The exact percentage for the United States, 2011 leader in global arms sales, is 77.7%.
The runner-up global arms seller is Russia with a comparatively meager 5.6%.
In 2010 our weapons sales were valued at $21.4 billion.
In 2011 our weapons sales are valued at $66.3.
In one year, the weapons sales by the US have TRIPLED!!!!
WTF?
The above statistics are from an article by Bill Van Auken of wsws. The statistics were released last week having been compiled by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Van Auken writes:
The massive rise in US arms sales is driven by the accelerating turn toward aggressive war as a means of achieving the strategic global objectives of US imperialism, combined with the insatiable drive for profit and power by America’s bloated military-industrial complex.
So to whom are all these deadly armaments being sold one might wonder.
The “lion’s share” reports Van Auken is directed to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Together, their sales are valued at $38.2 billion. So out of the $66.3 billion amount, a whopping $38.2 worth are sold to these two citizen-oppressing, anti-human rights countries.
Van Auken writes:
The Saudi monarchy’s purchase of 84 advanced F-15 fighter planes together with dozens of military helicopters and other weapons yielded super profits for Boeing and United Technologies. The regime in the UAE obtained a $3.5 billion sophisticated missile defense system, providing rich returns for Lockheed Martin.
snip
The purchases by the monarchical regimes in the Arab world stem, on the one hand, from their reaction to the popular upheavals that were dubbed the “Arab Spring” and, on the other, from the buildup by the US and its allies for another war, this time against Iran.
snip
The House of Saud, which runs Saudi Arabia as a family fiefdom, saw in the events in Tunisia, Egypt and particularly Bahrain, where its troops were used to suppress mass protests, a mortal threat to its absolutist rule. An essential part of its response is the dramatic expansion of its military apparatus.
Van Auken explains that years ago the US justified such arms sales as enabling its allies against a threat from Moscow, which then eclipsed US sales and aimed its sales to unstable Third World nations. A CRS statement:
“Whereas the principal motivation for arms sales by key foreign suppliers in earlier years might have been to support a foreign policy objective, today that motivation may be based as much, if not more, on economic considerations as those of foreign or national security policy.”
Profits over people once again. What hellish bloodbaths US manufactured armaments have already enabled and will enable henceforth!
I’m suddenly thinking of that quote by Abraham Maslow, American philosopher/psychologist. “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” "Good faith diplomacy" to deal with conflict by ANY country (ESPECIALLY the US, the mass supplier as well as user of armaments) seems to have left the planet. Plenty of these proverbial hammers, SUPER-hammers, are now out there in the hands of so many dangerous players.
The other major sales were directed where you ask?
$2 billion worth of “antimissile batteries” to Taiwan. Van Auken sees this as “a provocative move aimed against China”.
Another troubling transaction, $6.9 billion worth of arms to India, “ratcheting up tensions with its regional antagonist, Pakistan” declares Van Auken.
Van Auken calls out the grotesque hypocrisy of the US and its allies such as Israel with their manipulative faux-hysteria about the faux-threats of countries targeted for imperialism-lusting regime change. The justification for war with Iraq ten years ago was justified as pre-emptively eliminating the threat posed by Iraq’s imaginary “weapons of mass destruction.” Now Van Auken sees the ramped up current armaments sales as, in particular, seeding conditions for imminent and illegitimate hegemonic war against Iran, using Iran’s admittedly non-existent wmds but ridiculously ramped up “potential” for making nuclear warheads as an excuse for war by countries with already existing arsenals of nuclear warheads. The hypocrisy is colossal on this one and yet US media propaganda cravenly backs it 100%. Most American citizens incredibly, bobble-headedly buy into it.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Such a reality would be inconvenient for the US and its allies, since they want regime change in Iran and other non-puppet countries to exploit their resources. Van Auken:
The preparations for war against Iran are directed at tightening US hegemony over the energy-rich regions of the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, which the landmass of Iran spans. In that sense, the aggression being prepared against Iran and its people under Obama is in pursuit of the same aims that underlay the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq launched under Bush.
So, the US and its allies engineer crippling sanctions against Iran, harming the citizens of Iran especially risking the lives of the very young, the ill and the aged, deploy serious air and sea forces to monitor the Persian Gulf, and constantly threaten Iran with imminent attack. Van Auken declares:
The amount of weaponry Washington sold to the Saudi and UAE regimes alone last year amounted to nearly six times Iran’s entire military budget.
Van Auken calls out the craven realpolitik agenda of the US:
The US geo-strategic objective in sponsoring these weapons sales is to create potently armed regional proxies for a war for regime-change in Iran. This process is already playing out in Syria, where Washington’s major arms customers—Saudi Arabia and the UAE—are openly sponsoring the so-called rebels seeking the overthrow of Iran’s principal Arab ally, the government of Bashar al-Assad. This sponsorship has extended to the creation of a $100 million fund to pay the salaries of the militias challenging the Syrian government, as well as the provision of weapons, which is being coordinated by the CIA in Turkey and undoubtedly on the ground in Syria itself.
