Remembering Arms Spending
Most of us have never heard of SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Swedish think tank whose annual yearbook tracks military spending across the world. Their latest edition tells us that worldwide, arms spending has risen %5.9 for 2008-2009 and almost doubled in the past decade. We now spend $1.6 trillion. The U.S. spent the most, followed by China, with France in third place.
Arms spending is a very old story. While the arms race may now have different players, the U.S. and China instead of the U.S and the Soviet Union, that too is an old story. The SIPRI yearbook is not new either. What is important besides the ever present increase is the fact that this spending exists. Behind every day news, behind the tidbits that occupy our attention on the Web or elsewhere, besides the ups and downs of existing wars, arms spending is an ever present reality. And while it may sometimes be necessary, it is not something we can glide over as easily as most of us normally do. If there’s ever going to be a step towards our swords being turned into ploughshares, it is a reality we owe ourselves to remember.
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