All Guns and No Butter on a Burning Planet

The insatiable demands of the military industrial complex are a barrier to human flourishing on a livable planet.

In the wake of World War II, the United States crowned itself leader of the Western world through persuasion and coercion. Massive transfers of US aid helped stave off the prospect of Communist governments in Western Europe, while the deployment of American troops and materiel ensured European participation in a US-led military order. Today, Washington seeks to redraw the terms of imperial governance. As F-18 fighter jets bombarded Yemen in March, White House official Stephen Miller argued that European allies should pay for the strikes: “If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation. . . there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.” Not only had t