Dhaka, May 2 -- The United States (US) under the Biden Administration is getting on a war footing with China and Russia as the world is experiencing a new surge in Covid-19 infections, especially in countries such as India, Brazil, Peru, Chile and others. The US with more than 600,000 deaths from Covid 19 pandemic is set to increase its defence spending by 4.4 per cent from last year to US$870 billion this year. This is the third consecutive year of growth in military spending.

The US accounted for 39 per cent of total global military expenditure in 2020. Such massive defence spending when money is needed for a globally coordinated emergency programme to save lives is indicative of where the US priorities lie. The fight against the Covid...