Category Archives: War

Neoconservatives Will Love Sebastian Gorka’s Hyperventilation About A Hyperpower

Bush, Conflict, Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Neoconservatism, War

Tonight, watch your favorite Fox News neoconservative. Chucky Krauthammer, Brian Kilmead and other neocons will be wallowing in the “greatness” of Sebastian Gorka’s hyperventilation about the US being a hyperpower.

“Don’t test American, and don’t test Donald J Trump”.
“We are not just a superpower,” Mr Gorka said. “We were a superpower, we are now a hyperpower … The message is very clear: Don’t test this White House.”
The word “hyperpower” refers to a nation that dominates in all areas, from economics and military might to cultural attitudes and language. The term was first popularised by French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine in 1999, when he suggested that the US had become a unilateral power that needed to be controlled.

Shades of DC operative Karl Rove, Bush II’s main man. Rove declared this during that “wonderfully” “vital” excursion into Iraq: “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.”

The Closest We’ll Get To A W A L L Is A W A R. With North Korea

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, John McCain, War

Tuesday, President Donald Trump warned: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

For his reckless threat against North Korea, President Trump was castigated by John McCain—composer of the jingoistic jingle, “Bomb, Bomb, bomb Iran,” whose favorite word in the dictionary is “war.” Pot. Kettle. Black:

McCain said he was unsure if that rhetoric constituted a threat of military action, but said that most previous presidents wouldn’t make a threat unless they were ready to act.
“I don’t know what he’s saying and I’ve long ago given up trying to interpret what he says,” the Senator told KTAR. “It’s not terrible but it’s kind of the classic Trump in that he overstates things.” He noted, however, that Trump’s remarks could be pivotal in escalating a confrontation with North Korea, which could ultimately endanger South Korea in what he said could be a catastrophic scenario.

The governor of Guam, a sensible man, was more concerned about “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) [an awful man] for apparently being open to an all-out conflict in the western Pacific. Graham said on CBS News that he does not want a war with North Korea, but ‘if there’s going to be a war, it’s going to be in the [Pacific] region.'”

“As far as I’m concerned, as an American citizen, I want a president that says that if any nation such as North Korea attack Guam, attack Honolulu, attack the west coast, they will be met with Hell and fury,” said [Eddie Calvo].

So far, it looks like the closest we’ll get to a W A L L is a W A R. With North Korea.

Did Hillary Hawk Lose Because She’s A Lot Like Chucky Krauthammer?

Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Middle East, Military, Neoconservatism, War

A new study makes the case that Hillary Clinton lost because the poor, largely white communities which pay for war forevermore, got sick of paying.

… professors argue that Clinton lost the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in last year’s presidential election because they had some of the highest casualty rates during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and voters there saw Clinton as the pro-war candidate.

By contrast, her pro-war positions did not hurt her in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California, the study says; because those states were relatively unscathed by the Middle East wars.

The study is titled “Battlefield Casualties and Ballot Box Defeat: Did the Bush-Obama Wars Cost Clinton the White House?” Authors Francis Shen, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, and Dougas Kriner, a political science professor at Boston University, strike a populist note:

I hope so. And let’s hope Trump remembers running on a plank of no more unwarranted, aggressive unconstitutional wars. (Good move today in initiating cooperation with Russia.) However, whenever I watch soldiers selected to appear on Fox News, they’re cheering loudest for war, and damning those who object.

North Korea Is Dangerous, But Hardly Irrational

America, Foreign Policy, Neoconservatism, War, WMD

What happened when Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi voluntarily rid Libya of weapons of mass destruction? The US dishonored a previous promise to lay off Libya, and sanctioned an invasion by proxy and a regime change. That turned out as wonderfully as America’s other regime-change adventures (yielding a refugee invasion of Europe, among other things).

Talking to Brooke Baldwin of CNN, DAVID E. SANGER, expert on North Korea, seconded that fear of the US’s regime-change habit is a factor in the frightening displays of military might of the ostracized North Korean regime.

“… This is all about survival for Kim Jung Un. He’s not likely to give up his only ticket to survival. His view of the world is that the US is out to topple his regime. [Is that an unrealistic view?] He looks at a country like Libya which gave up its nascent nuclear technology [but got finished off by the US]. Thus the refrain of many administrations—that Kim should give up his nuclear weapons—is unlikely to happened.”