This column is not about the Western decision to help Ukraine defend itself. It deals rather coldly with the place of military-industrial groups in this conflict which has already claimed too many victims.
Posted at 11:00 a.m.
At the beginning of the war, we heard that one country or another was helping Ukraine militarily without insisting on the types of armament provided. But now that the Ukrainian army is making significant progress, discretion is no longer appropriate. On the contrary, it is time to more clearly position the names of the arsenals that make the difference on the front line, because success on the battlefield is the pride and selling point of the gunsmith.
In recent months, we no longer hesitate to speak openly, especially in the European media, of Javelin anti-tank missiles, Scan Eagle reconnaissance drones, MaxxPro anti-mine armored vehicles, Harm air-to-ground anti-radar missiles, ground-based missile systems -air NASAMS, Himars missiles, Switchblades or kamikaze drones, the Iris-T air defense system from Germany, French Caesar guns, etc. Advertising and capitalism being inseparable, the name of each war machine refers to an industrial group whose investors rub their hands. These American companies are called Lockheed Martin, Northrop, Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, etc.
The major war industries, which are American, French, German, Russian, Chinese and even Canadian, see profits before human tragedies. For them, even soaked in a lake of blood from innocent victims, bundles of money remain as colorless and odorless as pure water.
A little over two weeks ago, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published a clip that the French media generously relayed. Objective ? Thank France and ask her for more weapons. The video boasted against the backdrop of I love you, me neither, by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, the famous Caesar cannon. A surprising advertisement which certainly did not escape the French group Nexter, which manufactures the Caesar. Wars are places of distinction for soldiers, but also for the military equipment they use. What I just said about the Caesar cannon can be applied to the Bayraktar TB2 drones, manufactured in Turkey and present in Ukraine. Since their use in Libya, Syria and more recently in the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Bayraktar have proven themselves. Their manufacturer, the Baykar company, would even be overwhelmed with orders.
A battlefield is also a gigantic military exhibition pavilion which offers manufacturers of arsenals the opportunity to measure, in a combat situation, the performance of their latest deadly discoveries. They are there to conduct experiments, advertise and open order books to warring parties and frightened neighbors looking to increase their military capabilities. Also, when a war is declared, while the human tragedies add up, the profits of the arms manufacturers multiply and their investors jubilate.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will become a windfall for the US arms industry. In question, since the end of the Cold War, Europe has lived with the certainty that globalization and the interdependence of economies were the best way to avoid confrontation. Like chicks hatched by the powerful America, the NATO countries have reduced the share of their budget devoted to defence. But now that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has awakened the great fears of the Cold War era, these bewildered nations are preparing to put their hands in generously. Of the 100 billion euros that Germany wants to spend in the next few years to modernize its army, guess who will get the lion’s share. The United States is almost 37% of global arms sales from 2016 to 2020. Now that Russia, which was in second place with 20% of the market, is in serious trouble, we bet that America will enlarge its share of the pie in the coming years. This is the other reason why, in this Ukrainian drama, the American military-industrial groups are as excited as spotted hyenas over the corpse of an elephant.
To sell ever more weapons, it is necessary to frighten people, exploit threats, feed tensions and widen divisions. For all these reasons, arms manufacturers are never far from American policy makers and the mainstream media that influence public opinion.
Media propaganda is even a very important part of the influence strategy of this big lobby. Moreover, since the beginning of this war between Russia and Ukraine, in news channels like CNN and Fox News, retired generals of the American army parade all day long. Many of them are talking, rightly or wrongly, about increasing arms deliveries or giving Ukraine all the arsenals they want.
One thing is certain, history has shown that this word going to war is often carried by officers who are never far from the interests of the American military-industrial complex which sees in this war an immeasurable business opportunity. He is cashing in now and will earn even more at the end of the conflict. Why ? When the war in Ukraine ends, America will have more “bad guys” to show off to better sell weapons. The first is the Middle Kingdom and its ambitions on Taiwan and in the China Sea. Europe will put its hands in its pocket so that it no longer fears the second “bad guy”, Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The third “bad guy” is Iran, whose regional ambitions that have embraced Yemen for years have already driven the oil-rich monarchies into the arms of US arms dealers. I’m talking about American arms dealers, but Russian, German, French, Chinese, Canadian, Israeli and many other companies also sell their weapons of death around the world.
The moral of my column is as follows: at this stage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the only winner that can be declared with certainty is the gigantic American military-industrial complex, not to say the billionaires of death and destruction that are not just American.