Jeffrey Sachs 美國外交政策是基於腐敗的騙局

美國外交政策是基於腐敗的騙局

https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/wspgnywf65g3dw8wnkb6x4x4x84wrmz7

Jeffrey Sachs  2023年12月26日

美國外交政策似乎完全不合理。 美國發生了一場災難性的戰爭 - 阿富汗，伊拉克，敘利亞，利比亞，烏克蘭和加沙。 最近幾天，美國在支持以色列對巴勒斯坦人的種族滅絕行動方麵的全球立場，投票反對聯合國大會的決議，該決議由153個國家支持的加沙停火，占世界人口的89％，僅由美國和美國，僅美國，僅美國，美國，僅由美國，美國，美國和 9個小國家不到1％的世界人口。

在過去的20年中，美國每個主要的外交政策目標都失敗了。 在美國占領阿富汗20年後，塔利班重新上台。 伊拉克後薩達姆之後依賴伊朗。 盡管中央情報局努力推翻他，但敘利亞總統巴沙爾·阿薩德（Bashar al-Assad）仍繼續執政。 在由美國領導的北約任務推翻穆阿瑪·卡紮菲（Muammar Gaddafi）之後，利比亞陷入了曠日持久的內戰。 烏克蘭在2023年在2022年秘密地削減了俄羅斯與烏克蘭之間的和平協議之後，在2023年被俄羅斯在戰場上進行了抨擊。

盡管有這些顯著且昂貴的脫衣舞，一個跟隨另一個角色，幾十年來，同樣的角色仍然存在於美國外交政策的領導下，包括喬·拜登，維多利亞·努蘭德，傑克·沙利文，查克·舒默，米奇·麥康奈爾和希拉裏·克林頓。

是什麽賦予了？

這一難題是通過認識到美國外交政策根本沒有與美國人民利益有關的。 這是關於華盛頓內部人士的利益，因為他們為自己，員工和家庭成員追求競選捐款和有利可圖的工作。 簡而言之，美國外交政策被大筆資金侵犯。

結果，美國人民失去了重大。 自2000年以來，戰爭失敗的戰爭使他們在直接支出中造成了約5萬億美元的損失，或者每個家庭約40,000美元。 在接下來的幾十年中，將在退伍軍人的護理上花費2萬億美元。 除了美國人直接產生的成本之外，我們還應該認識到在國外遭受的可怕高昂成本，在戰區中，數百萬生命損失了，對財產和自然的破壞數萬億美元。

費用繼續增加。 如果我們增加五角大樓直接支出，中央情報局和其他情報機構的預算，退伍軍人政府的預算，能源核核部的預算，2024年美國軍事與軍事聯係的支出將達到約1.5萬億美元，大約為每戶12,000美元。 武器計劃，國務院與軍事聯係的“外國援助”（例如以色列）和其他與安全相關的預算線。 數千億美元的資金落在了流失中，浪費了無用的戰爭，海外軍事基地以及完全不必要的武器，使世界更接近第二次世界大戰。

然而，描述這些龐大的成本也是解釋美國外交政策的扭曲“理性”。 1.5萬億美元的軍事場所是騙局，它不斷捐贈給軍事工業綜合體和華盛頓的內部人士，即使它卻使美國和世界危害了。

要了解外國政策的騙局，請將當今的聯邦政府視為由最高投標人控製的多部門球拍。 華爾街分區用完了財政部。 衛生行業部的衛生和公共服務部未能。 大石油和煤炭部的能源和內政部已經用光了。 外交政策部門用完了白宮，五角大樓和中央情報局。

每個部門都將公共權力通過內幕交易，由公司競選捐款和遊說支出供私人收益。 有趣的是，衛生行業部與外交政策部相比，是一個非凡的財務騙局。 在2022年，美國的衛生支出總計為4.5萬億美元，約為每個家庭36,000美元，是迄今為止全球健康成本最高的，而美國預期壽命中，美國在世界上排名大約40。 失敗的健康政策對健康行業來說是很大的錢，就像失敗的外交政策轉化為軍事工業綜合體的巨大收益一樣。

外交政策部由一個小的，秘密和緊密的小夥子經營，包括白宮，中央情報局，國務院，五角大樓，眾議院和參議院的武裝部隊委員會以及主要軍事機業的頂級黃銅 包括波音，洛克希德·馬丁，通用動力，諾斯羅普·格魯曼和雷神等公司。 製定政策可能涉及一千個關鍵人物。 公共利益幾乎沒有作用。

