Chapter 1113 Intensified competition

According to the latest US defense budget proposal, US military spending in 2003 will increase to a terrifying $600 billion, and the US National Missile Defense System (NMD) will be deployed.

The US National Missile Defense System (NMD) is a military strategic and joint system used to defend against foreign intercontinental ballistic missiles across the country. These invading missiles can be intercepted by other missiles or lasers. They can be intercepted near the launch point (climbing phase), during flight, or during re-entry into the atmosphere.

Speaking of 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 from 1993 to 2001, there was no development. In 2001, the National Missile Defense System (NMD) and the Theater Missile Defense System (TMD) were proposed.

The substantial increase in US military spending and the deployment of NMD are undoubtedly acting as the sincerity of the US's cooperation with major powers.

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

The "four-corner" system of the United States, Europe, Russia, and China has become more and more obvious.

With the close cooperation between Europe and Russia in the field of energy, the exchanges between the two sides in politics, economy, culture, and technology have become increasingly close. 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 to join NATO and the European Union, but 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 at that time?

A voice has begun to appear in Europe, that is, Europe accepts Russia.

It's scary to think about it. Europe + Russia, what a terrible monster it will be. It has technology, industry, energy, resources, strong military power, and Western culture.

It will undoubtedly be a hegemony, and even the United States will find it difficult to compete.

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 the South Pacific and has basically been forced to withdraw from the entire South Asia, retaining influence only in India.

Across the Pacific, 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 results to be plundered by the United States again.

In people's eyes, the United States and Europe are allies, but in fact, the United States and Europe are sometimes dirty in the fields of how to fight terrorism, the Middle East peace process, unilateralism and multilateralism, the United Nations, economic relations, regional policies, etc., and the cracks are constantly widening.

Europe is pursuing European integration, from economic integration to political integration, military integration, and finally to achieve European integration, but this is exactly what the United States wants to see, because it will damage American interests.

European countries are very dissatisfied with the United States' ignition of the Balkan war, which has dealt a huge blow to the euro, and the United States' actions in Africa to expel 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, being an ally of the United States is fatal!

This sentence keeps ringing in Europe.

At the end of 2002, in the relevant struggles of the United Nations around the Iraq issue, Russia, China and China tacitly controlled the United States and forced the United States to agree to postpone the attack on Iraq. This is the fierce competition between unipolarity and multipolarity in the field of anti-terrorism, and multipolarity continues to develop in anti-terrorism.

With the Kosovo War and the recent Afghanistan War highlighting the cruelty of local wars in the 21st century, the United States has repeatedly taken the initiative to strike its opponents and never showed mercy. The damage suffered by the victims in a local war is no less than that in a world war. This has a warning effect on all countries, prompting them to re-emphasize traditional military security threats and armaments construction.

This has led to a climax in 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 armaments construction and encouraged martial spirit. The US defense budget for 2001 was as high as 370 billion US dollars. Because the US launched the war in Afghanistan, the final defense budget for 2001 was as high as 440 billion US dollars.

The US military budget for 2002 was as high as 420 billion US dollars, but the final expenditure was as high as 500 billion US dollars.

Now the US military budget for 2003 is as high as 600 billion US dollars. Although this military budget has not been finalized, the current situation has shown that this military budget will definitely be approved.

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

The United States abolished the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and Russia, allowing the United States to use its hands freely for the construction of the national missile defense system and the new generation of conventional armaments. The United States is currently accelerating the implementation of the national missile defense system and the theater missile defense system plan, and it is possible to resume nuclear testing.

In the conventional field, the United States attaches more importance to the construction of high-tech armaments, and is more committed to the construction of long-range delivery, over-the-horizon precision strikes and space capabilities, seeking "all-round" advantages.

The US 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 deal with the US missile defense system", including plans to deploy 2-3 new nuclear submarines by 2010, modernize strategic bombers, and form an aerospace force, develop and deploy space-based anti-satellite systems, and strengthen space warfare capabilities.

There is even intelligence that Russia's Novaya Zemlya base has frequent military activities, which may be in preparation for the resumption of nuclear testing.

Japan is trying 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 annual military expenditure will continue to be as high as 50 billion US dollars, providing sufficient funds for the upgrading of its military equipment.

European countries have also developed a strategic impulse to strengthen their armaments. The pace of the formation of the European Rapid Reaction Force has accelerated. European countries have increased their military expenditures. 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. It is unwilling to see its military power fail to keep up with the development of the times.

Amidst the turmoil, 2002 is finally turning the page.

However, the world is generally pessimistic about whether 2003 will be a new year with a new look.