And the War Rages Ever On
The war. The one war. The only war. The war that has been raging since at least 1492, when Spanish shock troops first waded ashore in the new world. In some senses a war that has been raging since the crusades in the seventh century. A war that has roots going back to the Greeks and the Romans. However, for our purposes, we’ll start in 1492. The European conquest of the world. While the Europeans fought bloody squabbles among each other the whole time, the last five centuries of world history is pretty much the story of the European conquest of Earth. Gunpowder and greed.
And that’s where we are today. Europe now includes the USA, Europe’s bastard stepchild, and a few others like Japan. The bankers and militarists of these few countries rule the world, and the majority of the world’s governments are little more than armed gangs propped up by western weapons. The good guy/bad guy meme that the USA stands for democracy and human rights is propaganda, pure and simple. The USA only respects democracy when the side the USA supported wins. And of course the USA ignores the most horrendous lack of civil rights or political rights in our allies, so long as they maintain stability for western business interests. And that’s the world we live in, despite the fiction to the contrary maintained by our “leaders” and their compliant media lap dogs.
So understood in that context, the world is a lot less puzzling. For example, it reveals why Wikileaks is so feared by the powers that be. It reveals the depth of the corruption and compliance in the third world. Tunisia being a great example, where Wikileaks brought down the government. I notice that aspect of the situation in Tunisia is getting almost no press, Wikileaks revealing corruption and cronyism in Tunisia’s government was a major impetus that drove Tunisians to the streets. It’s still unclear whether there will be a true revolution in Tunisia, or just a replacement of the people at the top, but even the instability of replacing the figureheads is risky business for the west. And if someone with Tunisia’s actual interests at heart gets into power, it’s a safe bet that the western press will make it very clear that this is an “illegitimate” government, and it will receive neither recognition nor international support.
Another place the colonial war is being blatantly played out today is Lebanon. A UN tribunal is investigating a 2005 assassination in Lebanon. Happens all the time, right? Nope, this is the first time in history that the UN has created a tribunal to investigate and presumably arrest and try citizens of a sovereign nation. Or any nation for that matter. The tribunal is expected to blame the assassination on Hezbollah and Iran. To try and understand how this might be playing out in Lebanon, imagine if the UN formed a tribunal to investigate the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords, and the Tribunal was expected to indict members of the right wing media for inciting the attempt. Well, the UN Tribunal is flying about as well in Lebanon, and has brought down the Lebanese government already. Hopefully it won’t reignite civil war in that unfortunately located country, but anything is possible.
Iran and Hezbollah of course being two powers that do not recognize the Euro-American world order, and insist on retaining their own independence. Or to look at it differently, the leaders of most of the world’s governments are perfectly happy to take money to do American’s bidding. (In some cases to do China or Russia’s bidding.) And all they have to do is maintain order and allow western resource extraction firms to have their say. And of course they get to buy all sorts of fancy western military hardware of they are particularly trustworthy minions. Saudi Arabia being a wonderful case in point. Of course political parties are illegal in Saudi Arabia, and their women are little better off than slaves. Actually, there’s a lot of true slavery Saudi Arabia, but I digress.
In any event, the question now is will events in Tunisia cause similar revolts elsewhere? There are certainly other nations with similar “governments” and similar problems, Egypt and Algeria come to mind. On the one hand, I don’t think so, Tunisia didn’t have much of a military for one thing. Time will tell though, and the trend the past decade has been for countries to escape from the western hegemon, and to resist being forced back into the fold so to speak. Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind. The cost of empire does also seem to be increasing with time, so sooner or later the whole house of cards will collapse. This is why I stockpile canned goods.
I know, my outlook is bleak, but it is internally self-consistent. Next week, giant prehistoric child-snatching birds in the Midwest. Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image is claimed as Public Domain under US copyright law. It was commissioned by the US government, an the artist has been dead for over a century. It’s a painting titled “Landing of Columbus” painted by John Vanderlyn in 1836/37. Do Columbus and is men look like they are coming in peace? The question is valid whether the painting be historically accurate or not.)
Doug's Darkworld 
Why is the political turmoil in Lebanon a colonial war? Who is trying to colonise whom?
Paul
January 21, 2011 at 11:47 pm
The US is using the UN Tribunal to interfere in Lebanon’s internal affairs, explicitly trying to discredit Hezbollah and form a Lebanese government that doesn’t have Hezbollah as a faction. I mean, Lebanon is PURELY a creation of the west, it was carved off of Syria to create a Christian dominated state in the region. And the west to this day is working hard to keep the Christians as the dominant faction in Lebanon, despite the fact they ceased being the majority decades ago. —Doug
unitedcats
January 22, 2011 at 5:55 pm
When you say the events in Tunisia could cause similar results elsewhere, did wikileaks single out other countries similar to Tunisia?
I loved the reply you gave to Paul by the way….I think I learned more in that reply than I do in many of your fantastic posts. You really need to write a book so I can learn more about history.
Thanks Professor Stych!!!!!
