The Military Balance 2007 Press Coverage
- US under pressure to change focus of policy
Last week the prestigious Argentine think-tank Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayoria, released a detailed study, citing Venezuelan military sources, estimating that current Venezuelan arms purchases involved almost US$8bn. It said that Caracas was negotiating the purchase of nine submarines (it currently has two) which would, at a stroke, give Venezuela the largest submarine fleet in the region: Peru has the most submarines (six) followed by Brazil, five. Speaking at the launch of the 2007 Military...
- Going it alone because we have to
The primary culprit is declining defense spending among U.S. allies. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, defense budgets among NATO members, excluding the U.S., have fallen from 2.49% of gross domestic product in 1993 to 1.8% of GDP in 2005. Britain is actually above the norm, spending 2.3% of GDP, or $52 billion, on defense. Canada, with a defense budget of $13 billion, is below the norm, at 1.1%.
- China brushes off Japan lawmaker's concerns
China's defense white paper issued at the end of last year said the country's military spending in 2006 will be 283.8 billion yuan ($36.6 billion). The figure from the year before was 247.5 billion yuan. But the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based military think tank, estimated in a report last month that China's defense spending in 2006 was some $122 billion, far larger than the official government figure. The think tank said the official budget omits items such as...
- From tanks to work of art
While it has not been revealed exactly how many SM1 tanks Singapore has, The Military Balance - an annual directory of the world's armed forces published by London's International Institute for Strategic Studies - estimates the number to be 300.
- Nuclear uncertainties linger
John Chipman, director general and chief executive of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in publishing the "2007 Military Balance" at the end of January that North Korea had enough plutonium to build five to 10 nuclear bombs. He also said "there is little prospect" that North Korea will give up the weapons."
- Israel spends 200 times more than Iran
In its latest Military Balance, the London-based institute cited the defence spending of Israel at Dlrs 9.8 billion in 2005, nearly twice the amount for Iran, despite having a population of less than a tenth of Iran's 65 million. In per capita terms, Iran's military expenditure in 2005 was equivalent to only Dlrs 81 compared to Dlrs 1,565 spent by Israel, which was almost the same as the US and twice the proportion spent by the UK.