So when the Obama administration declares it is not "technically" stoking the bloodbath in Syria right now (though CIA operatives are busily doing all they can at the Turkish border to help the anti-Assad coalition including significant foreign terrorists, including Al Qaeda) think about all that weaponry WE supplied to enable all that bloodshed for "regime change" for craven corporate-agendas.
We want chaotic bloodbaths in those Middle Eastern regions and elsewhere because American foreign policy is full out "ends justifies the means" for profitmaking. No statesmanship, just deadly, winner take all, ruthless gamesmanship. Ultimate profits over people, over troops, over innocent foreign citizens. Think of the literally millions of innocent Middle Easterners, killed, wounded and/or displaced.
So much of the US citizenry is ignorant of the amorality perpetrated by our country. The Democratic Party with the profound and massive help of the corporate media has successfully neutered its former left anti-war wing.
Another overlooked consideration. Tax dollars subsidize the manufacture of armaments in this country. Van Auken:
The arms industry is massively subsidized by the American taxpayer. While the political establishment and media insist “there is no money” when it comes to jobs, decent wages, education and vital public services, endless billions are lavished on America’s merchants of death.
Our tax dollars are enabling the evil violence perpetrated by our own country and its allies, allies that include seriously oppressive, anti-human rights regimes and even coalitions of renegade avowed terrorists.
I ask my fellow Americans when they make their upcoming election choice to consider what they are endorsing, in terms of BOTH the Democratic and the Republican corporate wars-perpetrating parties. And in particular, the Dems might want to re-evaluate that "lesser evil" label.
[cross-posted at correntewire and sacramento for democracy]
--------------
With one exception, Libby.
I think it's risky, maybe naive to believe that Saudi states will have your back, in any move on Iran.
I think it's risky, maybe naive to believe that Saudi states will have your back, in any move on Iran.
The proclivity of humanity to indulge in total insanity, to spend to rend each other into bloody bits, to indulge in fits of rage over whether to engage in theologies beset with wild frivolities instead of watching basic ecologies disintegrate at such a rate to intimate a final fate makes one, at end, impossible to defend a species with the mental bend of a lump of feces.
Libby, You almost always send me off to other sites to read more about things that I realize I'm only vaguely informed about. And off I go again...
Well the answer is simple. With US Manufactured arms you get more bang for your buck, so unless you're some corrupt sub-Saharan African rebel group with nothing to trade but blood diamonds, you buy Russian or Chinese because you can't afford US weapons anyway.
Most US Weapons are big dollar weapons systems platforms or very expensive aircraft. $35 billion could be the purchase and maintenance contracts for 150 F-35 's and a few hundred SAMs over 10 years. And don't forget when you buy American, you're paying for premium union labor and $600 socket wrenches for the tool kit. Much more profit margin in custom tooling and maintenance contracts because at current DoD estimates, the F-35 would cost $51,143 per hour to fly.
War maybe unhealthy for flowers and children, but it's good business with lots of union jobs at subcontractors spread over all fifty states in the good old USA. So it's 1...2...3, what are we fighting for, Don't ask me I don't giva damn!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3So
Most US Weapons are big dollar weapons systems platforms or very expensive aircraft. $35 billion could be the purchase and maintenance contracts for 150 F-35 's and a few hundred SAMs over 10 years. And don't forget when you buy American, you're paying for premium union labor and $600 socket wrenches for the tool kit. Much more profit margin in custom tooling and maintenance contracts because at current DoD estimates, the F-35 would cost $51,143 per hour to fly.
War maybe unhealthy for flowers and children, but it's good business with lots of union jobs at subcontractors spread over all fifty states in the good old USA. So it's 1...2...3, what are we fighting for, Don't ask me I don't giva damn!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Y0ekr-3So
Thanks for commenting, Kim. I get your point. I heard the expression "frenemies" on the NewsHour tonight. It seems to fit the "might makes right" coalitions going on. Though from what I see with Turkey and Qatar and SA proxy-enabling the terrorists including al Qaeda in Syria for the sake of regime change there, no matter how many tens of thousands of innocent Syrians die, to weaken Iran, I don't see the momentum for self-serving regional bloodbaths for economic and military power slowing at all among ALL the jackals including those nations and NATO nations and Israel and the US.
Our war addiction, inciting other war addict nations, (and our fickleness and likelihood of flip-flopping betrayal more pronounced than the fickleness of middle eastern countries -- after all it was us who coaxed Gaddafi to play the game and not nuclearize in Libya) is provoking China and Russia for conflict. It is imho all truly insane and the US is the leading insaniac.
Tripled arms sales over a one year period, when, mind you, the so-called "lesser evil" prez was in office! We are encouraging death and destruction proxy struggles so we can stroll on in over the carnage and ruined civilization infrastructures and clean up in terms of resources and control. Ugly and evil. There should be more intense words for it all. best, libby
Jan, two things I can't fathom. The level of violence we are engineering in this world. And the ignorance/indifference of the US population when we are all thanks to our taxes accessories to mass murder! thanks for commenting yet again! best, libby
jlsathre, thanks so much for commenting. The sad thing is you have to dig hard for the real story and shut out so much propaganda and your own desire to believe the US has grounding in morality and justice at least to some degree. They say corporations have the legal person personalities of "psychopaths" and since we have become what some call a "corporatized democracy" we are being led by psychopathic prioritizing. That is why "diplomacy" and the "common good" and "public trust" have left the national vocabulary.
