the U.S. doesn't have the world's leading military anymore, and not even the second: it's likely a distant third behind China and Russia
The inconvenient truth, that's becoming clearer by the day, is that the U.S. doesn't have the world's leading military anymore, and not even the second: it's likely a distant third behind China and Russia despite spending much more than both of them combined.
Most serious military experts (like Sam Roggeveen here 
: foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/03/chi), especially after Beijing's parade yesterday, now say - to quote the piece - that "it is no longer enough to say that China’s military is catching up, or that it is copying foreign military equipment designs. China is now innovating, and it is leading."
It is also leading in raw numbers: number of personnel, number of ships in its navy, number of tanks, number of hypersonic missiles, number of drones, military production capabilities, etc.
And as we're seeing in Ukraine, a war which - make no mistake - is a proxy war between NATO and Russia, Russia can win a war against the combined effort of NATO even when the latter have a home territory advantage (NATO trained and prepped Ukraine for years before Russia invaded). As the General Secretary of NATO himself admitted in July (nytimes.com/2025/07/05/mag), Russia is "now producing three times as much ammunition in three months as the whole of NATO is doing in a year."
And remember: China's production capabilities are likely orders of magnitude greater than Russia's. It is, after all, now the world's sole manufacturing superpower (cepr.org/voxeu/columns/).
This all goes a long way to explain many of the US's recent moves. Despite all the brave talk, fact is that the US is capitulating in Ukraine and withdrawing from Asia (open.substack.com/pub/arnaudbert). And, now incapable to impose its will on serious powers, the US has chosen the path of least resistance: intensifying the economic pillaging of weak, compliant Europe.
Which makes the whole thing relatively ironical: turns out the fear to have for a more powerful Russia and China were not so much Russia and China themselves but more how the US reacts when it can no longer satisfy its imperial lust outside of its sphere of influence - like a weakened predator that can no longer take down big game, so turns to devouring its own pack.
: foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/03/chi), especially after Beijing's parade yesterday, now say - to quote the piece - that "it is no longer enough to say that China’s military is catching up, or that it is copying foreign military equipment designs. China is now innovating, and it is leading."
It is also leading in raw numbers: number of personnel, number of ships in its navy, number of tanks, number of hypersonic missiles, number of drones, military production capabilities, etc.
And as we're seeing in Ukraine, a war which - make no mistake - is a proxy war between NATO and Russia, Russia can win a war against the combined effort of NATO even when the latter have a home territory advantage (NATO trained and prepped Ukraine for years before Russia invaded). As the General Secretary of NATO himself admitted in July (nytimes.com/2025/07/05/mag), Russia is "now producing three times as much ammunition in three months as the whole of NATO is doing in a year."
And remember: China's production capabilities are likely orders of magnitude greater than Russia's. It is, after all, now the world's sole manufacturing superpower (cepr.org/voxeu/columns/).
This all goes a long way to explain many of the US's recent moves. Despite all the brave talk, fact is that the US is capitulating in Ukraine and withdrawing from Asia (open.substack.com/pub/arnaudbert). And, now incapable to impose its will on serious powers, the US has chosen the path of least resistance: intensifying the economic pillaging of weak, compliant Europe.
Which makes the whole thing relatively ironical: turns out the fear to have for a more powerful Russia and China were not so much Russia and China themselves but more how the US reacts when it can no longer satisfy its imperial lust outside of its sphere of influence - like a weakened predator that can no longer take down big game, so turns to devouring its own pack.https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1963501061773447254
posted by Satish Sharma at
04:35
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