Nina-Bytes: Merchants of Destruction

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

US Oil Companies Set to Reap Up to $126B in Extra Profits Amid War on Ukraine

Alright folks, let's start with a little Pop Quiz here. What's worse for a planetary ecosystem on the brink of collapse, than a huge war? The answer of course is a huge fossil fuel war that leads to massively increased production, and widespread profiteering by an oil and gas sector that should by all rights be charged with crimes against humanity already. 

Let's drill down into just one small example of that profiteering today by looking at this March 29th, 2022 summary by Jake Johnson, over at Common Dreams. Inside we find that according to a meticulous analysis conducted by a coalition of watchdog groups, Big Oil in America stands to make a killing on the fallout from the invasion of Ukraine. From the article in question:

 

"Under conservative estimates, we find the U.S. upstream oil and gas industry will collect a windfall of $37 to $126 billion in 2022 alone," the groups' report states."

There will of course be those who want to quibble about the significant difference between thirty-seven billion dollars, and a hundred and twenty billion dollars, but from my distinctly labor class perspective, this is pretty obviously war profiteering by another name. Please keep in mind that this is an industry that's already raking profits in hand over fist, while openly threatening the existence of most life on earth, every single day. Whether it's a question of cause, or effect, why should humanity continue to tolerate a business that rings up big money every time (primarily poor) people die?

As long time readers of Nina-Bytes will no doubt be aware, I'm firmly in favor of not only disbanding the entire fossil fuel industry, but also seizing their ill-gotten profits, and the profits of their investors, to fight climate change. If war profiteering on the brink of a climate apocalypse isn't enough for you, will spending billions of dollars to hide the truth about fossil fuels from the public do? How many wars over a gas field that should be kept in the ground does it take, before the price is too high? How many dead bodies does it require for "respectable" CEOs to become mass murderers?

Yet collectively in the Pig Empire, we live in a society where this industry's army of lobbyists write the laws designed to fight climate catastrophe. Indeed, these same corporations, headed by mass murderers, easily buy and sell our politicians like so many sow bellies. Do you really believe the guys raking in billions from this war, are encouraging their in-pocket representatives to sue for peace? I sure don't. Once you're prepared to put billions of lives at risk to snag a quarterly bonus, what's one more natural gas war on the edge of Europe?

Like most observers, I hope (for the sake of labor class folks everywhere) that Vladimir Putin will call off his invasion; the price of peace, even for him, is at an all-time low right now. Regardless of how this sad story ends however, the simple truth is that the fossil fuel industry represents an existential threat to all life on earth, and a primary generator of imperialist wars. It does no good to pray for peace, while bathing yourself in profits from the black blood of war. Big Oil must die; or it will ensure that the rest of us do instead - and those are just the facts, Jack.

 

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. 

Podcast at “Kropotkin’s Barbershop” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

  

Nina-Bytes: A Question of Priorities

 

Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.

Senate Quietly Adds $10 Billion to Pentagon Budget While Blocking Climate Action

Look, I don't want to say that the mainstream media always lies, because most of the time they don't really have to. As I've explained before, it's pretty easy to abuse context, or lack thereof, to distort how the news is perceived, while still technically reporting "the truth." Recently for example, I've watched this technique being deployed while reporting on various aspects of federal spending by the Biden administration. Consider for a moment the wildly different ways our record $778 billion defense budge for 2022, and the social spending in the budget reconciliation bill are being reporting.

Not only is the focus on reporting the highest possible spending number (over 10 years) when reporting the reconciliation bill, but the media also credulously accepts the complaints of so called budget hawk Senators demanding huge funding cuts for social and environmental programs. As Sharon Zhang notes over on Truthout however, nobody even bats an eyelash when those same "budget hawks" fall all over themselves to give the Pentagon more money than it asked for! Sorry kids; we're pawning your future so Lockheed Martin can bill the government for more Javelin missiles we absolutely don't need. This situation is not only absurd, but it's an active threat to what passes for American democracy. Oh, and also all life on earth.

As I've written recently; figuring out why Democrats can't pass the Build Back Better Act isn't a convoluted mystery. The answer is bald-faced corruption; anarcho-capitalist billionaires and corporations have bribed two Senators to sink it at all costs. Maybe you can argue that the political media in America can't report that because bribery is effectively legal. I don't agree with that argument, but it exists. A truly adversarial free press however, would at least report the fact that these guys are shoveling cash at a carbon-spewing war machine, at the same time as they're crying that the country's coffers are too short to pay for climate crisis reduction programs. 