I try to get a grasp all this massive insanity and amorality but like say on the NewsHour, its stories have been propagandized and skewed and corporate censored, painting US as the good guy, with no serious moral analysis at all. Lots of times I have just learned the stuff I am pounding out on open salon the same day. I use OS as my own personal shock absorber -- remember that "jack benny look" at the camera audience that was so powerful -- DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE ALL THIS? best, libby
Our war addiction, inciting other war addict nations, (and our fickleness and likelihood of flip-flopping betrayal more pronounced than the fickleness of middle eastern countries -- after all it was us who coaxed Gaddafi to play the game and not nuclearize in Libya) is provoking China and Russia for conflict. It is imho all truly insane and the US is the leading insaniac.
Tripled arms sales over a one year period, when, mind you, the so-called "lesser evil" prez was in office! We are encouraging death and destruction proxy struggles so we can stroll on in over the carnage and ruined civilization infrastructures and clean up in terms of resources and control. Ugly and evil. There should be more intense words for it all. best, libby
Jan, two things I can't fathom. The level of violence we are engineering in this world. And the ignorance/indifference of the US population when we are all thanks to our taxes accessories to mass murder! thanks for commenting yet again! best, libby
jlsathre, thanks so much for commenting. The sad thing is you have to dig hard for the real story and shut out so much propaganda and your own desire to believe the US has grounding in morality and justice at least to some degree. They say corporations have the legal person personalities of "psychopaths" and since we have become what some call a "corporatized democracy" we are being led by psychopathic prioritizing. That is why "diplomacy" and the "common good" and "public trust" have left the national vocabulary.
I try to get a grasp all this massive insanity and amorality but like say on the NewsHour, its stories have been propagandized and skewed and corporate censored, painting US as the good guy, with no serious moral analysis at all. Lots of times I have just learned the stuff I am pounding out on open salon the same day. I use OS as my own personal shock absorber -- remember that "jack benny look" at the camera audience that was so powerful -- DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE ALL THIS? best, libby
This from Tom Engelhardt:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32437.htm
"In a sense (leaving aside the obvious inability of the U.S. military to actually win wars), it may, at this point, be what we do best. After all, whatever the results, it’s an accomplishment to send 200 Marines to Guatemala for a month of drug interdiction work, to get those Global Hawks secretly to Australia to monitor the Pacific, and to corner the market on things that go boom in the night.
"Think of it this way: the United States is alone on the planet, not just in its ability, but in its willingness to use military force in drug wars, religious wars, political wars, conflicts of almost any sort, constantly and on a global scale. No other group of powers collectively even comes close. It also stands alone as a purveyor of major weapons systems and so as a generator of war. It is, in a sense, a massive machine for the promotion of war on a global scale.
"We have, in other words, what increasingly looks like a monopoly on war. There have, of course, been warrior societies in the past that committed themselves to a mobilized life of war-making above all else. What’s unique about the United States is that it isn’t a warrior society. Quite the opposite.
"Washington may be mobilized for permanent war. Special operations forces may be operating in up to 120 countries. Drone bases may be proliferating across the planet. We may be building up forces in the Persian Gulf and “pivoting” to Asia. Warrior corporations and rent-a-gun mercenary outfits have mobilized on the country’s disparate battlefronts to profit from the increasingly privatized twenty-first-century American version of war. The American people, however, are demobilized and detached from the wars, interventions, operations, and other military activities done in their name. As a result, 200 Marines in Guatemala, almost 78% of global weapons sales, drones flying surveillance from Australia -- no one here notices; no one here cares.
"War: it’s what we do the most and attend to the least. It’s a nasty combination."
best, libby
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32437.htm
"In a sense (leaving aside the obvious inability of the U.S. military to actually win wars), it may, at this point, be what we do best. After all, whatever the results, it’s an accomplishment to send 200 Marines to Guatemala for a month of drug interdiction work, to get those Global Hawks secretly to Australia to monitor the Pacific, and to corner the market on things that go boom in the night.
"Think of it this way: the United States is alone on the planet, not just in its ability, but in its willingness to use military force in drug wars, religious wars, political wars, conflicts of almost any sort, constantly and on a global scale. No other group of powers collectively even comes close. It also stands alone as a purveyor of major weapons systems and so as a generator of war. It is, in a sense, a massive machine for the promotion of war on a global scale.
"We have, in other words, what increasingly looks like a monopoly on war. There have, of course, been warrior societies in the past that committed themselves to a mobilized life of war-making above all else. What’s unique about the United States is that it isn’t a warrior society. Quite the opposite.
