An empire needs a frontier. It collapses without one. So what is the U.S.' next frontier project? Biden alluded to it a bit in his speech today, but is there any particular spot in the world that looks ripe for state department ghouls to conjure an existential threat to Freedom, Baseball and Applie Pie?
I mean unless it all just shifts to brinkmanship with China. But I think actual conflict with China runs up against the interests of too big a slice of the capitalist class to make anything more than saber-rattling a possibility in the short term.
The F-35 was supposed to be a unified plane that could do everything for every branch of the military, ended up horribly over budget and behind schedule, and is a barely functioning death trap. The long/expensive development process displaced the R&D budgets for anything else, so they're stuck with it until the next generation of aircraft. Also various branches of the military are contractually obligated to buy lots of them.
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