{"id":147242,"date":"2025-01-09T16:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=147242"},"modified":"2025-01-09T16:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:04:14","slug":"greenland-and-the-american-military-under-trump-and-the-doge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/01\/09\/greenland-and-the-american-military-under-trump-and-the-doge\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenland and The American Military Under Trump and the DOGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

TomDispatch Posted on January 9, 2025<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Hey, why not buy (or just take) Greenland? After all, we already have<\/a> a military base there, once known as Thule Air Base and, in 2023, renamed Pituffik Space Base in honor of the settlement of local people who were \u2014 yes! \u2014 displaced in 1951 when it was first built. And since there are still only about 22,000 Greenlanders on that giant landscape distinctly linked to North America, why shouldn\u2019t Donald Trump, in his second term in office, pick it up for a song from the Danes, whether they or the Greenlanders<\/a> want to sell it or not? I\u2019m sure it\u2019s crossed your mind, too<\/a>, that, as our next president put it recently, the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity\u201d for our country\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we don\u2019t take possession of those two million square kilometers of rock and ice, don\u2019t be surprised if that near-Arctic power\u201d China sends its military in. Why, back in 2016, Denmark turned down<\/a> an offer from a Chinese mining company to buy an abandoned naval base there! And if they were to take Greenland, the obvious next step would be the Panama Canal, right? After all, isn\u2019t the Chinese military already operating that waterway? Otherwise, why would our next president have wished<\/a> a Merry Christmas on Truth Social to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama canal.\u201d (No matter that the Panamanian president has sworn<\/a> there are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worse yet, if Greenland and that canal fall to the enemy, can Canada, also known (at least to our next president and, according to him<\/a>, so many Canadians) as the 51st state,\u201d be far behind, especially with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigning<\/a> after almost a decade in office? And after all of that territory has been tucked away (at least in the dreams of one Donald J. Trump), who knows what might come next? Of course, if we don\u2019t get too carried away ahead of time, all we have to do is wait less than two weeks until he\u2019s once again president and perhaps we\u2019ll find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, let retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and TomDispatch<\/em> regular<\/a> William Astore, who runs the must-read Bracing Views<\/em> Substack<\/a>, fill you in on how Trump and his buddy, future trillionaire<\/a> Elon Musk, are likely to make what\u2019s already the world\u2019s most distinctly over-endowed<\/a> military great\u201d again just in time to take any place on Earth. Tom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End Warness, Not Wokeness<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ten Thoughts on Curbing the Worst Excesses of U.S. Militarism<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By William J. Astore<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take America back (again!) to greatness, there\u2019s been much talk of Elon Musk\u2019s new DOGE<\/a>, or Department of Government Efficiency, and whether it will dare tackle Pentagon spending<\/a> in useful ways. Could it curb rampant fraud, waste, and abuse within military contracting? Will the Pentagon finally pass a financial audit after seven consecutive<\/a> failed attempts? Might the war in Ukraine finally sputter to an end, along with U.S. taxpayer support for that country of roughly $175 billion<\/a> over the last three years?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efficiency\u201d may be the word of the hour, but a more efficient\u201d imperial military, with a looser leash to attack Iran, bottle up China, and threaten Russia would likely bring yet more unrest to a world that\u2019s already experiencing war-making chaos. When military lethality<\/a>\u201d becomes the byword of even the Democrats, as was true with Kamala Harris\u2019s campaign \u2014 her vice-presidential running mate\u2019s main criticism of the Trump record on Iran was that his leadership was too fickle\u201d<\/a> when it came to that country\u2019s possible acquisition of a nuclear weapon \u2014 one wonders if any move toward restraint, let alone sanity and peace, is possible within the Washington beltway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy want to lead a useful DOGE when it comes to the U.S. military, they should focus on effectiveness, not efficiency. Remind me, after all, of the last major war America effectively won. Yes, of course, it was World War II, 80 years ago, with a lot of help from allies like Joseph Stalin\u2019s Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, remind me of just how effective\u201d the U.S. military was in replacing<\/a> the Taliban with\u2026 yes, the Taliban<\/a> in Afghanistan after 20 years of effort and roughly $2 trillion in expenditures; or how effective\u201d it was in finding Saddam Hussein\u2019s (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction<\/a> while bringing democracy to Iraq; or how effective\u201d it\u2019s been in decreasing the risk of a world-altering nuclear war (while building a whole new generation of nuclear weaponry), as the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists<\/em> creeps ever closer<\/a> to a thermonuclear midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Color this retired Air Force officer red, as in angry and scared. Still, a new administration should represent somewhat of a fresh start, another opportunity for this country to alter its militaristic course. Perhaps you\u2019ll indulge me for a moment as I dream of 10 ways the Trump administration could (but, of course, won\u2019t) bring a form of greatness\u201d back to America. (An aside: Explain to me Donald Trump\u2019s eternal focus on making America great again\u201d when any president should instead be focused on making America good<\/em>, as in morally just and decent, again.)   