Islam Times - US military wants to have new arms race with Russia

Islam Times - The US military and political establishment wants to have a new arms race with Russia and China as well, says James Jatras, a former American Senate foreign policy adviser.

Jatras made the remarks while commenting on reports which say the US Defense Department will boost research in hypersonic offense and defense weapons, in response to a recent Russian test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile system.

The Pentagon will step its focus on hypersonic weapons as Russia and China continue their march toward fielding the technology and erode America’s dominance, Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldanza, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told the Voice of America (VOA).

"While the United States has been the world leader in hypersonic system research for many decades, we did not choose to weaponize it," Baldanza told VOA.

Jatras said that the US “military and political establishment wanted to have a new arms race with Russia, and of course with China as well. I am afraid they are going to get their wish.”

“This idea that we can continue to press the Russians, and Ukraine, and the Baltic, and the Black Sea, and Syria and elsewhere and there would not be reaction on their part, I think it is naïve or maybe cynical, maybe they had every expectation that the real Russians would react this way,” he stated.

“This is a particular concern with the likely American withdrawal from the Intermediate Nuclear Range Forces Treaty where the Russians do probably have a stronger ability to respond quickly in this area than the United States is prepared to do,” he noted.

“Now if you simply look at this as a money train for the people who wanted to build a lot of new weapons, maybe that’s good thing.
But I think for the security of the United States and the survival of the world it is extremely dangerous. And something needs to be done to rein these people in,” the analyst concluded.