Worldview  Bas Feijen
System
Militarism
Military-industrial complex
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr. - Speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, 2007 + video
The purpose of the military is to start wars and change governments, it's not to deter conflict. We're gonna invade countries...
Global Issues - Military Expansion Serving Economic Objectives
As globalization continues to take effect, large powers will often use the military to back up their globalization goals to maximize the benefits that can be obtained from it.
Militarism is used by the power elite to defend or promote national interests. War means business to the power elite. The Anglo-American Empire is the most militarized empire ever. The purpose of militarism is war and regime change related to geopolitics and financial dominance. It's about globalization.
Nick Turse - America's Elite Forces Deploy to a Record-Shattering 147 Countries in 2015
In 2015, according to Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw, U.S. Special Operations forces deployed to a record-shattering 147 countries — 75% of the nations on the planet, which represents a jump of 145% since the waning days of the Bush administration. On any day of the year, in fact, America's most elite troops can be found in 70 to 90 nations.
Zoltán Grossman - War and New US Military Bases
Since 1990, each large-scale U.S. intervention has left behind a string of new U.S. military bases in a region where the U.S. had never before had a foothold. The U.S. military is inserting itself into strategic areas of the world, and anchoring U.S. geopolitical influence in these areas, at a very critical time in history. It has been projecting that military dominance into new strategic regions as a future counterweight to its economic competitors, to create a military-backed "dollar bloc" as a wedge geographically situated between its major competitors (Euro, Yen)... The goal is not to end "terror" or encourage "democracy," and Bush will not accomplish either of these claimed goals. The short-term goal is to station U.S. military forces in regions where local nationalists had evicted them. The long-term goal is to increase U.S. corporate control over the oil needed by Europe and East Asia.
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Vox - Why does the US have 800 military bases around the world?
The military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world. See also Richard Johnson: U.S. military bases around the world. Since World War II the United States has intentionally expanded its military bases around the world in an attempt to control it. It's part of globalization.
SIPRI - Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2013
The 15 countries with the highest military expenditure in 2013: United States, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, United Kingdom, Germany...
Dwight D. Eisenhower - Military-Industrial Complex Speech (1961)
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Eisenhower's warning was justified, but it did not change anything for the better. The military-industrial complex is big business. The military-industrial-media complex is used for spreading war propaganda in favor of the warmongers who are in control of the military-industrial complex. We live in a capitalist world in which the real motto's are "profit over people" and "warfare over wellfare".
Antony C. Sutton - The Best Enemy Money Can Buy
Peaceful trade is a myth.
Anders Akerman, Anna Larsson Seim - The Global Arms Trade Network 1950-2007
The arms trade is surrounded by great controversy. The nature of arms and the possibility to hold governments accountable for irresponsible trades makes the issue politically charged. In recent years, the propensity of many democratic governments to sell arms to autocracies and human-rights violators has stirred great public discontent.
Vashek Cervinka - Peace is the Enemy of the US Military Industrial Complex
The fact that military activities may become a profitable enterprise leads to the realization that peace is the main enemy of the military-industrial complex. A simple metaphor can illustrate this problem. Grape growers, the wine industry and wine marketers would be completely out of business if people stopped drinking wine. In a similar way, the military-industrial complex would be put out of business by lasting peaceful conditions because the development, production, marketing and use of military equipment would be not needed.
The powerful military-industrial complex is an enemy of peace. In fact, it is in its interest to have enemies.
More links...
Andrew J. Bacevich - The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
Mark Mazzetti - The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth
H. C. Engelbrecht, F. C. Hanighen - Merchants of Death: A Study of the International Armament Industry
Andrew Feinstein - The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade
Stuart D. Brandes - Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America
Joel Andreas - Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism
P.W. Singer - Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry
Barry Sanders - The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism
Robert Young Pelton - Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror
David L. Robb - Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies
Global Issues - Arms Trade, a major cause of suffering
Taxpayers for Common Sense - Weapons Welfare Uncovered
Carecon - Jurgen Brauer: The Arms Industry in Developing Nations
William D. Hartung - Profits of War: The Fruits of the Permanent Military-Industrial Complex
Newsweek - Merchants of Death
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
System
Worldview  Bas Feijen