If you look at it in absolute dollar terms the US and the EU combined are pouring like twice the annual military budget of Russia into Ukraine each and every year. But Ukraine is still getting clobbered.
No one has ever done a proper study on Russian Military PPP but looking at some Russian military programs I expect the Military PPP to have an adjustment of like 5. Western analysts, even when they adjust Russian military spending for PPP, they typically use the Civilian PPP which has an adjustment of like 3.
So even if the West spends twice the amount in nominal the Russians are still getting more than double the same equipment.
The money that goes into US weapon production, which you say isn't being sent to Ukraine, is used to replace weapons that they sent there that otherwise wouldn't need to be replaced. It is still money which is being lost that wouldn't have needed to be lost.
Except that by annexing Ukraine, which the US is effectively forcing Russia into doing, Russia is increasing its population faster than it has been losing manpower. And they are also gaining prime land. Chernozem black soils. Plus more heavy industry. If the Russians continue further and also capture Kharkiv and Zaporozhye they will get the Kharkiv Tank factory and Motor Sich back.
Except none of the weapons being used in this war will be of much use in a Pacific War against China. The US are spending money on yet another threat, much like the War on Terrorism, which will divert investment into technologies not useful for future wars. Which is the conflict the US was supposed to be aiming for. The US won't even dare try to fight a land war with China. So all investment into 155mm artillery round production, GMLRS, etc is just a waste of money and time. China has much longer range artillery and rocket artillery than Russia or any NATO country does. All these US and NATO weapon systems they are producing are already obsolete. And they won't even use them because, like I said, they won't even dare fight a land war with China.
If the US wants to counter China what they need is the Constellation class frigate, a replacement for the Arleigh Burke class destroyers, increase Virginia submarine production, improve long range naval strike capabilities. They need the 6th generation fighters. Instead they are defunding and delaying on all those programs to divert more funding to produce conventional and rocket artillery shells.
The US is risking losing any naval and air advantage they once had by plowing money into land warfare weapons they will seldom need.
What the US is actually doing is forcing the Russians to upgrade all their artillery after it being defunded for close to 40 years.
This will make Europe and the other countries neighboring Russia, like Kazakhstan, less safe rather than more.
No. When the Soviet Union collapsed the CIS was established. Georgia and Ukraine were in military and economic alliance with Russia. It is the US that messed the status quo by funding the overthrow of the governments in Ukraine and Georgia (the so called Orange and Rose revolutions) against the Helsinki Accords. Getting those countries to pull out of the CIS, militarize, and attempt to join NATO.
Russia is restoring the status quo. Those countries had been in the Russian sphere of influence for centuries. In Ukraine's case for longer than the US has existed as a nation. Russia would have been ok with those countries being independent and neutral but retaining economic ties with Russia. But the US just simply doesn't allow for countries to be neutral. With them it is always an us vs them proposition.
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