The Return of the Military-Industrial Complex


The Washington Post and POLITICO.com are among the foremost albeit generic Democrat propaganda outlets.

During the Trump Presidency, both organizations breathlessly and relentlessly  amplified the Trump-Russia hoax, while comparing President Trump to authoritarians and fascists or claiming he had ‘design taste of dictators

Despite Biden occupying the White House, they still cover “never-issued Trump order that would have seized voting machines” and claim the legal walls are closing in around Trump.

However, in recent times, both outlets are focused on a potential armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

POLITICO.com has articles with headlines such as “Should the U.S. rattle Putin’s cage?” and ‘Psaki: ‘Russia could at any point launch an attack in Ukraine.’’ 

POLITICO.com is accessible to all without a subscription. POLITICO's newspaper is available for free in Washington. 

So who pays for employee salaries, the infrastructure, and maintenance?

They have web adverts, but is there any other source of funding?

Most of the articles on POLITICO.com that were justifying war with Russia have something distinctive that was noticed by Tucker Carlson.

Between the main body of the article and the author's name is the caption “Presented by Lockheed Martin”.

Who is Lockheed Martin?

It is an arms and defense corporation based in the US.

This is adept wordsmithing, they know that ‘Sponsored by Lockheed Martin’ or ‘Paid by Lockheed Martin’ is too blatant, they do not want to boast about their paid promotional activities. Hence they keep it vague with the word ‘Presented’.

Next to the article is a web advert, clicking on which leads you to the official website for F-35. F-35 are Lockheed Martin’s stealth combat aircraft.

POLITICO.com may be biased but it must be commended for fully disclosing its ties with Lockheed Martin. 

Not every outlet is upfront about its conflict of interest.

The Post carried an article with the headline “Biden must show that the U.S. stands ready to support Ukraine, militarily if necessary

The article laments the US’s failure “to deter Russia across four administrations, beginning with its invasion of Georgia in 2008, its seizure of Crimea and the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in 2014, its intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2015”

It also cites the disproved  “(Russian) interference in the U.S. presidential elections in 2016 and 2020”.

It ends with “If Putin succeeds in conquering Ukraine and the United States does not respond forcefully, the Biden presidency will surely be limited to one term.”

In other words, guarding the Ukraine-Russia border ranks high in the minds of US voters.

The piece was authored by Michael G. Vickers, whom the Washington Post describes as “a former Special Forces officer and CIA operations officer, served as assistant secretary of defense for special operations, low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities (2007-2011) and undersecretary of defense for intelligence (2011-2015).”

You would think that Vickers opted for retirement after 2015. That is not the case. In December 2015, Vickers was appointed to the board of BAE Systems, Inc.

BAE Systems is multinational arms and security firm. It is the largest defense contractor in Europe and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on 2021 revenues.

However unlike, POLITICO.com. the Washington Post didn’t care to disclose Vickers’s links to an arms manufacturer.

We hence have articles appearing in different publications pushing for armed conflict where the ‘presenters’ and authors stand to profit from the war.

Perhaps a thorough background verification may cause the discovery of similar links among politicians, defense experts, and columnists who are sowing seeds for war.

The warmongers are relying on the lack of curiosity on the part of casual news consumers to push their propaganda. Even if their ties are discovered, they think the public can do nothing to deter them.

But war with Russia is different.

Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria were third-world countries with no retaliatory capabilities, US armed forces were able to prevail upon them in a matter of weeks.

Russia is a different proposition, they have a strong military and arms capability which they will be justified in using if they sense a threat to their existence. They are armed with nuclear weapons.

Should the protection of the Russia-Ukraine border be such a high priority for the US when the US  is suffering under Biden?

Inflation is at a 39 year high, the supply chain crisis is causing a shortage of basic commodities, there is a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and deaths, there is a crime wave and finally, the open borders are causing an influx of illegal aliens.

Also, a war at such a juncture will add to the inflation,  hurt an already fragile economy.

An armed conflict will lead to losses of lives of armed personnel and civilians living in nearby areas. Matters could be considerably worse if there is a global conflict.

It has to be remembered that Biden empowered Russia by shutting the Keystone Pipeline and waiving off sanctions on Nord Stream, Russia’s state-owned energy company subsidiary. This has increased European dependence on Russian gas. Hence either war or even sanctions on Russian gas could skyrocket global gas prices

The Kremlin has said he wants to avoid raising tensions over Ukraine. There have been talks between the US and Russian officials.

But the warmongers seem unphased. They stand to profiteer in order of billions of dollars should there be a conflict.

We are thus reminded of President Eisenhower’s final address to the nation when he issued the following stark warning 

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” he warned. “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”

Those were the early 1960s.

We now have a Media-Military-Industrial complex, that has a global presence.

This is an unholy alliance of the myriad branches of worldwide government, arms dealers, mercenaries, and the news media. This coalition profiteers from wars, hence they persuade governments to enter into wars and then to protract the conflicts in perpetuity.

President Trump wisely refused to enter into optional conflicts hence these warmongers are ravenous for some fresh action. They are hoping to deceive clueless Biden into the conflict.

The Democrats and their media allies probably think that a war will serve as a distraction from their abominable record for misgovernance.

So what can you do about this?

Do not think you are powerless.

Call your representative and Senator to make it loud and clear that you are vehemently against this war.

Emphasize that you will vote them out or have them primary if they justify or approve or vote a war.

This insanity has to stop!

 

 This article also appears on American Thinker

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