As Covid-19 rages US agrees $740 billion for war, nukes and troops in Europe . . .

...but still no official explanation for withdrawal from the INF Treaty!

From END Info 16 | July 2020 (Download)

The Armed Services Committee of the United States House of Representatives has approved the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), after passing a number of amendments designed to limit the ability of President Trump to reduce troop numbers deployed overseas. It is likely that a similar Senate committee will pass the Act without major modification.

Of specific interest is the amendment that blocks Trump’s plan to remove 10,000 US troops stationed in Germany. It should be noted that this Committee is dominated by Democrats, who worked closely with the outspokenly pro-war Republican Representative Liz Cheney (daughter of Bush’s Vice President), to implement these hawkish policies. According to reports by Glen Greenwald and others, this same faction failed to back other amendments designed to hold the Trump administration to account, rather than blocking ‘undesireable’ policy proposals. For instance, Cheney and her Democrat co-thinkers failed to support an amendment supported by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D), who spoke to an amendment calling for the White House to provide a ‘national security rationale’ for withdrawing from the INF Treaty - something they have so far failed to do, despite previous commitments.

The 2021 NDAA contains plans for military spending on a colossal scale. The $740.5 billion earmarked is more than three times China’s budget, ten times that of Saudi Arabia, fifteen times that of Russia and a greater amount than the next fifteen counties combined. As Greenwald notes, the Committee “authorized this kind of budget in the midst of a global pandemic as tens of millions ... struggle even to pay rent.” The US spends billions on war as millions of Americans suffer.