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THERE WERE FEW surprises at the top of a list detailing the world’s most powerful armies this week.
Global Firepower examined the defence forces of 68 countries in order to compile the rankings, taking into account manpower, land systems, air power, naval power, resources, logistics, finances and geography covered.
Nuclear capabilities were excluded from the survey “as the inclusion of such weapons would defeat the purpose of such comparisons”. The placings are based strictly on each nation’s potential conventional war-making capabilities across land, sea and air.
A formula with more than forty different factors was used and the data refined further with bonuses (for things like low oil consumption) and penalties (for example border/coastline coverage).
Check out the top 10, with some accompanying stats…(Spoiler: Ireland did not make the cut.)
Students of Brasilia’s military school attend a ceremony commemorating the Army Day in Brasilia, Brazil in 2011. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Two Italian Army soldiers on patrol with an Italian state police officer at a commuter railway station on the outskirts of Rome in 2008. (AP Photo Pier Paolo Cito)
South Korean special army soldiers demonstrate their martial arts skills during the 64th anniversary of Armed Forces Day at the Gyeryong military headquarters. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to a German Army soldier who wears heavy explosion protection gear during a visit to the Army Training Centre of the German Armed Forces in Letzlingen. (AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz)
France’s President Francois Hollande, shakes hands with soldiers as he visits the army stand at the regional fair in Chalon en Champagne last year. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Soldiers from 32 Regiment Royal Artillery. (Ben Birchall/PA Archive)
Indian army soldiers of Sikh Light Infantry Regiment march during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, India on 26 January 2011. The day marks the anniversary of India’s adoption of a democratic constitution. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A Chinese soldier is reflected on a window glass as he stands guard during a media oppotunity for the coverage of China’s attack helicopter Z-9WZ at a Chinese Liberation Army base last year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Wearing Red Army World War II-era uniforms, Russian troops march in the annual Victory Day parade at Moscow’s Red Square, Friday, 9 May 2008. (AP Photo)
1. USA
A US Army soldier holds keys of Saddam Hussein’s Al-Faw palace at the Camp Victory Complex in November 2011. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
Thumbs up if you think Tony should resign
@Peter O Donnell: why? Could you do his job? Could you do it better?
@Peter O Donnell: thumbs up if you think Peter O Donnell should resign
@Peter O Donnell: Don’t be a t..t, he’s done an amazing job, he even lost his wife during this whole mess. He hasn’t been swayed by those dirt birds in Leinster House. Any advice he has and will give will save people’s lives rather than looking for votes. I support him 100%
@Jimmy Chickens: Peter probably never did a day’s work in his life.
@Peter O Donnell: what a rediculous comment
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: agreed
@Martin O Donnell: 255 think its not at the convince us educated people who know differently your right
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: wonder does Vicky Phelan agree with you on the amazing job done by Tony.
@Peter O Donnell: grow up
@Peter O Donnell: thumb up if you think journal don’t agree with you they deleted my comment
@Richarddoherty: what?
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: he really hasnt
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: this is the guy running the cervical cancer check. Brushed it under the carpet. You trust this guy with life.
@Justin Gillespie: Why would you be so ign-orant as to assume that. Not so long ago you were one of the government cheerleaders saying the country wouldn’t go back to restrictions on hospitality because Martin and Varadkar said so. Your jaw must ache from talking out of both sides of your mouth.
@Charmaine ☘ Irish: my comment was about his neglect to review smear test results while in the job was deleted
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: What did he do that was amazing. He was responsible for shipping the elderly from hospitals to nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic causing the deaths of hundreds if not into thousands. He came back last year when cases were stabilising and against the advice of the acting CMO at the time put the country into a completely unnecessary lockdown. Six weeks from Oct to beginning December no one with a modicum of intelligence would have done that. As for losing his wife, while sad he wasn’t the only one who lost loved ones in the last year. Many have from cancer, heart disease and suicide its not all covid.Many have lost their businesses due to one of longest lockdowns in Europe.Many more will.Maybe a little less of the unnecessary hero worship its embarrassing.
@Peter O Donnell: He should have been sacked after the cervical scandal.
@Peter O Donnell: it’s people like you that are in the history books for committing crimes against humanity. You would be happy to self serve , open everything up and then comment that only the ill are dying.
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: Even after insisting Pandermix was safe despite many European countries pulling it. Tell that to the narcolepsy patients. What about the threatening of staff to not highlight the cervical scandal.
This man should have been sacked years ago, and yet he is pushing big pharmas agenda and doesn’t care if the young, who are not at risk from COVID end up vaccine injured. Sure he survived it before.
@Richarddoherty: what’s that in English?
@Mgt: nail on the head, I’m sure it will be deleted shortly tho.
@Richarddoherty: us educated people, followed by YOUR right. Did you have an irony bypass?
@Peter O Donnell: do you think it will solve the sh.t we deal with? after him will come another “tony”… this is how the politic works
@Sinéad Uí Chrosáin: like the cervical cancer cover up helped save lives? And now the women of Ireland have a lesser cervical cancer screening smear – which is never mentioned anywhere.
@Franny Ando: Not half as ign-orant ah trying to get a man fired out of his job for trying to keep the country safe.
As for me predicting we wouldn’t be going back to restrictions that was before the new variant which has resulted in a huge increase in numbers in South Africa. The knew measures are the minimum we should be doing.
@Peter O Donnell: so tell me this then, he resigns and what? I’ve said it before, he’s not everyone’s cup of tea but he gets up there day in and day out and does a job that I wouldn’t have the testicular fortitude to do.
