negating non-intervention

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

JC Helary:

>Remilitarization in Japan ? The only thing Japan needs right now is the right
>(and the means) to project it's armed forces outside the archipelago. Somebody
>correct me but I think the budget of the armed forces in Japan is the second
>in the world (???)

I believe that Japan's armed forces are the second most sophisticated 
military machine in the world.  While the Center for Defense 
Information says Japan takes third place in terms of military budget, 
much of Russia's military hardware must be by now antiquated & ill 
maintained, with its troops poorly paid & demoralized in the war with 
Chechen separatists:

*****   FACT SHEET
Prepared by the Center for Defense Information
Ph: (202) 332-0600/Fax: (202) 462-4559

By Christopher Hellman, Senior Analyst

February 7, 2000

Last of the Big Time Spenders:

U.S. Military Budget Still the World's Largest, and Growing

Selected Countries	Military Budget
United States		$305.4 Billion
Russia*			$55.0
Japan			$41.1
China*			$37.5
United Kingdom		$34.6
France			$29.5
Germany			$24.7
Saudi Arabia		$18.4
Italy			$16.2
South Korea		$11.6
Taiwan			$10.7
India			$10.7
Brazil			$10.3
Turkey			$8.9
Australia		$7.2
Netherlands		$7.0
Israel			$6.7
Canada			$6.7
Spain			$6.0
Iran			$5.7
Greece			$3.8
Poland			$3.2
Norway			$3.2
Kuwait			$3.0
Syria			$2.9
Pakistan		$2.7
Denmark			$2.6
Belgium			$2.5
Egypt			$2.2
Portugal		$1.6
Iraq			$1.4
Libya			$1.3
North Korea		$1.3
Yugoslavia		$1.3
Czech Republic		$1.2
Vietnam			$0.9
Cuba*			$0.8
Hungary			$0.7
Sudan			$0.4


Figures are for latest year available, usually 1999.  Expenditures 
are used in a few cases where official budgets are significantly 
lower than actual spending.

* 1998 Funding

Table prepared by Center for Defense Information.
Sources: International Institute for Strategic Studies, Department of Defense

"For 45 years of the Cold War we were in an arms race with the Soviet 
Union.  Now it appears we're in an arms race with ourselves."

Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Deputy Director
Center for Defense Information

<http://www.cdi.org/issues/wme/spendersFY01.html>   *****

Yoshie