War Just Ain't What it Used to Be

Who knows what we are fighting for?

Since Britain has no empire and our borders are wide open to unlimited foreign gatecrashers, what exactly are the armed forces fighting for these days? We have minesweeping boats, aircraft-carriers, destroyers, nuclear submarines, ferocious fighter planes and SAS platoons swirling all over the globe. But why?

As you read these words Royal Navy vessels are chasing pirate ships around the Straits of Hormuz and the Suez canal, because a vast amount of tempting goods move through these strategic hotpoints. As it happens my supper last night included some delicious broccoli labelled Country of Origin: Egypt -the state which owns the Suez canal. Quality veg, I pesume, is part of the rationale behind our current proxy war with Iran.

This very morning I read how Britain is waging war in Yemen. According to Defence Secretary Grant Shapps the latest UK/US military strikes "will deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade." Hit Yemen, protect global trade, you see. In the latest raid, RAF Typhoons, US warplanes, destroyers and a submarine were deployed to attack missile launchers and storage sites. No big deal; happens every day, as far as the media are concerned. This appears to be part of the new normal -that hideous phrase popularised by fascistic lockdowns. It seems any repulsive form of state activity can be deemed ‘normal’ just because it’s new and hasn’t yet prompted a revolution. Armed attack is now just another day at the office, for the amoral keyboard warriors of Fleet Street at least.

By contrast, the excellent website Action On Armed Violence reports that since 2011 Britain’s Special Forces have been operational -under questionable circumstances- in at least 19 countries : Afghanistan, Algeria, Estonia, Iran/Oman, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Cyprus, Nigeria, Pakistan, Phillipines, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. [DETAILS HERE]

Special Forces is the way our government describes the secretive combat units who carry out attacks, reconnaissance, “hostage rescue” , assassinations, abductions, sabotage etc. without bothering to consult Parliament or the British public. Such operations are a convenience, so that politicians can pursue quick, violent interventions without any declaration of war. Declaring war is, after all, a tricky business, as the public have a tendency to demand some kind of explanation along the lines of why, and what’s in it for us? Questions that are not easily answered when you want, for example, to whack out a dictator you spent the last decade bribing, as was the case with Saddam Hussein and Muamar Ghadaffi.

Times change, however, and on a practical level public consultation is no longer deemed necessary. For our leaders, this was the big upside of ending conscription. If you are not intending to force young men into uniform and compel them to fight, who cares what they think? That was very much the approach taken when Tony Blair ordered UK armed forces into Iraq on America’s coat-tails, despite overwhelming opposition from the British people. The message from Downing street needed no decoding : public consent not required. That precedent has been followed for the 20 years since.

Technology plays a big part in the trend towards ignoring domestic opposition. Armed with enough state-of-the-art gear, military objectives including quite large-scale slaughter can be achieved with relatively few casualties among your own troops -excellent for public relations. This is particularly the case when your enemy is saddled with much inferior equipment. Selecting such opponents is quite easy for countries like America, Russia and France, who specialise in arms-sales and control a large chunk of the market. (Britain just does what it’s told).

But there is more to war than a head count of dead soldiers. The amount of public money vanishing into the military/industrial overdraft is obscene. As the cost of living climbs toward excruciating, taxpayers are likely to resent being bankrupted as an essential part of ‘protecting the ‘global economy’. The current regime has skewered Britain’s economy on the twin prongs of net zero and forever war -elite policies for which nobody has voted.

You don’t need a PHD in military strategy to know the two basic routes to success in conflict, be it boxing or warfare. One is an overwhelming attack that eliminates the enemy, the other is the subtler art of “taking an advantageous position”. History records the latter is almost always superior. In this context the ongoing Ukrainian fiasco is either an embarassing display of strategic incompetence or a blunder that unmasks the US/NATO alliance as tools of an uncontrollable arms industry. As Breitbart reports:

The most senior military officer in the North Atlantic Treat Organisation (NATO) has said while the Ukraine war has stalled for both sides, the Russian ability to regenerate force is becoming a concern and a potential conflict between Russia and the alliance itself — rather than a proxy like Ukraine — will be “a whole of society event” the West is not yet ready for. [SEE article HERE]

The war has “stalled” for both sides, claims this pompous armchair quarterback. The bodies of around 400,000 Ukrainian troops have “stalled” while a vast Russian army is immovably embedded in those Russian-populated territories that Zelensky could have returned to Putin without a shot being fired. A victorious Russian army, waiting to see how many more billions NATO wants to relocate from taxpayers to arms dealers, smirking as western economies vanish into a U-bend of unpayable debt. And just what kind of ‘senior military officer’ would be surprised by Russia’s ‘ability to regenerate force’? A population of over 140 million represents a near-bottomless pool of potential recruits. Maybe they don’t teach you that in NATO military classrooms.

