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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:17 AM Apr 2013

America Has Turned a World Without Serious Enemies into the Most Threatening Place in the Universe

http://www.alternet.org/america-has-turned-world-without-serious-enemies-most-threatening-place-universe


The communist enemy, with the “ world’s fourth largest military,” has been trundling missiles around and threatening the United States with nuclear obliteration. Guam, Hawaii, Washington: all, it claims, are targetable. The coverage in the media has been hair-raising. The U.S. is rushing an untested missile defense system to Guam, deploying missile-interceptor ships off the South Korean coast, sending “nuclear capable” B-2 Stealth bombers thousands of miles on mock bombing runs, pressuring China, and conducting large-scale war games with its South Korean ally.

Only one small problem: there is as yet little evidence that the enemy with a few nuclear weapons facing off (rhetorically at least) against an American arsenal of 4,650 of them has the ability to miniaturize and mount even one on a missile, no less deliver it accurately, nor does it have a missile capable of reaching Hawaii or Washington, and I wouldn't count on Guam either.

It also happens to be a desperate country, one possibly without enough fuel to fly a modern air force, whose people, on average, are inches shorter than their southern neighbors thanks to decades of intermittent famine and malnutrition, and who are ruled by a bizarre three-generational family cult. If that other communist, Karl Marx, hadn’t once famously written that history repeats itself “first as tragedy, then as farce,” we would have had to invent the phrase for this very moment.

In the previous century, there were two devastating global wars, which left significant parts of the planet in ruins. There was also a "cold war" between two superpowers locked in a system of mutual assured destruction (aptly acronymed as MAD) whose nuclear arsenals were capable of destroying the planet many times over. Had you woken up any morning in the years between December 7, 1941, and December 26, 1991, and been told that the leading international candidate for America's Public Enemy Number One was Kim Jong-un’s ramshackle, comic-opera regime in North Korea, you might have gotten down on your hands and knees and sent thanks to pagan gods.
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America Has Turned a World Without Serious Enemies into the Most Threatening Place in the Universe (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2013 OP
The really fun part is listening to the hacks describe North Korea as malaise Apr 2013 #1
+1 xchrom Apr 2013 #2
They should not have cut us off from the Koreans in starcraft and warcraft Sunlei Apr 2013 #32
Since the USSR failed on us, good enemies have beeen hard to come by. bemildred Apr 2013 #3
you just can't get a good, quality enemy any more. nt xchrom Apr 2013 #6
Sure you can! KansDem Apr 2013 #27
Our military industrial complex demands that we invent threats liberal N proud Apr 2013 #4
I think it's more about keeping training up than economic dependence DaveJ Apr 2013 #17
Wouldn't it be pretty to think so. JayhawkSD Apr 2013 #23
Unregulated assault weapons profiteers are inventing threats that mature into what the MIC uses to patrice Apr 2013 #34
simplistic bullshit. yeah, without America the world would be farting roses cali Apr 2013 #5
way to miss the point. HiPointDem Apr 2013 #8
I didn't miss the point. cali Apr 2013 #21
+1 cali Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2013 #10
odd and mistaken reaction Enrique Apr 2013 #11
... Scuba Apr 2013 #7
! xchrom Apr 2013 #13
The headline is naive nonsense and the US is not responsible for the idiocy of KING Jong Un. nt Bernardo de La Paz Apr 2013 #9
The article is not denying we have enemies Shankapotomus Apr 2013 #18
well we're working hard on creating some real enemies Enrique Apr 2013 #12
True newfie11 Apr 2013 #14
The MIC and Corporate America in general DOES have an enemy. HughBeaumont Apr 2013 #15
How else to justify our gigantic military budget? quinnox Apr 2013 #16
k/r marmar Apr 2013 #19
That's why the US is called the Excited States cartach Apr 2013 #20
What would we do with all that taxpayer money if war/terror were NOT an issue? Profits, follow the mother earth Apr 2013 #22
Attention-seeking headline is erroneous JayhawkSD Apr 2013 #24
Casino Nation whatchamacallit Apr 2013 #25
The genius that is Jackson Browne... thank you! mountain grammy Apr 2013 #28
Many look, few see whatchamacallit Apr 2013 #33
With unprecedented commitment and sacrifice, Americans stepped up and saved the world from Hitler. mountain grammy Apr 2013 #26
It took the commitment and sacrifice of many nations to defeat Hitler. nt. polly7 Apr 2013 #29
I would not disagree with that at all, but American might followed by the Marshall Plan mountain grammy Apr 2013 #35
whats with the huge strips of deforested land that start at the china-NK border? Sunlei Apr 2013 #30
Hey, we need that military-industrial complex to keep us bankrupt, sick and uneducated Arugula Latte Apr 2013 #31
+ an effin' MILLION truebluegreen Apr 2013 #36

malaise

(267,838 posts)
1. The really fun part is listening to the hacks describe North Korea as
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:23 AM
Apr 2013

belligerent - what word would then describe the world's greatest bully.

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
32. They should not have cut us off from the Koreans in starcraft and warcraft
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:49 AM
Apr 2013

kicking each other asses,screams of smack talk on vent over the game table kept us friendly

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
3. Since the USSR failed on us, good enemies have beeen hard to come by.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:24 AM
Apr 2013

That we have been reduced to the likes of N. Korea is quite indicative of the situation.

liberal N proud

(60,302 posts)
4. Our military industrial complex demands that we invent threats
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:24 AM
Apr 2013
The U.S. is in less danger from external enemies than at any moment in the last century. So our security state demands we invent some.


The above statement is driven by our economic dependence on the military contractors which are almost the only manufacturing left in this country.