@Justin Gillespie: There you go again Justin talking out if both sides if your mouth. Tell that to elderly that were literally culled last Mar to May. He should be removed from his job. You though trying to make out that man was unemployed because of his comment. Why would you assume that. Why would you think it was clever to even sneer at someone who is unemployed. Do you think an unemployed person is less intelligent than you or not worth respect. As for your predictions re.Omicrom an excuse. Especially as WHO are still saying it a milder variant.
@Franny Ando: Just remember a lot are now unemployed because of the serious mishandled of covid by government and NPHET.
@Franny Ando: grow up
@Eddie Harkin: A monkey would do a better job.
@Peter O Donnell: the man is a walking saint. Doing a terribly difficult job while grieving the loss of his wife, and having to put up with dopes whose opinions are informed by access to gyms and the pub.
@Jimmy Chickens: brilliant :)
Booster take up increasing = hospital numbers reducing. Great to see.
@Anto Curran: laughable… They can stick the booster. Fool me once. Time to move on
I*d*i*o*t*i*c comment
Something tells me you’re easily fooled.
Hmm so they took a backlog from the last few days to announce a higher number of cases the day they’ll announce more restrictions. Looks like the tinfoil hat crowd weren’t far off the mark
@WHUFCLad: the drop in icu and hospital numbers are encouraging at least!
@WHUFCLad: Ya, it seems they always add the backlog on Friday, Saturday and Sunday numbers for some reason. They have never explained why they don’t always announce the full numbers each day.
What happened to NPHET disbanding in October?
@Adam Rekio: Seemingly they’ve been offered a residency in Las Vegas so keeping the band together is a no-brainer…
@Adam Rekio: NPHET comeback tour, sponsored by Omicron
@Adam Rekio: we would be in he’ll only fie them
@Adam Rekio: almost as though numbers started increasing and then a new strain came along. Do you think Nphet Are the cause of the pandemic and if they disbanded the pandemic would suddenly be over?
Huge drop in hospital and ICU numbers. Has Tony seen them?
@Down With This Sort of Thing #FBPE: Tony only sees the pubs open and wants them closed permanently, disgraceful how one mans prejudice can kill an entire industry.
@Paul O Neill: and a weak government allowing it to happen, and a scared opposition completely quiet, we’re doomed I tell ya, doomed
@Paul O Neill: Our main opposition leader swanning round the U.S.
@Down With This Sort of Thing #FBPE: new varient different game
Ah come off it Holohan. Where ye getting these cases from??
@Robert Clifford: At least 1400 were under reported over the past 2 days alone, judging by the reported lab results.
I think they meant living with restrictions forever not the virus . Top in terms of vaccinated , toughest restrictions in the world, and here we are again. Time we marched on this .enough is enough .
@ChadChaderson: wow..cop on
NPHET have caused more problems to this Country than solutions. They are out of control.
@a: did nphet create covid 19,wud u not say its the virus that’s out control.take off those blinkers have a look at what’s going on all around Europe cases raging there too would you blame all those countries scientific advisors also or is it just easy for ya to blame nphet.ah sure it’s a pandemic we have to shift blame to someone
@Sean Mccabe: Nonsense
@Sean Mccabe: best most intelligent comment so far
@Robert Clifford: thanks for clearing that up
People perfectly willing to consume bad, fatty, sugary foods , will drink, smoke, drug up, and live unhealthy sedentary lives. And yet won’t take a vaccine.
But also, aren’t willing to understand how vaccines work, how it’s not a silver bullet, find masks to be harmful and infringing their rights, and cast COVID as either make believe or a conspiracy “designed to damage fertility and reduce world population”.
And then we have a government which is so slow and weak handed with its handling of this whole thing.
Hope everyone has a decent Christmas.
@Finn Faulkner: “conspiracy “designed to damage fertility and reduce world population”.”
Hah. I wish it was. Might stand some chance of reducing the damage to the planet.
Well Holly god mr holohan will be very annoyed at all us naughty people not behaving as he wants
It’s Christmas party on
@Richarddoherty: god it’s hard to read the stuff on here . Too much time on the couch maybe me thinks
Not too bad. Open the night clubs.
@john smith iv: they are open
@Dáithí Ó Maoileoin: Not for much longer by the looks of things.
10000 children tested positive in last 2 weeks and the dogs in the street know its likely to be a lot more so what do the goverment do ? Yeah keep the schools open and restrict 92% of the adult population that are vaxed from gathering, going to pubs restaraunts etc..bring on a general election and get these bums out of goverment
@Joe Donohue: the only reason that children are becoming infected is because they are living in households where the elders are out partying
@Marianne Sherlock: Rubbish
How about looking after the 92% of people who got doubled jabbed and stop unvaxed from doing anything. We were told vaccinations were the way out and now we are back to restrictions, The goverment have no balls playing “yes sir” with Doc Tony
@Joe Donohue: can we all think about our unvacinated children plz
It is tough I would ask has anyone lost a loved one to Covid This is different from other diseases
@James O’Dwyer: it is we made it ourselves!!
Akin to that scene in the movie “A Perfect Storm”
This virus ain’t going to let us out. We can only keep going around in circles until we have to face the inevitable.
Steady as she goes!!
Is there any data on how many of positive cases are from fully vaccinated people vs non vaccinated people? Would be good to see that break down. Was in hospital there and 2 people were positive while being fully vaccinated. They were both given the all clear and send home to isolate within hours.
Ouch!!!!!
I have covid right now ✊
I have covid right now ✊
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