"Washington may be mobilized for permanent war. Special operations forces may be operating in up to 120 countries. Drone bases may be proliferating across the planet. We may be building up forces in the Persian Gulf and “pivoting” to Asia. Warrior corporations and rent-a-gun mercenary outfits have mobilized on the country’s disparate battlefronts to profit from the increasingly privatized twenty-first-century American version of war. The American people, however, are demobilized and detached from the wars, interventions, operations, and other military activities done in their name. As a result, 200 Marines in Guatemala, almost 78% of global weapons sales, drones flying surveillance from Australia -- no one here notices; no one here cares.
"War: it’s what we do the most and attend to the least. It’s a nasty combination."
best, libby
jmac, thanks for commenting. actually, haven't you heard? some in the arms industry have discovered using US prison labor --in-sourcing -- for less than sweat-shop pay to boost their profits even higher!!! You can always count on corporate sociopathy to find or build an even deeper sub-basement of evil for screwing and gaming a system and keeping things we win/you lose. Privatization -- maybe they'll have the charter school kids, too, building drone parts for no money soon enough. Vocational training, right? best, libby
ps the corporate weapons vendors just like insurance and pharma and health industry vendors are obscenely profiteering on the very lives of human beings! WTF? Why are these VENDORS running the now global show time and again. time to say NO! TIME TO STOP THE INSANITY!!!
Who will say no? Obama and Romney who are both pimped out to these corporations who are paying them so they can win so they can enable them. I wish people would take Green Party's Jill Stein seriously.
Time is running out not only in terms of the 2012 election, but in terms of WWIII proliferation. Addicts don't wind down. War addicts will not eventually subside, they will keep escalating the addiction. We need a moral intervention! The UN has been corrupted thanks to the US in large part but also NATO nations.
best, libby
Who will say no? Obama and Romney who are both pimped out to these corporations who are paying them so they can win so they can enable them. I wish people would take Green Party's Jill Stein seriously.
Time is running out not only in terms of the 2012 election, but in terms of WWIII proliferation. Addicts don't wind down. War addicts will not eventually subside, they will keep escalating the addiction. We need a moral intervention! The UN has been corrupted thanks to the US in large part but also NATO nations.
best, libby
Assuming you were successful in stopping these sales, what would you do for the thousands of people who be without a job? Real world solution - not pie in the sky?
The assumption that the manufacture of world chaos and murder is a fine way to employ people is the height of insanity. As if there were not any other vital projects that need millions of workers to maintain a decent civilization.
thanks for commenting, mik -- please see my response to jmac. weapons manufacturers are more and more having the soaring prison populations work for prison wages -- cheaper than outsourcing. one reason they want to privatize prisons and keep that population high. (a soon to come blog!) of course corporate media doesn't report about this because they are doing corporate propaganda.
Addressing your question in terms of employment weapons manufacturing still does manage bring to this country to our struggling workforce, I would say END the jobs that pay workers to build drones and other horrifying weaponry and cluster bombs, etc.
There is other wholesome manufacturing this country could be doing, and that our tax dollars could be SUBSIDIZING rather than parts of weapons of mass destruction!
This reminds me of the issue of people dying of lung cancer and all those years of willful disinformation and advertising so that cigarette companies could keep on employing people and enjoying their enormous profits.
It is a tough call when it comes to workers and their paychecks so necessary for family survival, but are you really going to blow off the statistics in the blog I just wrote? And what these horrible weapons are used to do? The horrifying incineration done by drones and their intrusiveness for surveillance?
So many Americans shrug way too much off imho!!!! They back off from real values clarification opportunities. So much is measured in terms of consumer viability not morality.
best, libby
Addressing your question in terms of employment weapons manufacturing still does manage bring to this country to our struggling workforce, I would say END the jobs that pay workers to build drones and other horrifying weaponry and cluster bombs, etc.
There is other wholesome manufacturing this country could be doing, and that our tax dollars could be SUBSIDIZING rather than parts of weapons of mass destruction!
This reminds me of the issue of people dying of lung cancer and all those years of willful disinformation and advertising so that cigarette companies could keep on employing people and enjoying their enormous profits.
It is a tough call when it comes to workers and their paychecks so necessary for family survival, but are you really going to blow off the statistics in the blog I just wrote? And what these horrible weapons are used to do? The horrifying incineration done by drones and their intrusiveness for surveillance?
So many Americans shrug way too much off imho!!!! They back off from real values clarification opportunities. So much is measured in terms of consumer viability not morality.
best, libby
@Jan - where did I say that this was a good way to employ people? I asked what would be done for people who lost their jobs!
DON'T put words in my mouth!!
DON'T put words in my mouth!!
nicely and concisely put, jan!
What a dramatic cotnradiction to the lip service given to "peace" and "stability" as goals of US foreign policy.! The paradox of believing that our own "security" depends on Total Control of what every other country does. Once you imagine you need to, or can, control everybody else, you have doomed yourself to failure.
Mark -- Jill Stein of Green Party has a Green New Deal with a program for setting up 25 million jobs immediately, a WPA type program.
