After all, what kind of nation projects its "self interest" all the way to Asia and Europe, to the point of scolding the Russians (like some old school marm) for tending to their own national security and self-interest? Only an empire would do that, not a sovereign nation that ought to be first invested in its OWN domestic security - namely providing for its citizens and re-building its crumbling infrastructure (most recently getting attention with the 100+ year old gas line in NYC that went ka-blooey after a gas leak, killing five citizens).
Thus, the hog swill that Crimea entails some kind of American interest is just that, hog swill. Moreover, our leaders - like Obama, Biden and Kerry, in their belligerent, threatening rhetoric (with overtones again of a 'school marm' who's gonna 'punish Putin's defiance'), keep harping on Russian responses as marking offensive moves - when they are in fact defensive. As I showed in the previous blog post on applying game theory to the current crisis, the U.S. brought this aggressive Russian response on itself by not playing the sequential geopolitical game correctly - effectively pushing its creature NATO right up to the doorstep of Russia. As Col. Lawrence Wilkerson put it 2 weeks ago on MSNBC, how would you expect the Russkies to respond?
Anyway, when one uses deep politics to examine this sort of scenario one beholds the wretched hands of the neocons writ large. These fuckers weren't satisfied with their little escapade in Iraq - based on LIES- and essentially gutting our coffers to the tune of over $3 trillion with over 4,000 Americans dead (plus 600,000 Iraqis) they then wanted to stir up a shit storm in Syria and Iran. Putin helped Obama save face and avert U.S. involvement, then the neocons really got pissed and decided to stir up unrest right on Putin's doorstep, in Ukraine. Putin, as invested in his nation's real self-interest and genuine geographical security, made the only response he could - a show of force - to show the U.S. and NATO that they weren't going to be able to do whatever the fuck they wanted.
Flash now to neocon William Kristol, whose clones are buried deep in Obama's administration. This editor of the Weekly Standard, has a new essay up at the Standard’s website, decrying American war-weariness and chastising politicians who use Americans’ desire to avoid war as “as an excuse to avoid maintaining our defenses or shouldering our responsibilities.”
In other words, according to this turd, squandering 3 trillion on a useless venture and with hundreds of thousands killed (over 4,000 Americans) wasn't enough. We're all slackers in the war arena, we are pussies, wussies and wimps. We are no real citizens!
Kristol went on to claim that the wars in Korea and Vietnam “had more satisfactory outcomes” than those in Iraq and Afghanistan but nevertheless were concluded with “war-weariness,” too. “So American war-weariness isn’t new,” he writes. “Using it as an excuse to avoid maintaining our defenses or shouldering our responsibilities isn’t new, But that doesn’t make it admirable either.”
Actually, this is all horse shit and bollocks. The type of tripe only an ignorant fool devoid of historical knowledge would buy. Vietnam wasn't a necessary war at all, started on a pretext thanks to LBJ - who used NSAM 273 to neutralize JFK's NSAM-263 that would have seen pullouts of all personnel by 1965. Having done that, LBJ then used the ruse of the Tonkin Gulf incident to obtain a resolution so he could pour over a half million American troops into what was basically a civil war- leading to the loss of 58,000 American lives.
During the Korean War, the United Nations- American forces approached the Yalu river (separating North Korea and China) precipitating a massive Chinese intervention from around Dandong. Thus, the American assembly of client states pushed its hand too far leading to the conflict ending in a stalemate (technically, the war never ended - only a truce was signed. ).
Both of these conflicts can be traced to the misbegotten doctrine NSC-68 , authored by Paul Nitze which proclaimed:
"a defeat of free institutions anywhere is a defeat everywhere”
This critical aspect is described thusly by Morris Berman[1]:
“Nitze emphasized the importance of perception, arguing that how we were seen was as crucial as how militarily secure we actually were. This rapidly expanded the number of interests deemed relevant to national security”.
In other words, invoking this specious justification the U.S. had license to project its "sphere of influence" all over the planet - become cop of the world, and impose Pax Americana at will. No place was free from Amerikkan influence, and that meant no other nation could exert its own influence, i.e. within its own geographical region, without coming up against some show of American client state force if it :misbehaved". Of course, any idiot can see this is a prescription for endless war. If you are going to claim the whole world as your sphere of influence, then any other nation that remotely rivals you in military might (as is the case with Russia) will challenge you at some point, if for no other purpose than to tamp down the yen to empire building predicated on an insane, irrational doctrine.
The final bit of foolishness from Kristol occurred on his approvingly quoting a letter to The Wall Street Journal that claimed the only people who could justifiably claim to be war-weary are members of the military, Kristol goes on to argue, “the idol of war-weariness can be challenged” and that “[a]ll that’s needed is the rallying.”
Let's clear up first that the WSJ letter writer is off base, if only because those "war weary members of the military" had the option NOT to get involved in any wars at all, OR the military....period, full stop. I am writing of the fact that no one twisted their arms to sign up for the military in the first place, it was their own volunteering that put them into harm's way. And - if they did it out of belief in their "patriotic duty" - that again was their choice. (Ask Pat Tillman about that, and how he ended up killed from 'friendly fire' which the Pentagon tried to hide)
As for Kristol and the neocons, we have known for decades what their shtick is about and it was laid out in clear terms in the book, Neoconomy. That is, foment endless wars, conflicts and brush wars across the world so that the bulk of money is consumed for military bullshit and reckless adventures. Then, leave nothing for the general or domestic welfare, including for infrastructure.
This is why we can afford no more neocons, or neocon enablers, in office.
Sadly even Hillary - a neocon for sure, doesn't get it, so she will get no vote from me in 2016 if she should be a D-candidate. I will vote for Bernie Sanders first, even as a write-in. Enough of this "lesser of two evils" shit. Lesser of two evils hasn't gotten us much if neocons still occupy top State Dept,. posts and dictate much of our foreign policy.
. She declared at some conference: "What Putin did is illegal. It is against international law" (Yeah, like the U.S. Iraq war - which YOU voted for, wasn't!) It is not because we gave the poor little Baltic states NATO protection (Errrrrmm...yes it was!) People need to say that and be very clear that this is a clash of values. (No, it's a clash of spheres of influence and the U.S. has projected its too FAR!) And it's an effort by Putin to rewrite the boundaries of post-World War II Europe." (No, it's Putin's Russia seeking to right the broken promise that the U.S. made, under Bush Sr., that we wouldn't push NATO eastwards! Learn the damned history! You hubby was partly responsible for expanding NATO!)
See also:
NATO's Warmongers: http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/brian-cloughley/54851/the-belligerent-alliance-natos-warmongers
The Washington Post's Anti-Putin Group Think:
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/54891/washington-posts-anti-putin-group-think
Herding the Media Sheep: http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/gary-leupp/54854/herding-the-media-sheep-ap-blasts-russian-propaganda-war
[1] Morris Berman: 2006, Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire, W.W. Norton, page 118
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