The Rush To War And, Of Course, Money
POST 1266
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The U.S. Stampede To War
A piece published in Dispatches from the Atlantic Council entitled Before striking Iran, Trump should answer these six questions explores what our bottomlessly ignorant President and State Department should have done before launching this illegal war. The questions are here, with my answers following them.
Questions and Answers
Q1: What is the objective of [this] military campaign?
First, foremost, middle and last, to distract from the Epstein case.
As to the military objective, nobody knows. It’s a vast cluelessness, callousness and official incompetence surrounded by tough guy posturing. See this sample of the White House videos.
Q2: What might Iran do in response?
There is no evidence that this was considered. But by now we know.
Q3: Will Trump face any consequences this time around?
Oh, please, please, please.
Q4: [Wa]s there a feasible diplomatic off-ramp prior to conflict?
Yes, given that Iran posed no threat to the U.S. But Trump was too excited about looking like a tough guy flexing U.S. military muscle to bother with little impediments like diplomacy.
Q5: How will the Iranian people respond to a military campaign?
They will die and it will be from our bombs, missiles and drones.
Q6: What role will US regional partners play?
They will be targets for Iranian missiles and drones. They won’t lift a finger to help the war effort, nor will any U.S. ally.
We can add more questions, like:
Jax Q & A
Q7: What is the end game – the off ramp for ending this war?
There is none. Trump says bombing will stop “[w]hen I feel it, OK, feel it in my bones.” Yes, he said that.
Q8: Now that we’ve broken things, we own them, per the Pottery Barn rule. What are we prepared to do with the broken mess we’ve created?
Nothing. We will just turn our back to the suffering we’ve created. Think: Viet Nam; Iraq; Libya; Syria; Afghanistan; Yemen; Somalia; Nigeria; Venezuela.
Q9: How will we repair relationships with the countries in the region that have suffered from Iranian bombardment, triggered by our display of our manly manliness?
Trump will tell them that nobody has ever seen anything like the rebuilding we’ll do. Then he will accept their bribes, which they will give, hoping for assistance. He will pocket the money and do nothing to help them.
Q10. How many dead American military is too many?
There is no number high enough to deter Trump from his Epstein distraction.
There is so much that should have been done way in advance of any hostilities by smart, wise experts in international affairs. But those people have been forced out and replaced either by nobody, leaving us empty of expertise, or by know nothings and people who think war is a bar room video game.
Now the question is how we can get out of this mess. Trump will reject any solution that won’t leave him looking like a hero, the likes of which nobody’s ever seen before, and keep us distracted from the Epstein criminal participants. Got any ideas?
Follow What?
After being forced out of office by the exposure of his criminality in the Watergate crimes, Nixon returned to his home in California and never admitted to any wrongdoing. Indeed, in an interview with David Frost in 1977 he defended himself, famously declaring,”When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” That was an echo of the long dead divine right of kings and a precursor to the divine right of Trump, a vicious Supreme Court perversion of our Constitution.
The advice to Woodward and Bernstein for investigating Watergate was, “Follow the money.” We can do that now to understand Trump’s illegal war against Iran.
Who benefits monetarily? The easiest way to think about that is to consider who benefits from greatly increased oil prices.
The U.S. is energy independent. The Straight of Hormuz may be blocked and 20% of the world’s oil supply may be choked off, but that doesn’t affect supplies here. The cost to produce a gallon of gas or diesel fuel has not increased a bit, but still the prices at the pump continue to rise, costing you more to fill your tank.
What a great business to be in! You’re the loser because you are funding the expanding profits of oil companies. Watch those quarterly reports for confirmation. Trump’s billionaire friends thank you.
Who else benefits from this war? Certainly, the manufacturers of war matériel receive enormous contracts to replace our fabulously expensive drones, missiles, rockets, bullets, airplanes and more. Betcha those billionaire friends of Trump are sending him messages with hugs and kisses emojis.
How about Saudi Arabia? They hate the Iranians. They’re in a centuries old battle of Sunni/Shiite, each side certain that Allah is on their side and the other side is a horde of horribles, which may be true in both directions. Betcha the Saudis are content to have Trump do the dirty work of pounding Iran. They just might be paying Trump handsomely for him to be their bounty hunter. Watch for more billions to be given to Jared Kushner.
Russia has sucked up over $6 billion due to Trump releasing Russia from oil sanctions. How come Putin gains whenever Trump acts?
You get the idea. This war was a money con long before a shot was fired. We’ve been given bottomlessly stupid explanations for the reason for our attack, including that Trump “had a feeling” that the Iranians might possibly do something or other. We’ve been given a long string of goals for this war with no consistency among the idio-scenti.*
Pay no attention to our over 140 mangled troops dumped into VA hospitals or the now 13 flag draped coffins that have arrived at Dover AFB. Hey, our President told us with a yawn that people die in war, you know?
And he calls them suckers and losers.
Ultimately, it’s simple: follow the money. But DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT be distracted from the Epstein case.
I’m Not So Sure
Likely, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, was unglued because he had lost four family members to an Israeli bombing in Lebanon last week. So, he did what anyone would do. He strapped on his rifle, mounted his vehicle and rammed it into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
In the aftermath of each of our unceasing episodes of religious and racial violence we regularly hear calls to our “shared humanity.” I’m not so sure that we have a shared humanity, except in a genetics sense. When someone is moved to violence against others, is that person’s humanity displaced or perhaps destroyed by uncontrollable rage? Did the killer of eleven at Tree Of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh share our humanity? It looked to me more like he was sharing his rage and his full magazines of bullets. Same at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where nine were murdered. Same when ten were murdered at the Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo. Do we have a shared humanity with those murderers? I’m not feeling it.
Right now I’m not much in the mood to understand those who want to get their way by means of murder. There just isn’t much humanity in that.
Come to think of it, that’s a lot like Trump leading our military, getting his way by means of murder.
Spare me the calls to shared humanity.
Make Your Voice Heard
Click here to find a No Kings rally near you. Then show up on March 28.
The cure for hopelessness is action.
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* Cognoscenti – “people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject.” My made-up idio-scenti is the opposite.
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