Sunday, February 20, 2011

Iron Man 2 - Jon Favreau

I’ve successfully privatized world peace
-Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.)

Iron Man 2 is even worse than its predecessor. The plot is not clear and there are less action scenes than in the average action movie. Hopefully Iron Man 3 will be better (not really).

The movie tries to make an argument against drones, which have become very unpopular as a result of their massive utilization in Afghanistan.

Drones are used because they are cheaper than human beings, both economically and morally. Moms want to see their children covered with glory after liberating barbarous peoples, not inside a coffin. An army made up of voluntaries enhances the false conception that wars are glorious enterprises rather than painful processes.

The alternative to drones is mercenaries (sorry, private security contractors), but, guess what, mercenaries also die, which makes them potential political liabilities. In fact, “contractor deaths surpass US military losses in both Iraq & Afghanistan”. And, also, relying on mercenaries is one of the first signs of weakness of an empire. 

Iron Man 2 is one more testimony of a society that is unable to discuss its defense policy seriously.


2 comments:

  1. Estimado Cempa, cuándo un post que abordé lo que sucede en el Maghreb??

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  2. Una vez que se calme la situación y se pueda tener una idea clara de qué es lo que está pasando. Por el momento, hay mucho ruido y polvo. Todos los que dicen saber qué es lo que está pasando en los países árabes mienten. La región se ha distinguido, históricamente, por ser un lugar en el que predominan el secreto y las intrigas palaciegas. Los verdaderos acuerdos y las implicaciones para la gente los sabremos en un año o dos.
    Lo que sí es paradójico es ver a los líderes islámicos tunecinos y egipcios, y a sus chicas con velo diciendo viva la democracia y abajo los tiranos...

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