High military spending, the United States continues to disrupt the world (global hotspot)
On February 19th, thousands of anti-war activists in the United States held a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Protesters demanded that the United States stop inciting the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and cut US military spending. The picture shows a protester holding a slogan to cut military spending to attend the rally.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jieshe
The White House recently announced the fiscal year 2024 budget, and plans to allocate 842 billion US dollars for the US Department of Defense, which is the highest military budget ever proposed by the US government. In addition, the budget also plans to inject capital into defense-related projects in other departments.
Experts pointed out that the fundamental purpose of the high US military expenditure is to maintain hegemony. Supported by high military expenditure, the United States continues to disrupt the world and bring instability to the world. The uncertainty of the external environment has become the reason for the United States to further increase its military spending, which has led to the United States falling into the strange circle of "the higher the military spending, the less safe it is."
The highest military expenditure in peacetime
According to the news released on the website of the US Department of Defense, the US government’s 2024 budget proposed to allocate 842 billion US dollars for the Pentagon. This amount is $26 billion higher than the military budget for fiscal year 2023 proposed by the US government and $100 billion higher than that for fiscal year 2022.
"The US government’s military budget in 2024 hit a record high." Today, the Russian TV website reported that at present, the US military expenditure has exceeded the sum of the military expenditures of the nine countries ranked next.
Reuters reported that in addition to the $842 billion allocated to the U.S. Department of Defense, the new budget also plans to allocate $44 billion for defense-related projects of the FBI, the U.S. Department of Energy and other institutions, which will bring the total defense-related budget of the United States in fiscal year 2024 to $886 billion, which is the highest defense budget proposed by the U.S. government in peacetime.
The website of National Defense magazine reported that $886 billion is expected to account for 3.2% of the US GDP in 2024 and 47% of the US federal government’s discretionary expenditure.
American military spending has been the highest in the world for many years. According to the data of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden, during the 10 years from 2012 to 2021, the US military expenditure always ranked first in the world, accounting for 39% of the total global military expenditure in the past 10 years. In December 2022, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, which stipulated that the US defense budget in 2023 was as high as 858 billion US dollars. This is the first time that US military expenditure has exceeded 800 billion US dollars.
McChord, Chief Financial Officer and Auditor-General of the US Department of Defense, recently told American media that the ratio of US military budget to GDP in 2024 is not the highest in history. The defense budget of the United States in the late Iraq war and Afghanistan war accounted for much more than 3.2% of GDP. He added that the US military expenditure during World War II once reached one third of GDP.
In order to maintain high military spending, the United States does not hesitate to empty its pockets. Recently, many foreign media have noticed that the financial health of the United States has declined. The national debt burden of the United States has now exceeded 31 trillion US dollars, far exceeding the total GDP of 25 trillion US dollars. According to the website of the US Defense News Weekly, Speaker of the US House of Representatives McCarthy promised to cut the federal budget by 130 billion US dollars to reduce the US debt burden, but neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives opposed the continued increase in military spending.
Reuters said that the US Congress will discuss the 2024 budget in the coming months. The US Congress may further increase military spending on the basis of the budget proposed by the White House.
"Still being false ‘ Hegemonic dream ’ Trapped "
According to the information published on the website of the White House, $842 billion includes $9.1 billion of targeted investment in the Pacific Deterrence Program of the US Department of Defense. The plan aims to strengthen the presence of the United States in the Pacific region. The new budget also proposes to provide $6 billion in aid to Ukraine. In addition, the new budget also stated that it would invest $2 billion to "make game-changing investments in the Indo-Pacific region".
In terms of weapons and equipment, the United States is also continuing to "burn money." Reuters said that the new budget proposed to invest a huge sum of US$ 145 billion in the weapons research and development program, specifically for developing long-range strike weapons such as hypersonic missiles and promoting the modernization of US military equipment.
The White House said in a statement that the 2024 military budget aims to "ensure American security" and strengthen cooperation with allies and partners to "meet urgent global challenges". Among them, "China" and "Russian" became the key words that frequently appeared in the statement.
"The fundamental purpose of the United States to maintain high military spending is to maintain its own hegemony." Yuan Zheng, deputy director and researcher of the American Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences, said that the United States has always believed in the law of the jungle in the diplomatic field, believing that military power is an important pillar of American global hegemony, and firmly believes that if it wants to maintain its hegemonic position and enhance its so-called ability to intervene in international affairs, it must increase its investment in military spending.
"In recent years, the United States has returned its strategic focus to the so-called ‘ Competition among great powers ’ , regard China and Russian as the main ‘ Challenge ’ And ‘ Threat ’ , hope in the face of ‘ Strategic opponent ’ At the same time, it maintained a strong military deterrent, so it continued to increase military spending, which made the US military expenditure increase obviously. At the same time, the United States continued to provide military assistance to Ukraine, which led to the decline of ammunition stocks in the United States, and it was necessary to purchase more ammunition to make up for the vacancy, further pushing up US military expenditure. In addition, the inflation factor also has an impact on the rise of military spending. " Yuan Zheng said.
