[Zhang Fei]

[Considering what Russia spends and what our NATO allies contribute, I don’t see why we have to be carrying the alliance.

And with what Saudi Arabia spends compared to Iran, not even counting the contribution from Israel and the emirates, it is hard to see Iran being a hegemonic threat in the Middle East. Iran’s military budget is less than Mexico and just ahead of Sweden.]

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Note that these are estimates. A lot of authoritarian state spending is off the books. Even if you take their spending at face value, salary differences have to be taken into account. Chinese salaries are, on average 1/8 US salaries. That’s why Apple assembles iPhones there. Russian salaries are lower than Chinese salaries, and Iranian salaries are lower still. I would multiply their defense budgets, as stated in this compilation, by 4x for comparability, at minimum, to account for these differences. And that’s assuming that these authoritarian states are telling us the whole truth.

Another factor not accounted for is that Russia has thousands of nukes. China may have thousands, but we won’t know for sure until its existing regime is replaced by a more open one.

[MSF BU]

South Korea, which has conscription, has much more money dedicated to actual defense as opposed to salaries and benefits. The same goes with Israel, Switzerland, etc.