[Zhang Fei]

That said, then there are the cases where the economy of the country(s) are not sufficient to foot the bill. I’d have to research and do some math, but while “doing ok” now, I don’t think the Baltic countries you add up have remotely near the GDP of Singapore, or even Finland. Estonia in particular seems to be on the right track with their economy, but their economy is tiny: GDP (est.) was $28.44 billion in 2012 (PPP). By comparison, Singapore’s GDP in 2011 was (est.) $318.9 billion (PPP), and the country is flat out dripping with wealth, infrastructure, you name it. The Soviets left Estonia a wreck, while Singapore was already booming at that time. So the comparison is hardly fair.

I've been following defense policy for a while. In 1988, Singapore's GDP was $54.625b in 2010 dollars. Its defense spending was 4.8% of GDP. Combined, the Baltic states had a GDP of $80.321b in 2010. They spent 1.2% of GDP on defense. Here's the historical data from SIPRI:

Military expenditure by country, in constant (2010) US$ m., 1988-2011
	Budget	Budget	GDP	GDP	% of GDP	% of GDP
Country	1988	2010	1988	2010	1988	2010
Afghanistan	. .	576		15158	. .	3.8
Albania	. .	190		11875	5.6	1.6
Algeria	672	5671	39529	157528	1.7	3.6
Angola	. .	3501		83357	. .	4.2
Argentina	4397	3476	219850	386222	2.0	0.9
Armenia	xxx	395		9405	xxx	4.2
Australia	13228	23221	629905	1222158	2.1	1.9
Austria	3285	3513	252692	390333	1.3	0.9
Azerbaijan	xxx	1476		50897	xxx	2.9
Bahrain	243	776	4860	22824	5.0	3.4
Bangladesh	456	1298	45600	118000	1.0	1.1
Belarus	xxx	768		54857	xxx	1.4
Belgium	7939	5233	305346	475727	2.6	1.1
Belize	4.9	15.3	490	1391	1.0	1.1
Benin	68.9	. .	2996		2.3	. .
Bolivia	. .	328		19294	. .	1.7
Bosnia-Herzegovina	xxx	220		18333	xxx	1.2
Botswana	193	352	3939	14667	4.9	2.4
Brazil	19902	34384	947714	2149000	2.1	1.6
Brunei	349	391	5288	12219	6.6	3.2
Bulgaria	. .	894		47053	. .	1.9
Burkina Faso	57.0	124	3000	9538	1.9	1.3
Burundi	44.5	. .	1435		3.1	. .
Cambodia	65.7	175	5054	10938	1.3	1.6
Cameroon	197	354	15154	22125	1.3	1.6
Canada	19339	23109	966950	1540600	2.0	1.5
Cape Verde	10.6	8.3	558	1660	1.9	0.5
Central African Rep.	. .	51.6		1985	. .	2.6
Chad	. .	226		8370	. .	2.7
Chile	2913	6579	58260	205594	5.0	3.2
China, P. R.	. .	121064		5764952	. .	2.1
Colombia	2177	10422	145133	289500	1.5	3.6
Congo	. .	134		12182	. .	1.1
Congo, Dem. Rep.	. .	184		14154	. .	1.3
Costa Rica	0	0			0.0	0.0
Côte d’Ivoire	185	388	15417	24250	1.2	1.6
Croatia	xxx	1016		59765	xxx	1.7
Cuba	. .	. .			. .	. .
Cyprus	525	478	9211	22762	5.7	2.1
Czech Rep.	xxx	2498		192154	xxx	1.3
Czechoslovakia	7678	xxx			. .	xxx
Denmark	4519	4504	215190	300267	2.1	1.5
Djibouti	70.0	. .	1000		7.0	. .
Dominican Rep.	141	359	15667	51286	0.9	0.7
Ecuador	420	2094	21000	58167	2.0	3.6
Egypt	5246	4289	80708	214450	6.5	2.0
