Is A Pentagon Report On China The Reason Why There Is Now A 'Military Spending Frenzy' In The U.S.?

President Joe Biden takes notes during a video summit with President Xi Jinping of China at the White House in November 2021. | DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES  

Michael T. Klare, The Nation: A Pentagon Report on China Fuels a Military Spending Frenzy in the US  

How the media is misrepresenting what’s in the document. 

“China to Have 1,500 Nuclear Warheads by 2035: Pentagon.” That was the headline at ABC News on November 29, the day the Department of Defense released the 2022 edition of its annual report on “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” also called the China Military Power report. The Pentagon’s claim that China’s nuclear stockpile would jump from some 400 warheads today to an estimated 1,500 in 2035 was widely reported in the popular media and seized upon by military hawks in Congress to clamor for increased military spending. During the first two weeks of December, the House and Senate authorized a fiscal year 2023 Pentagon budget of $858 billion—some $45 billion more than President Biden requested, with most of the added funds earmarked for weaponry to counter China. 

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WNU Editor: 2022 will be remembered as the year where the old world geopolitical order was turned upside down. 2023 will be remembered as the year where countries responded to this change by forming alliances and massively expanding their defense budgets. A Pentagon report is not the reason for this "military spending frenzy". But it will be used by US political leaders as one of many reasons why this military buildup is justified.

Eastern And Central Europe's Arms Industry Is Producing Arms At A Pace Not Seen Since The Cold War

Euronews/Reuters: Ukraine war: Arms made at pace ‘highest since Cold War’ as Europe’s east aids Kyiv 

Eastern and Central Europe's arms industry is churning out guns, ammunition, and other military supplies at a pace not seen since the Cold War as governments aim to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia. 

Allies have been supplying Kyiv with weapons and military equipment since Moscow went on a full-scale invasion of its western neighbour on 24 February, depleting their inventories along the way. 

 The US and the UK committed the most direct military aid to Ukraine until early October, a Kiel Institute for the World Economy tracker shows.  But the likes of Poland and the Czech Republic are not too far behind, in third and ninth place, respectively.  

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WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. As much as 2022 was a record for Europe's arms industry, 2023 is going to blow-away 2022.

US Air Force Chief Says US-China Hypersonic Weapons ‘Arms Race’ Is Underway

The United States and China are engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall (left) told Reuters Tuesday  

Daily Mail: US and China are in a new 'arms race' to develop the most 'lethal' hypersonic missiles, Air Force Secretary says - while Space Force commander confirms Beijing has rocket that can STAY in orbit 

* The United States and China are engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, the U.S. Air Force secretary said Tuesday 

* 'There is an arms race, not necessarily for increased numbers, but for increased quality,' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Reuters 

* In October, the top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, confirmed a Chinese hypersonic weapons test 

* And on Monday, Space Force Lieutenant General Chance Saltzman said that China's new hypersonic weapon system might be able to stay in space 

* This year the Pentagon has held several hypersonic weapons tests with mixed success 

* In October, the Navy successfully tested a booster rocket motor that would be used to power a launch vehicle carrying a hypersonic weapon aloft 

* Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds of more than five times the speed of sound, or about 3,853 miles per hour 

The United States and China are engaged in an arms race to develop the most lethal hypersonic weapons, the U.S. Air Force secretary said on Tuesday, as Beijing and Washington build and test more and more of the high-speed next-generation arms. 

'There is an arms race, not necessarily for increased numbers, but for increased quality,' Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Reuters during an interview in his Pentagon offices. 

'It's an arms race that has been going on for quite some time. The Chinese have been at it very aggressively.'  

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Update #1: US in Hypersonic Weapon 'Arms Race' With China -Air Force Secretary (Newsmax/Reuters)  

Update #2: US-China hypersonic weapons ‘arms race’ is underway, Air Force chief says (FOX News)  

WNU Editor: A race that this Space Force general is saying the US is losing .... U.S. ‘not as advanced’ as China and Russia on hypersonic tech, Space Force general warns (Politico).

US To Re-Activate Nuclear Unit In Germany With 4,000mph ‘Dark Eagle’ Hypersonic Missiles

The US has reactivated a nuclear unit in Germany for the first time since the Cold War 

Warzone/The Drive: Army Revives Cold War Nuclear Missile Unit To Deploy New Long-Range Weapons In Europe 

56th Artillery Command's return to Germany after 30 years reflects how critical ground-launched missiles would be in any future conflict with Russia. 

