War is a Racket: A Must Read

[Tomorrows_Child]

I found a better copy before but I cant find the link but here is another one:

https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt

Do some research too around this topic. It's a great little read which is even more relevant now than it was in 1935.

 

[George-ananda]

I see war as a necessary evil to stop evil from running amuck (evil like the Nazi, Taliban, ISIS, Imperial Japan. etc).

I think it is disingenuous, to try to make both sides equally responsible for wars.

 

[Jumi]

Of course it's mostly just about resources and money, but there's other things that drive people to war. It would be a simplification to say only money drove people to fight. Greed, hatred between countries (like France and Germany for WW2), fanaticism toward political systems, religion... all of that has weakened people's minds and helped them kill.

 

[Tomorrows_Child]

Of course it's mostly just about resources and money, but there's other things that drive people to war. It would be a simplification to say only money drove people to fight. Greed, hatred between countries (like France and Germany for WW2), fanaticism toward political systems, religion... all of that has weakened people's minds and helped them kill.

You clearly never read the link I posted. It's not just about the motivating factors but the way in which money is made THROUGH war, i.e. war is a business. More metal, more leather, more oil etc is needed and sold via major corporations through war. Weapons manufacturers provide arms to both sides of the conflict, as they did in WW1 (the example given in the book). Millionaires are turned into billionaires on the stock exchange as a result of these military expeditions. That's the main message.

Now, how do we start a war when there isn't one going on? Well we have to start creating enemies, monsters that aren't just under your bed but all around you. Monsters funded and created by the very people who will then go and fight them. This has happened right before your eyes and I'm sure many of you on here are older than my 26 years and should have seen even more examples of empires such as the US playing both the arsonist and the fire fighters.

 

[Jumi]

You clearly never read the link I posted. It's not just about the motivating factors but the way in which money is made THROUGH war, i.e. war is a business. More metal, more leather, more oil etc is needed and sold via major corporations through war. Weapons manufacturers provide arms to both sides of the conflict, as they did in WW1 (the example given in the book). Millionaires are turned into billionaires on the stock exchange as a result of these military expeditions. That's the main message.

I never disagreed with that and yes, I did read the text and have before.

Now, how do we start a war when there isn't one going on? Well we have to start creating enemies, monsters that aren't just under your bed but all around you. Monsters funded and created by the very people who will then go and fight them. This has happened right before your eyes and I'm sure many of you on here are older than my 26 years and should have seen even more examples of empires such as the US playing both the arsonist and the fire fighters.

For starters I've always been against the wars in Afghan, Iraq, Syria that are now going on. Only intervention I supported was how Iran and Russia co-operated with the legal government to put down the rebels.

Making monsters. This is how war has always worked, it's hard to kill someone who you think is the same as you, right? Not that the monsters are always funded and created, but entire peoples are deliberately misrepresented and demonized. Sometimes the creations run away and backfire on their creators. You could easily argue this was the case with the mujahadeen of Afghanistan against the Soviets. They were brought up and set loose, decided to use what they learned and turned against those who nurtured them.

 

[LuisDantas]

The text is certainly a sobering call, but it fails to account the roles of nationalistic pride and of social inconsequence in the making of wars.

Also, it reflects the current time, not the historical origins of war. It used to be that wars were a genuine risk yet also a true solution to legitimate dilemmas.

 

[Revoltingest]

I found a better copy before but I cant find the link but here is another one:

https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt

Do some research too around this topic. It's a great little read which is even more relevant now than it was in 1935.

Reading just enuf of the link to see what it's about, I found.....
- Provides no evidence.
- Treats all wars as the same.
- Doesn't address counter arguments.

War is a awful thing.
But it should be criticized thoughtfully.

 

[Tomorrows_Child]

Reading just enuf of the link to see what it's about, I found.....
- Provides no evidence.
- Treats all wars as the same.
- Doesn't address counter arguments.

War is a awful thing.
But it should be criticized thoughtfully.

