Revolving doors

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In late December 2018, when James “Mad Dog” Mattis resigned as secretary of defense after President Trump announced that he was going to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, it was a big story . The former general was pundited to heaven and back as the last “adult in the room”, praised in Congress and treated with enormous respect for his criticism of the president.

But what happened seven months after the resignation would be reported only in passing,  uncommented upon by the punditocracy or anyone in Congress:  Mattis took up a position on the board of General Dynamics, one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, with all the perks involved. (Admittedly, he had been on that same board from the moment he retired from the military in 2013 until the president appointed him secretary of defense in 2017.)

The only public enthusiast quoted in the media was General Dynamics Chairwoman and CEO Phebe Novakovic, the head of a company that, just after Mattis’s resignation, landed a $714 million delivery order to upgrade 174 Army M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks. In her statement she said: “Jim is a thoughtful, deliberate and principled leader with a proven track record of selfless service to our nation. We are honored to have him on our board”.

According to the Washington Post, General Dynamics is “the fourth-largest corporate recipient of U.S. government contract dollars” and Mattis himself one of at least 50 “high-level government officials” hired by defense contractors since the Trump era began. In fact, on the very board that Mattis rejoined sit six other former military officers and officials, including a former Navy admiral, a former Air Force general, a former deputy secretary of defense, and Novakovic herself who once worked for the CIA and the Pentagon.  By the way, Mark Esper, the current secretary of defense, was previously a lobbyist for Raytheon.

Such events are normal and daily in the world of the military-industrial complex. In a century when a staggeringly funded military haven’t won a war anywhere (but have never stopped trying). Failure continues to prove to be the military-industrial complex’s ultimate success. (January 21, 2020  Tomgram, lightly edited for length).

My comment: This has been going on for at least 70 years, since Eisenhower criticized the self-same “military- industrial complex”.  Nothing has changed and no wars have been won. Find your way to the top and afterwards get a nice, cushy, highly paid job using your contacts.  It isn’t supposed to be like this; or, if it is, the result ought to be  victory after victory, but it isn’t. Just more deaths,  little to show for the sacrifice, and outrageous expenditure of our tax money.

Reform of the EU?

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“Like a giant company which fails to draw any lessons from the loss of a major customer, the EU has learnt nothing from the fact that one of its largest members has voted to leave it. Trapped in the sterility of the status quo, its leaders are like members of the Ancien Régime, oblivious to legitimate complaint” and the urgent need for reform. They laugh at Britain now, but in doing so “they risk their own undoing”.  (Jeremy Warner, The Daily Telegraph)

The excerpt (above), part of a longer tirade, illustrates the fact that many Britons have no idea about history or strategy, and have bought the relentless lies told daily in the right-wing Press about the “corruption” and pettiness of the EU, amplified constantly by Russia. The EU has its faults but it is better run than he says and in better economic condition. In any case, it is too late in history for the smallish nation state.  The future belongs to the big groupings, all the more so in view of the helter-skelter growth of China.

In short, instead of working in Brussels to correct aspects of the EU, the right-wing backwoodsmen want to scrap the (mostly good) EU rules, privatize everything in sight ( healthcare already practically privatized) and encourage dubious millionaires to park illicit gains in a weakened City of London.  In soccer this is called an “own goal”.  Most people outside the country think that the U.K  gnp will decline and the poor will get poorer.  This without climate change and the likely disappearance of the Gulf Stream, which will alter the climate.

On a broader perspective, the preoccupation of statesmen over a long period has been, or should be, to restrain Germany, which, left alone, will now have in the EU an economic empire.  Secondly, they want to prevent Russian interference in Europe and the reestablishment of the old Russian empire ( Putin’s  ambition).  At the same time Europeans wanted to reassure Russia that Western Europe will be a stable, not an expanding entity.   All this to discourage the foolishness of wars which have disfigured Western Europe for centuries. The failure in the above regard has meant that the UK has been dragged into two world wars.  The EU is not just an economic entity – it is about security and mutual cooperation.  People with views like those of Little Englander Jeremy Warner are frighteningly common and, I fear, damaging.