主要外交政策製定者運營了800個美國海外軍事基地，數百十億美元的軍事合同以及部署設備的戰爭行動。 當然，戰爭越多，生意就越多。 外國的私有化

戰爭業務本身的私有化已經大大擴大了政策，因為越來越多的“核心”軍事職能分發給了武器製造商，以及哈利伯頓，布茲·艾倫·漢密爾頓和卡西等承包商。

除了數千億美元的軍事合同外，軍事和中央情報局行動還有重要的業務溢出。 在世界各地80個國家 /地區的軍事基地中，美國中央情報局在確定這些國家 /地區的規則方麵扮演著重要但主要是秘密的角色，從而塑造了涉及涉及礦物質，碳氫化合物，管道的利潤豐厚的交易的政策，從而扮演著秘密的角色。 以及農場和林地。 自1947年以來，美國的目標是推翻至少80個政府，通常是由中央情報局（CIA）通過政變，暗殺，叛亂，內亂，選舉，篡改，經濟製裁和公開戰爭領導的。 （有關1947年至1989年美國政權改變業務的精湛研究，請參見Lindsey O’Rourke的秘密政權變更，2018年）。

除了商業利益外，當然還有思想家真正相信美國統治世界的權利。 不斷吸引的Kagan家族是最著名的案例，盡管他們的財務利益也與戰爭行業深深相互交織。 關於意識形態的觀點是這個。 意識形態醫生幾乎在所有場合都錯了，很久以前，他們在華盛頓失去了欺負地講台，但由於他們作為溫暖的人的用處。 他們是否有意義，他們是軍事工業綜合體的有償表演者。

這種正在進行的業務騙局給人帶來了一種不便。 從理論上講，外交政策是為了美國人民的利益而實現的，盡管事實是事實。 （當然，類似的矛盾也適用於價格過高的醫療保健，華爾街的政府救助，石油行業津貼和其他騙局）。 美國人民偶爾聽到真相時，很少支持美國外交政策的陰謀。 美國的戰爭不是由大眾需求發動的，而是由高高的決定。 需要采取特殊措施來使人們遠離決策。

這樣的第一個措施是毫不留情的宣傳。 喬治·奧威爾（George Orwell）於1984年將其釘在1984年，當時“黨派”突然將外國敵人從歐亞大陸轉移到了東亞，而沒有任何解釋。 美國本質上也是如此。 誰是美國最墳墓？ 根據季節，請選擇您的選擇。 薩達姆·侯賽因（Saddam Hussein），塔利班（Taliban），雨果·查韋斯（Hugo Chavez），巴沙爾·阿薩德（Bashar al-Assad），伊希斯（Isis），基地組織（Al-Qaeda），卡紮菲（Gaddafi），弗拉基米爾·普京（Vladimir Putin），哈馬斯（Hamas）在美國宣傳中都扮演著“希特勒”的角色。 白宮發言人約翰·柯比（John Kirby）臉上露出了笑容，表明他也知道他在說什麽是荒謬的，盡管很有趣。

華盛頓智囊團靠軍事承包商和偶爾是美國騙局行動一部分的外國政府的捐款來擴大宣傳。 想想大西洋委員會，CSIS，當然還有受歡迎的戰爭研究所，由主要的軍事承包商帶給您。

第二個是隱藏外交政策行動的成本。 在1960年代，美國政府犯了一個錯誤，即強迫美國人民通過起草年輕人在越南戰鬥並提高稅收來支付戰爭的費用，從而迫使美國人民承擔軍事工業綜合體的費用。 公眾反對。

從1970年代開始，政府變得更加聰明。 政府結束了草案，並在五角大樓支出的支持下，使兵役成為雇用的工作，而不是公共服務，以招募較低經濟地層的士兵。 它還放棄了古樸的想法，即政府支出應由稅收資助，而是將軍事預算轉移到了赤字支出中，以保護其免受流行的反對派的侵害，如果稅收征收稅款，這將觸發。

它還吸引了烏克蘭等客戶國家在當地的戰爭中與美國的戰爭作鬥爭，因此沒有美國的屍體袋會破壞美國的宣傳機器。 不用說，美國戰爭大師，例如沙利文，眨眼，努蘭，舒默和麥康奈爾，距離前線數千英裏。 垂死的人保留給烏克蘭人。 參議員Richard Blumenthal（D-Conn。）為烏克蘭的軍事援助辯護，因為這是“沒有一個美國的服務女人或男人受傷或失去的人”，以某種方式不介紹好參議員的生活 在北約擴大的一場美國發動的戰爭中，他們死於成千上萬的人。

