04.22.11
The Empire’s Dog Feces: The drones fly in, the drones fly out, the maggots play pinochle on your snout
In the empire the only businesses in growth are the peddlers of dog shit.
Arms manufacturing, General Atomics, Northrop Grumman’s pirate-shooting laser arm, etc.
On the day the Pakistanis give a purely for show ceremonial boot to US drones flying out of Shamsi in order to appease the angry locals, the American drone business gets a boost everywhere else.
Most famously, to Libya, drones now being the symbol of what American corporate military minds come up with when they’re engrossed in another war they hope to never end. Because people in the Middle East do so love the things.
They’re one of the many small poxy faces of alleged American progress, or as I wrote:
One salient feature of the US press is the continued fascination with robots that aren’t quite as wonderful as described. The stories and people in them try to convey the impression that innovation and revolution in American technology are everywhere.
The world is always radically changed by the allegedly eye-popping robots and drones produced for the military.
For everyone else, though, it still pretty much sucks.
The economy may be stagnant, the AfPak war conducted forever with the enemy unimpressed and unmoved by US technological might, record numbers of people on food stamps. It’s a sci-fi dystopia from the world of paperback novels. But there are always some sucking off taxpayer dough …
From Reuters we learn that just as the Pakistanis profess undying hatred of US drones, we’ve sold them a bunch of toys, courtesy of AeroVironment. The better to spy on their own people, presumably, who do so love (shown by their many placard-carrying assemblages) made-in-America flying things over their heads.
The United States will provide Pakistan with 85 small “Raven” drone aircraft, a U.S. military official told Reuters, a key step to addressing Islamabad’s calls for access to U.S. drone technology.
The official, speaking on Thursday on condition of anonymity, declined to disclose the cost of the non-lethal, short-range surveillance aircraft, which are manufactured by the U.S.-based AeroVironment Inc (AVAV.O) …
The Raven, according to the company website, has a wingspan of just 1.4 metres (4.5 feet) and a weight of 1.9 kilos (4.2 pounds). It can deliver real-time colour or infrared imagery, giving troops on the ground an edge on the battlefield. (Yes, it always sounds good. Repeat as necessary.)
A senior U.S. defence official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Raven drone order is separate from U.S. plans to offer Pakistan much larger, longer-range surveillance drones, a proposition put forward by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates during a visit to Pakistan in January 2010.
That offer delighted Islamabad at the time but Pakistani officials say those talks have been held up over complaints about the cost proposed by Washington and a slow timeline for delivery.
The U.S. defence official suggested those talks were nearing conclusion.
“We’re in final discussions about which one they really want. They think they want the Shadow,” the senior U.S. defence official said.
Gates had originally offered Pakistan 12 Shadow drones, manufactured by AAI Corporation, a unit of Textron Systems (TXT.N).
AeroVironment stock finished only slightly up today. Wait until next week, maybe, although it’s still perceived to be generally worthless.
Textron stock has been flat, about the same virtually worthless place as AeroVironment.
From which we might deduce the Pakistani deal is the equivalent of giving them a load of flying metal gadget crap no one really cares about.
What, oh what, will the white flesh androids masquerading as people in America’s weapons shops come up with next to offset our very negative balance of trade in manufacturing!?