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. It\u2019s said that Trump\u2019s nominee for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, will end wokeness<\/a>\u201d in the military.  No more DEI<\/a> (diversity, equity, inclusion) generals, whatever that may mean. Apparently, the next administration wants to return to a military world of white men wearing stars (and losing wars) \u2014 the twenty-first-century equivalent of the heroes who triumphed\u201d in places like Korea and Vietnam in the previous century. Perhaps the new Trump administration should reanimate former Air Force Strategic Air Commander General Curtis LeMay<\/a> to win\u201d a nuclear war against China or Russia. Whatever else you can say about LeMay, he wasn\u2019t woke.\u201d Nor were generals like Douglas MacArthur in Korea and William Westmoreland<\/a> in Vietnam. Nor, of course, were they victorious or even that effective, as was no less true of more recent savior\u201d generals like David Petraeus in Iraq and Stanley McChrystal in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America, we don\u2019t need a secretary of defense to end wokeness\u201d in the military. What we need is one to end warness<\/em>, the pursuit of perpetual conflict across the globe. Instead of channeling his inner Darth Vader and choking the careers of the woke,\u201d Hegseth \u2014 assuming he makes it<\/a> to the Pentagon \u2014 should act to rein in all its warriors\u201d and civilian neocons who keep boasting of putting on their big-boy pants<\/a> as they clamor for yet more war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Speaking of Darth Vader and Star Wars<\/em> (and recalling its planet-destroying weaponry), the $2 trillion or so<\/a> planned for the modernization\u201d of this country\u2019s nuclear arsenal, including new Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, a new stealth bomber (the B-21 Raider), and new Columbia<\/em>-class nuclear submarines, could easily be curtailed, even cut completely, without faintly impacting national security. Instead, the U.S. could pursue nuclear reduction talks with Russia and China that would enhance world security so much more than building a whole new genocidal set of nukes and their delivery systems. If the Trump administration wants to show greatness,\u201d it should do what President Ronald Reagan once did<\/a>: work to put an end to nuclear madness through diplomacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Speaking of diplomacy and disarmament, isn\u2019t it time for this country to stop being the world\u2019s foremost merchant of death? The United States is, in fact, an uncontested number one in international arms sales, accounting for 40%<\/a> of the marketplace. For a start, Trump and his minions could regain a smidgen of moral authority by halting the endless flow<\/a> of (nearly) free bombs, missiles, and shells to Israel, thereby slowing its genocidal efforts to murder yet more Palestinians in Gaza. (Good luck on that one, of course.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. If Trump is so keen to put America First,\u201d shouldn\u2019t that mean sending money to Main Street, USA, rather than to Wall Street, K Street arms lobbyists in Washington, D.C., and giant military contractors in Crystal City, Virginia<\/a>, and elsewhere? Euphemistically called the defense\u201d budget, the money that flows into the U.S. military is now officially set at nearly $900 billion<\/a>, but its future ceiling seems unlimited and the total national security budget\u201d is already closer to an astounding $1.4 trillion<\/a>. Why are Americans letting the Pentagon and the National (In)Security State gobble up roughly 60% of the federal discretionary budget, year in, year out, no matter which political party gains the presidency? In truth, America\u2019s real political party is a warbird with two right wings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Given those two right wings, perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be surprising how often it spins, flails, and fails. Only recently, for example, the Pentagon failed its seventh audit in a row. Had it been a Trump casino, it would have declared bankruptcy and gone belly up 30 years ago. Even then, you couldn\u2019t have dissolved and distributed its assets, since roughly $2 trillion of them<\/a> are missing.\u201d (America, your money is MIA, or missing in action, while the American dream has been KIA, or killed in action, by wanton, wasteful, and wrongheaded Pentagon spending.) Want that institution to pass an audit? Cut its budget in half until it produces a credible and accurate accounting. Something tells me that the bureaucracy would finally win\u201d its war on the numbers if faced with the equivalent of a budgetary guillotine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Isn\u2019t it finally time for the Pentagon to abandon its global fever dream of full-spectrum dominance<\/a>\u201d? An American military deployed everywhere is also one that is vulnerable everywhere. What sense is there in having U.S. Special Forces in 80+ countries<\/a>? What sense is there in having roughly 800 military bases<\/a> around the globe? Harkening back to my sci-fi youth, America today most closely resembles the power-driven empire in Star Wars<\/em> (with the belligerence of the Klingons in Star Trek <\/em>thrown in for good measure). If Elon Musk truly believes that less can be more (as in more efficient), why not start with far fewer bases and foreign entanglements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Speaking of Star Trek<\/em>, this country could use a new prime directive\u201d where we don\u2019t go in search of monsters to destroy<\/a> everywhere. Isn\u2019t it high time we turned inward and focused on healing ourselves? As presidential candidate and Senator George McGovern, a decorated World War II bomber pilot, said<\/a> so powerfully in 1972, Come home, America.