The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 1113 Intensified Competition
According to the latest US defense budget proposal, US military spending in 2003 will increase to a terrifying $6000 billion to deploy the US National Missile Defense System (NMD).

The United States National Missile Defense (NMD) is a military strategic and joint system designed to protect the entire country from incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles. These incoming missiles can be intercepted by other missiles or lasers. They can be intercepted near the launch point (climb phase), in flight, or during re-entry.

When talking about the US national missile defense system, we have to mention the Cold War period. In order to gain military advantage over the Soviet Union, the United States proposed the "Strategic Defense Initiative" in 1983, which is the famous "Star Wars" plan.

In 1993, Clinton announced the end of the "Star Wars" era, and then there was little development from 1993 to 2001. In 2001, the National Missile Defense System (NMD) and the Theater Missile Defense System (TMD) were proposed.

The substantial increase in U.S. military spending and the deployment of NMD are undoubtedly a testament to the sincerity of the U.S. in its advocacy of cooperation with major powers.

Although cooperation among major countries was strengthened in 2002, competition has not been eliminated and has even intensified.

The "four-corner" system of the United States, Europe, Russia and China is becoming increasingly obvious.

As Europe and Russia cooperate closely in the energy field, the two sides have increasingly close exchanges in politics, economy, culture and technology. Russia has always considered itself a member of the West and has always wanted to actively integrate into Europe. It even took the initiative to propose joining NATO and the EU. However, Russia's proposal to join NATO was rejected by the Americans without hesitation.

What a joke, if Russia joins NATO, who will be the boss then?

A voice has begun to emerge in Europe, calling for Europe to accept Russia.

It’s scary to think about it. Europe + Russia, what a terrible monster that will be. It will have technology, industry, energy, resources, a strong military force, and Western culture.

It will undoubtedly be a hegemonic country that even the United States will find difficult to contend with.

Therefore, the United States feels extremely uneasy about this and has been undermining the process of European integration and European + Russian integration!

The United States has been forced to withdraw from Southeast Asia and has basically been forced to withdraw from the entire South Asia, retaining influence only in India.

Across the Pacific Ocean, the United States only has South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Guam, and Australia.

In Latin America, as the United States' attitude becomes increasingly tough, it has aroused great dissatisfaction among Latin American countries. The entire Latin America is turning left. Venezuela and Colombia, the two northernmost countries in South America, are constantly opposing the United States and do not want their development achievements to be plundered by the United States again.

Even though people see the US and Europe as allies, in fact, there are occasional disagreements and the rifts are widening between the US and Europe in areas such as counter-terrorism, the Middle East peace process, unilateralism and multilateralism, the United Nations, economic relations, and regional policies.

Europe is pursuing European integration, from economic integration to political integration and military integration, and ultimately achieving European integration. However, this is exactly not what the United States wants to see, because it would damage American interests.

European countries are extremely dissatisfied with the United States' ignition of the Balkan War, which dealt a huge blow to the euro, and its actions in Africa, which expelled European countries' interests in Africa.

Even for many Europeans, the United States is not an ally but an enemy. Being an enemy of the United States is dangerous, and being an ally of the United States is fatal!
This sentence keeps ringing out in Europe.

At the end of 2002, in the struggle at the United Nations over the Iraq issue, Russia, China and the United States tacitly cooperated to contain the United States and force the United States to agree to postpone attacking Iraq. This was the fierce contest between unipolarity and multipolarity in the field of counter-terrorism, and multipolarity continued to develop in the fight against terrorism.

As the Kosovo War and the recent Afghanistan War highlighted the cruelty of local wars in the 21st century, the United States has repeatedly taken the initiative to strike its opponents without mercy. The damage suffered by the victims in a local war is no less than that in a world war, which has a warning effect on all countries, prompting them to re-emphasize traditional military security threats and arms construction.

This in turn led to a renewed climax of the international arms race.

The initiator of the new round of arms race is the United States. In order to seek absolute security and absolute dominance over international affairs, the US government has vigorously strengthened its military construction and encouraged the spirit of martial arts. The US defense budget for 2001 was as high as 3700 billion US dollars. Because the United States launched the war in Afghanistan, the defense budget for 2001 eventually reached 4400 billion US dollars.

The US military budget for 2002 was as high as 4200 billion US dollars, but the final expenditure was as high as 5000 billion US dollars.

The US military budget for 2003 is now as high as 6000 billion US dollars. Although this military budget has not yet been finalized, the current situation has shown that this military budget will definitely be approved.

The newly released "Nuclear Posture Review" of the United States proposes a "new trinity" strategy that combines offense and defense, nuclear and non-nuclear escort supplementation, and actual combat deployment with development, research and production. Its purpose is to ensure that the United States can launch any form of attack on any opponent without scruples and win the battle when necessary.

The United States' abolition of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia has allowed the United States to freely invest in the national missile defense system and the construction of a new generation of conventional armaments. The United States is currently accelerating the implementation of the national missile defense system and theater missile defense system plans, and may resume nuclear testing.

In the conventional field, the United States pays more attention to the construction of high-tech armaments, and is more committed to the construction of long-range delivery, beyond-visual-range precision strikes and space capabilities, seeking "all-round" advantages.

The US's all-round military expansion plan has caused panic and backlash from major powers. While continuing to improve the technical level of conventional armaments, Russia is committed to improving the performance of nuclear armaments to "counter the US missile defense system", including plans to deploy 2010-2 new nuclear submarines by 3, modernize strategic bombers, establish an aerospace force, develop and deploy space-based anti-satellite systems, and strengthen space warfare capabilities.

There is even intelligence revealing that there has been frequent military activity at Russia's Novaya Zemlya base, possibly in preparation for resuming nuclear testing.

Japan is attempting to use the war in Afghanistan and the upcoming war in Iraq to legitimize its status as a military power. In the next few years, the daily annual military expenditure will continue to be as high as about 500 billion US dollars, providing sufficient funds for the upgrade of its military equipment.

European countries have also developed a strategic impulse to strengthen their armaments. The pace of establishing European rapid reaction forces has accelerated, and European countries have increased their military spending. Even the United Kingdom is urging the construction of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and spending tens of billions of dollars to build more warships, unwilling to see its military power fail to keep up with the development of the times.

And amidst all the turmoil, the year 2002 is finally coming to an end.

However, the whole world is generally pessimistic about whether 2003 will bring a new beginning.

(End of this chapter)