Skip to main content
A ‘giant, malignant virus’
A withering exposé reveals the insatiable and squalid profit motive that drives the US military apparatus - the largest in modern history, writes GAVIN O’TOOLE
MEET THE WARMONGERS: Joint Chiefs of Staff on December 11 2020 second from left Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Mark A Milley [US Department of Defense/Creative Commons]

The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine
by Andrew Cockburn
Verso £15.96

WHEN the Financial Times recently reported that China had successfully launched an untraceable, nuclear-capable “hypersonic” missile, the news spread across Western media like a virus.

It was great timing for the US Air Force, coming as the Biden administration undertakes the Nuclear Posture Review, which will now almost certainly slosh even more arms dollars on modernising their bloated ballistic arsenal.

But the timing was also great for Andrew Cockburn, who devotes an entire chapter of this book to the largely spurious hypersonic “threat.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
DREADFUL BEGINNINGS: At the time Labour minister for defence procurement and industry, Maria Eagle opens Rolls-Royce Submarines office in Glasgow which will deliver the Dreadnought and AUKUS programmes, November 2024
Nukes / 20 June 2026
20 June 2026

Expanding Britain’s nuclear capability increases the risk of nuclear confrontation. It does not keep us safe – it makes us a target, argues CAROL TURNER

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, March 2, 2026
Editorial: / 2 March 2026
2 March 2026
Nigeria police, Anti-Bomb squad, secure the scene of a U.S. airstrike in Northwest, Jabo, Nigeria, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025
Imperialism / 30 December 2025
30 December 2025

A US air strike in north-west Nigeria, publicly framed as a Christmas act of counterterrorism, reveals a deeper shift in how power is exercised in Africa, argues RAIS NEZA BONEZA

HMS Spey in Brisbane, Australia ahead of the England v Nigeria Women's World Cup match. The arrival of the state-of-the-art Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Spey marks the first visit of the Royal Navy to Brisbane since the HMS Monmouth in 1995. Picture date: Monday August 7th, 2023
Features / 15 August 2025
15 August 2025

From 35,000 troops in Talisman Sabre war games to HMS Spey provocations in the Taiwan Strait, Labour continues Tory militarisation — all while claiming to uphold ‘one China’ diplomatic agreements from 1972, reports KENNY COYLE