"Knowing This", Do you support the United States Blowing up the Earth and Destroying all Life on it?

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 10:57am

Many antiwar and anti-imperialism proponents and activists have lamented the state of the sheeple, the acquiescent Americans, the complicit comrades of copious crimes against humanity.

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for over fifteen years, solely based on the rationale that the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan which held power from 1996 to 2001, was aiding Al Qaeda which had supposedly attacked the U.S. on 9/11. All war is a Lie. No, I said ALL.

The Taliban are so powerful, even after almost sixteen years, the mighty United States/NATO global military alliance has been unable to defeat it. In fact, our own lovable Mad Dog, Secretary of War James Mattis, just went to Afghanistan to assess how many more U.S. troops Diktator Trump should send to defeat the mightiest foe the U.S. has ever encountered.

"Mattis is in Kabul to assess America's longest war as the Trump administration weighs sending more U.S. troops. His visit comes three days after a Taliban attack on a northern Afghanistan army base killed at least 100 people, with some estimates up to 130."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/24/us-defense-secy-mattis-in-afghan...

There are rumors the Taliban will be sending some of it's aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines to patrol the east and west coasts of the U.S. in an attempt to pressure the U.S. to surrender.

Meanwhile, the American people still don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

“As you may know, the United States recently dropped the military’s largest non-nuclear bomb on a cave complex suspected to be controlled by ISIS, in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense,” the 1,992 registered voters were asked. “Knowing this, do you support or oppose the military dropping the largest non-nuclear bomb on an ISIS cave complex in Afghanistan?”

Forty-three percent said they strongly supported the action, while 26 percent said they were “somewhat” behind the bombing. Just eight percent said they strongly opposed it."

Just eight percent. Um, I'm not sure how to respond to that. Oh wait, it was 1,992 "registered voters", that explains a lot.

Some are calling for "new strategies, new tactics" to counter the ignorance of the American people against the wars being waged by our crazy leaders. I couldn't agree more.

"The results lend credence to author and analyst Phyllis Bennis‘ call, published this week,

“to integrate opposition to these wars into the very core of the movements already rising so powerfully against racism, for women’s and LGBTQ rights, for climate and economic justice, for Native rights, for immigrant rights and refugee protections, for Palestinian rights, and much more.”

“We’ll need new strategies, new tactics,” she wrote, “but we continue to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. Our country is waging war against peoples across the globe, indeed waging war against the earth itself. But we are still here, challenging those wars alongside those who guard the earth, who protect the water, who defend the rights of those most at risk.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/20/whats-worse-trump-dropping-...

I think what Bennis is saying is that all people fighting for the rights of humans of all kinds need to join together to stop our government from blowing up the world.

Probably a good idea. Since there's only 8 percent of us right now.

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Comments

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 11:30am

Part of what scares me

about the Democratic support for going to war with Syria and then Iran and therefore Russia is that even those members of Congress and the party activists who are old enough to know better don't seem to know what nuclear weapons do. They don't seem to know how many we have, how many Russia has, how many China has. I don't think they've mapped out how many cities and rural areas of the U.S. would be wiped out if Russia used half of their nukes on us. I don't think they have looked at a map of the United States and penciled 1,200 targets and circled them and their regions for annihilation. I don't think they get it.

This is a problem of education. A big problem.

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 11:36am

Huge problem. The oligarchy controls the media,

@Linda Wood the educational system and the government. It feels like primarily because of the internet that more people know the real truths. We do have easier access to the real truths but sometimes these polls indicate differently.

That's why I try to tell people that ALL war is a lie. Try to make them think about that. When they hear something about the Mother of All Bombs being dropped, maybe they will think "wait a minute, where's the lie in this?"
Maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt too.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 11:36am

You got it right -

all people fighting for the rights of humans of all kinds need to join together to stop our government from blowing up the world.

They need to shut down all of its wars and global meddling and force it to stop quartering its troops all over the damn globe.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Ellen North on Fri, 04/28/2017 - 1:22am

@enhydra lutris

@enhydra lutris

And get their billionaires and corporations out of other people's countries and governments, as well. So does the EU, come to that.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by LaFeminista on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 11:48am

Oh they love war at the start

http://www.gallup.com/poll/116233/afghanistan.aspx

The trick will be to convince them the next one isn't a good idea before it actually gets going.

Iran or N. Korea seem to be the current favourites.

Submitted by CB on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 12:43pm

Eventually all empires crumple

and they usually die from within. Just look at the rot around you. The US is now a democracy in name only. Trump's idiocy, both foreign and domestic, may end up being the trigger that will start to pull the entire rotten edifice down on itself.

Beware the Dogs of War: Is the American Empire on the Verge of Collapse?
...
As long as “we the people” continue to allow the government to wage its costly, meaningless, endless wars abroad, the American homeland will continue to suffer: our roads will crumble, our bridges will fail, our schools will fall into disrepair, our drinking water will become undrinkable, our communities will destabilize, and crime will rise.

