Comment by primitur | Hacker News Reader

Comment by primitur | Hacker News Reader

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I've always considered the idea that the Cold War was "over" to be nothing but propaganda designed to prevent people from wondering why their nation is spending $Trillion on their military.

Of course the Cold War is still happening: America has been exporting war wholesale for decades. Just because Russia hasn't been doing it at the same scale as well, doesn't mean squat.

The US and Russia have had plenty of opportunities to leave each other in peace over the last 30 years. The trouble is, they're not the only parties to this farce. Incredibly powerful, massively entrenched super-power-like military industrial multinational corporations are involved as well, and there is no way in HELL they are going to let their number one revenue source dry up just because we all want peace.

Its quite simple: stop assuming that its sovereign nation states doing all the fire-lighting. We are way, way beyond that point now. If you want to get a grip on war economy you have to stop allowing your politicians to push you - the people - into more and more heinous debt, for more and more heinous reasons (imperialist warfare against innocents), without repercussion.

This is going to be a tough sell. Pretty much everyone using computers to establish themselves in the technology markets today is going to have to deal with a multinational, war-mongering, mega-corporate military-industrial giant. We're well and truly being dominated by those who are quite happy having us all in the abyss, trembling in fear at what would happen if we stopped buying from General Electric, Samsung and co.

Don't you think rather than an invisible, evil hand, it's all just a big ouhpsi (see Hanlon's razor: "Never assume/attribute the intention to do evil that which is adequately explained by stupidity.") or just deterrence theory-based? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterrence_theory)

No, I truly think we are beyond that at this point: it is pure, profit-driven, hatred-based evil. In fact I am positive that the culture of war-mongering is SO entrenched that it has reached a pitch akin to religious fervor among America's (and Russias) elite, who utterly worship death, its instruments, and its application in driving us all into fear.

The reason I think that is because there is so much GOOD technology out there that would solve our crises of cultures in a heartbeat; we are being prevented from applying this, with every $billion-dollar bomber we build in the heartland, instead of schools, hospitals, universities, infrastructure.

EDIT: btw, I don't think its a "big invisible hand", but that's because I pay attention. I think its more of a "the people are cowards and cannot face up to the facts of their own complicity in the death cult".

Profit-driven and hatred-based are almost opposite things. To be profit driven is to be supremely rational, and only requires looking out for oneself. To be hatred-based is to be supremely emotional, and hatred is rarely selfish.

I also object to the sentence "the people are cowards and cannot face up to the facts of their own complicity in the death cult". That is hyperbole and grand-standing all around.

Yet, I am sad to disagree with you. Because it is definitely an interesting question why we spend so much on military. Specifically, it is interesting how this relates to industries that benefit from this spending. Though it is also quite relevant to study popular sentiment towards this spending. However, I do not think one should go to conspiracy level explanations here. If one were to go there, it would take heaps and heaps of evidence.

To convince me, and perhaps the rest of the world, start by making smaller claims that are easily proven. Then you can build up to stronger claims that aren't proven but are at least corroborated by evidence.

Or you might just be an astroturfing russian-payed troll to make us distrust government, but I'd like to think otherwise.

>Profit-driven and hatred-based are almost opposite things.

Not really, no. Not when you profit directly from peoples hatred, and its sub-product, fear. Hatred of others, fear of others.

America has commercialized hatred and weaponized fear. How else can you explain the invasion of Afghanistan when it should have had KSA in its sights?

> The trouble is, they're not the only parties to this farce. Incredibly powerful, massively entrenched super-power-like military industrial multinational corporations are involved as well, and there is no way in HELL they are going to let their number one revenue source dry up just because we all want peace.

But Russia is the number two arms exporter, and it spends a higher percentage of its gdp on defense.

But you're right, everything bad that happens between the two countries is entirely the fault of the US </s>

>blame the USA

Which country regularly destroys, utterly, the infrastructure and society of other foreign nations, through both covert and overt means, in its quest for global military domination? (Hint: its not Russia.)

But Russia is the number two arms exporter, and it spends a higher percentage of its gdp on defense.

Factually, that may be correct, but in context the numbers spell out a different picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_...

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