Militarism and Debt

June 16th, 2024; A morning at Antiwar

Published: 2024-06-17

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Monday, June 16, 2024

This morning's headlines and articles at Antiwar are an overture, a thematic aria, a key. The theme of militarism is playing. Before one's eyes are recent events, a microcosm of the recent years and a window into that which is to come.

By international agreement, the use of force to resolve disputes between nations is outlawed. The UN Security Council's purpose is to ensure peace. In US policy circles the caveat "last resort" is used to slip aggression into a 'just acceptable' standard of dispute resolution. Yet, militarism is what the US does, constantly. No other nation comes even close to the amount of death and destruction rained down on other nations.

June 16th's articles fall neatly into three groups, moving across two regions of war into the system which maintains them.

The US and Israel's Genocide and Other Local Wars

Last week Israel attacked one of its neighbours 5 times. No UN Security Council permission has been issued. These are 5 'supreme crimes', acts of international aggression. All 5 were against Lebanon and targeted the military arm of a political party which is a part of the Lebanese government. It is responding to Israel's dramatic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and less dramatic continued genocide of Palestinians in the West Bank, both of which are occupied territories of Palestine. This in itself is an undeclared war of aggression by Israel. Lebanese Hizbollah’s response falls under Article 1 of the genocide convention; they are attempting to prevent and are actively punishing Israel’s military in its act of genocide.

One of Israel's declared strategies to kill all Palestinians in Gaza is to starve them, children, mothers, the elderly, all, to death. Israel's occupation forces closed the Rafah crossing to deny any aid when they recently attacked the refugee tent city in and around Rafah. Our first article begins:

Israel announced on Sunday that it would pause military operations during daylight hours along a seven-mile stretch of road in Gaza to relieve a backlog of aid shipments. After the announcement, a top Israeli official downplayed any shift in military operations.

Israel have been lying to the international community throughout its genocide of Palestinians. They have been actively aided in spreading these lies by major US media outlets like The Washington Post and the New York Times. Nobody should for a moment believe anything these mendacious, insane criminals say.

Next, we learn that Israel's military are using a banned munition, Phosphorous, in their firebombing on Lebanon:

Just days after using a trebuchet to set fires to farmland across the southern Lebanon border, the Israeli military is looking to make fire even more of a weapon of war, striking several southern towns with phosphorous bombs.

The towns of Houla, Tallouseh, Adaisseh, and Kfar Kela were all reported hit, with civil defense forces out in forces across the area to try to keep the fires subsequently set under control.

Fire is an indiscriminate killer, like starvation. It is a form of collective punishment and because of this is outlawed by the laws of war. Israel is not conducting a war, it is conducting terrorism with its military in a neighbouring sovereign nation.

Antiwar's third article on Israel and its US enabler extends one from the preceding week in which the US administration expressed concerns about Israel spiraling their undeclared war against Lebanon out of control. The risk expressed is that whatever Israel does, escalating its attacks in Lebanon against Hizbollah, Iran will match, thus leading to an uncontrolled conflict. The language used by "US officials" is helpful:

These officials are increasingly concerned that Israel will start a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon that it cannot finish without American support.

[CBS News]

The key phrase is "cannot finish". Two insights are provided.

The first is that, ignoring nuclear weapons, Israel is no match for Hizbollah especially if Iran provides additional support. The second is that these officials believe that they can "finish" whatever it is that Israel may begin.

That Israel's occupation army is no match for the region's militias is the conclusion of many informed military analysts. A recent count of Hizbollah's 150 000 rockets has often been cited, along with the professionalism of its soldiers. Both developments are since Hizbollah last defeated Israel's military in 2006.

The second, that the US can somehow 'finish' things, only make sense politically. Iran's recent penetration of the most highly defended airspace on the planet, a sensitive Israeli air base, demonstrated that the US cannot protect anything. This would include all of its ships, airfields and bases in the region.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense is 'ramping up' its intelligence sharing with the genocidal Israelis.

Before leaving southwest Asia, Antiwar reports that following the recent G7 meeting in Italy:

The US State Department has issued a warning that America is prepared to continue to increase pressure on Iran to punish them if they do not cooperate with the IAEA over their civilian nuclear program.

