HOW MILITARY SPENDING BANKRUPTS NATIONS

 

HOW MILITARY SPENDING BANKRUPTS NATIONS

 

All that intelligence and look where it is leading us!

 

Canada’s current prime minister is striking a combative military pose aimed at reassuring NATO and our not-so-friendly neighbor to the south that our nation is ready and willing to meet and surpass defense targets by aggressively investing in domestic weapons industries, new planes, submarines and vessels.  The price tag of meeting and exceeding the current 2 percent to 5 percent of GDP runs in the multiple tens of billions.  Money we don’t have and to raise that kind of capital we either increase taxes or borrow more.  In all likelihood it will be a combination of both and the proposed amount exceeds the combined budgets set for health and education.  Killing and destroying is apparently more urgent than protecting life and educating young minds.  In all likelihood this spurious bit of showing off our manhood is in direct response to the increase in global posturing and the armed conflicts initiated by a dubious brand of psychopaths currently leading nations that have been itching to show off their latest lethal weapons and their ability to inflict  horrendous destruction on near defenseless nations.  As an aside.  Personally I am disappointed in the American military that without uttering any objections is responsible for raining death and destruction on nations that can barely defend themselves, inflicting massive civilian suffering, deaths and damage.  Apparently none have the guts to stand up to a delusional psychopath who delights in bragging about bombing nations back into a cave-like existence.  What Israel and the USA are doing to Iran can only be described as a slaughterhouse, shooting fish in a barrel.  There is no contest here.  Not a military one!

How bright are we?

A few decades ago Canada purchased 4 ageing and decrepit submarines from our Commonwealth master England, subs that spent more time in dry dock than performing actual duty.  The diesel-electric Victoria class is the kind of sub that is used for target practice by nuclear stealth submarines.  In my humble opinion you can’t sell, rank or classify military spending as an investment.  It is a net-negative expenditure of tax money.  From a defense perspective it is ludicrous for Canada to even pretend that we can effectively defend the nation due to our large size and relatively small population when compared to the US, China and India, or even Mexico.

It’s all about perception.

We purchase outdated weaponry from other nations to bolster our military to give it a semblance of parity and preparedness.  Nobody will sell us superior weaponry.  Nobody will allow us to become a serious threat to global stability, nor will we ever be more than a willing ally in NATO and contribute according to our limited abilities.  Military spending and aggression have toppled every empire past and present.  The United States, because of its over-the-top military spending and research, has become one of the worst debtor nations in the world in a matter of decades and with a psychopath at the helm of a financial and political ship cast adrift on global waters it will only be a matter of time before they follow in the footsteps of the former USSR and become basically insolvent.  Chapter 11.  How’s that for a deal!

Who benefits?

The only ones benefitting from this lucrative military spending spree are defense industries, contractors and arms dealers and the taxpayer is on the hook for this financial largesse to deep pockets.  Not a single conflict, not a single war, not a single bomb dropped or missile fired will resolve the multitude of problems our species faces.  Reducing waste, pollution, resource depletion, global warming, income disparity, corruption, fraud, crime, illegal drug use, money laundering and tax evasion schemes and the list of challenges we face goes on and on.  All these issues require global cooperation, not war!

Why would a nation spend horrendous amounts on expanding its military?  You do it either to defend or attack and currently we’re using a ‘perceived threat increase’ as a justification to bolster military expenditures.  Who are we defending against?  Are we under attack?  Or is it a case of—who are we following?  Where are the real threats coming from?  What we’re really facing is an existential threat brought on by our numbers, needs and demands.  Not a single bomb dropped will rectify that reality unless you’re willing to kill off the bulk of the human population.  Oh, we can breathe easy now, most of them are gone!

We are the true culprits and not the artic tern or the Beluga whale.

Humanity is facing some horrendous problems brought on by the world of artifice we have created and the cost associated with keeping the good ship humanity afloat meeting current demands and expectations.  Armed conflict will not resolve a single issue and it will only make it worse.  Nothing is to be gained from occupation or isolation.  Punitive actions will be met with resentment and rebellion.  There are no winners.  Nobody is willing to provide an honest rationale for increased military spending other than the usual speculative, potential threats by the usual demons (Russia, China, North Korea and that stubborn nation Iran that refuses to buckle and submit).  It is all about retaining our superior position and defending our so-called spheres of influence.  Keep insinuating, keep up the accusations and of course they (the demons) will respond in a predictable manner.  The cooler heads are remaining remarkably silent, content to watch from the sidelines how the real aggressive culprits are digging holes that are getting deeper and deeper with each passing day.

You can’t play in my sandbox.  Forget ideologies it is all about desperation this time around.

No amount of political posturing can justify this horrendous amount of waste.  Not a single war or conflict, past or present, has ever resolved anything.  World War II comes to mind as the only war justified to defeat an evil ideology that threatened to destroy our humanity.  And once more the world is flirting with mutually assured destruction, not brought on by ideologies, but by desperation.  Our numbers, needs and demands, are stressing us to the max.  Nations of haves and have-nots.  The desperate pursuit of energy supremacy to keep everything running.  Shoring up struggling economies and dealing with crippling debts.  Keeping migrants and illegals out.  Patchwork diplomacy.  Problems galore wherever you look.  We’re struggling in almost every human arena.  If in your eye very little makes sense anymore, don’t despair, your assessment is absolutely correct.

Playing with fire.

Russia, Israel and the USA have put themselves onto a path of no return.  A mindset of self-inflicted hubris brought on by a total lack of vision and an understanding of geo-political priorities and needs.  A bad case of political bungling instigated by a cast of politically narcissistic, vainglorious megalomaniacs.  Holding on to perceived power and strength.  Emboldened by the perception that nobody will stop them.

Dialing it down is viewed as a loss of face, that’s how grownup we are!   

And politicians around the globe are pretending to stand tall and resolute.  A bulwark against whatever.  Puffed up chests.  We will stay the course at all costs.  The rhetoric is not only predictable, increasingly it is starting to sound awfully hollow.  I didn’t use the word stupid; that is reserved for really dumb people.  Historically when things go out of hand we will reach for the sword and all that pent-up testosterone and anger needs an outlet.  When we go bad, boy oh boy, we’re all in.

The images inserted are all about escalation.  On one hand we go out of our way to save lives at all costs, and at a great expense, and on the other we continue to develop superior weapons intended to destroy with ever greater lethality.  When we spend more on the military than on health and education combined, something is deadly wrong!

Feel free to comment and share.  Better yet, prove me wrong.