The Empire is Crumbling, That is Why it Needs War

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

by Andre Vltchek

. . . . Almost all of us who have been analyzing the Empire fighting against the propaganda and nihilism it spreads, and its venomous tentacles extending to every corner of the globe, know that ‘appeasing’ Western imperialism is clearly impossible, as it is impractical, and even immoral.

Just as George W. Bush (clearly borrowing from fundamentalist Christian rhetoric), liked to say: “You are either with us or against us”. Countries are now evidently put on the spot: ‘they either accept the Western neo-colonialist doctrine’, or they get destroyed, one after another, as were Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

No logic can help, no negotiations, no international mediation from the United Nations. The willingness to compromise is mocked. Appeals for simple human compassion do not move the rulers of the Empire even an inch.

It is clear that the Empire is preparing for the final assault. It will not back down. It will attack, destroy and annihilate. No idea when, but it will. And it will happen sooner rather than later, and with tremendous force. . . .

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/26/the-empire-is-crumbling-that-is-why-it-needs-war/

[SheilaT]

1. I've been saying for many years, probably twenty, maybe more,

that this country has passed its prime, and we are in the long, slow, downward slide to irrelevance. It'll probably take another decade or two for this to be obvious to the casual observer, but we really are there.

I honestly think that it's the ongoing wars that will destroy us in the end. So long as money is spend on wars and the military instead of for the infrastructure (roads, schools) or the people (health care) we will inevitably decline. The sad thing is that this isn't inevitable, but the consequence of choices made at many levels.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

7. For me the fact that this...

... isn't inevitable is the ONE bright spot which still allows for some hope:

[SheilaT]

9. Thank you for posting that.

It expresses what I tried to far more coherently. I hadn't seen it before, nor did I know of Storm Clouds Gathering.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

10. You're very welcome.

[Adrahil]

11. So when, exactly, was this golden age?

Every generation seems to lament the current state of affairs and long for a Golden Age that was 50-60 years ago. You can trace that behavior throughout recorded history.

[SheilaT]

12. The Golden Age, not that I would call it that,

was WWII and the thirty or so years after when unions were strong, real wages rose, jobs were generally abundant.

It wasn't perfect by any means, especially if you take racism and sexism into account, but we were much better off than the rest of the world in many ways. Our infrastructure hadn't been destroyed by the war, just to name one thing.

But nothing stays the same, and during that time countries like Germany and Japan built a brand new manufacturing infrastructure, and most other countries made health care available to all for free or for a low cost. Same with education. Meanwhile, corporate owners across the industrialized world moved their manufacturing to the cheapest source of labor over and over. First from the textile factories in the Northeast of this country, then to the South, then overseas. It continues today.

Now, our government spends a huge portion of the budget on the military. We spend more on military than the entire rest of the world combined, so there's no many left over to pay for health care or education, the way they do in other countries.

Again, I don't so much think of that earlier post WWII period as a golden age, so much as a time when things were getting better in many ways, but instead of turning all of our talent and wealth to improving lives here at home, we built military bases around the world, constructed tanks and guns and ships and fighter jets. Our collective cultural commitment to maintaining the military is going to be the downfall of this country in the end, of that I am convinced.

[drynberg]

2. Crumbling or not, war means massive profits, death and suffering are not part of the decision

[KoKo]

3. Oh my...that is quite a tormented rant...

and this snip probably has more than a bit of truth to it....sadly.

--------

Do you hear that silence, after the US decided to ‘normalize’ its relationship with Cuba? We all know why there is such a terrible silence, don’t we? Because we realize that, based on the centuries of US involvement in Latin America, this will be part of a new destructive tactic, a new attack: that Cuba may now actually be facing the greatest danger in decades! We don’t know exactly what will happen, but we are somehow certain, that something very terrible will.

Is the West going to manufacture a ‘Cigar Opposition Movement’ in Cuba? Or is it going to be yet another color?

2015 will see many battles.

[CJCRANE]

4. I noticed a huge switcheroo early last year...

A massive turnaround, a huge resurgence of neocon rhetoric and propaganda. Most on DU didn't notice it or refused to acknowledge it, they even went along with it, considered it business as usual. But when a foreign policy I agreed with suddenly did a U-turn and went in completely the opposite direction of what I was expecting, I knew something drastic had changed or been unleashed. Later on, the neocons de-cloaked and re-emerged stronger than ever, as though Obama's first term had never happened.

The neocons didn't learn their lesson from the Bush era, that if you attack people head on, they resist even harder. Or maybe that's what they want, the resistance. Because when there is resistance there is money to be made in the arms race.

And the people who cheer on this relentless wearing down of other countries, don't realize that the same techniques are being used against them, us, against anyone who stands in the way of the open borders global corporate oligarchy.

President Obama's first term foreign policy was the right way to go, it wasn't an "apology tour" as the RW claimed. The world was starting to like and trust America again after the disaster of the Bush years. But the neocons couldn't wait to let it bear fruit. They had other plans. They wanted a reboot of the neocon era, with everything even bigger and badder than last time. And here we are.

[KoKo]

5. Good Points "CJCRANE"

I noticed the same as you. But, then, you and I have been here on DU since almost the beginning. We've seen a lot we've put into context.

Does make one wonder.

As you Say:

President Obama's first term foreign policy was the right way to go, it wasn't an "apology tour" as the RW claimed. The world was starting to like and trust America again after the disaster of the Bush years. But the neocons couldn't wait to let it bear fruit. They had other plans. They wanted a reboot of the neocon era, with everything even bigger and badder than last time. And here we are.

[Odin2005]

6. I fell for it.

One of my earliest memories of the greater world as a kid were stores about the atrocities in Bosnia and the genocide in Rwanda and thinking "we need to help those poor people!!!" and I tend to be a knee-jerk interventionist as a result.

[bemildred]

8. In the end, they always double down. nt

[1step]

13. .

[geek tragedy]

14. This explains the Russian invasion of Ukraine perfectly. nt

[Cal33]

15. It has always been this way since the beginning of history. And the reason?: between 2% and 4%

of the world's population is socio- or psychopathic, just as roughly 1% of the world's population is
schizophrenic.

Psychopaths can't help wanting more profits as well as control over other people. They are highly
ambitious and keep on going after more money and power. Yes, they are conscienceless -- this is
part of their nature.

Eventually they will win and take full control. Also, eventually again, the time will come when they,
too, will be overthrown. This will happen when the vast majority of the people can't take it
anymore, and realize who is causing their misery. This has been happening over and over again
throughout history, and all over the world.

Recently, 4 or 5 genes have been identified in the genetic make-up of psychopaths. It must also be
said here that there are sociopaths who do not have these genes. Perhaps they became sociopathic
through their upbringing. (I use the words sociopath and psychopath interchangeably).

If the human race survives long enough, it might be possible for future scientists to manipulate those
genes, so that no babies will be born with them. Scientists might also learn how to educate parents
how to raise their children, so that environment will no longer be a cause in the formation of socio- and
psychopathic personalities.

I hope humans will survive long enough to see that day. We are now so advanced technologically that,
unlike earlier times, we might not be able to survive another World War. This is the big difference
between the past and the present.

[uhnope]

16. Counterpunch is crumbling, that's why it needs bullshit articles

by extremist Russian-born authors already outed for their propaganda
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/26/strange_bedfellows_putin_the_chomskyite_left_and_the_ghosts_of_the_cold_war/