it seems like a good idea to plan on being able to defend your sovereignty at least long enough until others can come and help. it's not like your allies would not support the country, but it would take some time, especially with all the other stuff already going on...
What if we pivoted all our defense money to health & education, and just let ourselves get annexed by Australia in the climate wars? Then we just cross our fingers that we get the corresponding lower cost-of-living & higher wages, and not just millions of climate refugees...
Sp what are you thinkng. seems liek at least quadruping the budget because have to fight China at 10,000 miles away and they will have the advantage of the central location and much closer. RIght a 4 trillion dollar military budget. And that is only the official military budget. In 2018 the US was spending 1.25 trillion on defense. And the amount we have been spending could not even defeat fourth rate powers like the Afghanistan bedouins and Vietnamese peasents. Maybe 4 trillion is still far too little. So what are you tinking 10 trillion.
I think you are overstating the ability of 5 million people (in a world of 7 billion) that is geographically isolated from the rest of the world (in the southern part of the Pacific region) to become "powerful" by means of a military. I have been in the military and can tell you that there are more officers under the rank of Major in the US Marine Corps than uniformed personnel in our defence force. Let that sink in for a bit. If the US Marine Corps were to send ONLY their officers under the rank of Major they would outnumber our troops... Now consider the other world players. China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc... We have a defence force that is predicated on two things. Defending what is ours and contributing to overseas missions. So let's break that down further. We have one of the largest EEZs in the world (9th largest by area) so patrolling that to monitor illegal fishing, mining, smuggling, and other activities is a priority. We don't want people doing things in our backyard that they shouldn't be. Secondly, we have an economy that is dependent on the trade of commodities which in turn relies on the global order to allow those commodities to be shipped safely from little ol' NZ all the way to the other side of the world cheaply, quickly, and importantly safely. We can't protect the entire trade route from NZ to Europe but we can contribute to some missions that do. Very important that we are seen to be contributing internationally and not just freeloading, so that should something happen that disrupts a trade route that is important to us then we can point to a consistent history of contributions to upholding the general order. Make sense?
ukraine would like to have a chat. you can do a lot if setup as an asymmetric force. it's not like anyone would expect the kiwis to take on china or russia head on
Yes and Ukraine has land borders with other nations that have been able to rapidly reapply it. It also has been preparing for the current invasion since 2014. NZ is strategically in a very different environment and socially in a very differently mentality.
You misunderstand me. We should be rebuilding our military but we need to be smart about how we do it. We need to prioritise the equipment that will most benefit our strategic environment. Which is why the Defence Capability Plan (DCP) is going to be so important.
Never should have given up your modern guns. An armed civilian population could be vital in the next decade...
Paul Politik becomes pariah of the Western left after giving opinion on military spending
At the end of the day, if you can’t defend something, you were only holding it for the one that can. 😅
Any nation needs the capacity to enforce it’s laws and to ensure that potential adversaries respect their authority and sovereignty
Yup like a sitting duck
it seems like a good idea to plan on being able to defend your sovereignty at least long enough until others can come and help. it's not like your allies would not support the country, but it would take some time, especially with all the other stuff already going on...
What if we pivoted all our defense money to health & education, and just let ourselves get annexed by Australia in the climate wars? Then we just cross our fingers that we get the corresponding lower cost-of-living & higher wages, and not just millions of climate refugees...
lol
Small and significant, kek what?
Sp what are you thinkng. seems liek at least quadruping the budget because have to fight China at 10,000 miles away and they will have the advantage of the central location and much closer. RIght a 4 trillion dollar military budget. And that is only the official military budget. In 2018 the US was spending 1.25 trillion on defense. And the amount we have been spending could not even defeat fourth rate powers like the Afghanistan bedouins and Vietnamese peasents. Maybe 4 trillion is still far too little. So what are you tinking 10 trillion.
I cannot and will not tolerate your robot voice
I think you are overstating the ability of 5 million people (in a world of 7 billion) that is geographically isolated from the rest of the world (in the southern part of the Pacific region) to become "powerful" by means of a military. I have been in the military and can tell you that there are more officers under the rank of Major in the US Marine Corps than uniformed personnel in our defence force. Let that sink in for a bit. If the US Marine Corps were to send ONLY their officers under the rank of Major they would outnumber our troops... Now consider the other world players. China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc... We have a defence force that is predicated on two things. Defending what is ours and contributing to overseas missions. So let's break that down further. We have one of the largest EEZs in the world (9th largest by area) so patrolling that to monitor illegal fishing, mining, smuggling, and other activities is a priority. We don't want people doing things in our backyard that they shouldn't be. Secondly, we have an economy that is dependent on the trade of commodities which in turn relies on the global order to allow those commodities to be shipped safely from little ol' NZ all the way to the other side of the world cheaply, quickly, and importantly safely. We can't protect the entire trade route from NZ to Europe but we can contribute to some missions that do. Very important that we are seen to be contributing internationally and not just freeloading, so that should something happen that disrupts a trade route that is important to us then we can point to a consistent history of contributions to upholding the general order. Make sense?
ukraine would like to have a chat. you can do a lot if setup as an asymmetric force. it's not like anyone would expect the kiwis to take on china or russia head on
Yes and Ukraine has land borders with other nations that have been able to rapidly reapply it. It also has been preparing for the current invasion since 2014. NZ is strategically in a very different environment and socially in a very differently mentality.
@@MilStdNZ Come on... Don't you want to become another Ukraine? Although Taiwan will probably do it before you, but you could be third!
You misunderstand me. We should be rebuilding our military but we need to be smart about how we do it. We need to prioritise the equipment that will most benefit our strategic environment. Which is why the Defence Capability Plan (DCP) is going to be so important.
🥴🌚🌚🐻🐻💀