SIPRI continues that, “In addition to its direct impact of high military expenditure, there are also indirect and more long-term effects. According to one study taking these factors into account, the overall past and future costs until year 2016 to the US
By Ellen Nakashima Washington Post , March 4, 2009. --In 2008, the Govt Accountability Office reported that cost overruns on the Pentagon's 95 largest weapons acquisitions system totaled about $300 billion -- Legislation sponsored by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D
Strange as it may seem – and irrational as it would be in a more logical system of world diplomacy – the “dollar glut” is what finances America’s global military build-up. - glut: överskott; överflöd.
"In fiscal year 2008, the foreign military sales program sold $36 billion in weapons and defense articles, an increase of more than 50% over 2007," writes FPIF columnist Frida Berrigan in Weapons: Our #1 Export? "Sales for the first half of 2009 reached $
The shocking fact at a time of austerity is that EU military expenditure totalled €194 billion in 2010, equivalent to the annual deficits of Greece, Italy and Spain combined. "Despite the clear evidence of the cost of high military spending, military leaders continue to push a distorted and preposterous notion that European Union’s defence cuts threaten the security of Europe’s nations. NATO’s secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen “has used every occasion to cajole alliance members into investing and collaborating more in defense.” "
From 14 April 2014 the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database includes newly released information on military expenditure in 2013. This Fact Sheet describes the global, regional and national trends in military expenditure that are revealed by the new data. Global mil. exp. was $1747 billion in 2013.
Wilkerson: "Let's make it a commercial empire and let's maintain that empire in terms of commerce and not in terms of killing people, killing people for oil or killing people for human rights. I think both are just as bad as the other..."
Ein Paradebeispiel für solche Geschäfte ist der Verkauf von 170 Panzern, die Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) bis vor kurzem an die Griechen lieferte. Dafür sollte das Unternehmen 1,7 Milliarden Euro erhalten. Bei solchen Deals fließen in der Regel Millionen für Beratungsleistungen. Was genau da beraten wird und warum die Firmen meist in Steueroasen sitzen, wird selten bekannt. Die geheimen Firmen gehören in der Regel griechischen "Vermittlern" - oft honorige Industrielle. Die, so besteht häufig der Verdacht, verteilen dann die Gelder an Entscheidungsträger.
Hans M Kristensen: "In addition to modernizing the warheads and the production complex, the Obama administration has also pledged to spend “well over 100 billion dollars” on modernizing some of the missiles, submarines and bombers designed to deliver the warheads."
WDR 15.2.2012 "Die griechische Armee ist damit im Verhältnis fast vier Mal so groß wie die deutsche. Ebenso überzogen ist die Aufstellung der Panzer: Griechenland besitzt etwa 1600 Panzer, darunter auch das neueste Modell des Leopard II-Panzers der Münchener Firma Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. So gut ist nicht mal die Bundeswehr ausgestattet. Sie verfügt nur über 400 Panzer."
Don't Bank on the Bomb is a 180-page report identifying more than 300 financial institutions in 30 countries that invest heavily in companies involved in the US, British, French and Indian nuclear weapons programmes. It was published by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in March 2012.
"Since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece has spent an estimated €216bn on armaments, although I am 100% certain that in absolute terms its defence expenditure is much greater than official documents would show due to the so-called secret funds the state has access to," said Katerina Tsoukala, a Brussels-based security expert.
The Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act of 2012 will: • Cut the current fleet of nuclear submarines from 12 operational at sea to eight operational at sea ($3 billion savings) • Delay the purchase of new nuclear submarines ($17 billion savings) • Reduce the number of ICBMs ($6 billion savings) • End the nuclear missions of air bombers (up to $17 billion savings) • Delay new bomber program ($18 billion savings) • Cancel new, wasteful nuclear weapons facilities ($15 billion savings)
"Toimitusjohtaja Tatu Ylönen yrittää vetää tietoturvayhtiö Tectian pörssistä ja palata yrittäjäksi. Hän tahtoo luoda uutta ilman pörssin tiukkoja sääntöjä. Ylönen haluaa käyttää kykyjään esimerkiksi puolustusvälineisiin, joilla voitaisiin torjua kyberhyökkäys. Hänestä kynnys iskeä tietoverkkoihin on selvästi alempi kuin kynnys pudottaa pommeja."
"... 15 August 1971. It was from this date that the US gave unlimited rights to the currency speculators after it reneged on the Articles of Agreement of the IMF that had placed the convertibility of the dollar on par with US$35 for one ounce of gold. Thi
13 October Letter to "The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, established by President Obama, "is charged with identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation in the medium term and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long
"The average volume of worldwide arms transfers for 2005–2009 was 22 per cent higher than the period 2000–2004. [...] Greece remains among the top five largest recipient of major conventional weapons for 2005-2009, but has fallen from third place for 2000
This report focuses specifically on the military-oil industry relationship to reveal its role in climate breakdown. It argues that we must start to quantify, expose and act upon the climate burden put upon people and planet by the world’s big military spenders.
The New York Times routinely tells bigger lies than the clumsy nonsense it published about weapons in Iraq. Here’s an example. This package of lies is called “Liberals Have a Blind Spot on Defense” but mentions nothing related to defense. It simply pretends that militarism is defensive by applying that word and by lying that “we face simultaneous and growing military threats from Russia and China.” Seriously? Where?