Whee! Let's Start World War 3!

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” -- US Army General Omar Bradley, Armistice Day 1948

 

Whee! Let's Start World War 3!  

By Coast Watcher  

Capitalism loves war! And it loves it with a passion Romeo and Juliet could only have dreamed of. 

The profits that roll in from the vast military industrial complex’s sales to nations around the world alone are far greater than the GNP of most countries. Of course, in order to sell armaments there needs to be an actual war—or at least the threat of one. Armed tension is a great incentive for weapon sales. That way all those potent weapons systems can be bought and deployed immediately or at least stored until they could be used or sold on to others by their use-by date. 

But not all weapons ever reach their intended user. According to a recent CBS News report up to 30% of the weaponry sent to Ukraine doesn’t make it to the front lines. [Editor's note: The CBS News link about black market arms sales in Ukraine was taken down because of the Ukrainian government's pressure, but you can now watch it here: https://www.bitchute.com/embed/g5OgTXkzzLy9/] Instead they find their way onto the lucrative black market, where they'll end up in the hands of terrorist organizations. (Generally this means people who’ve had enough from the US government and could use these weapons to make their point.) 

It’s not only the MIC that profits from war or a perpetual state of armed tension. Big Oil in the shape of Standard Oil sold its product to both Axis and Allies during World War I. The vehicle industry makes out like bandits, too. GM and Ford continued to operate quite openly in Germany during the Nazi regime of World War II. 

US corporations are rather practical-minded when it comes down to things such as working with Nazis. They figure making a buck means a buck made--whether or not it comes from your side or the other in a conflict. 

Computer-related hardware sales are another major factor when it comes to starting a war, but sometimes the banging of war drums fails to achieve the desired effect. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent controversial visit to Taiwan caused China to end trade in microprocessor chips of the kind that fit in the American Javelin missile system, the very weapon currently being sold by the US to Ukraine. Production of the weapon is now suspended until another supplier can be found.

Oops.

Pelosi’s visit is a classic example of an insider stock-trader capitalist seeking to profit from war or near-war conditions. (For even more eye-opening insight into how deeply America's and China's economies are intertwined, check out this NPR story.) The Pelosi family’s investment in Taiwanese industry is a matter of record. Whether it’ll ever yield them profits is debatable since her provocative visit to the island has goaded China into action.

The Chinese government warned Biden that the Speaker’s visit would “cross a red line.” Biden retorted that he didn’t recognize red lines—something he also said prior to Russia’s similar warning  about Ukraine's bombing of the Donbass region. Their intervention to defend ethnic Russians is nearing the point where over a quarter of the country is now under control of the Russian Army.

It’s quite reasonable to assume it won’t be long before negotiations are begun in earnest to end the Ukrainian war. What’s left of Ukraine will remain a poor relation in Europe, saddled with immense debt to the United States for generations. There are even rumors that parts of the country will be given to Poland as a reward for supporting the NATO forces in this entirely preventable conflict.  

All this needless death and mayhem was set in motion by the US/NATO forgetting the Minsk Accords in order to shut down the Russian/German built Nord Stream 2 liquid natural gas pipeline so that Europe would be forced to purchase their energy supplies from the US. It's not like that this foolhardy military escapade has affected the price of gasoline and foodstuffs for average Americans though, right?

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan heralds the US military industrial complex's next money-generating event. Biden's recent remarks and Pelosi's trip have provoked the Chinese Navy to conduct exercises geared toward a possible intervention in their breakaway province. Naval exercises are to take place in both the island’s “national waters” (which aren’t officially recognized by any maritime nation) and in the Taiwanese Straits.  

Biden has warned China that the latter move is violating a previous understanding about the Straits. This is a clear indication that the US is contemplating military action to protect Taiwan from invasion from the mainland. It’s practically a given that conventional military exchanges between the US and China could escalate to a full-on nuclear war, one that could annihilate the entire planet.