The idea that Ukraine could ever win a war against Russia was always insane. No Ukranian regime would have even considered such lunacy until the USA bankrolled the 2014 coup that led to the installation of their puppet premier Vlodomyr Zelensky. This egomaniacal psychotic was foisted upon Ukraine with the sole purpose of goading Russia into military action by:

( a ) hosting the construction of American chemical weapons factories on Russia’s doorstep [See THIS REPORT from 2022]

( b ) refusing to allow tens of thousands of native Russians to negotiate their independence from Ukraine

( c ) repeated declarations that Ukraine will join NATO and thus position hostile inter-ballistic missiles within shooting range of Moscow [READ THIS]

Two years in, what conceivable benefit could citizens of any NATO country identify from funding this wretched war? Often enough we have heard how Ukraine will ‘fight to the last man’ -illustrating the contempt their emperor has for his subjects. It’s common enough for TV luvvies to lose perspective on their popularity, but Zelensky will be remembered as the first in actor in history to destroy an entire country while chasing likes, clicks and celebrity selfies. The long list of western virtue-signallers who abetted this orgy of moronic PR should be press-ganged into the bloodiest trenches available to add their worthless hides to the ongoing butchery.

But instead we get NATO’s most senior halfwit warning that the next stage in this unwinnable fantasy war will be a “whole of society event”? Like there’s not already a whole of europe event called runaway inflation dragging millions into gutter-level poverty? Like NATO’s terrorist destruction of the Nordstream pipelines hasn’t triggered a “whole of Germany” energy crisis? Somebody needs to explain to Admiral Robert Bauer (the aforementioned dolt) that 21st century realpolitik demands that you don’t conscript the public any more. You just tell them the war’s going great, and everything’s dandy. Thus far, Robbo doesn’t appear to be getting the message-

‘If the public starts panic-buying radios, torches, and bottled water to “survive the first 36 hours” then “that’s great”, said the alliance’s military chief.’ Aye, Aye, skipper. Roll out the barrel.

Not to be outdone, Britain’s very own medal-bedecked bird-brain, General Sir Patrick Sanders, popped up in the pages of the zombie rag known as the Daily Telegraph to announce “The Ukraine conflict shows calling up the public can win wars,” - apparently unaware that the majority of Ukrainian troops are dead and over two million of its citizens have left the country never to return. If that’s winning, losing must be a sight to behold.

Clearly off his meds, the general went on to suggest that Britain should “train and equip a 'citizen army' in preparation for potential mobilisation.” Presumably the barracks will be swiftly re-equipped with playstations, safe-spaces, cuddle-rooms and gender-neutral bubble-baths. I can’t wait to hear Sir Patrick on Newsnight explain why the Ministry of Defense refuses to defend Britain’s borders but the British public should sign up to defend Ukraine’s.

Nope, war just ain’t what it used to be, I’m afraid, at least judging by the lack of panic buying in my local Co-op. We are a weary tribe, muddling through the death-throes of the 80-year on/off hot/cold war that persisted mainly to sustain Washington’s monocultural theory of expansion -until it blew up in our faces during the Afghanistan debacle of 2021.

Any western leader who thinks they can drum up an army of civilian-sourced soldiers to fight a land-war against Russia needs to spend more time in a straight-jacket and a ball-gag. Europe’s post-millenial pool of young males wouldn’t lift more than a single finger if asked to join up and serve. And as the whole world knows, America’s collection of blue-haired soy-soldiers are too busy trying to find bras that match their g-strings.

Modernity writes its own rules, and all wars must now conform to the unavoidable logic of Mutual Assured Destruction. It’s either nuke the world or fight-for-profit, with no middle ground. The Russian state can flourish watching NATO countries dash their economies on the rocks of Zelensky’s vanity, but cannot profit from any further occupation of Ukrainian territory. 44 years of policing unwilling satellites proved that effort to be more trouble than it was worth. Russia’s priority is the safety of its own homeland and Washington knows it. That millions of gullible westerners believe Putin is planning aggressive invasions of Poland/Sweden/ wherever speaks to the blanket of ignorance in which our education system swaddles its products .

The Ukrainian operation has enriched a handful and pauperised the many -as was always intended. But the meatgrinder has not even slowed the glacial shift of global power. The true axis of influence in tomorrow’s world lies along the narrow line between China and India. Chinese bribery and political treachery has hollowed out the American economy in anticipation, just as Arab, Indian and Pakistani financiers have inflitrated British politics and sold us out to the middle east.

The moral deflation of our civil societies -like the sordid diversion in Ukraine- is a sideshow to the real collapse waiting in the geopolitical wings. The humiliations of Afghanistan and Ukraine demonstrate the west no longer has the stomach for the big game. Unlike Russia, neither American nor British governments wish to defend their own territory. The EU and NATO are run-down paddle-steamers clanking in circles on waves can they no longer navigate, let alone rule. The west has abandoned its own people, and somebody near the top has to admit this, has to say the words out loud.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine anyone willing to do so except Donald Trump. We already know how the global gangsters responded to his first ascent of the greasy pole of Presidency. This time round I imagine techniques beyond plague and war will be deployed to finish the job begun in 2020. What future rewards, one wonders, lie in wait for the electoral ‘winners’ of 2024?