Paul Craig Roberts:
It is extraordinary to see the confidence that many Americans place
in their military’s ability. After 15 years the US has been unable to
defeat a few lightly armed Taliban, and after 13 years the situation in
Iraq remains out of control. This is not very reassuring for the
prospect of taking on Russia, much less the strategic alliance between
Russia and China. The US could not even defeat China, a Third World
country at the time, in Korea 60 years ago.
Americans need to pay attention to the fact that “their” government
is a collection of crazed stupid fools likely to bring vaporization to
the United States and all of Europe.
Russian weapons systems are far superior to American ones. American
weapons are produced by private companies for the purpose of making vast
profits. The capability of the weapons is not the main concern. There
are endless cost overruns that raise the price of US weapons into outer
space.
The F-35 fighter, which is less capable than the F-15 it is supposed
to replace, costs between $148 million and $337 million per fighter,
depending on whether it is an Air Force, Marine Corps, or Navy model. A
helmet for a F-35 pilot costs $400,000, more than a high end
Ferrari. (Washington forces or bribes hapless Denmark into purchasing
useless and costly F-35s.)
It is entirely possible that the world is being led to destruction by
nothing more than the greed of the US military-security complex.
Delighted that the reckless and stupid Obama regime has resurrected the
Cold War, thus providing a more convincing “enemy” than the hoax
terrorist one, the “Russian threat” has been restored to its 20th
century role of providing a justification for bleeding the American
taxpayer, social services, and the US economy dry in behalf of profits
for armament manufacturers.
However, this time Washington’s rhetoric accompanying the revived
Cold War is far more reckless and dangerous, as are Washington’s
actions, than during the real Cold War. Previous US presidents worked to
defuse tensions. The Obama regime has inflated tensions with lies and
reckless provocations, which makes it far more likely that the new Cold
War will turn hot. If Killary gains the White House, the world is
unlikely to survive her first term.
All of America’s wars except the first—the war for independence—were
wars for Empire. Keep that fact in mind as you hear the Memorial Day
bloviations about the brave men and women who served our country in its
times of peril. The United States has never been in peril, but
Washington has delivered peril to numerous other countries in its
pursuit of hegemony over others.
Today for the first time in its history the US faces peril as a
result of Washington’s attempts to assert hegemony over Russia and
China.
Russia and China are not impressed by Washington’s arrogance, hubris,
and stupidity. Moreover, these two countries are not the native
American Plains Indians, who were starved into submission by the Union
Army’s slaughter of the buffalo.
They are not the tired Spain of 1898 from whom Washington stole Cuba and the Philippines and called the theft a “liberation.”
They are not small Japan whose limited resources were spread over the vastness of the Pacific and Asia.
They are not Germany already defeated by the Red Army before Washington came to the war.
They are not Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, or the various
Latin American countries that General Smedley Butler said the US Marines
made safe for “the United Fruit Company” and “some lousy bank
investment.”
An insouciant American population preoccupied with selfies and
delusions of military prowess, while its crazed government picks a fight
with Russia and China, has no future.