Latest news with #JadeGuiberteauRicard
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Data show biggest jump in global military spending since Cold War
Global military expenditure rose by 9.4% in 2024 to $2.7 trillion, the steepest yearly rise since the end of the Cold War, according to data compiled by the global security think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Spending in Europe, including Russia, was a big factor behind the global surge in spending, SIPRI said. European nations' collective spending increased by 17% to $693 billion amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, the organization's data show. Russia's government increased its military spending by 38% to an estimated $149 billion last year, while Ukraine's grew by 2.9% to $64.7 billion. The Ukrainian spending amounted to 34% of the country's GDP, the largest military expenditure by percentage of GDP of any nation last year, according to SIPRI. "Russia once again significantly increased its military spending, widening the spending gap with Ukraine," said Diego Lopes da Silva, a senior researcher at SIPRI. "Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military. In such a tight fiscal space, it will be challenging for Ukraine to keep increasing its military spending." All NATO member nations increased their military spending, too, with 18 countries spending at least 2% of their GDP during 2024, which SIPRI said was the highest number of NATO members to hit that threshold since the alliance adopted it as a spending guideline in 2014. "The rapid spending increases among European NATO members were driven mainly by the ongoing Russian threat and concerns about possible U.S. disengagement within the alliance," said Jade Guiberteau Ricard, another SIPRI researcher. "It is worth saying that boosting spending alone will not necessarily translate into significantly greater military capability or independence from the USA. Those are far more complex tasks." In the Middle East, Israel and Lebanon significantly increased their military spending. Israel boosted its defense investment by 65% to $46.5 billion, while Lebanon increased its own by 58%, to $635 million. "Despite widespread expectations that many Middle Eastern countries would increase their military spending in 2024, major rises were limited to Israel and Lebanon," said SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim. "Elsewhere [in the region], countries either did not significantly increase spending in response to the war in Gaza or were prevented from doing so by economic constraints." SIPRI said Iran's military expenditure fell in real terms by 10% to $7.9 billion, despite its involvement in regional conflicts. U.S. military spending grew by 5.7% to $997 billion, amounting to 66% of NATO spending in 2024 and 37% of global military spending. China was the world's second largest military spender last year behind the U.S., accounting for half of all military spending in Asia and Oceania, SIPRI said. China increased its spending by 7% to $314 billion. "Major military spenders in the Asia-Pacific region are investing increasing resources into advanced military capabilities," said Nan Tian, the director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program. 'With several unresolved disputes and mounting tensions, these investments risk sending the region into a dangerous arms-race spiral." Kristi Noem says she's "very confident" undocumented migrants stole her purse Ashlie Crosson named 2025 National Teacher of the Year Supreme Court appears poised to side with student with disability in school discrimination case
Russia Today
28-04-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Global military spending in largest surge since Cold War
Global military spending increased more year-on-year in 2024 than at any time since the Cold War, according to research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The report, published on Monday, noted particularly rapid growth in Europe and the Middle East. Overall expenditure has exceeded $2.7 trillion, marking the steepest annual rise in more than 30 years, according to the report. 'Over 100 countries around the world raised their military spending in 2024,' SIPRI wrote, adding that governments were 'increasingly prioritize[ing] military security,' often at the expense of other budget areas. Ukraine had 'the largest military burden' globally, with its spending rising to nearly $65 billion, equivalent to 34% of its GDP, according to the report. Military spending in Europe, including Russia, climbed to nearly $700 billion in 2024, making the continent 'the main contributor' to the global increase. Several countries in Central and Western Europe posted 'unprecedented rises,' with Germany's spending jumping 28% to more than $88 billion. 'For the first time since reunification Germany became the biggest military spender in Western Europe, which was due to the €100 billion special defense fund announced in 2022,' Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher with the SIPRI, said. Berlin was also the world's fourth-largest military spender in 2024, after the US, China, Russia and before India, which together accounted for 60% of the global total. The study found that all NATO members have boosted their military expenditure, spending a combined $1.5 trillion – about 55% of global military expenditure – in 2024. The US remained NATO's largest contributor, spending $997 billion – about two-thirds of the military bloc's total and 37% of global expenditure. European NATO members also ramped up spending to a combined $454 billion. SIPRI researcher Jade Guiberteau Ricard said the 'rapid' rise in European NATO spending was driven mainly by what she called 'the ongoing Russian threat' and 'concerns about possible US disengagement within the alliance.' US President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged European allies to invest more in their militaries, arguing that Washington bears too much of the burden. NATO countries have outlined plans to further increase military budgets, citing potential Russian attack. The EU has announced plans to borrow hundreds of billions of euros to spend on militarization, asserting the need to deter Russia. Moscow has denied any aggressive intentions, with President Vladimir Putin describing the speculation as 'complete nonsense.' The report showed that military spending in the Middle East also rose sharply, reaching an estimated $243 billion in 2024, driven by the war in Gaza and broader regional instability.