Could it be the capitalists' answer to global warming is a nuclear winter? 

The super-rich somehow believe they’ll be safe, tucked away in their luxury bunkers in the south of New Zealand. But who will wash their dishes and grow their food if the rest of the world's population succumbs to radiation poisoning?

Has capitalism gone too far in its greed for new opportunities for weapon sales? Indications are that it has. Are the US and the West in general ready and prepared to wage an all out nuclear war, the final military conflict on Earth?  

US plans to cope with a nuclear holocaust have been in place for decades. New York recently ran a series of public service announcements on TV showing what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. From the procedures outlined in the ads it amounts to little more than the old “duck and cover” ideas of the 1950s and are about as effective (read: not very). Experts agree that the best response to an attack with modern nuclear weapons is to put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye.

Most people dwell in a blissful mental state of denial, a place where the prospect of all out nuclear war is but a remote possibility. To these deluded folks today will be the same as yesterday. Tomorrow, of course, will be the same as today. There’s food to buy, a roof to keep over your head, work to think about... Existence as we know it and all life on Earth can’t possibly come to an end because of the simple and malevolent greed of the military industrial complex. 

Can it?

For more background info, read:

Nancy Pelosi, Stay Out of Taiwan!
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/02/pers-a02.html

A Brief History of Taiwan  https://www.thoughtco.com/brief-history-of-taiwan-688021

BIO: Coast Watcher is beginning to wonder if everyone isn't a little bit suicidal. Or maybe, just maybe, average people have been fooled into thinking that their MIC corporate-owned political leaders actually care about their safety and nuclear holocaust is necessary? Either way, we've got to wake up and toss these 1% warmongers out and fight like hell to build a safer and healthier world.

From The War Does Not Want A Global NATO: 

In 1955, 10 years after the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima (Japan), the Turkish poet Nâzim Hikmet wrote a poem in the voice of a 7-year-old girl who died in that terrible act. The poem was later translated into Japanese by Nobuyuki Nakamoto as “Shinda Onnanoko” (“Dead Girl”) and frequently sung in commemorations of that atrocity. Given the harshness of war and the escalation of conflict, it is worthwhile to reflect once more on Hikmet’s beautiful, haunting lyrics:

I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread.
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.

I’m only seven, although I died
In Hiroshima long ago.
I’m seven now as I was then.
When children die, they do not grow.

My hair was scorched by swirling flame.
My eyes grew dim; my eyes grew blind.
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.

I need no fruit, I need no rice.
I need no sweets, nor even bread.
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.

All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of the world
May live and grow and laugh and play.

Related Articles:

Where We Stand on August 6 and 9, 2022 https://popularresistance.org/where-we-stand-on-august-6-and9-2022/

The World Does Not Want A Global NATO https://scheerpost.com/2022/08/01/the-world-does-not-want-a-global-nato/ 

NATO-Backed Network of Syria Dirty War Propagandists Identified https://mate.substack.com/p/nato-backed-network-of-syria-dirty

US empire preparing to discard Zelensky regime, pivoting to Taiwan to make up for its losses  https://popularresistance.org/amnesty-international-report-exposes-ukraines-violations-of-international-law-deliberate-use-of-civilians-as-human-shields/

War With Iran (podcast/article)  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-war-with-iran#details  

"Russian Propaganda" Just Means Disobedience https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/russian-propaganda-just-means-disobedience  

Westerners Think They Are Free-Thinking Individualists And It's Effing Adorable  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/westerners-think-they-are-free-thinking

The US made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China  https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1114964240/new-battery-technology-china-vanadium 

Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Misguided Wars https://popularresistance.org/the-chris-hedges-report-soldiers-speak-out-against-americas-misguided-wars/

Big Chip In US China Crisis
https://popularresistance.org/big-chip-in-us-china-crisis/

Scott Ritter & Richard Medhurst: Will Taiwan Be the Next Ukraine? (video) https://youtu.be/J4rhvCv5_hc

This Is How It Ends (Pelosi's Destroying Ongoing Chinese/American Negotiations Over Climate Change) https://rumble.com/v1f7zg3-this-is-how-it-ends.html

Government Secrets Podcast: How GM & Ford Helped The Nazis
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/governmentsecrets/id/23833361

Seen on Twitter:

The only people who are applauding the Democrats are the ones financially and physically healthy.

