Most of the countries listed came as no surprise, but I was amazed to see Saudi Arabia spending $21.2 Billion on military matters, and ranking in the top ten when ranked as military expenditures as a percentage of gross national product.
Perhaps I am a little uninformed on the state of world affairs, but what on earth are they doing with all that money? What wars are they fighting? Are they helping out the Palestinians?
Well, countries don’t necessarily maintain armies just when they are fighting wars; they also maintain armies for possible future wars, and in order to establish deterrence and keep from having to fight wars at all.
Until pretty recently, a major threat to Saudi Arabia would have come from Iraq; remember the invasion of Kuwait and the first Gulf War. (It’s not at all clear that Saddam really planned on anything beyond invading Kuwait in 1990, but the Iraqi invasion certainly showed that the area is a “rough neighborhood” and it’s prudent for a country in those parts to maintain its ability to defend itself.) Iran would be an obvious concern for the Saudi leadership: a historically militarily powerful state with an avowedly revolutionary government hostile to autocratic monarchies with pro-Western foreign and economic policies. Israel is going to be seen as a potential threat, not just in a “helping the Palestinians” sense, but because Israel is a militarily powerful country with a demonstrated willingness to defend its interests with force, from the Six Day War to the bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor back in 1980. There are a grab bag of other potential threats around: Syria, even Egypt (the Saudis and Egyptians supported opposing sides in a civil war in Yemen back in the 60’s I believe it was), or Yemen (poor but with a large population). Just about every border on the Arabian peninsula is undefined and potentially disputed. Also, military forces may exist to counter internal threats of subversion or civil war. (Remember, Saudi Arabia is an autocratic regime.) Finally, in general, the Saudis have one heck of a lot of the world’s easily accessible crude oil. Rich people tend to have both the desire to protect their interests and the means to do so; theoretically, I suppose the Saudis would have some concern about possible threats from as far away as Russia. (Probably more of a concern, albeit a pretty distant one, back in the days of the Soviet Union.)
For a country boasting a population similar to that of the booming metropolis of Akron, OH, I like to think we’re pulling our weight. You guys outnumber us a thousand to one so I think you can spare a few guys with guns to defend us little guys. Besides, we were important in the Cold War. Kinda.
Thanks for all the money and the international airport, by the way. The US helped change Iceland from a nation of poor peasants to a high-tech society with living standards that rank among the world’s highest, in 60 years.
[chanting]U-S-A! … U-S-A! … U-S-A![/chanting]
…just trying to point out that the US’s enormous military budget isn’t all spent on buggering people in the East. They’re still the Good Guys as far as I’m concerned.
All true, of course. but there are many other reasons for having a modern well equipped army.
[ul]
[li]Internal security. Saudia Arabia certainly has problems here[/li][li]Political stability. If give people in the army good pay and nice new shiny guns, they might be less likely to revolt[/li][li]Global politics. Buying F-16s etc from Uncle Sam makes him happy. It’s a good thing to keep him onside. [/li][li]Symbolism. Some cultures take great pride in having a well funded military[/li][/ul]