The Chris Hedges Report Show with former Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on endless war and our acceleration into the abyss.
The Chris Hedges Report Show with former Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on endless war and our acceleration into the abyss.
Remarkable commentary on the madness of the Democrats -- their transformation to the war party. That they gerrymandered Dennis out of their midst when his observations on US foreign policy had/have been so prescient. A voice speaking wisdom through the din of the barking of the military-industrial congressional puppeteers --- how badly did/do we need that voice in the halls of power. It's one of many compelling reasons why I bailed on the entire idea of the Democratic party in 2016. And why that entire cadre of corrupt fools has continued to repulse me since.
Finally two people talking about war as a business opportunity. Gil Scott-Heron in his prescient song Work For Peace says that if we really wanted peace, we would have it. The only problem with peace is you can't make no money from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgZDDW-NXDE
WAR: What is it good for, absolutely nothing... Oh wait, it's good for a few military industrial complex sociopaths who value money over life. And apparently it's good for a few folks who work for those armament companies who design and build weapons of mass destruction, folks who have ZERO morality when it comes to their paychecks. And most of all it is good for all the political puppets who grovel for their war mongering bribes from the military industrial complex. The USA is filled with sociopaths who truly have no aversion to war as long as they are paid well. And even those who are struggling to survive who are cheerleaders for war are sociopathic as well. Money and Hate are the real values for far too many folks residing in the USA. But then to be fair, the USA was founded on genocide and slavery. Endless war has always been the "American Way." My apologies to the rest of the Americas as the USA has hijacked their name along the way. And my apologies to Edwin Starr for my introductory lines in this post.
It's such a pleasure to listen to Dennis Kucinich. As a person who has read and understood history, who demonstrates the vocabulary of an intellectual, with a deep empathy for life on Earth, and a working knowledge of Yeats, he's the kind of person who is totally absent from the halls of Congress, the White House and even the Supreme Court. I donated to his past campaigns and voted for him whenever I could...if only he'd turn Green... Thanks for having him on, Chris!
Great interview. I'm a long time fan of both Chris and Dennis. I remember Dennis calling for Dept of Peace. Maybe we should change our "Defense Dept" back to War Dept. Thanks for interview.
You really see what disgusting degenerates that compose Congress and our political class in general. I can't imagine being happy making a few bucks for myself knowing I just killed thousands of people.
Great show I read Dennis's book about the corruption in Cleveland, it read like a fifties film noir of graft and self interest. The best book I have come across about Geo Politics war and war profits that drive them was written in 1937 about WW1 and pre WW1 "The Merchants of Death". It dissects and catalogues arms merchants and their need for war. How they arm one nation, then warn neighboring nations to buy ever more for "defense", but most of all for power and profits. WW1 made hundreds if not thousands of millionaires in the US, the Dupont's, Morgan's, Rockefeller, are just the tip of the iceberg. . The British Lords and Parliamentarian's who sent cannon fodder to the Dragons Teeth of Europe for King and Country all profited with the shares they held in the weapons industry. For one example of stupidity and corporate power and private property laws. The allies reverse engineered a Krupp German fuse used in artillery shells. After WW1 they sued the British for patent infringement and believe it or not won the case and were paid a royalty for every fuse made! The amounts of chemical gas weapons produced in the USA were probably enough to murder the world 100 times over! This book should be a starting point for ANYONE to understand the logic of war for profit and the propaganda feeding it! It is still in print although I have an original copy, that I re-read now and again like Orwell's 1984!
"funded by Iran" is such a constant re: countless groups. That is not for no reason and not necessarily always correct. It's war mongering.
It's like china, it's a constant theme... We the US cares so little about its own citizens that they do not give a fuck about the lives of anyone including us the citizens of their own country. I'm sick of mindless talking heads in the mainstream media asking no questions and just repeating every war drum propaganda piece the white house asks them to throw at the mostly mindless citizens of this country.
