The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, taken from an airplane in January 2008. Wikipedia
Sputnik: Why US Officers Believe Pentagon Officials Take Them for a Fool
Serious tensions are simmering between "interventionists" and "America Firsters" in the US Army, American author Justin Raimondo warns.
While the Pentagon and NATO officials are playing the game called "Chicken-Little, sky-is-falling," in claiming that Russia is harboring plans to invade Europe, other US military officers urge their counterparts "to stop waving the bloody red shirt," American journalist and the editorial director of Antiwar.com Justin Raimondo writes in his article.
Predictably, the whole "Russians-are-coming" fuss is all about the money, he stresses.
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WNU Editor: I have been following wars, conflicts, defence and intelligence stories for years .... and the rational that sometimes comes out of the Pentagon on why they need more of this and/or more of that .... coupled with bigger budgets .... always astounds me. But here is the kicker .... they usually get what they want .... so yes .... we must be the fools.
1 comment:
The other possibility is they might really need the money. While those who say they don't control the media and much of the bureaucracy, those who make the final decisions on things may not have the luxury of making decisions based upon ideological beliefs. For making the suggestion that the Pentagon actually does need the money, does not mean they are playing someone for a "fool" or that they are a "fool." It simply means a difference of opinion on a way forward.
With that said, a good question might be "why is it that the United States spends so much more money on its military than Russia does, yet, at best, the United States and Russia are equally powerfully military and, in many areas, Russia is superior?" I think the answer to this is twofold. 1.)Russia has force multipliers in terms of its nuclear arsenal, very capable proxies, cyber warfare capabilities, and a network of reliable allies that the United States cannot come close to matching. 2.)There is a misallocation of resources such as to things like the F-35, a long range bomber that isn't needed for the types of threats we face, and very likely some wasteful spending.
I'm not sure there is any amount of troop deployments that are going to deter Russia should it choose to invade any part of Europe. After all this is the most powerful military force on the planet right now and likely will be for the foreseeable future. Western Europe especially is either going to get taken over by Islamists, Russia, or it is going to die off because it's populations are not reproducing fast enough. It cannot be saved. It is to late for it. As such, it would be far better for us to leave it alone. If Russia wants it, perhaps they can make it better. The sooner we have nothing to do with people such as the Western Europeans or former Soviet Republics the better!!
The question about do we want a high speed rail system or another division in Poland is a good one. Another division in Poland is not going to make any difference. As stated above, there is likely no form of US military or otherwise deployment that is going to be sufficient to contain Russia should it wish to expand. Now, if we could improve our infrastructure by investing elsewhere, this would be a good thing. I wish we had a foreign policy more like Canada or Australia.
Finally, the article is consistent with the main stream US media. The personnel who call for a more aggressive response are demonized, smeared, and otherwise discounted. Those who are opposed to them and take a more sympathetic tone to adversaries and potential adversaries of America have praise and other accolades heaped upon them. Hence America's capabilities are overstated and it's intentions are viewed more suspiciously than perhaps they should be while adversaries abilities are understated and their intentions viewed more favorably than perhaps they should be. As such, it's hard to have a rational discussion about such things in the current environment.
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