Latest / EnvironMental with Dandelion / The Extractive Tapestry Part 3: How the Modern War Machine Blocks Sustainability | EnvironMental
Transcript
- Aub Wallace: Here's the deal, it's never gonna be perfect. That's all I got. It's never gonna be perfect. So It's just gotta be important. This is me this is me working through some imposter syndrome, which ⁓ which is new to me. ⁓ yeah. Hi Regan. Hope you had a great birthday. I look like I'm praying, so I will don't don't use the one where I look like I'm praying because we have an a a religious one later and that might be interesting. Maybe like one where I look like I'm shooting. Pow. I don't know. Here's the deal. This is such a deeply investigative thing. To mi, it's really important that it feels. As Hard as is. This one in particular was really emotional for me to write. I needed to take a lot of breaks. And I'm having a hard time bringing levity to it. So I guess pew pew. I don't know. Am I ready? I don't know. I'm never ready. I'm never ready for this. Okay. Yeah. Happy birthday. Hope you have a great day. Had a great day. And happy weekend. And talk to you soon. I kinda miss you. I feel like we haven't talked in a long time. So yeah, okay. Bye. ⁓ I struggle with looking at the camera. So what I need to do. ⁓ yeah, let me click share my screen. What is what does it mean if I click presentation? No, it means upgrade to business. It means give up more money, beach. Okay. ⁓ I want to share The window. Віч аби Means So the brand needs to be different. What is happening? I don't know, I could change it in post. Change it in post. That was really that was really lovely, I'm sure. Okay, Aubrey, you're fine. What I don't know and feel concerned about is the share situation. Yes, it's this one. Share that. But it doesn't show that it's sharing. You know what? I'm just gonna ha I'm just gonna have to trust it. I'm just gonna have to trust it. Okay. We're recording. I'm I sit I sit Indian style. What about you? Okay. Military industrial complex. I kind of feel like if I sing it, it's just a little less ⁓ intimidating. Okay. Why? What do you think? What did you think we were gonna talk about today? If I'm gonna try to sing every name here. Last here's my last minute decision. I'm gonna try to sing every name, ⁓ before I say the horrible shit that they've done. Okay. Let's do this. In the stories of old, generals would watch crows to decide on their battle plans. The myth goes that the Morrigan, a goddess of war and fate, always part of the chaos of the battle, like yes, Morrigan, anyway, she would appear in crow form with the foretellings of the incoming battle. People specialized in crow reading would see. An incoming murder of crows with distinct, natural, with distinct unnatural flight patterns, telling them that they were communicating through the moor again. The murders of formations would give strategies of the enemy or a disposition of the enemy's military. Crows at dawn indicated an upcoming conflict for the day, while a dusk appearance would signal that the armies should. Wait. A murder coming from the north warned the readers of supernatural interference in their battle, while a southern approach gave an indication that an advancement or an alliance was on the way. Of course, as Carrion birds, crows are seen before and after battle, and the readers would also insist on giving them space before collecting their dead. To thank the Morrigan for her help in the battle. These days, the crows are replaced by drones, the Morrigan's Wisdom replaced by the military-industrial complex, and the post-battle kickbacks go to the heads of the war machine. And that's what I'm talking about today on Environmental with Dandelion. If this is your first time tuning in, Hi, hello, I'm Aub, your host, and the chief cultivator here at Dandelion. We're unpacking why the global sustainability transition is being systematically blocked and exploring how we can outgrow old paradigms holding us back. My team and I are the folks behind the curtains for the brands whose sustainability stories make a difference in the world. And you You are the eco-curious baddie who's been called an alarmist hippie your whole life, and now that the world is literally burning. The I told you so doesn't feel like the flex we thought it would, does it? No. This one's gonna be tough, guys. So as a reminder. The research, writing, recording, and editing, it all comes from me. Me, little omie. So if you want to dive deeper into any of the information I use in my episodes, you can always find those in my show notes. Now, I'm doing something a little different today where I am screen sharing and then I'm doing a thing. So don't be my belly. Well maybe. Now, now, before we jump in, the topics I cover on this podcast aren't what the powers ooh, actually, okay, wait no. In my show notes, which are бла бла бла бла бла. Now, before we jump into this, I want to say that the topics I cover on this podcast aren't what the powers that be want you to know about for real. This is the suppression and the shadow ban is real here, folks. So please help me people power this message by sharing the series and subscribing to the channel so you don't miss any of the future episodes. It honestly makes The world of difference, and it means so much to me and my team that we can continue to grow this channel and that you show up here over and over again. This is part three of the extractive tapestry series where I'm answering the question: who is keeping the world unsustainable? We're singing today, so who is keeping the world unsustainable? In previous episodes, you'll hear me refer to this as the Shadow Architect series because I really thought that I would cover on little bits and pieces as I dug, that we would be talking about a hidden group of bad actors and we would have to pull strings. But actually, that isn't what's happening at all. It's all right out in the open. There's manifestos again and deep money pockets. It's not shadowy at all. It's just intentionally decentralized. Okay. Okay, all right, all right, all right. Start again. In previous episodes, you'll hear me refer to this as the Shadow Architects series. Because I really thought that I would uncover these like little bits and pieces, the person here or there making little choices, and that it would be hidden, and we would just be like red string mains pulling on this string. But that's not what's happening at all, my dear. ⁓ no, no, no, no. It's right out in the open. It's in manifestos. It's in deep money pockets. It's not shadowy at all. It's a decentralized extractive