Has Thomas Friedman been right on any subject, ever?
I find him a reliable supporter of Israel's right wing. Always increase the chaos and confusion in the region. The more instability among the Arab countries in the region the better.
Oliver, what "middle"?
"Racism" is endemic in the human race. Hence the word.
In the white world, white people do not see it in themselves.
To mitigate our negative tendencies, we first must know we have them.
Who can do the telling?
See "The Generals" by Tom Ricks for a better read. I was given a copy by an Army Major. We haven' won anything since WWII.
What is rarely mentioned or considered about America's foreign wars and other military activities are the wishes, rights and needs of the local populations. Instead we are inundated with theories of war and global politics by "experts" from think tanks and politicians on the make.
But always: "be strong". So much of this is driven by the need of votes here in the states. Votes win elections, bring power, and create wealth for the few.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State Colin Powell said if he had read Bernard Fall he would not have gone to Vietnam. But then, he says a lot of things.
It's really simple: "they" live there, we live here. There is nothing to "win".
Muhammad Ali had it right: those people had never done a thing to him, nor would they.
We are always exporting the "American way", and the world is saying keep it for yourselves, we'd rather live.
Are you sure that Trump and Kushner aren't looking for personal financing from Saudi Arabia? Maybe there are too many strings attached with the Russian money.
It seems everything Trump does is personal; tax cuts for example.
How much does the changing market for oil and the amount of reserves in Saudi Arabia have to do with the turmoil?
The problem with so-called centrists is they tend not to stand for any thing. They are tits on a hog. What Bernie made clear is that the populace wants what we now call "progressive"; better wages, better jobs, cheaper and better education, better health care and strengthen Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Much of this agenda is really restoring what we once had. The right-wing has been working systematically against the needs of the populace.
I suggests a slogan for the left: "We work together!"
Many supported Trump because he simply appeared to be different from the rest. That was style and rhetoric but he sold it. Now his true colors are apparent and people are turning to people of substance.
http://www.futurity.org/civil-war-union-rebels-treason-725752/
The remarks by Gen. Kelly, and the recent removal of civil war statues, caused me to wonder how the Confederate military and political figures were treated post war. Clearly, they were guilty of treason.
The hatchet was buried. Gen. Lee was not hanged. There was no Nuremberg.
Instead, many southern Americans cherish their "rebel" heritage and they and many more miss the point of the whole catastrophe.
We are left with a festering sore.
But then, considering the endless abuses of people against peoples of all kinds all around the world, why should we hope for better?
Human beings are in need of a better operating system; we need to fix the DNA.
Would it be useful to look at the people who have arranged this award for Bush? This is polish for Bush's legacy. I can see no way that giving Bush this award has any positive benefit for West Point.
This is another "normalization" of outrageous and destructive behavior on the part of our country's highest leaders.
Unfortunately, this is entirely consistent with American history.
Puerto Rico has the same problem as other Caribbean Islands: the people are brown skinned. The U.S. Congress is mostly not.
NFL football players are mostly brown skinned. Ergo.
The MIC needs an "enemy". Russia is a convenient and easy target. Billions in contracts are involved: from carriers to planes to nuclear arsenals to meet the need for "readiness".
The US constantly involves itself in the internal politics of many countries; including Russia. This is never mentioned in US news coverage.
The US economy has long been dependent on "friendly" sources of raw materials on convenient terms; as Gen. Butler explained in "War is a Racket" and Perkins in "Confessions". Our economy depends on our military influence and our military depends on our economic strength.
The expansion of NATO towards Russia is in part to deny markets to Russia and partly to create armament sales for MIC. The Ukraine owed $10 billion in energy bills to Russia before the coup by the US. Natural gas pipelines taking Russian natural gas to Europe were pinched.
Putin insists on maintaining his bases in Crimea and Tartus. Putin is merely trying to parry moves by the US and maintain a status quo.
