Thanks Marc. As always an informed and informative response.
Strength of each army, after WW2
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As for http://www.globalfirepower.com/ and their ranking. Obviously, they must leave out nukes. I don’t see Turkey doing well against Israel after Israel hits them with dozens after dozens of nuclear strikes. Russia has 10s of 1000s of nukes while China has 10s of well 10s yet China outranks them? Even on GDP, GDP alone is not a good indicator, its surplus GDP to the populations basic needs. North Korea has the second largest land army in the world yet is ranked #20 and also has nukes where Brazil is #8 with no nukes and a smaller military? Japan has the worlds second largest official military budget and I believe the worlds #2 economy and has a vastly more powerful navy than China yet is ranked behind Brazil?
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As for http://www.globalfirepower.com/ and their ranking. Obviously, they must leave out nukes. I don’t see Turkey doing well against Israel after Israel hits them with dozens after dozens of nuclear strikes. Russia has 10s of 1000s of nukes while China has 10s of well 10s yet China outranks them? Even on GDP, GDP alone is not a good indicator, its surplus GDP to the populations basic needs. North Korea has the second largest land army in the world yet is ranked #20 and also has nukes where Brazil is #8 with no nukes and a smaller military? Japan has the worlds second largest official military budget and I believe the worlds #2 economy and has a vastly more powerful navy than China yet is ranked behind Brazil?
Japan? Japan oficially doesn’t have a military. They have a “defense force.”
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I’m pretty sure Japan officially has a military. Yes, it is called a self-defense force and restrictions in the consitition have until recently prevented it from deploying overseas. But their ‘defense’ force has ‘defense’ ships I guess defending the Indian ocean while refueling US warships.
I was wrong however in that Japan is ranked 7th in military expenditures. It’s interesting to see that the US spends more than the next 20 on the list combined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
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I’m pretty sure Japan officially has a military. Yes, it is called a self-defense force and restrictions in the consitition have until recently prevented it from deploying overseas. But their ‘defense’ force has ‘defense’ ships I guess defending the Indian ocean while refueling US warships.
I was wrong however in that Japan is ranked 7th in military expenditures. It’s interesting to see that the US spends more than the next 20 on the list combined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
I though the US spends more than the rest of the world combined. Wonder where that came from.
Anyway, when we see that we spend more on military than the next 20, it’s hard to see why people advocate cutting social services to save money.
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The two statements are not mutually exclusive. If the US spends as much as the rest of the world, they certainly spend at least as much as the next 20 which is probably the majority of the worlds expenses. I would not be suprised if they did, I guess it depends on how the accounting is done. Cia military expenses included? Department of energy which oversees the nuclear bomb inventory and research? 661 for the US alone compared to 1531 for the entire world including the US is pretty close to half already, a bit of accounting would easily see 50%.
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As for http://www.globalfirepower.com/ and their ranking. Obviously, they must leave out nukes. I don’t see Turkey doing well against Israel after Israel hits them with dozens after dozens of nuclear strikes. Russia has 10s of 1000s of nukes while China has 10s of well 10s yet China outranks them? Even on GDP, GDP alone is not a good indicator, its surplus GDP to the populations basic needs. North Korea has the second largest land army in the world yet is ranked #20 and also has nukes where Brazil is #8 with no nukes and a smaller military? Japan has the worlds second largest official military budget and I believe the worlds #2 economy and has a vastly more powerful navy than China yet is ranked behind Brazil?
Nukes, do not, count, but Israel never did confirm or deny nukes.
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@Dylan:
As for http://www.globalfirepower.com/ and their ranking. Obviously, they must leave out nukes. I don’t see Turkey doing well against Israel after Israel hits them with dozens after dozens of nuclear strikes. Russia has 10s of 1000s of nukes while China has 10s of well 10s yet China outranks them? Even on GDP, GDP alone is not a good indicator, its surplus GDP to the populations basic needs. North Korea has the second largest land army in the world yet is ranked #20 and also has nukes where Brazil is #8 with no nukes and a smaller military? Japan has the worlds second largest official military budget and I believe the worlds #2 economy and has a vastly more powerful navy than China yet is ranked behind Brazil?
