For over two decades, the military industry has consistently spent more than $100 million per year lobbying policymakers to influence policies and spending decisions that support its financial interests. In addition to these lobbying expenditures, the industry contributes tens of millions of dollars to political candidates and committees each election cycle. The sheer scale of this spending buys significant political influence, and the data suggests that this approach is paying off.
After a few cat and mouse days of Defense Secretary Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin’s denials, the Pentagon finally yesterday affirmed that there was evidence of a North Korean military presence in Russia. Asked what they were doing in Russia, Austin replied, “What exactly they are doing? Left to be seen. These are things that we need to sort out.”
Previously:
US Missile Agency Scales Back Guam Defence Plans
The project is designed to create “360 degree” protection for the U.S. Pacific territory from missile and air attacks of all kinds, the agency said. Plans include integrating Raytheon’s SM-6, SM-3 Block IIA, Lockheed Martin’s THAAD, and the Patriot PAC-3, which uses components from both companies, over about 10 years.
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“We’re not trying to bash Iron Dome,” says weapons scientist Richard Lloyd, author of a research paper that calls into question the effectiveness of Israel’s now famous rocket-defense system. “We’re trying to help Iron Dome. The way to help Iron Dome is to identify some of its problems.”
Representatives for the Israel Defense Forces claim that Iron Dome has been about 90 percent effective in knocking down Hamas missiles fired from Gaza. Lloyd and a handful of other outside experts, including Theodore Postol of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been challenging the IDF’s assertions on Iron Dome’s success rate since at least 2012.
Israel’s Iron Dome Isn’t Working: A Weapons Expert’s Warning
Theodore Postal has been on Daniel Davis’ show recently.
H/T: PFYT2
Oct 3, 2024 (Bloomberg) –The Pentagon will spend about $1.2 billion to maintain ships deployed as part of operations in the Red Sea and to replenish stocks of missiles fired to repel attacks by Iran and its proxies, according to new budget documents.
Previously:
US spends a record $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since last Oct. 7
– The US realizes its window of opportunity following the Cold War to assert itself as sole global superpower is closing (if it hasn’t closed already);
– It seeks to find a way to match or exceed the military capabilities and industrial capacity of both Russia and China through “innovation;”
– The US refuses to recognize the fundamental flaws in its own system as well as the premise upon which it seeks primacy in the first place;
– Start-up companies seeking to out-innovate and/or out-produce China propose unrealistic measures that either won’t work or that China is already employing itself on a much larger scale;
References:
Previously:
The US openly declares that it seeks to maintain a monopoly over shaping the “international order” following the Cold War and America’s emergence from it as the sole superpower.
Biden envoy, Joseph Yun, helped shape defensive policy for the Pacific islands while consulting for a private firm that represents a massive conflict of interest.
The Military Industrial Complex Has an Inside Man in the Pacific
Full video: Why Should We Care About the Pacific Islands?
John Hennessey-Niland currently works with ASPI on ‘soft power’ in the Pacific Islands.
Maintaining U.S. Credibility in the Pacific Islands (PDF)
Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI):
ASPI funding (Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, New Zealand, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Thales Australia, American Chamber of Commerce, Center for Strategic and International Studies, German Marshall Fund, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
Australian think tank ASPI found linked to prison labor, human trafficking
Read More »Hypocrisy thrives where double standards prevail.
Earlier, I stupidly tweeted out an article about the Jones Act and shipbuilding and Colin Grabow, from the Cato Institute, liked it (he was quoted in the article). I looked him up and decided to listen to this video on the shipbuilding competition between China and the US, where he and a lawyer for United Steelworkers were on the panel. China is eating their lunch, and it’s the ruling elites’ own fault, yet they scapegoat China for it. The double standards over China’s “unfair economic practices” AKA the subsidizing of their shipbuilding industry irritates me (liars irritate me even more). States give subsidies, grants, and tax breaks to corporations, all the time. Fincantieri Marinette Marine is just one example, but Wisconsin had done the same for Foxconn. Foxconn received tax breaks and $3B in subsidies, which was “the largest ever subsidy provided by a state to a foreign company”, despite not living up to their promises.
Colin Grabow wants to end the Jones Act. I’ve made at least three video clips regarding the Jones Act, two with Sal Mercogliano from What’s Going On With Shipping and one from the government-funded CSIS (I’ve posted them, below). Spoiler alert: Sal says that the problem isn’t the Jones Act. Meanwhile, both CSIS and the Cato Institute (part of the Atlas Network) blame the Jones Act. Deregulation is a wet dream of big corporations (which fund both the Cato Institute and CSIS).
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