War Incorporated

[Deranged Rhino]

The same people who brought you never-ending-wars in the sandbox are proud to roll out 2022's new lineup of war, promising fun for the whole family! 

 

 

War is big business for "The Big Guy", but he's not running the show. 

 

It's these guys and their ilk... 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Deranged Rhino

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[Cinga]

Keep in mind too that corporate war tends to be a great distraction from problems at home. If you haven't  yet, read a little of Smedley Butler. One of the most decorated Marines of all time he railed against war profiteering after his retirement and much of his words hold true today

[Deranged Rhino]

 

[RkFast]

The thing thats so funny to me about this one is if you are at all have reservations about any of this youre a "puppet of Putin." Ive said before, he very well may be a maniacal lunatic on the level of Adolph Hitler but those comparisons, along with the "OMG, its 'Munich 1938' all over again if we comprimise at all and solve this thru diplomacy!!!!" ones seem a bit far fetched to me. Theres about 5,000 things different between this situation and that one and the players involved. 

[Koko]

22 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

 

I did rather enjoy him creating a strawman to argue against.

[Ann]

Presidents and their wars

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

One really shouldn't hold Afghanistan against Bush.  That was hardly voluntary - we were attacked, badly.  

 

On the other hand...OIF was completely voluntary, and one of the most avoidable wars in recent history, and more than makes up for Afghanistan.

 

And one shouldn't list Libya as three different actions for Reagan.  It was all one long but sporadic conflict.  Few people realize we were at war with Libya for most of the '80s.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

On 1/24/2022 at 1:51 PM, Deranged Rhino said:

The same people who brought you never-ending-wars in the sandbox are proud to roll out 2022's new lineup of war, promising fun for the whole family! 

 

 

War is big business for "The Big Guy", but he's not running the show. 

 

It's these guys and their ilk... 

 

So the argument here is that Putin is a stooge for the international cabal?

 

Because Putin's responsible for this war.

[Deranged Rhino]

2 hours ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

So the argument here is that Putin is a stooge for the international cabal?

 

Because Putin's responsible for this war.

 

 

Stooge isn't the right word, as Putin himself represents a rival sect for the western MiC/IC. He's a foe, an adversary, perhaps even an enemy of the western sects. He wants a bigger slice of the pie for himself, that does not make him an ally of The People in my calculus. Putin absolutely is the one who fired the first shots. 

 

... But it's also true that western policy across the past 8+ years: the Clinton/Obama/Nuland/McCain orchestrated coup in 2014 coupled with the rapid expansion of NATO in direct contradiction to what was promised when the USSR fell, helped turn what was a tinderbox into an inferno.

 

Back when this thread was created, there were plenty of cards the West could have played to pull us from the brink - but instead of de-escalating they proceeded to "blunder" into a crisis that was so unexpected everyone saw it coming months ahead of time. From using the filibuster to avoid sanctioning Nord Stream 2 (while making the case in the media that the filibuster was a relic of Jim Crow), to letting NATO members slide on their commitments, to re-tasking national defense forces to hunt for extremists within their own ranks while ignoring Putin's build up on the border until it was too late.

 

Now, you can argue that all of that was just poor or misguided policies and you'd have a solid argument. None of this is black and white. But in order to make that argument you have to ignore Ukraine's role as a piggy bank for the same western MiC/IC sect who's now calling for an escalation of hostilities. The architects of this disaster in the west didn't put us on this path to protect our country, or even European nations or NATO. They put us on this path because Ukraine is a money laundering station for some of the worst actors within the western IC/MiC sects, and allowing it to fall into hostile hands not only puts them at risk of exposure, it cuts off multiple profit centers for them.

 

Even if you don't buy any of that, which is fine, there's still the timing to consider. 

 

It's oddly convenient that this whole thing pops off just when the west's own authoritarian bent was being exposed to the world, and just when many leaders in the west needed a narrative change for their own political future's sake. There were stories being written every day about the overreach of western democracies - from Honking Canadian truckers to the US Government hunting down "insurrectionists", to COVID insanity gripping the "free" world. And then, just in time, here comes a shiny new distraction with a perfect villain to compare and contrast Biden, Trudeau and others against.

 

"Biden/Trudeau may not be great, but he's no Putin!"

 

Based on everything we've seen come to pass the past decade alone, I think it's much more naïve to trust the narratives coming from the same power centers that have lied to our faces for decades, and lied to us the most about the origin of conflicts just like this.

[Foxx]

1 hour ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

 

Stooge isn't the right word, as Putin himself represents a rival sect for the western MiC/IC. He's a foe, an adversary, perhaps even an enemy of the western sects. He wants a bigger slice of the pie for himself, that does not make him an ally of The People in my calculus. Putin absolutely is the one who fired the first shots. 