Finally, a voice that puts the real level of threat the world is facing out on the air waves for all to hear. As bad as I knew it was getting in Gaza, I hadn't quite yet imagined the road the world may be one. And that a large part of this murderous insanity is being fueled by the American war based economy...is also crucial information.
We have t risk world conflagration because the armament industry needs profits??? Because every jurisdiction in American needs war jobs??
I've long been a critic of free market captalism, but that it might well be running on war and the preparations for war should put us all into the streets. I've lived most of my life listening to America's endless wars, from Korea to Ukraine.........can hardly imagine what a world at peace would feel and look like.
I imagine it might be busy growing healthy food for all, building affordable shelter for all, teaching all our children in schools worth attending, and tackling the real emergency, ANTHROGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE....instead of playing with the lives of other people's children........FOR MONEY.
America is looking like the second Roman Empire...hopefully she'll soon fall under the weight of so many bullies in uniform, spread out across the globe....the planet needs peace, a just transition off fossil fuels, and the end to putting guns ahead of safety and a future for the world's children
Dennis Kucinich is one of the most important voices not in Congress anymore. I've already written my ultra-right Congresspeople saying we can't AFFORD it ...in their lame language. Please write now!!!!
Chris, I wrote this to your Alma Mater about Nicholas Kristof's fine column of
"Losing Hope in the West Bank" -- and regarding Dennis Kucinich -- but without the 'TIMES' allowing my comments:
Alan MacDonald
Wells, Maine
"These 'TIMES' they are a-changing", but apparently not toward a progressive 'Road Not Taken' in the woods, and neither with much "Need for my Voice" recently:
Nicholas, “What Liberal Israelis and Palestinians Need” is to get ready for the disgusted, enraged, and empowered young generation to go “To the Left, To the Left, To the Left” — and blow-out the small elite cohort of old, white, rich, men in America and Israel — and replace “The Quiet American” global Empire with this new cohort of:
It amazes me that the word capitalism never crossed your lips once in this interview. Crosses and crescents? What is that all about, really? Crosses and crescents are code for two different economic visions, not strictly religious visions. Both are imperfect, but one of these visions is definitely more moral than the other! I’m looking forward to what Michael Hudson has to write about the Crusaders and economic exploitation in his next book. Have you read his recent economic history of the Bronze Age, and ancient Greece and Rome?
However, you are aware that the Muslim world is not amenable to the extreme corruption of financialization in western capitalism, aren’t you? RIBA? Are you familiar with the concept? These are societies that shun the immoral excesses of our ‘
‘Western civilization.’ They pose a threat, thereby, to our most debased interpretations of democracy as capitalism. That is what makes them ‘undemocratic’ and ‘uncivilized.’ Kucinich is disappointing. What say you?
I am not following Dem/Rep electoral politics or news but wasn't Kucinich managing RFK campaign, and isn't RFK a great supporter of Israeli Apartheid, silent on the genocide? I know there is more to candidates that make people support them but support for what Israel does in Palestine is a bit much. I don't understand how he can still find a good reason to work for/with RFK
Citizens united is even mentioned here yet not many care to address this truth...other than Move to Amend.
Another thing to be very aware of is the Imminent Threat of a Constitutional Convention.
As patriotism is paraded the masses will willingly join in on their own demise.
History repeating itself:
Dorothy Thompson (The first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934): “It is really as bad as the most sensational papers report. . . . It’s an outbreak of sadistic and almost pathological hatred,” she wrote. “Most discouraging of all is not only the defenselessness of the liberals but their incredible (to me) docility. There are no martyrs for the cause of democracy.”
Remarkable commentary on the madness of the Democrats -- their transformation to the war party. That they gerrymandered Dennis out of their midst when his observations on US foreign policy had/have been so prescient. A voice speaking wisdom through the din of the barking of the military-industrial congressional puppeteers --- how badly did/do we need that voice in the halls of power. It's one of many compelling reasons why I bailed on the entire idea of the Democratic party in 2016. And why that entire cadre of corrupt fools has continued to repulse me since.
