'Return to Realism' - The World has become a Dangerous Place Fomenting Conflicts, Fostering Uncertainty and Fueling Surges in Defense Spending Globally

The Global Defense Spending reached an unprecedented and all time high level of $2.443 Trillion for 2023, as per SIPRI, in its latest annual release on trends in world military expenditure. The global defense spending registered a 6.8% year-on-year increase for 2023 driven by return of great power competition with the rise of China as the chief revisionist power posing a serious threat to the U.S.-led world order with its military ascension and regional hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region, continuous deterioration in security levels globally, resurgence of Russian threat to Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia and return of tectonic friction, in form, of political conflicts in the Middle-East sparked by Iran-backed Axis of Resistance led by multiple non-state actors active in the region which are once again working subversively & successfully towards getting Israel labelled as the proverbial bad guy of the Middle East worthy of the entire world's ire and wrath for its invasion of Gaza. Consequently, the entire world is once again re-arming as the traditional, rule-based world order led by the West has given way to the multi-polar power struggles across regions with the NATO and the West effectively up against Russia-China-North Korea-Iran axis in what could be termed as a potential build-up to another major conflict akin to the Cold War of sorts. The global defense spending reached the unprecedented level of $2.4 Trillion for 2023 which is the highest ever level witnessed since the end of Cold War in 1990 with global per capita military spending being at $306 level as major surges were witnessed across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East regions. Among the top military spenders globally, namely, the U.S., China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia; Russia topped the list in terms of annual defense spending growth for 2023 with a whopping 24% annual increase owing primarily to its ongoing war in Ukraine. China, too, registered a 6% year-on-year growth rate while Saudi Arabia and India registered a 4.3% and 4.2% growth respectively for 2023, as per SIPRI. The U.S. registered a paltry 2.3% annual growth in defense spending for 2023 marking a stark contrast from the revisionists. At present rate and with multiple geopolitical conflicts raging across regions globally the growth in global defense spending is likely to be sustained and it is likely to reach the $3 trillion level by the end of current decade. The World has become a dangerous place indeed and humanity is paying the price dearly and in full measure for the political ambitions, imperialist adventurism & revisionist overtures of the few with innumerable hungry, homeless, broken & hopeless people and their sufferings abound across Gaza, Ukraine and other conflict zones globally...Will this cyclical vicious cycle of geopolitical conflicts and the resultant human sufferings ever be broken perennially so that all of us, with God's grace, could be unbroken as people with humanity emancipated from the clutches of geopolitics forever...Amen!