Why Pentagon Is Still The World’s Biggest Military Force

—Ratna and Nadim Siraj

April 15, 2023

Ameme about the US military has been circulating on social media ever since we’ve had smartphones. It shows a map of China in which the Asian country is surrounded by numerous dots. The dots represent American military bases and flashpoints of US military activity.

What takes the cake are the sarcastic captions of various versions of the meme. One of them reads: “Look, how close they [China] have put their country to our [US] military bases.” Another caption says: “China is threatening our security, NATO leaders say at 2022 summit.”

The only other US military joke that outwits this meme is a certain stupendous claim that the American government makes from time to time – that the Chinese military is on an alarming, expansionist drive, and it threatens to someday take over the petrified planet.

In the context of China’s muscle-flexing over Taiwan, the preceding balloon drama, and China’s general activities in its own backyard, let’s look at some incredible numbers.

The Pentagon, the world’s most hyped military establishment, had at least 750 overseas military bases as of 2021, according to conservative estimates. And American troops have been based in at least 80 countries.

But how many foreign military bases does America’s biggest foe China have? Officially, just one – in Africa’s Djibouti. Unofficially, there are a few more. Beijing is known to have placed a small unit of troops in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan region, and smaller units in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tanzania, Mauritius, Maldives, and Myanmar. That’s it.

If China’s military rise is seen in isolation, it’s worth worrying why the country should be allowed to deploy troops to a place as far away as the Horn of Africa. But compare China’s sole official military base in Djibouti to America’s 750-plus military sites in more than 80 countries – it’s a no-brainer who is the biggest military bully on the planet.

Zero Transparency

For a country that otherwise preaches transparency at the drop of a hat, the US defence department doesn’t share precise data about its foreign military outposts. Instead, all we know so far about America’s overseas military footprint comes from David Vine, an associate professor of sociology at American University in Washington, DC, and the author of the book, Base Nation: How

US Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World.

A few years back, Vine ended speculation about America’s foreign military bases with his landmark research. His investigative work has now become a ready-reckoner for those studying modernday US military history. The Pentagon itself is so secretive about the numbers that even some military-funded studies in America are known to have used Vine’s work as reference instead of government data, which is elusive.

In fact, in 2018, the Pentagon had gone public with some data that is now known to have been grossly underplayed and somewhat misleading. It claimed back then that America had about 500 military bases on foreign soil. In the ‘2018 Base Structure Report’ made public by the US Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, the military said that in 2017, the US Army had 202 overseas sites, US Air Force 166, US Navy 123, and US Marine Corps 23, totalling 514 foreign military bases.

Even if Vine’s research hadn’t happened, the downplayed official figure of ‘514 foreign military bases’ itself appears alarming, considering that no other country on the planet comes close to this number.

If the US war machine indeed has more than 750 foreign bases in over 80 countries – a fact that so far hasn’t been categorically denied by the Pentagon – then the United States has about three times more foreign military sites as compared to the combined overseas bases of all other countries in the world.

The Pentagon-run foreign bases are known to be primarily of two sizes – large, township-size bases that host thousands of soldiers and can operate dozens of military jets; and secretive, small units informally called “lily pads”. The Pentagon’s foreign bases come under 11 commands – Africa, Central, Cyber, European, Indo-Pacific, Northern, Southern, Space, Special Operations, Strategic, and Transportation. One would imagine that most of the overseas US military sites are perhaps deployed in conflict zones. But paradoxically, that’s not the case –Japan, South Korea, and Germany host America’s biggest foreign military sites in terms of number of troops and number of bases.

JAPAN, GERMANY, SOUTH KOREA

As many as 173,000 American soldiers are posted overseas, according to recent estimates. Nearly half of them are deployed in Japan and South Korea – not far from China’s eastern border. The

US has 120 bases in Japan, 119 in Germany, and 73 in South Korea.

