Defense Minister José Múcio stated this Monday (2) that the Armed Forces need more investment amid the escalation of tensions in the Middle East conflict. For the minister, Brazil needs to pay attention, because “there is no one unarmed in the world anymore”, defending that the country invests 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“I always say that the whole world has armed itself. There is no one left unarmed. (…) There is no one left in the world unarmed, so I think we will have to live permanently in this conflict”, he stated.
Múcio made the statements during the ceremony for the first incorporation of women into the Women’s Initial Military Service, in Brasília. He also stated that the country is closely following the developments of the war and that, to date, there has been no formal request for repatriation from Brazilians. He considered, however, that with all armed countries the “greatest weapon” should be “diplomacy”.
It is not the first time that Múcio has complained about the country’s low investments in strengthening Brazil’s military and military capacity. In September, at the Foreign Relations Committee, in the Federal Senate, the minister warned that Brazil is the country in South America that allocates the lowest percentage of GDP to Defense.
“It is not because we live in peace today that we can guarantee that we will forever be in peace. We witness the world in a rapid evolutionary process: We have left a post-industrial era for an era of disruptive technologies; today we speak of anti-missile systems, hypersonic missiles, laser weapons, artificial intelligence and several other resources”, he declared to parliamentarians.
