Is America on the path to 'permanent war'?

Is America on the path to 'permanent war'?

www.cnn.com

"The U.S. is not on the path to permanent war; it is in the midst of a permanent war," Cioffi says.

Permanent war is made possible by massive defense spending that has been viewed as untouchable. But that may change with the recent financial crisis and the decline of the nation's industry, Cioffi says.

More ordinary Americans might conclude that they can't have a vibrant domestic economy and unquestioned military spending, Cioffi says.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is one of THE biggest problems and issues facing us currently.

This was something president Dwight D Eisenhower warned us would happen decades ago---The infiltration of the Military Industrial Complex into our deepest segments of leadership.

Tie in an ever-increasing corporate stranglehold, who are also increasingly becoming involved in the war-profiteering venues, and we now find ourselves in what appears to be endless conflicts and foreign conquests.

A study not long ago showed nearly 1/3 of our governing body had direct ties to the war-profiteering industry, and my guess is that those numbers were being very gentle.

When we look around at what is happening---The continual blathering from our gov and corpomedia on the 'dangers' and 'threats' we supposedly need to keep fighting against, and blow-hard leaders doing all they can to start up MORE 'pre-emptive' attacks against nations who they think 'might' be a threat, it is not real difficult to figure out that something is SERIOUSLY wrong with this path we have been on for some time now.

The average american, whose taxes are funding these bloodbaths, is subsisting on an income barely enough to sustain living. Our productivity has crept to a near halt, SAVE for the war industry.

It is long past time to do some serious investigating into this, and start cleaning house. Take a fraction of that money being wasted in these foreign conquests, and re-invest it back here domestically.

And for god's sake, please quit buying into the gov and corpomedia's propaganda of the next 'boogeyman' hiding around the corner that we must go and take out. This is nothing more than ANOTHER ploy and BUSINESS VENTURE to fill already overstuffed coffers of those tied into the war industry, who unfortunately also hold high level positions in our ruling institutions.

It is time for us to become aware of how we are being manipulated and played, step up, and say NO MORE.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

interesting........................................

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

And for god's sake, please quit buying into the gov and corpomedia's propagaqnda of the next 'boogeyman' hiding around the corner that we must go and take out. This is nothing more than ANOTHER ploy and BUSINESS VENTURE to fill already overstuffed coffers of those tied into the war industry, who unfortunately also hold high level positions in our ruling institutions

All true..The Us is rapidly turning into a country that produces nothing..
That is not sustainable for long..The few can not pay for the rest for ever. It must collapse..
The government attacks more countries to create more enemies..
Remember, before 9/11 there were supposedly a few extremists hell bent on hurting the west..
Now, thanks to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the goverbment has create REAL enemies.
You can not kill so many thousand innocents without creating enemies.
It's a viscious circle created on purpose..s&f

I bet they already run society already in uk and usa.

Its over for you people full stop, and this will go on forever. They think your not able to live your life making your own decisions, so they will dictate your life to you.

Thats going to be teh endless war.

What do mean on the path?? My oldest is right at 17.. she has never known a time without war or conflict being born in 1994.. first gulf war that her dad was in to now. My children have never known a time without war or military conflict. Talk about desensitization...

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Yes. I was thinking about all those troops freed up from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are going to be bored if they have nothing to do after that, so wouldn't it be "convenient" if the Korean war resumes after 50 some years of slumber just in time to keep the troops busy and the military dollars flowing?

If that conflict escalates and drags the US into it (and Obama has reaffirmed our commitment to S Korea) then it's starting to look more like perma-war, and maybe Eisenhower's warning was spot on.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


YES-That is EXACTLY what they are trying to do, as we speak!

Pay very close attention people-This is a ruse these individuals have been using for at least the past several decades to keep us in conflicts. Do not fall for these ORCHESTRATED events!

There's Iran, there's pakistan, there's Korea, the list goes on and on. They will continue keeping these bloodbaths going as long as they can manipulate us to do so. Become aware and QUESTION everything that is coming from our war-mongering heads and corporate media outlets. Don't be fooled again.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Only a permanent war until we secure the oil pipelines into China.

