posted February 15, 2008 07:43 PM            

Summarizing some key details from chapter 8 of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SPIRI)’s 2006 Year Book on Armaments, Disarmament and International Security for 2005:

-> World military expenditure in 2005 is estimated to have reached $1,001 billion at constant (2003) prices and exchange rates, or $1,118 billion in current dollars;
-> This corresponds to 2.5 per cent of world GDP or an average spending of $173 per capita;
-> World military expenditure in 2005 presents a real terms increase of 3.4 per cent since 2004, and of 34 per cent over the 10-year period 1996–2005;
-> The USA, responsible for about 80 per cent of the increase in 2005, is the principal determinant of the current world trend, and its military expenditure now accounts for almost half of the world total;

SIPRI also comments on the increasing concentration of military expenditure, i.e. that a small number of countries spend the largest sums:

-> The 15 countries with the highest spending account for 84 per cent of the total;
--> The USA is responsible for 48 per cent of the world total, distantly followed by the UK, France, Japan and China with 4–5 per cent each.

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

US military spending since 1998

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[T]he lion’s share of this money is not spent by the Pentagon on protecting American citizens. It goes to supporting U.S. military activities, including interventions, throughout the world. Were this budget and the organization it finances called the “Military Department,” then attitudes might be quite different. Americans are willing to pay for defense, but they would probably be much less willing to spend billions of dollars if the money were labeled “Foreign Military Operations

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The United Nations and all its agencies and funds spend about $20 billion each year, or about $3 for each of the world’s inhabitants. This is a very small sum compared to most government budgets and it is just a tiny fraction of the world’s military spending. Yet for nearly two decades, the UN has faced a financial difficulties and it has been forced to cut back on important programs in all areas. Many member states have not paid their full dues and have cut their donations to the UN’s voluntary funds. As of October 31, 2006, members’ arrears to the Regular Budget topped $661 million, of which the United States alone owed $526 million (80% of the regular budget arrears).

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posted February 15, 2008 09:18 PM            

The moral obligations of walking away from Iraq

Do we have a moral obligation to spend money in Iraq after we blew it to smithereens?

Do we have a moral obligation to admit mistakes and stop wasting lives of soldiers?

Do we have a moral obligation to repair the decaying infrastructure of the US instead of attempting to be the world's policeman?

Do we have a moral obligation to the Citizens of the US to get out of the region, given that being in the region dramatically escalates the risk of terrorism against the US?

Do we have a moral obligation to stop wasting billions of dollars in jet fuel flying needless missions all over the world when crude oil prices are so high?

Is there a moral obligation to let Europe and Japan defend themselves rather than depending on US overseas bases and US taxpayer dollars to defend them?

Is there a moral obligation for the US to walks away from Europe and Japan with so many suffering here?

posted February 16, 2008 04:26 AM            

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i m not sure what the public concensus is but arent Hillary and Obama both for military budgeting ?

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I would trust either to be more concerned with budgeting than any Republican candidate. See the other thread about our deficit, and you'll see why.

posted February 16, 2008 04:38 AM              

"I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars."

In a December 2005 Washington Post opinion column, and at the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, Obama called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.[117] He has divested $180,000 in personal holdings of Sudan-related stock, and has urged divestment from companies doing business in Iran.[118] In the July-August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama called for an outward looking post-Iraq War foreign policy and the renewal of American military, diplomatic, and moral leadership in the world. Saying "we can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission," he called on Americans to "lead the world, by deed and by example."[119]