Operation Flailing Nation

Discussion in 'Warfare / Military' started by Striped Horse, Apr 23, 2018.

  1. Striped Horse

    Striped Horse Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    An article by Maj. Danny Sjursen, a US Army Strategist and former history instructor at West Point.

    Should the US military operation in Libya have really been called Operation Unified Protector? Major Danny thinks not. He favours the operation being renamed Operation Sh*t Show, drawing on Obama's description of the mission in that nation.

    Likewise he renames Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) as Everlasting Quagmire and Restoring Hope (Yemen) as Operation oral Repugnance. The Major, in fact, takes a shot at the entirety of recent US military operations and destroys the fatuous names chosen by senior PR officers to turn what are terrible and usually illegal wars into cuddly, warm-feeling Mickey Mouse names that are palatable to a public that views aggressive overseas wars as unimportant (providing there are no boots on the ground anymore).

    Bravo! Maj. Sjursen --- you're my sort of guy - man who tells it like it is and who refuses to pander to neoliberal self serving PR hypocrisy.

    But there's a serious bite at the end of the article...

    https://original.antiwar.com/Danny_Sjursen/2018/04/19/operation-flailing-empire/
     
    Junkieturtle, Bowerbird and Eleuthera like this.
  2. Tim15856

    Tim15856 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2016
    Messages:
    7,792
    Likes Received:
    4,229
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Politicians often use names that are just the opposite of what they are pushing. Affordable care act, Patriot act, etc
     
    ArmySoldier and Eleuthera like this.
  3. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2015
    Messages:
    25,530
    Likes Received:
    5,363
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Wow, some critique? But will the White House, CIA, and the Pentagon get it? Not a chance - they're too megalomaniacal and pathologically arrogant. And as if that isn't bad enough, they're totally lacking in nous as well.

    nous
    naʊs/
    noun
    1. 1.
      BRITISHinformal
      common sense; practical intelligence
     
    Striped Horse likes this.
  4. Striped Horse

    Striped Horse Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    No, they won't get it. Because they don't want to hear the truth. War has to be made palatable to the American people so the lies and propaganda will continue to fill the toilet.
     
  5. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2015
    Messages:
    25,530
    Likes Received:
    5,363
    Trophy Points:
    113
    But I detect a glimmer of hope, SH - the intelligent posters on this forum are more and more beginning to question and challenge topical issues, such as the Skripal 'poisoning' and the Russia hacking lies, and I find it reassuring that the 'Harrison Bergeron'** syndrome seems to be on the decline.

    ** The film takes place in a dystopian future in which the US government mandates total egalitarianism in all things, by having most people (those with extreme intelligence) attach wearable mind "handicapping" devices to their heads and showing only mind numbing shows on TV."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron_(film)

    I wish it would catch on here too?? lol
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2018
    Eleuthera likes this.
  6. Eleuthera

    Eleuthera Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2015
    Messages:
    22,694
    Likes Received:
    11,760
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Danny Sjursen is a brave man of conscience, rather like 1LT Ehren Watada.

    Speaking truth to power is a good thing to behold.
     
    Striped Horse likes this.
  7. Striped Horse

    Striped Horse Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I agree that more and more people are waking up to reality, thanks to social media and growing distrust and disgust with the media, who no longer report and analyse on a balanced basis, but who actively engage in all too obvious propaganda.

    The neoliberals are, for me, fighting the last great battle of survival, but are losing to a better informed public. I think they're finished, and their hysteria over affairs like the Skripal poisoning and the non-existent gas attack in Douma, simply reinforce this perception. They're gambling and losing.
     
  8. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2015
    Messages:
    25,530
    Likes Received:
    5,363
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Think elevation, scarlet and ermine, gongs, and attendance allowances at the end of the line for senior journalists, SH?

    Come the revolution bruvver?? :mrgreen: :party::eek:
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
    Striped Horse likes this.
  9. Striped Horse

    Striped Horse Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Have you ever noticed how members of Parliament are the only ones who ever call themselves Honourable" or Right Honourable", Cerb? Ordinary people mostly call them lying crooks.