— Jacob 🌹⸸ 🏴⚛️︻╦╤─ ☮️🏳️‍🌈💚 (@JacobPenn13) August 6, 2022

So, the Democrats passed an Inflation Reduction Act that will have minimal impact on inflation and a Climate Bill that will make things significantly worse...and now we're supposed to believe those are good things?

— Gritty is the Way (@Gritty20202) August 8, 2022

True dat. The satanic heartless slave-drivers use all the means at their disposition to maintain the ‘world order’ that is always rigged to profit only the 1% status quo. In the #US 1/2 of all the tax money is used to protect & defend the global 1% https://t.co/V5sEM0Lyzn pic.twitter.com/ySVq6W6d0l

— Robert Reed, MLIS | 🍀🍀#freeAssange !🍀🍀 (@RobertR41182121) August 8, 2022

When Will Foreign Leaders Start Asking To Speak To America's REAL Government?

"We can see that the empire moves the same way on important matters regardless of who we elect by simple naked-eye observation of the empire's behaviors from year to year."https://t.co/zc5nz3IaBf

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) August 8, 2022

Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable

Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable

 by C.A. Matthews

After spending years in college studying for a profession you feel "called" to do, you'd hope you'd garner more respect, more compassion from your bosses than a curt declaration of, "We don't care if your health is at risk. Get back to work. Now. Or else."

But that's exactly what's happening in Year Three of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Two examples recently in the headlines: public school teachers and hospital nurses. These professions primarily have been held by females, many of them women of color and single mothers. Their bosses--school superintendents and hospital administrators--are roles primarily held by males, and white males at that.

Another worrisome connection between these two particular professions is that both have come under the scrutiny and control of private corporations in recent times, albeit in somewhat different manners. 

Nurses nowadays mostly work for private, for-profit hospitals and clinics. They are discouraged from organizing or joining a union. The first emphasis of their job performance is on generating profits for their stockholders, not necessarily on providing the best patient care possible. The faster patients come and go into the hospital, for instance, the quicker their private insurances can be billed, and the more money is made for the hospital/health insurance networks CEOs.

Public school teachers have been backed into a corner when it comes to contract negotiations by the threat of school districts allowing private "charter schools" to open up in their towns. Charter schools tend to hire less educated, less qualified teachers for less pay, and they're not open to unions. They follow cookie-cutter educational plans that "guarantee success" according to the CEOs of these educational corporations.

It's a well known fact that public school districts regularly receive kickbacks from these charter school corporations. But rarely is this kickback money utilized to improve the public schools' facilities or equipment or increase compensation for the teaching staff. Inner city public schools in particular have received less and less funding as more and more charter schools have sprung up. 

Sadder yet, many public schools are seen as simply "daycare services" by many private businesses. They exist simply so parents of grade school-aged children can work outside of the home. The quality of education isn't as important as keeping the kids out of their parents' hair so they can continue working many hours in low-paying jobs.

Could the influence of private corporations explain the ill treatment teachers and nurses have received recently from politicians? Politicians in the US are an example of yet another profession that also has been heavily influenced by private corporations, particularly since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has threatened public school teachers who have gone on strike because it simply isn't safe to teach in person during  this recent surge of omicron variant COVID-19. She refuses to allow them to have online learning classes, and instead is trying to force both students and teachers back into non-well-ventilated school buildings. Why is the health and safety of children and teachers not seen as important as the profits of the corporations who want their parent-employees back slaving away in warehouses, factories, retail stores, hospitals, and restaurants?

