Surprise! Institute of Peace in Shutdown
Meanwhile, Institute of War Is Going Full Throttle
Surprise! America’s Institute of Peace (USIP), admittedly a think tank that is neither that peaceful nor successful, is being shut down by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the Institute of and for War, otherwise known as the Pentagon, is going full throttle and likely getting even more money to crank up conflict around the globe.
The symbolism here is almost too obvious for words. The budget for the Peace Institute is roughly $55 million. The budget for the War Institute (Pentagon) is roughly $900 billion. That means America spends 16,000 times as much money preparing for war than it does thinking about peace. That might be one reason why we always get war—we get what we pay for.
For the yearly budget of the USIP, we could buy roughly one-half of an F-35 fighter jet. Now there’s some meaningful cost savings.
A Reminder: My new book, American Militarism on Steroids, goes live on Amazon Kindle tomorrow. It gathers all the essays I’ve written for TomDispatch, which amazingly add up to over 230,000 words. Prolix? Prolific? Profane? It must be profane if it criticizes our beloved Institute of War. Available for downloading for $7.50 at this link. Thank you.
The Institute of Peace was established by a Congressional bill in the 1980s. It is an independent statutory organization. The President has the authority to appoint (or dismiss) 12 of its 15 board members, However, decisions as to its future should be controlled by Congress. If Congress was truly functional and exercised its Article I responsibilities...never mind.
Most of Trump's devoted Sect of US Christian Nationalists are blind and oblivious to these words from the Sermon on the Mount in their Bibles as the US is the BIGGEST ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations: [9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5
Trump is going crazy now that as the Commander-in-Chief he can order bombing killing so many people. POWER CORRUPTS!