The little-known island nation of Guam in the western Pacific – never home to tensions or conflicts of any kind – plays host to as many as 54 US military hubs. America’s military has a footprint in many other faraway places, such as Peru, which hosts two bases, and Australia, which hosts seven sites.

According to data available up to 2021, America’s ally Japan hosts the highest number of US troops – totalling 53,700. Germany is the next major hub of American soldiers (33,900 troops), followed by South Korea (26,400). Japan and South Korea occasionally see the diplomatic mercury rising over tensions surrounding North Korea. But all three countries are largely peaceful, which raises the question of whether the US imperialist machine bullies them into aligning with it on various geopolitical matters on the basis of American military domination.

While Germany is the biggest US military hub in Europe – the Pentagon has around 60,000 troopers on the continent – the next big European bases are Italy (12,300 troops) and staunch military ally Britain (9,300). Germany’s Ramstein Air Base is perhaps the most popular of America’s foreign military hubs, since it’s the biggest one, hosting

11,000 American soldiers. It is big enough to handle about 100 US military jets.

Protecting The Petrodollar System

The recent exit of American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq following their illegal occupation since 2001 hasn’t quite given countries in the Persian Gulf complete relief from US meddling. That’s because the Pentagon’s footprint in Qatar is unlikely to ever shrink. It’s the US imperialist machine’s decadesold pet project to protect the petrodollar system, which is why American troops will remain posted there perpetually, whether the West Asian people like it or not.

South America hasn’t been spared either. The lone US presence on the continent has sparked enough shockwaves over the past few decades, as the Guantanamo Bay facility near eastern Cuba is a well-known US military dystopia.

As for Africa, the news website Mother Jones reported following an investigation that the US has set up “about a dozen air bases” for drones and surveillance on the continent in recent years.

“In addition to Camp Lemonnier [in Djibouti, where China has its lone official foreign military base], we know that the military has created or will soon create installations in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya,

American military machine’s hunger for a hefty budget hardly ever diminishes. In March this year, the White House made a defence budget request for $886 billion for the year 2024, which is higher than the previous budget of $858 billion.

In stark contrast to the US, China pushed up its defence budget last month by 7.2% to $225 billion (1.55 trillion yuan). Evidently, Beijing’s defence spending plan is clearly four times less than that of the Pentagon.

Not just China, but the rest of the world, too, pales in comparison to the American imperialist machine when it comes to overseas footprints. Here’s a look at the official foreign military presence, through troops or just non-combat personnel, in some of the world’s wealthiest and influential nations. These are conservative estimates; the actual numbers could be higher.

Australia has two foreign military hubs, Canada has four. France has 12 foreign bases, most of which are possibly involved in intrusive operations across Africa. Germany has two such bases, while Japan has all of just one – in Djibouti.

The British military has 18 overseas stations. Russia’s troops are stationed in 10 countries, officially, and that includes Ukraine, where Russian military atrocities continue. Russia is suspected to have a military presence in a few other countries.

Turkey has a few foreign bases, too, totalling

Just for the record, the Indian military is known to have some sort of direct or indirect presence, through troops or non-combat personnel, in six countries. They are Tajikistan, Bhutan, Madagascar, Oman, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

All About Propaganda

Coming back to the incomparable comparison between America and China when it comes to foreign military bases, the numbers show that it’s incredible how people all over the world fear exactly the opposite. The Chinese military is simply no match for the Pentagon. Yet, China’s every move in the South China Sea and around Taiwan is scrutinised and feared, while America gets away unnoticed despite routinely carrying out large-scale interventionist acts.

Such a complete contortion of the narrative has been possible thanks to the sophisticated propaganda efforts of the western media. Influenced by pro-West news agencies, proWest governments, pro-West think tanks and watchdogs, and western diplomats, the global mainstream media has been partly hoodwinked and partly co-opted into painting China into a corner as a military monster – when the numbers clearly show that America is the elephant in the room.

Such is the sway of the American Empire and its mesmerising propaganda network that nobody in

(from page 05) (from page 04) calls into question the policy of WPI-linked hikes. In other words, the pricing system appears rigged.