The U.S. Army has officially reactivated the 56th Artillery Command in Germany. This unit was previously active in that country between 1963 and 1991, during which time it commanded battalions armed with Pershing and Pershing II nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. In its new guise, it will serve as a hub for artillery operations across Europe, including deployments of new ground-based hypersonic weapons and other longer-range missiles in the coming years. This reflects just how important the Army feels these new capabilities, and artillery in general, would be in any future major conflict in the region, especially against Russia.  

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WNU Editor: Russian media has commented on the reactivation of this nuclear unit .... UK tabloid cheers US hypersonic nukes in Germany, shows mushroom cloud over Moscow (RT). 

More News On Reports That The US Will Re-Activate A Nuclear Unit In Germany With 4,000mph ‘Dark Eagle’ Hypersonic Missiles  

56th Artillery Command re-activates as Theater Fires Command in Wiesbaden -- Army Times  

Artillery Command Is the Latest Unit Relaunch for Growing Europe Mission -- Stars and Stripes  

Army activates new artillery command in Europe; move seen as counter to aggressive Russia -- Washington Times 

DARK EAGLE HAS LANDED US to arm nuclear unit in Germany with 4,000mph ‘Dark Eagle’ hypersonic missiles to ‘blitz Moscow in 21 MINS’ -- Irish SUN

US Nuclear Unit In Germany Reactivates With "Dark Eagle" Hypersonic Missiles -- Zero Hedge

Rissian President Putin Says US Withdrawal From Nuclear Treaty Risks Sparking ‘New Arms Race’ In Asia

 

RT: US withdrawal from nuclear treaty risks sparking ‘new arms race’ in Asia, Putin says, after claims China tested hypersonic missile  

Washington’s decision to pull out of a Cold War-era nuclear weapons deal could lead to escalating tensions and a standoff between world powers in East Asia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned, calling for urgent dialogue. 

Speaking at the 16th East Asia Summit on Wednesday, Putin said, “We have repeatedly warned that the termination of the treaty on intermediate and short-range missiles [INF] means the region is now facing the possibility of these strike weapons appearing across its vast space, and a new arms race as a result.”  

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WNU Editor: Asia has been experiencing an arms race long before the US withdrew from the INF treaty .... REFILE-FACTBOX-An intensifying arms race in Asia (Reuters).

Will China's Hypersonic Missile Test Trigger An Arms Race

The FT's sources said the hypersonic glide vehicle was carried by a Long March rocket, launches of which China usually announces, though the August test was kept under wraps [Stringer/ AFP] 

Jen Judson, Defense News: Chinese hypersonic missile test unlikely to trigger arms race, experts say 

WASHINGTON — The August test of a Chinese space-based hypersonic missile is unlikely to trigger an arms race, but could influence the White House and Defense Department’s effort to shape new missile defense and nuclear posture strategies, experts say. 

Top military officials gave clues in the late summer and early fall that they knew this event, which was first reported by the Financial Times, was happening. 

Gen. Glen VanHerck, the U.S. Northern Command chief, in a speech at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, in August, briefly mentioned China had “just demonstrated” a “very fast” hypersonic vehicle. 

At the time, he said he couldn’t provide more detail, but noted the demonstration would challenge current threat warning systems.  

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WNU Editor: Americans may debate whether an arms race is about to begin. But China has invested enormously to build up its armed forces in the past two decades (if that is not an arms race, I then do not know what is). 

And China is not alone. Its neighbors have in turn responded by upping their defense budgets and forming alliances.

Update: Analysis is true .... China’s Test of An Orbital Hypersonic Missile Is A Big Deal (1945).

Asian Countries Stockpiling Powerful New Missiles

FILE PHOTO: Military vehicles carrying DF-26 ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Gate during a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing  

Reuters: Analysis-Caught between China and the U.S., Asian countries stockpile powerful new missiles 

SEOUL (Reuters) -Asia is sliding into a dangerous arms race as smaller nations that once stayed on the sidelines build arsenals of advanced long-range missiles, following in the footsteps of powerhouses China and the United States, analysts say. 

China is mass producing its DF-26 - a multipurpose weapon with a range of up to 4,000 kilometres - while the United States is developing new weapons aimed at countering Beijing in the Pacific. 

Other countries in the region are buying or developing their own new missiles, driven by security concerns over China and a desire to reduce their reliance on the United States. 

Before the decade is out, Asia will be bristling with conventional missiles that fly farther and faster, hit harder, and are more sophisticated than ever before - a stark and dangerous change from recent years, analysts, diplomats, and military officials say.

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WNU Editor: This Asian missile race has been ongoing for a long time .... The Great Asian Missile Race (Foreign Policy).