Here’s the kicker, though: if the American economy collapses—and with it the last vestiges of our constitutional republic—it will be the government and its trillion-dollar war budgets that are to blame.

Of course, the government has already anticipated this breakdown.

That’s why the government has transformed America into a war zone, turned the nation into a surveillance state, and labelled “we the people” as enemy combatants.

For years now, the government has worked with the military to prepare for widespread civil unrest brought about by “economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.”

Having spent more than half a century exporting war to foreign lands, profiting from war, and creating a national economy seemingly dependent on the spoils of war, the war hawks long ago turned their profit-driven appetites on us, bringing home the spoils of war—the military tanks, grenade launchers, Kevlar helmets, assault rifles, gas masks, ammunition, battering rams, night vision binoculars, etc.—and handing them over to local police, thereby turning America into a battlefield.
...
This is the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us more than 50 years ago not to let endanger our liberties or democratic processes. Eisenhower, who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, was alarmed by the rise of the profit-driven war machine that emerged following the war—one that, in order to perpetuate itself, would have to keep waging war.

We failed to heed his warning.
...

Meanwhile, as the US continues to fill coffins, China builds infrastructure and Russia continues to get stronger despite sanctions.

Meanwhile idiot Trump embarrassed Xi Jinping by setting him up while having "beautiful chocolate cake". Trump and McMaster are both completely out of their depth when it comes to Chinese and Russian diplomacy and the considerable skills of their leaders.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 1:24pm

Absolutely correct. Excellent comment

@CB

That’s why the government has transformed America into a war zone, turned the nation into a surveillance state, and labelled “we the people” as enemy combatants.

For years now, the government has worked with the military to prepare for widespread civil unrest brought about by “economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.”

And most of this country cheered when 'others' were beaten by cops.
I saw it as tptb seeing how Americans would react to police abuse.

and they usually die from within. Just look at the rot around you. The US is now a democracy in name only. Trump's idiocy, both foreign and domestic, may end up being the trigger that will start to pull the entire rotten edifice down on itself. Beware the Dogs of War: Is the American Empire on the Verge of Collapse? ... As long as “we the people” continue to allow the government to wage its costly, meaningless, endless wars abroad, the American homeland will continue to suffer: our roads will crumble, our bridges will fail, our schools will fall into disrepair, our drinking water will become undrinkable, our communities will destabilize, and crime will rise. Here’s the kicker, though: if the American economy collapses—and with it the last vestiges of our constitutional republic—it will be the government and its trillion-dollar war budgets that are to blame. Of course, the government has already anticipated this breakdown. That’s why the government has transformed America into a war zone, turned the nation into a surveillance state, and labelled “we the people” as enemy combatants. For years now, the government has worked with the military to prepare for widespread civil unrest brought about by “economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.” Having spent more than half a century exporting war to foreign lands, profiting from war, and creating a national economy seemingly dependent on the spoils of war, the war hawks long ago turned their profit-driven appetites on us, bringing home the spoils of war—the military tanks, grenade launchers, Kevlar helmets, assault rifles, gas masks, ammunition, battering rams, night vision binoculars, etc.—and handing them over to local police, thereby turning America into a battlefield. ... This is the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us more than 50 years ago not to let endanger our liberties or democratic processes. Eisenhower, who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, was alarmed by the rise of the profit-driven war machine that emerged following the war—one that, in order to perpetuate itself, would have to keep waging war. We failed to heed his warning. ... Meanwhile, as the US continues to fill coffins, China builds infrastructure and Russia continues to get stronger despite sanctions. Meanwhile idiot Trump embarrassed Xi Jinping by setting him up while having "beautiful chocolate cake". Trump and McMaster are both completely out of their depth when it comes to Chinese and Russian diplomacy and the considerable skills of their leaders.

Submitted by Granma on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 1:38pm

Re: That Big Bomb

I heard that it was so big, it couldn't be dropped from usual plane. They had to put it on a C130 cargo plane, and to drop it, pushed it off the ramp at the back of the plane. If that is true, I wonder just how accurate the targeting could have been? Stupid! Outrageous! Criminal, the whole thing.

Submitted by Granma on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 2:03pm

I wonder if the way to wake people up about these wars

is to focus on the cost of bombs? I think the amount of the military or "defense" budget is such a large number, it is hard to take in.

But if people heard the cost of each bomb and how many we are dropping per day, week or month, that is a number that might stick. Whatever a person's priorities are, each can do a little mental math. How many bombs not dropped to make a local bridge safe, to adequately fund their schools, to pay for a child's needed surgery or grandma's cancer medicine?

For some people, the amount of money being blown up daily, might get their attention faster than the number of civilians being killed. And I think people grasp a million dollars per bomb (or whatever the number is) more easily than the 3 or 4 trillion dollars spent on wars in the last 15 years. Particularly when they hear how very many of those bombs are being dropped.

