This seems like big news, after nearly two decades and t-t-t-trillions of dollars! Did anyone tell you? According to the Summary of the National Defense Strategy for 2018, terrorism is no longer the primary concern for the Department of Defense. Quoting from the introduction: “Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in U.S. national security.”
What does this mean? To quote, once again, from the introduction: “Reinforcing America’s traditional tools of diplomacy, the Department [of Defense] provides military options to ensure the President and our diplomats negotiate from a position of strength.” This marks a significant and unsettling divergence in official policy. Military force is not a tool of diplomacy; it is a failure of diplomacy.
The US military has bases in approximately 70 countries and is engaged in operations in who knows how many countries. Now, I’m not oblivious to the certainty that nearly all compacts between states are secured by force or the threat of force. However, there is a tremendous difference between the implicit threat of militarism to enforce an existing agreement and the explicit threat of military force to influence diplomatic negotiations. The latter is akin to suggesting that the schoolyard bully ‘negotiated’ for your lunch money.
It is the real-world implementation of ‘aggressive negotiations.’ Where does this lead in trade disputes? It should make you re-think the escalation of a trade war with China. If China refuses to capitulate, will the US military get involved? How would this policy apply to less powerful countries with resources desired by the US? If Peru disagrees with the US government about a reasonable price for the export of copper, do we continue negotiations with cruise missiles?
The suggestion should be unthinkable to a people who identify with their country as a symbol of liberty, a people who claim to believe in a free market, a people who reject the initiation of force or coercion to achieve their political and economic aims. What has happened to Our Republic? George Washington said in his farewell address, “Over-grown military establishments are, under any form of government, inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
This is the newest link in a chain of policy changes which continue to expand the role of the US military beyond physical defense of our country and further beyond the control of the people. We have been warned of what happens to those who live by the sword. China and Russia are not enemies; they are rivals. If our government intends to use the military to dissuade or challenge expanding economic interests of Russia and China (in their own regions, no less), violent conflict is inevitable — they will become enemies — an outcome we should like to avoid.
President Theodore Roosevelt made the now-famous comment about US foreign policy to, “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” His meaning has been misconstrued over time, but Roosevelt’s emphasis was on diplomacy. He meant that the US should be gracious in negotiations with foreign powers while maintaining the ability to defend ourselves decisively, if necessary. Roosevelt explains further, “Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.” Frankly, even the “speak softly” part has been forgotten. Instead, US foreign policy has shifted to screaming at full volume, ‘My stick is bigger than yours! Now, let’s negotiate.‘
There is a Lakota proverb: Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance. The US government is providing a case study for this across North Africa and throughout the Middle East, where our military has been engaged for several decades. The War on Terror and the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which was passed by Congress three days after 09/11, has been used to justify US military actions in those regions ever since, even though it only authorized military actions against those involved in the 09/11 terrorist attacks. (As a side note, in January 2016, a more permissive AUMF was introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell with even greater latitude for justifying military action abroad. Luckily, there has never been a vote.) We have already been in a near-constant state of war since entering World War II.
Imagine if the US government began using competition for influence, resources or any other factor as and excuse to enter into military conflict with foreign powers. It seems the bar is set pretty low already. Remember when they said that the Iraq War would be paid for in oil? How many more of those lies would we hear? ‘Don’t worry, the war with China will be paid for in rare earth metals.‘ To make matters worse, in order to continue support for the growing military, our government would need to consume more resources, encouraging them to enter more conflicts for those resources and resulting in a faster growing military — a deadly feedback loop of destruction.
If the War on Terror is drawing to a close, the appropriate action would be to curtail militarism. The US government should reduce military spending, pare back the domestic surveillance apparatus, bring troops home. Rather, they are looking for another way — an openly imperialistic way — to employ the military. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote, “A persistent state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.” The American people are weary of war and becoming wary of a government which seeks to maintain a persistent state of war.
-M