I have a very modest proposal: halve the War Department budget which is $1 trillion, and devote the $500 billion saved to peace activities whether it be peace makers, peace givers, resettling refugees, drilling wells, providing adequate sewage disposal, providing medical care, providing educational opportunities etc. etc. At $500 billion the US would still have the largest budget for defense/offense of any country in the world. China has the next largest defense budget after the US at $336 billion. Why does the US need a defense/offense budget any larger than $500 billion which still would be $164 billion larger than China’s?
Trump has backed off from being the world’s policeman by virtue of the fact that he has backed off from the US commitment to NATO. The US still has several other defense treaties which it should renegotiate. There’s the ANZUS treaty with Australia and New Zealand. Really? The US is supposed to come to their aid if they’re attacked? Attacked possibly by whom? China? This is a ridiculous defense treaty that should be renegotiated. Similarly with the RIO treaty which is a regional defense pact linking the U.S. with nearly two dozen Western Hemisphere countries, stating that an attack on one is an attack on all. The US needs to put all these pacts under the auspices of the United Nations and work together with other nations to resolve problems rather than unilaterally committing itself to providing protection. Again, from whom? These treaties are all about asserting US influence in regions where the US is afraid China might be gaining influence.
But China is gaining influence around the world not by threatening other countries militarily but by peaceful means. China is not at war nor is it threatening war with any other nation. China is gaining influence mainly because the US has an unreliable and unstable nutcase in the White House. More countries trust China now than they trust the US. . A Pew Research Center global attitudes survey found that China outranks the U.S. in favorability across 25 of 36 surveyed countries, while the U.S. maintains an advantage in only six. China is building infrastructure in other countries such as major transport, energy, and digital infrastructure worldwide primarily through the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on railways, ports, and renewable energy plants. The only infrastructure the US is building is military bases. There are about 800 military bases in countries around the world including 19 in the Middle East.
Here’s the picture: while the US is engaged with the world on a military basis, China is engaged in the world on a peace building basis. Why not compete with China in terms of building peace and the grounds for peace in the world instead of competing with China on a military basis? China is gaining friends and influencing people while the only thing the US is offering is to blow stuff up.
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