The problem here of course is that we don't have a free and adversarial press. We have a corporate propaganda machine actively partnered with the war machine, to make bucket loads of money keeping America perpetually prepared for, or engaging in, another war. Social spending costs rich people money, while weapons contracts make rich people money; this isn't that complex. Obviously in an economy built on blood and oil, the survival of the species just doesn't rate. 

Maybe poor kids and polar bears should hire themselves some lobbyists.

nina illingworth

Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst. 

You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

Blast From the Past: Human Rights & Pig Empire Imperialism

Editor's note: as part of the writing I do, I frequently find myself collecting and cataloguing thousands of links for later use when I'm sourcing arguments in my articles. Most of those links really only have value in the moment, but some of them (like today's story) are so important and worthwhile that I thought I'd start sharing them from time to time here on this Media Madness blog.

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While I would certainly be the first person to criticize the suggestion that there is any sort of upside to the Trump presidency, it would be foolish to argue that electing an uncouth, petulant fascist who says the quiet part out loud hasn't altered the behavior of mainstream liberal media in some beneficial ways.

For example: when presented with the riddle of how to engage in a perpetually running war of words with the President of the United States, while still supporting the ongoing (and lucrative) imperial project that President is ostensibly running - mainstream corporate media in the Pig Empire has largely responded by creating two Trumps and refusing to acknowledge the existence of both at the same time. Thus, domestic and economic policy Trump is (rightfully) criticized as an unstable, monstrous amateur whose fascist beliefs represent a very real threat to millions of Americans and their democratic institutions. In contrast, foreign policy Trump is praised as decisive and presidential when he supports aggressive military action, and eviscerated as a pathetic pawn of Russian president Vladmir Putin when he doesn't.

Once in a while however, in their efforts to falsely portray Trump and his administration as aberrant outsiders, the media will get its wires crossed and accidentally allow damaging truths about the Pig Empire to slip briefly into the public discourse. Such was the case on December 19th, 2017 during the waning moments of Rex Tillerson's time as Downmarket Mussolini's Secretary of State, when Politico of all outlets published the following (shockingly candid) piece:

Leaked memo schooled Tillerson on human rights 

Let me start by saying that if the entire sad history of Politico was just a run-up to this article, I'd be forced to admit that it was probably worth it. Here you have a US State Department official, with longstanding ties to the Pig Empire propaganda machine across multiple governments, telling Trump's SecState to shut up about Human Rights because we don't really give a crap and it's just a tool to manipulate our "enemies." This is without a doubt one of the most significant moments in US media history, and yet it largely passed by without much note at the time it was published. 

Let's look at some of the juiciest quotes from the article for a moment:

"The May 17 memo reads like a crash course for a businessman-turned-diplomat, and its conclusion offers a starkly realist vision: that the U.S. should use human rights as a club against its adversaries, like Iran, China and North Korea, while giving a pass to repressive allies like the Philippines, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

“Allies should be treated differently—and better—than adversaries. Otherwise, we end up with more adversaries, and fewer allies,” argued the memo, written by Tillerson’s influential policy aide, Brian Hook."

So - you caught that right folks? The United States absolutely does not give even half a damn about Human Rights except in terms of weaponizing it against state adversaries. Let's keep going:

"Hook’s memo “tells Tillerson that we should do exactly what Russian and Chinese propaganda says we do—use human rights as a weapon to beat up our adversaries while letting ourselves and our allies off the hook,” said Tom Malinowski, who served as an assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in the administration of former President Barack Obama."

We'll talk more about Malinowski and the overall tone in the article in a moment, but let's keep mining this verdant field for the kind of quotes the propaganda machine isn't supposed to let slip:

“The classic dilemma of balancing ideals and interests is with regard to America’s allies. In relation to our competitors, there is far less of a dilemma. We do not look to bolster America’s adversaries overseas; we look to pressure, compete with, and outmaneuver them,” Hook wrote.

"For this reason," Hook continues, "we should consider human rights as an important issue in regard to U.S. relations with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. And this is not only because of moral concern for practices inside those countries. It is also because pressing those regimes on human rights is one way to impose costs, apply counter-pressure, and regain the initiative from them strategically."

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"Hook approvingly writes that Ronald Reagan’s "first instinct was always to back allies against adversaries, even in controversial cases, including through his second term." But Jimmy Carter, Hook states, damaged American interests because he "badgered" and undermined U.S. allies like the shah of Iran.

Today, "in the case of US allies such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines, the [Trump] Administration is fully justified in emphasizing good relations for a variety of important reasons, including counter-terrorism, and in honestly facing up to the difficult tradeoffs with regard to human rights," Hook writes. "It is not as though human rights practices will be improved if anti-American radicals take power in those countries."