Is The Korean Peninsula About To Face An Arms Race?

In his speech at the party congress, Kim mentioned nuclear weapons no fewer than 36 times 

DW: Korean Peninsula: Nuclear weapons plans trigger arms race fears 

Calls grow for the South Korean government to step up its defenses after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced plans for advanced new weapons systems. 

South Korea has confirmed that it is considering developing a nuclear-powered submarine after Kim Jong Un declared at the recent Workers' Party Congress in North Korea that he would "advance national reunification through a strong military power" — and boasted of deploying hypersonic missiles, spy satellites, multi-warhead intercontinental ballistic missiles and the North's own nuclear-powered submarine. 

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WNU Editor: The rhetoric from North Korea is not comforting .... North Korea ends party meeting with calls for nuclear might (AP).

Threat From Nuclear Weapons And Missiles Continues To Grow

FILE PHOTO: Chinese nuclear-capable missiles © Nir Elias © Reuters 

Paul Sonne,The Washington Post: Threat from nuclear weapons and missiles has grown since Trump entered office 

North Korea's new road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, paraded through the streets of Pyongyang this past weekend, has underscored a worrying reality: The global threat from nuclear weapons and menacing missiles has grown since President Donald Trump entered office, despite his administration's fitful efforts to control them. 

The unveiling of the untested weapon - which appeared to be a larger version of a North Korean missile that can reach the United States - came less than a week after Russia test launched an anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile on President Vladimir Putin's birthday and a month and a half after China test fired its "carrier killer" and "Guam killer" ballistic missiles into the disputed South China Sea. 

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WNU Editor: The proliferation of missile and nuclear weapons has been going on long before President Trump got involved in politics, and it will continue under the next President. What is different now is that the US is modernizing its own arsenal in response.

U.S. Quickly Rearming With New Weapons To Nullify China's Supremacy In Asia

A Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is launched from the guided missile cruiser USS Cape St. George in the eastern Mediterranean Sea March 23, 2003. U.S. Navy/Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Kenneth Moll/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Reuters: Special Report: U.S. rearms to nullify China's missile supremacy

HONG KONG (Reuters) - As Washington and Beijing trade barbs over the coronavirus pandemic, a longer-term struggle between the two Pacific powers is at a turning point, as the United States rolls out new weapons and strategy in a bid to close a wide missile gap with China.

The United States has largely stood by in recent decades as China dramatically expanded its military firepower. Now, having shed the constraints of a Cold War-era arms control treaty, the Trump administration is planning to deploy long-range, ground-launched cruise missiles in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Pentagon intends to arm its Marines with versions of the Tomahawk cruise missile now carried on U.S. warships, according to the White House budget requests for 2021 and Congressional testimony in March of senior U.S. military commanders. It is also accelerating deliveries of its first new long-range anti-ship missiles in decades.

In a statement to Reuters about the latest U.S. moves, Beijing urged Washington to “be cautious in word and deed,” to “stop moving chess pieces around” the region, and to “stop flexing its military muscles around China.”

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WNU Editor: So much for the media narrative that the U.S. is abandoning its allies and withdrawing from the world stage. These new weapons and strategy is the exact opposite.

Are China’s Aircraft Carriers Fueling A New Arms Race

Official publicity shot of China's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning. The 67,500 ton carrier is a modernized Russian design. Although Chinese carriers will continue to draw from this linage, future carriers will be increasingly indigenous. Chinese Military

Forbes: China’s Aircraft Carriers Fueling New Arms Race

Since the Cold War, the U.S. Navy has enjoyed complete dominance in the aircraft carrier arena. Now China is building a fleet of at least four carriers that could rival the U.S. in the Pacific in the coming years. Her second carrier, Shandong, set out on her eighth sea trial yesterday. Other countries are now responding with carrier programs, further eroding the U.S. lead.

China commissioned her first carrier, Liaoning, in 2012. That was 92 years after the first U.S. Navy carrier, USS Langley, but they plan to catch up fast. Liaoning started her life during the Cold War as the second Soviet Navy’s second carrier, Varyag. After the collapse of the Soviet Union she was left unfinished, and later sold to China as a tourist attraction. The Chinese it turned out, had bigger plans for her.

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WNU Editor: It is more than just Chinese aircraft carriers fueling this new arms race.

NATO Rejects Russian President Putin’s Missile Moratorium Offer For Europe

Image via US Department of Defense/Defense One

Moscow Times: NATO Rejects Putin’s Missile Moratorium Offer

NATO has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calls to suspend deployment of missiles in Europe that were banned under a recently abandoned U.S.-Russian nuclear pact.