    Methinks their love for ermine and elevation is a psychological compensation to cover the stench that emanates from themselves... :bucktooth:
     
    Eleuthera likes this.
  10. cerberus

    cerberus Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2015
    Messages:
    25,530
    Likes Received:
    5,363
    Trophy Points:
    113
    You and me could run the show better than them, SH. Whenever I look at the front benches I shake my head in despair. I shake it in despair whenever I look at the back benches too. lol I'm surprised that Jacob Rees Mogg didn't have anything to say about 'Salisbury' though; I'd love to have known what he thought about it. As far as I'm concerned he's the only one who actually earns his parliamentary salary.
     
    Striped Horse likes this.
  11. Eleuthera

    Eleuthera Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2015
    Messages:
    22,694
    Likes Received:
    11,760
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Here in the US Congress they refer to each other as "esteemed colleagues". Bullshit and lip service is all we get from them.
     
  12. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2015
    Messages:
    13,499
    Likes Received:
    4,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    While there is certainly reason to question why we are still in Afghanistan one can't rail against what happened in Iraq without considering the possibilities had Obama not simply abandoned the field. It is our half in half out split personality that allows us to both get in these messes with no way out short of surrender.
     
  13. Mandelus

    Mandelus Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2015
    Messages:
    12,410
    Likes Received:
    2,689
    Trophy Points:
    113

    A clear bravo to the Major! Finally, an US American of rank has the balls in his pants to tell the truth ... an uncomfortable truth the Foreigners as I say since time immemorial and for which we are then so often attacked in forums like this one by super-over-patriotic Americans to be the evil with all the well-known chattering of them which follows!

    What the Major here in truth in clear and open words summarizes that I could not have chosen better, shows the idiocy of which the US politically and militarily subject and how far they are away from reality ... until reality violently kick them in the a**! In short, with this article he clears up the stupid myths ... RESPECT!
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
    Striped Horse likes this.
  14. GoogleMurrayBookchin

    GoogleMurrayBookchin Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2017
    Messages:
    6,654
    Likes Received:
    2,239
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Yeah, that's what the term "Political Correctness" was coined to describe, before morons started thinking that political correctness is when your grandkids ask you to stop calling black people negroes.
     
  15. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2012
    Messages:
    37,994
    Likes Received:
    7,948
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Hey get with it! It's our New Orwellian Dictionary. Coups are now democracy in action. Elected officials are now dictators. Freedom fighters are now fascists. Terrorists are human right activists. But then again, what's one to expect:





    And We Shall Reign In Confusion,
    So The Word Will Be No Word,
    And The Lie Shall Be Supreme.

    [​IMG]
     
    Tim15856 and cerberus like this.
  16. spiritgide

    spiritgide Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2016
    Messages:
    20,133
    Likes Received:
    16,080
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Congrats to Major Sjursen!
     
    cerberus and Striped Horse like this.
  17. Striped Horse

    Striped Horse Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    Messages:
    2,780
    Likes Received:
    1,620
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yes. The US should never have gone into Iraq in the first place.
     
  18. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    55,518
    Likes Received:
    27,044
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Yeah, the naming can certainly be ironic in a way. The ACA is definitely more unaffordable than affordable, though to be fair it was a half-assed solution to a major problem where the costs of health care in this country are concerned, and we can't get a full-assed solution with half or more of the country responding to single payer, the only good solution, with suddenly seeing red, foaming at the mouth and screaming about "socialism" and "communism". We must not forget that these same Pavlovian morons actually cast votes and elect the idiots who go to D.C. to argue about such legislation.

    We're very much a democratic nation, contrary to what Jenny and co. might claim, and it's also very much to our detriment when the electorate is f**king stupid.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
    Junkieturtle likes this.
  19. Giftedone

    Giftedone Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2010
    Messages:
    63,710
    Likes Received:
    13,466
    Trophy Points:
    113
    US foreign policy is dominated by economic interests. If these economic interests were to significantly benefit US citizens one might have an "ends justify the means" argument.

