In A Global Society, There Is No Such Thing As “National Security”

Wednesday, 2 April 2025, 10:04 am
Opinion: Martin LeFevre - Meditations

It’s the gut-wrenching contradiction of our times – the more interconnected and planetary that people around the world become, the more nationalistic and atavistic the political reaction.

In a colossal failure of perception and imagination, even progressives are calling for “a new age of rearmament.”

For example, a leading pundit on the left writes: “Having cast Trump as a clear and present danger, Starmer should brace Britons for a new age of rearmament.”

That’s morally blind, journalistically irresponsible, and obviously impractical. Yet loaded terms like “far left” and “communist” are thrown at those who would dare to question the lunacy of more militarism in a globalised world.

The United States spends about $850billion annually on its military, while the total military spending globally is more than $2.4trillion. In other words, the hegemon alone accounts for nearly one-third of all the resources wasted on preparing for war.

What could a trillion dollars do? Eliminate extreme poverty, redress climate change, and provide healthcare for everyone in the world. Then why are otherwise rational liberal commentators calling for Europe to match America in so-called defense spending?

Militarism goes under various Cold War euphemisms, such as “defense” or “deterrence.” But despite nativistic reactions to the collapse of the post-war international order, and nationalistic throwbacks such as Trump, Putin and Xi, the world grows smaller and more interconnected by the month.

Economically, “the escalating tariffs are a body blow to the global trading system,” according to a former official at the International Monetary Fund. But the globalisation of the world cannot be reversed, and Trump’s peevish attempts to do so are leading to war.

The United States spends more on its military than the next 9 countries combined. That includes China and Russia, and amounts to 40% of military expenditures by countries around the world.

American “soft power” has melted away under Trump’s idiotic policies like an ice cream cone on a hot day. He’ll turn more and more to our bloated military as things go badly.

One unstable, ultra-nationalist autocrat holds the keys not only to most of the world’s aircraft carriers, fighters and cruise missiles. As Trump is forced into a corner by his own trade war, his stubby fingers will become as inclined to reach for the nuclear button as they are for his diet coke button on the presidential desk. After all, during his first presidential fiasco he asked, “Why can’t we use them?”

“National interests” and “national security” are increasingly meaningless anachronisms. Yet militarism, which is defined as “the belief of a government and people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it forcefully to defend or promote national interests,” goes unquestioned.

As a French pundit put it, “Trumpism is the perfect foil, in part because it’s so deeply unpopular with European voters, who see it in action and who in response support the EU more than ever before, including broad popular support for a European defense union.”

European unity is a true and desirable thing, and to the extent that America’s diabolical demolisher-in-chief is spurring it, clear-thinking people support it. But calling for a “European defense fund” is a euphemistic way of saying, “Europe needs to spend billions more Euros on weapons of war.”

The immense human failing of continuing to develop and maintain ever more technologically advanced weapons is proof that humans haven’t basically changed since the Stone Age.

Some politicians in France, who take pride in being one of only five declared nuclear states, decry Europe becoming a “defense superpower,” calling it “a direct attack on the sovereignty of our nation.” “Soldiers aren’t ready to die for Europe,” they say.

When America views Europe as moribund, and the Trump Administration wants to see Europe’s death, Trump is happy to hear that soldiers are willing to die for their own nations but not for a United States of Europe.

The calculus on both sides of the Atlantic shows just how mindlessly wasteful militarism has become in a global society. Despite a tsunami of nationalism, national sovereignty has become irrelevant, the crumbling cornerstone of a collapsing international order.

And yet the rise of private startups doing defense tech in California is a big trend, likened to a contagion, with “the bug going around.” Hypersonic weapons, AI controlled drones and drone killing systems; even pilotless fighter jets are the orders of the day.

The inane rationale? “The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation,” states the preface of “The Technological Republic,” a new book viewed as a manifesto for the fast-rising industry.

President Trump said on Sunday that if Iran “doesn’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

Connect the dots. Trump, the ugliest American, doesn’t care if the global economic system collapses, or if there’s a major war, because he believes America will come out the “winner.”

Therefore when the US economy falls into recession or even depression as a result of his stupid trade war, Trump will have only one card left to play (as he so rudely put it to Zelenskyy in the Oval Office).

That card is the tried and true American pattern of starting a war to divert attention and boost the economy. Besides, both Netanyahu and Trump want a war with Iran, which will spillover at least into a regional war, to remain in power.

At this point things have gotten so bad that we have to assume war is inevitable. It’s only a question of how bad it will be. So the question is not what is coming, but what will come after?

Global citizens are facing the imminent complete collapse of the international order. But people can be psychologically and philosophically prepared to change course and create a true global order during the short window of opportunity after the bombs stop falling.

It’s no use sitting back and hoping nothing will happen. What can one person do? Each person that emotionally ends their identification with a particular nation has a greater effect than a thousand who still do.

Martin LeFevre

© Scoop Media

Martin LeFevre - Meditations

Scoop Contributor

Martin LeFevre is a contemplative and philosopher.

His sui generis “Meditations” explore spiritual, philosophical and political questions relating to the polycrisis facing humanity.

lefevremartin77@gmail