"In today’s world, from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Iranian nuclear issue to the South China Sea dispute, there are many conflicts and disputes behind the United States." Zhou Fangyin, vice president of Guangdong Institute of International Strategic Studies, said, "The United States has always regarded military hegemony as the core means to achieve strategic goals and hopes to seek other interests with military superiority. At the same time, the United States also hopes to enhance its allies’ confidence in the United States and maintain the US-led alliance system by increasing military investment. "
"The United States is still being falsely ‘ Hegemonic dream ’ Trapped. " Recently, Andrew Bacevic, an honorary professor of international relations and history at Boston University, published an article on the bimonthly website of American Diplomacy, saying that American foreign policy agencies insist that the world needs more American military forces, and the fiasco of the Iraq war and the Afghan war has not stopped the United States from "betting" on military operations. For decades, America’s military misjudgment has wasted a lot of American wealth and sacrificed the lives of thousands of Americans. According to Brown University’s "War Cost Accounting" project, since the "September 11th" incident, the United States has spent about $8 trillion on global military operations, and the costs of these military operations far outweigh the gains.
American military spending remains high, and there is a military-industrial complex behind it. Reuters reported that the 2024 budget of the United States was the first budget that explicitly proposed to sign long-term contracts with American arms dealers for the procurement of missiles and other ammunition. In the past, such long-term contracts were only used for the purchase of aircraft and ships. According to the report, the new budget will benefit major US arms dealers such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Lockdyne, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics.
Zhou Fangyin said that the military-industrial complex composed of the US military, arms dealers, politicians and think tanks has strong political influence in the United States. In recent years, despite the economic downturn, increasing financial difficulties, and unhealthy government revenue and expenditure, the United States has maintained high military expenditures, which has already damaged the economic growth and competitiveness of the United States. However, due to the lobbying and encouragement of the military-industrial complex, the US government refused to cut military spending even if it cut other expenditures.
"There has always been a call to cut military spending in the United States, but in the end it often ends in vain. Obviously, there are huge interest groups behind it." Zhou Fangyin said.
A dangerous signal.
High military expenditure continues to support the US overseas military operations. Some American media found that from 1798 to 2022, the United States launched 469 military activities overseas, and only 251 times in the short period of more than 30 years since the end of the Cold War, far exceeding the sum of more than 190 years before the end of the Cold War. The targets of these military operations involve most countries in the world.
Stimulated by the new round of high military expenditure, the US military plan is more active. According to the website of the US Defense News Weekly, the funds allocated to the US Department of Energy in the new US budget in 2024 will provide a "strong technical and engineering foundation" for the trilateral security partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia. A few days ago, the United States, Britain and Australia just announced a new nuclear submarine cooperation plan, and the nuclear proliferation behavior of the three countries has taken another dangerous step.
Yuan Zheng said that the United States believes in force and is obsessed with increasing military spending and enhancing its ability to intervene abroad. This concept violates the purposes of the UN Charter and the basic norms of international relations based on international law, and runs counter to the trend of world peace and development. At present, on the basis of its strong military strength, the United States is still increasing its expenditure on weapons research and development and procurement, and promoting the modernization of its military equipment, which is a dangerous signal to other countries. This move will stimulate the arms race, aggravate international tensions and undermine the global strategic balance.
"The United States has greatly increased its military spending, which has also made the relationship between major powers even more tense." Yuan Zheng said, "The United States regards China and Russia as its main strategic competitors, engages in proxy war behind the Ukrainian crisis, tries to bring down and consume Russia, and constantly uses the situation in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait to fully contain China. These acts seriously endanger regional peace and security and bring instability to the world, which is by no means a good thing for global strategic stability. "
In the new budget, the United States also proposes to "strengthen democracy and promote human rights on a global scale". To this end, the budget will provide more than 3.4 billion US dollars for "strengthening free and independent media; Combating corruption, strengthening democracy, and defending free and fair elections and political processes.
The bimonthly website of American Diplomacy published an article entitled "The Root of Washington’s Addiction to Force", saying that the United States has developed the inertia of interfering in international affairs. During the Cold War, under the banner of national security, the United States supported coups, intervened in elections and secretly took military action around the world. After the end of the Cold War, the old habits of the United States were still deeply rooted, and they began to call themselves "leaders of the free world" and continued to intervene under the banner of "protecting human rights and promoting democracy".
Zhou Fangyin said that the United States is currently caught in a vicious circle of military expansion. On the one hand, in the name of safeguarding world security, the United States has greatly increased its military expenditure and created contradictions and conflicts around the world. On the other hand, in order to intervene and intervene in these conflicts, the United States needs huge financial support, thus further increasing its military expenditure. For many years, the United States has been trapped in this cycle.
"Since World War II, the United States has always been the most powerful country in the world. If the United States really wants to promote world security, it can make achievements in many fields. However, the interest of the United States has never been to promote world peace and security, but to expand its international influence, suppress its strategic opponents and safeguard its global hegemony. As a result, it has not only added instability and uncertainty to the world, but also made the United States pay a high price. The United States has always believed that there are enemies and insecurity outside, so it has continuously strengthened its military investment, thus stepping into the strange circle of arrogance. " Zhou Fangyin said. (Reporter Lin Zihan)