Comment by jmyeet

Military action in Iran is deeply unpopular, being supported by just 27% of US adult citizens [1]. As an aside, Congress literally doesn't care what voters think [2]. The pearl-clutching about this from Congressional Democrats isn't about policy but process, with the likes of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries saying Congress should authorize this action, not that it shouldn't happen.

I'm interested in what makes empires tick, what their basis of power is.

Spain in the colonial era was propped up by looting silver from Central and South America, for example.

The British Empire is what many (including me) like to call the "drug dealer empire". First tobacco then later opium. Any claims that we didn't know about the health risks of tobacco are complete BS (eg [3]).

Circling back to your point, the US is what I like to call the "arms dealer empire". WW1 and WW2 massively enriched the United States. NATO is essentially a protection racket for Europe and the price is, you guessed it, buying arms from the United States.

And the next Budget has proposed increasing "defense" spending from an already eye-popping $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion [4]. Where does that money go? Arms, weapons programs, defense contractors, the ultra-wealthy.

War is good for business even though it's unpopular.

[1]: https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54158-few-americans-suppor...

[2]: https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba/

[3]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15198996/

[4]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-proposes-massive...