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Radio War Nerd #296 — The Spoils of War, with Andrew Cockburn (Patreon)

Published:
2021-09-21 23:10:35
Edited:
2021-09-22 20:55:43
Imported:
2026-06
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Guest: Andrew Cockburn, Harpers magazine 

Recorded: September 15, 2021

The War Nerd welcomes back author and Harpers DC editor Andrew Cockburn, to discuss his excellent new book "The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine."

Check out past RWN episodes with Andrew Cockburn:-EP 191: Pentagon Sleaze-EP 57: Yemen War 

Read Andrew Cockburn's books: The Spoils of War: Power, Profit & the American War Machine; Kill Chain: Drones and the Rise of High-Tech Assassins; Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall & Catastrophic Legacy.

Watch Andrew & Leslie Cockburn's documentary, American Casino.

Total time: 1:35:05

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here  

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Comments

cstenzy

Got the book in the mail today, hell yes

John Waaben

Fat Leonard scandal needs to be a meme

Gengeros

Dr. Strangelove wasn’t supposed to be an instruction manual. I really think we will all die in nuclear hellfire long before climate change kills us. Capitalism is gonna need a huge war to keep it going, even if it kills itself. The system has lost control of itself.

David Andrews

Very good interview with Cockburn which prompted me to order the book. Your program offers the most comprehensive and entertaining analysis of foreign policy, conflict and modern empire I've found. It is a pity that RWN is not more widely known.

Freddy K.

The mp3 link in the email is broken.

Lionel Boyd Johnson

Great show guys, and bonus points for any mention of Fat Leonard. That scandal alone is such a perfect micro- illustration of so much that's wrong with the world today. I'm sure there are similar examples that could be found - another show or two that does a deep dive strictly into military procurement graft in history (not just US crimes) would be interesting (and surely incredibly depressing). There must be some system of classification of the various types and methods of graft that has been devised somewhere. How do other militaries/ nations handle it? Is this indeed a symptom of imperial decline? -- still thinking about this - are there any scholars specializing in imperial/military graft? It's got to be a topic as old as time. A major impetus of warfare has always been plunder, and if you're a "bag holder" recruit, drafted in just as the war is winding down, I could see an added incentive to "get what's yours by any means necessary" leading to an increased level of graft. Seems to be a theme in the global economy today; the elites can see the writing on the wall, the jig is up, and they're trying to fill their pockets before everything turns to ashes.

MS

If you haven't read it, check out "On the Beach" by Nevile Shute. A US nuclear submarine awaits the end of the world, in Australia. We had to read it at school and I've never forgotten it.

Robert Rowe

Ethiopia was the largest chunk of Africa that the colonial powers failed to subjugate during the 19th century. The Italians never really finished the job although they more or less subjugated Etheopia pre WWII- and then lost their (nominally) conquered territory very quickly, well before the rest of the continent was de colonized by inches after WWII. Bloody obstreperous people, those highlanders. If you're minded to extract their natural resources at bargain basement prices, bloody INCONVENIENT people. Perhaps some NON local machiavelli wannabees have an end in mind by fracturing the cohesiveness of the highland groups, then destroying all those groups resources and CONTROL of the whole country, right before buying up what they want? Any major mineral/energy resources in Ethiopia that major multinationals (or even very populous Asian countries with extensive plans for Africa?) have recently come to covet? ------ (Edit) Nailed it. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328743618_Mining_Sector_Challenges_in_Developing_Countries_Tigray_Ethiopia_and_Inspirational_Success_Stories_from_Australia "The external perception is that some aspects of doing business in Ethiopia are too difficult, and they increase stakeholders’ investment’s risk and undermine potential benefits. Changes allow for business incentives that include security of tenure, the right to sell minerals, equipment and machinery’s preferential duty and tax provisions, a 2%–8% production royalty, a 25% mining corporate tax, custom/duties exemptions, carry forward of losses up to ten years, and profits repatriation’s structuring. Ethiopia’s resource intensity trajectory is expected to take off in the coming years." Translation: "Global industries need to get a more malleable government in this place, then we can make some REAL money!"

Ellen Harold

Mountain people are notoriously hard to conquer.

orc

Love warthogs, no planned retirement date as of now, very efficient design

Robert Rowe

Mountain people are like bees. They won't attack you unless you bother them. But, THEY get to decide what constitutes "bothering them".

Robert Rowe

I bought the cockburn book via Amazon. Depressing/infuriating as hell and only 24% read. https://www.amazon.com/Spoils-War-Profit-American-Machine-ebook/dp/B08R58DT91 The things Chinese do to "economic criminals"? Harvesting their useful organs for transplants and/or shooting them in the head and billing their families for the ammunition? We really need an equivalent. ------ (Edit) I blew off some work and binge read the whole book yesterday. Now, as a typical American, I first feel like getting a gun and going into politics. But realize an endless supply of "new boss, same as the old boss", trained in the system and just itching for their turn at all that graft would instantly fill any vacancies. So, also as a typical post 2008 American, I realize there just ain't enough ammo at my local Walmart. I recognize my knee jerk impulse to do violence and try to move on towards building something useful instead. I'm un American that way, on a good day. How do we change the culture enough to prevent intelligent sociopaths and other such opportunistic parasites from inevitably owning us? Ideally without killing a large number of people... I think about early Persian Zoroastrianism (cultural values: "Ride the horse, shoot the bow and abhor the lie"). And the Cowboy Way (cultural values: "Ride, shoot straight and speak the truth"). We're gonna need a lot more horses.

xnfec

The film was on Netflix on the UK. Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire and Ava Gardner as I recall.

James

RIP Pierre Sprey. My favourite thing of all time related to the F-35 is a debate between Sprey and Lt Col David 'Chip' Berke that was hosted by the Aviation Week and Space Technology podcast. I have never witnessed anyone be so thoroughly dismembered in a debate. It is epic - as in Taibbi's "horse sperm pie" level of epic. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pgiq-TlmSo

Smutticus

I didn't know who Pierre Sprey was before listening to this RWN episide. Listening to this debate is amazing though. He eviscerates the other guy.

PW

It kind of goes without saying but I'll say it. The biggest budget boost for the Congressional Military Wall Street Complex was of course 911. You could call it a Super Expansion. Everybody made out on that deal. But they wouldn't plan anything like that of course. Not in George Washington's America!

Logan Ausherman

God the comments on that video are infuriatingly stupid for the most part. Most people are just like "I don't care what anyone says, plane cool".

Dan Bland

I've been looking for that air force commander quote about defense of the continental united states not being their mission. Can anyone help?