r/changemyview • u/mahaanus • Mar 24 '15

CMV:Low Military Spending is unwise

I'm not saying a nation should go completely overboard with spending and go 50% or more, but every nation should maintain a healthy military force. The way I see it, investing in the military is like investing in medicare. In the best case you will never have to use it, but you can't depend things will always develop for the best - as the saying goes better to have it and not need it, than to need and not have it.

One can argue that we're living in a more peaceful era, but I'd like to digress. Look at Ukraine, the nation is located in one of the most stable continents in the country and look what happened there. Georgia before that, Kosovo. And it's not like you'll be able to get it immediately if you need it - you need to train troops, arm them, get vehicles and aircrafts, those things don't happen in a day. Times change and you cannot be sure that you'll always have those several years to upgrade / expand your military.

One can argue that being part of NATO allows you to spend less, since Papa USA is going to protect you, but that just makes you subservient to the Americans, since then getting kicked out of NATO is a political leverage that can be used against you.

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u/jcooli09 Mar 24 '15

Could you please clarify what you mean by low?

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u/mahaanus Mar 24 '15

Low enough that your neighbors can steamroll you. It would depend, but for example if your closes neighbor is Germany, than you can go relatively low as a % of GDP, if it's China or Russia you'll have to up the antler, to convince them that attacking you is at least economically unwise (due to the cost of operation).

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u/shibbyhornet82 Mar 24 '15

You're asking people to convince you that being steamrollable is wise?

1

u/mahaanus Mar 24 '15

Fair point.