該係統的基礎是美國國會對戰爭業務的完全從屬，以避免對五角大樓預算和行政部門發動的戰爭的任何質疑。 國會的從屬工作如下。 首先，國會對戰爭與和平的監督在很大程度上被分配給眾議院和參議院武裝部隊

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/wspgnywf65g3dw8wnkb6x4x84wrmz7

December 26, 2023

US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

In the past 20 years, every major US foreign policy objective has failed. The Taliban returned to power after 20 years of US occupation of Afghanistan. Post-Saddam Iraq became dependent on Iran. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad stayed in power despite a CIA effort to overthrow him. Libya fell into a protracted civil war after a US-led NATO mission overthrew Muammar Gaddafi. Ukraine was bludgeoned on the battlefield by Russia in 2023 after the US secretly scuttled a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in 2022.

Despite these remarkable and costly debacles, one following the other, the same cast of characters has remained at the helm of US foreign policy for decades, including Joe Biden, Victoria Nuland, Jake Sullivan, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Hillary Clinton.

What gives?

The puzzle is solved by recognizing that American foreign policy is not at all about the interests of the American people. It is about the interests of the Washington insiders, as they chase campaign contributions and lucrative jobs for themselves, staff, and family members. In short, US foreign policy has been hacked by big money.

As a result, the American people are losing big. The failed wars since 2000 have cost them around $5 trillion in direct outlays, or around $40,000 per household. Another $2 trillion or so will be spent in the coming decades on veterans’ care. Beyond the costs directly incurred by Americans, we should also recognize the horrendously high costs suffered abroad, in millions of lives lost and trillions of dollars of destruction to property and nature in the war zones.

The costs continue to mount. US Military-linked outlays in 2024 will come to around $1.5 trillion, or roughly $12,000 per household, if we add the direct Pentagon spending, the budgets of the CIA and other intelligence agencies, the budget of the Veteran’s Administration, the Department of Energy nuclear weapons program, the State Department’s military-linked “foreign aid” (such as to Israel), and other security-related budget lines. Hundreds of billions of dollars are money down the drain, squandered in useless wars, overseas military bases, and a wholly unnecessary arms build-up that brings the world closer to WWIII.

Yet to describe these gargantuan costs is also to explain the twisted “rationality” of US foreign policy. The $1.5 trillion in military outlays is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.

To understand the foreign-policy scam, think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders. The Wall Street division is run out of the Treasury. The Health Industry division is run out of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Big Oil and Coal division is run out of the Departments of Energy and Interior. And the Foreign Policy division is run out of the White House, Pentagon and CIA.

Each division uses public power for private gain through insider dealing, greased by corporate campaign contributions and lobbying outlays. Interestingly, the Health Industry division rivals the Foreign Policy division as a remarkable financial scam. America’s health outlays totaled an astounding $4.5 trillion in 2022, or roughly $36,000 per household, by far the highest health costs in the world, while America ranked roughly 40th in the world among nations in life expectancy. A failed health policy translates into very big bucks for the health industry, just as a failed foreign policy translates into mega-revenues of the military-industrial complex.

The Foreign Policy division is run by a small, secretive and tight-knit coterie, including the top brass of the White House, the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon, the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate, and the major military firms including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. There are perhaps a thousand key individuals involved in setting policy. The public interest plays little role.

The key foreign policy makers run the operations of 800 US overseas military bases, hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, and the war operations where the equipment is deployed. The more wars, of course, the more business. The privatization of foreign policy has been greatly amplified by the privatization of the war business itself, as more and more “core” military functions are handed out to the arms manufacturers and to contractors such as Haliburton, Booz Allen Hamilton, and CACI.

In addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars of military contracts, there are important business spillovers from the military and CIA operations. With military bases in 80 countries around the world, and CIA operations in many more, the US plays a large, though mostly covert role, in determining who rules in those countries, and thereby on policies that shape lucrative deals involving minerals, hydrocarbons, pipelines, and farm and forest land. The US has aimed to overthrow at least 80 governments since 1947, typically led by the CIA through the instigation of coups, assassinations, insurrections, civil unrest, election tampering, economic sanctions, and overt wars. (For a superb study of US regime-change operations from 1947 to 1989, see Lindsey O’Rourke’s Covert Regime Change, 2018).

