Arm's Race Update

This is, unfortunately, becoming a weekly feature.

The big news this week is the big money being thrown into rearmament by India and by China.

To the alarm of Pakistan, India has increased its military budget by 7.8% for the coming year. It's also in the process of purchasing and license-producing a total force of 1,500 Russian T-80 main battle tanks which should give it the biggest armoured force in Asia, perhaps anywhere.

China, not to be outdone, is bumping its military spending 18% this year. From BBC:

"Just before the announcement, the US released a report criticising China's military spending, and voicing concern over advances in space and cyberspace.

China rejected the Pentagon report as a "serious distortion of facts" that could harm its relations with the US.

"It breaks international norms... We do not pose a threat to any country. The US should drop its Cold War mentality," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In the report, Washington claimed that the real Chinese defence budget for 2007 was at least double the stated amount. "

This is rich, coming from the Pentagon. Bush has increased the Pentagon's budget by 11% for 2008, from $432 to $481-billion (exclusive of War on Terror costs) and the amount of that increase almost equals China's entire expanded military budget which will total around $59-billion.

The Chinese military expansion, however, is serious. McClatchey Newspapers reports that, "...China has aggressively expanded its navy to include 57 attack submarines, including eight equipped with a fierce Russian supersonic missile, known as a “Sizzler,” that some experts consider the finest anti-ship missile in existence."

I know I keep harping on this but Western leaders have to get off their arses and begin demanding that Washington, Beijing, Moscow, Mumbai, Tokyo and the Koreas knock this off, now. This is serious, people. We can't afford to let it go unnoticed, unmentioned.