Al Jazeera
28-04-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Europe leads global defence spending rise, awakening to security deficit
Europe led a record international rise in defence spending last year, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). European expenses rose in real terms by 17 percent to $693m, spearheading a global rise of 9.4 percent to $2.7 trillion, marking the highest level of defence spending since the fall of communism in Europe. Russia's war in Ukraine was the principal driver of the new trend, SIPRI said on Monday. 'The rapid spending increases among European NATO members were driven mainly by the ongoing Russian threat and concerns about possible US disengagement within the alliance,' said Jade Guiberteau Ricard, a researcher with SIPRI. The protagonists in that war still bore the brunt of its expense. Russia saw the biggest annual rise of any single country at 38 percent, as it suffered devastating material losses in its war in Ukraine. It spent $149bn, more than 7 percent of its economic output. Ukraine spent its entire tax income of $64.7bn on its defence, and was the country devoting the biggest proportion of its economy – 34 percent – to the military. But apparent US reluctance to continue to fund Ukraine's defence means more of the burden may fall on Europe. That might not be as onerous as it sounds. The size of the European Union economy meant that it needed to spend only 0.12 percent more of its gross domestic product (GDP) to replace US military support for Ukraine, the think tank Bruegel estimated last February. Most of Europe's defence spending increase, experts told Al Jazeera, addressed the need to rebuild defunct European militaries. 'The increase was expected, though it was still somewhat shocking to see it unfold,' retired US colonel Seth Krummrich said, as it reflected the end of US supremacy on the global stage. Krummrich, who is now vice president of Global Guardian, a security consultant, believed this was the start of a new trend. 'I do believe we will see further increases in the years ahead. Europe recognises the need to stand on its own and not rely as heavily on the United States,' he said. 'That's not to say the US will not support Europe, but the 'guaranteed certainty' of US support is no longer felt.' The EU last month relaxed deficit rules, allowing national budgets to spend an additional 650 billion euros ($740bn) on defence off the books. Greece became the first member to announce a multiyear rearmament under the new rules on April 3. Within Europe, Germany rose most steeply of all (by 28 percent), as an extraordinary 100-billion-euro ($113.5bn) fund announced in 2022 finally swung into action. However, every EU member state except Malta raised its defence budget, reflecting an increasingly widespread Russian threat perception. The relaxed EU deficit rules, known as Rearm Europe, along with a 150-billion-euro ($170bn) fund to boost EU defence products and a German parliament decision last month to devote up to 1 trillion euros ($1.14 trillion) to infrastructure and defence all advocated in favour of what Krummrich predicted. Experts cautioned that expenditure would take a long time to translate into force projection. 'Major military capability takes years to develop,' said Lukas Milevski, a lecturer in international studies at Leiden University. 'It takes time to train people, to buy the stuff, to build the stuff, to deliver the stuff,' he told Al Jazeera. Germany, for example, promised Lithuania a brigade in 2022. Its barracks are built in southwest Lithuania, but the brigade is not expected to be manned, trained, equipped and operational until the end of 2027. Milevski also cautioned that the money would have to be sustained over many years. 'By the time you actually need to pay for the stuff, all those exemptions that came with Rearm Europe have expired, and the year-by-year continuation doesn't provide the stability that defence policy needs,' he said. Another concern is what the money is spent on. The staggering US defence budget of $997bn, for example, is often described as bloated with pork-barrel procurements rather than what a modern military needs. Europe suffers from a similar problem of redundancy, with different states competing to have their tank or rocket launch system adopted as the EU standard and funded to great heights. Krummrich believed the EU now enjoys a 'significant opportunity' to avoid squabbling about which older systems to preserve, and 'leap forward technologically through military innovation and investment'. It was enough, he said, to observe how 'the dirt laboratory of Ukraine has revealed a new evolution in warfare, especially regarding drones and unmanned vehicles'. Others expressed concern about Europe's go-it-alone approach. 'It's capabilities that matter, and how those capabilities are built and controlled,' said Hugo Bromley, an economy and geopolitical expert at Cambridge University's Centre for Geopolitics. The US and Europe should not be decoupling, but working together to provide specific needs in both Europe and the Asia Pacific, Bromley told Al Jazeera. 'The scarce assets America needs, particularly in an Indo-Pacific focus, are the very high-end [air]lift, missiles – capabilities that the current focus of European expenditure is not designed to create … because these are the capabilities that nation states wish most to keep to themselves,' he said. 'So we need to have an honest conversation about which countries are prepared to work together on these issues … and if you look at where our natural partners are to develop those high end capabilities, it is East Asia, Germany, to a lesser extent France and Britain, and what I think of as Commonwealth – so Australia, Canada.' This internationalist approach is currently out of favour on the continent, where the concept of strategic autonomy now drives renewed European defence resolve. Finally, there is concern that money, even if effectively spent over sufficient time to deliver force, is going to lead to tragedy in the Ukrainian theatre, which is largely depleted of its professional militaries. 'The operational map remains largely stagnant,' said Krummrich. 'Gone are the highly trained troops and great campaign plans. This is now a conscript war with negligible front-line movement,' he said, calling it a 'meat grinder'. 'In my opinion, high spending will not turn the war decisively for either side; it will only result in further death.'