tapestry of people who are bound together through connections that often span decades. So that's what I'm calling this: the extractive tapestry series. So far, I've covered the administrative gatekeepers. The last one was the technocrats. Whoo, that was a tough one to get through, too. А висва із баба та милітари індустріл комплекс. So far, I've covered the technocrats and the administrative gatekeepers. You can find those episodes in the show notes below. This episode is focused on the military industrial complex. The military industrial complex. Now, my focus is on sustainability, but it feels callous to talk about this topic without talking about the other impact of warmongering for profit. This I found this episode hard to write because it's hard to learn about the carelessness of people in power, not just through the lens of sustainability, but to learn that the military industrial complex and all the businesses around it places little to no value on life, even though it's said to be in the protection of people. I need to slow it down. I always do this and then I think it's too slow but actually I think it's fine. Oops. Not just through the lens of sustainability, but to learn that the military-industrial complex and all the businesses around it places so much like little to no value on life, even though the point is said to be the protection of people. I don't I really don't find any mention of the value of human life into my research into this topic. ⁓ in fact. I mostly found increasing money statistics coupled with cuts to veteran care and health care. and honestly, so I've navigated some of those cuts before myself. Now I've shared this in past episodes, but I'm from a military family and I was one of the thousands of Americans waiting for a phone call from Iraq from a family member. After they returned, I sat and listened to their stories and helped them with their rehabilitation. I helped find veteran programs for them, and I helped them get enroll in a live-in facility where I was the primary contact. It was underfunded and it was under monitored. That program failed and I was not contacted, which led to so much heartache. And for my health, I had to step away from close relationships that I haven't been able to repair even a decade on. My story is not unique and honestly, I'm a lucky one. ⁓ sorry. It isn't the tragedy that so many people This happens every time I bring this story up. So I'm just gonna do this part again. My story isn't unique. And I'm a lucky one. It isn't nearly the tragedy of loss that so many others face every day. But you really don't hear the aftermath of what supporting the troops means from the civilian side very often. And that's the lens that I'm bringing here today. Because this isn't a call against supporting the troops. I just believe that protecting people also means questioning things like. the influence that the military industrial complex has on our culture. And I do not believe in the senselessness of going to war on a hunch or 'cause it's for money. ⁓ gosh, this is a hard thing to get through. It's always hard to get through. I don't believe in the senselessness of going to war on a hunch, and certainly not for the money. War has an immediate, heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, devastating cost, not just during war times, but for veterans and their families and for the people of the countries that they're in and the global citizens impacted by the destruction. A great documentary I suggest watching is called What I Want You To Know. It's from the point of view of the soldiers that returned, the impact the Iraq war, the Iraq and Afghanistan war had on them, and how they see patriotism now. This is from the last war the USA was in, but right now, right now, the US is back in Iran, people are fighting in Gaza, Ukraine is still depend defending its borders, just to name a few. Current events and for what? And for what? And for what? Access to power? War is senseless. ⁓ my god, war is so senseless. Okay. And to bring it back to the topic at hand, the war machine has the has a larger greenhouse gas footprint than most of the countries in the world. In the hours and hours and hours learning about it, I learned that most of it, of that footprint, is to protect. The footprint. Gonna slow it down. ⁓ yeah, slow it down and not. And then I slow down my puzzle. Sorry, I can't see for shit. In the hours and hours and hours I spent learning about it, I learned that that footprint is mostly to protect that footprint, not to protect the everyday person. So I'm gonna do my best to share what I found with you in this episode, even though honestly, I could probably make a whole series just on this topic. There are a ton of incredible researchers, writers, advocates out there doing that already. And so I put several of them in my resources document for you. Because even though, because even though I'm an environmental activist, I think the military industrial complex is the largest threat to everything from the environment to equality to the life that exists on this planet today. So what is the military industrial complex? I need to do a a good job of knowing when to start and stop these. ⁓ So what is the military industrial complex? Well, according to Webster's dictionary, the military industrial complex, which I'm also going to refer to as the MIC because it's a lot, is an informal alliance of military and related government departments with defense industries that is held to influence government policy. Fine. What Webster's does not say is that it is an intentionally decentralized, also includes regular business, not just government-sanctioned military industries, and it influences so much more than government policy. And you know what? And you know what? We were absolutely warned about the scope of influence that MIC can have. And we ignored it. In nineteen sixty-one, President Eisenhower gave a farewell address to the United States. It was pretty short and sweet goodbye, but in it he left a warning about the military-industrial complex, coining the term and saying: quote: A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well, but now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. This conjunction of an immense and military Establishment and a large arms industry is the American experience, yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. In the councils of government, we must guard against acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. He had incredible foresight to warn us about a truth we w we are all paying for right now. War is big business. War is big business. And what do I mean by that? Okay, well, I went to handy dandy Google. My brutal Google skills are ⁓ point thing. I asked Google to give me a list of countries that are run by an MIC. I found that the United States is the most contemporary example, followed by Russia, North Korea. Egypt and Pakistan with casual nods to the UK, China, and France. Then I found the top 100 list. