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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDo We Really Need to Re-Start the Cold War?
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-zuesse/56276/do-we-really-need-to-re-start-the-cold-warDo We Really Need to Re-Start the Cold War?
by Eric Zuesse | June 7, 2014 - 9:20am
~big snip~
As of the year 2013, the U.S. spent $640 billion per year on the military, whereas Russia spent $87.8 billion per year on its military. The U.S. spent 36.6% of the planet's military budget, and Russia spent 5.0%. There is no reason for the American public to fear Russia, though (because of the constant propaganda) they do.
For the people of the United States to fear Russia is a violation of basic logic, especially considering that the U.S. is actually pursuing military dominance of the world, whereas no other country in the world is, or even can. The U.S. percentage of 36.6% of the world's military budget dwarfs #2 China's percentage of 10.8%, and especially dwarfs #3 Russia's 5.0%. #4 Furthermore, Saudi Arabia's 3.8%, is allied with the U.S. So is #5 France's 3.5%. So is #6 U.K.'s 3.3%. So is #7 Germany's 2.8%. So is #8 Japan's 2.8%. So is #9 India's 2.7%. So is #10 South Korea's 1.9%. "We" spend collectively 57.6% of the world's total, whereas Russia spends only 5%.
If we assume that we are driving Russia to ally itself with China (a reasonable assumption to make, for Russias protection), then both of those countries together are spending 15.8% on "their side," while the U.S. and its allies are spending 57.4% -- and that's just including the world's top ten spenders. "We" are then spending 3.6 times as much as "they" are. On a worldwide basis, including all nations, the U.S. and its allies are spending more than 80% of all of this planets military expenditures. And yet "we" fear "them" (Russia and China). If our military planners are looking forward to a day when the U.S. can nuclear-destroy Russia with impunity, then creating this fear of Russia will help, not only in order to make America's public support destroying Russia, but in order to get us to accept some U.S. casualties in a nuclear war from a few Russian missiles that might slip through the ABM net.
The current conflict inside (the former) Ukraine has spiked this fear by the U.S. public, which can help prepare the U.S. public to support a nuclear invasion of Russia.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)However, Russia President is trying to provoke one. Sometimes we have no choice. Right now we do, but we don't always. Look at World War 2. I am not sure that we would have enough desire to go over to Europe to fight the enemy's if the same situation was happening today. We did not know about the various concentration camps until we went over there and some American military personnel found them. We may never have known about them had we not gone over there to fight. Just saying.
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)War, or the threat of war, is what allows the oligarchy to control the population of the supposedly democratic nation. It allows them to get laws like the Patriot Act and the the Military Commissions Act passed. It allows them to infringe on the civil liberties of Americans and then, when that infringement is revealed, to justify it rather than stop doing it. It allows them to "look forward, not back" and justify not prosecuting oligarchs who robbed the country and its citizens blind.
The threat of 9/11 is fading and the word "terrorist" no longer sends Americans diving under their beds. The constant pounding on the podium about the threat of Iran's mushroom cloud has been a "wolf cried once too often." And so we must have a new Orwellian enemy to distract the masses from what the oligarchs and its puppet government are actually doing.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)So the question is moot. The premise is incorrect.
The president made this clear in several speeches. And no one (except the people within its immediate vicininity, such as western Ukraine) "fears" the much-reduced Russia (and not even them).
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Throw in a few stanzas of God Bless America for good measure.