By Shabbir Rizvi
The US military may see a second consecutive year of failure to meet its recruitment goals.
Despite loosening restrictions, adding new “incentives,” and deploying massive promotional campaigns, various branches of the US military are struggling to enlist new personnel - a sign of not only the declining mental and physical health of Americans but also growing disdain for American wars.
Many have described the failure to meet the military’s recruitment goals as a “crisis.” After all, it was not too long ago when Americans, in a drunken flurry by the post-9/11 war drive, flocked to recruitment centers. The early 2000s saw some of the highest increase in numbers for the military.
Fast forward 20 years.
In 2022, the US Army missed its recruiting goal by 25 percent - some 15,000 soldiers. In a bid to meet its recruitment numbers, the Army invested $100,000,000 in schools meant to push potential recruitments into qualifying mental and physical shape.......more below
The US military is facing a "historic challenge" as it attempts to counter Iran’s vast arsenal of “low-cost” drones and ballistic missiles, says a new report.
Nearly two weeks into the US aggression against the Islamic Republic, Tehran has managed to significantly strain American military inventories, Bloomberg reported, citing military experts and Pentagon officials.
The American publication wrote that US forces have been forced to dig deep into inventories of expensive, hard-to-replace interceptors to counter the Iranian barrage.
It stated that the US and its Persian Gulf allies have fired over 1,000 Patriot PAC-3 interceptors—nearly double the annual production capacity of these weapons.
“The United States led the long-range precision strike revolution, and this is the first war where we’re seeing the adversary have that kind of capability,” Bloomberg quoted Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center.
“It’s putting stress on the system that we haven’t seen before,” Grieco ...
The financial fallout from the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran is sending ripples through the global economy, with experts warning of significant price hikes.
Reports published early on Monday brought a stark wake-up call for British markets. The FTSE 100 plummeted by nearly 200 points, a drop of roughly 2%. This downturn was mirrored across Europe, with Germany's DAX index suffering a 2.3% loss.
Esteemed economist Philippe Aghion said the conflict is projected to dampen worldwide economic expansion.
Aghion told RTL radio that a protracted conflict could usher in a period reminiscent of the 1973 oil crisis.
The Nobel laureate outlined a scenario where the fighting drags on for weeks, driving oil prices beyond $150 per barrel and triggering rampant inflation. Such a situation, he noted, would necessitate a unified economic response from Western nations, including the United States and Europe.
“An extended and broadening conflict will undoubtedly hinder global expansion,” Aghion ...