Instead the legacy political parties insist they must give money to the corporations so that that investment will trickle down and eventually (bullshit bullshit bullshit) finds its way to give us, the little guys, jobs.
The result of this continued con? A jobless recovery. The news reports the stock market is fine. The news doesn't report very much how 46 million Americans now live in poverty. best, libby
Instead the legacy political parties insist they must give money to the corporations so that that investment will trickle down and eventually (bullshit bullshit bullshit) finds its way to give us, the little guys, jobs.
The result of this continued con? A jobless recovery. The news reports the stock market is fine. The news doesn't report very much how 46 million Americans now live in poverty. best, libby
Donegal, profound statements. Thank you. We have lost our moral ground as a nation. Our might makes right leadership stance is a paradigm of power and control and narcissistic patriarchy. No room for humanism, cooperation and partnership based on morality and justice. Both those conventions had to distract from the tragic "heart of darkness" we now operate from as a nation internationally and domestically. Time for kabuki pretense will soon be over. There is so little lip service even to peace any more. When you read those statistics and consider Obama with the Nobel peace prize one more time, it is very surreal and heart-breaking. Corporate-induced sociopathic governance. best, libby
@libby - I said real world! In what world do you expect a Republican controlled House to pass such a bill?
Mark, I'm twice as cynical as you since I distrust profoundly BOTH the Repubs and the Dems.
We have obstructionist Republicans (insanely obstructionistic) and we have pretend-progressive and Blue Dog Dems who genuflect (along with Obama) to Israel and to AIPAC and to Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street but the Dems slide the knife in the citizenry's back while doing progressive kabuki gesturing and blaming the meanie Republicans for obstructing, which they do, but the votes for armaments and the lack of demand for authorizing these Obama wars and rewarding lobbying corporatists and not seriously promoting employment is their modus operandi as well. God forbid any of them seem soft on terror for their next election or piss off a corporation, though Sen. Carl Levin was ready to duke it out with Goldman Sachs and got betrayed, GS one of Obama's BFF, and Eric Holder scrubbed all the evidence collected and gave them a total pass from prosecution.
I do think it is time for the citizenry to wake the hell up since it has been getting screwed now through Clinton's deregulation and globalization set up, the two Bush administrations and now the Obama administration.
If so many of us have this learned helpless no friggin way there will be social justice and morality so why bother attitude, there is no chance. I'd rather go down fighting and calling them out for their fascism.
The obtuse citizens elect these betraying clowns year after year because they are manipulated by the celebrity cult media telling them -- us -- what to do. I think it is possible after so much crisis and so much evidence of horrifying governance for the people to push back. 46 million of us are living in poverty. When are the rest of the citizens gonna give a God-damn about that?
Instead too many citizens are more comfortable for the short term (forget the future of America) to have the media and the Obamas and the Congress betrayers LIE TO THEM and to ENDURE the status quo. Hoping these political and greedy and cowardly addicts for power, control and money will change. Addicts get worse. Especially a crony-community of addicts. We as citizens need to intervene.
If a significant number of Democrat and Republican citizens took their heads out of the sand and hollered NO!!! things might change.
Look at those 26,000 teachers fighting for their jobs. Hitting the pavement and saying hell no, even though both parties and the media were trying to paint them as selfish and anti-children.
Jill Stein of Green Party refuses to take money from corporations and is boycotted by the corporate media. Shows up for the 99%. But so many of the 99% won't give her support because corporate media hasn't endorsed her. WHICH IS THE FRIGGIN' POINT THAT SHOWS SHE IS NOT A SELL OUT!!!
My thoughts.
best, libby
We have obstructionist Republicans (insanely obstructionistic) and we have pretend-progressive and Blue Dog Dems who genuflect (along with Obama) to Israel and to AIPAC and to Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street but the Dems slide the knife in the citizenry's back while doing progressive kabuki gesturing and blaming the meanie Republicans for obstructing, which they do, but the votes for armaments and the lack of demand for authorizing these Obama wars and rewarding lobbying corporatists and not seriously promoting employment is their modus operandi as well. God forbid any of them seem soft on terror for their next election or piss off a corporation, though Sen. Carl Levin was ready to duke it out with Goldman Sachs and got betrayed, GS one of Obama's BFF, and Eric Holder scrubbed all the evidence collected and gave them a total pass from prosecution.
I do think it is time for the citizenry to wake the hell up since it has been getting screwed now through Clinton's deregulation and globalization set up, the two Bush administrations and now the Obama administration.
If so many of us have this learned helpless no friggin way there will be social justice and morality so why bother attitude, there is no chance. I'd rather go down fighting and calling them out for their fascism.
The obtuse citizens elect these betraying clowns year after year because they are manipulated by the celebrity cult media telling them -- us -- what to do. I think it is possible after so much crisis and so much evidence of horrifying governance for the people to push back. 46 million of us are living in poverty. When are the rest of the citizens gonna give a God-damn about that?
