What is the reasoning behind the targeting of melanated people for genocide? Why does it always involve the destruction of nature and natural resources?
How The Profitability of War Destroys The Ecosystems of Earth: Understanding The Role of The Military Industrial Complex in Climate Justice.
Among the world's biggest consumers of fuel, militaries account for 16%-20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2023 estimate by international experts. As temperatures hit new highs, scientists and environmental groups are stepping up pressure on the U.N. to force armies to disclose all their emissions and end a long-standing exemption that has kept some of their climate pollution off the books. Pol Pot was partially supported by the USA supposedly because of his anti-Soviet tendencies. Even after Pol Pot's massacres of millions of innocent men women and children were revealed, the US was one of the only countries to still support Pol Pot's seat at the UN and in fact continued to support them at the UN even after they were toppled by Vietnam. The United States gave the Sihanouk-Khmer Rouge coalition millions of dollars in aid while enforcing an economic embargo against the Vietnamese-backed Cambodian government.
Pol Pot was ideologically a communist and a Khmer ethnonationalist, he was a leading member of Cambodia's communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, from 1963 to 1997 and served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1963 to 1981. The Khmer Rouge, the communist party led by Pol Pot, came to power in 1975 during the Cambodian Civil War, which was linked to the Vietnam War. They defeated the Khmer Republic, who at that time were heavily supported by the U.S., including a massive bombing campaign against the Khmer Rouge until 1973. So US leaders funded both sides to kill each other! US leaders at the time contended they were supporting a legitimate Cambodian government against aggression by Communist Vietnamese forces but both sides were Marxist. Washington hoped that helping Lon Nol would ultimately serve the Cold War goal of stemming Communism's spread in Southeast Asia.
The Military Industrial Complex, profited from the Vietnam War, which includes the workers who supported those industries and the economy that existed around those workers. The Helicopter business was booming, couldn’t keep up with demand. The problem was, that those same workers were also sending their sons to South Vietnam. You can replace a helicopter but not your son.
But how profitable to the nation was Vietnam and why do we continue to get involved in policing the world for profit? It is quite hard to say who profited the most from Vietnam war, it depends on each country situation to determine how much those nations profited, but there are lots of countries who did profit, some among them would be:
+) USSR: even though at first they didn’t have much interest in sending aid to some remote country ,who they believed would eventually lose against powerful nations like France or the USA, over time the resilience, determination and creativity of the Vietnamese fighter, combined with the fact that the war begin to cost USA and France many times more than the aid USSR sent to Vietnam, all of that changed their leaders minds.
That mindset continued until the USA pulled their combat troops from Vietnam in 1973, after that the USSR quickly lost interest in Vietnam although they still sent aid, albeit of much less quantity. So what did USSR gain: monetarily, they spent between approximately 8 billion dollars, using this aid the Vietnamese forced the US to spend between approximately300 billion dollars, all in 1974 dollars. As for death toll, the USSR lost a several hundred advisors in Vietnam, meanwhile, the US lost 58.000 soldier Killed In Action (KIA), and thousands more MIA that failed to returned to civilian life. Politically the US population was divided, US politicians and generals lost the trust of their people. Diplomatically, the USSR gained a new ally in one of the most populated regions of the world. So in short, while the USSR didn’t directly gain much, they indirectly gained many times the amount they sent to Vietnam, by bleeding the US vpeople and their allies/
+) China: profited essentially the same as USSR, the amount of aid, advisors, and manual labor that China sent to Vietnam was nothing compared to the amount the US had to spend, furthermore, just like the Korean war, China can secure their border by having new allies North Vietnam, and later Vietnam as a buffer from foreign aggression. Plus, half way through the war, China found out they could repair and improve their relationships with US and the Western countries to economically gain against USSR, by making deals with US under the table, some of which affected Vietnam adversely. Out of all Communist countries at that time, China was among the first to normalize their relationship with Capitalist countries, and open their economies for foreign investment. The result is today's China has become an economic giant of Asia.