\u201d Leave the world to settle its own affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Speaking of new approaches, why not try rapprochement? Stop attempting to dominate Russia and China, countries that could conceivably destroy the U.S. (as we could destroy them), and start finding smart ways to cooperate. Echoing the business-speak that might appeal to Musk and Trump, isn\u2019t it time to seek win-win scenarios<\/a> rather than war-war ones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. They say fascism<\/a> will come to America only if it\u2019s wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross, but maybe some version of that is, in fact, the only way to neutralize future fascism \u2014 with critical patriotism (rather than jingoistic nationalism) that stresses fidelity to America\u2019s highest ideals. Stop hugging the flag and start living up to the vision of a United (rather than increasingly dis-united) States, a true land of the free and home of the brave that refuses to be frightened by drones in the sky or an expanding China. Stop promoting a vision of a crusading America and start living a vision of a country in which peacemakers are honored, even revered<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. The names of American drones \u2014 Predator\u201d and Reaper\u201d \u2014 reveal much about this country\u2019s direction over the last half-century. What this country needs to be great again\u201d are military and government establishments that are far less predatory and reap far fewer bodies overseas or, even better, none. (Keep in mind the millions of people killed, wounded, or displaced in countries ranging from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to Afghanistan, Iraq, and all too many other lands across this planet in this century.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There you have it, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, my 10 thoughts on your all too dodgy (rather than DOGE) quest for efficiency\u201d and greatness\u201d (again). In a nutshell, efficiency, as in doing things right, is far less important than effectiveness, or doing the right things, as management guru Peter Drucker put it<\/a>. So, for example, a more efficient military might have fought in a somewhat smarter fashion in Iraq, but an effective military (and government) would have recognized that such a war should never have been pursued to begin with. Let me be clear: I don\u2019t want an efficient\u201d war with Iran or China or any other country. I want an effective American foreign (and military) policy where, to cite Abraham Lincoln, right makes might<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put bluntly, you can\u2019t do a wrong thing the right way, a simple maxim I fear will be lost on that potential future trillionaire<\/a> Musk and his DOGE. Therefore, the U.S. military and government will continue to do all too many wrong things, perhaps in a few cases slightly more efficiently, only making U.S. defense\u201d policy ever more predatory and so reaping yet more innocent lives across this globe of ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to Donald Trump and Elon Musk, let me say the obvious: the U.S. needs a smaller military establishment capable of defending this country by upholding the ideals and freedoms delineated in the Constitution. Fighting endless wars in distant lands is not the solution here, it\u2019s the problem. As a result, America has an ineffective military (inefficient as hell to boot) that essentially launders trillions<\/a> in taxpayer dollars to merchants of death like Lockheed Martin and Boeing while filling far too many body bags with dead foreigners. Your DOGE, Mr. Musk, won\u2019t change this, nor will your predilection for spoiling the Pentagon with ever-higher budgets, President Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is to be done, America? As the prophet Michael Jackson once sang, we must start with the man in the mirror<\/a>. Collectively, we need to ask ourselves and by extension our\u201d government to change its ways.  Or, more effectively, we need to demand<\/em> radical and extensive changes, since power of the sort wielded by this country\u2019s national security state will concede nothing<\/a> without a demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forms those demands take are up to you, America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my darker hours, I wonder if, in our latest Trumpian moment, this country will be the national equivalent of the Titanic<\/em>, post-iceberg \u2014 meaning that our fate is sealed. If that\u2019s the case, maybe we can play sweeter music and be kinder to each other as we slip toward an ice-cold watery grave. But there are other moments when I imagine the iceberg still looming before the ship of state and a course correction still possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that\u2019s the case, even if our ship\u2019s captain (Donald Trump) and his senior officers appear asleep at the wheel, while a few nutcases seem to be seeking that iceberg as a national death wish of sorts or, if you prefer, as an end times<\/a>\u201d quest.  As Howard Zinn once said<\/a>, you can\u2019t be neutral on a moving train \u2014 or for that matter on a ship of state already deep in perilous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To use a different nautical reference, a more hopeful (if fictional) one<\/a>, before the USS Caine<\/em> goes down with all hands in high winds and heavy seas under the blundering and blustering Commander Queeg, maybe it\u2019s time for us, the crew, to take matters into our own hands, as difficult as that may be to contemplate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come hard about, America! Seek the fair winds and following seas<\/a> of peace. If we have the courage to do that, we will truly save our ship, ourselves, and much of the rest of the world from looming disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright 2025 William J. Astore<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image: Pentagon<\/a> by Thomas Hawk<\/a> is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a> \/ Flickr<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow TomDispatch on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and join us on <\/em>Facebook<\/em><\/a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffer\u2019s new dystopian novel, <\/em>Songlands<\/a> (the final one in his Splinterlands series), Beverly Gologorsky\u2019s novel <\/em>Every Body Has a Story<\/a>, and Tom Engelhardt\u2019s <\/em>A Nation Unmade by War<\/a>, as well as Alfred McCoy\u2019s <\/em>In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power<\/a>, John Dower\u2019s <\/em>The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II<\/a>, and Ann Jones\u2019s<\/em> They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from America\u2019s Wars: The Untold Story<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
End Warness, Not Wokeness<\/a><\/blockquote>