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. The top one these are the top 100 defense companies from 2024, which was shared in 2025. This year's top 100 hasn't gone out at the time of the recording. Now you can laugh at me when I tell you this. Fine. But for some of these revenue numbers, I literally had to ask Google how to say it out loud. We're talking about tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in some cases, in most cases. Because, like I said, war is big business baby. But I didn't stop there. Because the first thing I did was take this table and put it into an Excel spreadsheet. So the total Okay, so the total in defense revenue, not revenue. Hold on. Okay, but I did not stop at looking at this. I took the whole table and I put it in a spreadsheet because you know I love a good spreadsheet. So here's the thing: the total in defense revenue, not total revenue, defense revenue from 2024 is this number: 661 billion. One hundred thirty million five hundred and fifty three thousand four hundred and ninety-eight. And actually, this many billions is incomprehensible to a passant such as myself. ⁓ so ⁓ I needed a way to think about it correctly. So I asked for some perspective. I did. I asked Gemini for some perspective and it didn't really help, but it did give me some examples. So if you're earning 50k a year right now, you would need to work more than 13 million years to earn that amount of money. Humans didn't exist 13 million years ago. Okay. Or if you were spending $10,000 every hour of the day, $365. Days a year. Or if you were spending $10,000 a day every hour of the day for 365 days a year with no breaks, it would take you 7,547 years to run out of money. If you were gonna get that cashed out in crisp hundred dollar bills, it would be 450 miles long, which goes past the International Space Station. I can't comprehend how high up that is, but I can tell you it's really freaking high, okay? And it doesn't, and it doesn't really matter because this amount of money can completely change the infrastructure, climate, strategy, and the economy of the world overnight. And it does. But the way the military industrial complex influences infrastructure policy and economies are in favor of the military industrial complex. Which means it's in favor of perpetual war. P.S. side note, Elon Musk also has this much money and actually more. Right now he's a he's the only one. But Bezos and Larry Page, they're eking their way up there. And they're literally doing fuck all. But gathering more money. Mondalon bills. Okay, I digress because this is not. Just about unethical billionaires, though all three named pre- are are actually plugged into the mis this machine. We covered Musk's involvement in Doge and how it paved the way for Palantir in the last episode, not to mention that SpaceX is on the top 100 list in Amazon, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Microsoft are all regular regularly assigned contracts by the government, which we'll talk about a little later. For now, Here's a pie chart that shows you the scale of the countries in the top 100. ⁓ I want to say that. I wanna say that with this up. For now, here's the pie chart that shows you the scale of the countries in the top 100 list. ⁓ I made it myself using the spreadsheet. ⁓ yeah. So according to this, the USA has 48% of the top 100 defense contractors in the world. And Roll down a little bit here. 55.3% of the defense revenue for the top 100 in the world. Now, if you remember in previous episodes, I talked about how the only seeming goal for the current administration is to solidify American independence and peace through strength. But this makes it pretty clear that the United States of America is not in danger. In fact, it is The danger This is no okay, I will say hold up, hold up, hold up. I have to remember to like when I'm done with the thing, go to the next thing. Is the danger. Let's sing that so it feels less scary. The United States is not in danger. In fact, the USA is the danger. ⁓ singing is how I'm getting through it today. Okay. Now, this this is an international podcast, but somehow I always end up talking about the USA. And unfortunately, I don't think that's gonna change very much because I'm realizing more and more that the hold that the colonial capitalism has on conversations around sustainability and climate change crisis is a pretty big one. And the USA is simply at the epicenter. The epicenter of colonial capitalism. And it's using billions and starting this year a trillion dollars to defend the American, the American way of life. Which unfortunately only means the lifestyles at the top. Colonial Colonial Capitalism. Hmm. Here's past me sharing Clearly, Capitalism Gay. Here's past me sharing the named enemies of that American way of life from the Techno Optimist Manifesto. Okay. Who pays for it? Let's follow the money, shall we? The 2027 budget request just dropped in the US. Are you ready for this? No, because you're not. Well, because I wasn't ready for it. I don't know, maybe you are. Maybe you've been following this. Maybe this is all not new information, but I was not ready. Here we are. The fiscal 2026 enacted defense budget. Is one trillion dollars. And the 2027 budget request is 1.54 trillion dollars. Remember when I was trying to explain what 661 billion dollars looks like? You'll double it, add a little. That's what we're requesting. The Department of Defense, the DOD, the massive physical. ⁓ okay, hold. Okay, double it and add a little. Now you can see here the Department of Defense, ⁓ would they do like the massive physical military hardware and tech systems? They're asking for 1.45 trillion, and the Department of Energy is looking for 42 billion. And then there's other defense-related activities, which It's pretty unnamed. But let's just assume that these are things like lobbying and consulting on entertainment and popular culture. They need 12 billion dollars to line the pockets of politicians so they can keep going. Okay. Since we've already established that a pesantis mys such as myself cannot put the dollar bills into perspective. I'm just gonna give you a few other examples of US budget requests. I of US budget requests. I'm gonna put all the comparisons. I'm gonna write all the comparisons on the screen for folks watching on YouTube. But if you want to see the budgets for yourself, you can find them in my resources document. Because I don't really want to make you look through all those. Anyway. 