Global dominance

The United States military budget is currently approximately $450 Billion annually. The closest next are China, Japan, UK and France in the $40 Billion range. If there is anything close to "getting what you paid for" when it comes to military spending, the US will further extend its global military dominance over the next decade to the point where it will be unlike any other dominant global power in history.

A point is sometimes made that current military spending is on par with Cold War levels of spending. But the difference is that in that time although arguably nuclear power gave a certain kind of dominance it was not a dominance you could do anything with. You could not really influence political developments, you could not remove dictators with it, it was just one massive end of all things hammer.

The current American military is not only technologically the most advanced military in the world and by an order of magnitude at that. It is also the most combat tested military in the world. It has been in more fights than any other and has not lost one yet in the last 25 years.

This comment is not a value judgment or a statement. It is a statement of fact. Whether you believe it is a bad thing or a good thing (as I do) the fact is that human history has never before experienced a period of such dominance of one nation on a global scale.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The military in the United States must be a leader globally. Russia,China are major contenders. ..,send you a note. G
February 14, 2011 7:59 PM
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