They screwed us for $4.8 trillion, and all we got for it was lousy ISIL

• All Groups

The Most Lucrative War Racket Ever: $4.8 Trillion and Counting

A call to indict US and UK governments for war crimes, crimes against humanity and Grand Theft  of $4.8 trillion of taxpayers money.

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Report available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Background:

“US Budgetary Costs of Wars through 2016: $4.79 Trillion and Counting – Summary of Costs of the US Wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan and Homeland Security

• “As of August 2016, the US has already appropriated, spent, or taken on obligations to spend more than $3.6 trillion in current dollars on the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria and on Homeland Security (2001 through fiscal year 2016). To this total should be added the approximately $65 billion in dedicated war spending the Department of Defense and State Department have requested for the next fiscal year, 2017, along with an additional nearly $32 billion requested for the Department of Homeland Security in 2017, and estimated spending on veterans in future years. When those are included, the total US budgetary cost of the wars reaches $4.79 trillion.” [That’s about $15,000 for every man, woman, child, and illegal immigrant in the country.]

UK Would be ‘Wiped Off the Face of the Earth,’ if She Used Nukes

• CJ
  
• EAC
• OCT
• WRK

The Old War Mule in a Double Whammy (UK Report 06)

• UK is not ready to fight another war because she cannot afford weapons, according to the Government’s Public Accounts Committee.
• IF UK used her nuclear weapons, she would be ‘Wiped Off the Face of the Earth’

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Reports UK 01 – 06 are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Background:

Statement by the UK Government’s Public Accounts Committee:

“We are worried that the increase in commitments without a commensurate increase in funding puts this stability and the ability of the Department to deliver what our forces need to operate effectively at real risk.  ”

“Following the identification of a long-term imbalance between available funding and forecast expenditure in 2009, the Ministry of Defence (the Department) had to re-scope, cancel and delay a number of equipment procurements to balance its budget. In response to this, and to generate greater stability in procurement activity, in 2012 the Department took the important step of producing an annually updated 10-year Equipment Plan (the Plan) which forecasts spend on military equipment and related support. Annually, the Department publishes a Statement on the affordability of the Plan, and at the request of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller and Auditor General reports on the robustness of the assumptions underpinning the Plan. After a period of relative stability, the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (the Review) added over £24 billion of new commitments to the Plan which is forecasting expenditure of £178 billion from 2016 to 2026. Additional external funding supports only just over £6 billion of these new commitments. The rest is to be met by efficiency savings from existing projects in the plan and other areas of the wider defence budget. The Plan accounts for over 40% of the entire Defence budget.”

Glimpses into the Near Future

• CJ Members
• EAC
• OC Teams
• WRK

On the Ninth Day, after the Plague Had Failed…

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Report available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

 

Trump Becomes a War Criminal 77 Days into His Presidency

• CJ Members
• EAC
• OC Teams

The War Racket and the New War Criminal: How Many People Will the WH Swamp Rat Put in Harm’s Way?

Background:

Trump claimed on Thursday: “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.”

The pathological liar, however, failed to produce any evidence.

Violating the International Law

“The U.S. strikes are a clear violation of international law and the War Powers Clause of the U.S. Constitution. There is no evidence for any of Trump’s claims,” said F.A. Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.

[Prepared by an affiliated team of political scientists.]

• Report available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

War Racket and the Border Wall

• CJ Members
• EAC
• OC Teams

How to maximize kickbacks using tried and tested methods

Background:

The so-called President’s budget or 2018 proposes billions of dollars in spending cuts to most government agencies to pay for large increases in military and homeland security spending.

Discretionary spending for Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, EPA, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, State and other development programs, Transportation… would be cut by tens of billions of dollars, while Defense spending would increase by 10% to $574.0 billion, Veterans Affairs by 6% to $78.9 billion and Homeland Security by 7% to $44,1 billion.  The 2018 budget proposes a 1.2 percent cut in discretionary spending, down  to $1,151.2 billion, compared with 2017.

The proposal also includes $4.1 billion in spending through 2018 to erect the Drumpf Border Wall.

[Prepared by affiliated scientists.]

