US deep state sets guidelines for foreign policy: Ron Paul

Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has warned about the dangers posed under Trump by the US military-industrial complex, which wanted to increase arms sales.

Paul said on Monday the US arms manufacturers, which were one of the most powerful groups in the US deep state and wielded huge influence over Trump, were setting the guidelines for the US foreign policy. 

US President Donald Trump, over the weekend, confirmed that he planned to pull the US out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known by its acronym “INF”, claiming Moscow had been violating the Cold War era nuclear weapons deal. The treaty limited the proliferation of intermediate nuclear weapons.

PressTV-Trump to bring back nuclear race with Russia

The US president declares plans to abandon a key arms control treaty with Russia.

“US foreign policy is not going in the direction we would like it to go. There is a nemesis in the military-industrial complex, “Paul said in an interview published on Monday. “They are really very powerful,” Paul said referring to US arms manufacturers. 

Paul said Trump’s National Security Adviser, John Bolton, who is said to claim credit for convincing Trump to pull out of the INF Treaty, was currently in Moscow to inform the Russians of Trump’s intention to pull out of the deal. 

“The whole idea of antagonism, of having an enemy, it seems that Russophobia is a convenient thing” that boosts arms sales, Paul said 

Paul cited US foreign policies in regard to Iran and Saudi Arabia as examples of Trump’s efforts to boost sales of weapons

“Trump got us out of the nuke treaty with Iran, which stirs up more trouble, an incentive to have more weapons. Just recently, also, there was an incident with Saudi Arabia. Trump said, we can’t punish Saudi Arabia because it is business.

“Trump is serious.  He wants to pull out of the treaty with Russia. Until recently nobody has been complaining about it. All of a sudden the Russian are doing it for years -- building intermediate missiles – and we have to stop it,” he said.        

Paul said the Trump administration’s foreign policies which promoted war were “just an excuse to spend more money.”

He said voting against the US military-industrial complex was considered unpatriotic by American politicians 

“You can’t say no because if you say no to military spending it means you are anti-American, anti-military, and you do not care about national defense. And that argument can be wearying at times because I consider it a fallacious argument and we should be talking what real national security is about.”

Trump sent John Bolton to Moscow to inform Russian of his decision to pull out of the INF Treaty which has existed since 1987, the Bush-Gorbachez treaty, which limited the development of intermediate nuclear weapons.

Moscow has warned that it would take reciprocal measure.

PressTV-Russia vows to respond in kind if US exits nuclear treaty

The Kremlin says Russia will be forced to take the “necessary” measures to restore the balance of military power if the US leaves the Cold War-era arms control treaty.

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