The emerged Russian threat (with the first graph since my return)

I mentioned over a year ago that Russia and China were undergoing major military expansions, with their military budgets doubling in the five years between 1999 and 2004. Today Michael of Innocent Bystanders put up a post noting that Russia has just tested two new ICBMs. That prompted me to update my earlier earlier expenditures graph, which only went through 2004. Would you have thought that their spending was continuing to increase at this rate?

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They continue to increase spending at a rate of roughly 10% per year, even though they currently have minimal military commitments. For countries where economic growth is imperative, the commitment to that increased spending is telling. Both of these countries have read the writing on the wall, and both know that the geopolitical situation in 10 years will depend upon a combination of alliances, economic strength, and military force.

We don’t live in the pacifistic world that the anti-war crowd claims has been soiled by our current military deployments. In 10 years we won’t live in a world that permits the economic largesse typified by the liberals’ domestic agenda. At that time, it won’t be conservatives who are disillusioned when the idealistic assumptions of the liberal set are proven untrue.

Again.