Aprille Muscara

Aprille Muscara writes for Inter Press Service.

WikiLeaks Cables Reveal China’s Modernizing Military Might

A Wikileaked January 2009 diplomatic cable from the United States’ Beijing embassy forecasting the next three decades of U.S.-China relations warned of the Asian giant’s "rapid military modernization". "The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] thirty years from today will likely have sophisticated anti-satellite weapons, state-of-the-art aircraft, aircraft carriers and an ability to project force into strategic … Continue reading “WikiLeaks Cables Reveal China’s Modernizing Military Might”

Defense Contractors Insulated from Budget Cuts

In one of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s most remembered speeches, he warned against "the acquisition of unwarranted influence" resulting from the close brotherhood between the country’s defense agencies, Capitol Hill and private business interests. Fifty years later, the Republican leader’s Jan. 17, 1961 admonition of the military-industrial–Congressional complex is as relevant as ever, argues … Continue reading “Defense Contractors Insulated from Budget Cuts”