The world has yet to design a satisfactory method of dealing with dictators who have run amuck; such as Assad. Sanctions and invasions obviously don't work. Just ask the millions of refugees. Rightly, the loss of power is seen as certain death. The British were successful in sending Napoleon to St. Helena. Why not guarantee your despots a safe and lavish retirement? Replace them with a form of receivership to keep their countries running in a normal way.
Don't expect support for such an idea from the world's arms dealers; it's not a good business model.
Russia is probably fine with a stalemate.
How many civilians have died as a result of the many other outside powers? Far more than 3000. In so-called "modern" warfare civilians are over 80% of the casualties. It can't be avoided. The days of groups of soldiers out in the middle of an empty field are long gone.
“…but we don’t accomplish our political goals.” Who does Andrew Bacevich believe is "our"? We always speak as though we are talking about our nation as a whole. This is not usually the case. How many Americans called for the invasion of Grenada--or any other of "our" many and constant invasions? A relatively small group of people make these decisions and their goals have little to do with the best interests of the average American.
I suggest that the actual directors of this country's military actions are perfectly happy with the results. This has nothing to do with popularity contests or scorecards. Actual “American” policy is to smash countries to show the rest what could happen to them. Actual “American” policy is to force others to do business on the terms wanted by our major business interests. Kill and break. It works.
Do you remember the movie "Soylent Green"? The Singularity in which AI melds with the flesh could change everything. There is a real possibility the human race is essentially gone at 2075.
I guess this means reruns of Lawrence Welk will be playing for a while more.
Judging by Juan's article,and these comments, there is a lot of confusion going around. It is safe to say there is a good deal of confusion even within the government of the U.S.
Maybe we can agree that the "functional" policy (that which can be observed over time) of the US Empire is "total dominance".
Dictators are fine until they need to replaced. Destabilization is fine because the countries become ineffective and pose no threat. The GWOT works because it presents the constant enemy that supports the endless war that supports the MIC. NATO is just another tool to keep the countries of Europe in line and under our thumb and create problems for Russia.
Specific actions taken by the US (to the extent we even know what happened) don't mean much. Seeming contradictions don't mean much. Speeches mean little if anything. Congress is useless. Hillary (maybe Bernie to some extent) is the only candidate that has a clue about what is actually going on---and that is no comfort.
There is a reason why the US has bases in almost every country. This is not about Democracy for the world (or at home).
See Lofgren's "The Deep State", John Perkins's work, or even Gen. Butler's "War is a Racket".
As Jack says, the crap about Syria is deep. I believe Putin simply wants to maintain a status quo, of sorts. They have a critical navy base. Same with Crimea and Ukraine. U.S. "total dominance" military strategy is constantly trying to reduce the influence and strength of ANY actors, especially (and always) Russia. The coup in Ukraine was an intentional serious economic blow to Russia as well as closing a buffer zone.
We see over and over that there are different "levels" of U.S. foreign policy. Check "The Deep State" by Lofgren.
Gitmo is a perfect tool for the "Deep State" and its GWOT. Projecting a lawless and ruthless image to the world is perfectly desirable. Gitmo is also domestically a very useful tool in Republican politics. They can discredit Obama and maintain their "security" stance.
The count of released detainees getting into anti-American activity is highly suspect. Secondly, after the treatment they received by Americans, retaliation is hardly surprising; it should be expected. Many of the prisoners were not combatants in the first place. And those that may have been often had very good reasons to be in combat; they were trying to protect their homes and values.
Gitmo is all about power and domination; domestically and internationally. Obama may have thought he had the power to close Gitmo; he doesn't.
Why does it matter what others think? Why do "Americans" (whatever that is) seem to have a need to be "loved" by every foreigner? Isn't this the world's biggest insecurity complex?
On the other hand, "America" (or the amorphous entity also known as the MIC or the "Dark State") has bullied, slaughtered, abused, tortured and stolen its way across the entire planet.
I was born here. I've been lied to and stolen from my whole life. When I was younger they tried to send me to Vietnam and get me killed.
America, that is only 5% of the world's population, uses about 25% of the world's resources and is responsible for about 30% of the greenhouse gases that are going to destroy the human race and a lot more.
