US defence spending is huge, but it’s probably nowhere near enough

Despite evidence from the war in Ukraine and China’s growing belligerence toward Taiwan, US defence spending shows it is sleepwalking into a decisive decade for geopolitics.

Bret Stephens

Dec 7, 2022 – 2.12pm

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Last week, the United States Air Force unveiled its first new strategic bomber in 34 years – a boomerang-shaped stealth plane called the B-21 Raider that may ultimately cost taxpayers some $US200 billion ($298 billion) – and the country barely noticed. Also last week came reports that China’s nuclear warhead stockpile had doubled since 2020 and could reach 1500 by the mid-2030s, closer to parity with the United States and Russia.

This also went mostly unnoticed. Maybe everyone was too busy freaking out over Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.