In the U.S., the strongest collective memory of America’s wars of choice is the desirability – and ease – of forgetting them. So it will be when we look at a ruined Ukraine in the rear-view mirror, writes Michael Brenner.
By Michael Brenner
Special to Consortium News
The United States is be
Of course, capitalists want to maximize profits - so long as their power isn't threatened. And in all three of these cases, they wanted to send a message to any other countries that would dare not toe the line: "you could be next".
While they certainly would have preferred different outcomes in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, they may well have succeeded in "containing" communism and intimidating independent thinking - certainly Gaddafi got the message and hoped letting in western oil companies would be enough appeasement. And we know how that turned out...
So this might be what makes the Ukraine case different. The West is failing so hard to impose any difficulties on Russia that it's sending a different message to the world - that it can be fought and defeated, and that Global South unity might not only be possible but necessary.