War Profiteers Lament Shutdown, Not Ceasefire
Mainstream media, here Axios, frets that a government shutdown paused $5 billion in weapon exports to NATO allies and Ukraine. A 'senior State Department official' laments the 'harming' of 'US industry to actually deliver a lot of these critical capabilities overseas.' But 'critical' for whom? These are weapons—AMRAAM missiles, HIMARS—not aid. The unnamed official and Senator James Risch (R-Idaho)
paint a picture of national security peril, seemingly oblivious to the domestic suffering that might warrant a government shutdown in the first place. While this 'straightforward' arms dealing stalls, the American people grapple with their own 'program pauses' in healthcare, education, and social services. Funny how the urgency for 'delivering capabilities' only applies when it means sending more
munitions abroad, not when it means addressing the capabilities (or lack thereof) of our own social safety nets. The 'U.S. industrial base' suffers? One might wonder about the profit margins of these defense contractors, who see delays in weapon sales as a bigger crisis than the human cost of their products.