Of Empires and Old Men

 

   Russian military vehicles arrive in Belarus, near the border with Ukraine 

Jan. 29, 2022 (Russian Defense Ministry/AP)

      A convoy of U.S. Marine Corps arrives in Northern Iraq, March 2003. 

Credit: Andrew P. Roufs, USMC 

Russian President Vladimir Putin used fabricated lies to justify to the Russian people an invasion of Ukraine. Some twenty years ago, the Bush White House also used fabrications to justify to the American people the military invasion of Iraq. In the U.S., at least half the population could see through the lies, but we could not stop the invasion. It is as if the lies are always a mere formality preceding an empire’s use of military force.

 

Come you masters of war

You that build the big guns

You that build the death planes

You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

 

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly

 

Someone posted the preceding Bob Dylan quote from his 1963 song, “Masters of War” on Facebook right after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Shortly afterward, someone else responded, saying that in a 2001 interview, Dylan claimed, “There’s no antiwar sentiment in that song, I’m not a pacifist. I don’t think I’ve ever been one. If you look closely at the song, it’s about what Eisenhower was saying about the dangers of the military-industrial complex in this country. I believe strongly in everyone’s right to defend themselves by every means necessary*.”

This 2001 quote is emblematic of our human nature, that as young men we see and decry the follies of war, then as old men, we capitulate to the necessity of war. Unfortunately, it is always the young men who are sent out by the old men to fight their wars.

It is the way of Empire to make a mess of things with weapons of war, whether it is the U.S in Iraq, or Russia in Ukraine. Empires destroy lives and communities in order to preserve their own power.

I remember watching on the nightly news back in August of 1968 as Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia. The world watched, helpless to intervene. I was just beginning my eighth-grade year in school. Those 1968 images, in addition to a prolonged war in Vietnam, colored my dark view of the modern world for many years. 

Putin seems to have expected to see that same sort of helplessness from onlooking nations today as the Kremlin saw at the height of the Cold War. Today, the free world hurts for Ukraine and many have rallied to her cause, inspired by a people who will not roll over to a bully, and a president who stands with his people rather than fleeing in exile.  

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* I was able to find the source of the Dylan quote. It is from a 2001 Robert Hilburn interview (Los Angeles Times). It was cited by Lee Marshall in his book, Bob Dylan: The Never Ending Star, (p. 263).  The quote was also cited in The political World of Bob Dylan: Freedom and Justice, Power and Sin, by Jeff Taylor and Chad Israelson.

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Masters of War

By Bob Dylan

 

Come you masters of war

You that build the big guns

You that build the death planes

You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

 

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly

 

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

A world war can be won

You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes

And I see through your brain

Like I see through the water

That runs down my drain

 

You fasten all the triggers

For the others to fire

Then you sit back and watch

When the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion

While the young people's blood

Flows out of their bodies

And is buried in the mud

                            

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

 

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

 

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

 

And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I'll follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

 

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