Tag Archives: Support for war

The Democrats are Now the War Party, by Chris Hedges

Once upon a time there was a definable bloc within the the Democratic party that was highly skeptical of American military engagements. No more. From Chris Hedges at chrishedges.substack.com:

The Democratic Party has become the party of permanent war, fueling massive military spending which is hollowing out the country from the inside and flirting with with nuclear war.

Democratic Dark Side – by Mr. Fish

The Democrats position themselves as the party of virtue, cloaking their support for the war industry in moral language stretching back to Korea and Vietnam, when President Ngo Dinh Diem was as lionized as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. All the wars they support and fund are “good” wars. All the enemies they fight, the latest being Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping, are incarnations of evil. The photo of a beaming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris holding up a signed Ukrainian battle flag behind Zelensky as he addressed Congress was another example of the Democratic Party’s abject subservience to the war machine.

The Democrats, especially with the presidency of Bill Clinton, became shills not only for corporate America but for the weapons manufacturers and the Pentagon. No weapons system is too costly. No war, no matter how disastrous, goes unfunded. No military budget is too big, including the $858 billion in military spending allocated for the current fiscal year, an increase of $45 billion above what the Biden administration requested.

The historian Arnold Toynbee cited unchecked militarism as the fatal disease of empires, arguing that they ultimatley commit suicide.

There once was a wing of the Democratic Party that questioned and stood up to the war industry: Senators J. William Fulbright, George McGovern, Gene McCarthy, Mike Gravel, William Proxmire and House member Dennis Kucinich. But that opposition evaporated along with the antiwar movement. When 30 members of the party’s progressive caucus recently issued a call for Biden to negotiate with Putin, they were forced by the party leadership and a warmongering media to back down and rescind their letter. Not that any of them, with the exception of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have voted against the billions of dollars in weaponry sent to Ukraine or the bloated military budget. Rashida Tlaib voted present.

Continue reading→

The Farther People Are From The Fighting In Ukraine, The More They Oppose Peace Talks, by Caitlin Johnstone

It’s so much easier to advocate war when you’re not the one fighting it. From Caitlin Johnstone at caitlinjohnstone.com:

A new article for The Irish Times by Virginia Tech professor Gerard Toal, titled “Ukraine risks being locked into endless war in bid for perfect peace,” contains a very interesting paragraph:

Ordinary Ukrainians on the front lines are divided on a ceasefire and negotiations. My Ukrainian colleague Karina Korostelina and I surveyed the attitudes of both residents and displaced persons in three Ukrainian cities close to the southeast battlefields this summer. Almost half agreed it was imperative to seek a ceasefire to stop Russians killing Ukraine’s young men. Slightly more supported negotiations with Russia on a complete ceasefire, with a quarter totally against and a fifth declaring themselves neutral. Respondents were torn when considering whether saving lives or territorial unity were more important to them. Those most touched by the war, namely the internally displaced, were more likely to prioritise saving lives. Other research reveals that those farthest from the battlefields have the most hawkish attitudes.

It’s the third from the last paragraph in the article, whose overall content cannot be remotely construed as sympathetic toward Moscow, but it’s very important information.

“Those most touched by the war, namely the internally displaced, were more likely to prioritise saving lives. Other research reveals that those farthest from the battlefields have the most hawkish attitudes.”

Continue reading→

Reliable Conservatives, by Eric Peters

Reliable conservatives can be counted on to support American wars, no matter how idiotic From Eric Peters and ericpetersautos.com:

 
 

Lenin had his Useful Idiots – and so do we.

They are called “conservatives.”

Almost in lockstep, they have lined up behind Biden – and everything behind him – now that those behind Biden have brought out Putin. The Russian Bogeyman is almost as effective as “the virus” at getting “conservatives” to lick the hand of people like Biden and those behind him.

Putin bad! Ukraine good! It’s as simple – and as simple-minded – as that.

These idiots – with no grasp of history and no understanding of the man’s legitimate grievances, provoked by the Left they claim to oppose – will become very useful to Biden and those behind him, who will use the Threat of Putin to Democracy and Little Children in just the same way that the threat to granny posed by “the virus” was used – only more effectively, because “the virus” lacked the element of patriotic dementia, the disease which addles so many usefully idiotic “conservatives.”

This malady will be used to get them back in line, where they belong – where they can always be counted on to be whenever the flag is humped, often to the accompaniment of that odious anthem “conservatives” love so much about how “free” they are.

Continue reading→