Jeffrey Sachs 美国外交政策是基于腐败的骗局

美国外交政策是基于腐败的骗局

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

Jeffrey Sachs  2023年12月26日

美国外交政策似乎完全不合理。 美国发生了一场灾难性的战争 - 阿富汗，伊拉克，叙利亚，利比亚，乌克兰和加沙。 最近几天，美国在支持以色列对巴勒斯坦人的种族灭绝行动方面的全球立场，投票反对联合国大会的决议，该决议由153个国家支持的加沙停火，占世界人口的89％，仅由美国和美国，仅美国，仅美国，美国，仅由美国，美国，美国和 9个小国家不到1％的世界人口。

在过去的20年中，美国每个主要的外交政策目标都失败了。 在美国占领阿富汗20年后，塔利班重新上台。 伊拉克后萨达姆之后依赖伊朗。 尽管中央情报局努力推翻他，但叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德（Bashar al-Assad）仍继续执政。 在由美国领导的北约任务推翻穆阿玛·卡扎菲（Muammar Gaddafi）之后，利比亚陷入了旷日持久的内战。 乌克兰在2023年在2022年秘密地削减了俄罗斯与乌克兰之间的和平协议之后，在2023年被俄罗斯在战场上进行了抨击。

尽管有这些显着且昂贵的脱衣舞，一个跟随另一个角色，几十年来，同样的角色仍然存在于美国外交政策的领导下，包括乔·拜登，维多利亚·努兰德，杰克·沙利文，查克·舒默，米奇·麦康奈尔和希拉里·克林顿。

是什么赋予了？

这一难题是通过认识到美国外交政策根本没有与美国人民利益有关的。 这是关于华盛顿内部人士的利益，因为他们为自己，员工和家庭成员追求竞选捐款和有利可图的工作。 简而言之，美国外交政策被大笔资金侵犯。

结果，美国人民失去了重大。 自2000年以来，战争失败的战争使他们在直接支出中造成了约5万亿美元的损失，或者每个家庭约40,000美元。 在接下来的几十年中，将在退伍军人的护理上花费2万亿美元。 除了美国人直接产生的成本之外，我们还应该认识到在国外遭受的可怕高昂成本，在战区中，数百万生命损失了，对财产和自然的破坏数万亿美元。

费用继续增加。 如果我们增加五角大楼直接支出，中央情报局和其他情报机构的预算，退伍军人政府的预算，能源核核部的预算，2024年美国军事与军事联系的支出将达到约1.5万亿美元，大约为每户12,000美元。 武器计划，国务院与军事联系的“外国援助”（例如以色列）和其他与安全相关的预算线。 数千亿美元的资金落在了流失中，浪费了无用的战争，海外军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战。

然而，描述这些庞大的成本也是解释美国外交政策的扭曲“理性”。 1.5万亿美元的军事场所是骗局，它不断捐赠给军事工业综合体和华盛顿的内部人士，即使它却使美国和世界危害了。

要了解外国政策的骗局，请将当今的联邦政府视为由最高投标人控制的多部门球拍。 华尔街分区用完了财政部。 卫生行业部的卫生和公共服务部未能。 大石油和煤炭部的能源和内政部已经用光了。 外交政策部门用完了白宫，五角大楼和中央情报局。

每个部门都将公共权力通过内幕交易，由公司竞选捐款和游说支出供私人收益。 有趣的是，卫生行业部与外交政策部相比，是一个非凡的财务骗局。 在2022年，美国的卫生支出总计为4.5万亿美元，约为每个家庭36,000美元，是迄今为止全球健康成本最高的，而美国预期寿命中，美国在世界上排名大约40。 失败的健康政策对健康行业来说是很大的钱，就像失败的外交政策转化为军事工业综合体的巨大收益一样。

外交政策部由一个小的，秘密和紧密的小伙子经营，包括白宫，中央情报局，国务院，五角大楼，众议院和参议院的武装部队委员会以及主要军事机业的顶级黄铜 包括波音，洛克希德·马丁，通用动力，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼和雷神等公司。 制定政策可能涉及一千个关键人物。 公共利益几乎没有作用。