Instead too many citizens are more comfortable for the short term (forget the future of America) to have the media and the Obamas and the Congress betrayers LIE TO THEM and to ENDURE the status quo. Hoping these political and greedy and cowardly addicts for power, control and money will change. Addicts get worse. Especially a crony-community of addicts. We as citizens need to intervene.
If a significant number of Democrat and Republican citizens took their heads out of the sand and hollered NO!!! things might change.
Look at those 26,000 teachers fighting for their jobs. Hitting the pavement and saying hell no, even though both parties and the media were trying to paint them as selfish and anti-children.
Jill Stein of Green Party refuses to take money from corporations and is boycotted by the corporate media. Shows up for the 99%. But so many of the 99% won't give her support because corporate media hasn't endorsed her. WHICH IS THE FRIGGIN' POINT THAT SHOWS SHE IS NOT A SELL OUT!!!
My thoughts.
best, libby
We have to sell something, Libby, now that our ruling elite (in their infinite wisdom) has gutted the rest of American manufacturing. Aside from derivatives and other worthless financial products - which are our biggest industry - we do a brisk trade in illicit drugs (estimated at $400 billion annually).
Great post libby,
Unfortunately, you are faced with three hard facts:
By and large the people of Western "Civilization"....
1) Don't know about this
2) Don't care to know about this
3) Don't care about this
Never, in all the history of mankind, has there been a people who thought so much of themselves for so little reason.
.
Unfortunately, you are faced with three hard facts:
By and large the people of Western "Civilization"....
1) Don't know about this
2) Don't care to know about this
3) Don't care about this
Never, in all the history of mankind, has there been a people who thought so much of themselves for so little reason.
.
Stuart, what a sad sad sad day when all we have is weaponry to be produced ... and by prisoners working for practically nothing. And yeah, and our major drug dealing. Ironic the small fry pot users are rotting in jail and our financial institutions and CIA and God knows who else are busy dealing drugs and laundering money for the big cartels or up to more no good with impunity. faux-war on drugs keeps the wars going, too. Yeah, we really took care of Afghanistan. Helped the heroin trade with our occupation so greatly. It is all very amorally surreal. best, libby
Thanks, Sky. I HEAR YOU!!! It is way too long to plead ignorance and play ostrich I'm thinking for American citizens, even with corporate media so craven. Re-electing rather than impeaching Obama????
According to CNN 2.4 million at least registered American voters are voting for Jill Stein and seem to have consciences and clarity!!!! YAY!!!! 2% of the electorate. I am clutching at that number. It is a foundation!
best, libby :-)
Thanks, Sky. I HEAR YOU!!! It is way too long to plead ignorance and play ostrich I'm thinking for American citizens, even with corporate media so craven. Re-electing rather than impeaching Obama????
According to CNN 2.4 million at least registered American voters are voting for Jill Stein and seem to have consciences and clarity!!!! YAY!!!! 2% of the electorate. I am clutching at that number. It is a foundation!
best, libby :-)
In another thread earlier this morning, I saw you agreeing with the premise that too many people on planet Earth was going to result in a total breakdown of society...and that civilization would break down as a result.
Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive.
Which should it be Libby? Destruction by having everyone starving and killing each other in order to obtain food...or killing off people in wars fought with weapons furnished by us so that the "too many people" scenario can be avoided?
Makes you wonder where a really big asteroid strike is when you need it, doesn't it?
But Jill Stein will save us! She has a plan.
Maybe we don't deserve an asteroid strike. Maybe we deserve to go out in as much agony as possible.
Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive.
Which should it be Libby? Destruction by having everyone starving and killing each other in order to obtain food...or killing off people in wars fought with weapons furnished by us so that the "too many people" scenario can be avoided?
Makes you wonder where a really big asteroid strike is when you need it, doesn't it?
But Jill Stein will save us! She has a plan.
Maybe we don't deserve an asteroid strike. Maybe we deserve to go out in as much agony as possible.
Oh gosh, Libby, did I miss the part where you claimed that American arms are keeping world population growth in check?
How careless of me........
;-)
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How careless of me........
;-)
.
By the way, Libby...if the people buying all these arms are just using them to plow fields for corn...forget about everything I said.
I suspect, however, that you are angered by the US arms sales because you see them being used to kill people...which, any school child could tell you would lead to reduced populations.
Obviously some people are not able to fathom that, but...
I suspect, however, that you are angered by the US arms sales because you see them being used to kill people...which, any school child could tell you would lead to reduced populations.
Obviously some people are not able to fathom that, but...
Contrary to what some would have us think, the world population has continued to grow all during this massive influx of arms. It will likely keep on growing as long as we keep making more people faster than we kill them, too!
Now if we would only multiply our arms output, and ensure that they're being used, until we catch up to population growth why then we might just find that we've found a means of population control that nobody's ever thought of before....
I suspect that the massive starvation that will ensue from the coming economic collapse will take care of rampant population growth much more efficiently though.
Now if we would only multiply our arms output, and ensure that they're being used, until we catch up to population growth why then we might just find that we've found a means of population control that nobody's ever thought of before....
I suspect that the massive starvation that will ensue from the coming economic collapse will take care of rampant population growth much more efficiently though.