The Kommersant business daily reported and the Kremlin confirmed Putin’s offer, which came amid concerns that Russia and the U.S. are headed toward an arms race after Washington exited the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) pact last month. The INF pact’s demise means both Washington and Moscow are legally free to develop and deploy ground-launched nuclear and conventional ballistic and cruise missiles.

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Update #1: NATO denies Russia request to bar missiles in Europe (UPI)
Update #2: NATO Rejects Putin's Request To Ban Missile Deployments In Europe (Zero Hedge)

WNU Editor: Laying the groundwork for the next arms race.

Kremlin Says It Is Winning The Arms Race Against The U.S.

In February the Russian state news agency released a video claiming to show a test of the Burevetnik missile which the Kremlin says is designed to strike over 'unlimited' range and with with unprecedented ability to manoeuvre

Reuters: Kremlin says it is winning arms race against U.S. despite rocket accident

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin boasted on Tuesday it was winning the race to develop new cutting edge nuclear weapons despite a mysterious rocket accident last week in northern Russia that caused a temporary spike in radiation levels.

Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear agency, has said that the Aug. 8 accident occurred during a rocket test on a sea platform in the White Sea, killing at least five and injuring three more.

It has pledged to keep developing new weapons regardless, portraying the men who died in the test as heroes.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Monday the United States was “learning much” from the explosion which he suggested happened during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile vaunted by President Vladimir Putin last year.

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Update: 'Accidents happen' says the Kremlin: Moscow denies the explosion of a nuclear-powered missile was a setback and declares it is 'far ahead' in developing new weaponry (Daily Mail)

WNU Editor: If this is winning, I hate to know what losing looks like.

A New World Missile Arms Race Is Underway

Pershing II intermediate range ballistic missiles. Photo: U.S. Army (Department of Defense)

Tim Fernholz, Quartz: The world is heading for a new missile arms race

The world is witnessing a huge growth in the number of ballistic missiles used to threaten enemies thousands of kilometers away with conventional and nuclear weapons, as tensions ratchet higher between world powers and international arms agreements fall by the wayside.

China is building an enormous arsenal of missiles to deter potential US attacks, and, along with Russia, it’s developed hypersonic missiles that offer an unprecedented challenge to air defense systems. In the Middle East, a hidden arms race is ongoing between Saudi Arabia and Iran to develop rocket weapons. And the United States under president Donald Trump is giving up on arms control agreements and preparing to invest in more missiles and missile defenses.

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WNU Editor: This global race to build missiles has actually been going on for a very long time.

Artificial Intellegince Is The The Newest Arms Race

A Predator and Reaper operating out of Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. USAF

Jacob Scott, The War Room: The Iron Tringle: Technology, Strategy, Ethics, And The Future Of Killing Machines

Fear of an artificial intelligence disadvantage is pushing the U.S. and other powers into another arms race

Strategic leaders have wrestled with the use of various types of weapons and their employment throughout history. The crossbow, cannons, snipers, landmines, submarines, bombers, and many other weapons provoked episodes of moral reflection and angst. The U.S. developed nuclear weapons despite the significant moral concerns those weapons raised, and then employed them – a decision that remains controversial to this day.

Early in the Cold War, General Omar Bradley, then Chief of Staff of the Army, delivered an Armistice Day speech in Boston, Massachusetts on November 10, 1948. In his address, he drew attention to the tension inherent in developing and possessing the weapons of devastating destruction that had brought World War II to a close:

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WNU Editor: The genie is out of the bottle, and weaponizing AI is a given. The key is to never give up the "off-switch".

President Trump Wants To Discuss 'Arms Race' With China, Russia

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

Reuters: Trump to discuss 'arms race' with China, Russia some time in the future

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he will discuss military developments with his counterparts from China and Russia in the future in the hopes of ending what he described as an arms race with the countries.

“I am certain that, at some time in the future, President Xi and I, together with President Putin of Russia, will start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable Arms Race. The U.S. spent 716 Billion Dollars this year. Crazy!” Trump wrote in a tweet, the day after he returned from the Group of 20 meeting in Argentina.

Trump did not provide further details. He signed a $716 billion defense policy bill in August that authorized military spending, strengthened rules to limit Chinese investment in U.S. technology companies and increased spending on missile defenses.

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WNU Editor: Arms races are always expensive .... Trump complains about cost of ‘uncontrollable’ arms race (AP), and President Trump will probably be facing a lot of push-back if he is serious on cutting the defense budget .... Republicans blast Trump’s Pentagon budget cuts as ‘dangerous’ (Military Times).

