The War & Peace Newsletter from Antiwar.com

Your source for US  foreign policy.

July 30, 2020

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that President Trump has approved of a plan to withdraw about 12,000 US troops from Germany, a move Trump directly tied to long-standing complaints that Germany doesn’t “pay more” for its own military.

The US has demanded Germany spend 2% of its GDP on military for years. Trump has falsely claimed Germany owes the US billions over that, and had repeatedly threatened to cut back the troops in Germany, something Germans were broadly comfortable with.

— By Jason Ditz

Last week, an Afghan government air strike targeting Taliban militants in western Herat province killed 45 people, including civilians. In an unprecedented move, the United States condemned the strike and called for an investigation. It was an act of breathtaking hypocrisy from a nation whose bombs have killed thousands of Afghan men, women and children, and whose leaders have gone to great lengths to avoid accountability for all the death and destruction their 19-year war has caused.

"In Herat, photos and eyewitness accounts suggest many civilians including children are among the victims of an Afghan airstrike," the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation tweeted on July 22. "We condemn the attack and support an investigation." 

— By  Brett Wilkins

The Pandemic Hasn’t Stopped the War Party… We Won’t Let It Stop Antiwar.com

Between the Covid-19 pandemic and the civil unrest here at home, even fewer eyes are on U.S. foreign policy than before. Unfortunately the Empire never sleeps.

The wars continue, from the new Cold War with China to the shadow war in Somalia, and Antiwar.com is here to cover them all.

The War Party never lets a good crisis go to waste, and the Covid-19 pandemic has served as a useful tool to ramp up tensions with Beijing. Besides the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, the US has increased its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, with massive Navy drills in the South China Sea and US spy planes buzzing near China’s coast. While only the fiercest hawks in Washington want a hot war with China, the increased US presence in the region makes a military confrontation more likely. 

— By Angela Keaton

To Annex or Not To Annex – Is the Question Moot?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains under a cloud of personal corruption, had more or less promised to annex some of the West Bank in July. He’s let his deadline slip, we’ve been told, because he doesn’t want to proceed while his buddy Trump is preoccupied with other matters. He must need the cover, which is interesting in itself. Meanwhile leading Jewish Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer are uneasy with annexation talk, perhaps because his party is no longer solidly in Israel’s corner.

— By Sheldon Richman

The world’s largest spender on the military, the US chart of defense spending is remarkably straight-lined. Over the years, it traces steadily higher, and it may not be a perfect line, but it is an unmistakable trend.

Apart from huge outlier events, like World War 2, it’s remarkably consistent. Declines are brief and very temporary, and there is no correlation between things like ruling party and the trend the line is going to take in the next few years.

— By Jason Ditz

Russia reports continued advancements with hypersonic weapons, which aim to circumvent, at least partially, the US missile defense systems. The Russian Defense Ministry report that they are testing launchers, and the weapons may be deployed soon.

— By Jason Ditz

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