El Salvador	552	224	7169	20364	7.7	1.1
Equatorial Guinea	. .	. .			. .	. .
Eritrea	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
Estonia	xxx	330		19412	xxx	1.7
Ethiopia	563	298	6951	33111	8.1	0.9
Fiji	43.3	50.6	1968	3163	2.2	1.6
Finland	2515	3400	157188	242857	1.6	1.4
France	65266	59098	1812944	2569478	3.6	2.3
Gabon	. .	125		13889	. .	0.9
Gambia	1.9	. .	211		0.9	. .
Georgia	xxx	454		11641	xxx	3.9
German DR	10804	xxx			. .	xxx
Germany	63629	45075	2194103	3219643	2.9	1.4
Ghana	25.6	125	8533	31250	0.3	0.4
Greece	6968	7162	165905	311391	4.2	2.3
Guatemala	349	170		42500		0.4
Guinea	. .	. .			. .	. .
Guinea-Bissau	. .	. .			. .	. .
Guyana	3.7	28.8	185	1371	2.0	2.1
Haiti	7.5	0	7500		0.1	0.0
Honduras	. .	170		15455	. .	1.1
Hungary	4262	1351	112158	135100	3.8	1.0
Iceland	0	. .			0.0	. .
India	16705	46086	464028	1706889	3.6	2.7
Indonesia	1405	4663	156111	666143	0.9	0.7
Iran	1776	. .	88800		2.0	. .
Iraq	. .	3581		149208	. .	2.4
Ireland	774	1274	64500	212333	1.2	0.6
Israel	12659	14242	81147	219108	15.6	6.5
Italy	35274	35532	1533652	2090118	2.3	1.7
Jamaica	. .	106		13250	. .	0.8
Japan	46447	54641	4644700	5464100	1.0	1.0
Jordan	966	1367	10277	27340	9.4	5.0
Kazakhstan	xxx	1502		136545	xxx	1.1
Kenya	853	603	29414	31737	2.9	1.9
Korea, North	. .	. .			. .	. .
Korea, South	13262	27572	294711	1021185	4.5	2.7
Kuwait	3361	4715	40988	130972	8.2	3.6
Kyrgyzstan	xxx	202		4591	xxx	4.4
Laos	. .	16.3		5433	. .	0.3
Latvia	xxx	260		23636	xxx	1.1
Lebanon	278	1633	23167	38881	1.2	4.2
Lesotho	28.7	70.7	755	2281	3.8	3.1
Liberia	. .	8.5		944	2.4	0.9
Libya	. .	. .			. .	. .
Lithuania	xxx	410		37273	xxx	1.1
Luxembourg	173	. .	15727		1.1	. .
Macedonia, FYR	xxx	130		9286	xxx	1.4
Madagascar	65.6	56.9	5046	8129	1.3	0.7
Malawi	20.6	. .	1373		1.5	. .
Malaysia	1293	3859	53875	241188	2.4	1.6
Mali	54.8	177	2491	9316	2.2	1.9
Malta	40.0	58.7	3333	8386	1.2	0.7
Mauritania	47.7	. .	1060		4.5	. .
Mauritius	8.8	14.4	4400	14400	0.2	0.1
Mexico	2284	5414	456800	1082800	0.5	0.5
Moldova	xxx	18.3		6100	xxx	0.3
Mongolia	. .	54.9		4991	6.3	1.1
Montenegro	xxx	75.2		3958	xxx	1.9
Morocco	1734	3161	42293	90314	4.1	3.5
Mozambique	72.4	. .	1366		5.3	. .
Myanmar	. .	. .			2.1	. .
Namibia	xxx	397		10179	xxx	3.9
Nepal	60.5	255	6722	18214	0.9	1.4
Netherlands	12850	11277	458929	805500	2.8	1.4
New Zealand	1797	1606	89850	133833	2.0	1.2
Nicaragua	. .	44.4		6343	. .	0.7
Niger	. .	47.2		5244	. .	0.9
Nigeria	543	1990	67875	199000	0.8	1.0
Norway	5221	6390	180034	426000	2.9	1.5
Oman	2397	4895	13098	57588	18.3	8.5
Pakistan	3657	5661	58984	202179	6.2	2.8
Panama	150	0	7143		2.1	0.0
Papua New Guinea	77.1	42.5	5931	10625	1.3	0.4
Paraguay	. .	154		17111	. .	0.9
Peru	. .	1958		150615	. .	1.3
Philippines	1959	2438	78360	203167	2.5	1.2
Poland	7982	8781	319280	462158	2.5	1.9
Portugal	3346	4821	123926	229571	2.7	2.1
