Monday, April 11, 2016
Some trenchant thoughts on the "Pax Americana."
"It is actually cheaper for us to maintain this framework when other countries don’t feel the need to spend lots of money on their militaries—when the U.S. spends less than 4% of GDP on defense but has a bigger defense budget than the rest of the world combined, that is the sign of a successful strategy: our military superiority is immense and unchallengeable, yet the cost to us, is by historical great power standards, low. That is the sign of strategic success, not of ‘free riding allies’...
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I suppose that would depend on how you measure and define "success".
ReplyDelete--Genericviews
I don't see the need to spend American blood in vast measure in order to protect reluctant Europeans from Muslim hoards. It's not just about cash.
ReplyDeleteThat's Funny!!! and pure propaganda. The US now has an army smaller than its pre WW2 size. The US Navy is now smaller than it was in 1899. The USAF has been "downsized" to BELOW 1938 levels of training, and has cut to 1/3 of the inventory it had in 1999. All to buy a "stealth" aircraft with 25% of the performance of the Vietnam Era F-4. That enormous military that rolled into Iraq in 1993 IS GONE. Sold, given away as "military aid" or awaiting the scrappers in the DRMO system. PAX AMERICANA is a myth. So is American military might.---Ray
ReplyDeleteIt was nice, for everyone, while it lasted. It'll be quite the ride to see what replaces it, although that will likely be some version of "might makes right," like China's land grab in the South China Sea and Russia's Crimea adventure.
DeleteWe need Trump to clean house...
ReplyDeletehttp://usdefensewatch.com/2016/03/the-castration-of-the-joint-chiefs-of-staff/
The proper way to measure your military strength is not to compare it to what the nation had 50 years ago. It is to compare it to what our rational needs are and what we can afford TODAY. You should not even compare what we spend to what other nations spend. That isn't the issue.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't 1899. It isn't 1944. It's not even 1973. The cold war is over. We have no national enemies. When you compare our total defense force structure and spending to our actual needs to accomplish military goals and defend against foreign aggression you will see that our armed forces have at least twice what they really need. We have so many people in our armed forces, that we can afford to hire full time soldiers just to be in the band. Even though we have a strict-ish separation between church and state, we hire military officers to provide religious counseling, and clean teeth. We even have so many extra officers that every year we send some off to law school to become military lawyers. The US military is a bloated FAT bureaucracy that continues to use cold war practices to justify current spending and whines like small children if any of their toys get taken away.
The rest of the world isn't just free riding under our protective umbrella. They are making rational choices about spending their own money on their own defense and rationally concluding that: No ONE is out to get them, so they don't need to defend the Maginot line, or the Fulda Gap, or the DEW Line (look it up).
--Genericviews
Well, it's good to know that the Muslim Caliphate is only funnin' us, and the Russians have pressed that "Reset" button Hillary gave 'em, and the Norks & Chinese are really our good pals and would never, ever mess with us. They just like pullin' our chain for yuks! So naturally we don't need no military.
ReplyDeleteEither that, or Anonymous is full of what Harry Truman used to call "manure."
OK... Try some reading comprehension. I didn't say NO MILITARY. I said a much smaller one would still be globally dominant and satisfy all of our legitimate defense needs.
ReplyDeleteOne at a time:
1. ISIS. Don't let them come here and you are done. No military action needed. There are 50 other countries between them and us to worry about them. No one else is, therefore the threat is not as big as you are lead to believe. Stop allowing Moslems to come here.
2. The Chinese really ARE our good pals. They are showing the desire to be dominant, but not aggressive. And cooperation with them is the key to suppressing North Korea. The Navies of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan already overmatch the Chinese even without our help.
3. North Korea is a pissant state. We could eliminate them from the playing field with 1/3 of our armed forces. How do I know that? Because that is how much our Joint Chiefs have dedicated to that potential fight. But we don't have to take them on. The South Koreans could do it all by themselves. But we don't even have to do that. All we have to do is eliminate the Kim ruling family by paying an insider to poison the feeding trough. Done. No war needed. No military action needed. And we have been ready to fight the North Koreans for 65 years. In those 65 years, nothing has happened. At some point, even a moron would admit they were wrong and move onto something else.
--Genericviews (posting as anonymous because Wordpress and Blogger are not playing nicely together)