The marketing of perpetual war
by BlackCatte
…The war is not meant to be won – it is meant to be continuous.…” – George Orwell, 1984
David Kilcullen has a message for us over at the Guardian, and this is it:
We’re living in an era of persistent conflict…”
Which is sadly, true. You might think the next thing to be discussed on that topic would be – why? Why are we now living in an era of endless war? What forces are behind this development? Who, if anyone, is profiting from the same? But, no, David doesn’t think any of this is worthy of our attention. He simply wants us to understand that “perpetual conflict” is absolutely and inescapably the new reality.
…you can read it in the latest concept documents of half a dozen western militaries. But it doesn’t seem to have hit home, for the public or some policymakers, that the notion that this can all end, that we can get back to some pre-9/ 11 “normal,” is a fantasy.
Do we get that? Is it hitting home? Peace is now a “fantasy”. It’s official. And in case you are still harbouring some smidgen of doubt, Dave is going to say it again in different words:
This – this instability, this regional conflict surrounded by networked global violence, this convergence of war and crime, of domestic and international threats, this rise of a new aggressive totalitarian state from the rubble of the last war – is the new normal, and it’s not going to change for a very, very long time. There are no quick solutions: we need to settle in for the long haul.
Ergo….
That being the case, we have to figure out methods of dealing with persistent conflict.
and…
I see no alternative to a larger, more intense, conventional war against Isis than the one currently being contemplated…
Do you see that children? That’s called “paradigm-creation.” The topic for discussion is evidently intended to be “how do we deal with persistent conflict?” The question of why the persistent conflict is happening, or who is funding these “aggressive new totalitarian states” is NOT part of the agenda, and is being excised from our collective conscious. All we need to know is:
Isis is an escalating threat that’s growing and worsening.
We do not need to worry our little heads about what this entity called “ISIS” actually is, how plausible the clownish stories of its super-villain powers are. Nor are we supposed to waste a single moment asking who is picking up its not inconsiderable tab. What matters is that Syria and Iraq are “problems” (never mind why or how) and that “greater western involvement would mitigate all these problems” (because that is what western involvement does – ask Libya). Most importantly, the US needs to get over its scruples and do more:
…US passivity and reluctance to target Assad (though his regime kills more people than Isis) makes many Syrians wary of joining the “moderate” rebels.
“US passivity and reluctance”? Really, Dave? What about the article in the Washington Times claiming the US state department lied about Syrian chemical attacks in order to fabricate a reason for attacking Assad? And what about this article at Global Research which alleges the US is actually targeting the Syrian government- not ISIS – with its current air strikes.
I’m left wondering – is Assad really any worse than the dreadful and medieval Saudis? He certainly seems to be pretty popular in Syria, where they apparently have a different take on things (but Dave doesn’t bother to tell us that). If we in the west have no problem with murderous tyrants, why do we have a problem with Assad? Is it because he isn’t our murderous tyrant?
Is the US really out there in Syria trying (but inexplicably failing) to defeat ISIS? Or is it happy to aid and abet ISIS in doing the dirty work it tried and failed to do itself? If Dave gets his way and we launch a “more intense conventional war” in Syria, will our soldiers’ lives and our taxes really be spent on defeating ISIS or is that just a shallow ruse to enable the US to finally go in and get Assad?
Is “perpetual conflict” really something we should all just accept as inevitable and leave it to people like Dave to sort out? Or is it something we should be resisting and interrogating at every level and at every opportunity?
No. Never mind. None of this matters. Let’s just keep it simple. The message is:
1. Persistent conflict is the new normal
2. There is no need to ask why.
Everyone got that?
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[…] By BlackCatte […]
You go, Black Katte!!! Indeed, ISIS is a western creation as much as al Qaeda ever was, and its alleged presence in Syria – offering a bit of a twofer, as it also takes attention off the presence there already of manufactured “rebels” who are also a CIA construct – provides a convenient excuse for the American and allied Air Forces to bomb government targets “by mistake” and for military intervention to spy out the land looking for vulnerabilities and perhaps offer a way for one of their greenhouse terrorist groups to whack Assad. Then it would be all, “Very sorry, what a terrible tragedy; time for new elections, let’s try to put it behind us. Say, who’s this guy, hasn’t lived in Syria for twenty years, Columbia-educated, sounds like he’d make a hell of a President! Mr. President, I wonder if we could talk for a moment about pipelines….yes, just over here: have you met the Qatari Foreign Minister?”
At least the Perpetual War State has done us the favour of getting rid of those pesky international laws it took decades to write, and replaced them with The Law of the Jungle. International law is still around, of course, but nobody talks much about it unless one of the west’s targeted enemies can be accused as having broken one or more. Then the press coverage, accompanied by much wailing and gnashing of teeth by empty-suit politicians, pretends everyone adheres to them rigorously.
Today’s Perpetual War State has foresworn all the principles that once made us proud of our government and the military forces who served it, in favour of a single stripped-down creed – it is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.
Less is more.
Bravo.
Yes the world is full of imaginary enemies. It is a dangerous place: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Countries that do not repay their debts—and you know who they are, ISIS, Home grown terrorists, Cuba, Venezuela—there are just so many. And we are making them all the time.
Things were so much simpler in the 20th century when all we had to worry about were Communists under every bed and the Viet Cong invading San Francisco. Back then loved ones could see one off at the airport gate. We did not all have to have our genitals scanned and kept our shoes on before boarding a plane, too. Has the TSA ever caught a real terrorists? Life was simple and we could make love On The Beach before being overcome with nuclear radiation.
Ah, but nuclear war is back. We now have a choice. Either we can end the world quickly in a few minutes or a slow death from Global Warming. Choose your misery.
The real Enemy of the State is us as Pogo said a long time ago before most of you were born. Life was made better through chemistry, college was free or almost, no student loans and kids studies Keynes and thought they had discovered Nirvana—Capitalism without the business cycle and for sure the Great Depression could never happen again. We were so smug knowing how silly Hoover was by thinking that a balanced budget and austerity would cure an economic depression.
Gather around children and let me tell you a story: Once upon a time everybody thought it was rude to read other peoples mail and listen to the neighbor on the party line (two long rings and it is for the neighbor, two short for us). We learned that “just following orders” was no excuse for war crimes, the Geneva Conventions saved “our boys” lives, and Japanese internment camps were a stain on America. Religious intolerance put everybody in jeopardy. The police walked a beat and were our friends. We thought that “1984” was a book that condemned Stalin as being “Big Brother” and it could not happen to us.
George Orwell, predicted this would happen. So did Pogo: “I see the enemy and it is us”.