You are about to see an aesthetically impressive video ad. It is a series of photos. The script gets a key idea across. It has a voice-over by an effective speaker. It has ominous music.
In the private sector, this could be produced for under $1,000 if the music and photos were royalty-free. It could be sold to a large company for at least $10,000. I don't know what the Army spent. Its accounting techniques are not that rigorous. (Headline: Pentagon's Sloppy Bookkeeping Means $6.5 Trillion Can't Pass an Audit.)
First, watch the ad.
Second, in analyzing any ad, you should begin with an understanding of the target audience. This, we know.
The video is nothing if not an instant dystopian classic: melancholy music, an ominous voiceover, and cascading images of sprawling slums and urban conflict. "Megacities are complex systems where people and structures are compressed together in ways that defy both our understanding of city planning and military doctrine," says a disembodied voice. "These are the future breeding grounds, incubators, and launching pads for adversaries and hybrid threats."The video was used as part of an "Advanced Special Operations Combating Terrorism" course offered at JSOU earlier this year, for a lesson on "The Emerging Terrorism Threat." JSOU is operated by U.S. Special Operations Command, the umbrella organization for America's most elite troops. JSOU describes itself as geared toward preparing special operations forces "to shape the future strategic environment by providing specialized joint professional military education, developing SOF specific undergraduate and graduate level academic programs and by fostering special operations research."
Megacities are, by definition, urban areas with a population of 10 million or more, and they have been a recent source of worry and research for the U.S. military. A 2014 Army report, titled "Megacities and the United States Army," warned that "the Army is currently unprepared. Although the Army has a long history of urban fighting, it has never dealt with an environment so complex and beyond the scope of its resources." A separate Army study published this year bemoans the fact that the "U.S. Army is incapable of operating within the megacity."
Third, what is the intended action step? It's not stated. We can guess. It is to recruit college-educated people to join the Army's psy-ops units and other urban crowd control branches.
Fourth, this action step leads to another: urban crowd control.
Fifth, which cities? Not New York City. Not Houston. America is already overwhelmingly urban. There will be no major influx of uneducated, poverty-stricken refugees from villages. This is all about controlling third world cities.
Sixth, the Army brass thinks that the U.S. Army will be involved in policing third world megacities.
This leads me to a conclusion: The Army brass is out of touch with fiscal realities in Washington. When the Army's budget comes up against Medicare's voters, it is going to be cut.
It's time to read Fred Reed's comments on the Empire.
Oh good. The world reaches a crossroads, or probably a road off a cliff, just when I want to relax and watch gratuitous violence on the tube. To judge by the rapid drift of events aboard our planetary asylum, the talons of Washington and New York on the world's throat are fast being pried a-loose. The Global American Imperium is dying. Or so it sure looks anyway.I say talons of "New York and Washington" because America's foreign policy, forged in those two cities, belongs entirely to them. Americans have no influence on it. Further, none of of what the Empire does abroad is of any benefit to Americans. Do you care at all what happens in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, or the South China Sea? Do you want to pay for it? America has been hijacked.
And the Empire prospereth not. It prospereth very not. Consider the recent record of the world's hyperpower:
Washington does not have control of Afghanistan, and obviously is not going to.
Washington does not have control of Iraq, and appears unlikely to.
Washington did not back Iran down, and isn't going to.
Washington did not back Russia down in Ukraine and Crimea, and isn't going to.
Washington did not back China down in the South China Sea and, while this is perhaps not over, the Empire seems to be losing.
Washington has not backed North Korea down and is not going to.
In the Philippines, President Duterte has told Obama to "go to hell" as being "the son of a whore," which may be taken to indicate latent hostility. He is vigorously seeking rapprochement with China. While Washington may have him murdered, it seems to be losing control of the Little Vassals of ASEAN.
Turkey seems to be cuddling up to Russia--that is, looking East like Duterte. Maybe Washington can turn this around temporarily, but there's a whole lot of wavering going on.
Meanwhile Washington thrashes around impotently as per usual in Syria, and, though the jury remains out on this one, looks to have poor prospects. If Washington--AKA New York--loses here, after doing so in Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Afghanistan, the Empire will beyond redemption be on the downward slope.
The United States is not in danger. The Empire is.
The Army produced what should have been a low-cost video in order to recruit future officers. But those career tracks are not going to be funded. The Army's special forces will not be needed in Houston.
George M. Cohan will no longer provide marching orders.
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