"God" does not bless America. Just look at the genocide, the racism, the police brutality and the 1% that own the country.
What's to love about the greatest fraud in history?
I too have been trying to imagine our future. What we have never seen before are the rising temperatures, the destruction of our planet's resources, and globalization.
The American Empire relies on its widespread military, but that military relies in turn on the American economy. The "hollowing out" of our economy leads to a downward spiral that can not support the military.
At the same time the world will battle over resources such as water and food and energy. Warming temperatures will reduce food supplies, raise sea levels, and other wise cause havoc and pandemics. Populations will crash.
Governments will fall apart.
A "Mad Max" world seems very possible.
Another scenario could see the conversion of humans to machines that might lack the human failings of greed and lust for power; among other disastrous traits.
I agree with the writer that a few decades time will find major "unforeseen" changes on the planet.
The real strength of any nation is its economic strength. As General Butler wrote in "War is a Racket", the purpose of the military was to make the world safe for American business. The big American corporations are now self-serving multinationals, American industry was shipped overseas, and taxation has been slashed to fatten the bank accounts of the wealthy.
The U.S. can no longer "afford" a worldwide military presence and wars on several fronts. Obama is trying to keep the ducks in a row on the "bargain basement" plan. Now we take out the leadership of the troublemakers instead of put regular military units on the ground. Assignation is illegal, and so are military operations in other people's countries, all of which is overlooked.
You can't make a campaign speech out of assignations or the decline of America, so we get the usual bombast.
One of the reasons the U.S. is determined not to get a bill for the global warming that we have caused is that we can't afford to pay it. We are going to be hard pressed to take care of our own problems; like the Texas floods.
Has Thomas Friedman been right on any subject, ever?
I find him a reliable supporter of Israel's right wing. Always increase the chaos and confusion in the region. The more instability among the Arab countries in the region the better.
Lock 'em up! Both of them.
Fake president!
Oliver, what "middle"?
"Racism" is endemic in the human race. Hence the word.
In the white world, white people do not see it in themselves.
To mitigate our negative tendencies, we first must know we have them.
Who can do the telling?
See "The Generals" by Tom Ricks for a better read. I was given a copy by an Army Major. We haven' won anything since WWII.
What is rarely mentioned or considered about America's foreign wars and other military activities are the wishes, rights and needs of the local populations. Instead we are inundated with theories of war and global politics by "experts" from think tanks and politicians on the make.
But always: "be strong". So much of this is driven by the need of votes here in the states. Votes win elections, bring power, and create wealth for the few.
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of State Colin Powell said if he had read Bernard Fall he would not have gone to Vietnam. But then, he says a lot of things.
It's really simple: "they" live there, we live here. There is nothing to "win".
Muhammad Ali had it right: those people had never done a thing to him, nor would they.
We are always exporting the "American way", and the world is saying keep it for yourselves, we'd rather live.
$1.5 trillion since 1980, not just last year. $300 billion last year. Per the article.
Are you sure that Trump and Kushner aren't looking for personal financing from Saudi Arabia? Maybe there are too many strings attached with the Russian money.
It seems everything Trump does is personal; tax cuts for example.
How much does the changing market for oil and the amount of reserves in Saudi Arabia have to do with the turmoil?
That's actually 4.88 feet (not inches) above the mean for all recorded high tides.
The problem with so-called centrists is they tend not to stand for any thing. They are tits on a hog. What Bernie made clear is that the populace wants what we now call "progressive"; better wages, better jobs, cheaper and better education, better health care and strengthen Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Much of this agenda is really restoring what we once had. The right-wing has been working systematically against the needs of the populace.
I suggests a slogan for the left: "We work together!"
Many supported Trump because he simply appeared to be different from the rest. That was style and rhetoric but he sold it. Now his true colors are apparent and people are turning to people of substance.
http://www.futurity.org/civil-war-union-rebels-treason-725752/
The remarks by Gen. Kelly, and the recent removal of civil war statues, caused me to wonder how the Confederate military and political figures were treated post war. Clearly, they were guilty of treason.
