Hey Guys, Not sure where to post this so move it if its in the wrong section. I'm trying to understand all this so am a noob. Watching Mike Maloney because I find it easier to understand. In this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdSq5H7awi8&t=3s) he talks about the 7 stages of empires. One of the stages he discusses, is about a country putting its military to use or going to war. Question I would like to know/understand (in this example) is why did America go to war? They were prosperous, did they need to get involved? I was thinking, had they not gotten involved their expenses wouldn't have gotten out of control and maybe they wouldn't have the problem they have right now.
No doubt they would be in a much better position had they not. I think the point he (Maloney) makes is that these powers get a bit too big for their boots and they believe they can either take over more land than they can manage, take on too many/too big of enemies, or they can police the world is basically where the states are at the moment. Undoubtedly they would be in a better financial position than they are right now had they kept out of it, but then there comes the position as top military power; would someone else [cough Chyna cough] make some moves around the world that would give them the top dog position [cough South china sea cough] and that detracts from the US as THE world power. At the end of the day it is all a big game they play with the lives of others. It will happen because human nature says it has to happen. You can't be the best without beating others into submission. Nobody ever became the scariest in the school yard without beating someone up. Edit: That's not quite true. Some just get someone bigger to do it on their behalf.
Hmm I know there may be different reasons for different wars. Maybe I'll rephrase my question. Why does a prosperous country find the need to go to war?
Much of America's industrial base revolves around the military. It is essentially a permanent war economy, and lobbyists for military suppliers have become very influential. Secondly, there is an underlying Puritan, neoconservative narrative that exists independent of the government in power. This contributes to a general belief that America can solve all international problems with better and better use of the military. This has been termed a belief in immaculate intervention. Lobbyists push this narrative because it is very good business. Welcome to the Perpetual War. A couple of intro books on the topic are: * War is a Racket, US General (Marine Corps) Smedley D. Butler, and * Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Gore Vidal
Quickly? It's often a defence measure to protect the USD - http://www.rferl.org/a/1095057.html (The bonus was that oil was the loot - protect one market, the USD, and control another, crude.) Same way Mummar Gaddafi (Libya) was toppled for chairing the push for a gold standard in the region, protect the USD - http://thefreethoughtproject.com/de...i-stop-creation-gold-backed-african-currency/ Examples are endless and complex - and they cant possibly be be summised in a forum format, but the pattern of greed and protecting that greed is thorughout all of the examples. This book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man) is another view of how foreign policy guided by the World Bank and USAID has cornered almost all countries around the world - they get what the want for no other reason than, they want it. Fold the "military industrial complex" into decades of constant occupation overseas and you cant possibly stop an 'industry' - peace is bad for business.
The above 2 posts are very good answers in particular. The other factor is that it's always good for a government to have a "bogey man" to unite the country behind. At a base level voters respect strength and having a bogey man allows leadership to do a bit of chest beating and grand standing to show how strong and noble they are. Fear of a bogey man can also be a powerful motivator and dissenters can be more easily dealt with if they can be accused of collaborating or sympathizing with an enemy. History is littered with examples.
In hindsight I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet either. Read 1984 by George Orwell. Perpetual war doctrine is there plus a LOT of other stuff we are seeing today.
