narcissist sociopath with delusions of grandeur at worst and yet is being allowed to run for president again.
We have a president who is actively involved, supporting and enabling a genocide with the full support of the Congress. Mass murderers. A government which is ignoring the impending doom of climate change by the continued growth of fossil fuels and a climate change plan which the main concern is continued economic growth in junk consumer goods. Considering nuclear warfare as a viable option. Blatantly lying to the people who they are supposed to represent and serve.
Is there a better definition of insanity?
The lunatics are running the asylum.
Earth may indeed be the only planet in the galaxy given the extraordinary conditions necessary for life to arise and evolve.
99% of all the species of the planet have gone extinct in the evolutionary process. Those are odds even I'D take in a Las Vegas casino. Those species however died off by themselves and didn't cause a mass extinction. This mass extinction will be caused by one species. The planet will recover in millions of years since life seems to be so tenacious and a part of the creation of the universe (however infrequently it arises).
Unfortunately in this extinction humans will be causing the extinction of all the other species which may in fact be as intelligent or more so than humans.
Should we define humans as being the most intelligent species given what we are doing to the planet and each other? You decide.
This is by far your best essay (of those I have read). I wish that it would be read from every pulpit of all denominations/religions this coming weekend and replace the vapid sermons that are the regular spiritual faire that most congregations get. I am an octogenarian who has observed the world since the end of WW II. I am also a trained historian who knows a fair bit of history (both ancient and modern). Humankind is indeed in its most existential crisis ever. I won’t have much of a future, but I am deeply disturbed because the future of my children, grandchildren and their contemporaries is in danger. Your reference to Henry Kissinger’s supposed use and admiration of “Bismarckian Realpolitik” would surprise Bismarck who, after the creation of a unified modern German state in 1871, did everything in his power to prevent war at any cost. He prevented war with astute diplomacy for forty years. Even during the Franco-Prussian war in 1870/71 he wasn’t ruthless enough according to American general Sheridan. “You must see the smoke rise from the French villages to win” said the American to the Prussian statesman. I wish we had statesmen (women) like Bismarck directing the affairs of the western powers. I know this is wishful thinking. The looming ecocide is certainly another very concerning issue that needs cooperation from all nations. Unfortunately, again western greed is insatiable and out-of-control and our mainly western leadership has been (and is) kicking the ball down the road till it roles into planetary abyss.
The Really interesting ~ and Very disturbing ~ thing about the House passing the FISA re-authorization Bill was what Speaker of the House Johnson said in explaining his switch from being anti- to pro-FISA:
“Though Johnson was once a vocal critic of FISA’s Section 702 – which handed US intelligence agencies sweeping powers to spy on Americans in the wake of the 9/11 attacks – he quickly reversed course after his promotion to House speaker.
“’When I was a member of [the House Judiciary Committee], I saw all of the abuses of the FBI – there were terrible abuses, over and over and over,’ Johnson told reporters earlier this week, explaining his about-face.
“’And then WHEN I BECAME SPEAKER, I… GOT THE CONFIDENTIAL BRIEFING FROM SORT OF THE OTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THAT, TO UNDERSTAND THE NECESSITY OF SECTION 702 OF FISA AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY. AND IT GAVE ME A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE,’ he added.”
So the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is privy to information that nobody else in the House has; and “from that sort of OTHER perspective on that,,,,” at that.
That being the case, then how are those Representatives supposed to make decisions on what to vote for and against so as to best serve and protect the well-being and interests of their Constituents and this Nation?
One can only wonder ~ and guess ~ at who else was in those “confidential briefings.” And why they want warrantless surveillance of and spying on American Citizens to continue, thus totally obliterating any respect for and protection of the not just American ~ but Human ~ Right to Privacy.
Full article at https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/12/house-votes-to-extend-warrantless-spying-powers/ ; EMPHASES added.
This is very interesting to read in The Jerusalem Post Today!