Many nurses have been working with less-than-adequate PPE and N95 masks for almost two years now. Many have become ill and some have died because of this lack of safety equipment. They have been forced to work overtime and endure long shifts, which further drains their health and puts them at risk of catching COVID. Nurses have walked out and threatened strikes nationwide because of these hazardous work conditions, although the mainstream media has conveniently not followed many of these stories. Why haven't the nurses' demands been met by management?  After all, we are in the midst of a health crisis--shouldn't all health workers' safety be paramount to profits?

And there's that word again: profits. Teachers aren't seen as educators who wish to instill the love of knowledge in their students and help children grow in wisdom. Nurses aren't seen as caregivers who wish to ease pain, cure illness, and take the best care of their patients as humanly possible. No, these professions have been downgraded to their barest of functions in order to make the most profits for their related private corporations.

Public school teachers exist to babysit the kids of the poor working classes, so that these distracted parents don't realize how much better pay they deserve for working dead end jobs where massive profits go straight into the pockets of CEOs to buy yet more yachts.

Nurses exist to push profit-generators--that is, patients--through the medical-industrial complex quickly, so that maximum amounts of money may be extracted with the least amount of time and material spent on said profit-generators.

And if these teachers and nurses should get sick on the job during this pandemic? Well, they are tossed to the side and simply replaced, right? Workers are a dime a dozen in the eyes of elitists--especially female workers, POC workers…

Is it any wonder why the aroma of a general strike is in the air?

In the following video, Lee explains the history of why capitalists feel generating profits are much more important than workers' lives. https://youtu.be/GrMp_cOyf0E  

Related Articles:   

This is NOT  Pandemic of the Unvaccinated  https://peterdaou.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-pandemic-of-the-unvaccinated  

Affordable Child Care is the Boost Our Economy Needs https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/07/affordable-child-care-is-the-boost-our-economy-needs/  

Chicago Teachers Voted to Teach Remotely Amid Omicron Wave https://popularresistance.org/chicago-teachers-voted-to-teach-remotely-amid-omicron-wave/ 

Schools Need More Resources Before They Can Open Safely Chicago Teacher Says  https://truthout.org/articles/schools-need-more-resources-before-they-can-open-safely-chicago-teacher-says/ 

Instead of More Support, Schools Have Upped Demands on Teachers During  Pandemic  https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/09/instead-of-more-support-schools-have-upped-demands-on-teachers-during-pandemic/  

Teachers Fighting For School Safety Are Not The Enemy https://therealnews.com/teachers-fighting-for-school-safety-are-not-the-enemy

US Workers Are Still Quitting Their Jobs In Record Numbers https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/labor-jolts-quits-employment-wages-unions  

Take This Job and Shove It (music video): https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI  

Nurses on COVID Frontline Speak Out (video) https://youtu.be/40WAimj8Aac

Omicron Spike Is Training Straining Hospitals As Health Care Workers Leave the Profession  https://truthout.org/video/omicron-spike-is-straining-hospitals-as-health-care-workers-leave-the-profession  

Seen on Twitter:    

The most effective thing we can do right now is support teachers & other workers who strike to oppose unsafe conditions. The most powerful thing we can do is disrupt the economy until the government enacts actual public health policy. — Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) January 6, 2022 

Going to work should not mean putting your life and the lives of your loved ones in danger.

It is time for @OSHA_DOL to issue a permanent standard and #ProtectNurses and health care workers who are on the front lines working to save the lives of others!https://t.co/6C2xlzsftt— Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) January 5, 2022

 

All teachers should just quit and let the system deal with finding babysitters elsewhere. — GodandtheBear☭ (@GodandtheBear) January 7, 2022

 

Not wanting to die at work is not “selfish.”

— Eric Stanley (@Eric_A_Stanley) January 8, 2022

Sorry to interrupt your morning but I have to tell you that 3 of my colleagues worked 16hrs last night as no nurse showed up to replace them. As you know, nurses are taught not to "abandon" patients. They had 1 code blue, no breaks, will be back for another shift tonight.

