this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
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[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 87 points 9 months ago (3 children)

what century does this guy live in?

[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 85 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

To give you a hint: He suggested that an international coalition should take over Afghanistan permanently for its natural resources, and install him as an overseer, preferably with the title Viceroy.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 22 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] PugJesus@kbin.social 15 points 9 months ago

"I will MAKE it legal."

[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)
[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Depends on who is making the laws that day.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 2 points 9 months ago

The thing about sovereign nations is that "legality" just doesn't apply.

"Banned by treaty" is a better term, but points to the obvious flaw that a nation can just withdraw from them even if just ignoring it stops working.

[–] beansbeansbeans@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Sounds like he watched War Inc.

[–] vexikron@lemmy.zip 28 points 9 months ago

The corporate neofeudalism century, same as the rest of us.

[–] Vikthor@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago

The same as putin.

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 77 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Remember, this guy's entire family, the DeVos family, has their claws in lots of US policy.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-devos-dynasty-a-family-of-extremists/

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Good god and I had only just forgotten about Betsy Freaking DeVos and her disastrous turn as Secretary of Education. What an asshole.

[–] poplargrove@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

Erik Prince appeared on Breitbart Radio to allege that Hillary and Bill Clinton laundered money and frequented a “sex island” that was home to “underage sex slaves.”

Huh

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 41 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Why isn’t this fucker in prison? Again?

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Because our "democracies" are a charade and most of our politicians are wholly pwned and financed by oligarchs like this megalomaniac psychopath.

TL;DR because he's a member of the oligarchy!

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Why is this guy still walking around free?

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

He moved to Abu Dhabi and rich and most importantly he's white.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Erik, they got their cunts kicked by the rice farmers then the goat herders, have you learnt nothing?

[–] Hegar@kbin.social 26 points 9 months ago

Yes, he learned how to make bank on imperialism.

[–] Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

That’s kind of irrelevant though because the US wasn’t colonizing them. And in both, the US had complete dominance during the entire occupation.

The south Vietnamese and the Afghan governments were weak and corrupt and caved as soon as the US withdrew. In a colonial situation, the US would have not pulled out at all and would have implemented a permanent occupation.

[–] wildcardology@lemmy.world 26 points 9 months ago

The U.S. can't even take care of the 50+ they already have. You want to add more?

[–] Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

Lemmy User RoflmasterBigPimp calls for Erik Prince to shut the fuck up!

[–] PeckerBrown@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Too late, bitch-tits - China's already doing that.

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago

Captain lead paint chips needs to be shut up

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

When did the US took off the imperialist hat?

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

As if this mercenary fuckwit speaks for the entire US.

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

He's not American any longer

[–] Infiltrated_ad8271@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

They pretend otherwise, indignantly, when it comes to paying or assuming responsibilities they don't like.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 4 points 9 months ago

There's soft imperialism, and there's classical imperialism, and he's not arguing for controlling policy with fiscal incentives.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Erik Prince has been many things in his 54 years on Earth: the wealthy heir to an auto supply company; a Navy SEAL; the founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater, which conducted a notorious 2007 massacre in the middle of Baghdad; the brother of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s secretary of education; a shadow adviser to Trump; and the plaintiff in a lawsuit against The Intercept.

Prince and Serrano either do not know or do not care that previous bouts of the European flavor of colonialism led to the deaths of tens of millions of people around the world.

The book’s narrator, Charles Marlow, describes his voyage up a river into the interior of an unnamed African country that is obviously Congo in the process of being colonized by Belgium.

March 27: “I ask Mississippians of all faiths to pray for all our coalition forces and the Iraqi people as they engage in an intense but noble battle against what is nothing but sheer evil.”

Serrano at least is more in touch with the grimy reality of what they’re talking about, and he excitedly mentions how America could bring lesser nations “the professionalism they need to capitalize on their natural resources.”

In any case, Prince’s words illustrate that we are living in a time in which many of humanity’s worst ideas, ones we thought were long dead and buried, have risen from the grave and are now staggering about again.


The original article contains 857 words, the summary contains 239 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] aniki@lemm.ee 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

He was technically, if Wikipedia is to believed.

He was a Naval Special Warfare Officer so not a SEAL Operator but technically that still is a Navy SEAL.

I know nothing about this person other than their wiki but I’m sure they conveniently leave off the fact they weren’t an Operator when saying they are a Navy SEAL.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

What's the difference? Really asking, I don't know this stuff.

[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I’m no expert but as I understand it, a SEAL Operator is the SEAL you think of when you think of a Navy SEAL aka the guy in the frog suit with the gun rising out of the water to take a beach.

A Naval Special Warfare Officer is part of the support staff to the SEAL Operators effectively. I don’t know what specifically their function is (you can google it) but they probably do battlefield tactics for the actual Operators, they don’t go into actual battle.