The real question to ask is are we doing the Chinese a favor (read, is this why they finance us so heavily) or are we trying to gain leverage over them?

~Heff

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

A study not long ago showed nearly 1/3 of our governing body had direct ties to the war-profiteering industry, and my guess is that those numbers were being very gentle.

S & F

Not to get too far off topic but I'd also like to point out the other 2/3......

If this country wants any form of industry at all then maybe we should be looking at the whole picture and see just how many of them have been

A. Bought off by the Military Industrial Complex....

AND

B. How many have been bought off by foreign corporations [jobs, industry and production which we are hemorrhaging and end up over seas]

I'm not trying to belittle the OPs thread but while we are considering Government corruption maybe we should look at all of it and not just the possible 1/3 One could say that at least the bulk [Not all] of our Military production is American Made = [Jobs] while our Domestic consumption demand which dwarfs the military's side of the equation has exposed that our Domestic production for that demand has been in a state of exodus abroad in search of higher profits and cheaper labor.


If we are truly going after corruption let's get the whole enchilada and not just whats popular.

ETA: This is a great start.
Thanks DD

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Yes, its called The War Machine.
And The Military Industrial Complex.
An ecomomy unto itself.

And it does not serve the purpose of mans well being...
Sad, but true.

Its my opinion, and that of some...
The three seats of power, of which The Military Industrial Complex is one.

S&F

Great Britain just recently pursued some of the deepest military cuts in history something along the lines of 10%. They know that in order to salvage an economy you cannot be in a state of constant war with such a fiscally unsustainable domestic spending and war spending. The people don’t want to feel the cuts from a recession so the smartest place to attack first is the military.

Dwight Eisenhower warned us of the threats of the Military Congressional Industrial Complex and how it made such huge profits from World War 2 they had to bribe the hands of government officials to make sure that money supply is always going. That means war, war, and more war. Korea, Viet Nam, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan are just a few countries that had to suffer for the profits of the MCIC.

Slash our defense spending down to 1% of GDP and only raise it with GDP (PPP) percent growth rate. We cannot afford these wars, they are unconstitutional, they are counterproductive, it costs thousands of innocent lives, and it is all for the profit of the MCIC at the expense of the tax payers.

In reality the U.S.A. has been on a permanent war footing since the Civil War when Lincoln set up a de facto Military Dictatorship. Please keep in mind the actual official military occupation of the Southern states did not formerly end until the late 70’s during the Carter Presidency. The United States is still though carved up into Military Government Zones as anyone who serves in the military can confirm and attest to.

From the Civil War onward it’s been an endless series of military expeditions and skirmishes including Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Iraq again, Afghanistan, now Pakistan and Yemen again, as the Government and the Media desperately tries to drum up support for a war against Iran.

When we are not actually fighting, we are gearing up for a fight, with the most expensive and extensive military industrial complex in the world.

With U.S. Military Bases in over 152 nations we maintain the most extensively spread out military presence in the world, often simply as a means to use Gunboat Diplomacy to fool Americans and others that we occupy some moral high ground, instead of just the reality of a dominant “Might Makes Right” foreign policy, that is simply aimed at acquiring resources and maintaining the hegemony of the Corporations, Oil and Banking Cartels, while uniting us in a deceptive common purpose that appeals to far to many Americans egos.

Are we permanently at war?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/46a8f3eaea40.png[/atsimg]

It certainly looks that way to me. This message has been brought to you by a proud “domestic extremist”.

Permanent state of war is what brought the Roman Empire to its knees, and Christianity. Legions became too powerful that Emperors were mere puppets and took orders from generals. War became an integral part of the machinery of governance that it was imperative to locate new conflicts and expansion of borders.

But don't be surprised or startled by the historical analogy and comparison - the same Roman doctrine influences the United States of America.

reply to post by infinite


You mean the same Roman Patricians and noble blood lines who actually own the bulk of the infrastructure, stocks and bonds in the United States, manipulate it's debt, and politicians through investment, contract, treaties and graft and extortion?

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


As always, my friend, accurate and absolute precise in your assertion.

Is America on the path to 'permanent war'?

