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Ummm...The USA has the most powerful military in the world and a budget that is larger than the next 10 largest spending countries put together. They have also

Ummm...The USA has the most powerful military in the world and a budget that is larger than the next 10 largest spending countries put together. They have also participated in 20 years of war testing, training, and honing skills. I mean he wanted to nuke Iran but the establishment wouldn't let him. Is that what you consider weak?

pengaru 6y ago
> I mean he wanted to nuke Iran but the establishment wouldn't let him. Is that what you consider weak? They're talking about perception of weakness, and frankly what you're describing there would be evidence of his being weak if "the establishment" blocked him. Not that I'm agreeing with what any of what either of you are saying here.
Spooky23 6y ago
What’s the national interest? Weakness is the fact that a moron like Trump became POTUS by some accident of history, and that he may have wanted to attack a country with nuclear weapons because he heard some lunatic talk about it on TV. Military planners and diplomats are ultimately amoral. But the realpolitik of the devastation of Iran is a shift in the balance of power that doesn’t benefit the national interest, or creates bigger problems. Weakness is the 101 other cuts that impacted US standing. Everything from the insanity of Brexit and failure to exploit, to the betrayal of US allies in Iraq and Syria, to the rise of a dangerous regime in Turkey, to damaged relations with Canada and destruction of the power of the US passport to the epic, historic incompetence of the COVID pandemic and impending depression.
adventured 6y ago
> and a budget that is larger than the next 10 largest spending countries put together. Thanks to China that's not even remotely close to being true. The big gap between the US and China on military spending is in personnel costs, which can properly be adjusted accordingly (just because the US pays a soldier $60k per year doesn't mean that soldier is four times the soldier China pays $15k). China in all practical terms has now caught up to the US in military spending and will surpass the US easily this decade. When you adjust everything for purchasing power China may already be ahead overall (that matters because China can spend $10b and get the same result as when the US spends $20b or $30b, including when it comes to personnel, due to eg the variance in costs between the two nations). Bloomberg article, two years ago: "China Outspends the U.S. on Defense? Here’s the Math. Factoring in purchasing power and personnel costs leads to a surprising conclusion." https://archive.is/32N1F https://archive.is/32N1F Now, that's a two year old article. In that time, the US economy has been smacked by Covid and China has decided it wants to even more aggressively expand its military. China is going to become the dominant, global, military superpower within 20 years, with all that that very obviously entails for the world. It's a reasonable guess that in another ten years they'll be spending 1/3 more than the US on military in real terms.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Thank you. It's funny how reality seen through an American lens is so incredibly distorted. The myth that America is the worlds only remaining super power is so well entrenched that even presumably very smart and informed people will happily believe it. But that doesn't make it true.

pengaru 6y ago

> I mean he wanted to nuke Iran but the establishment wouldn't let him. Is that what you consider weak? They're talking about perception of weakness, and frankly what you're describing there would be evidence of his being weak if "the establishment" blocked him. Not that I'm agreeing with what any of what either of you are saying here.

Spooky23 6y ago

What’s the national interest? Weakness is the fact that a moron like Trump became POTUS by some accident of history, and that he may have wanted to attack a country with nuclear weapons because he heard some lunatic talk about it on TV. Military planners and diplomats are ultimately amoral. But the realpolitik of the devastation of Iran is a shift in the balance of power that doesn’t benefit the national interest, or creates bigger problems. Weakness is the 101 other cuts that impacted US standing. Everything from the insanity of Brexit and failure to exploit, to the betrayal of US allies in Iraq and Syria, to the rise of a dangerous regime in Turkey, to damaged relations with Canada and destruction of the power of the US passport to the epic, historic incompetence of the COVID pandemic and impending depression.

adventured 6y ago

> and a budget that is larger than the next 10 largest spending countries put together. Thanks to China that's not even remotely close to being true. The big gap between the US and China on military spending is in personnel costs, which can properly be adjusted accordingly (just because the US pays a soldier $60k per year doesn't mean that soldier is four times the soldier China pays $15k). China in all practical terms has now caught up to the US in military spending and will surpass the US easily this decade. When you adjust everything for purchasing power China may already be ahead overall (that matters because China can spend $10b and get the same result as when the US spends $20b or $30b, including when it comes to personnel, due to eg the variance in costs between the two nations). Bloomberg article, two years ago: "China Outspends the U.S. on Defense? Here’s the Math. Factoring in purchasing power and personnel costs leads to a surprising conclusion." https://archive.is/32N1F https://archive.is/32N1F Now, that's a two year old article. In that time, the US economy has been smacked by Covid and China has decided it wants to even more aggressively expand its military. China is going to become the dominant, global, military superpower within 20 years, with all that that very obviously entails for the world. It's a reasonable guess that in another ten years they'll be spending 1/3 more than the US on military in real terms.

jacquesm 6y ago
Thank you. It's funny how reality seen through an American lens is so incredibly distorted. The myth that America is the worlds only remaining super power is so well entrenched that even presumably very smart and informed people will happily believe it. But that doesn't make it true.