Showing posts with label U.S. Military Spending. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. Military Spending. Show all posts

Sunday, February 1, 2009

I Hope It's Warm Outside


It's nearly noon. I showered, sipped my first cup of coffee, and am leaving Hillary's to go too Barricuda's for more coffee and eggs. As we get ready to go, I'm centering myself, moving forward, and preparing to enjoy the day. The Senate is arguing over the economic stimulus package, Iraqis have finished at the polls, the U.S. military is leaving Iraq and entering an escallated era of occupation in Afghanistan. This morning, I'm happy, ready to ground myself in the movie I'm working on, the articles I'm writing, and the day-in-day-out work of programming TV. I hope it's warm outside, but even if not, I'm rekindling an inner warmth, a sense of joy and liberation, a desire to move beyond the chaos of the mundane towards the tranquility and possibility of radical renewal. I love so many people in the world and struggle to love so many others. I recommitt myself to try.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Monster U.S. -- Leave Iran Alone!


According to the New York Times The Bush Administration continues swaggering about defending Israel from an attack by Iran--the provocation--weapons testing. Now, call me batty, but I think the U.S. has a substantial history of weapons testing, and not just in the desert but on civilian populations. Having tested 1063 nuclear bombs, we have a long history of ecological devastation and military bravado in tests that far exceed Iran's handful. As the only country to drop a nuclear bomb on civilians, as a country with a military budget 96.8 times larger than Iran's and still incapable of fighting the Iraqi Resistance, the United States needs to look in the mirror before talking about other countries threatening the world.

A few U.S. Military facts from Global Issues:

* US military spending accounts for 48 percent, or almost half, of the world’s total military spending
* US military spending is more than the next 46 highest spending countries in the world combined
* US military spending is 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran.
* US military spending is almost 55 times the spending on the six “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) whose spending amounts to around $13 billion, maximum. (Tabulated data does not include four of the six, as the data only lists nations that have spent over 1 billion in the year, so their budget is assumed to be $1 billion each)
* US spending is more than the combined spending of the next 45 countries.
* The United States and its strongest allies (the NATO countries, Japan, South Korea and Australia) spend $1.1 trillion on their militaries combined, representing 72 percent of the world’s total.
* The six potential “enemies,” Russia, and China together account for about $205 billion or 29% of the US military budget.

Clearly, if one wants to look for today's totalitarian regime, the United States is the obvious culprit. Please, let's keep the U.S. hands off Iran.