"The situation is tense on all levels of the government and the IDF. On the one hand, the general assessment is that Iran does not want an all-out war and it is with that assessment that the IDF reportedly came to the security cabinet when recommending that missiles be fired at a building in Damascus to kill Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi."
There's no discussion of the FACT, the Israeli attack on Iranian Sovereign Diplomatic Territory in Damascus, not in Iran itself is in FACT, an Israeli Declaration of WAR on IRAN and a gross violation of International Law. Israel can get away with consistently violating International Law and geting a free get out of Jail pass since 1967 when the US World KNEW Israeli Settlements in OCCUPIED PALESTINE were a violation of the Real International Law and said don't do it, but did nothing to stop it.
With all the expert panels, there's no talk on CNN & MSNBC how dangerous that Israeli ESCALATION in violation of International Law is for the World. With that Israeli ACT OF WAR, Israel just put the World on Notice: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED!
ARMAGEDDON is on the WAY if the People don't wake up before that END is too late to stop!
Israel and the US already told Iran if they retaliate against Israel's ACT of WAR against Iran, together they will retaliate against Iran-again! NO ONE IN THIS WORLD ANYWHERE WILL ESCAPE THE CONSEQUENCES!
The Jerusalem Post is FREE to read, and give a thumbs up or down, but it $costs to make a comment, and it's not cheap!
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-796593?
thank you for this arresting, elucubrating, and eloquent comment, toma. as w/ me and multifarious readers of astore's timely articles, we are old, on our way out, and are subsumed to naught but venting. nonetheless, the least we valetudinarians can do at this end-stage in our respective lives, is endeavour to divulgate astore's beseechings, his anti-war perfervidities, and his readers' comments to the hoi-polloi, or at the least, to the more operose, puerile youngsters in our personal ambits.
Great blog Bill, Thanks.
Your friend William D. Hartung the senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft wrote this in February.
"Military Spending Isn’t the Economic Galvanizer You Think it Is"
The opportunity costs of throwing endless trillions of dollars at the military means far less is invested in other crucial American needs.
"If current trends continue, the military economy will only keep on growing at the expense of so much else we need as a society, exacerbating inequality, stifling innovation, and perpetuating a policy of endless war. We can’t allow the illusion—and it is an illusion!—of military-fueled prosperity to allow us to neglect the needs of tens of millions of people or to hinder our ability to envision the kind of world we want to build for future generations. The next time you hear a politician, a Pentagon bureaucrat, or a corporate functionary tell you about the economic wonders of massive military budgets, don’t buy the hype."
https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/military-spending-isnt-the-economic-galvanizer-you-think-it-is/
Nice reading and very good points. Thank you.
Here something I wrote if you can survive my pore English and typos.
https://mywisdom.substack.com/p/armageddon-revisited
Yes, war is an abomination, a nuclear exchange unthinkable.
But even absent any consideration of war---even if another shot were never fired, another bomb never dropped---if we do nothing to stop climate change, the result will be the equivalent of many thousands of Hiroshimas. Ecocide will bring about planetary genocide. The tragic part is that we'll take all the other animals with us.
Bill, you keep writing articles like this and I will keep linking them @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ as I see nothing to disagree with, with your logic!!!!!!!!!
Neoliberal militarism, and militarist Keynesians.
Progressivescare ripe to call opposition impossible and Putin slaves
It’s hard to make sense of Israel’s Massacre and blatant Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their Homes in Gaza the World can see if not Israelis.
Israel did 2 stupid things on April Fools Day 2024, escalating the World’s horror of Israeli behaviour, as if Israel deliberately wants to turn the World against it so it could take even more drastic measures in Gaza, the Middle East and the World!
The 1st stupid thing Israel did April 1 was to deliberately target the World Central Kitchen convoy delivering the insufficient aid reaching besieged Gaza. If only Palestinians were killed, most probably it wouldn’t have been hyped like it was by the Global Media, but white Europeans were killed, and that changed everything! The World was finally outraged!
