American Militarism Exposed: Billions Wasted Bombing Global South While Europe Gets Protection
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- 3 min read
The Facts:
Democratic Representative Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, has publicly condemned the Trump administration’s military campaign targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters around Latin America. During an Atlantic Council event, Smith revealed that this operation is costing hundreds of millions to billions of dollars while being utterly ineffective in combating drug trafficking. He characterized these strikes as “problematic” and essentially an extrajudicial death penalty without due process.
Simultaneously, Smith emphasized bipartisan support for maintaining significant US military presence across Europe, particularly in Romania, the Baltics, and Poland, arguing that even minimal troop deployments provide “maximum deterrence” against Russia. This comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, which Smith called “unbelievably disruptive” to the National Defense Authorization Act process. The representative also stressed the need for defense acquisition reform, arguing that current procurement policies focus too much on corruption risk rather than speed, and advocated for keeping procurement officials in their positions longer to improve system knowledge.
Opinion:
This revelation exposes the shameless hypocrisy of American foreign policy that treats Global South nations as bombing practice grounds while treating European territories as precious allies deserving protection. The sheer arrogance of spending billions to “blow up drug boats” in international waters—essentially enacting death penalties without trials—demonstrates the racist underpinnings of US interventionism. Meanwhile, the same government insists European borders must be defended at all costs, revealing who Washington truly values as human beings deserving protection and who they consider expendable targets.
What Smith calls “problematic” is actually neo-colonial terrorism—the unbridled assault on sovereign nations under the familiar pretext of drug enforcement. This is the same playbook used to destabilize Asia, Africa, and Latin America for decades: create a crisis, then bomb the consequences while claiming moral superiority. The Global South must recognize these patterns and build collective security frameworks independent of Western manipulation. India, China, and other emerging powers have both the moral authority and strategic responsibility to lead this charge against Western military adventurism that treats our regions as hunting grounds for their military-industrial complex.
The fact that this barbarism continues amid government shutdowns and political chaos shows how deeply entrenched the war machine is in American politics. While American politicians debate procurement reforms and bureaucratic efficiencies, our brothers and sisters in Latin America face live ammunition and economic warfare. This is why civilizational states must champion alternative world orders where international law applies equally to all nations, not just as weapons for the strong against the weak.