Russia Signals Renewed Arms Race

A Russian serviceman walks past Russian Iskander-M missile launchers before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade at range in Moscow Thomson Reuters

Zero Hedge: Russia Signals Renewed Arms Race, Says Scrapping INF Would Force It To 'Restore Balance'

Now that President Trump has officially declared his intention to scrap the INF arms control treaty to remove constraints preventing the US from countering China's menacing military presence in the Western Pacific, as well as what many military officials see as an increasingly belligerent Russia, Russian officials have predictably responded by repudiating accusations that Russia had violated the treaty. One official warned that, by scrapping the treaty, the US could force Russia to "restore the balance", a veiled reference to developing even more dangerous weapons that would confirm fears that a modern "arms race" between the three global superpowers - the US, China and Russia - has already begun.

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WNU Editor: We are definitely entering a new era where even more deadlier weapons are going to be developed and deployed.

Here Is When China Will Win The Arms Race Against The U.S.

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Zero Hedge: Here's When China Will Win The Arms Race With The US, And How BofA Is Trading It

For all the talk of the escalating confrontation between the US and China, Bank of America's Mike Hartnett writes that the "trade war" of 2018 should be recognized for what it really is: the first stage of a new arms race between the US & China to reach national superiority in technology over the longer-term via Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Hypersonic Warplanes, Electronic Vehicles, Robotics, and Cyber-Security.

This is hardly a secret, as the China strategy is laid out in its “Made in China 2025” blueprint: It aims to transform “China’s industrial base” into a “smart manufacturing” powerhouse via increase competitiveness and eroding of tech leadership of industrial trading rivals, e.g. Germany, USA, South Korea; this is precisely what Peter Navarro has been raging against and hoping to intercept China's ascent early on when it's still feasible.

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WNU Editor: On my last visit to China a few years back I asked a friend of mine who works for the Chinese foreign office on how long will China continue to increase its defense budget. His answer .... until we the past the U.S. defense budget and beyond. I did not take it seriously then .... but now .... I certainly do. As for the above graph .... the projected year that China will surpass the U.S. military in spending will be in 2038.

Did President Trump Tell Russian President Putin That The U.S. Would Win An Arms Race?

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

NBC: Trump tells aides not to talk publicly about Russia policy moves

But Trump, irked by Putin's nuclear buildup, told him last week: "If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win."

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's national security advisers spent months trying to convince him to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to aid in the country's fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to multiple senior administration officials.

Yet when the president finally authorized the major policy shift, he told his aides not to publicly tout his decision, officials said. Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials.

"He doesn't want us to bring it up," one White House official said. "It is not something he wants to talk about."

The White House declined to comment.

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WNU Editor: The key paragraph in the above NBC report ....

.... Two officials said Trump told Putin during a phone call last week after Putin's re-election: "If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win." Trump added that he hoped that Putin’s comments were just election rhetoric and bragged that he’d just secured a $700 billion defense budget, the largest the U.S. has ever had, he said, according to one of the officials.

The Russian response has been from no comment to a denial .... Kremlin Not Confirming Trump Told Putin US Will Win Arms Race Against Russia (Sputnik) .... to .... Kremlin: Trump did not speak about US readiness to win arms race in talk with Putin. (TASS).

More News On Reports That President Trump Told Russian President Putin That The U.S. Would Win An Arms Race

Trump to Putin: 'If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I'll win': report -- The Hill
Trump Tells Putin: ‘I’ll Win Arms Race,' U.S. Media Report -- Moscow Times
Donald Trump 'tells Vladimir Putin: "If there is an arms race, 'I’ll win"' -- The Independent
'I'll win': Trump reportedly told Putin he would beat him in a nuclear arms race -- Business Insider

Is An Arms Race Coming to Asia?

Jacob Heilbrunn & Wallace C. Gregson, National Interest: Thanks to North Korea, An Arms Race May Be Coming to Asia

Jacob Heilbrunn and Wallace C. Gregson discuss the military options on the Korean Peninsula.

Maybe now we will finally realize who North Korea is. Over the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union we repeatedly assured ourselves and others that negotiations, agreements, economic cooperation, sanctions, threats and international scolding could reform, or at least restrain, North Korea. Each stratagem was tried in its turn, and repeated, to little effect. But we felt better. For a while.

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WNU Editor:  An Asian arms race started when China started to make a move in the South China Sea (and elsewhere). North Korea just adds fuel to the fire.