Re:Sunken Moskva Could Be the Biggest Naval Combat Loss in 4...
by ChuckNorris89 on Friday April 15, 2022 @03:34AM
(#31037494)
I think all big empires eventually collapse under the weight of excessive greed, systemic corruption and cronyism, where everyone from the top to the bottom is busy stuffing their own bags while everything crumbles around them ("f*ck you, I've got mine, go get yours")
It's just that the US manages to prolong this much longer than others.
Re:Sunken Moskva Could Be the Biggest Naval Combat Loss in 4...
by donpott on Friday April 15, 2022 @04:47AM
(#31037894)
More to your point, the book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone” by Rajiv Chandrasekaran is a scathing indictment on this system, and how incompetent apparatchiks were chosen over less politically connected entities, and how this had a direct hand in the result of the occupation. Strongly recommended!
Contracts are definitely awarded to companies based on their political connections, and not necessarily merits. Look at the whole Halliburton/Cheney shitshow in Iraq for a recent example.
We're talking $40 billion worth of (cost-plus!!!) contracts awarded to a company that was widely viewed as incompetent by the soldiers on the ground, followed by the vice-president getting a position on the board of said company when he retired. This is after he got a $30 million golden parachute after leaving them in 2001.