None.
I can dream can’t I?
We (the West) almost have to escalate though mk, if it was the Russians. This sort of nonsense can’t be acceptable. This was a plane departing from Europe on a common flight path for European to Asia flights. In my view, this is a direct attack on NATO (as any flight on that path would have very likely originated from a NATO country). Worse its a direct attack on NATO civilians.
AKA the US will get stuck leading and paying for it because Russia could likely crush everyone else in NATO combined (except for maybe the UK).
^ The US pays for the benefits it receives as a superpower. That said, France and the UK each led more strikes in the NATO operation in Libya so other countries do pull their weight with NATI If the US sends 100 planes, 10 from Canada is proportional based on population. The US will take a leading role because its by far the largest country in the alliance. The Dutch sent troops to Afghanistan along with the other NATO partners in defense of the US as well. Its not a one sided coin. Today the Dutch were attacked.
^ As a canadian I’m still astounded by the size and excessiveness of the US military. I was just looking on Wikipedia and apparently the Canadian air force (with 400 planes, 100 of which are fighter planes) is the 6th largest in the Americas, behind Brazil and 4 separate branches of the US military.
Yeah, I always get a new perspective on US military might when I visit places like San Diego. Last time I was there I saw more destroyers and frigates than Canada’s entire Navy, and that doesn’t include the aircraft carrier and submarines I saw as well. The US has insane resources. All of NATO can be thankful of that
I’ve long said that the US should start billing its allies to recoup the cost of the implicit military protection they get and money they don’t have to spend since the US will protect them anyway. (I’m only partially joking. Canada and Europe collectively probably save hundreds of billions a year on national defense because of the US)
The US has almost as many combat aircraft as Russia and China combined. Silly yanks.
If it came to that, then chances are that these allies would likely decline, which would hurt the US’ global projection.
I think people don’t realise how much the US military costs - and how far ahead they are of everyone else because of it. To put it into perspective, the US Navy alone dominates the seas because of their carrier groups. I’m not even talking about the super carriers (the ones you always read about), on top of that they have different carriers for different purposes, which can also be part of a carrier group. Then they have destroyers, frigates, supply ships, subs just to escort a super carrier. Each super carrier carries over 60 planes, broken down into helis, surveillence, and fighters. Each carrier group is the size of most country’s navies. The US navy has 11 carrier groups.
They can have air superiority in any hotspot that is located near an ocean.
China (one of the newest ‘world powers’) has 1 carrier in testing, for comparison. UK has one active, FRA has 1 active, RUS has one active.
The reality is US military power also provides an economic benefit to their country. It supports a defense industry that exports billions in arms worldwide every year. If they didn’t have that base domestic demand, they likely wouldn’t be as competitive in that space. Not that this completely justifies the expenditure.
Would other countries, like Canada, benefit economically if they increased their military expenditure?
Duplicate
Marginally. But most of the stuff we’d buy would ultimately come from the US. Even our “Canadian” defense contractors are generally ultimately owned by the General Dynamics type companies of the world. Like the F35. There might be some Canadian jobs created but the US benefits much more from the program. The developer of the technology makes way more than the guy getting the service contract.
So Japan would have an even larger economy and a higher standard of livng if they had been allowed to build up their military in parallel with the US…
There’s no question that the US is the prime beneficiary of stationing troops abroad. It maintains American military reach globally, defends American interests, and ensures that these allies stay pro-US and in line with American strategic objectives. It doesn’t make any sense to suggest that these allies pay for American protection.
Japan would be far better off if it was allowed to build up its own military. They are starting to do that now.
So is MAS as an airline done for? People already had doubts about using them after the MH370 debacle, the last thing they needed was more negative publicity. I’ve flown with them a couple times to Thailand and Beijing and had no problems, but people will surely be having second thoughts about flying with an “unlucky” airline.
MAS is to blame for flying across war territory, but Lufthansa & Turkish Airlines etc did the same (before the incident). I think it is bad karma that it is again MAS…!! But other companies are also involved, Allianz provides for the insurance for MAS…
Just read this article last week.
http://www.businessinsider.com/magnitude-of-us-naval-dominance-2013-11