"The Military/Industrial/Spook/Media Complex"
The industry behind the empire's forever wars
and the profiteers making a fortune...
by Bill Bonner
"Is it really necessary to attack Kursk, and indeed in the east this year at all? Do you think anyone even knows where Kursk is? The entire world doesn't care if we capture Kursk or not. What is the reason that is forcing us to attack this year on Kursk, or even more, on the Eastern Front?"
~ General Heinz Guderian
Youghal, Ireland - "Military leaders are often blockheads. Civilian leaders are too. And when they get together what follows is rarely welcome. The military-industrial complex calls the shots; they are often fatal.
The US approaches what promises to be the most widely anticipated and most easily avoided crisis of its history. It owes $34 trillion. Soon – given current forecasts – the debt will grow to $40 trillion…and then to $50 trillion. No nation has ever survived such a huge debt load – not without bankruptcy, depression, serious inflation, revolution or war…sometimes all of them. What follows, we believe, is why the US will be no exception.
Consensual Rules: Heinz Guderian was no fool. It was he who invented the Blitzkrieg…the use of tanks without infantry support to disrupt the enemies’ communications and create panic among their troops.
He was born in what is now known as Chelmno, Poland. But it was Prussian territory when he came into the world. And the Prussians had conquered it centuries before. Tough. Clever. They were the backbone of the Wehrmacht officer class. They were also the ones who had the most to lose in Hitler’s war against the Soviets. Their homeland was in the East, where it was most vulnerable to the Soviet Union.
Guderian’s family lost its home when Poland regained control of the area after WWI. Then, in 1939, Guderian took command of the XIX Army corp, spearheaded a drive into Poland, and ‘liberated’ his childhood home.
Ever since the rise of civilized societies, a major problem has been how to keep people like Heinz Guderian under control. By definition (ours) civilized societies prefer to settle their affairs without violence. They rely on “consensual rules,’ not brute force. People agree on what laws and regulations they will follow. They drive on the right…or the left… Women are allowed to appear in public without a headscarf – or not. They vote for their leaders – or not. Etc.
Armies are meant to project violence…not civilization. They are the muscle of the State…expected to kill or be killed in order to promote the government’s agenda. But in the modern world, their tendencies towards murder and mayhem are supposed to be held in check by civilian command.
Unconditional Surrender: That’s what didn’t happen in Nazi Germany. Military and civilian power came together in the person of Adolf Hitler, who donned a field-gray uniform in September, 1939. So it was that General Heinz Guderian found himself subordinate to the former corporal, now Fuhrer.
In 1943, Hitler was insisting that his tanks attack the Soviets at Kursk. Guderian opposed the campaign. After months of preparation and hesitation there was little hope of success. The Soviets already had the Germans’ battle plans and had already prepared for them. The Soviets’ could merely let the Germans exhaust themselves against their defenses, and then, with more tanks and more men than the Wehrmacht could put into the field, they would counterattack. And that’s what happened.
By then, the Nazis were losing the war. The Allies were advancing through Sicily…and Italy was wobbling, preparing to hang Mussolini from a light post and welcome the invading US troops. The only real questions were when and how the end came.
Hitler was clearly an impediment to any decent solution…not only with his amateurish military commands; he also stood in the way of a negotiated settlement. In January of 1943, FDR announced that the allies would only accept an ‘unconditional surrender.” Still, had Germany gotten rid of the Fuhrer, brought its troops back to Germany and promised never again to go on the warpath, it might have been possible to avoid total surrender and occupation.
Emperors, kings, and parliaments always struggled to keep their fighting men in line. They were expensive to keep in the field. And dangerous to keep too close to home. A powerful general might lead a coup d’etat against the civil authorities. That’s why Caesar was not supposed to come to Rome at the head of his army; the troops were meant to stay on the other side of the Rubicon river. Caesar was popular with his troops. But even he had to face a mutiny, which he dealt with smoothly.
Unwarranted Influence: After William the Conqueror had taken control of most of England, he went back to Normandy, leaving his new kingdom with trusted subordinates. Alas, the army went wild – raping, pillaging, looting across much of the South of England. William returned to put them in order, but by then the English were so enraged that they rebelled…leading to further costly war.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527 was perhaps a less able commander; his troops went wild. It didn’t help that he neglected to pay them. They attacked Rome, looting, kidnapping, killing. Pope Clement VII escaped to the Castel Sant’Angelo. He survived by paying a ransom to the mutinous troops. But his Swiss Guard were annihilated.
What enables a civilian government to control its military? Money. Real money. Governments typically control the tax revenue…and use it to keep their fighting men on a short leash. But when the US switched to a ‘fake’ money – which it could create in seemingly boundless quantities – it also let loose the dogs of war. Pentagon budgets increased…even after 1991, when the Soviet Union disbanded. This left the military-industrial complex with billions in ‘excess’ funds, which they used to suborn Congress and corral the media, think tanks and universities.
Eisenhower was not merely spreading a ‘conspiracy theory’ when he warned that the firepower industry might soon exert an ’unwarranted influence’ on the civilian government; he was merely observing a trend. Powerful groups want more power. And unless they are constrained, they will get it.
Real money used to limit government spending – including the number one rat hole money goes down, the firepower industry. After 1971, Congress – richly lobbied by military suppliers – voted for one increase after another. Politicians tried to out-do each other by being ‘strong on defense.’ And today, it’s not the civilian leaders who hold their gunmen in check, it’s the military/industrial/spook/media complex that prevents the feds from heading off the coming catastrophe."
o
Full screen recommended.
Al Stewart, "Roads To Moscow"
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