We have entered a strange, late-stage Empire era, comparable to the Soviet Union’s Glasnost, in which elements of the US imperial braintrust can see with blinding clarity Washington’s entire hegemonic global project is stumbling rapidly and irreversibly towards extinction, and announce so publicly - but their insight does not translate into evasive governmental action at home. The RAND Commission report elicited no mainstream coverage or comment whatsoever, proof positive there isn’t a concomitant effort to manufacture consent for its radical, far-reaching prescriptions.

Were the Commission’s recommendations remotely plausible, a multipronged PR campaign would’ve immediately ensued to convince Americans of the righteousness of the Empire’s mission, and the necessity of investing in US “defense” to the tune of trillions. The media’s silence on the report’s damning findings definitionally reflects an omertà among the US political class. They well-know American reindustrialisation can’t happen. So, the fatal “disconnect” between Pentagon operational and industrial planning identified by RAND will endure, and with it ever-intensifying US military impotence. We’re spectating the Empire’s final acts in real-time.

  • @orclev
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    023 days ago

    What an absolute joke of a propaganda piece. China might qualify as a threat, but as has been amply shown recently Russia is a paper tiger. A tiny nation armed with hand me down retired military hardware has not only fought them to a standstill but actually pushed back into their own territory and this piece would have us believe they’re some kind of military juggernaut poised to crush the US military.

    This is also ignoring the strained ties between Russia and China lately and the close economic ties between the US and China. The US and China might not exactly be friendly with each other, but also can’t really afford to be enemies. Russia on the other hand only exports oil, an increasingly devalued resource, and one that is readily available from multiple other countries.