Faustian Bargains And Psychotic Reactions
Western Governments And Media Have Tipped Over The Edge In Pursuit Of War. Don't Let Their Psychotic Messaging Take Us There Too
War makes strange bedfellows.
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
Accursed be he that first invented war.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
History is repeating itself again.
At least, in some sense, a part of rarely acknowledged history that goes back to the end of World War I.
In 1939, a Faustian bargain was struck between two dictators, Adolf Hiter and Joseph Stalin. They both were vicious, cruel, authoritarian, and lusted for power and territory. Using back-channel diplomacy and well-hidden subterfuge, the two powers signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In essence:
“Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those two powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov
Its clauses provided a written guarantee of peace by each party towards the other and a commitment that declared that neither government would ally itself to or aid an enemy of the other. In addition to the publicly-announced stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. The secret protocol also recognized the interest of Lithuania in the Vilnius region, and Germany declared its complete disinterest in Bessarabia. The rumored existence of the Secret Protocol was proved only when it was made public during the Nuremberg Trials.[10]”
The pact, signed in August, culminated in the invasion of Poland and ignited the start of World War II, the war that wasn’t supposed to happen. The science-fiction writer H.G. Wells had written a book in 1914 titled “The War That Will End War” referring to the first World War, presumably not imagining the expansion and continuance of what was thought to be a historically unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime horror. Germany invaded Poland from the East and the Soviet Union from the West. Rarely acknowledged is the fact that the pact, and the invasion of Poland itself, were the result of 20 years of secret cooperation between the two powers.
Hitler, of course, ended up breaking the “alliance” and outwitted Stalin, at least for the moment, both militarily and psychologically. In a sense, while “asleep at the wheel”, Stalin remained convinced, even when Hitler was massing troops at the border to invade Russia, that he would not be betrayed.
Military alliances, as History shows are cynical, have no basis in ethical, or contractual terms, and bring nothing but the expansion of the war, the waste of national treasure, death, and misery to the world. There are no “good” wars in moral, absolutist terms. There is nothing about military expansionism that results in positive progress for societies and civilizations despite the messaging of government and media. NATO never was or is, a neutral, “defensive”, benign force. Messaging like this does, however, result in profit for the chosen few: politicians seeking large donations from the Military-Industrial Complex, and the CEOS of those companies.
The war propaganda surrounding Ukraine, and just the general tenor of both government and mainstream corporate news sources, is no less than a psychotic reaction to what should be, in a healthy society, a careful, tempered view of what could involve the very last global war. Death on a mass scale, thanks to the trivialization of COVID by the government and media of the Western world, make war deaths seem inconsequential. They are beating us down with disingenuous, absurd, cheerful takes on Ukraine. No one with any experience over time in the real world believes any of it.
Something very strange is going on in Ukraine.
In a bizarre series of visits, almost like a religious pilgrimage by the faithful to be blessed by the Pope, a bipartisan contingent of Senators and Congressional Representatives have been traveling on weekends to pose for photo ops with Zelensky. It’s almost as if Ukraine is the new French Riviera or Gold Coast vacation destination. As far as I know, it’s historically unprecedented that so many Senators and Representatives would risk their lives, much less the responsibility to their constituents, flying into a war zone for what is essentially a meaningless photo opportunity. It’s more like a publicity stunt than a real commitment in support of “freedom and democracy.” It’s staged and completely cynical.
Speaking of historically unprecedented, since when did major corporate news media become outright public relations spokespeople for the Military-Industrial Complex?
Even with the blood lust and war fever post 9 11 that was propagated in the leadup to the Iraq War, and the barbarism that was widely accepted, there was at least some attempt at pushback against the necessity of war narrative. But the media was, even then, on a course to slowly capitulating to the will of the government.
The contrast between then and now is stark.
I can remember a time when a very sober Walter Cronkite took on the American government, and the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, in denouncing the cost of the Vietnam war and seeking an honorable peace. The editorial was so powerful that it created a public backlash, and 33 days later, Johnson announced that he would not seek the nomination of the Democratic party for President. The war was to become Richard Nixon’s problem.