Finally two people talking about war as a business opportunity. Gil Scott-Heron in his prescient song Work For Peace says that if we really wanted peace, we would have it. The only problem with peace is you can't make no money from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgZDDW-NXDE
Thank you Chris and Dennis!
WAR: What is it good for, absolutely nothing... Oh wait, it's good for a few military industrial complex sociopaths who value money over life. And apparently it's good for a few folks who work for those armament companies who design and build weapons of mass destruction, folks who have ZERO morality when it comes to their paychecks. And most of all it is good for all the political puppets who grovel for their war mongering bribes from the military industrial complex. The USA is filled with sociopaths who truly have no aversion to war as long as they are paid well. And even those who are struggling to survive who are cheerleaders for war are sociopathic as well. Money and Hate are the real values for far too many folks residing in the USA. But then to be fair, the USA was founded on genocide and slavery. Endless war has always been the "American Way." My apologies to the rest of the Americas as the USA has hijacked their name along the way. And my apologies to Edwin Starr for my introductory lines in this post.
It's such a pleasure to listen to Dennis Kucinich. As a person who has read and understood history, who demonstrates the vocabulary of an intellectual, with a deep empathy for life on Earth, and a working knowledge of Yeats, he's the kind of person who is totally absent from the halls of Congress, the White House and even the Supreme Court. I donated to his past campaigns and voted for him whenever I could...if only he'd turn Green... Thanks for having him on, Chris!
Great interview. I'm a long time fan of both Chris and Dennis. I remember Dennis calling for Dept of Peace. Maybe we should change our "Defense Dept" back to War Dept. Thanks for interview.
You really see what disgusting degenerates that compose Congress and our political class in general. I can't imagine being happy making a few bucks for myself knowing I just killed thousands of people.
Thank you, always a pleasure to listen to Dennis Kucinich because whatever he says it is deep and wide.
Great show I read Dennis's book about the corruption in Cleveland, it read like a fifties film noir of graft and self interest. The best book I have come across about Geo Politics war and war profits that drive them was written in 1937 about WW1 and pre WW1 "The Merchants of Death". It dissects and catalogues arms merchants and their need for war. How they arm one nation, then warn neighboring nations to buy ever more for "defense", but most of all for power and profits. WW1 made hundreds if not thousands of millionaires in the US, the Dupont's, Morgan's, Rockefeller, are just the tip of the iceberg. . The British Lords and Parliamentarian's who sent cannon fodder to the Dragons Teeth of Europe for King and Country all profited with the shares they held in the weapons industry. For one example of stupidity and corporate power and private property laws. The allies reverse engineered a Krupp German fuse used in artillery shells. After WW1 they sued the British for patent infringement and believe it or not won the case and were paid a royalty for every fuse made! The amounts of chemical gas weapons produced in the USA were probably enough to murder the world 100 times over! This book should be a starting point for ANYONE to understand the logic of war for profit and the propaganda feeding it! It is still in print although I have an original copy, that I re-read now and again like Orwell's 1984!
"funded by Iran" is such a constant re: countless groups. That is not for no reason and not necessarily always correct. It's war mongering.
It's like china, it's a constant theme... We the US cares so little about its own citizens that they do not give a fuck about the lives of anyone including us the citizens of their own country. I'm sick of mindless talking heads in the mainstream media asking no questions and just repeating every war drum propaganda piece the white house asks them to throw at the mostly mindless citizens of this country.
All of this is quite concerning.
Good interview!
Finally, a voice that puts the real level of threat the world is facing out on the air waves for all to hear. As bad as I knew it was getting in Gaza, I hadn't quite yet imagined the road the world may be one. And that a large part of this murderous insanity is being fueled by the American war based economy...is also crucial information.
We have t risk world conflagration because the armament industry needs profits??? Because every jurisdiction in American needs war jobs??