What are you talking about? This is a decorated general of the American army who provides information and names of the companies involved in making money from war, that's known as war profiteering. What more information do you need?

you should be old enough to realise how much money is made off the war industry. If you don't know, you are either in denial or need to read more.

 

[Revoltingest]

What are you talking about? This is a decorated general of the American army who provides information and names of the companies involved in making money from war, that's known as war profiteering. What more information do you need?
you should be old enough to realise how much money is made off the war industry. If you don't know, you are either in denial or need to read more.

Of course money is made by some in war.
But to call it a racket would mean that there's collusion in fostering the war itself.
Evidence?
I've worked in the defense industry.
Have you?

 

[Milton Platt]

I found a better copy before but I cant find the link but here is another one:

https://archive.org/stream/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket_djvu.txt

Do some research too around this topic. It's a great little read which is even more relevant now than it was in 1935.

Virtually anything that produces disproportionate profit margins becomes a racket. The Jewelry business is another example (albeit less violent). So I think that perhaps that many wars were not begun as "rackets" but they become so because of the profiteering that may occur. There may be outliers in either direction, of course. I just do not believe blanket statements are useful.

 

[Tomorrows_Child]

Of course money is made by some in war.
But to call it a racket would mean that there's collusion in fostering the war itself.
Evidence?
I've worked in the defense industry.
Have you?

What does your working in the defense industry have to do with it? Someone working for a sports team doesn't make them a sporting expert.

The evidence is presented by a man far more decorated in war than you, plus Eisenhower, one of the great generals of WW2 in his farewell speech as President also alluded to the war industry and it's profiteering through war.

If you don't think weapons and vehicle manufacturers in the US supplying products to Germany is a form of collusion then you are seriously confused. If you don't think the US setting up and arming so called religious militants in Afghanistan and Somalia and then attacking those countries is a racket then you are seriously ignorant.

this is not meant to offend you it's meant o light a fire under your arse so you can go and study these things of your own accord.

 

[Revoltingest]

What does your working in the defense industry have to do with it?

First hand look at what others only talk about.

Someone working for a sports team doesn't make them a sporting expert.

The evidence is presented by a man far more decorated in war than you, plus Eisenhower, one of the great generals of WW2 in his farewell speech as President also alluded to the war industry and it's profiteering through war.
If you don't think weapons and vehicle manufacturers in the US supplying products to Germany is a form of collusion then you are seriously confused. If you don't think the US setting up and arming so called religious militants in Afghanistan and Somalia and then attacking those countries is a racket then you are seriously ignorant.
this is not meant to offend you it's meant o light a fire under your arse so you can go and study these things of your own accord.

As an old draft dodger, I don't worship military lifers, decorated or otherwise.
Without evidence, he's just another partisan expecting me to take a claim on faith.

 

[Nietzsche]

What are you talking about? This is a decorated general of the American army who provides information and names of the companies involved in making money from war, that's known as war profiteering. What more information do you need?

you should be old enough to realise how much money is made off the war industry. If you don't know, you are either in denial or need to read more.

War used to be extremely profitable. It's gotten significantly less-so, because most weapons are so good that you don't need to replace them often.

 

[YmirGF]

War used to be extremely profitable. It's gotten significantly less-so, because most weapons are so good that you don't need to replace them often.

How dare you bring reason and facts into the discussion. Have you no shame? There's a narrative at stake here, for god's sake, man.

 

[Revoltingest]

War used to be extremely profitable. It's gotten significantly less-so, because most weapons are so good that you don't need to replace them often.

Much materiel is simply abandoned when we leave a country though.

 

[Nietzsche]

Much materiel is simply abandoned when we leave a country though.

Which also helps drive down the price. Most people are fine buying a few tons of M16s who were used once and just never brought back for nigh a tenth of its price.

 

[Revoltingest]

Which also helps drive down the price. Most people are fine buying a few tons of M16s who were used once and just never brought back for nigh a tenth of its price.

Sure, abandoned material can reduce price by increasing quantity.
But it increases the cost (to the taxpayer).