3 ms·
So rough math shows that the US spends more on military than the next 10 countries put together. Or put another way, spends 40% of all world military spending.
by kraussvonespy 4y ago
So rough math shows that the US spends more on military than the next 10 countries put together. Or put another way, spends 40% of all world military spending.
While I get that military R&D occasionally produces tangible benefits to society, I suspect that if we poured 5% of the military budget into the state department and actually tried diplomacy more often, the rest of the military budget could get cut at least in half.
Because of the level of corruption and the amount of money to be made by military contractor grifters, this isn't going to change. Better to build better ways to kill people than to solve things like poverty, mass mental illness and so on. 'merica fuck yeah and all that.
- missedthecue 4y agoInteresting. Can you describe a scenario where western diplomacy would have prevented the current situation in Ukraine? We can assume that the State Department's budget was any number you like in our example.
- sremani 4y agoLinear thinking .. like let us spend the money from military to diplomatic and civilian aid, sounds great, until you see and understand how the fiefdoms of State department and USAID are built and operated. We have State department and CIA full of people who cannot speak a second language, let alone the native language of country where they are stationed. End up living in a bubble that feels like a Western enclave -- too far from realities of the people of those countries. I would rather have corrupt hard power instead of feel good fake soft power.
- cwkoss 4y agoSame colonial empire building, new branding
- systemvoltage 4y agoUS offers defense guarantees, weapons and munitions to many nations in exchange for soft power. Approx $120B/year in sales alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_pact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_pact