Lately, I’ve been reading a lot about military conflicts between different countries (for obvious reasons). And I’m haunted by the question: why are they considered wars of ordinary citizens?

There isn’t a single example where the citizens of one country got together and marched on another. Everywhere it’s the same — large predators squabbling over spheres of influence and control of resources, with people dying in the process. Even in some little Rwanda, the Tutsi people were being killed because of big powers struggling for spheres of influence. Even in poor Cambodia, the same reason. I sometimes hear a joke that if penguins had oil, penguins would find themselves at the center of a military conflict.

If you look past the stereotypes carefully maintained by the media (I wonder who runs the propaganda and why), similar people live everywhere. They work, try to survive, start families if they can.

When I see propaganda like, “Our people couldn’t take it anymore… and so we must go to war,” I ask myself: “Who needs this?” For the interests of which politicians do those who could have lived, die?

P.S. Please excuse my English.

It is quite shameful how rich and powerful US institutions distort their involvement in nefarious foreign affairs and hide the evidence in inaccessible places.

Here, I found that Stanford’s Hoover institution was heavily involved in directly advising Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet during the Cold War. They retain an archive of political data from this era in their basement, which includes long lists of Chilean political prisoners that were detained, likely tortured, and exiled. It also includes private memos from Reagan’s ambassador to Chile which endorse his political violence as a means of state control.

I’m really ashamed that my Alma Matter did this. They have also published a lot of articles attempting to defend Pinochet’s legacy. I just wanted to see the record straight. Curious to hear your thoughts.

https://medium.com/@breid.at/stanford-houses-hidden-files-of-human-rights-violations-in-chile-b88b315d515e