Secondly, as per norms, there is an automatic 10% rise in the rates of non-essential medicines every year. But both in 2022 and 2023, the hike in the rates of essential drugs, including lifesaving medicines, was more than the rise in the price of non-essential medicines. So, the very purpose of linking WPI to the price rise – that is to maintain some sort of a limited administered price control – is defeated.

Allegation Of British Meddling

Meanwhile, making a startling allegation, UK-based advocacy group Global Justice Now, which is taking on Big Pharma as part of its efforts to promote a more equitable healthcare system, recently said the British government is pressuring India “to adopt rules that would drive up medicine prices”.

Basing its allegation on a “draft chapter” of the UK-India trade negotiations, which it claimed has been leaked, the watchdog claims the British government’s “apparent plan” is to push through “stricter intellectual property rules on India” that would “shore up Big Pharma’s medicine monopolies and drive up the price of cheap generic medicines produced in India”.

(from page 06) minerals. It would require breaking the rocks and removing volatile chemicals with evaporation and magnetic impurities with magnets, besides other chemicals and processing. India has never done this, and neither has the best experience, tested technology to rely on, nor established industries for this,” says Sagar Mitra, professor at the department of energy science and engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

Though a number of energy researchers feel this could be a game-changer for India’s electric vehicle industry that now has to import lithium and lithium-ion from a host of countries including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Vietnam, there are others who suggest tempering of expectations.

Deepak Krishnan, an associate director at the World Resources Institute’s India division, reportedly said that a number of hurdles spanning several years need to be overcome before scientists can zero in on the commercial viability of mining lithium in J&K and using it to produce lithium-ion batteries.

“Mining alone would not entail an end to external dependence. Countries like China have developed additional infrastructure and technological expertise, and experience in processing and refining mined lithium to make it ready to be used in batteries. We don’t have anything on that front and would need energy, capital and the government’s hand-holding support for the same,” Krishnan said.

As mandated by the UN Framework Classification, there are four stages for assessment and exploration of geological reserves – G4 (reconnaissance), G3 (prospecting), G2 (general exploration) and G1 (detailed exploration). The Reasi findings belong to the G3 level, where the scientists are still low on confidence about their assessment.

“The process will take many years before actual mining starts. To arrive at a high confidence level, the exploratory companies will undertake the G2 level of assessment after G3, where the indicative resources are calculated, which tells us how much of the deposit could be mined with more facts. Later in the G1 level, the real ‘proved resource assessment’ is done,” said Pankaj Srivastava, a professor at the department of geology in University of Jammu.

“This won’t just harm the global south – a quarter of all medicines used in the NHS (National Health Service of the UK) come from India’s successful generics industry… If agreed, the UK’s demands would threaten the NHS and have a devastating impact on public health across the world,” Global Justice Now posted on its website.

This is no flash-in-the-pan example of foreign intervention in India’s pharma market. During the past decade, multinational pharma giants, eyeing a slot in India’s huge healthcare sector, had reportedly pressured the US to act against the Asian country for stopping local companies from producing new varieties of cheap generic drugs still on-patent.

Among the western drugmakers, Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, and Sanofi had been looking for a share of India’s medicine market at that time.

The cost of essential healthcare spiralling upwards is the worst thing that can happen to a country characterised by grinding poverty, massive economic disparity, and continuous meddling by foreign forces.

The latest turn of events makes one ask a few uncomfortable questions: In an economically unstable country like India, is such a jump in drug prices ethical? Who is actually running the country’s healthcare industry? Is it a clique of pharma companies that has the final say?

Siddharth Goel, senior policy adviser at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, said lithium mine development can take 10 years or more unless India fast-tracks approvals and permits.