• Presentation is available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Cost of the War Racket since WWII

Sent by a reader

The cost of upkeep of the world’s darkest empire

The most costly military operations since WWII, as estimated by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, are as follows:

1. The US ‘War on Terror’ (waged on Iraq, Afghanistan): Up to $6 Trillion

The cost of War on Terror, the biggest war racket in the American history, easily dwarfs that of World War II, estimated at about $3 trillion (inflation adjusted.)

… the War on Terror has cost the US-led Coalition thousands of soldiers’ lives, with tens of thousands more injured. Neither the War in Iraq nor the NATO War in Afghanistan can be said to have been even a qualified success. Following over a decade of sectarian violence, large swathes of western Iraq are now occupied by Daesh Islamist militants. Afghanistan, meanwhile, has seen the Taliban regain control over large areas of the country as the NATO mission winds down.  Read more…

2. Vietnam War: $738 Billion

“Vietnam War, which lasted eight years, would cost the US $738 billion [in 2011 dollars] and more than 58,000 US military personnel.”

3. Korean War: $341 Billion

“Allied carpet bombing is estimated to have destroyed upwards of three quarters of North Korea’s population centers; in all, the US dropped 635,000 tons of bombs, including 32,000 tons of napalm, on the peninsula, which is more than the total dropped during the entirety of the US’s Pacific campaign in WWII.”

• The three-year war left an estimated 2.5 million people dead, and more than 1.5 million other wounded. About 400,000 others were declared abducted or missing.

4. Gulf War: Operation ‘Desert Storm’: $102 Billion

The depleted uranium munition used during the 42-day Operation Desert Storm “were estimated to have dramatically increased cancer rates among Iraqi military personnel and civilians, with government statistics showing cancer rates rising from 40 per 100,000 people before the Gulf War in 1991, to 800 per 100,000 in 1995, to over 1,600 per 100,000 in 2005.”

5. The NATO Bombing Campaign in Yugoslavia: $43 Billion

The 78-day NATO campaign, code-named Operation Allied Force, “saw attacks by Allied aircraft against military targets and civilian infrastructure in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY),” which cost the organization about $43 billion.  Read more…

Saudi Arabia ‘Biggest Arms Importer’

Saudi arms imports rise by ‘unprecedented’ 54 percent

Saudi imports of arms rose 54 percent to $6.5 billion in 2014, while India imported $5.8 billion, according to data released by IHS.

The country’s imports, based on planned deliveries, will increase by an additional 52 percent to $9.8 billion this year, accounting for one out of every seven dollars spent on arms globally, IHS estimated.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imported a total of $8.7 billion of weapons last year—more than the entire Western Europe, said the report.

Global Arms Trade

Global trade in military hardware rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2014, with worldwide imports exceeding $64.4 billion, up from $56 billion, or an increase of 13.4 percent.

The US was the biggest arms exporter, with shipments of $23.7 billion, a rise of 19 percent from 2013. Russia ranked second with $10 billion, up 9 percent. The big two were followed by France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel, China, Spain and Canada.

United States was also the biggest exporter to the Middle East last year, with $8.4 billion of shipments, up from $6 billion in 2013.

“The second tier of exporters to the Middle East is led by the United Kingdom with $1.9 billion, the Russian Federation with $1.5 billion, France with $1.3 billion and Germany with $1 billion,” said the report.

Biggest Exporters [Companies]

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Airbus Group, UAC, Russian Helicopters, United Tech Corp, BAE Systems, Thales and Finmeccanica.

Biggest Importers

Saudi Arabia was followed by India, China, the UAE, Taiwan, Australia (!) , South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan.

[The biggest importers in 2013 were India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, South Korea, Egypt, Australia, and Singapore (!), according  to IHS.]

Report notes: The IHS report was created using their Aerospace, Defence & Security Markets Forecast database, and covers the entire market except for munitions and small arms, said the writers. “Anything under 57mm caliber has not been included in this study. The study only tracked programs with a primarily military function, removing homeland security and Intelligence programs. Constant US dollars are used as the study’s base. For additional information visit: www.ihs.com/jmf “

Related Links

• World’s Most Unethical Country Also “Greatest Threat to Global Peace” January 2, 2014
• Most Unethical Nations in 2011 [and Probably 2012] December 31, 2011