***ARCHIVE***BRASÍLIA, DF, 11/14/2019 Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress)
SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) For the first time in history, the United States is facing the threat of war with two nuclear powers simultaneously, China and Russia. And fighting them at the same time would be very difficult, despite American military capabilities.
The assessment was made by Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, Mark Milley, the country’s top general. It is alarming and alarming in equal measure: the military has managed to seek approval for the largest defense budget in its country’s history.
Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have been briefed by the House Armed Services Committee on the Joe Biden administration’s proposal for an $824 billion ($4.3 trillion real today) bill for fiscal year 2024 (October 1September 30). ) belongs to the following year).
So alarmism is a good way to sensitize congressmen. But the statements are alarming at the same time because there is an ongoing war in Ukraine sponsored by Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping’s greatest ally, all within the framework of Cold War 2.0.
“Both China and Russia have the means to threaten US national security. But history isn’t deterministic, and war with them is neither inevitable nor imminent,” Milley said, planting his feet on the ground.
Be that as it may, in his presentation he outlined all the ongoing risk elements. For example, he said that Putin “continued to use irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and pose” as Russia conducted one of the largest intercontinental missile exercises in recent history with 3,000 troops in the center of the country.
From time to time since the war began, the Russian president has recalled that he has what Milley described as “the largest and most advanced” nuclear arsenal in the world, comparable to the US: both countries own just over 90 percent of the 13,000 warheads on the planet world scattered.
According to the contract that has now been suspended by Russia, around 1,600 of these are ready for both sides to use at any time. China ranks third with 410 stockpiles, according to the Federation of American Scientists, while western allies like France and the United Kingdom have 290 and 225, respectively.
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Milley spoke about growing Chinese skills. “China has thousands of localrange missiles in its arsenal that would be difficult for the US to contain with its current inventory,” he said, endorsing investment in hypersonic and other weapons.
“The potential for armed conflict is growing. China remains our #1 longterm geostrategic security challenge,” citing Beijing’s military expansion in the IndoPacific and US countermeasures such as patrols (he called for more ships, of course) and the Aukus military pact that will supply nuclearpowered submarines to Australia.
Milley also reminded that the alliance sealed ahead of the 2022 war and reinforced by Xi Jinping’s visit to Putin last week could be strengthened if Iran becomes a nuclear power. The general said the ayatollahs’ regime, which is allied with both Moscow and Beijing, “can produce fissile material for a bomb in two weeks” and a weapon in months.
He also spoke about North Korea, citing the acceleration of the missile and nuclear weapons program of the Kim Jong Un dictatorship, which the day before unveiled a new nuclear warhead small enough to equip its ICBMs that could reach the US.
“Nothing is more expensive than fighting a war. And preparing for a war is also very expensive, but fighting a war is more. para bellum” or “if you want peace, prepare for war”).
The US already has by far the highest military spending in the world. In 2022, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, they spent US$767 billion (3.9 trillion reais) on defense, compared to US$242 billion (1.2 trillion reais) for second place, China, and US$88 billion (R$450 billion) from the third, Russia. A total of US$1.97 trillion (Real 10.1 trillion) has been spent in this sector worldwide.
No country projects so much power: Of its 1.36 million military personnel, 250,000 are stationed abroad. Its fleet of 11 nuclearpowered aircraft carriers is unique, bringing firepower to any point on Earth, not to mention a nuclear arsenal.
“The level of commitment today is greater than it has been for many years. Currently, 60 percent of our activeduty forces are at the highest state of readiness and can be deployed in less than 30 days. Ten percent of our forces can be deployed in less than 96 hours,” he said.