Dr, Roberts observes a few things: the dangers of appointing industry stooges, and the inanity of US military policy and spending.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is a former Raytheon lobbyist and another example of President Trump’s penchant for frustrating his own policies by appointing to power people who oppose his policies. Why does Trump think he can expect a representative of the military/security complex to help him wind down Washington’s hegemonic policeman of the world routine?

Esper is out making speeches that the military/security complex needs 5% real increase annually in order to counter Russia and China—https://news.antiwar.com/2020/10/16/esper-calls-for-more-military-spending-to-face-china-and-russia/ . It is Washington that is aggressive toward Russia and China, not the other way around. The military/security complex desperately needs foreign enemies in order to maximize its budget and power. Russiagate’s purpose was to prevent Trump from removing a valuable “enemy” by normalizing relations with Russia.

The US defense budget could be cut in half and still be larger than the combined defense budgets of Russia and China. China spends about half as much of its economy on defense as the US. If Russia and China intended aggression against the US, wouldn’t you expect to see much higher spending on military?

If anything, the military budget – while there’s still time – needs to be cut, radically. That and a draining of the old swamp would go a long way. Second term projects?