From Jamie Wendland’s “A train on fire – America’s waning
empire”
Excerpt, minor edit, end comment by
Carolyn Bennett
“Every reasonable person understands that war is an occasional reality for nearly every
nation.
|
“Civilized
people
|
acknowledge the brutality, human cost and repercussions of
military action. It is reserved as the final option for extreme cases of
defense from an aggressor, or a last extreme measure when the peace and
security of the nation is threatened.
Danger lies when war becomes a way
of life and an accepted part of national culture.
All aggression is redefined as
somehow a justifiable defensive act. The
only time the United States was actually attacked by an aggressor was by Japan
in December of 1941 ─ but (Americans) sanitize all of their aggressive actions
as a ‘preemptive’ defensive, instead of the offensive acts of war they really
are.
The USA is a train on fire, in love
with war; so puffed with ignorant, patriotic pride that it is unaware that it is
careening out of control, on a destination of complete self destruction.
Affair with war
“Present day America is so entangled in the intimate affair
with military might that even newborns, wearing ‘adorable’ camouflage jumpers
adorned with ‘U.S. Special Forces,’ suckle war from birth.
“War is everywhere in this culture and the acceptance is so
internalized that the romanticism is hardly questioned anymore.
|
“Glorification
of militarism
|
is present in virtually every store, petrol station, pub and
television commercial break.
Even American churches ‘support the
troops’ and their murderous conquests.
Through posters, fundraising
canisters and even commercial packaging, Americans are reminded of the great
sacrifice by their patriotic troops.
Returning and active soldiers are
held in such high regard, it is a small wonder there is little shortage of
young new recruits.
|
“Liberals
|
who claim to oppose [U.S.]
Imperialist wars are not immune to this seduction. Quick to attach soldiers to
any cause they possibly can, activists are actually glorifying the creation of
the very warriors whose action they claim to oppose.”
Reality confronts Rhetoric:
“how” contradicts “who”
“Liberals are quick to point out that one in four American
homeless people are veterans ─ so society, therefore, must be unfair to
veterans.
The issue of the homeless is a
national disgrace for anyone to suffer but the high percentage of veterans
simply means that more Americans overall are veterans and more of them are also
homeless.
Liberals are essentially requesting
special housing privileges for homeless veterans when they should be demanding
an end to the wars which created both.
When all of a nation’s resources
are paying for war, the very conditions which create homelessness can never be
addressed.
U.S. President Barack “Obama’s escalation of war not only
quadrupled American deaths but also resulted in more than an additional 17,000
permanently and severely injured American troops.
 “Seventeen
thousand |
so maimed by war that any decent human would recoil in
disgust and demand an end to such atrocities. But such is American romanticism
of military that they glorify these injuries through insulting Facebook memes,
actually celebrating the simple achievements of the needlessly disfigured.
“Limbs and faces blown to bits are not inspirational ─ they
are revolting, disgusting reminders of what uncivilized barbarians this nation
has become.
Blinded by shrapnel, this person is
a jawless torso confined to an institution for the rest of their life because
of war. They were not born this way. This is no unfortunate biological
abnormality that they have overcome.
It is not beautiful symbolism of
human spirit that this person has now learned to tap Morse code with their
head.
But there is no horror. There is
only another patriotic fighter of the American way embracing his child with the
cold steel of artificial arms ─ Isn’t it heartwarming?
“The American view of innocent civilian death by these wars is repulsively heartless. One Democratic Party supporter of terrorist drone attacks summarized the attitude well during a rare media discussion of this merciless atrocity, even against children: |
‘The important point is, there are
no four-year-old American children being killed.’
  “To
Americans today, there no longer exist the ‘horrors of war’: |
injuries and deaths so gruesome and terrible that any person
of moral conscience would be moved to action in order to prevent them; casualties
so staggering and profound that a reasonable leader of any nation would be
motivated to wage wars very judiciously.…”
For the United States today, military action prompts no raised brow (or rarely so); military action is a way of life ─ no longer needing justification or explanation. “War
consumes media, entertainment and the economy. Above all other priorities,
domestic and foreign, it dominates politics.…
“Historically, as an
end result, perpetual war is counterproductive for a nation, empire and people,”
Jamie Wendland ends. “On this course, the United States will either spend
itself to death on Imperialist expansion or threaten the peace of so many other
nations that it can no longer be tolerated.
“But eventually ─ through its own actions ─ America will
strangle itself by its own hand. The
United
States, as a wise songwriter of another land, language and era noted of another:
‘This train is on fire and we have
nothing to reap anymore.
This train is on fire and we have nowhere else
to run.
This land was ours before we got bogged down
in war.
She will die if it is a tie; it is time to
return to the land itself.’ ─ Boris Grebenshikov, “Train on Fire”
Sadly, I could not agree more.
Sources and notes
Boris Grebenshikov or BG
One of the most prominent members of the generation widely considered the ‘founding fathers’ of Russian rock music, Boris
Grebenshikov has written, in a 30+-year career, more than 500 songs, most
of which have been recorded and/or performed publicly.
Among his recorded cover albums on material from the two
most prominent Russian-language songwriters [Alexander Vertinsky (1994’s Songs
of A.Vertinsky (Pesni A.Vertinskogo)] and Bulat Okudzhava [1999’s Songs of
B.Okudzhava (Pesni B.Okudzhavy)], two albums of mantra music with Gabrielle
Roth and the Mirrors, (1998’s Refuge and 2002’s Bardo), and an album of
electronica versions of Aquarium songs from late 1970s – early 1980s with the
Russian duo Deadushki. He is credited on records by big-in-Russia bands
Nautilus Pompilius, Mashina Vremeni and Kino, as well as the UK acts Shakespeare’s
Sister and Kate St. John.
Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (also known as Boris Purushottama
Grebenshikov and colloquially known as BG) is a household name in Russia; often
called ‘Grandfather of Russian Rock.’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Grebenshchikov
“A train on fire - America's waning empire” by Jamie
Wendland at Pravda RU, April 18, 2013,
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/18-04-2013/124329-train_fire-0/#
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