The Ten Largest Military Powers In The World

[Donnachaidh]

http://247wallst.com/2011/04/14/the-ten-largest-military-powers-in-the-world/

America is the arms merchant to the world and is likely to sell $50 billion in weapons this year. Business may not be as good in the near term, however. Military spending among all the world’s nations totaled $1.63 trillion last year, but that was up only 1.3% from the year before. Spending includes weapons, soldiers, and the costs to maintain a country’s military infrastructure.

The U.S. defense budget is by far the world’s largest, and that has been the case since World War II. Last year that figure was just below $700 billion largely because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US is the only nation that maintains naval, air force and ground troops in nearly every part of the world, from South Korea to Europe to the Persian Gulf.

The worldwide slowdown in military spending is a product of two things. The first is the impact of the recession and the austerity programs which have followed it. The other is that large nations such as Germany have decided that they do not need large military presences outside their borders.

Many countries have not given up on defense spending at all, but they are nations which have relatively small overall budgets. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which provides the numbers that 24/7 Wall St. used for its analysis of global arms spending, military spending in Africa and South America rose nearly 6%. That is barely enough to make up for cuts by larger nations.

Read more: The Ten Largest Military Powers In The World - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/04/14/the-ten-largest-military-powers-in-the-world/#ixzz1Jb8cGnTM

[Mnemosyne]

1. We're #1! Sickening isn't it? k&r n/t