There is far too much to say about this—and people will. Everybody and his brother will have a special theory about WHY NOW and WHAT IT REALLY MEANS and WHAT IT’S A DISTRACTION FROM and WHO IS ACTUALLY BEHIND IT and the blizzard of commentary will come from the political left, right, and center.Right now, I have this to say.This war could spiral into something much bigger, and fast. Involving many more people and other countries. The EXTREME dangers are obvious.And major corporations are going to war, for “causes and ideals” but most importantly for profit, because multiple money-making war machines are humming.Corporate entities are “doing battle,” and they’re all getting richer during the horror and the slaughter.War-machine government/corporations do battle to protect other corporations as well.As Major General Smedley Butler wrote, 90 years ago, WAR IS A RACKET.Butler, the most decorated Marine in history, four years after his retirement from military service, wrote:War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country’s most agile military force—the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for [crony] capitalism…Thus I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in…I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916…During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents. No matter what people write, no matter what people say, keep this in mind as we move forward.— Jon Rappoport |
