The Russian-Ukraine conflict has made the already overwhelmed world worse, but the United States is still trying every means to help the war. Just last week, U.S. leaders also asked Congress to approve a $33 billion "emergency supplementary fund for fiscal year 2022", of which up to $20.4 billion will be used for military and security aid to Ukraine.
Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the United States has continuously provided Ukraine with deadly weapons, adding fuel to the tension. (Comics | Liu Rui)
Why is the United States keen on "handling a knife"? Because of "there are money". As Franklin Spinney, former military analyst at the Pentagon , admitted, "Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Pentagon, K Street (the gathering place for lobbying companies in Washington), military industry enterprises and the entire Capitol have quietly opened champagne to celebrate."
April 10, 2022, Assistant to the National Security Affairs of the US President said in an interview with NBC that the United States is delivering weapons day and night and organizing and coordinating many other countries to do the same so that Ukraine can get what it needs.
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"War is a big business for the United States"
The United States has only been more than 240 years since its founding, and only more than ten years have not started a war with the outside world. A history of the United States is also the history of the American military-industrial complex .
0 The end of the 19th century to the end of World War I, the United States took advantage of the east wind of the second industrial revolution in , surpassing the former "big brother" Britain in one fell swoop and becoming the world's number one industrial power. The United States has soared its strength and its ambitions have also expanded. It is urgently needed a strong military force to protect its expanding overseas interests, which has laid the foundation for the times for the formation of the US military-industrial complex.
During the of World War II, as the " ammunition database " on the European battlefield, major American military-industrial enterprises achieved explosive development. The five famous military giants today - Lockheed Martin, Boeing , Northrop Grumman, Thor and General Dynamics - have all made their fortunes since then.
The cover comic of "Newsweek" published in June 1969 revealed that the military-industrial complex obtained a large amount of funds from the US Treasury Department and expanded rapidly.
With the power to control the distribution of huge contracts, various parliamentarians have used military-industrial enterprises to create employment and strengthen the votes in their respective constituencies, and have become grasshoppers on the same rope as military and military-industrial enterprises. The military-industrial complex model was officially established.
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No war, just create war
After the end of World War II, the "hot war" was gone, and the military-industrial complex turned to creating a cold war, continuing to incite arms races and expand arms trade. As a scholar at that time said, "Confronting communism helps profits, finding profits is also conducive to fighting communism. What a harmonious interest relationship."
A large number of American scientific research institutions and university scholars also launched a comprehensive confrontation with the Soviet Union in scientific research and ideology , and thus was involved in the military-industrial complex and became a new member of this symbiotic relationship. The "five pillars" structure of the military-industrial complex is becoming increasingly clear-cut - the US military, arms giants, politicians, think tanks, and media.
Wait until The Soviet Union collapsed . The Cold War ended, and the United States once "relatively defeated". Without enemies, where does the demand for weapons come from? Without demand, where can you make money? Therefore, the military-industrial complex started to make narrative routines such as "democratic transformation" and "human rights are higher than sovereignty", pretended to be "a benevolent empire that had to take action due to moral responsibility", launched wars on the outside in the name of peace, and fought against all corners of the world.
At the 2017 American Screenwriters Union Awards award ceremony, director Oliver Stone pointed out that the fundamental reason why the United States continues to launch wars is not who is the president, but a system issue.
Whether it is taking out a tube of "laundry detergent" and illegally invading Iraq , or scheduling "white helmets" to bravely save people in Syria , or hitting Afghan and then pulling away, the military-industrial complex has long been accustomed to packaging its own selfish interests as the national interests of the United States, or even the common interests of the "democratic camp" and the "free world".What's the result? The military-industrial complex has made a lot of money, but the better lives of hundreds of millions of people in the vast number of developing countries have been ruthlessly trampled on.
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peddling panic, cutting allies leeks
Former US Secretary of State Kissinger once said: "Becoming an enemy of the United States may be dangerous, but becoming a friend of the United States is fatal." The Ukrainian crisis is the best example.
Since 2008, the United States has been constantly encouraging Ukraine to join EU and NATO , making Ukraine a pioneer in anti-Russia and pro-US in the Eurasian region. The U.S.-made missile sold at a high price almost reached the Russian-Ukrainian border and could directly attack Moscow in a few minutes, forcing Russia to bear it, and finally escalated regional tension into a military conflict.