DaveJ

(5,023 posts)
17. I think it's more about keeping training up than economic dependence
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 08:47 AM
Apr 2013

Soldiers need to stay trained and (unfortunately) bloodthirsty in the event something real where to happen. Regardless, we'll be pouring money into the MIC which surely is developing inconceivably advanced weapons they never tell us about, when that effort could be put to such better use.

patrice

(47,992 posts)
34. Unregulated assault weapons profiteers are inventing threats that mature into what the MIC uses to
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 11:40 AM
Apr 2013

justify its obscenities.

And we ENABLE that by hating the U.N. which in turn allows the IMF/Disaster Capitalism to do whatever IT wants, thus creating fertile ground for those assault weapons merchants.

ALL protected by our NRA bought and paid for Senate, e.g. S. 2205 The Second Amendment Protection Act of 2012 which is a Grover Norquist style oath that senators will not allow the U.S. to participate in U.N. any arms control treaties that affect our gun manufacturers, currently under the sponsorship of Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, but also an aggressive pet protect in the recent past of Rand Paul.

All of the Big Brother/One World Order hysteria on what calls itself "the Left" is part of what makes U.N. haters viable and ultimately all of that causes political pressure for drone programs to deal with "threats" that WE ARE CREATING.

 

cali

(114,904 posts)
5. simplistic bullshit. yeah, without America the world would be farting roses
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:27 AM
Apr 2013

everyone would be besties. What I hate so much about this puling analysis- and really it's not deserving of that that word, is that it totally ignores human nature and history and it's essentially the same moronic crap on the other side of the American Exceptionalism coin.

Enrique

(27,461 posts)
11. odd and mistaken reaction
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:44 AM
Apr 2013

It appears you are responding to your misunderstanding of what Engelhardt is saying, rather than what he is actually saying. That's not fair to him, and also you are missing out on a good article.

Shankapotomus

(4,840 posts)
18. The article is not denying we have enemies
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 08:50 AM
Apr 2013

It's just saying we are exaggerating their capabilities and overreacting militarily.

Enrique

(27,461 posts)
12. well we're working hard on creating some real enemies
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 07:46 AM
Apr 2013

every child we obliterate with drones for example.

HughBeaumont

(24,461 posts)
15. The MIC and Corporate America in general DOES have an enemy.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 08:40 AM
Apr 2013

It's called the middle/working/poor of America, and they've been conducting this silent attack on us for the past 45 years (or 400, depending on which historian you ask).

 

quinnox

(20,600 posts)
16. How else to justify our gigantic military budget?
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 08:45 AM
Apr 2013

No wonder they have to try and create a world full of super villains and terrorists to frighten 'Amurikans, we have to protect ourselves!

cartach

(511 posts)
20. That's why the US is called the Excited States
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 09:28 AM
Apr 2013

and the industrial/military complex encourage and feeds off it.

mother earth

(6,002 posts)
22. What would we do with all that taxpayer money if war/terror were NOT an issue? Profits, follow the
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 09:46 AM
Apr 2013

money trail, there doesn't have to be a real threat, only a perceived threat...and the war drums drone on...$$$$$$$$

 

JayhawkSD

(3,163 posts)
24. Attention-seeking headline is erroneous
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:09 AM
Apr 2013

Jupiter is far more threatening than Earth. Mankind would last there for less than a microsecomd.

Tom Englehardt's title, "The Enemy-Industrial Complex," makes a lot more sense than yours does.

whatchamacallit

(15,558 posts)
25. Casino Nation
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:22 AM
Apr 2013
http://m.


In a weapons producing nation under Jesus
In the fabled crucible of the free world
Camera crews search for clues amid the detritus
And entertainment shapes the land
The way the hammer shapes the hand

Gleaming faces in the checkout counter at the Church of Fame
The lucky winners cheer Casino Nation
All those not on TV only have themselves to blame
And don't quite seem to understand
The way the hammer shapes the hand

Out beyond the ethernet the spectrum spreads
DC to daylight, the cowboy mogul rides
Never worry where the gold for all this glory's gonna come from
Get along dogies, it's coming out of your hides

The intentional cultivation of a criminal class
The future lit by brightly burning bridges
Justice fully clothed to hide the heart of glass
That shatters in a thousand Ruby Ridges
And everywhere the good prepare for perpetual war
And let their weapons shape the plan
The way the hammer shapes the hand

Release date: September 24, 2002
Artist: Jackson Browne

Cool independent animation: http://m.
&feature=related

mountain grammy

(26,571 posts)
26. With unprecedented commitment and sacrifice, Americans stepped up and saved the world from Hitler.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:22 AM
Apr 2013

Now, the world has to be saved from us.

mountain grammy

(26,571 posts)
35. I would not disagree with that at all, but American might followed by the Marshall Plan
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 04:55 PM
Apr 2013

saved then rebuilt Europe..

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
30. whats with the huge strips of deforested land that start at the china-NK border?
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:43 AM
Apr 2013

Is China going in there and cutting down their forests.? There is no way they can keep them out, long border They are sandwiched in between China and NK-that must suck.

here's the map, zoom in close to the borders, resourses are stripped and the roads go towards China

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=north+korea&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=aPxrUdnSKNOI2gWwzoCQAQ&ved=0CAsQ_AUoAg

 

Arugula Latte

(50,566 posts)
31. Hey, we need that military-industrial complex to keep us bankrupt, sick and uneducated
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:46 AM
Apr 2013

That's the American Way.

 

truebluegreen

(9,033 posts)
36. + an effin' MILLION
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:43 PM
Apr 2013

In terms of the threats we face, we are definitely in the realm of farce.

North Korea? Iraq? Iran?

These nations are as big a threat as, say, Nazi Germany, which at the time had a population close to our own, and industrial might? Or the Soviet Union?

Might as well cower from and obsess over Grenada....oh, wait...

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