Apr 12, 2023·edited Apr 12, 2023Liked by Neoliberal Feudalism
A lifetime ago in the mid-2000s I was on deployment in the Northern Persian Gulf right off the coast of Iraq and Iran. Our primary mission was establishing and maintaining a security perimeter around the offshore oil platforms KAAOT and ABOT in support of re-establishing the oil capacity output for Iraq.
After a month or so of chasing away fishing and transport Dhows, warily eyeing Iranian cigar gunboats and generally being on edge, I realized the stupidity of the situation. I joked to our Commanding Officer that instead of United States Navy tags on our uniforms we should get some ExxonMobil badges. My logic being that we should represent who we were actually working for. He didn’t like my humor for some reason.
Dying or being injured in the service of defending the nation is one thing. Risking American lives so a fat cat oil executive can buy another house on the shores of Lake Tahoe wasn’t what I signed up for.
Nor was I very appreciative of being a piece on the geopolitical meat chess board for NeoCon ambitions. "Democracy™ and degenerate values spread via globohomo GAE at the barrel of a gun is what the globe resists, and rightly so.
Hi Arthur, nice comment. I agree, the use of US troops to secure commodity production for special interests seems to be a reoccurring and very unfortunate theme. Whether it's protecting stolen oil production and transportation in Iraq or (especially) in eastern Syria today, or having U.S. troops guard/secure opium fields in Afghanistan, it's sad that patriotic Americans risk their lives for such an empty endeavor. This tactic is not limited to American soldiers, of course; the British engaged in the Opium Wars against China to protect merchant access to opium trafficking (lol), and they deliberately starved thousands of women and children to death in the Boer Wars in South African concentration camps to secure mineral and precious metal mines to benefit the Rothschilds and their allies, as examples. Nasty stuff.
Whenever I hear a liberal or neocon talk about wanting to start another war, I usually respond with encouragement that I would be happy to support them in any foreign military intervention that they want to promote -- so long as they and their children volunteer for the front lines. They never have a response to this, oddly enough.
Well, no argument there as far as description of conditions is concerned. Most rural people I know, however, put just their heads down and keep moving and paying attention as well as they can -- and usually this is sufficient to the task. It is not they 'busy themselves with their lives'as a means for defusing overall misery, it is that they see and live that as their responsibility. Hypotheses about bg picture cause and effect seem to be the provenance of more urban types with much smaller back yards and less complex and less satisfying daily and seasonal occupations and duties.
"5G cell towers, which have a dramatic ill effect on health are everywhere and help the government spy on its population." - I read the linked article which on its face does not support the "dramatic ill effect on health" statement. However, given its source the WHO perhaps the reference is sarcastic given that organization has long been ideologically and politically captured?
A small quibble to be sure, the overall gist of the post is correct. Excellent collection of statistics. Appreciate that compelling summary very much.
Thanks for catching that, JD. I updated it to "may have unknown long-term ill effects on health". The link was meant to show how much our ruling class at least purports not to know about the technology that have unleashed everywhere - it is basically a real world experiment, much like ubiquitous cell phone use is (and there are ill effects associated with that, too). It also brings to mind this old drone video where a drone went up close to a 5G cell tower, caught on fire and was destroyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzHb-ZqmUQ8
Well I'm not autistic but the rest fits. I would add time-rich as the neofeudal debt-slave simply doesn't have the time to chase down the discrepancies and get to the bottom of it.
I think what you are attempting is very important and will age like fine wine.
I wrote an angry song about Banks and Covid if you have the time to listen and share.
A lifetime ago in the mid-2000s I was on deployment in the Northern Persian Gulf right off the coast of Iraq and Iran. Our primary mission was establishing and maintaining a security perimeter around the offshore oil platforms KAAOT and ABOT in support of re-establishing the oil capacity output for Iraq.
After a month or so of chasing away fishing and transport Dhows, warily eyeing Iranian cigar gunboats and generally being on edge, I realized the stupidity of the situation. I joked to our Commanding Officer that instead of United States Navy tags on our uniforms we should get some ExxonMobil badges. My logic being that we should represent who we were actually working for. He didn’t like my humor for some reason.
Dying or being injured in the service of defending the nation is one thing. Risking American lives so a fat cat oil executive can buy another house on the shores of Lake Tahoe wasn’t what I signed up for.
Nor was I very appreciative of being a piece on the geopolitical meat chess board for NeoCon ambitions. "Democracy™ and degenerate values spread via globohomo GAE at the barrel of a gun is what the globe resists, and rightly so.
Hi Arthur, nice comment. I agree, the use of US troops to secure commodity production for special interests seems to be a reoccurring and very unfortunate theme. Whether it's protecting stolen oil production and transportation in Iraq or (especially) in eastern Syria today, or having U.S. troops guard/secure opium fields in Afghanistan, it's sad that patriotic Americans risk their lives for such an empty endeavor. This tactic is not limited to American soldiers, of course; the British engaged in the Opium Wars against China to protect merchant access to opium trafficking (lol), and they deliberately starved thousands of women and children to death in the Boer Wars in South African concentration camps to secure mineral and precious metal mines to benefit the Rothschilds and their allies, as examples. Nasty stuff.
Whenever I hear a liberal or neocon talk about wanting to start another war, I usually respond with encouragement that I would be happy to support them in any foreign military intervention that they want to promote -- so long as they and their children volunteer for the front lines. They never have a response to this, oddly enough.
Well, no argument there as far as description of conditions is concerned. Most rural people I know, however, put just their heads down and keep moving and paying attention as well as they can -- and usually this is sufficient to the task. It is not they 'busy themselves with their lives'as a means for defusing overall misery, it is that they see and live that as their responsibility. Hypotheses about bg picture cause and effect seem to be the provenance of more urban types with much smaller back yards and less complex and less satisfying daily and seasonal occupations and duties.
I'm stuck between the two states. The fire-hose of info on the abrupt ratcheting up of the totalitarianism is one thing - My 10 acres is another
That abrupt racheting up of totalitarianism you speak of -- it's almost like 'they' all caught the same disease all of a sudden.
"5G cell towers, which have a dramatic ill effect on health are everywhere and help the government spy on its population." - I read the linked article which on its face does not support the "dramatic ill effect on health" statement. However, given its source the WHO perhaps the reference is sarcastic given that organization has long been ideologically and politically captured?
A small quibble to be sure, the overall gist of the post is correct. Excellent collection of statistics. Appreciate that compelling summary very much.
Thanks for catching that, JD. I updated it to "may have unknown long-term ill effects on health". The link was meant to show how much our ruling class at least purports not to know about the technology that have unleashed everywhere - it is basically a real world experiment, much like ubiquitous cell phone use is (and there are ill effects associated with that, too). It also brings to mind this old drone video where a drone went up close to a 5G cell tower, caught on fire and was destroyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzHb-ZqmUQ8
Well I'm not autistic but the rest fits. I would add time-rich as the neofeudal debt-slave simply doesn't have the time to chase down the discrepancies and get to the bottom of it.
I think what you are attempting is very important and will age like fine wine.
I wrote an angry song about Banks and Covid if you have the time to listen and share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmAhPm8deMs
Oh yes. Because it's the "antisocial elements" that get bullied, by, of course, prosocial elements.