Guest post: As long as Raytheon stands to profit

May 19th, 2023 | By Ophelia Benson
Category: Notes and Comment Blog

Originally a comment by Mike Haubrich on All the rivers.

Quite honestly, the most frightening aspect is that the heating is affecting access to resources, especially water. Flooding does have its benefits when it’s part of a natural cycle, as in the Red River Valley of the North, or the Nile Delta, where the floods leave behind nutrients on agricultural land that would otherwise be overused and end up not being arable. But the floods, such as in Italy, in Pakistan last year, and in England before that, do not do much to restore the natural water table as the water rushes down towards the sea. And the water that’s flooding there is not falling in places that also need it, such as Syria and Jordan and other areas of the Levant that are arable.

War is fundamentally a struggle over resources. And the conflicts over resources are going to escalate. The Russian invasion of the Ukraine is just one of the wars that will be sending missiles and rockets into the cities and towns. And war manufacturing feeds the economic cycle, so all the Net Zero goals of the governments trying to comply (or pretending to comply) with the IPCC goals will be obliterated by conflict. This will further exacerbate the movement of people seeking a safe place, where they can work and feed themselves. And the movements to restrict refugees are based on resource conflict as well. What we see at the US Southern border and on the shores of Dover is a trickle of the flood of people that will be seeking some sort of promised land that doesn’t exist, or won’t for long.

So, yes, James, we can try to greenify as much as we want. But as long as Raytheon stands to profit from the resource conflicts, you may as well drive that big diesel truck you’ve been eyeing with the lifts and the bull balls on the trailer hitch.

I listen to a lot of music to avoid having to think about this all the time. I can recommend some tunes if you’d like.

5 Responses to “Guest post: As long as Raytheon stands to profit”

#1
Mike Haubrich
May 19, 2023 at 5:37 am

My apologies to Ukrainian readers, adding “the” to the name was out of long habit, and I didn’t even realize it until re-reading just now. I do know better.
#2
J.A.
May 19, 2023 at 7:15 am

Speaking of Ukraine, ironically one of the symbols of its resistance to the Russian invasion is a weapon made by Raytheon:

Ukraine war: St Javelin and the missile that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance

The US-made Javelin missiles have become an indispensable weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal – for the military as well as public morale.

For people of faith, Mary Magdalene is an icon of redemption; the embodiment of the mantra that no matter how far you fall, there is always hope for a second chance. For the people of Ukraine, a reimagined image of her bearing a particular weapon has become a potent symbol of resistance.

Having started as a meme, St Javelin of Ukraine, as she is now known, is becoming an increasingly familiar sight on social media and elsewhere.

In her most recent iteration, the halo encircling her head is not the radiant gold you would expect from centuries of religious iconography but rather the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. Her flowing robes are green, reminiscent of khaki army fatigues. Rather than joined in prayer, her hands instead cradle a FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile launcher. …

As for the reasons for Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it’s not really about resources but control. There’s no reason why Russia couldn’t have traded with Ukraine for goods and even services, but what Putin and other Russian revanchists want is to Make Russia Great Again so that Russia can better dictate to others what it wants from them by threats and of course war. The nasty brutish fact is that waging war can work, so you do need weapons from the likes of Raytheon to fight back.
#3
John Reed
May 19, 2023 at 9:08 am

Regarding that last bit…

“I listen to a lot of music to avoid having to think about this all the time. ”

How much of modern society exists to do just that… distract us from using our big brains to think about the devastation we are causing to the planet and its inhabitants? Sure, we call it “arts & entertainment,” but it’s really all just a distraction, a misdirection of our attention away from certain objective realities.
#4
TheDudeDiogenes
May 19, 2023 at 9:45 am

What, realistically, are we readers of this blog supposed to do? Maybe the arts are just the band playing on while the Titanic sinks, but isn’t that an apt metaphor?

Our society is going down, and we’re about as helpless as the passengers on that boat to stop it. I’ve yet to see a plausible policy action or set of actions that could be undertaken with some likelihood of success. Does anyone else know of any? “Everybody reduce their consumption” is a slogan, not a political program.
#5
Mike Haubrich
May 19, 2023 at 10:07 am

Sure, we call it “arts & entertainment,” but it’s really all just a distraction, a misdirection of our attention away from certain objective realities.

We can’t think about it 24/7, we need to turn away to refresh.

But I do recommend that you listen to “Carnage Bargain” by the Paranoyds. It’s an example of how punkers respond to Trumpism.

https://www.stereogum.com/2049387/the-paranoyds-carnage-bargain-video/premiere/

It’s an extremely vulnerable time in America — things aren’t sugar coated anymore. The dirt and grime that was swept under the rug has risen to surface. It’s impossible for us to get through a day without thinking of the thousands of migrant children in cages at the border alone, some without proper beds, soap, toothbrushes, and with lights on 24/7. We can not continue to ignore the black lives, young and old, taken by police almost every week. The plastic crisis. The mass shootings. The extreme need for prison reform. The opioid crisis. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The list goes on, and the hole gets deeper. Sometimes I can’t sleep and I wonder: do they sleep well in the White House? What else can I do as a privileged citizen? They want to get a Carnage Bargain. I want to pick up garbage.

It’s okay if you take a break. The world won’t complete its destruction in those few minutes.