主要外交政策制定者运营了800个美国海外军事基地，数百十亿美元的军事合同以及部署设备的战争行动。 当然，战争越多，生意就越多。 外国的私有化

战争业务本身的私有化已经大大扩大了政策，因为越来越多的“核心”军事职能分发给了武器制造商，以及哈利伯顿，布兹·艾伦·汉密尔顿和卡西等承包商。

除了数千亿美元的军事合同外，军事和中央情报局行动还有重要的业务溢出。 在世界各地80个国家 /地区的军事基地中，美国中央情报局在确定这些国家 /地区的规则方面扮演着重要但主要是秘密的角色，从而塑造了涉及涉及矿物质，碳氢化合物，管道的利润丰厚的交易的政策，从而扮演着秘密的角色。 以及农场和林地。 自1947年以来，美国的目标是推翻至少80个政府，通常是由中央情报局（CIA）通过政变，暗杀，叛乱，内乱，选举，篡改，经济制裁和公开战争领导的。 （有关1947年至1989年美国政权改变业务的精湛研究，请参见Lindsey O’Rourke的秘密政权变更，2018年）。

除了商业利益外，当然还有思想家真正相信美国统治世界的权利。 不断吸引的Kagan家族是最著名的案例，尽管他们的财务利益也与战争行业深深相互交织。 关于意识形态的观点是这个。 意识形态医生几乎在所有场合都错了，很久以前，他们在华盛顿失去了欺负地讲台，但由于他们作为温暖的人的用处。 他们是否有意义，他们是军事工业综合体的有偿表演者。

这种正在进行的业务骗局给人带来了一种不便。 从理论上讲，外交政策是为了美国人民的利益而实现的，尽管事实是事实。 （当然，类似的矛盾也适用于价格过高的医疗保健，华尔街的政府救助，石油行业津贴和其他骗局）。 美国人民偶尔听到真相时，很少支持美国外交政策的阴谋。 美国的战争不是由大众需求发动的，而是由高高的决定。 需要采取特殊措施来使人们远离决策。

这样的第一个措施是毫不留情的宣传。 乔治·奥威尔（George Orwell）于1984年将其钉在1984年，当时“党派”突然将外国敌人从欧亚大陆转移到了东亚，而没有任何解释。 美国本质上也是如此。 谁是美国最坟墓？ 根据季节，请选择您的选择。 萨达姆·侯赛因（Saddam Hussein），塔利班（Taliban），雨果·查韦斯（Hugo Chavez），巴沙尔·阿萨德（Bashar al-Assad），伊希斯（Isis），基地组织（Al-Qaeda），卡扎菲（Gaddafi），弗拉基米尔·普京（Vladimir Putin），哈马斯（Hamas）在美国宣传中都扮演着“希特勒”的角色。 白宫发言人约翰·柯比（John Kirby）脸上露出了笑容，表明他也知道他在说什么是荒谬的，尽管很有趣。

华盛顿智囊团靠军事承包商和偶尔是美国骗局行动一部分的外国政府的捐款来扩大宣传。 想想大西洋委员会，CSIS，当然还有受欢迎的战争研究所，由主要的军事承包商带给您。

第二个是隐藏外交政策行动的成本。 在1960年代，美国政府犯了一个错误，即强迫美国人民通过起草年轻人在越南战斗并提高税收来支付战争的费用，从而迫使美国人民承担军事工业综合体的费用。 公众反对。

从1970年代开始，政府变得更加聪明。 政府结束了草案，并在五角大楼支出的支持下，使兵役成为雇用的工作，而不是公共服务，以招募较低经济地层的士兵。 它还放弃了古朴的想法，即政府支出应由税收资助，而是将军事预算转移到了赤字支出中，以保护其免受流行的反对派的侵害，如果税收征收税款，这将触发。

它还吸引了乌克兰等客户国家在当地的战争中与美国的战争作斗争，因此没有美国的尸体袋会破坏美国的宣传机器。 不用说，美国战争大师，例如沙利文，眨眼，努兰，舒默和麦康奈尔，距离前线数千英里。 垂死的人保留给乌克兰人。 参议员Richard Blumenthal（D-Conn。）为乌克兰的军事援助辩护，因为这是“没有一个美国的服务女人或男人受伤或失去的人”，以某种方式不介绍好参议员的生活 在北约扩大的一场美国发动的战争中，他们死于成千上万的人。

该系统的基础是美国国会对战争业务的完全从属，以避免对五角大楼预算和行政部门发动的战争的任何质疑。 国会的从属工作如下。 首先，国会对战争与和平的监督在很大程度上被分配给众议院和参议院武装部队

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