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Just imagine if we stopped spending on defense in the 80s when the cold war ended and we had to deal with today's Russia with decades old technology
by friedman23 9y ago
Just imagine if we stopped spending on defense in the 80s when the cold war ended and we had to deal with today's Russia with decades old technology
- maxxxxx 9y agoI think we would be fine with a smaller military. Nobody is talking about completely stopping military expenditures. The question is whether it really needs to be as big as it is right now.
- chimen 9y agoOverturning so many regimes in petrol filled countries is a messy business. I think a big chunk of the spending goes to intelligence and misinformation.
- maxxxxx 9y agoPersonally I think a big chunk goes to not well thought out missions like Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. It seems nobody is willing to admit that there is no path to winning or ending things so they just keep going and spending a lot of money and energy. And the defense contractors are certainly happy with this.
- adventured 9y agoOr how about having to deal with the rapidly ascendant Chinese military that is annexing vast territory in Asia right now? There's nothing they respect except for strength, they're not even subtle about that fact. Or if the US hadn't spent over a trillion dollars defending South Korea from the China, USSR, North Korea axis across decades. South Korea would not exist as we know it today. It'd more likely look like North Korea. There's an exceptionally strong argument for the US working with regional military allies in Europe and Asia on defense and having a very powerful military to match its $20 trillion economy. Should the spending be more like $450 billion or $730 billion - that's the primary debate.
- stale2002 9y agoWe aren't going to go to war with Russia, despite the propaganda that everyone is spreading. Wars between nuclear countries don't happen any more.
- friedman23 9y agoThe reason we aren't going to war with Russia is because Russian leaders know that it is impossible to win a war against the current US military. The reason it's impossible to win a war against the current US military is because the US has spent an obscene amount of money building it for decades. If the US military were not capable of defending Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics would be under Russian rule today.
- stale2002 9y agoNo, it is because of the nukes. Nukes prevent any war from happening between any powerful nation. If we spent 1 tenth the amount on our military, we'd still have the power to blow up the entire world X times over. I just think that if you have the ability to destroy the entire world, then that's a powerful enough military and you don't need anything more for defense.
- friedman23 9y agoYou actually believe that the US would use nuclear weapons against Russia, ensuring the deaths of 10s of millions of Americans and sparking global nuclear war, if Russia invaded Estonia? The only thing preventing Eastern Europe from being invaded is the conventional military. The US will never risk it's own existence for another country. The Russians know this.
- stale2002 9y agoI don't want the US to be involved in proxy wars with other countries. So no, I don't believe that the US would do that and I am happy about that. The US would only use Nukes if there was an attack on the US. I want the US to stay out of all wars that aren't directed related to attacks on US soil and US citizens. If the EU is worried about invasion, then they should have their own military to defend themselves.
- tclancy 9y agoThe Cold War ended in the 90s, not when the Wall came down. Now how would we possibly handle all those T-72s with just M1 Abrams? If anyone still fought conventional wars.