Massive new American arms expenditure The following Editorial was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, February 3rd, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** While the world was enjoying the Christmas and New Year festivities, the US Government announced a massive increase in military expenditure to be implemented over the next five years. According to newspaper reports at the beginning of January an additional $A19.6 billion is to be spent in the next financial year. The total increase over five years is to be over $A180 billion. It's the biggest increase since the end of the Cold War say the newspaper articles. This sum, which is in addition to the already huge American arms expenditure, will be used to buy new jet fighters, attack helicopters and warships as well as funding an increase in the pay of service personnel. Where is this money to come from? It's the usual story. Other programs are to be cut back and although no details are presented in the newspaper reports it is certain that it will come from education, health services and existing welfare programs in the main. The US continues to upgrade its nuclear weapons and keep them in readiness while demanding that other countries sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Their intention is to retain nuclear superiority as their ultimate weapon to force all other countries to comply. This huge increase in military expenditure is taking place despite the weakened position of the former Soviet Union. There is no nation which can conceivably challenge US military power and no-one is going to attack the United States. So why this huge increase in military expenditure at this time? The US is already waging war on a number of fronts -- militarily against Iraq and in the Balkans, economically against Iran, Libya, Cuba, India, Pakistan and a number of other countries and politically against all countries which do not bow down to American demands. Their threats and intimidation are not limited to their supposed enemies but also against their friends. The US has made threats of imposing retaliatory sanctions against the European Union because it intends to buy bananas from South American countries rather than from the Caribbean island states where American companies are the main producers. Š Their "free" trade and "free" market policies are having disastrous effects on other countries while making the financial institutions and big corporations richer and more powerful than ever before. They try and tell us that their aim is to advance "democracy" and that their policies will bring benefits to everyone. But for others, there is a rapid increase in poverty and unemployment and far from the touted American-style "democracy" bringing freedom to the people it is denying any real involvement of the ordinary people who want to have a say and have real power over their lives. These are the political aims that the beefed-up US military is intended to serve. At the same time military expenditure has an enormous economic spin-off for the big American arms manufacturers. Government contracts for weapons are often open-ended. Payment by the American taxpayers is guaranteed and the profits are astronomical. More than ever before in history, the big corporations are the backers and promoters of wars. Peace and disarmament for them is a nightmare. The United States ruling class has become the main enemy facing the people's of the world. They intend to dominate all countries without exception. Earlier this century Hitler's Germany advanced the slogan "Deutschland Uber Alles" meaning, "Germany Over All". The US leaders are not so crude as to say so outright but their intentions are the same. Fortunately, the ordinary people of the world are expressing opposition to war and to the domination of their countries by others. It was this force and the outcry of the world's people that has, for example, somewhat restrained the US and British Governments in their hell-bent wish to start a new war in Iraq and to intervene more openly in Yugoslavia over Kosovo. However, at this stage the ruling elites in the major capitalist countries do not intend to abandon the rich and powerful corporations and their objective of world domination. It will be up to the people of all the countries to finally put these monsters out of business.