Libby, thank you for posting this. It is a huge problem for the world. Dr. Oscar Arias, the former president of Costa Rica (who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work trying to bring peace to Central America) led a group on Nobel laureates to propose a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty , in order to establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms.
Dr. Arias said, "By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era."
Regarding population, there is a really excellent TED video by Dr. Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth . It has been shown in country after country that when the poorest people are lifted out of poverty, and child survival increases, then population growth decreases.
He presents data showing that if the poorest 2 billion people in the world are lifted out of poverty, then and only then will our world population stabilize. He believes it can be done, if we recognize the problem and work to lift those poorest 2 billion people out of poverty…then maybe the Earth's population can stabilize by 2050.
I think arms control, working to preserve and restore the environment, and raising the standard of living to a basic level for everyone is the only way we will survive into the future. Thanks again for posting on this issue!
Dr. Arias said, "By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era."
Regarding population, there is a really excellent TED video by Dr. Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth . It has been shown in country after country that when the poorest people are lifted out of poverty, and child survival increases, then population growth decreases.
He presents data showing that if the poorest 2 billion people in the world are lifted out of poverty, then and only then will our world population stabilize. He believes it can be done, if we recognize the problem and work to lift those poorest 2 billion people out of poverty…then maybe the Earth's population can stabilize by 2050.
I think arms control, working to preserve and restore the environment, and raising the standard of living to a basic level for everyone is the only way we will survive into the future. Thanks again for posting on this issue!
The goal of the "great repression" was to create the conditons at home - politically, economically, and socially that enabled the "New World Order/ New American Century" cabal to put us where we are. Obama is a right winger compared to Nixon - who did not seek to run the world as did the cabal that stormed the oval office in 2000. The world will not allow us ...nor should they allow us to rule them . The British are smart...they would rather garden and go to the pub than try to rule the waves again, but ruling the waves was just not enough for the NAC administration who broke not just our democracy in 2000, our sense of security in 2001, our reputation in 2003, but also our economy in 2008.
It is going to take a lot of ammo and hardware sales to get old corpgov usa back on his feet - and by god we are just the the fools to do it for them!
It is going to take a lot of ammo and hardware sales to get old corpgov usa back on his feet - and by god we are just the the fools to do it for them!
munitions is america's business nowadays.
but hyenas will always be hyenas, i got that early: ya see a million here, a million there, ya scoop it up, only natural.
what took me most of my adult life was the difficulty in admitting that sane sensible people could sit on their ass and watch the hyenas at work, and not act. but they do.
i understood it it finally while watching a nature doco, a family of hyenas selecting and collecting lunch from a vast herd of wildebeest. the wildebeest let them do it, untroubled, because it was 'not my problem..'
humans get the government they are willing to tolerate because their sense of community is much weaker than their desire for personal survival and personsal prosperity.
so if you live like a cow, you will be ruled by a hyena.
but hyenas will always be hyenas, i got that early: ya see a million here, a million there, ya scoop it up, only natural.
what took me most of my adult life was the difficulty in admitting that sane sensible people could sit on their ass and watch the hyenas at work, and not act. but they do.
i understood it it finally while watching a nature doco, a family of hyenas selecting and collecting lunch from a vast herd of wildebeest. the wildebeest let them do it, untroubled, because it was 'not my problem..'
humans get the government they are willing to tolerate because their sense of community is much weaker than their desire for personal survival and personsal prosperity.
so if you live like a cow, you will be ruled by a hyena.
It's dizzying. Deadly dizzying.
Frank, I don't recall agreeing about too many people on the planet and the breakdown of society. Was I endorsing a part of what someone had asserted in a blog? I also don't understand what you mean by "VALIANTLY" in your comment or actually the rest of it in terms of my above blog and Jill Stein. You write:
"Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive."
Seriously, I can't wrap my mind around what you are trying to tell me.
best, libby
"Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive."
Seriously, I can't wrap my mind around what you are trying to tell me.
best, libby
Clayball, thanks for commenting!
I will have to follow up on Dr. Arias. Thanks for that mention. Wow, so great he asserted this:
"By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era."
Echos what MLK said about US being the greatest purveyor of violence in the world considering our contribution to the arms trade.
I am still at a loss about MY bringing up or focusing on the population issue re Frank. But thanks for the TED video tip. How interesting, you write as he contends: "... if the poorest 2 billion people in the world are lifted out of poverty, then and only then will our world population stabilize."
I am especially horrified about the 46 million Americans now living below the poverty line. I am surprised Obama is not being vilified and that Congress has a popularity percentage as high as 11%!!!
best, libby
I will have to follow up on Dr. Arias. Thanks for that mention. Wow, so great he asserted this:
"By the end of my presidency, I was convinced that the arms trade represents the single most significant perversion of human priorities in our era."
Echos what MLK said about US being the greatest purveyor of violence in the world considering our contribution to the arms trade.
