A Purposeless War

[unhappycamper]

A Purposeless War
Gazeta, Russia
By Fyedor Lukyanov
24 March, 2011
Edited by Patricia Simoni

New armed conflict, with U.S. and NATO involvement (several countries of the alliance are involved), has broken out suddenly and chaotically. Unlike military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were preceded by political, military and propaganda preparation, the Libyan “Odyssey” scarcely could have been imagined only three weeks ago. Never before has there been such a surprising military campaign.

Leading military world powers have slipped into a third world war in the Middle East, without having agreed upon a final purpose of the intervention, plans for deployment, an exact number of participants, or leadership.

Instead, an urgently-formed coalition secured a sanction from the United Nations Security Council. The BRIC countries, as if on cue, abstained from voting, which was yet another surprise. If Russia and China had imposed a veto on military actions in Libya, Washington would have washed its hands and declared it was not going to make the Iraq mistake again (the war without approval of a supreme international body), and would have held Moscow and Beijing responsible for the massacre in Benghazi. However, Russia and China “let the resolution to be pushed through”, according to words of Dmitry Medvedev.*

The document, itself, is a masterpiece of craftiness. It permits the taking of “all necessary measures” to protect the civilian population, thereby providing for the widest range of interpretation. Ten countries have voted for the no-fly zone over Libya, now shamefully pretending they didn’t understand what the term meant. Everybody preferred to not hear the public statement of Robert Gates, the pentagon chief (who was against a new intervention campaign until the last minute), about a no-fly zone, allowing the bombing of enemy military infrastructure and the respective consequences. The latter allowed Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, to offer a retraction two days later, saying it was not what they had in mind.

If Washington, London, Paris and others intended to establish a puppet government in Tripoli to take control of Libyan oil and create an outpost in North Africa in order to influence particular territories or to advance democracy in Libya, it would appear unattractive or (in the latter case) naive, but explicable.

[Scuba]

1. The purpose is well known and understood. Protect and advance...

...corporate profits.

[Gravel Democrat]

2. Backing up Globalization with Military Might

McDonald's Needs McDonnell Douglas to Flourish

An article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times entitled "What the World Needs Now" tells it all. Illustrated by an American Flag on a fist it said, among other things: "For globalism to work, America can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist-McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."

Corporations will stop at nothing

To achieve maximum profits these transnationals will stop at nothing. After all, they are non-human institutions that must expand through ever-greater profits, or go out of business. In so doing they have shown willingness to violate human rights-particularly workers' rights—to throw millions out of work, eliminate unions, use sweat-shops and slave labor, destroy the environment, destabilize governments, install or bolster tyrants who oppress, repress, torture and kill with impunity.

The New NATO

The giant corporations-especially the military-industrial corporations—have been pushing vigorously for expanding and extending the role of NATO. Their blatant salivating over potential profits was indisputable during NATO's 50th Anniversary celebrations which became "the ultimate marketing opportunity," as described in the Washington Post. The host committee included the chief executives of Ameritech, DamilerChrysler, Boeing, Ford Motor, General Motors, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nextel, SBC Communications, TRW and United Technologies. (35) These companies sell weapons but also other products. They have been busy lobbying for the expansion of NATO to avail themselves of the lucrative markets in Eastern European nations which have been pressed to join NATO. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have already been admitted. In order to be a part of the Alliance these nations must spend billions to upgrade their military forces.


These quotes are 10 years old.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/448/backing-up-globalization-with-military-might

[xchrom]

3. +1 --- and one must always keep in mind -- you cannot separate america from nato.

we are saying that we have transfered leadership to nato -- like we aren't connected at the hip.

[EFerrari]

4. It's a shell game. US, Security Council, NATO. n/t

[xchrom]

5. indeed -- and it looks like they -- who are holding the shell -- have won again. nt