The Middle Eastern coordinator of the United Nations Security Council has declared that the world has reached the brink of a perilous abyss that holds the potential to alter the trajectory of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Recently, the world has seen one of the most inhumane wars in Gaza. According to the United Nations, almost 67 percent of over 14000 people assassinated in Gaza are children and women. Many countries in the world have seen grave protests. However, the United States and its allies – the self-proclaimed human rights champions of the world – are supporting the massacres committed by Israel. The United States and some of its Western allies have also voted against a humanitarian pause in the recent Israel-Palestine war.
Moreover, reports suggest that the US had been involved, directly or indirectly, in almost 81 percent of the wars in the world since World War 2. One of the major reasons behind the United States’ involvement and support of such a high ratio of wars is its economic interests. The US military-industry Complex has earned huge profits in the past and has thrived due to economic benefits gained from the wars and conflicts around the world. The United States produced 40 percent of munitions made by all belligerents from 1943 to 1944. Reports suggest that the United States’ weapon industry skyrocketed from a mere 2 percent to 40 percent in 1943.
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan has been widely criticized as a failure. However, many analysts have pointed out that the American Military-Industrial Complex (AMIC) has thrived during this War on Terror. They hold that different lobbyists, arms dealers, and some officials of the Pentagon earned huge profits due to this war. According to Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, trillions of dollars of American taxpayers’ money was spent on the war in Afghanistan while only a small fraction of it was spent on the reconstruction of the country. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, also stated that the rationale of the war in Afghanistan was to have an endless war to wash huge amounts of money out of the US tax bases into the hands of the influential security elite of the country. According to the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, the US wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq have cost 6.4 trillion USD to the US taxpayers. Furthermore, a Foreign Policy report published on 16th August 2021 stated that almost 80-90 percent of the US expenses on the war in Afghanistan returned to the former country due to the intricate ecosystem of the US military-industry complex.
Moreover, the Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI), an independent American think tank, in one of its reports listed the beneficiaries of the US-led War on Terror in Afghanistan. This list included the names of some famous military contractors of the United States, such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics. Experts also hold that the American military-industrial complex had been involved in creating enemy targets named terrorists for their economic temptations. Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower also warned about the emergence of “an immense military establishment and a large arms industry” in US politics in his farewell speech in 1961. His suspicion seems to come true, as American political decisions are highly influenced by the security elite of the country. As per reports, the United States is responsible for 40 percent of the global arms trade. This demonstrates the benefits of the US military-industrial complex rising from the conflicts and wars all around the world. Many analysts around the globe hold that the United States augments wars and conflicts to earn from its arms trade. As a result, these conflicts bring more chaos and turmoil to the world.
It seems that the US is also looking at the Russia-Ukraine conflict through an economic lens. France and some other European allies of the United States have blamed the United States is making a fortune from this conflict. They blame that the US has turned out to be the largest beneficiary of this conflict, as it is selling more gas and weapons at a higher cost. The European Union was highly dependent on Russia for fulfilling its energy needs. However, the Western sanctions on Russia coerced the EU countries to look for alternatives. The United States emerged as one of the alternatives for the EU. However, the former is selling gas at a much higher price. The US weapon producers have told their investors to expect massive profits from Israel’s war in Gaza. The United States is one of the major allies of Israel, and it is funding Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza. This war has turned out to be a great opportunity for the weapon industry of the United States, as it will result in a surge of weapon demands in the region. The United States is home to 5 out of the 10 largest defense contractors in the world and 43 out of the top hundred defense companies. Therefore, it will earn a huge share of the money generated from the weapon supplies to Israel, Ukraine, and other Middle Eastern countries. The United States is also supporting Israel to re-establish its hegemony in the region. By backing Israel, it wants to convey to the regional and global powers that it still holds a strong influence over global politics. Moreover, the US-Israel alliance is helpful for both of them to counter Arab nationalism and the rising influence of Russia and China in the region. The United States and its transnational security establishment have earned huge profits from endless wars around the globe. However, this sinister politics of war economy of the self-proclaimed human rights, the United States, comes at the expense of countless human lives along with the hard-earned money of the US taxpayers.
Abbas Hashemite – is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist, exclusively for “New Eastern Outlook”.