I am still at a loss about MY bringing up or focusing on the population issue re Frank. But thanks for the TED video tip. How interesting, you write as he contends: "... if the poorest 2 billion people in the world are lifted out of poverty, then and only then will our world population stabilize."
I am especially horrified about the 46 million Americans now living below the poverty line. I am surprised Obama is not being vilified and that Congress has a popularity percentage as high as 11%!!!
best, libby
Snowden, so great to be seeing you again!!! I love the label the GREAT REPRESSION! That is what it is exactly! Yes, the "New World Order/ New American Century" cabal has put us where we are. Did you see my former blog quoting Bruce Dixon about 15 similarities between Dems and Republicans?
Wow, I love this that you write:
"Obama is a right winger compared to Nixon - who did not seek to run the world as did the cabal that stormed the oval office in 2000. The world will not allow us ...nor should they allow us to rule them . The British are smart...they would rather garden and go to the pub than try to rule the waves again, but ruling the waves was just not enough for the NAC administration who broke not just our democracy in 2000, our sense of security in 2001, our reputation in 2003, but also our economy in 2008.
"It is going to take a lot of ammo and hardware sales to get old corpgov usa back on his feet - and by god we are just the the fools to do it for them!"
Thanks for stopping by and keep sharing, please!!!!
best, libby
Wow, I love this that you write:
"Obama is a right winger compared to Nixon - who did not seek to run the world as did the cabal that stormed the oval office in 2000. The world will not allow us ...nor should they allow us to rule them . The British are smart...they would rather garden and go to the pub than try to rule the waves again, but ruling the waves was just not enough for the NAC administration who broke not just our democracy in 2000, our sense of security in 2001, our reputation in 2003, but also our economy in 2008.
"It is going to take a lot of ammo and hardware sales to get old corpgov usa back on his feet - and by god we are just the the fools to do it for them!"
Thanks for stopping by and keep sharing, please!!!!
best, libby
al, thanks for your comment.
You write: "munitions is america's business nowadays."
I read somewhere that the USA was becoming the "muscle" for the international financial cartel. What an ugly thought. Amoral and deadly and taking orders for the gangstas. Life is cheap in gangstaville.
I relate to this:
"...what took me most of my adult life was the difficulty in admitting that sane sensible people could sit on their ass and watch the hyenas at work, and not act. but they do."
a couple decades of 12 step meetings and I am still trying to process how ferocious and multi-faceted and destructive codependency is re "truthiness" and toxic cronyism.
I'll remember this slogan:
"so if you live like a cow, you will be ruled by a hyena."
I was thinking jackals and sheep. Same premise.
best, libby
You write: "munitions is america's business nowadays."
I read somewhere that the USA was becoming the "muscle" for the international financial cartel. What an ugly thought. Amoral and deadly and taking orders for the gangstas. Life is cheap in gangstaville.
I relate to this:
"...what took me most of my adult life was the difficulty in admitting that sane sensible people could sit on their ass and watch the hyenas at work, and not act. but they do."
a couple decades of 12 step meetings and I am still trying to process how ferocious and multi-faceted and destructive codependency is re "truthiness" and toxic cronyism.
I'll remember this slogan:
"so if you live like a cow, you will be ruled by a hyena."
I was thinking jackals and sheep. Same premise.
best, libby
chicken maaan! yes, deadly dizzying says it!!! There is such a craven method to this madness!!!! best, libby
Well done Libby! R! Makes ya wonder: think it's bad now? What would happen to the economy of the manufacture of death was not our most important product? I mean after all, what else of America manufacture any more?
Frank, I don't recall agreeing about too many people on the planet and the breakdown of society. Was I endorsing a part of what someone had asserted in a blog? I also don't understand what you mean by "VALIANTLY" in your comment or actually the rest of it in terms of my above blog and Jill Stein. You write:
"Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive."
Seriously, I can't wrap my mind around what you are trying to tell me.
Libby, I honestly tried my best to find the thread where I thought I read what I suggested you said, but navigating in OS has become an ordeal beyond comprehension.
I will simply withdraw what I said (I was trying, unsuccessfully, to be humorous about the issue), because I cannot devote the time needed to continue my search. I definitely may have misread what I thought you said...and I apologize.
Just posting this comment has taken me what seems a lifetime...being knocked off and unable to get back on several times.
Regards, Libby...I disagree with you, but you give your position all the energy you can, and I truly admire that no matter the disagreement.
"Now here you are decrying valiant attempts to kill off a bunch of people so that the danger of too many people can be lessened...and civilization and society will be able to survive."
Seriously, I can't wrap my mind around what you are trying to tell me.
Libby, I honestly tried my best to find the thread where I thought I read what I suggested you said, but navigating in OS has become an ordeal beyond comprehension.
I will simply withdraw what I said (I was trying, unsuccessfully, to be humorous about the issue), because I cannot devote the time needed to continue my search. I definitely may have misread what I thought you said...and I apologize.
Just posting this comment has taken me what seems a lifetime...being knocked off and unable to get back on several times.
Regards, Libby...I disagree with you, but you give your position all the energy you can, and I truly admire that no matter the disagreement.
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