I have been observing, with some bemusement, the knots that the neo-cons have been tying themselves into over Ukraine and ISIS. Their consistent prescription for everything, except maybe Ebola, is the same: Bomb it.
See, if any pissant with a video camera and access to the Internet picks up an AK-47 and starts ranting, the neo-cons want to bomb the shit out of them.
How much more of this shit can we take? How many continuing wars do they want us to get into? You might recall that as the Second Persian Gulf War wore on, the Army kept lowering their recruiting standards to "dim-bulb IQ, not too many facial tattoos, no major felonies, and not old enough for Social Security". The Army was so short of people that tens of thousands of airmen and sailors were effectively drafted into the Army.
As for ISIS, the Saudis have a nice, pretty army and air force. The Almighty knows that they've spend billions and billions of petrodollars buying shiny bangity things for their military. Why don't they try using them?
Well, the Saudis won't. First off, the officer ranks of their military are used, in part, to provide jobs for Saudi princes who are way down the line of succession to the Saudi throne. And second, ISIS became powerful because the Saudis financed them.
That's what the Saudis do. They finance a terror group and then, when their pet monster breaks its chains, we get to go play Whack-a-Terrorist.
Really fixing the shit there is going to require Iran and the United States to get over their respective butthurts and work together. That would piss off the Saudis no end, another reason to do it.
As for Ukraine, when someone points out our hard national interest (other than "zOMG, aggression"), I'm listening. The Euros are freaking out because they opted to suck at the teat of Gazprom, despite all of the people who said: "I wouldn't do that shit if I were you." The same people who are freaking out over the Russians playing with their guns in the "near abroad" nations on their border were cheerleading when Reagan invaded Grenada, Bush I invaded Panama, and Bush II invaded Iraq.
Because "cheerleading" is all they do. Not that any of their kin are going to be shot at. None of Mittster's kids put on a uniform. The only member of the Bush family to serve recently was a USNR intelligence officer, which is a job that can be done adequately whilst wearing a cocktail dress and heels.*
These wars all seem to come down to the gas and oil companies making money, don't they? No doubt, our own energy companies are slavering at the idea of selling LNG to the Europeans. Which means that once again, we'll strip our own domestic energy supplies for the sake of the Europeans.
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* I've used that line before. So sue me.
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3 comments:
The US and Iran,working together? What a concept. I was thinking the other day where the world would be if the US hadn't got pissy with Mao after first helping him. My history is weak but have two countries ever really worked together profitably?
w3ski
" if the US hadn't got pissy with Mao "
You can lay that squarely at the doorstep of Chiang Kai-Shek, who sensed our infatuation with propping up tinpot dictators. If you want to see what a dick he was, read Barbara Tuchman's bio of Vinegar Joe Stilwell.
We could have avoided a lot of trouble later if Wilson hadn't been such a blatant racist and had given a fair hearing at the Versailles Peace Conference to a young man named Ho Chi Minh.
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