Tag: Cost of War project at the Watson Institute at Brown University

“The “American way of war,” is to seek absolute annihilation and to treat the other side as subhuman monsters bent on world domination.” [Todd Greentree, Foreign Service officer, once stationed in Afghanistan] Whether it’s Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen…the list goes on and on, the U.S. “way of war” in these countries is unnervingly similar. From accusations of a Communist (lately updated to “terrorist) conspiracy to promises to bring American ”values” to the masses, the U.S. MO starts with an invasion, drones, bombs, a cadre of indigenous troops usually at the behest of a U.S. ‘fav’ autocrat doing the dirty work of the empire in-house. But what about the U.S. State Department? Isn’t the Secretary of State supposed to be America’s chief negotiator? Not so fast. The U.S. always starts an invasion convinced (by the generals) despite a history of failed interventions that it can beat the enemy du jour on the battlefield. Negotiating is for weak countries not the world’s sole super-power. Reality always proves them wrong. The latest candidate is this cavalcade of missteps is Ukraine. Here’s how it works. First the chest pounding and inflated promises. Here’s President Biden on March 26, 2022, predicting the imminent demise of Russia: “Russia’s ruble is reduced to rubble. Their economy will be cut to half. The ruble is crumbling now.” [President Biden, March 26, 2022] Two months later: “Russia’s ruble strengthens to 57.1 per US Dollar, its strongest in over four years.” Now with most of the world, including NATO “partners,” predicting the defeat of Ukraine, Biden digs in “America . . . will stand with you as long as it takes.” (State of the Union, Feb 7), How long do you think it will take before Biden and the rest of his war cabinet do their usual two-step out of Ukraine leaving the pain and suffering of its people in the rearview mirror? For more on the pernicious history of U.S. foreign policy disasters tune into “Aggression Not Negotiation: The U.S. War Machine On the Hunt”

 

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