To keep what is unfolding in the ultra-Religious Middle East in perspective, People must be aware the Old Testament Jewish Establishment Religion became the Israeli government under Netanyahu in January 2023 whose soul goal is to establish on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza the Likud Party platform which expressly says, “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
One also has to bear in mind Nuclear armed Israel Today, is a recreation from the Jewish Old Testament some 2700 years ago. For them, the Old Testament trumps Today’s International Law, whether we in the irreligious US West likes it or not, deluding ourselves into thinking it can’t affect MY Future Plans and Goals.
The United Nations Secretary-General said the plain obvious TRUTH, “October 7 didn’t happen in a vacuum” but Israel, in it’s WAR Propaganda where TRUTH is still the 1st casualty of War, wants the World to believe the 17 year Israeli siege and control of Gaza had no influence that led to October 7.
The 2nd stupid thing Israel did on April Fools Day 2024 was to effectively expand the Gaza Massacre with it’s deliberate ESCALATION of the War by Israel’s ACT OF WAR attacking Iran’s Sovereign Diplomatic Mission in Damascus in a gross VIOLATION of International LAW the US West still will not recognize and hype as Israel has drawn in the US into backing Israel’s aggression directly to Iran without conditions.
https://rayjc.com/2024/04/13/israels-april-fools-day/
HOUSE VOTES TO EXTEND WARRANTLESS SPYING POWERS by Will Porter /antiwar.com 12 Apr 24
US lawmakers have passed a bill reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), A LAW WHICH ALLOWS THE GOVERNMENT TO SURVEIL AMERICAN CITIZENS WITHOUT A WARRANT. A small group of Republicans previously blocked the vote, but allowed it to proceed following a minor amendment to the law.
The two-year extension passed the House on Friday in a bipartisan vote of 273-147, with 126 Republicans and 147 Democrats supporting the bill, which will now proceed to the Senate. Though lawmakers also debated an amendment that would have forced federal agencies to obtain warrants before spying on Americans, it failed in a tie vote.
“THIS IS HOW THE CONSTITUTION DIES… THIS IS A SAD DAY FOR AMERICA,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said after the amendment went “down in flames.” He noted that House Speaker Mike Johnson provided the tie-breaking vote to kill the warrant requirement.
Full article at https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/12/house-votes-to-extend-warrantless-spying-powers/ ; EMPHASES added.
There is, indeed, only one “Spaceship Earth” in this Solar System.
And, as Toma pointed out earlier: “Earth may indeed be the only planet in the galaxy given the extraordinary conditions necessary for life to arise and evolve.”
My guess, hunch, and in fact, Belief, is that across the vast expanse of The Known Universe, that there are many, many, perhaps countless “Spaceship Earths,” or whatever the most intelligent Life Form there calls their Home Planet wherever those extraordinary conditions arise so that Evolution can take place. [And perhaps at least a few in our Milky Way Galaxy.]
And each of those Home Planets and their Life is exactly what Earth is: An Experiment.
An Experiment to see what happens when Energy, Waves, and Particles emerge out of a Void, and are acted upon by Forces and Fields in accordance with the Laws, Rules, and Constants of this particular and specific Space-Time Continuum, resulting from and/or in Information and/or ~ but ultimately ~ Entropy.
If Human Beings succeed in destroying themselves and, in the process, even all of Life on this Planet, that will be the end of the Experiment in this region of that Space-Time Continuum. But the Experiment will go elsewhere. And will continue to go on until the end of this Universe.
Or, as Ian McHarg once put it:
"Man, far out in space, looks back to the distant earth, a celestial orb, blue-green oceans, green of verdant land, a celestial fruit. Examination discloses blemishes on the fruit, dispersed circles from which extend dynamic tentacles. The man concludes that these cankers are the works of man and asks, 'Is man by a planetary disease?'"
