World military spending rises to almost $2 trillion in 2020
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Total global military expenditure rose to $19
81
last year, an increase of 2.6 per cent in real terms from 2019, according to new data published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
. The five biggest spenders in 20
20
, which together accounted for 62 per cent of global military expenditure, were the United States, China, India, Russia and
the United Kingdom
Military expenditure increases in the first year of the pandemic
The 2.6 per cent increase in world military spending came in a year when global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 4.4 per cent (October 2020 projection by the International Monetary Fund), largely due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, military spending as a share of GDP the military burden reached a global average of 2.4 per cent in 2020, up from 2.2 per cent in 2019. This was the biggest
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Under the Trump Administration, U.S. policy in the Balkans had some important successes, notably, the accessions of Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020) to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the 2020 signing of economic normalization agreements between Kosovo and Serbia.
Progress should not give way to complacency, however. The Western Balkans remain home to unfinished business. The region warrants continued focused attention, particularly considering Chinese and Russian efforts to capitalize on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to burnish their influence in the Western Balkans.
Constructive engagement from the Biden Administration in the Balkans, for instance, by expanding the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), continuing support for Kosovo’s recognition as an independent country, and aiding reforms that will unleash prosperity would build on recent momentum and best minimize the risk that any nefarious outside influences can derail the
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