Relevance to Epicureanism?  The search for a secure, pleasant, healthy and stress-free life.

 

Extinction on our planet

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The outlook for wildlife would be grim even if the planet were not warming. According to a major report last year, 1 million species could soon be wiped out – a sixth mass extinction.  The main cause at present is the loss of habitat, but over this century the changing climate is expected to push ever more species over the brink.

A warming world poses numerous challenges to wildlife. For many plants and animals, their current habitats will simply get too hot. Many are already moving to try to stay within their comfort zone. In the oceans, some organisms have shifted their ranges by hundreds of kilometres.

But on land there are few spaces left for animals to relocate to, and those that do exist are highly fragmented, which makes it very hard for wildlife to adapt.  In polar regions, the loss of sea ice is posing problems for the polar bear and other animals.

The twin problems of over-population and climatic change have to be addressed.  To call them hoaxes is disgraceful.  Over-population, in Africa particularly, is a cultural/religious matter, but with modern family planning there is no medical barrier to restricting the number of children you have – if you want to and have the money. A higher standard of living usually results in fewer children per couple.

As for climate change, one has to be either an oil or coal company executive or a politician taking money from such people, to still believe it is a hoax.  This is beyond being a party political matter – it is a matter of our survival on this planet.  The public pressure to do something radical about it grows and grows, and those of us who espouse Epicureanism should add to that pressure where we can.  (Provoked by a long article in New Scientist, Jan 4, 2020)

Marriage advice from the unmarried

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Although divorce only became legal in Spain in 1981, its rate is now one of the highest in the EU, at 57%.

In order to correct this problem The Catholic church in Spain is to put engaged couples on marriage guidance courses lasting two to three years.

At the moment, couples are given 20 hours of guidance. “Marriage training cannot be done in 20 hours,” said Mario Iceta, the Bishop of Bilbao and chair of the Church committee behind the initiative. “To become a priest requires seven years in the seminary, so how can we say it’s 20 hours to become a husband, wife, father and mother?” Couples are expected to attend fortnightly sessions over the two to three years, during which time they are encouraged to remain chaste. The course is divided into 12 subject headings,  including communication, conflict resolution and “the beauty of sexuality”.

My take on it:  My wife and I were married as mature adults by a charming young (unmarried) Episcopal minister, who required us to have three advisory sessions on how to conduct a successful marriage.  We politely concurred, but after the second session he declared it a waste of time. “You know more about it than I do,” he said.

I have no problem with an outsider laying down the rules about joint 50/50 effort around the marital household to young men spoiled by their mothers.  Badly needed by some.  But by Catholic priests who have no experience of living with a person of the opposite sex?  And fortnightly sessions over over three years?  As for chastity, good luck with that!

I suspect no amount of well-meant advice from a priest is going to alter the statistics on divorce. Other societal trends are at work.

Refugees

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According to Quartz*, last October was the first month since records began in 1980 that the US settled no refugees.  For a country that was built upon immigration and refugees this is a startling  matter.  It is one thing to restrict immigration and be picky about who you let in, but quite another to refuse the victims of war and terrorism, the oppressed and hungry, the children without parents.

Epicureans care for these poor people and want to help them.  This is in the fine old tradition of taking in the poor, the sick and the oppressed.  Ever visited the statue of Liberty?  It now seems that, in order to appease the fundamentalist “christians”, immigrants in general, the sufferers of violence, along with those whose religions are “suspect”,  are being refused entry.  Navigating the bureaucracy is hard enough, even if you speak the language, have useful skills and come from a politically “acceptable” country, without this recent and short-sighted policy. (These are the sort of people who will eventually delivery your Amazon parcels and stand on tall ladders clearing your gutters.  We need them!).

Meanwhile, the famous wall is being built on the Southern frontier.  If this monument stopped the massive importation of the very drugs used by some Americans and which are a primary cause of the Latin American gang violence and the need to get the hell out, perhaps one could support it.  But, of course, it won’t.  In any case, as the effects of climate change worsen no wall is going to be effective.

*(I had to Google Quartz.  It is a business magazine with editions devoted to the US Africa, India and the UK).  Looks interesting.