Qatar	. .	. .			. .	. .
Romania	8966	2086	208512	160462	4.3	1.3
Russia	331111	58644	2095639	1503692	15.8	3.9
Rwanda	41.2	74.5	2575	5731	1.6	1.3
Saudi Arabia	19743	45245	129888	447970	15.2	10.1
Senegal	111	200	5550	12500	2.0	1.6
Serbia	xxx	845		38409	xxx	2.2
Seychelles	15.2	8.9	353	685	4.3	1.3
Sierra Leone	7.8	24.7	1114	2058	0.7	1.2
Singapore	2622	8323	54625	224946	4.8	3.7
Slovak Rep.	xxx	1130		86923	xxx	1.3
Slovenia	xxx	772		48250	xxx	1.6
Somalia	. .	. .			. .	. .
South Africa	6335	4631	158375	356231	4.0	1.3
South Sudan	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
Spain	14611	14744	730550	1474400	2.0	1.0
Sri Lanka	434	1500	18083	50000	2.4	3.0
Sudan	847	. .	23528		3.6	. .
Swaziland	16.1	124	1464	4133	1.1	3.0
Sweden	7155	5886	275192	452769	2.6	1.3
Switzerland	6602	4115	388353	514375	1.7	0.8
Syria	1168	2346	16000	57220	7.3	4.1
Taiwan	8474	9067	169480	431762	5.0	2.1
Tajikistan	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
Tanzania	100	250	7143	20833	1.4	1.2
Thailand	3170	4846	109310	323067	2.9	1.5
Timor Leste	xxx	30.8		629	xxx	4.9
Togo	65.4	56.8	2110	3341	3.1	1.7
Trinidad & Tobago	. .	. .			. .	. .
Tunisia	347	563	15087	40214	2.3	1.4
Turkey	9918	17649	342000	735375	2.9	2.4
Turkmenistan	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
UAE	. .	16062		232783	. .	6.9
Uganda	69.3	280	2772	17500	2.5	1.6
UK	53751	58099	1311000	2234577	4.1	2.6
Ukraine	xxx	3710		137407	xxx	2.7
Uruguay	833	788	26031	39400	3.2	2.0
USA	540415	698281	9480965	14547521	5.7	4.8
Uzbekistan	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
Venezuela	. .	3363		373667	. .	0.9
Viet Nam	840	2672	11831	106880	7.1	2.5
Yemen	xxx	. .			xxx	. .
Yemen, North	702	xxx			. .	xxx
Yemen, South	. .	xxx			. .	xxx
Yugoslavia (former)	. .	xxx			. .	xxx
Zambia	317	276	13208	16235	2.4	1.7
Zimbabwe  SEE FOOTNOTE	198	98.3	3960	7562	5.0	1.3

[Paul R.]

Yes, but in 1988, Estonia & the others were basket cases, and Singapore was already strong, economically. That does not mean that Estonia, for example, cannot do more NOW, but, part of the problem is that we have deliberately made & kept allies dependent, in this regard. It was seen to be to our advantage (except financially) to keep them weak militarily. Less trouble in the neighborhood, one might say.

Gross GDP can be somewhat misleading: In Singapore, over 1/6 of the households have net assets of over USD 1 million.

This is water under the bridge, though. I am more interested in creative solutions, and would like to see more comments in that direction.

[Paul R.]

Speaking of how real wealth allows greater defense spending, a few numbers on that chart are highly illustrative / really jump out:

In 2010, % of GDP -

Israel 6.5% (not THAT wealthy, but incredibly threatened)
UAE 6.9%
Oman 8.5% (18.3% in 1988 - Wow!)
Saudi Arabia 10.1 %