Yes, grow up, conservatives, demands the Weekly Standard’s Chris Deaton, bemoaning the right’s “short game” critique of U.S. representative-elect and left-wing babe o’ the millennium Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Stop making fun of her wardrobe, particularly when, as it turns out, the outfit was a loaner, and concentrate on refuting her wacko long game, which as it turns out, old fashioned liberals like Dean Baker and Paul Krugman have already done for you! Stop making fun of her for being pretty! It’s almost as if you’re mad at her for being pretty, as if you feel threatened or something!!1
But, sadly, the WS has some growing up to do of its own, as the “Editors” deliver a “Stark Warning”, recycling a new report from the “National Defense Strategy Commision. If you’re guessing that the report sounds like Bill Kristol after five martinis, give yourself a cigar.
“The security and wellbeing of the United States are at greater risk than at any time in decades,” the report claims, probably the biggest lie the Standard has published since its “Witches Are Real!” issue this past Halloween. But that’s only the warm-up. It gets worse—much worse!
Most jarring [says the Standard]: In the not inconceivable event the U.S. military were forced to fight a war with China or Russia, the United States “might struggle to win, or perhaps lose.” The United States would almost certainly be overwhelmed by a two-front struggle against those powers, particularly given the near certainty that one or both would launch kinetic or cyber attacks on America. The picture only grows darker when we consider the weapons capabilities of rogue states like Iran and North Korea.
Well, sounds like a good argument for not getting into a war with Russia or China, much less both at the same time, huh? But as you can guess, the Standard wants none of that. The Standard wants to win!
Actually, as was noted time and time again back in the Cold War, there could be no winners in a nuclear exchange. Everybody knows that, so everybody knows there is no possible reason for starting a nuclear war. The only way one could happen would be by miscalculation or accident, which is an argument, not for increasing military spending but for decreasing it.
Also left out the Standard’s smokin’ editorial: Thanks to Donald Trump's grotesque profligacy, the U.S. now spends about $700 billion on defense (estimated for 2018), while Russia is spending about $70 billion. Yes, we’re in danger of being defeated by a country whose military budget is one tenth the size of ours. Furthermore, NATO countries as a whole, including the U.S., spend about $900 billion. Explain to me again why we’re afraid.
China’s military budget is significantly larger than Russia’s, estimated at $228 billion for 2017. China’s not so friendly neighbors, India, Japan, and South Korea, spend about $150 billion, which still gives the U.S.a more than three to one advantage. (These figures appear in Wikipedia, compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Institute. Figures compiled by the International Institute for Strategic Studies are lower but show similar ratios among the nations.)
The armchair militarists at the Standard resemble no group so much as the environmentalists on the left: the “crisis” is always getting worse! Doomsday is just around the corner! It may already be too late! It is impossible not to be disgusted by such blatant hypocrisy, such utter contempt for the public at large, who must be bullied and lied to so that “important” people can have titles, and budgets, commensurate with their egos.
1. Actually, Chris, not as woke as I, doesn’t make that last accusation.
