At last a glimmer of common sense. But too little and far too late.
Instead of the orginal disastrous invasion, which was lost on the day it was launched, it would have been simpler and quicker and far less bloody to simply have cashed in one or two Tomahawk missiles, minted small denomination gold coins, and parachuted them in family-size portions all over the country.
The creaking economy of the Taliban state would have collapsed overnight, as would any power they had over the peasantry. As would the opium industry. By instantly inflating the middle classes, and giving them instant access to capital, the religious solution to poverty would not have been necessary or attractive any more.
The Al Jazeerah report mentions a paltry billion dollars. When the invasion began, promises were made for a total renovation of Afghanistan. It was to be the ultimate reality makeover show. All lies, of course.
Showing posts with label war politics economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war politics economics. Show all posts
3/10/2008
War Getting SO Expensive.
The cost of the Iraq war
Which is the point, of course. War uses up productive capacity, and eliminates surplus production - thereby solving a key problem of modern capitalism, or at least, keeping it under control.
So the more expensive the war the better. It is strange that Gordon Brown doesn't realise that.
Without war, there would be far too many skilled workers available to build the hospitals and schools and other things we need. This would force people to the conclusion that there is nothing which cannot be achieved through shared - or rather - distributed sacrifice, as in war, but without the obscene need for waste and mass murder. Through co-operation rather than competition. And that would be the end of the elitist, obsolete, political hierarchies of the last ten thousand years.
With the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War on the 15th, and no clean end in sight, it is time that the villainous confidence trick of industrial war was understood.
Stop The War
Meanwhile, the Climate War, the war to undo the sabotage of industrial capitalism goes on undeclared. The recurring analogy with total war, as made by Friends of the Earth and others, is very apt. This is a war for survival, and as in the total wars of the C20th, there will have to be sacrifices. How soon we realise that will determine whether the war is won or lost.
No government will make any serious headway aganst carbon emissions until it is free to do so. Until it has cut loose the drag of the profit-driven corporations, who will never do anything until it is too late. As they did in the total wars of the C20th, when the British corporate classes were busy supplying Germany with arms and materials untilthe last possible minute.
Which is the point, of course. War uses up productive capacity, and eliminates surplus production - thereby solving a key problem of modern capitalism, or at least, keeping it under control.
So the more expensive the war the better. It is strange that Gordon Brown doesn't realise that.
Without war, there would be far too many skilled workers available to build the hospitals and schools and other things we need. This would force people to the conclusion that there is nothing which cannot be achieved through shared - or rather - distributed sacrifice, as in war, but without the obscene need for waste and mass murder. Through co-operation rather than competition. And that would be the end of the elitist, obsolete, political hierarchies of the last ten thousand years.
With the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War on the 15th, and no clean end in sight, it is time that the villainous confidence trick of industrial war was understood.
Stop The War
Meanwhile, the Climate War, the war to undo the sabotage of industrial capitalism goes on undeclared. The recurring analogy with total war, as made by Friends of the Earth and others, is very apt. This is a war for survival, and as in the total wars of the C20th, there will have to be sacrifices. How soon we realise that will determine whether the war is won or lost.
No government will make any serious headway aganst carbon emissions until it is free to do so. Until it has cut loose the drag of the profit-driven corporations, who will never do anything until it is too late. As they did in the total wars of the C20th, when the British corporate classes were busy supplying Germany with arms and materials untilthe last possible minute.
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