{"id":45157,"date":"2023-12-21T16:43:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T00:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=45157"},"modified":"2023-12-21T16:43:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T00:43:54","slug":"tis-the-season-for-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/21\/tis-the-season-for-war\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tis the Season for War"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

As Christmas approaches, it doesn\u2019t seem to be the season to be jolly, unless you\u2019re a U.S. weapons manufacturer. It seems instead yet another season for war, as the president and Congress fight over how much deadly weaponry to send to Ukraine and Israel (and to Taiwan as well). Look under the White House Christmas tree and you\u2019ll find Hellfire missiles for Israel, cluster munitions for Ukraine, and similar gifts offering joy to the world.<\/p>\n

Last week, Ukraine\u2019s president paid a visit to Washington where he posed with his most fervent supporters and gift-givers: U.S. arms manufacturers. Talk about a photo op!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Zelensky meets with high-ranking executives of the \u201cmerchants of death,\u201d or Santa\u2019s DC Beltway elves<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Zelensky is no dummy. He knows that Congress and the President ultimately answer to the military-industrial complex. Look for a compromise bill in January that gives Ukraine most of the weapons that it\u2019s requesting.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to send Israel the bombs, missiles, and shells it\u2019s using to level Gaza. Last night, I was reading a book and came across this quote about war. Can you guess the person speaking?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe victor will not be asked afterwards whether he told the truth or not [about the war]. When starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory. Close your hearts to pity. Act brutally. [The] people must obtain what is their right. Their existence must be made secure. The stronger man is right. The greatest harshness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest harshness\u201d might give the game away. It\u2019s Adolf Hitler before the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. It\u2019s from Ian Kershaw\u2019s definitive two-volume biography of Hitler, v.2, p. 209.<\/p>\n

A brutal, pitiless, war of the greatest harshness: that description doesn\u2019t seem alien to our world today.<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. As Christmas approaches, it doesn\u2019t seem to be the season to be jolly, unless you\u2019re a U.S. weapons manufacturer. It seems instead yet another season for war, as the president and Congress fight over how much deadly weaponry to send to Ukraine and Israel (and to Taiwan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-45157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Hellfire Missiles and Cluster Munitions under the White House Christmas Tree"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45157"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45159,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45157\/revisions\/45159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45157"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=45157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}