1.54 trillion for defense, 1100 billion for HHS, 53 billion. Yeah, I'm just gonna put them on the screen and let's talk about it. So blah, blah, blah. On the screen. Delete all that. The budget request for healthcare in 2027 from the Department of Health and Human Services is $111.1 billion in discretionary budget authority. The renewable energy budget, well, that falls into the Department of Energy, which increased defense spending by 35%. And energy projects are down 100%. There is no solar, no wind at all. Energy innovations are cut. This is a big chunk of words. And energy projects are down 100%. There's no solar, no wind projects. The energy innovations are cut. Tribal energy loan guarantee program and the Indian energy policy programs are totally gutted. And the emergency response is down 16%. But you know, petroleum stuff is up 38%. You know, petroleum reserve spending that's up like 16. That's up 38%. So well, there's that. And the EPA budget, holy mother of gutted. From the 2027 overview document, the ⁓ my god, there's the ghost too fast on it. So many big From the 2027 overview document, the fiscal year 2027 president's budget for the EPA totals $4.203 billion, a ⁓ 52% decrease from the 2026 budget. I'm not even gonna go into the demonization of environmental causes or how they're pretending like they're asking for the right amount to help with their systems. Let me just say this. The defense proposal requests spending six point one billion dollars on a B twenty one strategic bomber in twenty twenty seven alone. That's a stealth plane that drops nuclear bombs and has been in development for years and billions of dollars. Okay. But clean air, clean water, safe land use. Six point six point one billion on a B-21 strategic bomber in twenty twenty seven alone. A stealth plane that drops nuclear weapons that is still in development after years and already many billions of dollars. But clean air, clean water, and safe land use in the country we're defending. Yeah. ⁓ That all shares four billion bucks. And what do you think the frickin' stealth bomber's gonna do? Okay, what do you think the testing of the bombs is gonna do to clean air and clean water? What would happen if a test went wrong? That has happened by the way. There's it's happened, okay? 'Cause the cleanup budget is practically non existent for this stuff and like, you know. Happens up. Anyway, who pays for this? Who well we do, my dear EcoCurious ones. Of course we do. And I found receipts. The average taxpayer in the United States in 2025 paid $4,049.35. For war and weapons, five thousand eight hundred and fifty two dollars and seventy seven cents for health and environment, and three hundred and ninety-four dollars and twenty-two cents for the entire Matcha Hush baby And three hundred and ninety-four dollars and twenty-two cents for energy and the environment. Ow See like it ⁓ I should do this while I'm Marcha please hush. This is exhausting. And then when Macha comes and she does her barks, it's just Bad. Marcha It's not nice. I found receipts. Okay, check this out. The average taxpayer in the United States in 2025 paid $4,049.35 for war and weapons and $5,852.77 for health. And for energy and environment, it's like way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way down here. It's three. $394.22. Now if you want to look, I this is a very cool resource. ⁓ I put I put the link in my resource documents, but you can actually find your own state. Here. this is IPc DC dot org. And like go look at it, go play around with it. Okay. Now, obviously, we won't be able to see the receipts for 2027's budget until 2028. But I can tell you right now that based on the pro proposal that health in the environment are going down while defense spending goes up again. Cause that's how it works. Cause that's how it works. Budgets are proposed, and then we the people pay for them. They're proposed by our representatives, but do you like what you see in this budget? Cause I don't. I hate it. And I didn't vote for this. At least I didn't vote for it intentionally, but Yeah, it happened. So how did it happen? How did we get to a reality where a single stealth bomber costs more than our entire clean water enforcement initiative? The trend is long, right? You can follow it back to what Eisenhower saw at the end of World War II. But if we can pinpoint one event, it is a secret, mysterious. Dinner between the Secretary of Defense and the US's largest defense contractors. In nineteen ninety-three, the Cold War had just ended and the defense budget was shrinking year over year. It's story time. Sorry, I know, I told you, I gotta sing. I gotta sing through this one. Calms singing calms your nervous system. In 1993, the Cold War had just ended, and the defense budget was shrinking year over year. So the Secretary of Defense at the time, Les Aspen, this guy, he sat down to dinner with the CEOs of the top. 25 aerospace firms and then Deputy of Defense William Perry. This guy. William Perry. Perry showed the 25 business it business owners how the defense budget was coming down and essentially how the defense budget was coming down and essentially gave them a brutal ultimatum. Consolidate or dead. Powder. This is an event known as The Last Supper. Not that Last Supper. Not that one. ⁓ But essentially The Last Supper in the like defense world. Because that single dinner triggered a violent wave of corporate mergers. Dozens of independent engineering firms collapsed into this highly concentrated monopoly system that we see on that top 100 list today. