Military spending worldwide has risen by 37% over the past 10 years, reaching 1.204 Trillion dollars in 2006, according to the annual report published by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) on June 11th.
The United States, with a spending of 528.7 Billion dollars in 2006, accounts for 46% of the total military spending worldwife, way ahead of all the other countries.
Right behind the US are the UK and France that both account for 4 to 5 % of the worldwide miltary spending in 2006.
The top 15 countries in the list alone account for 83% of the global budget.
Arms sales by the 100 top arms manufacturers in the world rose by 3% over 2005, reaching 290 Billion dollars.
I bet all these countries explain that all these arms are for security and safety reasons; what’s truly ironic is that over the past 10 years that military spending has risen by 37%, safety and security has dropped by so many times more than that!
The world is certainly not getting any safer!
So isn’t it clear yet that the more weapons we have, the less safe we become?
Imagine if a sum as big as that or even a fraction of it was invested in development projects, education, fighting poverty, building trust and better international relations, spreading understanding, or mediating between conflicting sides for example; I’m sure the world would be a much safer and better place for us all to live in.
The only people who win from this all are the arms manufacturers, but the loss is that of the whole of humanity!
The 37% increase is probably entirely due to the US and the Iraq war. So, I wouldn’t worry about it. We still aren’t anywhere near the level of (adjusted) military spending of the 1980s, which was the Cold War peak period.
And, no, nothing is “clear”. The US should be spending much more, and we should be expanding our military, much more. We have a world war to fight. We’re dumping too much money into Iraq, and not spending enough on getting ready for the next conflict in Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
Hmmm… When the world is spending 1.204 Trillion dollars on arms while millions of people are dying from disease, poverty, wars and whatnot, then I will worry… I will worry a lot too…
I’m not sure if you’re kidding or if you’re serious about the US having to spend much more on its military for the upcoming wars; I hope you’re not serious.
If the US goes on to war with Iran and then Syria and then whoever else, it will do nothing but make things worse; first of all they’ll just be pouring money into a bottomless pit, secondly more and more people will hate the US, and finally the US will be a lot less safe because of it all.
War and violence are never a solution for anything; they might look like one on the short term, but on the long term they bring nothing but more violence and destruction.
War and violence are never a solution for anything; they might look like one on the short term, but on the long term they bring nothing but more violence and destruction.
I don’t agree. War can only be answered with war. The war will end, when somebody loses. The same way wars always end. And please spare me the “increase hate” routine. It’s hate that caused terrorism. Fear will end it.
As to your comments about how people should spend their money… do you at least admit it’s OUR MONEY to spend, as we wish? If we want to spend it on killing people who mean us harm instead of on feeding the children of people who mean us harm, how is that any of your business? I’d be more worried about trying not to draw any more hostility from the US than already exists, if I was a Muslim these days. Not making irrelevant implications that the US will be thought of poorly by Muslims. It blows my mind that there are still Muslims in the ME who think the US should just forget about everything and walk away. That’s not where we’re at, at all. Don’t you watch the US news?
War can only be answered with war.
It’s an infinite loop that can only be broken by someone realizing that it’s going nowhere, walking away and taking another more useful approach.
The war will end, when somebody loses. The same way wars always end.
The problem here is, according to your politicians too, that this is no conventional war, it’s not a war against a certain country, it’s a war against “terrorism” and “radicalism”, so no matter how much money is spent and how many countries are bombed; it’s doing nothing but feeding the fire of hatred and giving the enemy a more convincing recruitment approach.
As for the money being your money, yes it is your money, but that doesn’t mean you get to spend it on whatever you want; it applies on the personal level just like it does on the national level.
I work hard for my salary, but there are certain things that are illegal or immoral that I can’t spend my money on; the same applies to countries.
You can choose to keep your money in your banks, just like you can choose to help people with it, but killing innocent people and bombing their homes shouldn’t even be thought of as a choice.
I watch and read the US news, but obviously you neither watch nor read any news other than those. There are many other angles to a story, some of them wrong, some of them right and some of them somewhere in the middle; but then again all of that is relative.
I guess in the end what I’m saying is don’t look at the world through the tunnel created by your politicians and media; open your mind and eyes, look around you, try to understand where different people are coming from and then try to make up your own point of view.
MMM,
Craig: War can only be answered with war.
MMM: It’s an infinite loop that can only be broken by someone realizing that it’s going nowhere, walking away and taking another more useful approach.