Submitted by CB on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 3:38pm

It didn't work in the Vietnam era

@Granma
even though it was severely handicapping the economy. The US dropped 7.6 million tons of explosives in Indochina compared to the 2.2 million tons dropped in WWII by all parties. Here's what the US dropped on Laos alone:

Watch the US Drop 2.5 Million Tons of Bombs on Laos
Picturing the deadly legacy of America's secret war in the world's most bombed-out country.
Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped around 2.5 million tons of bombs on Laos. While the American public was focused on the war in neighboring Vietnam, the US military was waging a devastating covert campaign to cut off North Vietnamese supply lines through the small Southeast Asian country.

The nearly 600,000 bombing runs delivered a staggering amount of explosives: The equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes for nine years, or a ton of bombs for every person in the country—more than what American planes unloaded on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. Laos remains, per capita, the most heavily bombed country on earth.

Submitted by Strife Delivery on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 2:35pm

War, Fear, and Propaganda

I'm just often dumbfounded by what people will gobble up regarding information.

Often, you hear Democrats bemoan anyone who had the audacity, the gumption to defy their will and either A) Not vote for Clinton or B) Vote 3rd party.

They say that those people bought the propaganda from the right, hook, line, and sinker. However, if you bring up factual data, they merely do reflect it back:
"Sorry, Clinton is a monstrous warmonger who has seen to the deaths of millions and is pushing for war with Russia, which could turn nuclear."
"Yeah, well, now we have Trump. He's going to give us nuclear war with the Koreans."

Do they even hear themselves? Can they even hear themselves? They fear Trump for war and even nuclear war, but if you bring up how you couldn't vote for the truly vile war criminal Clinton, that is either propaganda or Now-We-Have-Trump reflect back onto you.

That level of hubris, of saying that they are the smartest, the most rational people and everyone else fell for propaganda, not only is galling but just infuriating. There is a reason Clinton spent over a billion dollars. To get naive, foolish children like you to believe she is this kind and generous person.

Democrats have been steadily pushing for nuclear war, and now they are scared because they might get one with Trump? Fuck that. Just can't stand this reactionary, flip-flopping, only-my-side-can-do-it bullshit. People like Howard Dean, the draft dodger who claimed a bad back but was skiing later on now wants regime change. I have an idea Howard. Why don't you, and Hillary, and McCain, why don't all you folks hop on your private jets, go to whatever country you want to destroy, and do it yourselves.

Submitted by The Wizard on Wed, 04/26/2017 - 7:02pm

We are becoming war in a diabolic feedback loop

We insist that we are the keepers of of international order. We punish other nations by economic means, military means, both threats and actual war, and use political means, creating false narratives of other nations on the world stage. The only nations that we don't treat as adversaries are the few US lapdog nations, representing about 15% of the world's population, yet we celebrate this alliance as the entire civilized world. The rest of the world, the real world, sees the threat and acts accordingly, building up their own military capabilities and seeking other economic alliances. We see this as a threat, become more belligerent and beef up our military. Add the feedback loop goes round and round.

The fact is that our military is useless against a major power. Our philosophy of total dominance through technology and minimum losses to us works with third world, helpless nations. Attacking a first world nation would result in significant loss of life for the US military and our "allies". The only time in recent history when major powers actually had head-to-head conflicts is during the World Wars. In the Cold war both nations went out of their way to never let that happen, save the Cuban missile crises which just about caused our complete destruction because of a stupid, inexperienced, egotistical global leader, JFK. Fortunately Nikita Khrushchev had a more realistic steady hand in this or we would not be here reading this blog. At the conclusion of this totally unnecessary stunt, Kennedy came to his senses and gave into the Soviet Union's demands, that missiles in Europe be removed and that the US never attack Cuba. Khrushchev's removal of the missiles was seen as a "softness" and cost him his job, by the way. We now, once again, have a completely inexperience, juvenile, egotistical leader thinking that US power is absolute. Again the US is putting missiles in Europe. Again, the Russians are the only adults in the room. Is that going to be enough?

The post WWII world was envisioned completely differently. The UN became a deliberative body with all nations equal. The UN Security Council was the only body empowered to approve military action. The major powers, England, Russia, China, France and the US have veto power. That was done to get them to agree to these powers given to this body, but also to force the major powers to not resort to direct action against each other, including economic sanctions, simply because any one of them could veto aggressive action, making it impossible to use the UNSC as a weapon. The US has pissed all over this contractual agreement. I hate to use such a vivid word here, but I really can't describe it adequately otherwise. The US as the one exceptional, indispensable nation in no way fits into the world as created by the UN charter. The US had the most to gain from an orderly world where all nations respect the rule of international law, that is, the UN charter. But no, we found ourselves ratcheting up to be a lawless rogue nation threatening the world order wherever possible to create a world that always defers to the US. It has become endemic to the US political character. The people have been trained to cheer. The adversary is always portrayed as evil, and our work is always portrayed as destroying that evil. The novel 1984 really hit this on the nose.

—

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.