'An executive at a small defense contractor recently joked to me, “Afghanistan is our business plan.” I asked him what he would do if the war ended. He stared at me for a moment and said, “Well, then I hope we invade Libya.”'
The 43-cents-of-every-dollar-is-borrowed war machine rolls on...
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PBS - The Looming Afghan Crash
Excerpt:
Very few who are pushing for immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan contemplate the economic consequences of ending the war. The economy can probably handle 100,000 underemployed war contractors, but it will take some adjustment. It’s not just the psychological cost of seeing the Taliban use equipment we leave behind to crack jokes about us. The war in Afghanistan is more than just the troops and contractors who are deployed: there is a vast ecosystem of small, medium and large companies back here that support those deployed workers. Without a hundred billion dollars in war costs every year, those companies will struggle to stay in business.
- An executive at a defense contractor recently joked to me, “Afghanistan is our business plan.” I asked him what he would do if the war ended. He stared at me for a moment and said, “Well, then I hope we invade Libya.”
This executive wasn’t actually hoping to occupy Tripoli. But he was expressing a worry many in the defense industry have about how they will run their companies and employ their workers once the wars are over.
Ten years of war have established a discrete class of entrepreneurs, mid-level workers and administrators who are completely reliant upon the U.S. being at war to stay employed.
May 18, 2011 at 2:01 PM
Reader Comments (8)
Unabomber's belongings going, going ...
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/unabombers-belongings-going-going-950059.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
America is FILLED with FAT Nazi 'ENABLERS", proud of their stupidity and happy to make money off of death.
And of course they are all "good Christians".
by Dennis Kucinich
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/19-11
Comment: This is a MUST READ......Thank you Dennis.
China 'asks USA to respect Pak sovereignty'
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/china-has-asked-us-to-respect-pak-sovereignty-report-106950
[snip]
In the wake of the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, China has "warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China", a media report claimed today.
The warning was formally conveyed by the Chinese foreign minister at last week's China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, The News daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying.
China also advised the US to "respect Pakistan's sovereignty and solidarity", the report said.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20110519/164123162.html
[snip]
Iran's oil refining company on Thursday sold the country's first gasoline on an international mercantile bourse at $1,012 per ton, national media reported.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/162067-dont-repeat-osama-raid-says-feinstein
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/05/19/bin-laden-death-script-the-needed-trigger-for-next-step-pakistan/
[snip]
In order for China to sustain its status as the emerging economic superpower, it must take all the necessary steps required in order to have sufficient energy resources for the near future. According to Pakistani think tank, BrassTacks, Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean became visible in 2002, when they invested heavily and began work on the Gwadar Port, located in Baluchestan, a province of Pakistan.
The Gwadar Port has its benefits for both Pakistan and China. According to Abdus Sattar Ghazali, executive editor for American Muslim Perspective, “The cost benefits to China of using Gwadar as the port for western China’s imports and exports are as evident as the long-term economic benefits to Pakistan of Gwadar becoming a port for Chinese goods.” Not only does Gwadar enable China to fulfill its energy needs, but it will also provide a strategic military footprint in the Arabian Sea, which has the United States worried.