During the last year we have learned that javelins, stingers and HIMARS are not game changers for Ukraine. One of the lessons that should be learned from the war in Ukraine on the anniversary of the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation is that the United States has the most expensive military in the world but is totally unprepared to fight a first world power. But the trend of budget cuts should stop and indeed be modestly reversed, and defense appropriations should be handled more rationally and professionally than has been the case in recent years. No radical changes or major buildups are needed. The military is certainly neither broken nor unready for combat, but its size and resource levels are less than is advisable given the range of contemporary threats and the missions for which it has to prepare. Nevertheless, 15 years of war and five years of budget cuts and Washington dysfunction have taken their toll. defense spending is three times as large as that of the United States’ closest competitor, China, and accounts for about one-third of all global military expenditures-with another third coming from U.S. Nor is this situation likely to change anytime soon, as U.S. forces have few, if any, weaknesses, and in many areas-from naval warfare to precision-strike capabilities, to airpower, to intelligence and reconnaissance, to special operations-they play in a totally different league from the militaries of other countries. The United States has the best military in the world today, by far. Seven years ago General David Petraeus and analyst Michael O’Hanlon wrote this paean to the U.S.
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