On Monday, September 6, 2021, 10:25:44 a.m. CDT, Antonio Menezes
wrote:
There has been a hue and cry in certain political quarters
that US has simply left Afghanistan revert to backwoodsmen
called Taliban and further that there could not be , in future,
any further trust in American policies.
Of course, the US has wisely left after fighting for twenty years
the fiercely independent Pashtun tribesmen who also happen
to have taught lesson to the British in the 19th century and to
the Soviet Union in the 20th.
The US cannot afford to act like any old West European colonial
power for the simple reason it is slowly ceasing to be demographically
a WASP country, that is the majority of its population is White,
Anglo Saxon Protestant originally from North Western Europe.
Today it is slowly turning into a brown country with increasing
population of Latinos (from Mexico and Central America ),
Black population, other non-wasp people of Europe not to speak
Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese , Indians etc.,
The US armed forces though a very sophisticated and technologically
efficient war machine now consist of soldiers not only from WASP
community but increasingly from other non-Wasp communities
It is the latter element in the armed forces that has no stomach for
long imperialist wars.
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AM,US interest in the rest of the world is dictated by "influencers" whose only
motive is to take a situation and make money from it. The US, or for that
matter no other country, interfered when Rwanda went on a murder spree. On the
the hand, when Osama attacked NYC, the US invaded Iraq.
US armed forces now operate remotely. I know people here in Texas who search
for and then use drones to kill anyone in Afghanistan who are out at night. The
operators of the drones make the judgement everyday, kill a few Afghans and
return home for dinner. Osama was killed 10 years ago and after that, the US
wasted the lives of its youth there.
The US armed forces accepts non citizens and even those without documentation.
Most are from poor backgrounds and are overwhelmingly Republican voters. Armed
forces recruiters are active at high schools and even accept dropouts. There is
little or no colour discrimination on recruitment.
As for those working for the military, I scratch my head why anyone would
volunteer to join as the pay is low. Google any US base and you will see shops
for used clothes, etc. In San Antonio, food banks make deliveries to families
on bases every week. For veterans, the story gets worse. A lot of them sleep
under bridges and I volunteer for one organization that tries to help them.
According to the US govt, veterans commit suicided at the rate of one per hour.
Once again, US military adventures are profit oriented and not based on
imperialism.
Mervyn
