Today's editorial in The Wall Street Journal heeded the call of Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee. (See: A Clarion Call for Rearmament - WSJ, paywall). Wicker 's called for increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP, up from the current 3%. Specifically, the editorial noted "Mr. Biden talks about a world at risk from autocracies, but he acts like this is 1992 and the Soviet Union just collapsed. The world today is more like the late 1930s, as dictators build their militaries and form a new axis of animosity, while the American political class sleeps."
This is pretty much what we said on March 8th:
"President Roosevelt's speech which has become to be known as his "Four Freedoms Speech" was delivered on January 6, 1941. Only a week before Roosevelt gave fireside chat where he declared the United States to be "an arsenal of democracy." The difference today is that President Biden is nowhere near declaring America as an arsenal of democracy. Indeed his proposed defense budget will show a meager 1% increase. Given the tone of his speech and the prewar environment we are now living in, he should have called for a massive increase in defense spending. (See: Shulmaven: Shulmaven Anticipates Hal Brands Foreign Affairs Article on Pre-WW II and Today) Thus his rhetoric is way ahead of his actions." (See: Shulmaven: President Biden's State of the Union: Strong on Form Weak on Substance )
Now all we need is for the isolationist Trumpies and head-in-the sand Democrats to heed the call.
No comments:
Post a Comment