American defense industry bad. European defense industry good. I really don't get nuance.
One, Russia invaded Ukraine--not American arms manufacturers.
Two, Eisenhower said we need the military-industrial complex he warned about.
And three, I think arms manufacturers benefit more from tension. War only risks exposing their equipment as crap and allowing competitors to beat them.
Mostly, the author's condemnation of American military industry is an argument for a European military-industrial complex to build a European Union military. Yes, the author brings up European "strategic autonomy." Back to the initial article:
Europe’s quest for strategic autonomy is bound to be a long one. The US has spent six times as much on research and technology as a proportion of its defence budget as European countries have. And thanks to the largesse of Congress, which earlier this year increased the US defence budget by 9% to a record high of more than US$800 billion, the American arms industry is all but guaranteed to maintain its technological advantage for many more years.
Oh. Only the American military-industrial complex is bad. A European military-industrial complex would be good. I guess the cleansing solvent of European Union nuanced sophistication is key. A European arms industry would never profit from war.
If the European Union (EU) is put in charge of it, more European military power is bad. All I want to know is do we need weapons of war? It's a dangerous world, and I think so. As Eisenhower conceded. As for arms manufacturers backing NATO expansion, so what? Lots of entities supported NATO expansion. Why single out one advocate as being responsible?
Countries joining NATO were eager to do so because they--rightly--feared Russia because of long painful experience. And the victors of the Cold War could remember the problem of the Russians on the Elbe River. Do you really think American arms manufacturers created that historically based fear? We're all better off with Russia as far east as possible.
Once more, European fanboys (and girls) just want crises to strengthen the EU's political objective of stripping the prefix from their proto-imperial project. And this latest piece in pursuit of that objective wants the "crisis" of America's military industry front and center to achieve that.
UPDATE: Are we stupid enough to push for a well-armed and politically unified EU replace the Soviet threat?
NOTE: War coverage continues here.