THREAT OF TERRORISM, DISPLACEMENT FEARS

The volatility of Kashmir, which has a long history of blood-spilling militant activities, turmoil, crackdowns, and lockdowns, poses its own challenge. A terror group called People’s Anti-Fascist Front has already threatened to attack Indian firms if they dare to be in the “troubled waters” of J&K, and warned that it wouldn’t allow what it called the “exploitation” and “theft” of the region’s resources.

Adding a humane dimension to the problems is the fear of eviction that has gripped the local population of the villages in the lithium find’s vicinity, such as Salal Kotli.

“We have been told about the economic prosperity the discovery of the lithium will bring, but simultaneously, we find ourselves worrying about our possible displacement,” said the village head Preetam Singh. Salal Kotli is home to almost 8,000 people and 2,500 homes.

Once the dust begins to settle in the coming days and months following the emphatic announcements about Kashmir’s lithium deposits, India and the global EV industry will know if it’s indeed a welcome discovery or a treasure that will remain elusive.

Remember what finally happened to the glittering gold deposits in the 1969 western adventure film Mackenna’s Gold?

The market for Generative AI, which is a technology that can create content from scratch, is rapidly becoming crowded amid intense competition between tech moguls. To take on OpenAI-run ChatGPT, Alphabet’s Google has developed a rival technology called Bard powered by its Language Model for Dialogue Applications, or LaMDA); Microsoft has drastically improved its search engine, Bing; and DeepMind, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has designed Sparrow, chatbot. Open Pretrained Transformer, or OPT, is Meta’s answer to GPT.

Why The Letter Is So Relevant

It is in this scenario that the online letter, organised by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, has called on all artificial intelligence labs to immediately pause for at least six months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.

The signatories to the open letter argue that “systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity”.

“Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources,” the signatories wrote. “Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

They raised a number of questions, underscoring the potentially harmful impact of fast-improving AI-based applications. “Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete, and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” the signatories asked.

Recommending that powerful AI systems should be developed only after studying their harmful effects would be positive and their risks manageable, they said the immediate pause in the training of AI systems should be public, verifiable, and comprehensive, and must be used to jointly develop and implement “a set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously audited and overseen by independent outside experts”.

Also, AI developers must work with policymakers if they plan to dramatically accelerate the development of robust AI governance systems, the signatories advised in the open letter.

More than 24,000 people have already signed the letter, and the number is expected to go up. The signatories include Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter; Apple co-founder

Steve Wozniack, noted author Yuval Noah Harari; and Yoshua Bengio, Turing Prize winner, and also founder and scientific director at Montreal Institute of Learning Algorithms.

Also among those who have signed the letter are Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI; bestselling author Andrew Yang; John Hopfield, the inventor of associative neural networks; Connor Leahy, CEO of Conjecture; award-winning children’s book author Kate Jerome; Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn; co-founder of Pinterest Evan Sharp; and Craig Peters, Getty Images CEO.

Many other well-placed names at Berkeley University, Oxford, NY University, Harvard, Cambridge, etc. have also lent their support to the initiative.

Interestingly, days after the letter began circulating and sparked a buzz, Italy became the first western nation to ban ChatGPT, forcing OpenAI to take it offline in the country.

Italy Cracks Down

Italy’s privacy regulator Garante launched an inquiry over the AI-powered chatbot’s alleged breach of privacy rules, accusing it of failing to put in place a proper system for checking the age of users who are supposed to be 13 years or older.

The government agency came down on the AI application’s owner following a nine-hour cyber security breach in March that made people privy to excerpts of other users’ ChatGPT conversations and even their financial information.

ChatGPT has an “absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data” to “train” the chatbot, Garante said.

Apart from Italy, the chatbot is also officially blocked in Russia, mainland China, Hong Kong, Cuba, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

Amid worldwide activities, excitement, suspense, fears, and apprehensions over futuristic AI applications, it’s worth recalling the caution sounded by celebrated English scientist Stephen Hawking in the last years before his demise in 2018.

The author of A Brief History of Time feared that the development of artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. “It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an everincreasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, can’t compete and would be superseded,” he warned.