    While I am sure that the Bureaucratic elite lull themselves to sleep at night on the basis of this argument, which is nasty even if it had merit - it doesn't.

    The economic benefit - while some small amount may "trickle down" to the US public - is largely conferred to international financiers. Much of this money is from Old money interests that have been around - and influencing things- for centuries.

    It is not like it is some big secret that the Federal Reserve is owned by private banks - which are in turn owned by the international financiers.

    It is not like it is some big secret that these interests own the defense contractors, banks, Healthcare and Insurance oligopolies, Trans National food corps, Energy, and of course the Mainstream Media.

    It is no secret that our Gov't is a "pay to play" system. If you play - you get paid. Not in the form of a bribe directly, but in some other form such as a cushy lobbyist position or a seat on a board of directors or in other ways.

    It is not for her good looks and charming personality that Hillary (whose likable rating is now down to 25%) gets paid 250K a pop for a 15 min speech at wall street banker luncheons ... it is for a job well done.

    Its sad commentary when a US journalist has more freedom at "RT" than at our "fair and free" US MSM.

    https://alethonews.wordpress.com/2018/04/23/msnbc-where-journalism-goes-to-die/

    So riddle me this one. How is that it is perfectly OK for the form of election meddling above - by international financiers - never mind the massive amounts of money by these same interests that go in to lobbying congress, or funding election campaigns ?

    I thought meddling by outside actors was forbidden ... or is it just when it is Russia ?
     
    Striped Horse likes this.
  20. Heartburn

    Heartburn Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2015
    Messages:
    13,499
    Likes Received:
    4,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Democracy is supposed to allow people to choose, even if some think both they and the choice are stupid.
     
  21. dixon76710

    dixon76710 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 9, 2010
    Messages:
    58,376
    Likes Received:
    4,438
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Sounds like a hypocrite who never had a problem with our wars until Trump was elected President.
     
  22. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    55,518
    Likes Received:
    27,044
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    I know, and it does. And what we have now is the result of this. It's democracy to a fault. We need some intelligent direction here, not a bunch of morons and spineless career politicians who are comfortably paid and have nice government-provided health care coverage for themselves failing to stand up and do what needs doing for the rest of us. 0-care is both a tragedy and the best we could get from this sad mess.
     
  23. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2012
    Messages:
    37,994
    Likes Received:
    7,948
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Female
    Hey Durandal, you forget that Princeton University made a study and found we are not a democracy, but an oligarchy. Seems you don't like what I posted. I think it's brilliant - and it gave me a good laugh. Here, let me post it again:


    And We Shall Reign In Confusion,
    So The Word Will Be No Word,
    And The Lie Shall Be Supreme.


    [​IMG]





    And if you think these things are nothing, then why are they burying people on the front lawn?


    Good, another one hits the dirt.
    [​IMG]
     
    Eleuthera likes this.
  24. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    May 25, 2012
    Messages:
    55,518
    Likes Received:
    27,044
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Gender:
    Male
    Your claim about burying people in the lawn is about as credible as your claim about what Princeton University had to say.

    We are very much a democracy, since we cast votes for our representative leaders. But that also isn't the whole story since voters are manipulated and dumbed down, and the system we have is locked into this two-party madness where voters end up voting against one candidate by voting for another and perceive all others as non-viable choices. Yet there is nothing about this system that limits voters' choices beyond the mindset of the voters themselves. We get the government we deserve.
     
  25. Eleuthera

    Eleuthera Well-Known Member Donor

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2015
    Messages:
    22,694
    Likes Received:
    11,760
    Trophy Points:
    113
    That sounds very much like the complaint heard during our criminal fiasco in Southeast Asia--gosh we could have won, but the politicians wouldn't let us, or similar tripe.

    In fact, the reason we failed in Iraq and Afghanistan is that those invasions were brought under fraud and deception by the Bush administration.

    That's why troop morale is so low now. A war of perpetuity with no moral goal possible.
     

Share This Page