That sounds like insanity, to me. How many war’s have been ended by diplomacy, rather than victory? I can’t think of a single one. Even the Korean War never really ended. A ceasefire was negotiated, and that ceasefire is still in place. No peace.
The problem here is, according to your politicians too, that this is no conventional war, it’s not a war against a certain country, it’s a war against “terrorism” and “radicalism”, so no matter how much money is spent and how many countries are bombed; it’s doing nothing but feeding the fire of hatred and giving the enemy a more convincing recruitment approach.
Fine. I’d rather kill terrorists and their supporters, than roll over and let them kill me first.
As for the money being your money, yes it is your money, but that doesn’t mean you get to spend it on whatever you want;
But of course, it does. That’s exactly what it means. It’s our money. That’s why it’s called OUR MONEY – because it belongs to us.
I work hard for my salary, but there are certain things that are illegal or immoral that I can’t spend my money on; the same applies to countries.
No, it doesn’t.
You can choose to keep your money in your banks, just like you can choose to help people with it, but killing innocent people and bombing their homes shouldn’t even be thought of as a choice.
What innocent people? The US was attacked. Dozens if not hundreds of times, in the last 30 years. We are attacking back, and you object? Too bad.
I watch and read the US news, but obviously you neither watch nor read any news other than those. There are many other angles to a story, some of them wrong, some of them right and some of them somewhere in the middle; but then again all of that is relative.
If you want to understand why the US is not going to end the war on terror any time soon, you should watch the US news. Nothing else matters. We don’t work for the Europeans, and we damn sure don’t take requests from our enemies.
I guess in the end what I’m saying is don’t look at the world through the tunnel created by your politicians and media;
The “tunnel” was created by Muslim terrorists. It’s dishonest to claim the media and the politicians caused the war.
open your mind and eyes, look around you, try to understand where different people are coming from and then try to make up your own point of view.
I have already done that. My point of view is that Muslim terrorists (and the people who create and harbor them) should be killed.
That is the point of view of most Americans as well.
And… it’s our lives we are protecting. And, it’s our money we spend to do it. And if you don’t like it, too bad. If Muslims were capable of (or interested in) cleaning their own house, this war would have never happened. I will not stand by and let somebody tell me this war is America’s fault, without pointing out how false that assertion is.
Craig, your comment is on the extreme side of things. Keep spending your money on wars and racking up that deficit. your sons and grandsons will pay for it !
Hopefully, the tide of change is coming soon to the white house and sanity will be finally restored.
Now speaking about some facts, which obviously you ignore since you seem to be stuck on fox news and the o’reilly show. the almighty CIA has funded with the ISI (that’s the paki intel) the ancestor of the taleban mov, the mujahadeen to overthrow the soviets, …FYI, we call this proxy war (just in case). His Excellency Mr Ben Laben, was the commander in chief elected by the Saudis and the Americains to lead this war. HE IS THE MAKING OF AMERICAN COVERT POLICY. GET IT and don’t dispute it ok?
The war on terrorism has promoted Al-quada from a mere, loose-couply, dying organization to an IDEOLOGY, a very high degree of maturity. Now you see groups popping anywhere in thr world claiming to be al-quada and attacking targets sometimes not related to US intersts….that is the outcome of the war on terrorism period !!! more instability, more crap !
Talking about Iraq, the WAR HAS BEEN PROVEN WRONG and 66% of America thinks that way, the other 33% has an iq less than 30 and does not understand basic cause-effect paradigms. The average iraqi hates America, for the basic reason that America destroyed their life. Now are you going to fight 20million iraqis and claim they are muslim terrorist? Do you really believe that Iraqi are embracing america, aside from crappy macdonald? do you really think that oil will keep flowing once America gets tired of the War?
About Terrorism, it’s a term that most commonly used to describe a coward killer of civilians and i agree with you that there are many muslim terroritsts nowadays, but that is no different than christians terrirosts fee years ago (basque, IRA, KKK, Costa nostra, November 17, etc). But…a freedom figher who defents his homeland is not a terrorist, an insurgent fighting occupying Isreal soldiers or US soldiers is not a terrorist.
You can engage in an endless crusade of exterminating all muslim terrorists, at the expense of an entire US generation if need be, but that won’t solve the problem. Wise man need to understand the roots of terrorism and deal with it economically and DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES of the past, such as funding these groups in the first place to fight the global dominance game.
I have a theory that Craig