War, Not Peace

Here is a discussion of some of the idiotic things we wasted money on in Afghanistan:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/asia/us-afghanistan-spending-waste-intl-cmd/index.html

Frankly, if this is how we engage with the world it explains why many people really don't want us in their countries.

And speaking of waste, what's up with all these military bases?

750 Bases in 80 Countries Is Too Many for Any Nation: Time for the US To Bring Its Troops Home

A new Quincy Institute study by American University’s David Vine and World Beyond War’s Patterson Deppen and Leah Bolger details the global US military presence. Washington has nearly three times as many bases as embassies and consulates. America also has three times as many installations as all other countries combined. The United Kingdom has 145. Russia two to three dozen. China five. Although the number of US facilities has fallen in half since the end of the Cold War, the number of nations hosting American bases has doubled. Washington is as willing to station forces in undemocratic as democratic countries.

The study figures the annual cost of this expansive base structure to be about $55 billion. Adding increased personnel expenses takes the total up to $80 billion. Wealthier countries, which needlessly enjoy what amounts to defense welfare, typically cover a portion of the cost through "host nation support." Not so Washington’s newest clients. Indeed, through the Global War on Terror over the last two decades the US military spent as much as $100 billion on new construction, mostly in countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan, which were financial black holes.

Source - https://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2021/10/03/750-bases-in-80-countries-is-too-many-for-any-nation-time-for-the-us-to-bring-its-troops-home/

These bases and associated expenditures benefit the few at the expense of the many. They have little to do with establishing freedom and justice anywhere in the world, and much to do with strongarming the locals into doing business with Uncle Sam under unfavorable terms. As MG Smedley Butler put it:

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."

SECDEF Austin and General Milley belong to the same class of gangsters. And they now appear to have joined the racketeers who are forcing us to take experimental "vaccines" and to be reeducated with bizarre ideas of CRT and other Woke nonsense. All their bases and programs are designed to bring us chaos and war, not peace and stability.

Any respect we once had for them was unwarranted, and any money we continue to give them to throw away on military and social justice nonsense will be a complete waste.