The hatchet was buried. Gen. Lee was not hanged. There was no Nuremberg.
Instead, many southern Americans cherish their "rebel" heritage and they and many more miss the point of the whole catastrophe.
We are left with a festering sore.
But then, considering the endless abuses of people against peoples of all kinds all around the world, why should we hope for better?
Human beings are in need of a better operating system; we need to fix the DNA.
You are right. What is the chance of a military coup if Trump tries to attack N. Korea and maybe push the nuclear button? The "generals" are in place.
Would it be useful to look at the people who have arranged this award for Bush? This is polish for Bush's legacy. I can see no way that giving Bush this award has any positive benefit for West Point.
This is another "normalization" of outrageous and destructive behavior on the part of our country's highest leaders.
Unfortunately, this is entirely consistent with American history.
Puerto Rico has the same problem as other Caribbean Islands: the people are brown skinned. The U.S. Congress is mostly not.
NFL football players are mostly brown skinned. Ergo.
Raise, not lower, high end tax rates.
The MIC needs an "enemy". Russia is a convenient and easy target. Billions in contracts are involved: from carriers to planes to nuclear arsenals to meet the need for "readiness".
The US constantly involves itself in the internal politics of many countries; including Russia. This is never mentioned in US news coverage.
The US economy has long been dependent on "friendly" sources of raw materials on convenient terms; as Gen. Butler explained in "War is a Racket" and Perkins in "Confessions". Our economy depends on our military influence and our military depends on our economic strength.
The expansion of NATO towards Russia is in part to deny markets to Russia and partly to create armament sales for MIC. The Ukraine owed $10 billion in energy bills to Russia before the coup by the US. Natural gas pipelines taking Russian natural gas to Europe were pinched.
Putin insists on maintaining his bases in Crimea and Tartus. Putin is merely trying to parry moves by the US and maintain a status quo.
The world has yet to design a satisfactory method of dealing with dictators who have run amuck; such as Assad. Sanctions and invasions obviously don't work. Just ask the millions of refugees. Rightly, the loss of power is seen as certain death. The British were successful in sending Napoleon to St. Helena. Why not guarantee your despots a safe and lavish retirement? Replace them with a form of receivership to keep their countries running in a normal way.
Don't expect support for such an idea from the world's arms dealers; it's not a good business model.
I haven't seen a real reason for the Saudi Arabian destruction of Yemen. Do they want direct access to the Arabian Sea?
Is the new policy against Qatar to reduce competition?
Best collection of responses to an article I have ever seen. Thank you all!
Russia is probably fine with a stalemate.
How many civilians have died as a result of the many other outside powers? Far more than 3000. In so-called "modern" warfare civilians are over 80% of the casualties. It can't be avoided. The days of groups of soldiers out in the middle of an empty field are long gone.
“…but we don’t accomplish our political goals.” Who does Andrew Bacevich believe is "our"? We always speak as though we are talking about our nation as a whole. This is not usually the case. How many Americans called for the invasion of Grenada--or any other of "our" many and constant invasions? A relatively small group of people make these decisions and their goals have little to do with the best interests of the average American.
I suggest that the actual directors of this country's military actions are perfectly happy with the results. This has nothing to do with popularity contests or scorecards. Actual “American” policy is to smash countries to show the rest what could happen to them. Actual “American” policy is to force others to do business on the terms wanted by our major business interests. Kill and break. It works.
Do you remember the movie "Soylent Green"? The Singularity in which AI melds with the flesh could change everything. There is a real possibility the human race is essentially gone at 2075.
I guess this means reruns of Lawrence Welk will be playing for a while more.
Judging by Juan's article,and these comments, there is a lot of confusion going around. It is safe to say there is a good deal of confusion even within the government of the U.S.
Maybe we can agree that the "functional" policy (that which can be observed over time) of the US Empire is "total dominance".
