{"id":54951,"date":"2025-09-11T03:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=54951"},"modified":"2025-09-11T03:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T11:21:23","slug":"want-to-save-1-7-trillion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/11\/want-to-save-1-7-trillion\/","title":{"rendered":"Want To Save $1.7 Trillion?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Reprinted from <a href=\"https:\/\/bracingviews.substack.com\/\">Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Since the 1940s, we humans have spent enormous sums of money on genocidal weapons. Untold trillions, actually, on arsenals that, if used, would destroy civilization while killing most other life forms on our planet (mainly due to radiation and nuclear winter).<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a global overview of nuclear bombs and warheads as of 2023:<\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\">\n<picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 1456w\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizing-normal\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic\" sizes=\"100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!nQ6A!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic 1456w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1402\" height=\"798\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/c15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:798,&quot;width&quot;:1402,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:112562,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bracingviews.substack.com\/i\/172687106?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc15a0b33-8b65-408a-86e8-eeb807a9668b_1402x798.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"image-link-expand\">\n<div class=\"pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset\">\n<div class=\"pencraft pc-reset icon-container view-image\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Amazingly, the USA, \u201cleader of the free world,\u201d plans to spend $1.7 trillion over the next thirty years or so on a new generation of genocidal nukes. The big-ticket items are the Sentinel ICBM, the B-21 Raider bomber, and <em>Columbia<\/em>-class submarines, which compose the three legs of America\u2019s nuclear triad.<\/p>\n<p>One of my favorite quips is \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/tomdispatch.com\/the-triad-is-not-the-trinity\/\" rel=\"\">the triad is not the Trinity<\/a>,\u201d but it\u2019s certainly treated as a glorious and holy thing by Congress and the U.S. military. Military contractors like Northrop Grumman are more than happy to build world-ending nukes. Naturally, it\u2019s not couched in this way; our nukes are all about \u201cdeterrence,\u201d though weapons built to deter others can easily become weapons to obliterate others.<\/p>\n<p>We Americans already have more than enough nukes to \u201cdeter\u201d others, but there can never be enough weapons when the military-industrial-congressional complex gears up its influence campaigns. Forgive me, but it recalls a song from my teen years: \u201cMore, more, more: How do you like it, how do you like it.\u201d Of course, that was an answer to \u201cHow do you like your love.\u201d But for the \u201cwarriors\u201d in charge, if asked, \u201cHow do you like your war?\u201d their collective answer is truly, \u201cMore, more, more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stop the madness, America. Let\u2019s put away the new nukes and save ourselves $1.7 trillion. Let\u2019s reserve \u201cMore, more, more\u201d for making love, not war.<\/p>\n<p><em>William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF), professor of history, and a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), an organization of critical veteran military and national security professionals. His personal substack is <a href=\"https:\/\/bracingviews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">Bracing Views<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. Since the 1940s, we humans have spent enormous sums of money on genocidal weapons. Untold trillions, actually, on arsenals that, if used, would destroy civilization while killing most other life forms on our planet (mainly due to radiation and nuclear winter). Here\u2019s a global overview of nuclear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[758],"class_list":["post-54951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Just Say 'No' to New Nukes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54951"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54955,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54951\/revisions\/54955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54951"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=54951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}