Pak Sahafat – America has become the most war-loving country in the world with 750 military bases in more than 80 countries. A country that has spent 230 years of its 246-year life, or in other words, 93.5% of its history, in direct and proxy wars abroad.
When the words “war”, “occupation”, “intervention” and “military base” come to mind, the name of the United States of America immediately comes to mind. One of the issues that has always drawn the attention of the American domestic and foreign public to the country’s military movements in different parts of the country is the high number of its military bases, which is on the verge of reaching four figures. In such a way that America has established dozens of bases even in the territory of the most powerful and united strategic partners such as England; Bases from inside the embassies to their remote locations.
Why is Britain under American military rule?
A few days ago, a tweet with the content “Britain is subject to America” ​​with an infographic of American military bases in England was published by Matt Kennard, an investigative reporter, which revealed the depth of the White House’s control over its allies.
This image was noticed by various media and received wide coverage because it showed that Britain is in the third place in terms of deployment of American air forces.
Only Japan and Germany, as the two countries that were occupied by the United States military after World War II, host more American air forces than the United Kingdom.
– US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers have recently been deployed to Gloucestershire, southwest England amid tensions in Ukraine.
– 1 in 6 US Air Force personnel overseas is based in the UK.
– The United States Air Force has active military personnel in more than 40 American states, on British soil.
– According to the latest figures in 2021, the United States Air Force (USAF) has 9,730 permanent personnel across the UK, a 22% increase from 6 years ago. So of the 55,223 US Air Force personnel stationed abroad last year, 16% were hosted in the UK.
Before the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan are the first and second countries to host the American Air Force, respectively. Germany has 14 thousand 540 people and Japan has 13 thousand 788 people of American Air Force personnel, which happened because of their defeat and occupation in the last year of World War II (1945).
The fourth largest settlement after Britain is South Korea, which was occupied by the United States after the end of the Korean War in the 1950s. The mission of 8,315 US Air Force personnel there is to deter, protect and defend the Republic of Korea against North Korean attack.
The fate of 750 US military bases in the world
After the Second World War, America began to expand its military bases in Europe and Northeast Asia to confront the Soviet Union. This issue paved the way for the expansion of American military bases outside the borders of this country. Now the US Army has become the biggest tension-causing actor in the world with more than 750 military bases in different parts of the world.
Military expansion around the world, in addition to providing the possibility of American intervention and influence in the host countries, has created the possibility for the United States to quickly enter into a war mode and use its military tools and power against other countries.
Below, the 15 countries that have the most US military bases based on the information of 2021, along with the number of American forces there, will be examined.
- Japan – 120 bases and number of people: 53,713
- Germany _ 119 bases, number of people: 33,948
- South Korea – 73 bases, number of people: 26,414
- Guam – 54 bases, number of people: 6,140
- Italy – 44 bases, number of people: 12,247
- Puerto Rico – 34 bases, number of people: 53,713
- England – 25 bases, number of people: 9,274
- Portugal – 21 bases, number of people: 1,721
- Turkey – 13 bases, number of people: 1,685
- Bahrain _ 12 bases, number of people: 3,421
- Belgium – 11 bases, number of people: 1,147
- Panama – 11 bases, number of people: 2,145
- Marshall Islands – 10 bases, number of people: 1,324
- Kuwait – 10 bases, number of people: 3,731
- Saudi Arabia – 10 bases, number of people: 28,1991
Maintaining bases abroad has long been more controversial not only among the American public but also in the host countries. While the United States benefits from increased influence and often a foreign policy aligned with American interests, the costs may far outweigh the benefits of maintaining the bases. At the same time, hosting the bases creates significant environmental, economic and political problems for the host country, which is not without the effect of reducing public support for the United States.
According to the Defense Manpower Data Center of the US Department of Defense, the US had 171,477 troops overseas in 2021. The most troops were stationed in Japan, Germany and South Korea, respectively; A situation that resembles the sword of Damocles over these actors.
The message of the US military budget increase of 88 billion dollars
One of the components of tension generation and warmongering of America is related to the strange military budget of this country. In 2021, the United States had the highest military budget among other countries in the world by allocating more than 770 billion dollars to its military sector.
The figure of the US military budget is approximately equal to the military budget of 10 countries including China, India, Russia, England, Saudi Arabia, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Australia. This amount of budget is equivalent to 39% of the total military expenses of the world. The US military budget is always growing; The figure, which was estimated at more than 731 billion dollars in 2019, increased significantly in the following years.
Although the US military budget considered for 2020 was estimated to be around 770 billion dollars, but this figure was approved a few days ago with an increase of 88 billion dollars for 2023 in the amount of 858 billion dollars. This means that the desire to continue and intensify militarism and war-mongering is still strong among the politicians and statesmen of this country.
In addition to the issue of the huge military budget, the number of armed forces of this country of 332 million people is significant, which reaches three million people, and about 600 thousand of them are reserve forces, which is 60% more than the average reserve forces of other countries.
America is in the third place in terms of the number of active military personnel, and their number was estimated to be more than 1 million 346 in 2021. But why the number of soldiers, military budget and bases of America is so high, you should look at the history of this country; From 1776 to today, 93% of the history has been spent in war.
Therefore, America has been engaged in direct and proxy wars abroad for 230 years of its 246-year-old life and has never spent a full decade without war. The only time America went 5 years (1935-40) continuously without war was during the isolationist era of the Great Depression.