Post Tagged with: "Pentagon"

World Military Expenditure Passes $2 Trillion For First Time, Finds SIPRI

World Military Expenditure Passes $2 Trillion For First Time, Finds SIPRI

The military spending of all nations combined set a new record in 2021, exceeding the $2 trillion mark for the first time ever, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed in a report published on Monday. According to the report, while the U.S. defense spending slid by 1.4% compared to 2020, Washington remained the absolute global leader, having lavished[Read More…]

by — 26/04/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
Will the Pentagon Budget Ever Shrink?

Will the Pentagon Budget Ever Shrink?

What Would It Take for Military Spending in America to Go Down? A Thought Experiment on the Military-Industrial Complex I have a question for you: What would it take in today’s world for America’s military spending to go down?  Here’s one admittedly farfetched scenario: Vladimir Putin loses his grip on power and Russia retrenches militarily while reaching out to normalize[Read More…]

by — 06/04/2022 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism
What a Waste! $778 Billion for the Pentagon and Still Counting

What a Waste! $778 Billion for the Pentagon and Still Counting

2021 was another banner year for the military-industrial complex, as Congress signed off on a near-record $778 billion in spending for the Pentagon and related work on nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy. That was $25 billion more than the Pentagon had even asked for. It can’t be emphasized enough just how many taxpayer dollars are now being showered on the Pentagon. That department’s astronomical[Read More…]

by — 03/02/2022 — Comments are Disabled — World
Why It’s Time to Make Deep Cuts at the Pentagon

Why It’s Time to Make Deep Cuts at the Pentagon

Where are you going to get the money?  That question haunts congressional proposals to help the poor, the unhoused, and those struggling to pay the mortgage or rent or medical bills, among so many other critical domestic matters.  And yet — big surprise! — there’s always plenty of money for the Pentagon. In fiscal year 2022, in fact, Congress is being especially[Read More…]

by — 13/12/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
Washington’s National Security Spending Follies

Washington’s National Security Spending Follies

by Mandy Smithberger & William D. Hartung President Biden’s first Pentagon budget, released late last month, is staggering by any reasonable standard.  At more than $750 billion for the Defense Department and related work on nuclear weapons at the Department of Energy, it represents one of the highest levels of spending since World War II — far higher than the peaks of the Korean[Read More…]

by — 29/06/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
Games the Pentagon plays

Games the Pentagon plays

Modern warfare is waged with high-tech weapons. Each battle fought eats up loads of ammunition and modern weapons systems need spare parts and fuel. All this meaning that no military action is possible without an advanced economy and supplies. Even terrorist organizations forced to go deep into the underground have to set up laboratories and workshops to produce homemade explosives[Read More…]

by — 26/06/2021 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism
Why the Pentagon Budget Never Goes Down

Why the Pentagon Budget Never Goes Down

Joe Biden’s First 100 Days Were a Pentagon Prize The first 100 days of President Joe Biden’s administration have come and gone. While somewhat exaggerated, that milestone is normally considered the honeymoon period for any new president. Buoyed by a recent election triumph and inauguration, he’s expected to be at the peak of his power when it comes to advancing the[Read More…]

by — 11/05/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
Why Pentagon Weapons Programs Rarely Get Canceled Despite Major Problems

Why Pentagon Weapons Programs Rarely Get Canceled Despite Major Problems

Cancel culture is a common, almost viral, term in political and social discourse these days. Basically, somebody expresses views considered to be outrageous or vile or racist or otherwise insensitive and inappropriate. In response, that person is “canceled,” perhaps losing a job or otherwise sidelined and silenced. In being deplatformed by Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites, for instance, this[Read More…]

by — 04/03/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
More Money for the Pentagon in the Pandemic Moment?

More Money for the Pentagon in the Pandemic Moment?

This country is in a crisis of the first order. More than half a million of us have died thanks to Covid-19. Food insecurity is on the rise, with nearly 24 million Americans going hungry, including 12 million children. Unemployment claims filed since the pandemic began have now reached 93 million. Given the level of damage to the less wealthy parts of this society,[Read More…]

by — 02/03/2021 — Comments are Disabled — World
Shrinking the Pentagon

Shrinking the Pentagon

Co-Written by William D. Hartung and Mandy Smithberger Will the Biden Administration Dare Cut Military Spending? Now that Joe Biden is slated to take office as the 46th president of the United States, advice on how he should address a wide range of daunting problems is flooding in. Nowhere is there more at stake than when it comes to how he handles[Read More…]

by — 30/11/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
 National (In)Security and the Pentagon Budget

 National (In)Security and the Pentagon Budget

A Post-Coronavirus Economy Can No Longer Afford to Put the Pentagon First The inadequate response of both the federal and state governments to the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the United States, creating what could only be called a national security crisis. More than 190,000 Americans are dead, approximately half of them people of color. Yelp data show that more than 132,000[Read More…]

by — 14/09/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Imperialism
Robot Generals: Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans — Or Worse?

Robot Generals: Will They Make Better Decisions Than Humans — Or Worse?

With Covid-19 incapacitating startling numbers of U.S. service members and modern weapons proving increasingly lethal, the American military is relying ever more frequently on intelligent robots to conduct hazardous combat operations. Such devices, known in the military as “autonomous weapons systems,” include robotic sentries, battlefield-surveillance drones, and autonomous submarines. So far, in other words, robotic devices are merely replacing standard weaponry on conventional battlefields.[Read More…]

by — 26/08/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
Extraterrestrial Fascinations: The Pentagon And UFOs

Extraterrestrial Fascinations: The Pentagon And UFOs

Conspiracies in the extraterrestrial department have always constituted the residue of superstition in a secular age.  Chase away a Christ figure, or ward off God, and the mind still wanders, hoping to be bewitched.  If something cannot be explained, ignorance furnishes an often poor substitute. The concept of extraterrestrial phenomena straddles scientific probabilities, faith and the sense that governments might[Read More…]

by — 27/12/2017 — 1 comment — World