US foreign policy is a joke these days. The only people who truly believe in Washington’s ability to deal with neighbor nations are the same people destroying America’s reputation. Since World War II, U.S. foreign policy has failed the American people and the world. Today, force has replaced diplomacy, and military solutions and aggressive punitive measures have take the place of discussion and compromise. And the so-called “war on terror” has only served to breed more terrorists. Utter failure, this is the reality of Washington D.C., and the Trump administration seems intent on making American great again (MAGA) by executing a cartoonish policy as usual.
Reading parts of the now famous Solari Report that revealed as much as 21 trillion dollars went missing from the US Pentagon coffers, I could not help but imagine a world could have been literally reinvented. 21 trillion dollars (MSU scholars) enough money to buy many countries lock-stock-and-barrel – enough money to cure anything – to create genetically engineered parts for ailing citizens – enough to solve a list of unmet potential that is endless. Discovering an engineered housing bubble, black budgets every year in the tens of billions, and published Defense Department figures from Congress that combine in a real-life thriller to rival any Bond flick. Amazing! Astounding! These are terms used by most analysts to describe both the level of misappropriation and skullduggery and the public’s inaction and apathy toward such revelations. A forgotten story via Reuters tells us of the DOD “plugging” in numbers to hide the billions on billions being spent since 1999. Whistleblower Linda Woodford spent more than a decade helping the Pentagon “doctor” its books to balance with US Treasury expenditures. The lost money and illegally distributed monies are still unaccounted for. That’s right, look up Article I, Section 9, Clause 7, of the U.S. Constitution. The law says there must be an accounting, but there is none – Washington spent almost 70,000 from every man, woman, and child in the country on mist, smoke, a mirage, or to bribe 1,000 politicians worldwide. But let’s forget for a moment that the United States Federal Reserve and the member banks in the system shelling out taxpayer cash through the Pentagon bagman.
Since we cannot ascertain where this Mount Everest of 100 dollar bills went to, let’s take a brief look at what the Trump administration has budgeted that is on the books. A story this morning about the pride of the US Navy, the 12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford headed back to port for fixing propulsion systems failures is a good start. Okay, all my shipmates in the Navy will explain that the Ford is only in trials, but Trump’s planned behemoth 355 ship navy may just sink the US Forget the fact America’s only conceivable enemies can blast aircraft carriers out of the water with the push of a button. Trump wants a 12 carrier navy also comprised of 66 SSN nuclear attack subs. It’s as if Trump and his backers are planning for war with alien space invaders armed with Japanese battleships or old Soviet Akula class subs. Madness, American loading up for decades more useless wars against ghost enemies. What does all this useless expenditure say about our diplomacy? I think this is a good question for Americans to ask.
I’ll not venture down the historic road of United States regime change failures in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and other places. Since the NATO catastrophe that was once Yugoslavia, America has fairly well reshaped the western world into a new order of chaos. Turning to Trump, we find a defense/business establishment gearing up for a huge payday. Evidence of my assertion can most easily at Washington think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which is purported to be driving the Trump policies we see taking shape. In the executive summary of this year’s Index of US Military Strength begins with:
“The US military is only marginally able to meet the demands of defending America’s vital national interests.”
This pseudo-scholarly assessment of “threats” to American “interests” is enough to make anyone desiring peace stick to their stomach. If these psychopaths are the tail wagging the “Trump dog,” the American people can count on another decade or more of war at least. Worst case, Trump and the military industrial complex push Russia (categorized as an aggressive threat) to far to plunge us into global war. In the report, Trump’s brilliant advisers categorize Russia and China right alongside Middle Eastern terror, Iran, North Korea, and the Af-Pak brand of terrorists. Trump’s brainiacs go so far as to rate United States military branches in terms Chicken Little would understand. I have developed my own “the sky is falling” scale to coincide with Heritage’s plea for more defense spending.
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US Navy – The sky is not falling on Commodore Chicken Little so fast, but the fleet may soon sink unless Trump forks over several tens of billions quick – Heritage rates the navy’s capabilities as “marginal”
- Air Force – The Heritage Foundation just told Donald Trump the United States Air Force only has a “marginal” capacity to fight the enemies of Air Marshall Chicken Little
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Marines – Here’s where all the king’s horses are needed to put the US military back together again. The military spending justifiers claim America’s toughest fighting forces need high tech airplanes, and fast! Amazing how fighter planes and expensive shit gets first priority to fight against mostly banana republics. Wow.
- Nuclear capabilities – Once again Americans are urged to fear for their lives since America’s arsenal of doomsday weapons is now dangerously feeble.
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The United States Army! America’s core fighting force is deemed “too small and weak” to surround Russia, China, North Korea, the entire Middle East, Central and South America, and much of Africa while at the same time protecting Europeans from the dreaded Mongol horde. Ironically, this is the only assessment that may even be true.
The reader can easily come up with his or her own tongue in cheek cartoon assessments of current US policy. Looking at the whole situation from the wider perspective, we must begin to question our own sanity. Another good question to ask Trump and his geniuses are might be, What kind of morons have we set there in Washington? I mean, every successive administration since Kennedy got shot has professed to defend Americans tooth and nail with the best men, women, and weapons ever devised. So, how come were are always “threatened” by invaders who never seem to invade? Can’t the Russians just read the Heritage Foundation report as I did, and launch a massive first strike to obliterate our pitiful asses? Sorry, it has to be said.
The cartoonish fairytale Americans fall for every time – I am embarrassed to admit our own fallibility. These past 5 years doing geopolitical analysis I’ve railed about the need to tar and feather most of the western politicians, but I may be wrong in suggesting the curative for screwed up détente. Finding the evidence you read here so easily, I’ve come to the conclusion that my fellow Americans may need one of those “Three Stooges” slaps Moe used to administer to his pals Larry and Curly from time to time. Or worse.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
