--- Richard Baker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Again, I will advertise the second half of my > article "Enemies at the > Gate", which describes the changing state of > European power projection: > > http://www.theculture.org/rich/sharpblue/archives/000031.html > > Rich
Hi Rich. It's an interesting argument - I think I've talked about it with you briefly. I just want to point out, though, that I think you've stacked the deck a little bit. First, you're underestimating the extent to which in the pre-Gorbachev period the US forces were significantly better capitalized than their European counterparts. Air Forces are hideously expensive - and that's where the US had a strong advantage over Europe. Navies are too, and the US advantage was even larger there. Similarly, in raw numbers it's certainly true that Europe had more tanks than the US. Note, though, that the ratio of tanks to tanks is much closer than troops to troops - capital again - and the qualitative difference would shrink that even further. Even more important is the difference in training, which is also hideously expensive. No European country has any equivalent to the NTC for its ground forces, but the NTC is probably more important than any piece of equipment in explaining the success of the American military. The second, larger point I'd make, is that it's true that Europe will, to some extent, have closed the gap with where the US is _today_ by 2015. That's aiming at a moving target, though. The US military is going to have advanced an enormous amount by 2015 - the gap, if I had to guess, will probably be _larger_, not smaller, than it is today. ===== Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
