Defense Budget to Grow by 28%

[CHIMO]

Although defense spending accounts for 17 percent of the budget, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday that there is no reason to suggest the budget is militarized.

"National defense spending in the draft 2005 budget is at 2.6 percent to 2.7 percent of gross domestic product, as in previous years," he said in televised remarks.

"Not a single benefits recipient will be forgotten," Kudrin said.

He said, however, that the extra $1 billion is still kopeks compared to other countries' defense budgets: While Russia's 2004 defense budget is 411 billion rubles, the U.S. budget is $411 billion.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/08/24/002.html

Sounds familiar. Same old.

[skooooo]

1. absolutely outrageous

duh..edit because i misread.

[Radius]

2. misread

The article refers to a russian boost in defense spending. Of all the things russia needs to spend money on defense is not one of them.
IMHO.

[PurityOfEssence]

3. Isn't it about time to go back to calling it the War Department?

Really.

[teryang]

4. Errr, US defense budget is $500 Billion

The US spends the Russian budget every 17 days.

Military spending nears $1 trillion
By Thalif Deen

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/FH19Dj01.ht...

<The final tab for this year, Goldring said, is likely to be about $500 billion...><snip>

<"Despite President Bush's rhetoric about realigning military forces, the new military budget still funds Cold War weapons designed to counter expected Soviet developments. But the Soviet Union hasn't existed for more than a decade," she said.

Frida Berrigan, a senior research associate at the World Policy Institute's Arms Trade Resource Center, said that according to the 2005 budget, the US will spend about $1.15 billion a day, or $11,000 a second, on defense. "In comparison, we spend half that on public education per year per child in the United States," she said.

Under the Bush administration, Pentagon spending has increased more than 23% (in adjusted dollars). But while many Americans think that money is for the "war on terrorism", that is not the case, Berrigan said. The defense allocation does not include the costs of ongoing fighting - about $5 billion each month - in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"These costs are paid through emergency supplementals. So far, the US Congress has signed off on $190 billion in supplemental spending for war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan," she said. <snip>

[JSJ]

5. us military budget is supra-larceny in action n/t