[HN Gopher] War Is a Racket (1933)
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War Is a Racket (1933)
Author : johnny313
Score : 55 points
Date : 2022-01-29 18:11 UTC (4 hours ago)
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(TXT) w3m dump (man.fas.org)
| vgb2k18 wrote:
| Jocko Podcast with the author is a great listen.
| https://jockopodcast.com/2021/09/22/300-war-is-a-racket/
| jrumbut wrote:
| The author died in 1940, is this podcast an old recording or is
| it about a different author?
| agumonkey wrote:
| I wonder how famous is this piece. It's often reposted but do
| higher-ups think the same ?
| teluride5 wrote:
| This talk from 1933 aged poorly. America's initial lack of
| intervention in WW2 resulted in Pearl Harbor and German conquest
| of most of Europe. Smedley Butler can stay forgotten as a
| footnote in the dusty annals of history.
| it_does_follow wrote:
| Except that this description of war seems to paint every US
| military intervention post WWII extremely well.
|
| There's also no point in positing counter-factual scenarios
| regarding WWII. If you want to imagine a world where the US
| rushed in and "saved" Europe early and prevents Pearl Harbor,
| you also have to imagine a world where US domestic support for
| Germany ultimately wins out and we end up supporting them.
| causality0 wrote:
| _America 's initial lack of intervention in WW2 resulted in
| Pearl Harbor and German conquest of most of Europe_
|
| Europe's refusal to follow Wilson's Fourteen Points plan and
| instead punish Germany as hard as possible is what created WW2
| in the first place. Exactly how many of Europe's messes was the
| US supposed to help clean up before saying "No more"?
|
| _Smedley Butler can stay forgotten as a footnote in the dusty
| annals of history._
|
| The legacy of the most decorated marine in history will live on
| longer than yours or mine.
| sorokod wrote:
| Do check out the author, major general Smedley Butler USMC
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
| DicIfTEx wrote:
| The _Intercept_ recently published a podcast featuring an
| interview with Jonathan M. Katz, author of a recent book on
| Butler: https://theintercept.com/2022/01/22/deconstructed-
| haiti-smed...
|
| Fascinating guy.
| drekipus wrote:
| This guy is amazing and it really speaks of the troubles of
| war.
|
| >The flag follows the dollar, the soldiers follow the flag.
|
| I find this "business plot"[0] to be fascinating as well.
|
| >Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler asserted
| that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist
| veterans' organization with Butler as its leader and use it in
| a coup d'etat to overthrow Roosevelt.
|
| >Early in the committee's gathering of testimony most major
| news media dismissed the plot, with a New York Times editorial
| falsely characterizing it as a "gigantic hoax".
|
| [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot
| kerneloftruth wrote:
| Succinct and timely as we watch the US media and political class
| breathlessly try to rally us all to go to war with Russia. Even
| the Ukrainians aren't as eager and worked-up; NATO, in fact, has
| not stood up any forces so far. It's insane.
| adventured wrote:
| Where is major media in the US commonly arguing in favor of a
| US war with Russia? They're certainly talking about Russia re
| Ukraine frequently.
|
| I've seen a lot of the headlines spilling out of NY Times,
| WaPo, Fox, MSNBC, et al. and they're not arguing in favor of
| the US going to war with Russia. That's a very rare argument.
|
| Almost exclusively the arguments are about how to respond after
| Russia invades Ukraine, in terms of the severity of sanctions.
| As well as if the US should be (or can) doing anything right
| now to dissuade Russia from invading.
|
| I'm also seeing no common arguments in the US media in favor of
| a NATO war with Russia more broadly.
|
| Go look at the home pages for CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS,
| NBC, Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times. Where are all the
| arguments in favor of war with Russia? All I'm seeing is a lot
| of discussion about the context of Russia being on Ukraine's
| border and the odds they'll invade or not, and what non-war
| response will be appropriate afterward (including eg moving
| more US forces into other eastern NATO nations as support to
| the security of those nations).
| fguerraz wrote:
| It's all about making the war seem unavoidable. Building a
| common frame of reference that will then be played by media
| and politics to position the US on the "right side".
|
| Do the US media talk about how the US (via NATO) is, and has
| been for years, provoking Russia?
|
| If you find the above outrageous, then the media has done a
| fine job, and the country is ready to go to war. No need to
| explicitly argue in favour of it.
| emptysongglass wrote:
| I would like to see the Ukrainians be able to determine
| their own fate: without war. All the numbers say the
| Ukrainians, by vast majority want their country for
| themselves, unmolested.
|
| What I hear from Western media is deep worry for the fates
| of these people who have become friends of the EU bloc. I
| work with Ukrainians daily. I am deeply worried they will
| be crushed beneath the tank treads of an authoritarian
| dictatorship. No one should have to suffer that fate. May
| they be free, happy and peaceful.
| watwut wrote:
| It would be unfortunate for Ukraina to become next
| Afghanistan or Iraq too.
| jjj123 wrote:
| A couple nights ago I was watching some blowhard host on CNN
| describe going to war with Russia as "defending democracy"
| which is something we do "because we're the good guys."
| slibhb wrote:
| It's hard to sort it out. I've read stories in American media
| that describe a Russian troop build-up and make an invasion
| seem inevitable ("they wouldn't expend these resources to
| mobilize this many soldiers without plans to invade"). I've
| also read stories that claim the Russians only have ~10,000
| troops at the border, not nearly enough for an invasion, and
| that the amount hasn't actually changed.
|
| The Ukranians seem to be downplaying the risk of invasion.
| Whether or not the US media wants a war, it may be the case
| that they've overestimated the likelihood of an invasion.
| dang wrote:
| Past related threads:
|
| _War Is a Racket (1933)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22012255 - Jan 2020 (181
| comments)
|
| _War Is a Racket (1935)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19772136 - April 2019 (1
| comment)
|
| _War Is a Racket by General Smedley D. Butler (1933)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13068641 - Nov 2016 (152
| comments)
|
| _War Is a Racket (1935)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11236553 - March 2016 (167
| comments)
|
| _War Is A Racket, Major General Smedley Butler (1935)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897856 - Nov 2010 (3
| comments)
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