Ukraine

"Even the military-industrial complex looks challenged. The United States spends [nearly $1 trillion a year on defense](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor372), about as much as the next ten countries combined. The return on this investment is not clear. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine blew through several years’ worth of American munitions stockpiles in a matter of months, and American factories have struggled to scale up production. Fighter jets have faced enormous delays and cost overruns. The US Navy has reported that every single class of its ships and submarines is [one to three years behind schedule](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor373)."

"Even the military-industrial complex looks challenged. The United States spends [nearly $1 trillion a year on defense](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor372), about as much as the next ten countries combined. The return on this investment is not clear. In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine blew through several years’ worth of American munitions stockpiles in a matter of months, and American factories have struggled to scale up production. Fighter jets have faced enormous delays and cost overruns. The US Navy has reported that every single class of its ships and submarines is [one to three years behind schedule](private://read/01k3jwt46q240aq6fe12mqkyr0/16_Notes.xhtml#_idTextAnchor373)."

"Asked how he assessed his wealth, he replied: — I feel comfortable, I am not financially short of breath. Cash is accumulating. For example, the price of gold is rising, and we hold shares in a gold mine in Namibia, one of Africa’s largest gold mines. It’s safe there. Soon, I will turn Ukraine into a success as well."

"Gibbs returned to Russia in 1997, and then ventured southwest into Ukraine, which was only six years into nominal independence from Moscow. The Ukrainian economy wasn’t strong and Gibbs had learnt through someone he’d talked to that it was possible to rent part of the Ukrainian army ‘for a few drums of diesel’. He took a couple of his nephews and spent the best part of a week at a camp having fun as these bored and often drunk soldiers fired up all their machines and let the New Zealanders drive them around. There were bridge-laying contraptions, large diggers, old helicopters, amphibians of various sorts and hundreds of tanks. As Gibbs surveyed the dead flat countryside from the driver’s seat of one of these beasts, he understood the region’s recent history with new clarity. There was nothing to stop his advance east or west for thousands of miles."

"Seeing the world from a helicopter is phenomenal. You’re like a voyeur, looking over the neighbour’s fence, and then you come down and mix with locals. From 500 feet, you gain a grasp of the landscape and the geography. Then as you cover more ground, I think I’ve been to 130 countries so far, you get a real understanding of the earth. The first thing you realise is that it’s nonsense when people worry that the earth won’t be able to feed a growing human population. I’ve flown over millions and millions of acres of unused or underused productive land, particularly in the Ukraine and Russia, South America and Africa, where the most obvious example is in Zimbabwe. And the world’s certainly not crowded."