Iran could not care less what the US State Department says. It has re-routed its international trade away from the US dollar and the West in response to the US not only failing to honor its commitments to the JCPOA but then unilaterally withdrawing from it. The US has burnt all of its leverage. Nobody outside of its orbit in southwest Asia trusts it. The diplomatic phrase is "agreement incapable". Diplomatic action has appeared in the expansions of BRICS and the SCO.

NATO's War with Russia

Antiwar took the opportunity provided by the New York Times to remind readers that Russia did not want and still wishes to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Russia will not accept having another nuclear armed, NATO nation (beyond Poland and Romania) on its doorstep. As with the mixed reliability of the insights provided above by US officials on the potential escalation of the war which Israel has started with Lebanon, this reminder keys us into the dangerous path which US militarism takes.

Ten days ago, Antiwar informed us that the US test fired two unarmed intercontinental ballistic missiles from California 4 200 Km distant to the Marshal Islands. 9 days before that, the US funded and armed government in the Ukraine permitted two attacks on Russia's nuclear defense radar installations. Months preceding that, at Cuba's invitation, Russia had planned to visit the Caribbean. Russia's frigate and submarine with two support vessels were 'shadowed' by the US as they crossed the Atlantic. While in transit in the Atlantic the Russian Navy ran drills on firing hypersonic missiles.

Cuba gave the visiting Russia Navy vessels a 21 gun salute upon their arrival in the capital, Havana. The US chose to send Helena, a fast attack submarine, to their leased offshore torture facility at Guantanamo Bay on the same island. The Margaret Brooke, a Canadian 'patrol vessel', paid an unexpected 'port visit' to Havana in solidarity with its southern neighbour's attack submarine. Given that neither vessel was invited, Cuba expressed its displeasure via Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.

Industrialized Militarism

June 16th saw one of the best Antiwar headlines in recent months with news editor Dave DeCamp running his rapier through the NATO block’s rhetoric for the its war against Russia:

Ukraine’s War Backers Hold ‘Peace’ Conference

The US duplicity displayed in the past decade of JCPOA negotiations in Switzerland has undermined the nation's diplomatic standing. That the Swiss have acquiesced to hosting what amounts to a media event for an event as significant as a war between nuclear armed powers, which has recently eascalated near to the nuclear threshold, shows just how irrelevant Switzerland has become. Its striking from the list of neutral states is justified by its calling the event a 'peace' conference to which one belligerent was not invited. The event’s title was “High-level Summit for Peace for Ukraine”.

NATO's member states showed up, along with many other nations. No plan to end the conflict was produced. The list of seemingly random items which adorned the final communiqué included:

• the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine. (Ukraine has been attacking the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant for most of the war.)

• the importance of food security and the global supply chain. (Pray tell, have we not moved on from CoVID? Secondly, Ukraine comes below Argentina in wheat exports and three EU member states banned the import of Ukrainian grain.)

• the need for prisoner of war exchanges between Kiev and Moscow. (Ukraine has repeatedly killed its own prisoners of war when in Russian custody .)

DeCamp reports:

Noting Moscow’s conspicuous absence at the meeting, a number of countries refused to sign the final joint statement.

Those nations included India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Libya, and the Vatican. Because they knew in advance that Russia was not invited, they have essentially attended merely to signal the stupidity of the event, to make sure that a big red box of 'media event' was stamped across any document issued.

[Jens Stoltenberg, the voice of NATO, who says that Ukraine flying F-16s, which could be nuclear armed and Russia will have no idea if they are or not, is not an escalation.]

Two and a half months ago, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg "proposed" that a $100 billion (USD) "five-year fund" be established to secure continued supply of armaments to Ukraine. This NATO plan was to secure a war, rather than to create a peace.

Today, on the 16th, we learnt that "NATO will coordinate training and equipment donations" and "facilitate equipment logistics and provide support to the long-term development of Ukraine’s Armed Forces". These are components of NATO's new policy, issued after a meeting of NATO defense ministers on the 14th.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren explained that the bloc took the step as the war may grind on for some time, adding that coordination of arms shipments through Brussels will help prevent any country from altering its policy. “It’s to make it proof to any situation,” she said, observing that Russia’s war “might go on for years – so you want to have something in place that does not depend on specific persons, ministers or whoever.”

The new NATO policy cements not only their support for the war, irrespective of 'persons, ministers or whoever', but also "the ongoing adaptation of NATO’s nuclear capabilities”. To this alarm can be added "step[ping] up intelligence-sharing with Ukraine".

