Renee Parsons 

As the BRICS prepare to welcome Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE into their fold in anticipation of a new season of geo-economic growth, sustainable development and increased trade within an internationally cooperative framework, the US Congress and the DOD remain dormant in its antiquated thinking, divorced from conceding that the decaying Hegemon is on its last economic legs before a final gasp of insolvency. 

As the world’s number one provider of weapons with 45% of the market and with a history of waging planetary wars including  two World Wars, a Korean ‘police action,’ twenty years in the Middle East chasing illusive if not fictitious ‘terrorists’ and stealing foreign petroleum resources as well as numerous undeclared military interventions, the creation of a new multipolar world has been an inevitable response to US expansionism from a decrepit Empire in sharp decline as it heads into a fiscal abyss of its own making.    

As Congress leadership acquiesces to untrustworthy neo-cons who remain in control of an impoverished ‘forever war’ strategy,  no American leadership can come close in comparison with any international diplomatic expertise like Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi, both of whom are at the top of their game.      

Since 1961, the NDAA achieved national status as a Christmas bonus to the military industrial complex with a wealth of deeply hidden trinkets buried within its bowels, problematic to have ever been enacted on their own merit.  More of a foundational document authenticating US foreign policy decisions, the NDAA successfully provides cover for cost overruns as it cloaks its details wrapped in one dense statutory package.  Today the 2024 NDAA edition totals 3,000 pages, requiring its delivery via a handcart; representing a ‘closed door’ legislative process. 

Not surprisingly, Congress offered little hesitation to approve the NDAA’s obscene $886 Billion to keep the fantasy alive that American Exceptionalism still exists although little more than a psyop for the American public to accept the scam that national security is in good hands as their tax dollars are well-spent.  

Packaging the NDAA with a 5.2% pay raise for enlisted personnel vastly improves public acceptance even as the NDAA is now a free-for-all with zero Congressional restraint.  The NDAA has been controlled by a small group of powerful Congressional elites with disproportionate influence as the legislation has become a catchall for big-ticket military targets not meant for scrutiny by the American public.  

With Scott Ritter’s analysis:  the US spent $2.3 trillion on a twenty  year military disaster in Afghanistan followed by a failed retreat while, at the same time, spent  $758 billion on Iraq’s 2003 ‘shock and awe’ invasion through 2012 but not including US reentry into Iraq in 2014 under the guise of chasing ISIS as the US spent another $28.5 Billion uninvited to  intervene in Syria’s civil war 2014 – 2018.       

One strategy in favor of a thousand-plus page document is that the larger the document, the more obtuse and dense, the more mysterious and incomprehensible as the totality US foreign policy remains  obscure to the average American.  In addition, the larger the document, the easier it is to load it up like a Christmas tree with inconsequential legislative gifts or trinkets that should be the subject of stand alone, separate legislative process; for instance, the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship Act and the National American Indian Charter Act.   

Just prior to its three week Christmas Congressional break, the divided House voted 310-118 with 73 Republicans and 45 Democratic voting NO forming the basis of a new voting bloc.  The Senate continues to vote like a hopeless cause as it supported the NDAA 85 -13 including six Republicans, five Democrats and one Independent.  Some Republicans opposed the NDAA based on the national security crisis at the southern border with Democrats unwilling to stop the flow of thousands of illegals.

While Rep. Ken Buck (Co.) resisted the lure citing the ‘current price tag or lack of fiscal accountability,” other Members of the Colorado delegation traded their opposition to the NDAA  in order to obtain decommissioning of the Pueblo Chemical Depot.  

The bottom line is that the NDAA represents less work for Congress as many multiples can be rolled into one over-sized document requiring fewer hearings, less input and effort from each Member.  

In other words, it might be time to seriously consider a part time Congress since both the House and Senate spend waaay too much time on ‘district work sessions.’ 

Denial that the Ukraine war is lost/done/fini did not stop Congress from adding a generous $300 billion allocation on top of Biden’s $200 million ‘drawdown’ with another $105 Billion for Ukraine/Israel in order to continue its deadly assault on Palestinian children.   

A mere slice of  DOD’s contribution to bankrupting the American government includes $168 billion for weapons procurement, $14 Billion for China ‘deterrence,” $145 billion for research and development, $1.1 billion of PFAS remediation, $15 million for energy/resilience and conservation and $32 billion for the US nuclear arsenal into DOD’s black hole.     

As Israel continues its widescale bomb campaign to remove all indigenous Palestinians from the home they have occupied for thousands of years, there is a massive US Navy presence in the Gulf strategically located off the Iranian coast   As Israel continues to bomb Syria, there is more than just the extermination of Gaza at work here.  

With US foreign policy in disintegration as Israel resists a diplomatic solution, the Houthis have closed the Suez Canal with their seizure of  tankers on their way to Israel, the American political class exhibit a high threshold of tolerance for the unspeakable horror in Gaza.   

In a further sign of societal decay, how did an out-of-control Pentagon assume it has a right to live beyond its means in a consistent pattern of creating deplorable fiscal and civil instability. 

Lastly, as the entire world remains horrified by the genocidal rampage conducted by biblical Zionist psychopaths, the two-state solution is more wishful thinking as Israel’s ‘right to exist’ has dramatically shifted in the world of public opinion. As the conflict continues, there are increasing  questions whether the barbarous Zionist state is sufficiently worthy to join the international community of civilized nations.    

In its 60 year history, no NDAA has ever been rejected by Congress or even thoroughly examined, scrutinized or signed-off  with every voting Member having access to its many enigmas prior to enactment.