The end of war

[Obvious Leo]

They’ve taken all the fun out of warfare. Back in the good old days we fought our foes until somebody won, but nowadays everybody simply loses. We kicked the shit out of our enemies until we had them begging for mercy and then we kicked them just a little bit more just for the sheer hell of it. After that we sent them a bill so they’d be paying for the next few generations for all the trouble they caused us. Those were the good old days but we can’t bring them back merely by waxing nostalgic about it.

The US has just finished fighting the longest war in its history in Afghanistan and it got flogged. For all of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, its Stealth Bombers, its Aircraft Supercarriers, its Cruise Missiles and its Submarines the mighty US military was sent packing by a gang of bandits hiding in the hills making home-made bombs out of cowshit and kerosene. It is now the US taxpayer who is picking up the tab for this defeat, so was this war a smart idea? Is any war in the 21st century a smart idea? The US has been in plenty of them since 1945 but they’ve lost all of them except one. They beat Grenada, scarcely a prize of heroic martial proportions.

When will the bloody obvious become bloody obvious to the decision-makers of the world? Wars have outlived their usefulness.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

They’ve taken all the fun out of warfare. Back in the good old days we fought our foes until somebody won, but nowadays everybody simply loses. We kicked the shit out of our enemies until we had them begging for mercy and then we kicked them just a little bit more just for the sheer hell of it. After that we sent them a bill so they’d be paying for the next few generations for all the trouble they caused us. Those were the good old days but we can’t bring them back merely by waxing nostalgic about it.

The US has just finished fighting the longest war in its history in Afghanistan and it got flogged. For all of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, its Stealth Bombers, its Aircraft Supercarriers, its Cruise Missiles and its Submarines the mighty US military was sent packing by a gang of bandits hiding in the hills making home-made bombs out of cowshit and kerosene. It is now the US taxpayer who is picking up the tab for this defeat, so was this war a smart idea? Is any war in the 21st century a smart idea? The US has been in plenty of them since 1945 but they’ve lost all of them except one. They beat Grenada, scarcely a prize of heroic martial proportions.

When will the bloody obvious become bloody obvious to the decision-makers of the world? Wars have outlived their usefulness.

Tell that to all the warmongers on the internet, and the yanks are the worst by far. I don't know why they became such a bunch of retarded war-lovers.

[Obvious Leo]

I don't think that the American people are war-lovers, VT. It's not hard for the propaganda merchants to psyche them up for one when it happens to suit the geo-political agenda of the government of the day but the same could probably be said for any country. The vast majority of the populace are just sheep who are willing to believe whatever bullshit they're told until such time as they realise they've been lied to.The glamour of war wears off very quickly in the modern information age once the people actually see for themselves what war is truly all about.

Wars are all about gung-ho bravado and glory when they're fought in the abstract by politicians in carefully crafted media releases but they're all about blood and death and misery when they're fought on the ground by real live human beings. I think even the Americans are well and truly sick of them.

[Dalek Prime]

Okay, I'm going to say it. When I post on antinatalism, I'm told what a negative person I am, and need to be more optimistic. Fine. Then I see all the threads and posts on how shitty the world really is at heart, proving my point, and all I can do is say "told ya so" and laugh ironically.

Good luck changing a thing. I'm going to continue to ignore everyone's optimism.

[Obvious Leo]

I hope you're not accusing me of being an optimist when it comes to the peccadilloes of the human species, Dalek. I have several times expressed the opinion within these pages that homo sapiens has a worse than even money chance of surviving the 21st century. However I don't reckon that it will be warfare that does for us in the end.

My money is on some psychopath in a laboratory making viruses.

[Dalek Prime]

No accusations made in your direction, Leo. I do recall we are in agreement as to the state of homo sapiens. I'm generalizing.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I don't think that the American people are war-lovers, VT. It's not hard for the propaganda merchants to psyche them up for one when it happens to suit the geo-political agenda of the government of the day but the same could probably be said for any country. The vast majority of the populace are just sheep who are willing to believe whatever bullshit they're told until such time as they realise they've been lied to.The glamour of war wears off very quickly in the modern information age once the people actually see for themselves what war is truly all about.

Wars are all about gung-ho bravado and glory when they're fought in the abstract by politicians in carefully crafted media releases but they're all about blood and death and misery when they're fought on the ground by real live human beings. I think even the Americans are well and truly sick of them.

Not from what I've seen. If they don't love war then why are they always making it? George Carlin said the same thing--that Americans love war. They have a tradition of hero-worhipping their military. 'Our troops' as they call them. A country is only the sum of its people.

[Obvious Leo]

I think they're finally sick of it, VT, and the incessant brainwashing isn't going to work any more. It's pretty hard to keep promoting the myth of the American uber-mensch when all of their foreign adventures end in tears and the mighty US military is being continuously humiliated by a gang of nobodies who they imagine themselves to be superior to. Forget about all this Donald Trump chest-thumping and blustering ideology because this is merely proving my point. We're witnessing the dying gasp of an empire in its death throes. It is possible that something good might come from it.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I think they're finally sick of it, VT, and the incessant brainwashing isn't going to work any more. It's pretty hard to keep promoting the myth of the American uber-mensch when all of their foreign adventures end in tears and the mighty US military is being continuously humiliated by a gang of nobodies who they imagine themselves to be superior to. Forget about all this Donald Trump chest-thumping and blustering ideology because this is merely proving my point. We're witnessing the dying gasp of an empire in its death throes. It is possible that something good might come from it.

I think it's getting worse, and it has its little bitches now to follow along after. The world is getting more right-wing, not less. Being anti-war is decidedly unfashionable these days. The days are sadly long gone since NZ told the US to stick its nuclear submarines up its arse.

[Impenitent]

don't worry, the next major war will be fought with nukes

iran wants peace

-Imp

[vegetariantaxidermy]

don't worry, the next major war will be fought with nukes

iran wants peace

-Imp

Maybe it does, but the US certainly doesn't.

[Obvious Leo]

don't worry, the next major war will be fought with nukes

I agree that this is possible but I very much doubt that such a war would involve any of the current "major 5" nuclear powers.

Iran wants peace but not at any price and it will fight the US if attacked. However the US will never attack Iran because if they try it they will truly know what defeat means. The US generals know this perfectly well. Ultimately the US has more to fear from the Saudis than it does from Iran. The Iranians are an educated and sophisticated culture who have been unfortunately enslaved by fundamentalist savages. The Saudis are a stone-age culture yet to be touched by the benefits of civilisation, as current events in Iraq and Syria are showing us. The Saudis are the financiers behind the current barbarity and as their traditional oil-backed power wanes they are becoming increasingly expansionist. If it weren't for the backing of the US the Saudis would have been kicked to smithereens by their neighbours in the middle east decades ago. The real question is what will the US do if the Saudis come under direct attack, a scary scenario which is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

[bobevenson]

The US has just finished fighting the longest war in its history in Afghanistan and it got flogged. For all of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, its Stealth Bombers, its Aircraft Supercarriers, its Cruise Missiles and its Submarines the mighty US military was sent packing by a gang of bandits hiding in the hills making home-made bombs out of cowshit and kerosene. It is now the US taxpayer who is picking up the tab.

Where should we send the invoice for protecting Australia?

[Obvious Leo]

Where should we send the invoice for protecting Australia?

From whom?

[Skip]

Wars have outlived their usefulness.

Tell that to the armaments industry!