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TRUST IN GOD
Trust in God
For we are not told
how our lives will unfold
David Herr
Reading for April 29 from Praying for Justice. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12: 18
Reading for April 28 from Praying for Justice. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5: 10
I AM WHOLE
When God is
The center of my soul
I am complete
And I am whole
David Herr
I AM WHOLE
When God is
The center of my soul
I am complete
And I am whole
David Herr
YOUR WILL
I seek
your will divine
And pray that
Your will is mine
David Herr
This post is also available in: French
Pressenza republishes here the SIPRI report of military spending for 2018.
(Stockholm, 29 April 2019) Total world military expenditure rose to $1822 billion in 2018, representing an increase of 2.6 per cent from 2017, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The five biggest spenders in 2018 were the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, India and France, which together accounted for 60 per cent of global military spending. Military spending by the USA increased for the first time since 2010, while spending by China grew for the 24th consecutive year. The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible from today at www.sipri.org.
Total global military spending rose for the second consecutive year in 2018, to the highest level since 1988—the first year for which consistent global data is available. World spending is now 76 per cent higher than the post-cold war low in 1998.* World military spending in 2018 represented 2.1 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) or $239 per person. ‘In 2018 the USA and China accounted for half of the world’s military spending,’ says Dr Nan Tian, a researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure (AMEX) programme. ‘The higher level of world military expenditure in 2018 is mainly the result of significant increases in spending by these two countries.’
The USA and China lead increase in world military expenditure
US military spending grew—for the first time since 2010—by 4.6 per cent, to reach $649 billion in 2018. The USA remained by far the largest spender in the world, and spent almost as much on its military in 2018 as the next eight largest-spending countries combined. ‘The increase in US spending was driven by the implementation from 2017 of new arms procurement programmes under the Trump administration,’ says Dr Aude Fleurant, the director of the SIPRI AMEX programme.
China, the second-largest spender in the world, increased its military expenditure by 5.0 per cent to $250 billion in 2018. This was the 24th consecutive year of increase in Chinese military expenditure. Its spending in 2018 was almost 10 times higher than in 1994, and accounted for 14 per cent of world military spending. ‘Growth in Chinese military spending tracks the country’s overall economic growth,’ says Tian. ‘China has allocated 1.9 per cent of its GDP to the military every year since 2013.’
Three decades of growth in military spending in Asia and Oceania
Military expenditure in Asia and Oceania has risen every year since 1988. At $507 billion, military spending in the region accounted for 28 per cent of the global total in 2018, compared with just 9.0 per cent in 1988.
In 2018 India increased its military spending by 3.1 per cent to $66.5 billion. Military expenditure by Pakistan grew by 11 per cent (the same level of growth as in 2017), to reach $11.4 billion in 2018. South Korean military expenditure was $43.1 billion in 2018—an increase of 5.1 per cent compared with 2017 and the highest annual increase since 2005.
‘The tensions between countries in Asia as well as between China and the USA are major drivers for the continuing growth of military spending in the region,’ says Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI AMEX programme.
Increases in Central and East European countries
Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe made large increases in their military expenditure in 2018. Spending by Poland rose by 8.9 per cent in 2018 to $11.6 billion, while Ukraine’s spending was up by 21 per cent to $4.8 billion. Spending by Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania also grew (ranging from 18 per cent to 24 per cent) in 2018.
‘The increases in Central and Eastern Europe are largely due to growing perceptions of a threat from Russia,’ said Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher with the SIPRI AMEX programme. ‘This is despite the fact that Russian military spending has fallen for the past two years.’
At $61.4 billion, Russian military spending was the sixth highest in the world in 2018. Its spending decreased by 3.5 per cent compared with 2017.
Other notable developments
- Military spending in South America rose by 3.1 per cent in 2018. This was mainly due to the increase in Brazilian spending (by 5.1 per cent), the second increase in as many years.
- Military expenditure in Africa fell by 8.4 per cent in 2018, the fourth consecutive annual decrease since the peak in spending in 2014. There were major decreases in spending by Algeria (–6.1 per cent), Angola (–18 per cent) and Sudan (–49 per cent).
- Military spending by states in the Middle East for which data is available fell by 1.9 per cent in 2018.
- Total military expenditure by all 29 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members was $963 billion in 2018, which accounted for 53 per cent of world spending.
- The largest absolute increase in spending in 2018 was by the USA ($27.8 billion), while the biggest decrease was by Saudi Arabia (–$4.6 billion).
- Military spending in Turkey increased by 24 per cent in 2018 to $19.0 billion, the highest annual percentage increase among the world’s top 15 military spenders.
- Six of the 10 countries with the highest military burden (military spending as a proportion of GDP) in the world in 2018 are in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia (8.8 per cent of GDP), Oman (8.2 per cent), Kuwait (5.1 per cent), Lebanon (5.0 per cent), Jordan (4.7 per cent) and Israel (4.3 per cent).
* All percentage changes are expressed in real terms (constant 2017 prices).
Reading for April 27 from Praying for Justice. “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.” Philippians 4: 12
The memoir concludes with an adaptation of a piece published twenty years ago in the inaugural issue of the journal Quaker Theology.
‘A Death Sentence for Tens of Thousands of People’
“It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people.”
The broad sanctions Trump imposed in 2017 fueled a sharp decline in oil production that impeded the Maduro government’s ability to “import medicine, food, medical equipment, spare parts and equipment needed for electricity generation, water systems, or transportation,” and the U.S. president has ramped up economic pressure since offering his support to Guaidó earlier this year.
In late January, as Common Dreams reported, the Trump administration announced sanctions against Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), the state-run oil company that serves as “a primary source of income and foreign currency for the country.” Earlier this month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence unveiled more sanctions targeting the Maduro government as well as companies that transport Venezuelan oil to Cuba.
Overall, Trump’s sanctions have “exacerbated Venezuela’s economic crisis and made it nearly impossible to stabilize the economy, contributing further to excess deaths,” write Weisbrot and Sachs. “All of these impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans.”
“These sanctions would fit the definition of collective punishment of the civilian population as described in both the Geneva and Hague international conventions, to which the U.S. is a signatory,” the economists say. “They are also illegal under international law and treaties which the U.S. has signed, and would appear to violate U.S. law as well.”
“The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports… Congress should move to stop it.”
—Mark Weisbrot, American economist
Given the toll Trump’s economic policies are taking on Venezuela’s civilian population, Weisbrot, in a statementThursday, called on federal lawmakers to take action.
“The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports,” he said. “This is illegal under U.S. and international law, and treaties that the U.S. has signed. Congress should move to stop it.”
As Sachs put it, “Venezuela’s economic crisis is routinely blamed all on Venezuela… But it is much more than that.”
“American sanctions are deliberately aiming to wreck Venezuela’s economy and thereby lead to regime change,” he said. “It’s a fruitless, heartless, illegal, and failed policy, causing grave harm to the Venezuelan people.”
Two American economists warn that U.S. sanctions targeting Venezuela “are a death sentence for tens of thousands of people” and that the nation’s humanitarian crisis will worsen as long as the sanctions continue.
Since August of 2017, President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions that “have inflicted, and increasingly inflict, very serious harm to human life and health, including an estimated more than 40,000 deaths from 2017–2018,” write Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs.
Their paper—entitled Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela (pdf)—was published Thursday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and comes as Trump continues to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s effort to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.