I've long been a critic of free market captalism, but that it might well be running on war and the preparations for war should put us all into the streets. I've lived most of my life listening to America's endless wars, from Korea to Ukraine.........can hardly imagine what a world at peace would feel and look like.
I imagine it might be busy growing healthy food for all, building affordable shelter for all, teaching all our children in schools worth attending, and tackling the real emergency, ANTHROGENIC CLIMATE CHANGE....instead of playing with the lives of other people's children........FOR MONEY.
America is looking like the second Roman Empire...hopefully she'll soon fall under the weight of so many bullies in uniform, spread out across the globe....the planet needs peace, a just transition off fossil fuels, and the end to putting guns ahead of safety and a future for the world's children
Dennis Kucinich is one of the most important voices not in Congress anymore. I've already written my ultra-right Congresspeople saying we can't AFFORD it ...in their lame language. Please write now!!!!
Chris, I wrote this to your Alma Mater about Nicholas Kristof's fine column of
"Losing Hope in the West Bank" -- and regarding Dennis Kucinich -- but without the 'TIMES' allowing my comments:
Alan MacDonald
Wells, Maine
"These 'TIMES' they are a-changing", but apparently not toward a progressive 'Road Not Taken' in the woods, and neither with much "Need for my Voice" recently:
Nicholas, “What Liberal Israelis and Palestinians Need” is to get ready for the disgusted, enraged, and empowered young generation to go “To the Left, To the Left, To the Left” — and blow-out the small elite cohort of old, white, rich, men in America and Israel — and replace “The Quiet American” global Empire with this new cohort of:
DEMOCRATIC
SOCIALISM
LOVE FOR
PEACE
vs.
INEQUALITY
CAUSED BY
BILLIONAIRE
BASTARDS
Will Dennis talk about RFK?
It amazes me that the word capitalism never crossed your lips once in this interview. Crosses and crescents? What is that all about, really? Crosses and crescents are code for two different economic visions, not strictly religious visions. Both are imperfect, but one of these visions is definitely more moral than the other! I’m looking forward to what Michael Hudson has to write about the Crusaders and economic exploitation in his next book. Have you read his recent economic history of the Bronze Age, and ancient Greece and Rome?
However, you are aware that the Muslim world is not amenable to the extreme corruption of financialization in western capitalism, aren’t you? RIBA? Are you familiar with the concept? These are societies that shun the immoral excesses of our ‘
‘Western civilization.’ They pose a threat, thereby, to our most debased interpretations of democracy as capitalism. That is what makes them ‘undemocratic’ and ‘uncivilized.’ Kucinich is disappointing. What say you?
I am not following Dem/Rep electoral politics or news but wasn't Kucinich managing RFK campaign, and isn't RFK a great supporter of Israeli Apartheid, silent on the genocide? I know there is more to candidates that make people support them but support for what Israel does in Palestine is a bit much. I don't understand how he can still find a good reason to work for/with RFK
I have shared this before. Yet it is appropriate still and again today as it was yesterday as welll as yesteryear!
See, hear/listen:
Native Bidaské with Mark Charles (Diné) on Abraham Lincoln and the Narrative of White Messiahship
https://youtu.be/GbmBP3OdiC0
*And even read the book:
Unsettling Truths by Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah
And meditate on
Look At Us (Peltier and AIM Song) - John Trudell - Tribal Voices.wmv
https://youtu.be/v5szsygmZmY
Citizens united is even mentioned here yet not many care to address this truth...other than Move to Amend.
Another thing to be very aware of is the Imminent Threat of a Constitutional Convention.
As patriotism is paraded the masses will willingly join in on their own demise.
History repeating itself:
Dorothy Thompson (The first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934): “It is really as bad as the most sensational papers report. . . . It’s an outbreak of sadistic and almost pathological hatred,” she wrote. “Most discouraging of all is not only the defenselessness of the liberals but their incredible (to me) docility. There are no martyrs for the cause of democracy.”