Christopher Hedges on Nato...

[ajay0]

Pulitzer prize winning American journalist, Presbyterian minister and senior lecturer Christopher Lynn Hedge's insights on NATO...

Chris Hedges - Wikiquote

I was in Eastern Europe in 1989, reporting on the revolutions that overthrew the ossified communist dictatorships that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a time of hope. NATO, with the breakup of the Soviet empire, became obsolete. President Mikhail Gorbachev reached out to Washington and Europe to build a new security pact that would include Russia. (U.S.) Secretary of State James Baker in the Reagan administration, along with the West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, assured the Soviet leader that if Germany was unified NATO would not be extended beyond the new borders.


The commitment not to expand NATO, also made by Great Britain and France, appeared to herald a new global order. We saw the peace dividend dangled before us, the promise that the massive expenditures on weapons that characterized the Cold War would be converted into expenditures on social programs and infrastructures that had long been neglected to feed the insatiable appetite of the military.


How naive we were. The war industry did not intend to shrink its power or its profits. It set out almost immediately to recruit the former Communist Bloc countries into the European Union and NATO... The expansion of NATO swiftly became a multi-billion-dollar bonanza for the corporations that had profited from the Cold War.


Once NATO expanded into Eastern Europe, the Clinton administration promised Moscow that NATO combat troops would not be stationed in Eastern Europe, the defining issue of the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations. This promise again turned out to be a lie.

 

[Valjean]

A lot of his lectures and commentary is available on YouTube.

 

[stvdv]

Pulitzer prize winning American journalist, Presbyterian minister and senior lecturer Christopher Lynn Hedge's insights on NATO...

Chris Hedges - Wikiquote

This proves that Big War companies are the real culprits of this war. They only care for their pockets being filled, and the millions of deaths doesn't bothers them...obvious "no" conscience.

The real bad thing in all of this is, that our governments allow this, so all of them are as guilty as Putin

All these Big "X" companies will be the downfall of humanity, decency and righteousness, Dharma.

Darma upholds those who uphold Dharma, but the same Dharma will destroy those who allow Adharma to continue. We should not blame God for this one. This is all on us humans, allowing Big Stupids to rule us

 

[Revoltingest]

This proves that Big War companies are the real culprits of this war. They only care for their pockets being filled, and the millions of deaths doesn't bothers them...obvious "no" conscience.

So many people never want to blame the politicians they
elect & then re-elect...even after doing things the voters
claim to object to.
Blame corporations...that's the liberal way in the USA.
If ever they took responsibility, things might change in
a way they say they want. (Conservatives are no better.)
If we expect Russians to change their government, then
we should change ours.

 

[danieldemol]

If we expect Russians to change their government, then
we should change ours.

You did, Trump is gone. Russia's turn.

In my opinion.

 

[Revoltingest]

You did, Trump is gone. Russia's turn.

In my opinion.

Have we really changed all that much?
We just put one of the old guard in charge.

 

[danieldemol]

Have we really changed all that much?
We just put one of the old guard in charge.

Significantly. Biden may be experienced, however the hindsight of mistakes made can temper a decision making process.

However you now have a president who
-does what he can to assist the poor
-respects democracy
-is not a theocratic
-Hasnt to my knowledge obstructed the process of justice in the investigation into Hunter Biden.

I'd call all that a significant improvement over Trump.

 

[Revoltingest]

Significantly. Biden may be experienced, however the hindsight of mistakes made can temper a decision making process.

However you now have a president who
-does what he can to assist the poor
-respects democracy
-is not a theocratic
-Hasnt to my knowledge obstructed the process of justice in the investigation into Hunter Biden.

I'd call all that a significant improvement over Trump.

We still have a President who....
- Voted for the the Iraq War.
- Designed the 1994 Crime Bill that put an unprecedented number of Ameristanians in prison.
- Created civil asset forfeiture abuse.
- Favors higher taxes.
-

 

[danieldemol]

We still have a President who....
- Voted for the the Iraq War.

And has the hindsight not to repeat such a mistake.

- Designed the 1994 Crime Bill that put an unprecedented number of Ameristanians in prison.

Don't know enough about this to comment.

- Created civil asset forfeiture abuse.

What is that?

- Favors higher taxes.
-

Yeah, on those who can easily afford it for the benefit of those who can't.
In my opinion.

 

[Revoltingest]

And has the hindsight not to repeat such a mistake.

Admitting a mistake (if he has) is good. But this one is
so blindingly obvious that does he deserve credit?
(I do give him high praise for his quick exit though.)
It should've been clear beforehand from prior USA & USSR
misadventures in that region that war was doomed to failure.
This speaks to fundamentally poor judgement that favors
USA playing policeman to the world.

Don't know enough about this to comment.

How the 1994 Crime Bill Fed the Mass Incarceration Crisis

What is that?

How a Young Joe Biden Became the Architect of the Government's Asset Forfeiture Program | Chris Calton
It's a process that government at all levels commits
robbery of civilians. Not even accused of a crime,
but have too much cash? Government can take it.
Civil Forfeiture - Institute for Justice

Yeah, on those who can easily afford it for the benefit of those who can't.
In my opinion.

It is nonetheless more of the same old same old,
ie, an increasingly bloated government raising
taxes to fuel it.

 

[danieldemol]

How the 1994 Crime Bill Fed the Mass Incarceration Crisis
How a Young Joe Biden Became the Architect of the Government's Asset Forfeiture Program | Chris Calton
It's a process that government at all levels commits
robbery of civilians. Not even accused of a crime,
but have too much cash? Government can take it.
Civil Forfeiture - Institute for Justice

What i get from both these two articles is that a bidding war and political one upmanship have driven these policies on both sides of the aisle, in other words you would have to change more than just the leaders to get significant change in these two arenas as they either are or were popular amongst the people. So you would have to change the minds of the US population.

In my opinion.