NEW YORK — I was recently surprised to learn that Singapore has 72,500 troops on active duty and plans to double the number of "combat-ready aircraft" to more than 200. It also plans to have 10 more submarines to add to the four it has today. Or so the Wall Street Journal reported ("Asia's New Arms Race," Feb. 12-13).

In fact, Singapore has "one of Asia's most modern armed forces," according to a U.S. military site proudly announcing the country's purchase of 12 more F-15 fighter jets for $1 billion (October 2007).

The island nation is smaller than New York City (90 percent in land and 60 percent in population). Yet its annual military expenditure of $9 billion is 3.4 times as large as that of Vietnam (population 18 times as big) and 70 percent larger than that of Indonesia (population 50 times bigger).