•Alexander Gillespie is a professor of law at Waikato UniversityMillennium goals were adopted by the international community as a way to bring some economic, social and environmental sustainability to the planet. The target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger was nearly achieved, but one in nine people in the world (795 million) remains undernourished. The fact that less-than-transparent China is increasing its military budget again, perhaps to around 2 per cent of GDP, also rattles him. His solution is that American allies should be spending at least 2 per cent of their GDP on their military. This will take the American military spending to at least US$600b a year, although the true figure is probably much higher.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 12, 2017 15:56 UTC