While the antics of the new god-king are likely to be less openly clownish than those of the deposed one, all of the other problems…will remain. – “War Party”
Twice every year, I remind my readers that the best way to actually honor deceased veterans is to stop making so damned many of them. But in the US, that is a forlorn hope, and as I predicted a year ago today the newest US Emperor is just as dedicated to murdering children as his predecessors. When I first started this blog, for the first few years I used this day to tell the stories of whores in wartime, including Mata Hari, the women of Nazi-occupied Paris, and the whores who cared for wounded soldiers during the seige of Dien Bien Phu. But after that I began to turn toward commentary on warfare in general, or rather the modern business of warfare that has put US “defense contractors” among the wealthiest corporations in history and has helped to create the modern fascist system embraced by the majority of advanced 21st century nation-states. And so, as I have this year for the other occasions I usually recognize with essays, I wish to share selections from previous essays.
The world’s one remaining empire is engaged in…many endless, pointless wars whose costs would have staggered the Rothschilds, whose lack of clear imperial goals would have confused a Caesar or a Napoleon, and whose sheer, mindless carnage would have nauseated the Spartans. – “War Without End”
The ideas that humans could ever become sated with bloodshed, or that all violence springs from some evil “other” which need only be defeated to bring lasting peace to the world, are still popular among soft-headed naifs to this very day; they are close kin to the childish belief that the “right” people can be trusted with power over others. – “To End All Wars”
Obviously murdered kids are happier when taking the last ferry ride if they were shipped down to the Styx by order of a woman; this is what extremely stupid people call “feminism”. – “The Resistance”
The American use of the day to honor veterans both living and dead, whether they participated in a war or not, actually subverts the original intent of a day to honor those whose lives were senselessly lost in the greatest sustained campaign of carnage the world had to that point ever seen. – “Armistice Day”
Up until a century ago, nobody pretended to be surprised by [soldiers’ need for sex] or subscribed to the ridiculous delusion that it could or should be prevented somehow. – “Camp Followers”
While [wars are] going on, politics takes a back seat to reality and the necessity of dealing with the sexual energy of fighting men can no longer be subordinated to the bluenosed sensibilities of repressed civilians. – “Remembrance”