In addition to business interests, there are of course ideologues who truly believe in America’s right to rule the world. The ever-warmongering Kagan family is the most famous case, though their financial interests are also deeply intertwined with the war industry. The point about ideology is this. The ideologists have been wrong on nearly every occasion and long ago would have lost their bully pulpits in Washington but for their usefulness as warmongers. Wittingly or not, they serve as paid performers for the military-industrial complex.

There is one persistent inconvenience for this ongoing business scam. In theory, foreign policy is carried out in the interest of the American people, though the opposite is the truth. (A similar contradiction of course applies to overpriced healthcare, government bailouts of Wall Street, oil-industry perks, and other scams). The American people rarely support the machinations of US foreign policy when they occasionally hear the truth. America’s wars are not waged by popular demand but by decisions from on high. Special measures are needed to keep the people away from decision making.

The first such measure is unrelenting propaganda. George Orwell nailed it in 1984 when “the Party” suddenly switched the foreign enemy from Eurasia to Eastasia without a word of explanation. The US essentially does the same. Who is the US gravest enemy? Take your pick, according to the season. Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, Hugo Chavez, Bashar al-Assad, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, have all played the role of “Hitler” in US propaganda. White House spokesman John Kirby delivers the propaganda with a smirk on his face, signaling that he too knows that what he is saying is ludicrous, albeit mildly entertaining.

The propaganda is amplified by the Washington think tanks that live off of donations by military contractors and occasionally foreign governments that are part of the US scam operations. Think of the Atlantic Council, CSIS, and of course the ever-popular Institute for the Study of War, brought to you by the major military contractors.

The second is to hide the costs of the foreign policy operations. In the 1960s, the US Government made the mistake of forcing the American people to bear the costs of the military-industrial complex by drafting young people to fight in Vietnam and by raising taxes to pay for the war. The public erupted in opposition.

From the 1970s onward the government has been far more clever. The government ended the draft, and made military service a job for hire rather than a public service, backed by Pentagon outlays to recruit soldiers from lower economic strata. It also abandoned the quaint idea that government outlays should be funded by taxes, and instead shifted the military budget to deficit spending which protects it from popular opposition that would be triggered if it were tax-funded.

It has also suckered client states such as Ukraine to fight America’s wars on the ground, so that no American body bags would spoil the US propaganda machine. Needless to say, US masters of war such as Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, and McConnell remain thousands of miles away from the frontlines. The dying is reserved for Ukrainians. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) defended American military aid to Ukraine as money well spent because it is “without a single American service woman or man injured or lost,” somehow not dawning on the good Senator to spare the lives of Ukrainians, who have died by the hundreds of thousands in a US-provoked war over NATO enlargement.

This system is underpinned by the complete subordination of the U.S. Congress to the war business, to avoid any questioning of the over-the-top Pentagon budgets and the wars instigated by the Executive Branch. The subordination of Congress works as follows. First, the Congressional oversight of war and peace is largely assigned to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, which largely frame the overall Congressional policy (and the Pentagon budget). Second, the military industry (Boeing, Raytheon, and the rest) funds the campaigns of the Armed Services Committee members of both parties. The military industries also spend vast sums on lobbying in order to provide lucrative salaries to retiring members of Congress, their staffs, and families, either directly in military businesses or in Washington lobbying firms.

The hacking of Congressional foreign policy is not only by the US military-industrial complex. The Israel lobby long ago mastered the art of buying the Congress. America’s complicity in Israel’s apartheid state and war crimes in Gaza makes no sense for US national security and diplomacy, not to speak of human decency. They are the fruits of Israel lobby investments that reached $30 million in campaign contributions in 2022, and that will vastly top that in 2024.

When Congress reassembles in January, Biden, Kirby, Sullivan, Blinken, Nuland, Schumer, McConnell, Blumenthal and their ilk will tell us that we absolutely must fund the losing, cruel, and deceitful war in Ukraine and the ongoing massacre and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, lest we and Europe and the free world, and perhaps the solar system itself, succumb to the Russian bear, the Iranian mullahs, and the Chinese Communist Party. The purveyors of foreign policy disasters are not being irrational in this fear-mongering. They are being deceitful and extraordinarily greedy, pursuing narrow interests over those of the American people.

It is the urgent task of the American people to overhaul a foreign policy that is so broken, corrupted, and deceitful that it is burying the government in debt while pushing the world closer to nuclear Armageddon. This overhaul should start in 2024 by rejecting any more funding for the disastrous Ukraine War and Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Peacemaking, and diplomacy, not military spending, is the path to a US foreign policy in the public interest.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy