Comments by "Persona" (@ArawnOfAnnwn) on "The new SUPER WEAPONS with which CHINA hopes to BEAT USA (At least in Asia) - VisualPolitik EN" video.

Ironically, the most often cited usage for laser weapons is precisely against a moving target. An extremely fast moving one in fact - missiles, and perhaps aircraft. The laser gun simply tracks the target across the sky. Since the beam is practically instantaneous, as it moves at the speed of light, it can stay on target. Also you only need a slight movement at the firing point in order to sweep a large arc across the sky, since that's how angles work. And neither smoke nor steam would block it unless you release them continuously (requiring your craft to carry around a large quantity of it), since you're travelling rapidly and so will leave it behind in milliseconds.
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@billfurlong4421 Pretty much true. The US' 2021 defense spending is $753 billion, compared to China's 2021 defense spending of $209 billion. So the US spends about 3.6 times what China spends. Although imo defense spending PER CAPITA is a more illuminating figure, since that accounts for differences in economy size (of course big economies can spend more money for their military - per capita spending corrects for that). Israel tops the list in per capita terms, although the US is a close second. China falls all the way down to 58th place - behind Azerbaijan lol! - while Russia is 25th. The US cares a LOT for its military.
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They've always been like this. They're not sold out per se, as I don't think they necessarily favor any one (although their economic leaning is decidedly neoliberal). They're just hype machines, making the most of every trend they can ride to popularity.
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@curtiscarpenter9881 China actually has a goal to be independent of Russian arms supply by around 2025, which they're so far on track for. They might still buy from Russia after that, but they won't really need to as they'll have enough capacity at home.
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@silveriver9 American wars don't typically involve much additional strength from their allies. Even Afghanistan was almost entirely an American operation, with the only significant (but still minor) help provided by the British. America calls on its allies not for troops, but for 1) bases for them to fight from, but most importantly 2) legitimacy - war looks a lot better when it's not just you doing it, since if lots of nations are going to war with your enemy then it makes them look like the bad guy. In other words, they do it to look good. The US loves to think of itself as the hero, hence the 'grand alliance'.
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@silveriver9 I didn't say they were heroes, just that they like to present themselves as such. Both for their international standing but especially in order to gain domestic public support for whatever war they're in. Most people see war as a bad thing, so in order to drum up support for it you have to convince people that said war is for a good cause. And that's easier to do when you have other nations also backing up your claims of a 'just war'.
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