OppaNews
  • Blog
  • About
    • About Me
  • My Sites
  • Support Me
  • Contact Me

The new militarism: Who's the real enemy?

6/8/2015

0 Comments

 
Ron Paul | @RonPaul  Monday, 13 Apr 2015
Militarism and military spending are on the rise everywhere as the new Cold War propaganda seems to be paying off. The new "threats" that are being hyped bring big profits to military contractors and the network of think tanks they pay to produce pro-war propaganda.
Picture
Here are just a few examples:
The German government announced last week that it would purchase 100 more "Leopard" tanks — a 45-percent increase in the country's inventory. Germany had greatly reduced its inventory of tanks as the end of the Cold War meant the end of any threat of a Soviet ground invasion of Europe. The German government now claims these 100 new tanks, which may cost nearly half a billion dollars, are necessary to respond to the new Russian assertiveness in the region. Never mind that Russia has neither invaded nor threatened any country in the region, much less a NATO member country.

The US Cold War-era nuclear bunker under Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, which was all but shut down in the 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is being brought back to life. The Pentagon has committed nearly a billion dollars to upgrading the facility to its previous Cold War-level of operations. U.S. defense contractor Raytheon will be the prime beneficiary of this contract. Raytheon is a major financial sponsor of think tanks like the Institute for the Study of War, which continuously churn out pro-war propaganda. I am sure these big contracts are a good return on that investment. 

NATO, which I believe should have been shut down after the Cold War ended, is also getting its own massively expensive upgrade. The Alliance commissioned a new headquarters building in Brussels, Belgium, in 2010, which is supposed to be completed in 2016. The building looks like a hideous claw, and the final cost — if it is ever finished — will be well over one billion dollars. That is more than twice what was originally budgeted. What a boondoggle! Is it any surprise that NATO bureaucrats and generals continuously try to terrify us with tales of the new Russian threat? They need to justify their expansion plans! 

So who is the real enemy? The Russians?  No, the real enemy is the taxpayer. The real enemy is the middle class and the productive sectors of the economy. We are the victims of this new runaway military spending. Every dollar or euro spent on a contrived threat is a dollar or euro taken out of the real economy and wasted on military Keynesianism. It is a dollar stolen from a small business owner that will not be invested in innovation, spent on research to combat disease, or even donated to charities that help the needy. 

One of the most pervasive and dangerous myths of our time is that military spending benefits an economy. This could not be further from the truth. Such spending benefits a thin layer of well-connected and well-paid elites. It diverts scarce resources from meeting the needs and desires of a population and channels them into manufacturing tools of destruction. The costs may be hidden by the money-printing of the central banks, but they are eventually realized in the steady destruction of a currency.

The elites are terrified that peace may finally break out, which will be bad for their profits. That is why they are trying to scuttle the Iran deal, nix the Cuba thaw, and drum up a new "Red Scare" coming from Moscow. We must not be fooled into believing their lies.
Commentary by Ron Paul, a 12-term member of Congress and a three-time U.S. presidential candidate. He is currently chairman of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Follow him on Twitter@RonPaul.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All
    9/11
    Abkhazia
    AIPAC
    Al Queda
    Alternative News
    American Imperialism
    Anti Nazi
    Antisemitism
    Banks
    Banksters
    Bible
    Bilderberg
    Bohemian Grove
    BRICKS
    Budget
    Buisiness
    CFR
    China
    Church
    CIA
    Cold War
    Collaps
    Communism
    Constitutional Amendments
    Cop D'etat
    Corporate America
    Corporate Capitalism
    Corruption
    Costa Rica
    Crisis
    CUFI
    Cyberspying
    Debt
    Deception
    Democracy
    Democrates
    Depopulation
    DHS
    Donbas
    Drones
    Drought
    Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
    Drug Trafficking
    Economics
    Education
    Edward Bernays
    Egypt
    Elite
    EU
    Euro Maidan
    Europe
    Extremism
    False Flag Operations
    Fascism
    FBI
    FCC
    Federal Reserve
    Financial Market
    Financial Warfare
    Food
    Foreign Affairs
    France
    Freemasons
    Fun
    Fundamentalism
    Gas
    Gaza
    Geopolitics
    Georgia
    Georgia Guide Stones
    Germany
    Global Financial Meltdown
    GMO
    Goldman Sachs
    Gorbatchov
    Government
    Gun Control
    Health
    Hillary Clinton
    History
    History & Culture
    Hitler
    Iceland
    Illuminati
    International Relations
    Internet
    Iran
    Iraq
    ISIL
    ISIS
    Israel
    Israeli Jewish Lobby
    Jew
    Jews
    JFK
    KGB
    Kiev
    LaRouche
    Las Playa Del Coco
    Lawrence Lessig
    LGBT
    Libya
    Life
    Lobby
    Lybia
    Mainstream Media
    Marriage
    Martin Luther King
    Mass Media
    Media
    MI6
    Middle East
    Militarism
    Military
    Military Bases
    Money
    Monsanto
    Music
    Nationalism
    NATO
    Nazis
    Neocons
    NET
    Netanyahu
    Neuroparasitology
    NSA
    Nuclear Talks
    NWO
    Obama
    Obama Administration
    Occultists
    Occupied Palestinian Territories
    Oil
    Orthodox Christianity
    Orthodox Christmas
    Ossetia
    Palestine
    Palestinians
    Peace
    Pentagon
    Petition
    Phone
    Plutocracy
    Poland
    Political Crisis
    Politics
    President Barack Obama POTUS
    Privacy
    Propaganda
    Prophesies
    Proxy War
    Psaki
    Putin
    Radical Islam
    Religion
    Republicans
    Research
    Ron Paul
    RULES
    Russia
    Russian Language
    Saudi
    Saudi Arabia
    Saul Alinsky
    Science
    Secret Services
    Slavery
    Snipers
    Snowden
    S&P
    Sport
    Stop WWIII
    Superstate
    Surveillance
    Syria
    Taliban
    Taxes
    Terrorism
    Travel
    Trilateral Commission
    Trump
    Truth
    TTIP
    Turkey
    UK
    Ukraine
    UN
    United Kingdom
    USA
    U.S. Congress
    USS Liberty
    USSR
    VACATION RENTAL
    Vanga
    Video
    Wall Street
    War
    War Party
    Washington
    West
    White House
    Wisdom
    World
    WW3
    WWII
    Zionism
    Zionist
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.