ST. PETERSBURG, May 26. 'The economic strength of the US is not without a limit, and its possibilities are not limitless,' said Politika Fund President Vyacheslav Nikonov at a session of the 12th annual Russian-American seminar, which is taking place at St. Petersburg State Univeristy.
Nikonov said that the US share of the world economy at the present time is about 22%, however, in 1945 it reached 40%. In part, he said that in the middle of the 18th century, China had a 36% share of the world economy and India had 28%, and the largest share among European great powers was Russia with 5%.
However, Nikonov said that at the present time the military strength of the US is unprecedented. He said that 'during the Vietnam war it took ten sorties to guarantee the destruction of one target, but during 'Desert Storm' it took only five sorties to destroy about 30 targets. The quality of the military strength of the US has significantly increased. Nevertheless, with all of this unprecedented power it is impossible to imagine a situation where the US would use its military strength against a nuclear power,' he said.