Fred Reed on the delusion of American power

Finally... there is the 1955 Syndrome, the engrained belief that America is all powerful.  This is arrogance and self-delusion.  In the Pentagon you encounter a mandatory can-do attitude a belief that the US military is indomitable, the best trained, armed, and led force in this or any nearby galaxy.  In one sense this is necessary: You can’t tell the Marines that they are mediocre light infantry or sailors that their aircraft are rapidly obsolescing, their ships sitting ducks in a changing military world, and that the whole military enterprise is rotted by social engineering, profiteering, and careerism. 

But look around: The US has failed to intimidate North Korea, chase the Chinese out of its islands in the South China Sea, retrieve the Crimea from Russia, can’t intimidate Iran, just got run out of Afghanistan, remains mired in Iraq and Syria, failed to block Nordstream II despite a desperate effort, and couldn’t keep Turkey from buying the S-400.  The Pentagon plans for the wars it wants to fight, not the wars it does fight.  The most dangerous weapons of the modern world are not nukes, but the Ak-47, the RPG, and the IED.  Figure it out.

~ Fred Reed, "Despair in the Empire of Graveyards," LewRockwell.com, August 21, 2021

The Wall Street Journal on grandiose dreams of WeWork founder Adam Neumann

WeWork has attracted scrutiny over its unusual business model and governance structure, but the company’s strangeness seems to start at the top with CEO and co-founder Adam Neumann, according to a remarkable profile in The Wall Street Journal.

Neumann has expressed interest in becoming Israel’s prime minister and the president of the world, living forever, and becoming the world’s first trillionaire, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. He is also said to have told employees that the company could one day end world hunger.

~ CNBC, "WeWork's Adam Neumann wants to live forever, be king of the world and the first trillionaire, says report," September 18, 2019