'US provoking arms race to undermine rise of Russia, China'

The United States is trying to provoke a nuclear arms race with Russia and China to undermine their rise as the two nations challenge US hegemony, American academic and political analyst Dennis Etler says.

Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry said on Thursday that the United States is on the “brink” of starting a new nuclear arms race with rivals that will increase the risk of nuclear threat to new levels.

“We’re now at the precipice, maybe I should say the brink, of a new nuclear arms race,” Perry said at an event in Washington. “This arms race will be at least as expensive as the arms race we had during the Cold War, which is a lot of money.”ear ar

Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, told Press TV on Friday that the United States has “a military budget which exceeds that of all other countries combined.”

He added that the US “has hundreds of military bases spread across the length and breadth of the globe, it has invaded sovereign nations throughout the world to protect what it claims is its national security, it has imposed economic sanctions on countries it deems adversaries, and supports subversion and separatism in order to dismember nations it wishes to control.”

“This has all happened time and again. The US as a result of its unilateral actions has become the major threat to world peace and security,” he stated.

US faces no credible threat

“There is no nation in the world that is a credible threat to US homeland security. The other nuclear powers are either US allies in NATO, have no need or desire to attack the US, or are regional powers with no ability to challenge the US at home,” Professor Etler said.

“The US at present has more nuclear weapons and delivery systems than any nation on Earth and can easily destroy the planet many times over if it so desired.

“So why, pray tell, does the US need to modernize and upgrade its nuclear arsenal and delivery systems to the tune of trillions of dollars when there are so many crying needs both at home and abroad for which the money could be better spent?

“There is one and only one answer, to intimidate its rivals and maintain its position as dominant world leader which can project its power when and where it wishes.”

Why US maintains nuclear triad

Professor Etler said America’s “plans to invest untold sums of money and national wealth in its triad of strategic long range bombers, nuclear-armed submarines and ICBMs is not for self-defense or out of national security concerns.

“Its sole purpose is to continue to subsidize the war-mongers of the military-industrial complex, line the pockets of congressional districts which have military installations and impose its rule over the rest of the world.

“In addition the US hopes to provoke an arms race with its rivals, Russia and China, so as to divert them from their rise as challengers to US hegemony and a unipolar world.

“The US should be disarming, not rearming and dismantling its nuclear arsenal not augmenting it. It should work with other nations not against them to solve world problems and it should invest in construction not destruction. It is only in that manner that the national security and interests of its people can be truly protected.”

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