On April 28, 2022, US President Biden delivered a speech at White House , asking Congress to approve the "Finance 2022 Emergency Supplementary Fund" with a total amount of US$33 billion to provide security, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. After the outbreak of the conflict, the United States not only did not make any efforts to cool down the situation, but instead stated that it would "put Russia into economic, financial, technological and psychological isolation, and let the Russian people return to the 'Soviet' living standards of the 1980s." The reason is self-evident, because diplomacy can’t make much money, and a truce agreement cannot feed the arms company.
provides military assistance to Ukraine in the top ten countries. (Source | Kiel World Economics Research Institute in Germany)
War dealers reactivate NATO " brain-death " by exaggerating Russia's "military threat" and selling security anxiety, coaxing European countries to strengthen "military deterrence" and prying open the wallets of allies as they wish.
On both sides of the transatlantic partnership, European countries tighten their belts under the attack of multiple crises such as refugees, energy, food, and supply chains. "Don't flush all over your body when taking a bath." On the other side, American military giants counted money and cramped their hands.
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0 " American Democracy "
Not only the American allies have been pried open their wallets, but also the ordinary American people.
Through a secret "under table trading", the tentacles of money politics extend from the White House and Capitol Hill to all aspects of US public policy. US military-industrial companies have spent as much as $2.5 billion on lobbying in the past 20 years, and have employed an average of 700 lobbyists each year in the past five years, which is more than the combined membership of the Senate and House of Representatives.
From 2014 to 2019, 1,718 senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense or procurement officials switched to arms dealers. Former Defense Minister Mattis even "in and out". After resigning from his position as minister, he returned to the board of directors of General Dynamics . Behind the " revolving door " of government and business is the naked transfer of interests, power and money transactions, and gold and yuan politics.
Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the US military giant has once again made a fortune. Behind the repeated creation of war conflicts in the international community is the reality that American military-industrial enterprises and some politicians intend to use the conflict to make "war money".
So year after year, although the two parties fought hard for the presidential throne, the two houses of parliament can always happily pass the defense budget:
On March 10, the United States Congress passed the 2022 federal budget, with China's defense spending reaching US$782 billion, an increase of 5.6% over the previous fiscal year.
In contrast, the budget used to solve domestic problems in the United States is only $730 billion, a full $50 billion less than defense expenditure. The $15.6 billion epidemic prevention budget was also cut off by "bearing pain".
At the end of the American movie " King of War ", after the arms dealer played by Nicholas Cage was arrested, he said that the US president is the largest arms dealer in the world.
Nowadays, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new coronavirus pneumonia in the United States has exceeded 81 million, and the cumulative number of deaths on the list has exceeded one million. The "beacon of democracy" has money to fight a "agent war" in Ukraine, but cannot afford to fight the epidemic.
Under the money offensive of the military-industrial complex, the voice of ordinary people in American political life has been greatly diluted. As the famous American left-wing politician Sanders lamented: "When it comes to the needs of the military-industrial complex: 'no problem'.When it comes to the needs of the working people: ‘too expensive’. I've had enough of this. ”
Can the military-industrial complex protect the security of the United States itself? No. It transforms the power elite system, kidnaps the real economy, exaggerates external security threats, and pays for domestic problems in the United States by passing on contradictions. This not only covers up the real social chronic disease of the United States, but also makes the country even more insecure.
Outside, "endless war" has made the United States unable to get out of the dilemma of "why do they hate us". Internally, the endless gun violence has allowed Americans to forever Endless tears and mourning seem extremely cheap.
Can the military-industrial complex protect the world's security? No. It provokes wars and conflicts everywhere around the world, creates discourse traps of "unilateral security" and "absolute security", drag other countries into security dilemmas, and exacerbates the security deficit of mankind.
American scholars once labeled Russia as "Kleptocracy". However, under the military-industrial complex, The United States has become a "war empire" that has imposed heavy taxes. This is the veritable "thieves' rule".
Wherever there is war in the world, there are American weapons, and there is the shadow of the American military-industrial complex. As long as the war continues to stop, huge benefits will continue to flow to military-industrial enterprises.
To develop, we must first be safe, but pursuing our own absolute security will only bring about absolute insecurity. Since the end of the Cold War, the so-called "U.S. rule" The essence of peace is "tyranny under the rule of the military-industrial complex", which will only gradually intensify old contradictions and induce new problems.
The great epidemic has brought unbearable weight to the world. If the US military-industrial complex still insists on moving against the times and prolongs its life bloodthirsty, it will eventually fall into the geopolitical trap created by itself and be completely liquidated by the silent majority.
Source: Chaoyang Shaoxia (ID: Chaoyangshaoxia)
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