Russia, NATO and American Power
In 1989 Moscow possessed very substantial military power and was surely troubled by the U.S. invasion of Panama that year. Yet, it is unlikely that USSR military power had any deterrent effect on decision-making in Washington. Panama was clearly in the “sphere of influence” of the U.S. and of no vital interest to the USSR. Washington also understood that in regard to super-power interests in the Western Hemisphere (and the play of deterrence) there was a big difference between Panama and Cuba. The White House could proceed confident that the USSR would not go to war over Panama — while Cuba would be another matter. In the context of Cold War global relations the U.S. was free to coerce a change of the Panamanian regime.
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The Stimson Center has published a report
on sequestration-level funding of the Pengaton — a level so many
government officials decry as critically insufficient. The Stimson
analysts report that:
“FY16 would be the smallest defense budget through at least FY21 and
could mark the low point of the fourth up and down cycle of defense
spending since the start of the Korean War. Adjusted for inflation,
spending during the three prior low points averaged $386 billion in
total funding. In comparison, the current cycle looks to hit its nadir
in FY16 at $492 billion in base discretionary defense funding, a level
more than $100 billion higher than the average of previous nadirs. In
fact, this cycle’s low point would fall slightly above the average of
all non-war defense budgets since 1951. As a result, DOD can expect to
have at least 27 percent more funding than in past downturns.”
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