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Gunman, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. These are known as the big five, the big five. Although in this year's top 100, there are only five of the top seven, because there is one country from China and one country from the UK also in that top five list. So as they were consolidating, Hold on, see where we're at. Don't know who this guy is. Well, I think he's that. Yeah. As they were consolidating, they realized that to guarantee their permanent multi-billion dollar survival in a post-Cold War world, they couldn't just like wait around for sporadic wars. They had to systematically engineer a permanent state of global threat and re Global threat and resource dependency to justify their cut of the people's pie. Now I know that like it's story time. So I'm saying this a little dramatically, but if you read the interview with this guy, the former CEO Norman Augustine, he says the same thing, but it's like way longer-winded. And he talks about how it's like a total no-brainer. Like like a total no brainer to just become a warmonger. He's like Yeah, it's just kinda look at him, he's like Mmm That's that's what we've done. For Augustine and the heads of the other big five in the nineties, this was about growing business, using money and governmental insight just to like gain power. And this is where the military industrial complex shifts from a wartime machine. From a wartime machine into the blueprint for like an entire unsustainable lifestyle. Because these 25 or so companies became five companies. And those five companies all create consumer products too. And the consolidation made it possible for those companies to keep factories running while influencing our culture. Now I look around today at our plastic wrapped, fossil fuel dependent world. And I often am wondering, is this the inertia of consumer capitalism? Like is this just where it goes? The reality is it's not. It's engineered largely by the defense sector to keep profits rolling between wars. I mean, look, so here's a couple one-to-one examples. Synthetic chemical fertilizers, the one that are destroying soil health today, they were born directly out of excess ammonium nitrate manufactured for World War II bombs. And synthetic plastics, excuse me, synthetic plastics, widespread commercial plastic production was scaled up during World War II for military hardware. And when those wars ended, the MIC had a massive industrial infrastructure and no conflict. To feed it. So, ignoring Eisenhower's warning, they pivoted. They turned their wartime chemicals into agricultural fertilizers and their synthetic polymers into single-use consumers' goods. And by the mid-70s, they'd normalized this linear disposal economy that just works to keep their factories running. And this still happens today in the influential sphere. I can literally remember George W. telling us to go shopping to keep the economy going when we went to war over weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, which were never found. And there isn't a better example than Dick Cheney. ⁓ hold on. ⁓ wait. ⁓ what on. And honestly, there isn't a better like modern day current example than Dick Cheney, Halliburton, and privatizing of military logistics. The revolving though. To understand how this system becomes so convoluted and untouchable and honestly ripped out of the playbook of a super villain playing the long game. Like, good job, brilliance. Sorry, flowers to the villain here. Aside from the literal hundreds of millions of dollars they spend on politicians and lobbyists, there's A simple mechanism that holds this whole thing together. It's called the revolving door. So Americans are taught that the government regulates private industry from like a a distance. But the line between public defense and private defense contracting is absolutely non existent. Something like 50% of all Pentagon spending goes straight to Private contractors. No. No. And that figure is even higher when you look at the private defense top staff. So according to defense analyst William Hartung, who's like my hero in all this, truly, 80% of top military generals go on to work directly for weapons contractors when they retire. While corporate executives often take leaves of absence to run government agencies, they do this swap every few years to make it blurry and exhausting to be a red string maven here. But the re the revolving door of influence just it just keeps on spinning. We are socializing the cost of building the war machine. You and I are paying for it, but we are privatizing. The billions of dollars in profit. Literally that's what's happening. Public money to private, and we create billionaires. And there's no better example than the And there is no clearer historical example of this like oil and conflict pipeline than Dick Cheney. Okay, it is not nice to speak ill of the dead, but this is the smuggest of all bastards. Hi, Dick Cheney. So this guy, he served as the US Secretary of Defense during the Gulf War from 1989 to 1993. Okay. 1993 was the Last Supper. Catch that? ⁓ as soon as he left. As soon as as soon as he left office, he walked straight through the revolving door. Like he like he like didn't even do the round thing. He just walked straight through to become the CEO of Halliburton, which is one of the largest oil fuel services and military logistics on giants on Earth. They're like the OG fracking people. ⁓ and you can see from their website here that they claim energy innovation, but I can't find a single mention of renewable energy on this website that isn't tied to oil well operations. Anyway, after Anyway, after his tenure there, Cheney stepped like seamlessly right back through that door to become the vice president of the United States in 2000. Yeah, remember that when the US subsequently invaded Iraq? Yeah, so Halliburton was handed $39.5 billion in uncompeted single source government contracts to handle military fuel and logistics. Just right out there, just right out there. He was like, a potential war we can do. I know just the company. Mm-hmm. So Cheney normalized using the military apparatus as an armed security guard for private fossil fuel infrastructure. The oroborus of a machine. Actually, I wanna look. Fossil fuel infrastructure. The Ouroboros of a machine that burns oil to fight for the very oil it's burning. The snake eats its own ass. Tread on it. Please. ⁓ can we please tread on it? Okay, now we see this exact same hold on a second. Let me go like this. Boom. Hmm. We see this exact same architecture in the modern era, like now, with Phoe Novokovic. Novuk. Phoebe Novokovic, the long-standing CEO of General Dynamics. Dick Cheney. Sorry, I had to sing it. I had to sing his name because I forgot to do it in the last one. Anyway. Novokovic started her career as a CIA officer. She moved into the Pentagon as a high-level official in the Department of Defense. And then she stepped through the door to lead general dynamics. Now listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. We love to see a woman step up to the throne. So flowers there. But personally, I could do without this particular throne. The business because for Phoebe Novokovic, the business of war has been good honey. Novokovic brings home twenty-five point nine million dollars a year in total compensation. Let's do that again. Cause I forgot to do it. I could do without this particular throne. Because for Phoebe Novokovic, the business of war has been good, honey. All right. Novokovic brings home $25.9 million a ⁓ year in total compensation. See this number here? ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Look at that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Up, up, up. And if you wanna pull the string, if you wanna pull the string on that, check out this Simply Wall Street, because they're not doing this through innovating. General Dynamics is doing it through buybacks, executive payouts, and expanding heavy, hyper polluting hardware like tanks and nuclear submarines. No. Next one is Big Tap. But I've already done it. Now, their most profitable flagship business units are locked into heavy carbon manufacturing. So their combat systems division and their marine systems division. I know, blah blah blah blah blah. They make tanks and subs. Okay. Like, sometimes I just get so wound around to like the details that I forget that, like that's not what we're here for. Sorry. Here's the catch though. When a defense company like General Dynamics locks in a multi-billion dollar government contract to design and construct tanks and subs, those machines have an operational lifespan of 30 to 40 years. They run extensively and exclusively on fossil fuel logistics, just the way that Halliburton loves to see it, baby. This means that every time Novokovic Signs a contract to build a new weapon system, she is legally binding and locking global governments into maintaining fossil fuel supply chains deep into the 2050s and 2060s. That's just today when she signed those. I'm sorry, but what this pissed me off because by the 50s and 60s, we're gonna be lucky if we are not living in a Mad Max world fighting over gas and mother's milk and water. Guys. ⁓ you know what? Fuck it. By the way, if you haven't watched that five-part series lately, I definitely recommend a revisit starting in the 80s one because they're I mean, that's what we're working with here. That's that's what we're working on. That's I mean, gosh, it's what it's it's where we're headed. There's more. If you think the buck stops at heavy steel takes and submarines, you are missing the newest threads being woven into this extractive tapestry. Okay. The traditional military industrial complex used to depend entirely on physical hardware. Today that's mutated, though, into what is now being called the digital military industrial complex. Yeah, on what pay we're gonna scroll your roll through this. Look at there's a ton of really good information in this article, but I really want to show you the images because earlier I talked about this. See the spending has gone up. Great, the government. And military operations now run on the exact same cloud servers that you and I do. Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Oracle, they are the ones supplying the satellites and the AI and the data centers. Don't lose track of that. And the revolving door has upgraded to tech bros. Womp womp. That ⁓ Look at that. Look at that. The same servers that you and I do. Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Oracle, they're the ones supplying the satellites and the AI and the data centers to run all of this for the military industrial complex. And thusly, the revolving door has been upgraded to tech bro status. Womp womp. Bum bum bum. I could make we should make a military industrial complex musical. Would you see that? I probably wouldn't. It's really stressful. I spoke at length about the technocrats in the last episode, so basically I spoke I I did s I spoke at length about the technocrats in the last episode. So copy and paste that in here. And I mean, we even have another f manifesto. You wanna learn about this guy? Nobody, honestly, like Okay. Do we want to learn about Palmer Lucky? Let's ⁓ learn about this guy. This guy. Hello, this guy. Homer Lucky is the tech bro Vunderkind who created Oculus Rift. He sold it to Zuckerberg and then used that virtual reality wealth to build AI weapons with his company Andoril, which I don't know if I'm saying that right, but that's how I've decided to pronounce it. Okay. Andoril's chief strategy officer, Christian Brose, wrote a book called The Kill Chain. This book. Okay. This is actually a glowing review for the most part. ⁓ I did not read The Kill Chain, but I did read a lot about it and I listened to interviews about it. The philosophy behind it is very simple. Can your AI identify a target and destroy it quicker than the enemy's AI? Yes. Or if yes, you win. Andoril builds automated hold on, I need this, I need these words. If yes, you win. Andoril builds automated decentralized AI mesh webs, software called Lattice OS, that links drones and surveillance towers. Чу одиме леффорс. Sorry, that really just ⁓ saying it out loud like really made me understand it a little bit better because like these words are These words are like so out of my scope. So I'm gonna read that again. Andoril builds automated decentralized AI mesh webs. That means they're using all the data like palanti like. Their software is called Lattice OS. It links drones and surveillance towers and soon satellites and that automates lethal force. Just like Killin' babies with machine like sorry, sometimes it just like every time I go through this, something else. Really gets me, and we're like okay with this. Sorry. Okay, moving on. Moving on. And the aforementioned manifesto. It's a fucking lot. It's a lot. Okay. This is mostly the Techno Optimist Manifesto in military industrial complex form. It's got more sales language. It has a lot less like intense waxing poetic vibes. Like remember, it was all, yeah. But it is all pro growth. Pro-strength and aggression, pro-competition and innovation and speed, while being anti-bureaucracy and very anti-oversight. So they don't fall behind. But like, remember that pie chart? We're not falling behind. I think the main point that they really want you to know is that the big five move really slow and they make a lot of money. They're com-so this company's competitive edge is speed. And mostly they just want a cut of the money and they're getting it. There's one point five trillion dollars, so they're just getting more money along with the same amount the big five are getting. And here's the final call to action. I know you have to scroll. There's so much scrolling. Look how long this thing is. Like, hey, I think I'm gonna look at how it just it like legitimately goes on and on and on and