Holy sh*t my friends, this entire piece is a clusterf*ck of truly massive proportions on the propaganda machine's part. Although any fool who observes American foreign policy at work could tell you that the U.S. government doesn't care about human rights, it is truly a rare and momentous occasion to see it laid out so plainly in an official Pig Empire document.

Naturally, the author does provide the war machine with a fig leaf of sorts; the memo is painted as a possible response to a Tillerson speech in which he failed to affirm Pig Empire support for human rights. Furthermore, Politico happily allows Malinowski and an anonymous senior official in the Bush administration to state that Hook's analysis is wrong, or "disappointing" without serious challenge. Finally, the overall tone of the piece seems to strongly imply (as have other media outlets) that the problem is a uniquely Trumpian affair.

This is all, to put it bluntly, utter goddamn hogwash and even a cursory look at US human rights violations or the monstrous behavior of countless Pig Empire allies makes that abundantly clear. Even the piece we're quoting is forced to admit that Hooks is a long time conservative foreign policy wonk who previously served in the Bush II administration:

"Long a familiar face in conservative foreign policy circles, Hook held several positions under President George W. Bush, including assistant secretary of state for international organizations.

Hook's decision to join the Trump administration surprised some in Washington because so many other mainstream conservative foreign policy experts publicly distanced themselves from Trump during the 2016 presidential race. His disproportionate influence at the State Department has unnerved some lawmakers who note that he never had to endure the confirmation process."

In other words, the emperor isn't just naked - he's shaking his testicles up and down Main Street while shouting "I'm a bare-asssed, corpse merchant fraud!" Keep that in mind the next time the US foreign policy establishment (on both sides of the supposed political divide in America) tells you we need to enact regime change in Venezuela and invade Iran to "protect human rights."

- nina illingworth

 

ABT: Hunting Hawks Through Smoke & Shadow - Link

Read "ABT: Hunting Hawks Through Smoke & Shadow" here.

- Nina Illingworth

A Brief Thought: Duterte, Death Squads & Selective Outrage - Link

I take a long, hard look at the west's "humanitarian" argument for deposing Bashar al-Assad and find it lacking in credibility.

Read "A Brief Thought: Duterte, Death Squads & Selective Outrage" here. 

- nina illingworth

A Brief Thought: Weapons of Mass Distraction - Link

In the ongoing lead up to the next American war, I stop to take a look at news from the war we've already forgotten: Afghanistan.

Read "A Brief Thought: Weapons of Mass Distraction" here.

- nina illingworth 

Six Things I Think: Masters of War Edition - Link

Well, after a minor technical error that I could only fix by posting the entire article again, my latest is up - I took a quick spin around mainstream US media to discover that it's all war, all the time in the lead up to what seems like it will be the most serious conflict of my life:

Read "Six Things I Think: Masters of War Edition" here. 

- nina illingworth

Info Meme of the Week: Donald’s Double Dutch - Link

In the span of just over 60 hours, the United States may have signaled its intention to start two world-altering military conflicts

Read "Info Meme of the Week: Donald’s Double Dutch" here.

- Nina Illingworth

Observations from Outside the Death Star: August

Observations from Outside the Death Star: August

 

 

“If you ever had an idea that people were really terrible, you could watch the news and know that you’re right” – Frank Zappa

1. Feeding the Machine: Audit Blues at the DoD & the Social Cost of Imperialism

The next time someone tells you that there’s not enough money in the budget for single-payer healthcare in the United States; you should smack them directly in the mouth and remind them that the Pentagon has either lost, or spent without properly accounting for between 6.5 and 8.5 trillion dollars since 1996. Due to incompetence, mismanagement or purposeful obfuscation, the Department of Defense simply cannot (and likely never will be able to) account for enough money to fund every “pie in the sky” pinko/left dreamboat social program you can imagine; including single payer healthcare – possibly for decades!

This is of course simply part and parcel for an imperial war machine that spends roughly $600 billion (recorded) dollars a year on its military – more than the next seven or eight nations combined and more than enough to defeat virtually any military threat the United States could possibly face from anyone else on planet earth. I’ve got a “radical” idea – how about we bomb a few less hospitals abroad and pay for a few more hospital visits back home in America?

Projecting imperial power is abso-fucking-lutely not in the best interest of the average American citizen but ensuring that everyone, regardless of personal wealth has access to adequate medical care most certainly is. The problem isn’t a lack of funds but rather a lack of political will and virtually fucking everyone knows it.

Read the rest of the article on ninaillingworth.com today...

- Nina Illingworth