Quote of the Day

Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma, attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 18, 2017 © Ruben Sprich / Reuters

“Over the past thirty years, the Americans had thirteen wars spending 40.2 trillion dollars,” said Ma, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. - RT, formerly Russia Today

30 years only goes back to 1987. Have we really had thirteen wars? Wikipedia says yes:

1. Tanker War
2. Invasion of Panama
3. Gulf War
4. Somali Civil War
5. Intervention in Haiti
6. Bosnian War
7. Kosovo War
8. War in Afghanistan
9. Iraq War
10. War in North-West Pakistan
11. 2011 military intervention in Libya
12. War on ISIL (Operation Inherent Resolve)
13. War in Afghanistan

I remember hearing about most of these, except the Tanker War, I don't remember that one. But most of them didn't rise to the level of 'war'. Sending jet aircraft to bomb Jihadist's armed with AK-47's doesn't really seem like a war. That kind of thing seems more like calling the exterminator to get rid of some vermin. But jet aircraft are very expensive to buy, operate and maintain, so for economic purposes, it fits the bill.

On the other hand, have all these wars done any good? We are trying to bring peace, prosperity and democracy to the poor and the oppressed, or at least I think that is what we are trying to do. Sometimes I think we are only running these operations to make the area safe for capitalist exploitation. But people are funny. Squeeze them hard enough and all their good qualities will disappear behind a shell of hostility and suspicion. Trying to liberate people who have retreated behind their armored shell is liable to provoke more hostility than open acceptance.

Via Detroit Steve