So watching Cronkite, I can scarcely believe that the standards of journalism have dropped so low that news shows have literally transformed into game shows in the vein of “The Price Is Right”, or maybe more accurately, the child’s military strategy game “Battleship”, with smiling, cheerful, buffoonish “hosts” like Chuck Todd. Any resemblance in these entertainment-oriented debacles to actual journalism is purely coincidental. In a recent edition of the MIC sponsored “Meet The Press”, Chuck, doing his best Bob Barker impersonation, invited the audience to “play along “ as he hosted a simulated nuclear battle between China and Taiwan. It’s as surreal and alarming as it is ludicrous.
”Red Teams” and “Blue Teams”, consisting of members of pro-war “think tanks” calmly exercised their war strategies as if they were playing Chess in the park on a sunny day. No one mentions the consequences in actual lives lost or landscape decimated. It was completely clinical and calm, a 2022 version of “Stratego” played live on television. Nevermind that this literal advertisement and positive spin on war forced critical domestic issues like the baby formula shortage, impossible inflation, children’s hepatitis, the continued rise of COVID cases, and economic malaise and shortages off the table. Let’s have a game of war, shall we?
That’s not to say that NBC or Chuck Todd is alone in this, which makes the trend even more disturbing. The week prior, CBS News “Face The Nation” didn’t turn the harsh realities of war into a game, but they did turn one of their segments into an infomercial for Lockheed Martin, as detailed in this excellent article by Dan Froomkin. Again, in the cold, clinical setting of a television studio, comfortably ensconced behind a modern-looking Lucite desk, host Margaret Brennan basically resigned her commission as a journalist and became an official PR spokesperson for Lockheed Martin. Instead of pushing back, Brennan set up LM CEO Jim Taiclet as no less than a hero himself:
After praising the Javelin and marveling at Lockheed’s ability to ramp up production so quickly, Brennan actually fed Taiclet a line to make it seem like what he was doing is particularly noble.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You said — well, you implied you’re basically doing on spec, right?
JIM TAICLET: That’s right.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But you’re a businessperson. You have to plan ahead. We don’t know how long this war is going to last. The CIA says, you know, Vladimir Putin thinks he’s got to double down here. So, how long are you planning for with this ramp up?
Nothing could be a better example, a least in my humble opinion, of the harmful effects of merging journalism and entertainment, than Brennan going on the “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in 2018. I can’t imagine Cronkite parading around on various talk shows and gushing how “great it is to have an audience”. Brennan talks about the heavy weight of responsibility, carrying on the traditions of the great journalists of CBS. Yet a mere four years later, she shows she really doesn’t care all that much for the legacy of Bob Schieffer and Cronkite by simply giving up and going full pro-war PR rep.
History is repeating itself. A new “alliance” is being formed as Finland and Sweden have now formally applied for membership in NATO. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m stereotyping either of these countries, but I have never thought of either of these nations as being pro-war in nature. Unlike the US, the Military-Industrial Complex is not leading the nation and government around by the nose. In fact, both countries have remained historically neutral, so it’s no small thing that they made a formal request to become involved in a possible global war.
NATO, of course, cheerfully welcomed both countries into the fold, stating: “I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners, This is a historic moment, which we must seize.” Is this really cause to celebrate? Neutrality, or at least, voices in the world holding on to it, is the last defense against a global, pro-war mentality.
The stakes are high. While Russia would never publicly admit to being threatened by two nations who never had a beef with them it only serves to escalate tensions in the area.
Here at home, it’s hard to tell which party is now the “war party”. I would have, in a general consensus opinion, always have ceded that label to the Republicans. There is no doubt that they have joined the Democrats as one unified voice in taking out Putin, as long as the “sacrifice” means OTHER lives.
Graham is truly representative of people in power who are suffering from psychosis, so completely detached from reality, that they think they can publicly encourage and sanction the murder of world leaders. We really need to push back hard against complacency and start solving problems here instead of allowing a repeat of what could really be the final war to “end all wars”.