During a year in which the world was ravaged by a pandemic, many people had to make dire sacrifices. They lost their jobs, had their home lives torn apart, and were forced to degrade themselves in public wearing masks and obeying senseless government restrictions. As a direct result, many turned to alcohol and drugs and even committed suicides in some tragic cases.
However, the military-industrial complex did not take a haircut while millions of peasants were suffering. Quite the contrary, global defense spending reached an all-time high of $1.83 trillion in 2020.
Much of this has to do with former president Donald Trump, who, while trying to bring troops home from countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, empowered the War Party through reckless military spending. It should come as no surprise that most of Trump’s peace negotiations fell through or never lived up to the hype. America spent $738 billion on defense in 2020, many times more than any other country.
Second place in terms of profligacy goes to China, who spent $193.3 billion in 2020. The other countries following the U.S. and China are India, Britain and Russia. Military spending increased by 6.3 percent in the U.S. in 2020 while it grew by 5.3 percent in China. Overall, defense spending rose by 3.9 percent from 2019.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) released their study to show how primarily the U.S. and China are pushing the world into extreme militarism, making the world a worse place for everyone except well-connected defense contractors.
“This came despite the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent contraction in global economic output,” the IISS said.
Liberty Conservative News has reported on how former president Trump tried to put the military-industrial complex on notice but to no avail:
“President Donald Trump, although far from a non-interventionist in the vein of former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, has argued with more frequency over the past couple of weeks to bring U.S. troops home from foreign wars…
“You know, we’re in many countries, many, many countries. I–I’m embarrassed to tell you how many. I know the exact number, but I’m embarrassed to say it because it’s so foolish. We’re in countries–we’re protecting countries that don’t even like us. They take advantage of us. They don’t pay; nothing,” Trump said.
“So you have Syria and you have Turkey they are going to argue it out. Maybe they’re going to fight it out but our men aren’t going to get killed over it. And just one other thing–they’ve been fighting for hundreds of years. This has been going on for hundreds of years,” he concluded.”
Under the rule of President-imposed Joe Biden, the defense budgets will continue to soar and troops will continue to die for corporate profit in third-world hellscapes. There are dark times ahead for anyone who supports non-interventionism and a sane foreign policy.
