 |
| Russia-Ukraine: Since Putin's army invaded on February 24, Russia has pummelled Ukrainian cities |
International Military - A military analyst, Daniel Ellsberg once said, "wars that fail are as profitable as those that are". Quoted from Reuters, in 1971, Ellsberg leaked to the press a secret 7,000-page Pentagon study. The thousands of pages exposed the Pentagon's years of lies about the US military's involvement in the Vietnam War.
Daniel Ellsberg and many like him hope these revelations will change the way the world views war. However, the next few decades with conflicts that occurred, say in Ukraine, Yemen and many more. It seems the world's view of this bloody conflict hasn't changed at all, it remains as bleak as before. So, who really benefits from war?
Read Also: Finland and Sweden's Closeness to NATO Is Getting More Real, How Will Russia Respond
Ellsberg replied, "it's very profitable for the people who supply the weapons to keep them". When war broke out, the arms industry benefited from fear that motivated politicians to spend more money on their military.
Quoted from America Magazine, a week after the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the stock price of arms companies skyrocketed. Call it like Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing which makes weapons and fighter jets to tanks and bulldozers. US-based arms companies receive $768 billion, or more than 10 percent of the federal budget for 2022.
Read Also: NATO Secretary General Says Russia-Ukraine Conflict Has Turned To Long-Term War
The US spends far more than any other country on its military, this Western country exports tens of billions of weapons a year. The ongoing fighting between Russia and Ukraine is being used as an alibi for state officials to spend their money on weapons.
Germany, for example, decided to spend more than 100 billion euros or about 112.7 billion dollars for its military. They will also transfer anti-aircraft missiles, tank destroying rockets and other weapons to Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. "It is our duty to support Ukraine to be able to defend against the Russian army which is why we are sending 1,000 anti-tank guns and 500 Stinger missiles there," Scholz added in America Magazine.
Read Also: Ukraine Has Lost 600 Billion Dollars Since 99 Days Beginning of the War
The European Union (EU) has also voiced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy weapons for the Ukrainian army. And Biden has demanded that Congress fund $6.4 billion as part of an aid package to Ukraine.
To illustrate, a 2007 study by the University of Massachusetts found that $1 billion spent on clean energy, education and health is much more profitable than the defense budget.
Read Also: Russian Army Starts Using Laser Weapons to Destroy Ukrainian Military Drones
What does that mean? $1 billion for education services would create 17,687 jobs, for healthcare would create 12,883 jobs, while $1 billion for defense would only create 8,555 jobs, according to America Magazine.