Saturday, May 15, 2021

Mapped: The World’s Top Countries for Military Spending — Aran Ali

According to SIPRI, global military spend reached almost $2 trillion in 2020. The top 10 countries represent roughly 75% of this figure, and have increased their spending by $51 billion since the year prior.

Here’s how the worlds top 10 military spenders compare to each other:
US and US allies of the developed world, chiefly NATO and Japan, account for most of it.

Why? All that firepower can't be reasonably be for defense. See below.

Visual Capitalist
Mapped: The World’s Top Countries for Military Spending
Aran Ali

See also

Internationalist 360º
Are U.S.,NATO, EU Planning Final Mopping-Up Operation in Former Soviet Union?
Rick Rozoff

Also

Strategic Culture Foundation
‘Rules-Based Order’ Is Cover for Destructive Western Hegemonic Ambitions
Editorial

Also

RT
UK Foreign Secretary Raab says Russia & China only use cyber capabilities to ‘sabotage & steal’, West uses its powers for ‘good’

Also
Well, I had originally wanted to call my book “Monetary Imperialism.” The publisher wanted to call it “Super Imperialism,” in 1972, because it was really the US moving towards a unipolar order, where it was not competing with other imperialisms; it wanted to absorb European colonialism, absorb European imperialism, and really be the single unipolar power.

And of course that is what really has come about. The United States is trying to become the only dominant power in the world. And in today’s Financial Times [on May 5], one of the reporters said, it’s as if the United States wants to be the world’s absentee landlord, and rent collector. So we’re dealing with a monetary and a rentier phenomenon.
"Tribute" is so old-fashioned and feudal. Under capitalism is "rent."

Michael Hudson — On Finance, Real Estate And The Powers Of Neoliberalism
The World’s Absentee Landlord

Michael Hudson | President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and Guest Professor at Peking University

Related

Israel is the the US proxy in the region to control the Middle East, thus is exclusively backing Israel in the conflict.

ECNS
Chinese FM expounds on China's position on Palestinian-Israeli conflict

5 comments:

Ahmed Fares said...

The biggest damage to the US from 9/11 was not the thousands of dead Americans, or the $6.4 trillion cost of the wars in the Middle East that followed, but that it masked the rise of China.

For China, the Middle East is the gift that keeps on giving as this recent headline from foreignpolicy.com shows:

Can Biden Pivot to Asia While Israel and Gaza Burn?

Peter Pan said...

China is likely viewed as "plan b" for Zionism.

Matt Franko said...

The rise of China didn’t mask anything it was the direct result of US soft power initiatives...

lastgreek said...

China has now surpassed France as Africa's biggest economic trading partner. They achieved ths without having to fire a shot -- not even in vain. How? Tney took the word "partner" in the phrase "trading partner" literally.

Trivia: The Toyota Motor Corporation is a major supplier of military equipment in the world. Wars have been fought and won thanks to Toyota motor vehicules. Really, no serious aremed rebellion ever occurs without Toyota vehicules. Here, look for yourselves:

https://historyofyesterday.com/the-great-toyota-war-52a22751b2c1

Ha! and people want to know why I drive a Toyota car :)

lastgreek said...

Btw, (and off topic) I saw a Lexus CT200H for sale on Facebook (Montreal, Canada) with only 17,500 miles selling for $18,500 Canadian. Why so cheap relative to a dealership? Because it's not a dealership, it is a private sale. Everyone wins here: the seller and the buyer.
Sure, horsepower sucks (130), but for city driving it's a winner!

And, yes, I know that the above car is really a Prius with the Lexus label slapped and with better seats :)