+) Japan: by the time of Vietnam war, Japan had basically recovered and rebuilt their country, even surpassed the heights before World War II. During the Vietnam war, Japan was quite active, not on a military basis but on political, diplomacy and a humanitarian front. They were one of the few countries that continued diplomacy and trading ties with both North and South Vietnam while still remaining one of the closest allies of the US, lending some weight to Japan's opinions on both side of the conflict. After the Vietnam war, the image of Japan as one of the leading countries in support of peaceful and humane efforts to end war was built and cemented this image over various conflicts still today.
+) Korea: similar to Japan situation after WW2, their country was destroyed, they had to rebuild almost everything from the ground. The loss of economics, people and politicians would take decades to recover if Korea was left on her own. And just like Japan, fortune didn’t abandoned Korean, Vietnam war opened an opportunity for foreign investment to pour into Korean, US troops invested in one more haven to rest and re-charge, and ultimately, it presented a chance for the Korean government to send their own soldiers to Vietnam, their salaries combined with aid from the US created the foundation to rebuild a Korea from the ashes.
+) Singapore: not directly profited but as more and more money, goods and personnel was directed to either Japan, Korea or Vietnam, Singapore became one of the critical transport hubs of the region would thrive along with it. Eventually becoming a vacation destination for global tourism.
+) Thailand: maintained diplomatic ties with both USA and USSR early on, later in the war, due to danger of Communist sympathy inside their territory, they switch to USA and let the US army operate and station on their land. A quick source from Wikipedia cites: The United States poured $1.1 billion in economic and military aid into Thailand, while USAID poured in another $590 million, both aiding Thailand's economy and indirectly paying for the cost of Thailand's participation and then some. At the height of the war, some 50,000 American military personnel (mostly Air Force) were stationed throughout Thailand. Thai entrepreneurs built scores of new hotels, restaurants and bars to serve the waves of free-spending American G.I.s, causing foreign funding to flow into the country. At the war's end, Thailand kept all military equipment and infrastructure left by the Americans, aiding in the country's modernization.
So what did the USA gain? Thousands of soldier KIA, hundreds more MIA, hundred of billions of dollar gone, and in the end their ally South Vietnam still didn’t survive. USA did gain some intelligence behind the political curtain. Most noteworthy would be how to foment a split between USSR and China, and enlarge the ideological split between other Communism countries competing for global resources, which would be utilized through out the Cold war years.
Some of the most important economic meetings between leaders of China and USA begin during the Vietnam war, which would open a door for both sides to engage in an open trade relationship years later. After that, stopping the spread of Communism would take a backseat to corporate profiteering, even Communism in Vietnam can be regarded as nationalism under the red cover. In short Vietnam was a bloody testing field for attempted racial and cultural genocide, lots of proselytizing of doctrine to motivate people to go to war for utopian promises, testing of urban and jungle warfare tactics and weapons. It was all a trick.
Now the planet is facing the brunt of that massive joke called the military industrial complex which is essentially the main reason nations refuse to let go of oil and fossil fuel consumption! Scientists and security analysts have warned for more than a decade that global warming is a potential national security concern. They project that the consequences of global warming – rising seas, powerful storms, famine and diminished access to fresh water – may make regions of the world politically unstable and prompt mass migration and refugee crises. Duh!
Some worry that wars may follow. Yet with few exceptions, the U.S. and other nations like China's military’s significant contribution to climate change has received little attention. Although the Defense Department has significantly reduced its fossil fuel consumption since the early 2000s, it remains the world’s single largest consumer of oil – and as a result, next to China one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters. According to the Department of Defense (DOD), the top U.S. military contractors in 2022 include Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Technologies Corporation and General Dynamics Corporation. Together, those companies account for $297.68 billion in market capitalization and in the last decade 4 billion of that was spent on lobbyists alone!
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