Dictators are fine until they need to replaced. Destabilization is fine because the countries become ineffective and pose no threat. The GWOT works because it presents the constant enemy that supports the endless war that supports the MIC. NATO is just another tool to keep the countries of Europe in line and under our thumb and create problems for Russia.
Specific actions taken by the US (to the extent we even know what happened) don't mean much. Seeming contradictions don't mean much. Speeches mean little if anything. Congress is useless. Hillary (maybe Bernie to some extent) is the only candidate that has a clue about what is actually going on---and that is no comfort.
There is a reason why the US has bases in almost every country. This is not about Democracy for the world (or at home).
See Lofgren's "The Deep State", John Perkins's work, or even Gen. Butler's "War is a Racket".
As Jack says, the crap about Syria is deep. I believe Putin simply wants to maintain a status quo, of sorts. They have a critical navy base. Same with Crimea and Ukraine. U.S. "total dominance" military strategy is constantly trying to reduce the influence and strength of ANY actors, especially (and always) Russia. The coup in Ukraine was an intentional serious economic blow to Russia as well as closing a buffer zone.
We see over and over that there are different "levels" of U.S. foreign policy. Check "The Deep State" by Lofgren.
Gitmo is a perfect tool for the "Deep State" and its GWOT. Projecting a lawless and ruthless image to the world is perfectly desirable. Gitmo is also domestically a very useful tool in Republican politics. They can discredit Obama and maintain their "security" stance.
The count of released detainees getting into anti-American activity is highly suspect. Secondly, after the treatment they received by Americans, retaliation is hardly surprising; it should be expected. Many of the prisoners were not combatants in the first place. And those that may have been often had very good reasons to be in combat; they were trying to protect their homes and values.
Gitmo is all about power and domination; domestically and internationally. Obama may have thought he had the power to close Gitmo; he doesn't.
Why does it matter what others think? Why do "Americans" (whatever that is) seem to have a need to be "loved" by every foreigner? Isn't this the world's biggest insecurity complex?
On the other hand, "America" (or the amorphous entity also known as the MIC or the "Dark State") has bullied, slaughtered, abused, tortured and stolen its way across the entire planet.
I was born here. I've been lied to and stolen from my whole life. When I was younger they tried to send me to Vietnam and get me killed.
America, that is only 5% of the world's population, uses about 25% of the world's resources and is responsible for about 30% of the greenhouse gases that are going to destroy the human race and a lot more.
"God" does not bless America. Just look at the genocide, the racism, the police brutality and the 1% that own the country.
What's to love about the greatest fraud in history?
I too have been trying to imagine our future. What we have never seen before are the rising temperatures, the destruction of our planet's resources, and globalization.
The American Empire relies on its widespread military, but that military relies in turn on the American economy. The "hollowing out" of our economy leads to a downward spiral that can not support the military.
At the same time the world will battle over resources such as water and food and energy. Warming temperatures will reduce food supplies, raise sea levels, and other wise cause havoc and pandemics. Populations will crash.
Governments will fall apart.
A "Mad Max" world seems very possible.
Another scenario could see the conversion of humans to machines that might lack the human failings of greed and lust for power; among other disastrous traits.
I agree with the writer that a few decades time will find major "unforeseen" changes on the planet.
The real strength of any nation is its economic strength. As General Butler wrote in "War is a Racket", the purpose of the military was to make the world safe for American business. The big American corporations are now self-serving multinationals, American industry was shipped overseas, and taxation has been slashed to fatten the bank accounts of the wealthy.
The U.S. can no longer "afford" a worldwide military presence and wars on several fronts. Obama is trying to keep the ducks in a row on the "bargain basement" plan. Now we take out the leadership of the troublemakers instead of put regular military units on the ground. Assignation is illegal, and so are military operations in other people's countries, all of which is overlooked.
You can't make a campaign speech out of assignations or the decline of America, so we get the usual bombast.
One of the reasons the U.S. is determined not to get a bill for the global warming that we have caused is that we can't afford to pay it. We are going to be hard pressed to take care of our own problems; like the Texas floods.