— Birgit Umaigba RN, MEd (@birgitomo) January 8, 2022

***

Last week, NNU President and RN Jean Ross told the CNN Newsroom the truth: that by weakening their Covid-19 isolation guidelines to seven days for health care workers — and even less time if there are staffing shortages — the CDC is putting thousands of lives at risk.

While the CDC now claims this change is motivated by science, nurses know it’s motivated by something else entirely: employers wanting workers back on the clock fast, regardless of whether it’s safe, to maximize their profits.

 We’ve fought since day one of this pandemic for protections for nurses and health care workers based on science and the precautionary principle, and we’re not backing down now. will you help us draw attention to this failure to protect patients, nurses, and other health care workers by joining our national day of action on January 13?

join us »

On this national day of action, nurses, other health care workers, and activists across the country will be standing up for change — and C.A., having your support at this critical moment will make a huge impact.

This move by the CDC comes as Omicron is exploding across the country, single-day records for Covid-19 cases continue to be broken, and the number of available ICU beds dwindles in hospital after hospital. What’s more, this change comes right as OSHA announced its plan to rescind hard-won emergency protections for health care workers.

Plain and simple, ​​we are dumbfounded and enraged by these actions and the very real risk they pose for nurses, other health care workers, and patients. But we refuse to go backward, and we need your help to protect nurses and patients now.

Join us in fighting for our nurses, patients, and other health care workers by signing up for our national day of action on January 13th. After signing up, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to take action.

join us »

Thanks for your support,

National Nurses United

***

Take action!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to hear from YOU about regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Every year, the oil and gas industry emits hundreds of millions of tons of methane from wells, pipelines, and storage facilities. Methane has a massive impact on global warming, around 80 times the impact of carbon dioxide in the short term. Leaking wells can also release toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and particulate matter into the air that harm people locally. That’s why it's so important that the EPA is proposing to take action to dramatically reduce methane emissions from both existing and new wells and infrastructure nationwide for the first time.   But, there will be strong opposition to the rules and efforts to water them down. The EPA needs to hear that you support the commonsense regulations proposed which are essential to protecting the planet and our own health.

Take action against methane pollution

For a greener world,

Todd Larsen Executive Co-Director for Consumer & Corporate Engagement Green America

***

In December, not long after workers in Buffalo, New York successfully organized the first Starbucks union, we reported on what happened to Brittany Harrison, a Starbucks store manager in Arizona. Starbucks fired Brittany Harrison after she exposed the company’s union-busting plans. Now Brittany’s store in Mesa, Arizona is following in Buffalo’s footsteps and unionizing in response to Starbucks' behavior. They’re facing Starbucks' extreme anti-union tactics at their own store. As these courageous Starbucks workers fight to become the next unionized Starbucks store in the U.S., the More Perfect Union media team is there to cover it and expose Starbucks management for not living up to the values they advertise. Help stand in solidarity with workers by watching and sharing our reporting now! WATCH, SUBSCRIBE & SHARE Starbucks has pulled out all the stops to try and kill workers’ attempts to form a union. Intimidation tactics such as flooding the floor with managers who, in the words of one worker, are “trying to figure out ways that they can fire us.” Managers eavesdrop on conversations. They hold special meetings, splitting workers up, and providing free pizza -- then telling them they “have to vote no” on forming a union. The biggest anti-union move of all was to fire Brittany Harrison while she’s battling cancer after more than 4 years working her way up to managing her own store, because she released a video exposing an anti-union meeting led by Starbucks HQ. Silence is not solidarity. That’s why we need your help today. Check out More Perfect Union’s exclusive report, then subscribe to our channel and help boost our reach by sharing to your social networks today. Thank you for working to build a More Perfect Union. In solidarity, -Faiz Faiz Shakir, Co-Founder More Perfect Union

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