on and on and on. There's a six there's six parts of this. There's there's six here. Hello War. ⁓ we are gonna because let's get to the final call to action, okay? Yeah, we're keeping going. They're so ⁓ here we are. We made it. This is what the final call to action says. There is no secret government silo of advanced technology that will save us if war breaks out. You must build it. ⁓ man, come on, matcha. Are you at my house? No. Macha come on. Ooh matcha hush, honey. I know that you can hear her. Ricky's Okay. Mm-hmm. MACCHA! That's as mean as I get. She'll she's gonna I trust her. Okay. Trust your dog. ⁓ like we made it to the final call of action. Okay, here's what it says. There's no secret government silo of advanced technology that will save us if war breaks out. You must build it. If you have read this far, you care deeply about the future of our collective defense. Help us to reboot the arsenal of democracy and make the future safe. Prosperous and free. I mean maybe it okay, so maybe it doesn't exactly have like less waxing poetic than Than the Techno Optimist Manifesto. Okay. Also if war breaks out here is synonymous is with when we create war. But it's all wordsmithing with these guys. They're sales guys. Okay. I know it. With this section's title, you're probably like, ⁓ no, there's more like the cultural gaslighting, please. Because okay. ⁓ no, there's more. It says the cultural gaslighting for those of you who are listening and not watching. Because okay, this is all going on in the back end. If there were shadowy people doing shady backroom dealings, these guys and their Epstein S middlemen, it's these guys, okay? How does a system this destructive, this hyperpolluting, and this profoundly anti-life maintain its grip on the public? How do they get a democratic public to willingly hand over a hundred, like a thousand dollars a year in taxpayer money just to weapons contractors and only giving $6 a year to renewable energy? They do it by completely infiltrating and normalizing the importance of the military-industrial complex within our culture. First, they use the jobs gaslight. The weapons industry intentionally decentralizes their manufacturing. Actually, I think I'm missing a link here. Am missing little bit Messing up. First, they use the jobs gaslight. The weapons industry intentionally decentralizes their manufacturing. They build a wing in one state, an engine in another, ⁓ just a little bolt in a third, cut, copy, paste over 47 states. This intentionally spreads contracts across the different states, which is and the classic example of this is when Lockheed Martin designed. The supply chain for the F 35 jet. This one. Economically significant defense program and history, like American workers creating jobs, advanced digital enterprise. If a local politician tries to vote for a carbon tax or a defense cut, the military-industrial complex threatens to pull out the factory and screams that that politician is destroying local livelihoods. It's literally economic hostage taking. Now, ⁓ I've talked about him already because he's my hero. I listened to so many several w interviews and webinars with William Hartung, and in every single one of them, he talked about how the rhetoric in the MIC is that they create all these jobs more than any other industry. Well, they have the most funding, so they should, but in truth, if we invested in renewable energy. or education, it would produce many, many, many more jobs. So don't believe that bullshit. We have to just invest in other things and more jobs will come. That's how that that's how it works. That's how that works. Secondly, and this one is devastating cause I'm an I am a TV baddie, okay? I Second secondly. Secondly, and I think this one is kind of devastating, like it's more and a bit more pervasive. The MIC manipulates our entertainment. The Pentagon, sort of et al. literally consults on Hollywood movies, but only if they get to like manipulate the script to make the military look like flawless heroes fighting abstract, shadowy bad guys. Rather than the real human beings trying to protect their homelands. They normalize this high carbon, high force lifestyle as the definition of heroism. The most recent mega example of this is 2022's Top Gun Maverick. But you will see this influence throughout the Born Identity series, James Bond movies, Iron Man, The Adventures, essentially all the white-centric sexy good guys with skills and gadgets fighting bad guys who are practically always dark. These are and and like these are the big ones, but there are literally thousands from the past 30 or 40 years. Probably longer. And and this has a wild thing about it, right? Because there's always a savior and it's always an elite, a soldier, a superhero. It's never like you and me. It's never the group of critically thinking people who want to try diplomacy or like good therapy or proper support to the bad guys who are often like survivors of childhood trauma or in search of revenge for something arguably as bad as they're doing now. Cause that's not a spicy narrative. We're not spicy narratives, guys. We don't want to teach masses of people their rights. It's all bang, bang, dead, violence, more trauma. Another generation of good guys and bad guys created. Right? Like this desensitization to reacting with violence is intentional and real. It makes us scared and helps us decide that we can definitely spend more on defense because it especially if it makes sure that Jason Bournes of the world can save us again. Because it's one dude saving sh again. Just please watch the documentary, What I Want You To Know for What a Real Hero's Story Actually Look Like, looks like. Okay. That's how the industry influences our politics, our jobs force, and our entertainment. But what about the business sector? Sure, the industrial, industrial part of the industrial complex is there and they use the businesses that we do, but it's even Sure. Deeper. Here's how the influence No. There's always more. ⁓ okay. There's always more. Okay. Here's how the influence operates in real time, like right now. In May of twenty twenty four, the Washington Post published a WhatsApp leak. Yes, it's two years ago, but it's highly relevant right now. Actually, right now. A private WhatsApp chat log was exposed, containing some of the nation's most prominent business leaders and financiers. This includes people like Daniel Lubetsky, the founder of Kind Snacks. You know, those like Yummy head fund manager Bill Ackman and tech billionaire Michael Dell. I hate them. I hate the I hate them. It's always the