 

... But it's also true that western policy across the past 8+ years: the Clinton/Obama/Nuland/McCain orchestrated coup in 2014 coupled with the rapid expansion of NATO in direct contradiction to what was promised when the USSR fell, helped turn what was a tinderbox into an inferno.

 

Back when this thread was created, there were plenty of cards the West could have played to pull us from the brink - but instead of de-escalating they proceeded to "blunder" into a crisis that was so unexpected everyone saw it coming months ahead of time. From using the filibuster to avoid sanctioning Nord Stream 2 (while making the case in the media that the filibuster was a relic of Jim Crow), to letting NATO members slide on their commitments, to re-tasking national defense forces to hunt for extremists within their own ranks while ignoring Putin's build up on the border until it was too late.

 

Now, you can argue that all of that was just poor or misguided policies and you'd have a solid argument. None of this is black and white. But in order to make that argument you have to ignore Ukraine's role as a piggy bank for the same western MiC/IC sect who's now calling for an escalation of hostilities. The architects of this disaster in the west didn't put us on this path to protect our country, or even European nations or NATO. They put us on this path because Ukraine is a money laundering station for some of the worst actors within the western IC/MiC sects, and allowing it to fall into hostile hands not only puts them at risk of exposure, it cuts off multiple profit centers for them.

 

Even if you don't buy any of that, which is fine, there's still the timing to consider. 

 

It's oddly convenient that this whole thing pops off just when the west's own authoritarian bent was being exposed to the world, and just when many leaders in the west needed a narrative change for their own political future's sake. There were stories being written every day about the overreach of western democracies - from Honking Canadian truckers to the US Government hunting down "insurrectionists", to COVID insanity gripping the "free" world. And then, just in time, here comes a shiny new distraction with a perfect villain to compare and contrast Biden, Trudeau and others against.

 

"Biden/Trudeau may not be great, but he's no Putin!"

 

Based on everything we've seen come to pass the past decade alone, I think it's much more naïve to trust the narratives coming from the same power centers that have lied to our faces for decades, and lied to us the most about the origin of conflicts just like this.

 

Lee has a good piece.

 

[Deranged Rhino]

55 minutes ago, Foxx said:

 

Lee has a good piece.

 

 

Yeah, its a good one and speaks to this issue more eloquently than I have.  

[devnull]

12 hours ago, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

 

So the argument here is that Putin is a stooge for the international cabal?

 

9 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

Stooge isn't the right word

 

Agreed that Stooge isn't the right word

 

Putin couldn't hold Shemp's jock strap

[Fansince88]

On 2/26/2022 at 11:42 AM, Crap Throwing Monkey said:

One really shouldn't hold Afghanistan against Bush.  That was hardly voluntary - we were attacked, badly.  

 

On the other hand...OIF was completely voluntary, and one of the most avoidable wars in recent history, and more than makes up for Afghanistan.

 

And one shouldn't list Libya as three different actions for Reagan.  It was all one long but sporadic conflict.  Few people realize we were at war with Libya for most of the '80s.

Hindsight is 20/20. I agree 100% but bought into the "WMD" rhetoric for Iraq. Now I think we should have pounded the piss out of Afghanistan and then came home. We essentially did that and hung out for 20 years and then came home. 

[Foxx]

28 minutes ago, Fansince88 said:

Hindsight is 20/20. I agree 100% but bought into the "WMD" rhetoric for Iraq. Now I think we should have pounded the piss out of Afghanistan and then came home. We essentially did that and hung out for 20 years and then came home. 

Someone had to protect the Poppy Fields...

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

47 minutes ago, Fansince88 said:

Hindsight is 20/20. I agree 100% but bought into the "WMD" rhetoric for Iraq. Now I think we should have pounded the piss out of Afghanistan and then came home. We essentially did that and hung out for 20 years and then came home. 

 

The WMD rhetoric wasn't lies, it was just wrong.

 

How it came to be would be funny in any context other than a pretext for war.  It's a case study in confirmation bias and badly developed intel.

[B-Man]

 

 

From our local paper September 1939.

 

 

 

 

Somethings never change.

 

 

[devnull]

1 hour ago, B-Man said:

 

 

From our local paper September 1939.

 

 

 

 

Somethings never change.

 

 

 

History doesn't repeat itself, but it does often rhyme

[Deranged Rhino]

On 1/24/2022 at 10:51 AM, Deranged Rhino said:

The same people who brought you never-ending-wars in the sandbox are proud to roll out 2022's new lineup of war, promising fun for the whole family! 

 

 

War is big business for "The Big Guy", but he's not running the show. 

 

It's these guys and their ilk... 

 

Gee, it's like no one could have seen 4 new wars in 3 years coming... 

[devnull]

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/logistics-war-how-washington-is-preparing-chinese-invasion-taiwan-2024-01-31/