American Greatness:
By Jim Nelles
I am a former naval officer and I have always believed that the United States should never hesitate to flex its military muscle around the globe in pursuit of our national interests. I was, in fact, a war hawk.
The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan made me question my reflexive hawkishness. The United States’ support of Ukraine in its struggle with Russia further drove me to question our nation’s foreign policy. Why, for example, are we spending billions of dollars to help Ukraine defend its borders when we do not protect our own?
Ukraine has been invaded and occupied since antiquity. Its borders have continuously changed and its occupiers have influenced its culture for thousands of years. In fact, the shared heritage between Russia and Ukraine “goes back more than a thousand years to a time with Kyiv, now Ukraine’s capital, was at the center of the first Slavic state, Kyivan Rus, the birthplace of both Ukraine and Russia,” per National Geographic. MORE
My how the worm has turned. The hippies of the 60’s who didn’t trust “the Man” an wanted to make love, not war, now ARE “the Man” and want to make war – or more specifically, the profit, wealth and power that war can facilitate.
EXACTLY! I’ve been wondering where all the peaceniks went… And why all the ‘back to the land’ people are just country folks who are already on the land.
Seems to me we are at a late 1960’s redux on steroids and quarter past time for some hippies to protest the war, go natural, tune out the media, start communes, grow veggies, etc.
Or, as John Prine put it so well:
Blow up your TV
Throw away your paper
Go to the country
Build you a home
Plant a little garden
Eat a lot of peaches
Try an’ find Jesus on your own.
stirrin the pot
MARCH 15, 2023 AT 1:27 PM
“The hippies of the 60’s who didn’t trust “the Man” an wanted to make love, not war, now ARE “the Man” and want to make war”
…sure, now that it’s not THEIR asses on the line and they can send the children of people they HATE to die instead and fluff their OWN power and wealth while doing it…It’s really not inconsistent, it was all about THEM when they were draft dodging, and its all about THEM now when Zelenskyy executes people for doing what THEY did.
Where’s Code Pink?
The late Ron Silver, then a rabid leftist, attending the first Clinton inauguration, when the air force performed a fly-over, remarked “those are OUR planes now.”
It’s just as simple as that.
@SNS March 15, 2023 at 1:32 pm –
YEP!!
“those are OUR planes now.”
This does not explain the exuberance in warmongering on the right.
Over the last few months, I’ve been flummoxed at the cadre of right-leaning pundits going on FoxNews, guys I always thought had their shit together and spoke for me, consistently beating the drums in Ukraine, wanting to give them everything (F-16’s, long-range missiles) in order to “win”. Yes, they use the word “win”, are you kidding me?
Ukraine is now the litmus test for true conservatism. It used to be civil liberties, gun rights, and border security, now it’s Ukraine. If you are using the word “win” in any fashion and say dopey things like,” Whatever it takes as long as it takes”, then you are a pretender. No, worse, you are a malevolent deceiver who should be identified and shunned.
@ Rich – “those are OUR planes now.”
“This does not explain the exuberance in warmongering on the right.”
Sure it does. Those planes represent political contributions and the power and wealth that come with them.
The establishment RINO’s are just as enamored with personal wealth, power and control as the democrat left are.
@stirrin
“establishment RINO’s” are NOT on the right, at least not by any measurable verifiable definition I ever used. And fealty to The Military Industrial Complex is their biggest tell.
@Rich – I see your distinction and I admit to posting before closely reading your comment. But none-the-less those “on the right” who warmonger have one of two (or both) motivations. They are either useful idiots, or have something to personally gain by doing so.
And you need to look at is the fact that the left embraces another senseless war. Why would you be part of that as an American loving conservative?
Left + War = $$$$
After 9/11 I was a hawk too. It took me a while but I became disillusioned with the neo-cons. And now that the left is the same I’ve completely gone beyond the looking glass.
The United States is completely to blame for the war in Ukraine. In fact, since the fall of the Soviet Union we have been responsible for most of the military violence in the world. We are the new colonialism, have been since WW2.
NATO is no longer for defense. it’s a political arm of whoever happens to be President. Shame on me for not seeing this sooner.
p.s.
I’m a little too young to be a hippie. Some of your music was cool. But besides that you boomers ruined just about everything else. Heh heh.
“you boomers ruined just about everything”
I hear that a lot, not sure where it came from or how it started.
I’m a young boomer but at least we knew what a woman was. Yes, our music was the best but we were also smart enough to keep our women in line. We worked hard, created wealth, and paid enough taxes to fund all the stupid wars we found ourselves in. We did not blow out the debt, knew the war on drugs was misguided, respected the rights of speech, religion, and gun ownership, and we did not give any oxygen to commie sympathizers or race hustlers.
Free love
Feminism
Drugs
New age education
Abortion
No-fault divorce
The Jesus Revolution (apostasy)
Homosexual appeasment
Other than that, great job.
Jason, you’re right about that list. We didn’t do it but we let it happen.
We just wanted to be left alone. We didn’t raise a stink when we could have shut them down.
Now we are suffering for our negligence. I pray every day that God will give us another chance to make it right and turn back to him. He did it many times for Israel, I pray he gives us the same chance.
Well, I was kinda on board with the free love thing, but I’m a slut.
“Behold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.”
(Ezekiel 21:3)
When God is pissed the outlook is bleak.
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
Worthless money
Gun confiscation
National debt with too many zeros to count
An all-out war on heterosexual white men
75 (and counting) genders
Kids not getting educated in school but indoctrinated
Anxiety, depression, and suicide at an all-time high
Illegal aliens getting driver’s licenses and voting privileges
A generation of entitled brats who will do the bare minimum
Yeah, I’d say you guys got it all together.
Hey I’m Gen X man. All in fun, Rich. I always read your posts. I appreciate your intelligent comments.