NATO, hoping to turn perception into reality.

 CREATING PERCEPTION MAY WORK IN POLITICS, BUT NOT WAR

NOR IN MANUFACTURING ABILITY

The NATO summit in Washington was filled with great expectations. Not only predicting that Ukraine would defeat Russia, but also that the alliance would become a global military alliance.

Much of the talk was about increasing military spending, not only by the European members, but the United States, which already has the bloated defense budget of near $900 billion. The military experts believe this number may need to be increased dramatically in the immediate future to be able to counter the Russians and Chinese, whose budgets are just a fraction of this amount. Any review of the U.S. defense budget needs to start with a serious audit, something that they claim is too complicated and not possible. One has to wonder where has all the money gone?

As for the Europeans, money is going to be harder to come buy, after all, they are not in the position to just make book entries and print more Euros and their economies, thanks to cutting off energy from Russia, are in the doldrums.  They are suffering from high inflation and increasing social unrest, so we will see if the perception of more military spending can overcome those realities.

Many believe that the U.S. has invested in military hardware that is over engineered and overpriced. The present budget and the shortages of production would indicate that is probably true. It has also been reported this week that many of components for these weapons are actually being manufacture in of all places, China. The same place that we contend is selling materials, but not weapons to Russia. The other perception, that all this defense spending in Europe and the U.S. will be bought from U.S. producers and make more jobs for Americans may in reality create more jobs for China.

Fancy and complicated weapons may be very exciting and produce dramatic results in expositions, but when subjected to the weather, the mud and the abuse of combat, they may become just so much junk. Not to mention that not just any soldier can in the heat of battle man these complicated systems. One must ask are these weapons sold to rank and file soldiers or 4 star bureaucrats and politicians?

So, high hopes and great expectations need to be backed up with united and stable governments, a healthy manufacturing base and a good financial policy. As the west continues to bluster and threaten, much of the world is going in a different direction, just hoping to escape the present confines of the west's hubris and domination. The real question is, can the west survive economically without the others, if they succeed in their quest for a bipolar world?