Perpetual War

Not many people are aware of the fact that there is in fact a shadow government, not of any particular country but of the world. The United States of America might be the one that's been given the job to police the world, but that's only because of the mandate the rest of the world gave them.

_{source: Wikipedia}

It's to be expected that the introduction will conjure up visions of all sorts of conspiracy theories, and some of you, dear readers, might have already left and are not reading this. That's too bad, because I'm here today to tell a rather remarkable story of how the United States hasn't known a single day without armed conflict somewhere around the globe since the Second World War, how this perpetual war was manufactured from the ground up under the leadership and guidance of the National Security State, and how the Taliban, and then Al Qaeda, followed by ISIS were manufactured by them, as well as the consent needed to wage this perpetual war. Lastly I'll discuss how this led to the refugee crisis that fueled support for right wing nationalist populists all over the western world, who garnered much of their support by exploiting the Islamophobia fueled by the war on terrorism. I won't go into too much detail to keep this post manageable, but if you follow some of the links you'll be able to piece it all together for yourself; here comes the short version.

The Cold War lasted approximately from 1947 to 1991 and started to de-escalate from 1989 onward. This entire period much of the world lived in perpetual fear; children in the U.S. were taught in schools how to "duck and cover" in case of an attack with atomic bombs. As if hiding under a table would negate any amount of radiation... This perpetual fear was perhaps best expressed in the 1983 movie The Day After. I can still remember how disturbed I was by that film for days as a teenager, as it showed how the ones that were killed immediately were actually the lucky ones; the ones with radiation-sickness awaited a far worse fate, slowly losing hair, nails and skin first... In all media it was made clear that in a world with two superpowers who both have the destructive power of ending life as we know it by pressing a button, a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) was the only, but fragile chance for avoiding such destruction.

_{"Duck And Cover" - original TV advert}

This led to the now infamous arms race between the liberal democracies of the west and the "Red Scare". The military industrial complex made a killing, literally and figuratively, as that provided an excuse to start a whole slew of armed conflicts all over the world in any country that chose to side with the Soviet Union, not to mention the manufacturing of the atomic weapons themselves. Even within the U.S. through the 1950s we saw a demonizing of socialist-leaning citizens, a regular witch hunt against communists; this period spawned the term McCarthyism, used to describe accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. This period is the breeding-ground for much of the fear for anything called "socialism" or "communism", and it continues in fact, as we can see in Latin America where socialist regimes are demonized and toppled, to be replaced by far right neoliberal authoritarians. But it's everywhere, Korea, Vietnam, Iran, the list of armed conflicts involving the U.S. is endless, and continues uninterrupted since World War II. Understand that none of these wars were actual ideological or religious or spontaneous in any way; they all served a strategic goal in the geographical chessboard game played by the superpowers, or for resources like oil, gas, metals or even fruit.

Not many people really believe that there is such a thing as a modern empire, but that's because in the mainstream media as well as in popular culture, these conflicts are treated as separate events, and framed as a conflict between opposing ideologies; capitalist democracies versus authoritarian communist states during the Cold War, and capitalist democracies versus authoritarian Islamic states at present in the war against terrorism. Now, it's remarkable to notice that the War in Afghanistan, which started in 2001, reached adulthood this year on 7 Oktober when it became 18 years old, as well as the longest war in US history, beating even the Vietnam war which lasted "only" 17 years. But what's even more remarkable, stunning even, is that this Afghan war is the event that provided the seamless transition from Cold War to war on terrorism, just another episode in the perpetual war that started in 1945, arguably even in the Great War. Afghanistan's fate as a starring role in the military industrial complex's perpetual war was sealed in 1979 when Zbigniew Brzezinski, in his role as national security adviser, convinced Jimmy Carter to approve a plan to provide covert CIA aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. This effort was taken with the expressed intent to increase the probability of a Soviet invasion of the country, as admitted by Brzezinski in a 1998 interview with Le Nouvel Observateur: "We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would." Watch the 1 minute video below, to hear him admit that American support for the Mujahideen was to "to make the Soviets bleed, for as much and as long as possible."

_{Zbigniew Brzezinski to the Mujahideen: "Your cause is right and God is on your side!"}

In reality the Soviet Union was almost bankrupt already, and many believe that the Afghan war was the straw that broke the camel's back for them. The Carter and Reagan administrations, along with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, funded, organized, transported, armed and trained Salafist extremists to fight the Red Army in a holy war on behalf of Islam. Among those who joined the cause were future al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. These Mujahideen became the Taliban, al Qaeda and now ISIS; they became the embodiment of the successor to the Red Scare, the next excuse to keep waging the perpetual war. Brzezinski was born in the Ukraine, his parents were land owners and nationalists; he hated the Soviet Union as exemplified by his response when asked if he regrets any of his actions in the Middle East:

Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t regret any of this today?

B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.

Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?

B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?

It's ironic and sad to realize we've come full circle. Staring with a world war against fascism, we tumbled into a world war against communism, made the terrorists we fight in the world war against terrorism, which led to the death and displacement of fugitives fleeing these imperialist wars from the middle east, north Africa and Latin America that now have reached our precious western borders to seek safety from the wars we started. Let this sink in for a minute, be amazed by the singular fact that the U.S. has been in continuous armed conflicts, without a single day's rest, since the last World War, almost three quarters of a century ago. Remember yesterday's post about War On Film and realize how the military industrial complex gets inside our heads, not just through entertainment, but by manufacturing consent through mainstream media. Where's the popular outcry over the millions of deaths caused by these wars? Where's the outcry over the fascist coupe in Bolivia? Why do so many people simply accept popular political talking points that demonize popular and democratic governments all over the world, just because they lean too far over to socialism? Why do so many people silently and unquestionably accept this perpetual war waged by the modern western empire? We should all be outraged, not just Americans and not just one political persuasion; the support for the perpetual war is world-wide in the west and bipartisan.

"War is not the answer. It's the question, and the answer is 'yes'." I read that in a science fiction novel once, and it applies so perfectly to our current reality. We really are being played by the global elite and their henchmen among the members of the national security state in the F.B.I., C.I.A., D.O.D., N.S.A and their international peers all over the world. This high-stakes game is played without our consent and without regard for the countless lifes that are being destroyed in its name. Now Islamophobia has taken the place of the Red Scare, fascism is on the rise again, with the "Clash of Cultures" taking center stage in right wing terrorist attacks within western countries themselves. Please watch this interview with Max Blumenthal, bringing the news that's absent from the mainstream media because of their intimate ties with the corporate backed security state.

_{Max Blumenthal on "The Management of Savagery"}

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