It sure does look like it.

We're like the bullies on the playground.

The new slogan seems to be... "Do as we say, not as we do."

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

The average american, whose taxes are funding these bloodbaths, is subsisting on an income barely enough to sustain living. Our productivity has crept to a near halt, SAVE for the war industry.

It is long past time to do some serious investigating into this, and start cleaning house. Take a fraction of that money being wasted in these foreign conquests, and re-invest it back here domestically.

The idea that American taxpayers are "funding" this perma-war isn't entirely accurate, at least not today. As you mention, real productivity is very low. And relentless "consuming" is running out of steam too.

But the US does have something, and it is continuing dollar hegemony. This has allowed America to stand on the backs of the producing nations of the world, continually siphoning off their productivity, and the average American seems to have little appreciation for this enormous "enabling" factor in their better than average lifestyles. It is this USD dominance that has greatly helped keep the military machine humming along.

Not to mention, that whenever dollar hegemony has been threatened in the past, the military has moved swiftly to silence the trouble-makers.

Of course, that works OK with smaller players, but the bigger the USD chump, the bigger the potential problem. China obviously may have limited means of dealing with a load of dollars that they may never be able to cash in. And so there is a sea-change taking place right now that may very well upset this decades-old arrangement, as the nations increasingly turn their backs on the US dollar, with even China taking action that seems counterproductive, and yet they have little choice. Americans will suffer considerably in the process, as decades of "cheating" the world financial system catches up, probably all at once.

Will an even bigger war be required to keep things moving in the direction our masters desire? The recent events between the two Korean puppets might remind us that things could easily heat up.

Two other significant factors come into play when examining the fuel that our master's War Machine runs on.

The Federal Reserve, together with the IMF, and other major central banks of the world. Sure, I already mentioned the US dollar, but the global arrangement depends upon coordinated banking action. Yes, it's the banksters again, who seem to have been funding each side of larger conflicts for at least two centuries.

I feel it's important to highlight this part of the picture, because too often the term "Military Industrial Complex" seems to leave out the banks. Sure, they are "implied" perhaps, but from my conversations with people, the connection is not always made.

I first made the case that there was more behind "funding" than the take-take-take American taxpayer (some do give, but the majority cancels most of it out, thanks to American socialism). Fortunately for the War Machine, the USD and the banksters were together more than able to take up the slack.

SO, what then does the American really "contribute" to the Machine? Bodies of course! America is a land where mothers gladly offer up their sons lives, generation, after generation. The nation has been conditioned to provide the necessary manpower, and the social structure is such that it can be cranked up significantly at any moment.

A half-million bodies not quite enough for the next planned job? No problem! Americans are easily stirred up, and follow orders better than almost any other nation on the planet (next to Israel). Maybe some refuse to see it this way, but let's not forget the aftermath of 9/11. Most should still recall the massive outburst of "Americanism" (misplaced patriotism) that marched through every neighborhood. Millions of flags were purchased, everyone flew the colors, and the odd house that failed to do so was suspect! (Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but I hope people can see my point.)

And then, volunteers! Even celebrity football players signed up, to go kill whoever the President said needed killing.

In short, it's a "cultural" thing in America, and has been called by many names, although I personally like to invoke ancient history, because this very much should remind us of Sparta.

Last thing, you mention it's high time we start investigating and cleaning house. Indeed, but this goes very deep. How do we change a culture, amidst a constant barrage of propaganda?

JR

Look, we have no real industry, we are paid not to grow crops as we could potentially, we have no real exports and have ships rotting in a graveyard due to it, ... exactly WHAT do we produce to fit into the global scheme??
My opinion?? BODIES. We are huge compared to other countries.. and rich ( yes, we the people are not, the govt is). So what are we going to have to be in order to fit into the global community? The real dogs of war. I DO believe that in the future we will only have ONE real contribution to the worlds and that will be our might because the federal govt has made a point to squash any attempts we had started to be an industrial nation or food/export producer. We cant even support ourselves in this.. so all we have is our military might. Kinda looks like it was designed that way since the civil war.

"War is peace. You must love Big Brother."