billionaires. Anyway, they this leak revealed that the billionaires held a private Zoom call with New York City mayor Eric Adams. So they discussed making major political donations and pressuring the university president to allow the NYPD to violently dismantle. protesting students at Columbia University. The group was explicitly formed to change the narrative in favor of Israel using their na using massive financial financial leverage. Columbia University. The WhatsApp group was explicitly formed to change the change the narrative in favor of Israel using the massive financial leverage. I'm gonna let that sink in for a second. Cause the same corporate and financial class that funds the technologies of war abroad is using their money, their private text threads, and the city police forces to suppress. Democratic dissent at home. And they got caught this time. But this isn't just happening in a conversation two years ago. This sneaky link between Israel and the United States is also hidden in section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act right now. Where is The Guardian I need to pull up the guardian. It's not in here. Re source will. We're almost done. The Guardian does a lot of ads right now. I pay for them on a different thing, but it's okay. This sneaky link between Israel and the United States is also hidden in a section two two four of the National Defense Authorization Act right now. To quote the Guardian in this article, this section of the bill alone would mean committing to bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and an unprecedented integration of the US and Israeli weapons industries. Now, it has already passed the Senate. See, it's already passed the Senate and it's in the House right now. And currently it is being held it's being held at the desk, but it could literally hit the floor at any moment. Whatever you feel about Israel, this integration will allow the US to hide weapons manufacturing and sale information globally. It will create an us so that the USA doesn't have to disclose or talk about working with Israel when more than half the country is not in support of this coalition. If you take anything away from this video essay, first of all, thanks for still being here, because this is a tough one. If you take anything away from this video essay at all, it's that war is just business. And that makes it so much shadier. Please contact your representatives and tell them to not to vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act. if it integrates you the USA so deeply with Israel or any other country. It's really easy and it can make an actual difference. So please contact your representatives and ask them not to vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act. I a especially Not to vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act if it integrates the USA so deeply with Israel or really any other country. It's really easy and it can make a difference. I put this link in the resources document so you can find your representative. You just need to type in your zip code and it will tell you who to contact about this. The military industrial complex isn't just a tank in a desert far away. It is systematically ensuring that the complex, that the complex keeping the world Far away. It is systematically ensuring that the complex keeping the world unsustainable cannot be legally or socially challenged every single day. And it's up to us to change this. Okay, what can we do? Let's talk about it. This makes you feel It makes you feel small, doesn't it? Like when you look at the scale of this extractive tapestry, it feels like an unshakable matrix. I had to take a lot of breaks, like literally to go touch grass, ⁓ when I was learning about the military industrial complex for this episode, because I could feel myself just like dissociating into the nightmare. I considered not even finishing this episode because it's such a big topic and I was scared to do this badly. But this machine wins when we feel too paralyzed to speak, when we don't look at the hands in front of our face and remember that the enemy also has dogs to wash and sheets to change. So what can you do? Well, here are the steps that I recommend to making a difference and standing against the influence of the military industrial complex in your local area. First comes the mindset shift. Go outside, water a plant, just go reclaim your local reality because you and your neighbors are human actors in this society. You have a voice and you are not just a line of code and Andrew's lattice mesh. Next, go question your tax receipts. Look into what your government, state, local, federal, look into what they're paying for and ask yourself if you vibe with that. It's okay to question foreign policy and war. It's okay to tell your representatives that you don't feel represented. That's what democracy is for. It is your patriotic duty. Don't let it be taken away. And then Connect with your community. As my friend Ethan, hi Ethan, ⁓ told about at the People Planet Piant meetup last month. We are much more likely to care about each other when we sit around a table together. Force demands division. While sustainability fosters community, whether it's a political group or a cooperatively owned biological farm. Sustainability demands community, fosters community. Whether it's a political group or a co-owned biological farm that doesn't use synthetics, it is an act of resistance. Finally, identify the MIC influence in your life and call it out. Start to unravel the extractive tapestry around you and start pulling threads with the people you hold dearest. Because despite what the military industrial complex wants you to believe, a hero does not always wear a gun and they never work alone. Okay. Now we take our deep breath. Because I think we just made it through the heaviest layer of the exactive tapestry. At least I hope so, because damn, talk about a downer this episode. Holy crow, whole to bring it back. Holy crow. That's where that comes from, by the way. In part four, we are following the money again to figure out how the court systems keep the world unsustainable. I'm taking extra time to research and write this series. So my posting schedule is a little bit off right now. So please just like don't forget to subscribe because you don't want to miss the upcoming episodes. It's not necessarily every other Wednesday right now. And I thank you so much for being here. And if no one told you lately, thank you for the work you're doing, especially if that work is on yourself. I'll see you next time. Bye. wow, stop recording.