Proxy Wars - They Don't Exist

It is not possible to turn on a television set, read a newspaper or go on the internet without hearing about “proxy wars” taking place around the world. A proxy war is a “conflict in which superpowers provide support to either groups or states that rival one another.” Combined with this definition are two other points: 1) that proxy wars were very common during the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union and, 2) that inherent in proxy wars is that none of the superpowers want all-out war, because the specter of nuclear war is omni-present and must be averted at all costs.

The Pentagon wants us to believe that these wars can take place among nations, regions, ethnic or clan constituencies – and that somehow they are not only legitimate, but also are lesser violent conflicts. As a result, they permit the use of, and therefore hide, the extreme violence in suppressing supposed uprisings and protests. They are made out to be an extension of diplomacy and merely occur when diplomacy itself become combative.

The compliant media suggests that proxy wars usually occur in conditions of poverty, population pressure, environmentally fragile and resource scarcity. This allows warmongers the ability to gloss over the increasing escalation of violence of war as well as the increasing power struggles that develop. It also ignores and enables the cover- up of the military and tactical moves in the short run and the alliances with semi-illegal violent groups. It ignores the flood of weapons into these war zones, the money that the war criminals make from their manufacture, and the reality that the wars create international violence and manipulative games at the drop of a hat. In addition, they preclude the chance of nations and groupings inside these areas will work out the problems themselves.

In fact, there are no “proxy wars” taking place anywhere in the world today. Neither Russia nor China has the military or economic incentive to engage in the type of wholesale imperialist assaults that are the hallmark of today’s out-of-control Pentagon. What we are really seeing in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc., is the U.S. attacking sovereign nations and constituencies and turning them into one-sided attempts by this country to destabilize established governments. The purpose is simply to create regime change everywhere that refuses to fold to U.S. domination and corporate control. Recent disclosures concerning Chevron’s attempted oil grab in Iraq confirm the transparent lies about supposed human rights considerations regarding the Bush assault. Our newest military bases in Africa and Southeast Asia are the most recent footholds in areas that will themselves soon to be subjected to our unsought interventions.

In spite of the daily deluge from the media, there is no competing force in Syria, for example, that relies upon Russia, China, or any other superpower to defeat the “rebel” forces that are financed, armed and supported militarily by the U.S. The supposed civil war in Syria is nothing short of a fabricated armed and violent “civil uprising” fostered and reinforced by our Pentagon to overthrow Bashar Assad’s government. Similarly, throughout the world, it is the U.S. manipulating and controlling NATO or some other U.S. military or intelligence front group, and waging our own war against a weaker country that is receiving little, if any, military assistance from any other nation. It is solely the U.S. that creates these uprisings, insurrections, and wars to fight our battles for us. In other words, we hire mercenaries, disenchanted locals from other countries, or “concocted rebels” to do our dirty work internationally.

By misrepresenting these war zones as “proxy wars” the Pentagon pretends that our illegal drive to overthrow governments on our “Don’t Like List” is somehow a two-sided struggle between superpowers. It is a carefully planned and manipulated charade.

Superpowers fighting through proxy armies? Nonsense! The U.S. Congress just passed a $606 billion dollar military budget while at the same time it told the American people to live a more “austere” existence. Billionaire corporations, gangster banksters, and rapacious oil companies forage throughout the world to seize the wealth of other peoples and nations, all with the blessing and military support of the Pentagon, which is about as accountable to the American people as the Koch brothers.

Not only are we confronted with the recent congressional hearings relating to CIA gun-running under the auspices of “Fast and Furious, but in the last two weeks, news of our latest imperial adventures in Africa has come to light under a new rubric. Instead of using the T-word, “terrorism,” the U.S. is now “training friendly forces” to fight a “war on drugs.” These words will of course, be much more palatable internationally and locally (especially to the American population) and excuse the inevitable violence and death that we are exporting to that region. Yet, such American policies as “Fast and Furious” are in full gear in Mexico, throughout Central and South America, in Africa, and if not already, soon will be in Asia. It is all about dominion over a region’s resources and wealth.

The people of the world understand that American troops, as the saying goes, are coming to a theater near you.

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Marti Hiken is the director of Progressive Avenues. She is the former Associate Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and former chair of the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force. She can be contacted at info [at] progressiveavenues.org, 415-702-9682.

Luke Hiken is an attorney who has engaged in the practice of criminal, military, immigration, and appellate law.

The Progressive Avenues website, http://www.progressiveavenues.org, is regularly updated in the “What’s Added, What’s New” link on the Home page, at http://www.progressiveavenues.org/Whats_New_Added.html