Tim
January 22, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Tunisia hasn’t been the same since 183 B.C. … Cartego delenda est. Hasn’t quite gotten back on it’s feet yet, but give them time… Lebanon was created from the ” British Mandate” after WWI, so blame those bug gars, least they had the guts to run an empire- for a time…
U.S. Has neither the will, the ability, or the guts to deserve or run an empire… Everyone knows it… Anyway here’s a topic for ye to research-
In Costa Rica everyones pissed cause U.S. Has been such a strong ally
since 1948 when THE ARMY WAS ABOLISHED (yes u read it right- no army! No banana republic coup d’etats every week, no wars over soccer games ( but that DID happen right next door) just a country focused on making money and being successful, and peaceful…
Yet having no army — as was learned all the way back in Punic wars when Carthage — gasp– surrendered all of it’s weapons and like to the Romans as part of surrender. You become very vulnerable…
Daniel Ortega- Communist once and again leader of the ruling gang in Nicaragua- realized this one day recently and sent hordes of Nicaraguans to steal– literally– miles of Soveriegn Costa Rican land in the north…
Did you hear about the U.S. Coming to aid and assist C.R.? Uh, yeah, neither did we… This is going to get worse as the summer wears on…
My job is to shed light- bit not to master…
Et in Arcadia Ego…
Steve
January 23, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Oh and btw when u say u r storing canned goods hope u got couple thousand rounds of ammo and a decent boom stick 4 em also…
War, like it or not, has been the impetus for most of the modern inventions we use today… Western Schools and universities– first created to study Christian Religion– was where modern science and the building blocks of modern technology were born… So its all Jesus’ fault… Everyone else seems to blame him, so jump on. Modern warfare is and always has been fought with the most up to date modern weapons developed and created in places first used to teach and research Christ’s teachings… Now if THAT isn’t irony, I don’t know what is..
War is in our genes, we were made for it. We profit from them ( or at least should, if they are run right), learn from them, and maybe even die in them.
I’m talking about the gang wars, police v. Drug dealer wars, and even each individual’s Independant little brushfire wars amongst and between each other, no matter how silly– or important– goal is.
It’s also interesting to note that while many individuals do have a plan to fight their little day- to – day battles and ultimately win, not too many groups larger than your average platoon have a specific and direct goal in mind… It’s a very hard thing to coordinate, no matter how essential to your plans. I submit that the United States Military has not been seen in favorable light since, oh… 1950 because it hasn’t had a goal in ANY OF THE WARS ITS BEEN IN SINCE THEN!
Korea, Cuba, Dominican Republic (almost a war), Vietnam, Iran (another debacle almost war), ( Grenada 1983 and Panama 1989 don’t count- shot the 25-30 people dumb enough to shoot at them, and that was it… Oh except for the Rock &Roll party outside Vatican Embassy in Panama 1989-1990) Lebanon, 1st gulf war, Somalia, Haiti, Yugoslavia, 2nd gulf war, Afghan wars… Blah blah blah. It’s not that the US doesn’t field some of the finest soldiers in the world( it does) it’s that they Arent given any beginning to end timeline, no plan… Just, uh, stay in this hole in the sand, follow the rules of engagement– a joke– and stay alive long enough to rotate out… Not exactly WWII Patton or MacArthur stuff… It’d be funny except for the kids getting killed… For NO FUCKING REASON… We need a plan, hopefully to reverse course and give that invaluable bag of rocks and sand back to the terrorists– then, uh HEY WE’LL KNOW WHERE THE FUCK THEY ARE! Like who? Obama? No.. Oh Osama… Hmmm… Painted myself into a corner, huh…
Steve
January 23, 2011 at 11:19 pm
200 rounds of ammo is all one needs. That’s enough for several firefights, if you win, you will get more ammo. If you lose, well, you won’t be needing ammo anymore. :)
—Doug
unitedcats
January 24, 2011 at 10:59 am
Allow me to offer my understanding, Steve, informed by a social science background (emphases in anthropology, psychology, sociology, criminal justice) with marked interest in physical and biological sciences along with a curiosity for primatology.
Human beings weren’t evolved for war, it’s just what we happen to be doing a great deal of in this stage of our “civilized” development. Rather, humans are a homicidal species, akin to our closest ape relatives. War was an invention of bureaucracy, which arguably didn’t arise in significance until the advent of nation-states (as opposed to the tribes and chiefdoms of earlier history that displayed humans to be homicidal against others outside of their clan, dubbed intergroup hostility). The rise of complex civilizations ushered in bureaucratic rule for the first time in history, militaries being just one example of a bureaucratic hierarchy.
This is important because previously all throughout human history, people had to be angry or otherwise personally motivated. Killing wasn’t something people were ordered to do on behalf of a ruling class, but rather was a result of territorial and aggressive instincts, as remains the case for most homicides today. In war, however, people without individual, personal grievances are ordered to fight in the name of principle, retaliation, conquest, or some other abstraction. It is difficult for most people to kill without having been done grievous harm directly, hence militaries’ indoctrination process intended to program in recruits expected behaviors and to obey orders from above. This is more than a matter of efficiency, though that factors in — it’s the training of assassins who otherwise wouldn’t be. Reports from past wars tell us that few soldiers actually shoot to kill and that psychological problems traumatize veterans (the latter was even noted in ancient Greek texts, dubbed the “divine madness,” known to us as PTSD).
Killing with a personal vengeance for a direct grievance does not appear to induce PTSD symptoms to anywhere near the same extent as warfare. If war came naturally for humans, why is it shown to be so psychologically damaging for so many?
Just wanted to interject that for perspective’s sake. Carry on.
prophetbob
January 29, 2011 at 2:44 am
Also, to get people to agree to fight in wars much manipulation and coercion is needed. Think: drafts, financial incentives, intentionally distorted mainstream media coverage, etc. If people were naturally inclined toward engaging in war, would incentives and coercion be necessary?
prophetbob
January 29, 2011 at 2:49 am
Maybe enough if its in magazines ready to go ;-0
Steve
January 24, 2011 at 11:56 am