And
"The nuclear cataclysm is over. The earth is covered with gray dust. In the vast silence no life exists, save for a little colony of algae hidden deep in a leaden cleft long inured to radiation. The algae perceive their isolation; they reflect upon the strivings of all life, so recently ended, and on the strenuous task of evolution to be begun anew. Out of their reflection could emerge a firm conclusion: 'Next time, no brains'." Source: https://www.gardenvisit.com/biography/ian_mcharg .
An excellent and wide ranging essay. We Americans want what we want, want it now, want it to be supplied in unlimited quantity and look forward to a future that provides even more stuff.
I'd like to address a specific issue, a big one in our downfall to date - the situation with Israel.
I'd say the war of ideas is over and money has won. Our foreign policy in the Middle East is directed by Israel, whose lobby power is unequalled and if Israel is successful in bringing Iran to war I have no doubt Biden, a Zionist in his bones, will immediately go in with Israel without a second thought.
Please stay with me. Right now the world is waiting for a response from Iran to the Israeli bombing of Iran's consulate in Syria. Iran has put up with humiliation after humiliation from Israel over the decades including assassinations of Iranians inside Iran and the incredible assassination of Qassam Soleimani by Trump at Netanyuhu's behest. Yet Iran doesn't want war with the US and has shown restraint throughout. Israel is eager for the US to fight a war with Iran. All of the neo-cons, Jews or not, have been to a man/woman, Zionists.
Years ago Israel preferred the US take out Iran, but settled for Iraq. Now Israel wants to go the last mile and get Iran and the US fighting. Given the Israeli attitude of "everything we do to others is righteous because we do it, anything they may do to us is the start of a second holocaust" I would not put it beyond the possible that Israel might make war with Iran unavoidable and drop a nuclear bomb on an Iranian city, knowing that 1) Iran would have to declare war and 2) Joe Biden would immediately go in with Israel. Israel uber alles.
(an aside - why have we always thought Iran as pure evil to be kept from nukes while Israel, given the view we know it has, is to be totally trusted with them?)
Now lets consider the crazy guy Trump. He is dedicated to nothing but making money and self glorification. He will not hesitate to denounce anyone no matter what position they hold or the content of their character. He is the sun around which all must orbit reflecting his glory. He demands respect but gives none. If not enough respect and admiration are coming his way, he will readily praise himself. This is the key to his popularity. He leads an army of enraged citizens who want him to get into power to break things and to tell people in positions of power to go to hell. I have no doubt he will deliver if elected and take pleasure in doing so. He's not hiding anything, we all know what he is about and many want him to have at it, impatient for November.
Now I don't want Trump or Biden as president and there is no chance I will vote for either one, but consider the following. Should Israel do something horrendous to Iran that leaves Iran no choice but to declare war, what would Trump do? As mentioned, he has no respect for anything or anyone and in fact denounced Netanyahu for supposedly tricking Trump into killing Soleimani and then (Netanyahu) saying Israel was not involved. Trump does not forget lese majeste. I think there is a real possibility that Trump would respond to Iran declaring war on Israel, after a deliberate attack by Israel on Iran, that Israel can go pound sand.
Think of it! The commander in chief refusing to start a war after so many years of presidents leading the US into one after another as Trump defiantly (his best pose) proves he is like no other before him. Congress would go nuts in deference to AIPAC by suddenly trying to exert its long dormant Constitutional right to declare war to force the US to fight Iran. Trump would use his bully pulpit to the max, nobody in Congress would be safe to defy him.
What we know is true, our capture by Zionism, would be on full display for everyone to see and who would the American people support? Trump would be the lone man standing against all to keep the US out of a war with no benefit for us. It would be the ultimate ego boost as under full attack by the most powerful lobby, he holds the line for the country! We the people would go wild absolutely swamping every member of Congress with approval of Trump's stand. AIPAC destroyed in a stroke. Trump's dream of ultimate glory would be fulfilled. The United States saved by a crazy man.