Nukes, do not, count, but Israel never did confirm or deny nukes.
We pretty much know they have them. they don’t confirm as they’d be seen as wanting proliferation, but denying it would invite its enemies to attack
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That Chinese CV is really a joke. Its a very old Soviet era carrier that was mothballed and sold to China for scrap with a story of making a gambling casino… they tricked the Russians and repainted it.
Other than that its a carrier in name only like the old Japanese carrier Hosho.
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Speaking of that site, apparently the US has no tanks.
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Speaking of that site, apparently the US has no tanks.
Maybe they don’t have tanks.
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Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10. -
@Dylan:
Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10.Does UK include India? If not, they should be on the list. they had the largest volunteer army. Is China the commies or the nats?
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@Dylan:
Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10.Does UK include India? If not, they should be on the list. they had the largest volunteer army. Is China the commies or the nats?
Republic of China and where should India go.
-
@Dylan:
@Dylan:
Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10.Does UK include India? If not, they should be on the list. they had the largest volunteer army. Is China the commies or the nats?
Republic of China and where should India go.
In 1945 India was still part of the British Empire so therefore their military would contribute to that of the British not their own till 1947 and later.
-
@Dylan:
@Dylan:
Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10.Does UK include India? If not, they should be on the list. they had the largest volunteer army. Is China the commies or the nats?
Republic of China and where should India go.
In 1945 India was still part of the British Empire so therefore their military would contribute to that of the British not their own till 1947 and later.
Well, that depends on what he meant by “after WW2” He could’ve meant September 10, 1945, or the late 1940’s in general
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@Dylan:
@Dylan:
Anyways I still don’t have a full list.
1. USSR
2. USA
3. UK
4. Canada
5. France
6. China
7. Australia
8. Turkey (I’ve decided.)
9.
10.Does UK include India? If not, they should be on the list. they had the largest volunteer army. Is China the commies or the nats?
Republic of China and where should India go.
In 1945 India was still part of the British Empire so therefore their military would contribute to that of the British not their own till 1947 and later.
Fine 1947 and later.
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So would India be after of before Australia!
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@Dylan:
So would India be after of before Australia!
Thats quite the question. Without the arms the British provided them with as well as considering that the number of troops in the Indian army was radically reduced when the country was partitioned at the time of Indian independence.
India does have the manpower advantage over Australia in a massive way but the equipment the British left them with was hardly that modern and they didnt have a large airforce either. So I would personally put Australia above India but only just, Australia’s large airforce negates India’s man power advantage and then some.
Interestingly enough today India is well on its way to becoming a miltary superpower with the world’s 4th largest airforce and a navy that is growing at a great rate of knots including the construction of 2 aircraft carriers and the purchase of a former Russian navy carrier.
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@Dylan:
So would India be after of before Australia!
Thats quite the question. Without the arms the British provided them with as well as considering that the number of troops in the Indian army was radically reduced when the country was partitioned at the time of Indian independence.
India does have the manpower advantage over Australia in a massive way but the equipment the British left them with was hardly that modern and they didnt have a large airforce either. So I would personally put Australia above India but only just, Australia’s large airforce negates India’s man power advantage and then some.
Interestingly enough today India is well on its way to becoming a miltary superpower with the world’s 4th largest airforce and a navy that is growing at a great rate of knots including the construction of 2 aircraft carriers and the purchase of a former Russian navy carrier.
Soviet or Russian AC?
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An interesting article, thanks! But I don’t take the claims seriously. It would take the russians 20 years just to establish a culture of competent naval aviation. The americans have 70 years of serious naval avaiation experence that guided them in the constuction and operation of fleet carriers. I have posted these links elsewhere but they are always cool to look at!
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/destroyers.htm
It’s going to be a long long long time before any nation gets even close to the power of the US fleet.
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