WILLIAM HARTUNG, whartung@
Hartung is senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His work focuses on the arms industry and the U.S. military budget. He recently wrote the piece “Biden is right to rule out a ‘no-fly zone’ in Ukraine“: “From Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to former NATO Commander Philip Breedlove, there are growing calls for the Biden administration to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine as a way to protect civilians there and destroy the Russian air offensive that has largely grounded the Ukrainian air force and is doing so much damage to the Ukrainian army. …
“Implementing a no-fly zone of any sort, whether for all of Ukraine or ‘just’ to protect humanitarian corridors and Ukrainian defensive systems, would mean that the U.S. Air Force would essentially become the Ukrainian air force, fighting alongside Ukrainian ground forces against Russia. … Shooting down Russian planes and bombing Russian anti-aircraft sites would greatly increase the risks of escalation, up to and including a nuclear confrontation.” Hartung also recently wrote the piece “Support Ukraine, But Don’t Implement a No-Fly Zone” published by Forbes.
Roll Call reported Wednesday: “The fiscal 2022 appropriations compromise that lawmakers unveiled early Wednesday would spend generously on the Pentagon and its contractors, marking a big win for GOP defense hawks over progressive Democrats.”
Roll Call quotes Hartung: “Much of this money is wasted on dysfunctional weapons systems, outright waste, and an overly ambitious ‘cover-the-globe’ military strategy that fails to set priorities about the greatest security risks facing the United States and its allies.” The report continues: “The $782.5 billion figure was some $42 billion above fiscal 2021 spending, or nearly 6 percent. It also topped President Joe Biden’s request by about $30 billion, and was some $4 billion more than senators had authorized for such programs, most of which was in the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.”
Hartung recently wrote the brief “Pathways to Pentagon Spending Reductions: Removing the Obstacles.”
