Matt Armstrong’s Post

A FISCAL CRISIS : THE WEST IS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE COST CURVE https://lnkd.in/g3Ckq7En Western militaries, which cling to outdated and excessively expensive weapon systems and platforms (that take too long to develop and replenish, and regularly exceed their budgets), are being systematically bled dry.

Imagine for a moment, that you're the dictator in an authoritarian regime. How do you stress-test your opponents politically and militarily, without triggering a full-scale war? You want to test their defences, but don't want to get tested yourself. What better way than to foment a number of conflicts in different parts of the world, places significant enough to motivate your opponents to expend effort and materiel...but not significant enough to trigger region wide conflict. Not yet anyway. that will come later, when you are more sure of their limitations...their weaknesses. There are two provocateurs of global affairs, who have their fingers in the current conflicts, and both are watching closely, as "The West" reveals how shallow their materiel reserves are, and how limited their capacity for replenishment. They are also testing the West's resolve to endure inconvenience and stressing the machinery of State to act apolitically for the greater good. And it's proving informative. When our magazines are depleted and our politicians are at each others throats, what comes after this could be very uncomfortable. https://lnkd.in/gH63VRdJ

📌▶️ ⚔️ War is Nuanced ⚔️ Although a world without war is ideal, some investors agree that war is inevitable. Recent events in the Middle East confirm that pessimism. Therefore, some investors acknowledge that complete disarmament is impossible and that investing in conventional arms is acceptable, especially for defense purposes. ✈🌐🪖 The United Nations Ottawa Treaty is about excluding only some of the worst weapons of war, including land mines and cluster munitions. At Nucleus Wealth, you can screen out of your portfolio stocks that are just the worst offenders, such as companies known to produce cluster munitions and landmines. You can also tilt your portfolio more heavily towards defense contractors. 📈📉📑 🧐 See what your indicative portfolio would look like on our ‘Review’ page with the ‘war’ screens or ‘military’ tilts applied in our portal: https://lnkd.in/gseKcHWj ❌ ✅ View our 100 different screens and tilts: https://lnkd.in/g6r7Zpue 🔎 Want to know more about our screens and tilts? 📩 ☎️ Book a free, no-obligation phone call to speak with one of our qualified advisers today: https://lnkd.in/dMujXyVG #War #israelpalestineconflict #Israel #Palestine #NucleusWealth #EthicalInvesting #investment #innovations #InvestWithValues #TargetedInvesting #InvestmentStrategy #DiversifyYourPortfolio #FinancialLiteracy #ResponsibleInvesting #FinancialPlanning #FreedomOfChoice #TargetedInvesting #InvestmentAdvice #SmartInvesting

From the trenches of Ukraine to the potential implications of a Russian victory, on Burn the Boats hear about the high stakes of the conflict. 🌍🔥Uncover the complexities and challenges of modern warfare. 🛰️💣 #WarfareTactics #DefenseStrategies

Land defenders the world over are branded as terrorists, intentionally targeted and often killed. As capitalists and corporate projects ramp up lands and natural resources, environmental defenders act as the last barrier against the destruction of their own homes. The numbers are staggering. One environmental defender was killed every other day between 2012 and 2022, making it more than 2.000 reported murders, mainly in the Global South. Alessandra Bergamin reports on the global threat to environmentalists and the deep ties to governments and the #US. "The hidden nature of the killings and the entanglement of military, paramilitary and local police makes it hard enough to trace state complicity, let alone track them back to more powerful geopolitical actors — such as the neocolonial U.S. military apparatus that has long cleared the way for resource extraction, and the global corporate and financial interests that ultimately profit." Read the full piece at https://lnkd.in/dcSs5Si6

https://lnkd.in/gTc8gvwd Insightful Analysis from the #PRC perspective as it offers analysis of the geopolitical landscape, examining the potential implications of non-traditional forms of warfare (GREY ZONE activities) on global security and stability. Overall, the book is providing as a thought-provoking examination from the #chineseperspective of the evolving nature of warfare in the contemporary world, highlighting the importance of considering a wide range of strategies beyond conventional military tactics.

Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts. Conflict ends with an examination of future war. The book warns that in coming decades militaries will fight across an increasing number of dimensions. If the 20th century made air the third dimension of warfare after land and sea, then the 21st century promises to cement space and cyberspace as the fourth and fifth. To avoid living in a world dominated by rising authoritarian nations, and to ensure the perpetuation of a liberal world order, democracies will have to develop and invest in new weapons and technologies. Methods will change, but Petraeus and Roberts are clear-eyed about war’s enduring appeal as a policy tool, and the costs of deterrence, our best defence. “The amount of money that needs to be spent might seem vast, but historically it has always proven to be a mere fraction of what it costs in blood and treasure when deterrence fails.” Still, this pragmatic assessment of war, and of its cost to humanity, left me craving a more elevated solution to our problems. Petraeus and Roberts aren’t wrong; they are, in fact, depressingly right about war, deterrence, and the costs of both. Mann understands those costs too. His book nobly reaches for a solution it never quite grasps. Mann quotes the soldier-statesman Dwight Eisenhower, the US president from 1953 to 1961, who understood well what it means for a society to prepare for war. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.” https://lnkd.in/d3DCiYnt

"Proxy warfare is best defined as the direct or indirect sponsorship of third-party conventional or irregular forces that lie outside of the constitutional order of states engaged in armed conflict."Secrecy, plausible deniability, and ambiguity in the rules of engagement and command structure are characteristic features critical to the success of proxy strategies, making narrative control over the quality of command and control a central tactical concern. Yet the more obscure the connections between command and control and the more covert the proxy networks, the less visibility sponsors have into whether and when proxies are operating on agreed terms and providing verifiable information about conditions on the ground. https://lnkd.in/eyBH8kHD.

Thanks to Maria Bartiromo for having me on Fox Business Network this morning to discuss the attack by Iran on Israel and implications for the U.S. national security strategy and defense budgets.     Iran’s latest actions should force Congressional policymakers to do their jobs and arm DOD and our defense industrial base with the funding and tools required to meet the ever-increasing threats facing the U.S., our allies, and our partners.  The full supplemental for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan is must-pass legislation before the Congress takes another recess next week. Israel is under attack, Ukraine has run out of key munitions, and China continues to saber-rattle against Taiwan. In addition, the proposed FY 2025 defense topline is simply not sufficient. Arbitrary spending caps enacted under the Fiscal Responsibility Act are hindering the U.S.’s ability to enhance deterrence in this era of great power competition. DOD's senior civilian leaders have stated publicly that the future years defense plan needs to be increased.   We also need to update the national defense strategy to build capability in government and industry for the ability to deter and, if needed, to fight a two war strategy on a near simultaneous basis. Congress should lift these arbitrary caps, write a serious national defense spending plan with a new two-war strategy as the basis, and pass the 2025 budget on time.  https://lnkd.in/eXNRiVpV