Spending on defence

Germany is in the throes of a demographic crisis, in which there are not enough young people entering the labour market to replace those who are retiring. There is an annual net loss of 400,000 to the workforce and the shortage is particularly acute in many of the traditional cra ...  Show more

We look at what China’s latest “Two Sessions” reveal about the direction of the world’s second-largest economy. With Beijing setting its lowest GDP growth target since 1991, the focus appears to be shifting from rapid expansion to stability in an increasingly uncertain global eco ...  Show more

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to one of the biggest shifts ever seen in Germany's post-war foreign policy. Vladimir Putin managed to achieve what NATO allies spent years trying to: a massive increase in Germany's military spending and a commitment to NATO's spending target ...  Show more

For decades, Germany has downplayed military spending. But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the government reversed its longstanding ban on sending weapons into war zones, and announced a plan to spend an additional 100 billion euros to upgrade its armed forces. Bloomberg seni ...  Show more

This week, Mike sits down with Major General Arnold L. Punaro (USMC ret.), Chief Executive Officer of the Punaro Group, to discuss his new book, The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force, which covers the history of U.S. defense spending and why the number of warfighters is declining des ...  Show more

Nato’s secretary-general is warning the west not to underestimate Russia, Cigna is in talks to merge with Humana in a deal that would create a US health insurance giant worth $140bn, and an audio essay by the FT’s Najmeh Bozorgmehr explores Iranians’ complicated feelings about ...