Century-old musings about Forever War

This war without end is criminal. What is abominable is that they do not want to end it. No, they do not want. Do not try to tell me that there was no way to end it. Emperor Charles [Karl I of Austria-Hungary] offered peace; he is the only decent man to have appeared in this war, and he was not listened to. There was, through him, a chance that could have been seized... Clemenceau called the emperor a "rotten conscience," it's ignoble. Emperor Charles sincerely wanted peace, and therefore was despised by the whole world. [...] A king of France, yes a king, would have had pity on our poor, exhausted, bloodlet nation. However democracy is without a heart and without entrails. When serving the powers of money, it is pitiless and inhuman.

-- Anatole France

quoted in the Wikipedia Article on Karl I

I especially like where France says "A king of France, yes a king, would have had pity on our poor, exhausted, bloodlet nation. However democracy is without a heart and without entrails. When serving the powers of money, it is pitiless and inhuman.".

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, non?

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snoopydawg's picture

and people get addicted to making more money and so they need to have more wars to keep making lots of money. Weapons makers lost their influxes of money when Trump ended the Afghanistan war so they needed a new war to keep making money and after countries dump their old and obsolete weapons on Ukraine they will have to replenish their stock of weapons and so weapons makers will get lots more money. We make wars these days so weapons makers can continue robbing we the people and we can continue losing our quality of life.

This war against Russia has fulfilled the dreams of the corpse class because it has extended into almost every other area we need for living. Gas and food are just 2 of many. The high prices of both are going to cause lots of deaths, but as long as the right people make lots of money it’s okay. Maybe that’s why they are making abortion illegal. They need to replenish the working slave class and of course the cannon fodder class. Can’t have the corpse class kids going off to fight the wars now can they?

‘“All for ourselves and nothing for other people” seems in every age of the world to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.’

- Adam Smith. Chapter IV, p. 448. - The Wealth of Nations (1776) - Book III

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@snoopydawg

We make wars these days so weapons makers can continue robbing we the people and we can continue losing our quality of life.

No different now than at the end of World War I. Only the nationalities of the weapon makers changes....

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides