What Are the Chances for Peace in 2016?
Each year more than one trillion dollars goes up in smoke. More accurately, it is stolen from the middle and working classes and shipped off to the one percent. I am talking about the massive yearly bill to maintain the US empire. Washington’s warmongers have sold the lie that the military budget has been gutted under President Obama, but even when the “Sequester” was in effect military spending continued to increase. Only the pace of increase was reduced, not actual spending.
None of this trillion dollars taken from us is spent to keep us safe, despite what politicians say. In fact, this great rip-off actually makes us less safe and more vulnerable to a terrorist attack thanks to resentment overseas at our interventions and to the blowback it produces.
The money is spent to maintain existing conflicts and to create new areas of conflict overseas that in turn feeds the demands for more military spending. It is an endless cycle of theft and deceit.
Billions were spent not long ago overthrowing an elected government in Ukraine and provoking Russia. A new Cold War is a bonanza for the military industrial complex, the pro-war think tanks, and the politicians. NATO is on the move in eastern Europe, placing heavy weapons right on Russia’s border and then blaming the Russians when they complain about the rising militarism. NATO military exercises on Russia’s border have increased and become more confrontational.
In the Middle East, more billions have been spent attempting to overthrow the secular government of Syria over the past five years. The big winners in this grand scheme have been the Islamist extremists, who are funded directly and indirectly by the US and its allies. NATO is planning to go back into Libya, an admission that its 2011 “liberation” of that country has been a disaster.
In Asia, the US empire challenges and provokes China, sending military ships and aircraft into territory China claims in the South China Sea. How much will they continue to escalate before China gets fed up?
The more money sent to the Pentagon and other parts of the Washington war apparatus, the more danger we are in.
Meanwhile, almost all of the presidential candidates promise more military spending and more war if they are elected. Did no one tell them we are broke and making enemies fast with our interventions? Do they think Fed-created money will really continue to fuel the US empire indefinitely?
What are the prospects for a U-turn toward peace and prosperity in 2016? We must be realistic. Presently the numbers are not on our side. But the good news is we do not need a majority to succeed in our fight for peace and liberty. We need only a dedicated and uncompromising critical mass to make great headway.
What can we do to work for peace in 2016? First we must tune out the lying propaganda served up by the US mainstream media. We must educate ourselves so that we can help educate others. We can be sure to tune in and support alternative sources of news and analysis like the Ron Paul Liberty Report, LewRockwell.com, Antiwar.com, and many others. We can tell others about the wealth of truth available to those who seek and question. We must not compromise and never accept the lesser of two evils.
If the people demand peace, the politicians will follow. Let’s demand peace in 2016!
Reprinted with permission from RonPaulLibertyReport.com.
Read more by Ron Paul
- If You Want Security, Pursue Liberty – December 14th, 2015
- Are We in a Clash of Civilizations? – December 6th, 2015
- The War on Terror Is Creating More Terror – December 1st, 2015
- Paris and What Should Be Done – November 16th, 2015
- Save the Apologies, Just Stop Promoting War! – November 1st, 2015
[antiwar] What Are the Chances for Peace in 2016?
December 28th, 2015 at 10:30 pm
[…] What Are the Chances for Peace in 2016? […]
RickR30
December 28th, 2015 at 10:48 pm
And all this spending makes us less safe because it takes us closer and closer to bankruptcy/the final financial crisis that will be the end of America's imperial ambitions. The feverish lunatic greed of the <1% to grab every last penny from the 99%+ tells me the day of reckoning is on the horizon.
Jim
December 29th, 2015 at 8:32 am
Chances? Slim to none, sadly.
Michael Kenny
December 29th, 2015 at 8:55 am
Largely platitudes. I don't see the point of tuning out the lying propaganda served up by the US mainstream media while tuning in to, and swallowing uncritically, the lying propaganda served up by the US internet. And, of course, Dr Paul continues to deny that Ukrainians are human beings and have human rights. The US overthrows the Ukrainian government, Russia is entitled to invade, he claims, and what Ukrainians want is totally irrelevant. And if the US government tries, however weakly, to put right the evil it did to Ukraine, it is at fault, "blaming" Russia! It's classic "reverse engineered" propaganda: the US is automatically evil. Therefore, anyone the US opposes is automatically good. Not very logical!
Curious
December 29th, 2015 at 8:56 am
I was hoping his son would take up the mantle his father put down. He instead played the game and blended in with Trump and Cruz. He should have supported the Iran deal. He should have explained the motivations of countries in the Middle East and how they conflict with our interest. He could have explained the role Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia played in the conflict with Syria. Their support for terrorism. What does he plan to do about it? He wants our allies, the people who fund the opposition in Syria to fight that very opposition just like the rest of the presidential candidates. I'll believe it when I see it. He engages in xenophobia regarding immigration just like Trump. When its our policy that puts us in danger. He refuses to confront the Empire and sought to increase military spending. He lost the vote of many of his dad's followers who will stay at home (me) or vote for someone else (Bernie, Trump, or Cruz). Its a shame because if he spoke the truth he would have reoriented everything so he would be in a position of strength because the facts would be on his side. Now he will probably be shut out of the next debate. He had plenty of chances to make his mark instead of playing the game.
Wie stehen die Chancen für den Frieden im Jahr 2016? |
December 29th, 2015 at 11:57 am
[…] What Are the Chances for Peace in 2016? vom […]
follyofwar
December 29th, 2015 at 6:10 pm
With Rand out of the picture and likely to drop out soon, I'd be very interested if Dr. Paul plans on supporting any candidate in 2016. The candidate closest to his ideology, IMHO, is Trump. While the other crazies are talking about shooting down Russian fighters, and with Hillary comparing President Putin to Hitler, Trump says he admires Putin and could work with him. Trump sees no reason to get rid of Assad in Syria, and doesn't support US intervention in Ukraine. If the goal is to prevent World War III, is there a better candidate out there than Trump? Possibly Sanders, but Dr. Paul would never support a socialist.