The cherry on the top of all of this future-proofing the certainty of military profits from the constantly-edging-closer-to-the-nuclear-realm war between super-powers was an achievement in excess of the 300,000 troops to be at high-alert previously announced:

“Allies are offering forces to NATO’s command at a scale not seen in decades. Today we have 500,000 troops at high readiness across all domains, significantly more than the goal that was set at the 2022 Madrid Summit,”

Stoltenberg proudly announced to reporters after the Defence ministers' meeting. The reason that Stoltenberg is so proud of this, is that it represents government commitments to military spending, which pleases his backers to no end.

War is a Racket

It takes propaganda to start and maintain war. The US and NATO have destroyed Iraq (WMD), Libya (Viagra), Syria (gassing his own people), and Ukraine (defending democracy) during the last two decades. The multinational Western arms industries are now destroying the West economically. The industries do not bear the burden of lost tax revenues which could have been invested in the heart of a nation, its people. They eat them. The industrialists do not bear the debt which beggars the nations which comply with their policies. They profit from them.

The US politicians which the military industrialists have over a barrel believe that their nation's $33 trillion dollars of debt has no bearing. It will, as the rest of the world continues its path away from the trap of the "rules based" US financial order. When the US currency comes crashing down, the industrialists will leave. Their capital's flight will be a part of that crash.

The national debt will remain. Future governments will plead that their hands are financially tied by this debt. Without the non-military export industries which were exported decades ago, the national debt will not be able to be serviced. The currency will further suffer as the nation's credit rating is reduced by foreign assessors.

Have we not seen this playbook play out previously?

"The U.S. current-account deficit narrowed by $1.6 billion, or 0.8 percent, to $194.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023."

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Sources

June 16th

Ukraine's War Backers Hold 'Peace' Conference, Will Porter, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

US and Canadian Warships Arrive in Cuba During Russian Naval Deployment, Connor Freeman, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

WaPo: Pentagon Ramping Up Intelligence-Sharing With Israel, Will Porter, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

NATO to Control Ukraine Aid to 'Trump-Proof' Arms Shipments, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

US Concerned Israel Could Drag US Into War in Lebanon, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

Israel Claims to Open Aid Corridor Near Rafah, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

NATO: 500,000 Troops on High Readiness for War With Russia, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

Documents: Putin Was Willing To Compromise To End War in 2022, Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

US Threatens to 'Increase Pressure' on Iran Over Nuclear Program, Jason Ditz, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

Israel Uses Phosphorous Bombs To Set Fires in Southern Lebanon Towns, Jason Ditz, Antiwar, 2024-06-16

Earlier at Antiwar or Other Sources

US Test Fires Two Unarmed Minuteman III Nuclear ICBMs, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-06-06

Ukraine Targets Radars That Are Part of Russia's Nuclear Warning System, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-05-28

NUCLEAR AGREEMENT – JCPOA, European Union, 2021-08-18

Stoltenberg: Ukraine Using F-16s on Russian Territory Won't Be an Escalation, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-06-13

Democracy Proofing War Profiteering, YesXorNo, 2024-04-03

NATO Chief Floats Establishing $100 Billion Fund for Ukraine, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2024-04-02

NATO Defence Ministers agree plan to lead coordination of security assistance and training for Ukraine, address deterrence and defence, NATO, 2024-06-14

U.S. International Transactions, 4th Quarter and Year 2023, Bureau of Economic Analysis, USA Government

The Afterlives of Lies, Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News, 2024-06-12

Hamas & 'Human Shields', Jonothan Cook, Consortium News, 2024-06-12

Safety By Love & Understanding, YesXorNo, 2024-04-20

Checkmate, Scott Ritter, Scott Ritter Extra, 2024-04-16

Who killed the POWs at Yelenovka? All signs on the ground point to a Ukrainian attack, Eva Karene Bartlett, In Gaza and Beyond, 2022-08-02

Who really shot down Russia’s Il-76 plane?, Stephen Bryen, Asia Times, 2024-02-04

Israel attacks Lebanon with white phosphorous ＂on a daily basis", Dimitri Lascaris, 2024-06-16

Culture

Mining for Gold, Cowboy Junkies (from their 1988 album The Trinity Session), uploaded on 2019-11-13

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