UAE is ranked the world’s fifteenth biggest military spender

UAE's military occupation in Bahrain to help suppress a popular revolt

UAE’s military occupation in Bahrain to help suppress a popular revolt

UAE is ranked the world’s fifteenth biggest military spender
April 14, 2014 Press Release, Stockholm, Sweden

UAE is ranked to fifteenth place with $19 billion in the list of SIPRI Military Expenditure Database 2014.

Middle Eastern nations increased their military expenditure by billions of dollars last year, Saudi Arabia, the largest spender in the region, increased spending by 14 per cent to a total of $67.0 billion in 2013. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ranked to fifteenth place with $19 billion. The comprehensive annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database is accessible from today at www.sipri.org.

According to the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Military Expenditure Database, the gobal military expenditure was $1747 billion in 2013, a fall of 1.9 per cent in real terms since 2012, according to figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The database describes the global, regional and national trends in military expenditure that are revealed by the new data.

The fall in the global total comes from decreases in Western countries, led by the United States, and despite increases in all other regions. In fact, military spending in the rest of the world excluding the USA increased by 1.8 per cent.

The next three highest spenders—China, Russia and Saudi Arabia—all made substantial increases, with Saudi Arabia leapfrogging the United Kingdom, Japan and France to become the world’s fourth largest military spender. China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are among the 23 countries around the world that have more than doubled their military expenditure since 2004.

The fall in US spending in 2013, by 7.8 per cent, is the result of the end of the war in Iraq, the beginning of the drawdown from Afghanistan, and the effects of automatic budget cuts passed by the US Congress in 2011. Meanwhile, austerity policies continued to determine trends in Western and Central Europe and in other Western countries.

‘The increase in military spending in emerging and developing countries continues unabated,’ said Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure Programme. ‘While in some cases it is the natural result of economic growth or a response to genuine security needs, in other cases it represents a squandering of natural resource revenues, the dominance of autocratic regimes, or emerging regional arms races.’

Saudi Arabia and Iraq dominate increase in the Middle East

Military spending in the Middle East increased by 4.0 per cent in 2013, reaching an estimated $150 billion. Saudi Arabia’s spending increased by 14 per cent, to reach $67 billion, possibly due to tensions with Iran but also the desire to maintain strong and loyal security forces to insure against potential ‘Arab Spring’ type protests.

Maintaining regime survival in the face of internal opposition is also the likely motive for Bahrain’s 26 per cent increase. However, the largest regional increase was by Iraq (27 per cent), as it continued the rebuilding of its armed forces.

‘Military spending data for Iran, Qatar, Syria and the United Arab Emirates are not available for 2013, which means that the estimated regional total is highly uncertain. This reflects the general opacity of military spending in the region, and even where data is available it may not cover all military spending,’ said Dr Perlo-Freeman.

Resources fuelling arms acquisitions in Africa

Military spending in Africa increased by 8.3 per cent in 2013, reaching an estimated $44.9 billion. Over two-thirds of the African countries for which data is available increased military spending in 2013. Algeria became the first country in Africa with military spending over $10 billion, an increase of 8.8 per cent since 2012, and of 176 per cent since 2004. Meanwhile, Angola increased its spending by 36 per cent in 2013, to overtake South Africa as the largest military spender in sub-Saharan Africa, and the second highest on the continent. High oil revenues appear to be a factor driving both Algeria’s and Angola’s military spending increases.

Read full report: Military spending continues to fall in the West but rises everywhere else, says SIPRI
http://www.reparationlaw.com/news/military-spending-continues-to-fall-in-the-west-but-rises-everywhere-else-says-sipri/

Related News

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala eyes bigger regional military supply chain role
http://reparationlaw.com/caselaw/817/

Photograph: UAE’s military occupation in the Kingdom of Bahrain to help suppress a popular revolt.
http://reparationlaw.com/caselaw/category/country/uae/abu-dhabi/

TABLE: Countries with highest military expenditure in 2013

1) USA: $640 billion
2) China: $188 billion
3) Russia: $87.8 billion
4) Saudi Arabia: $67 billion
5) France: $61.2 billion
6) UK: $57.9 billion
7) Germany: $48.8 billion
8) Japan: $48.6 billion
9) India: $47.4 billion
10) South Korea: $33.9 billion
11) Italy: $32.7 billion
12) Brazil: $31.5 billion
13) Australia: $24 billion
14) Turkey: $19.1 billion
15) UAE: $19 billion

(Principal Source: SIPRI)

Links to State-sponsored Terrorism

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ranked to fifteenth place with $19 billion in the list of annual update of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. Terror is being practiced by the Regime of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, against its own people, foreign nationals and its neighboring countries. Some of the links to the UAE’s state-sponsored terrorism are as in the following:

UAE Funding for Coup in the Middle East

 

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