Throughout history, war has broken out for a variety of reasons: sometimes due to economics, others a result of Ideological differences– and some even for love.
However, little by little, economic motivations have become the primary reason for war to break out. Few deny that the basis of the two major World Wars were economic: powerful countries were fighting each other over control of resources in other parts of the world.
Of course to start a war, counties always require at least ostensible Ideological motivations to encourage soldiers to fight. In most wars, heads of state claim they are fighting for noble goals or freedom, but in reality they are motivated by money.
The most obvious example is of course the United States of America, a country which bases all of its policies on economic grounds, and is pushing for other countries to follow in its steps.
In American elections, the power of media and the need for candidates to spend large amounts of money on advertisement creates a situation were only those who have money can reach important political positions: a person would need hundreds of millions of dollars to become president, and of course the easiest way for politicians to acquire this money in the first place is through the financial support of massive corporations with their own political agenda.
Of course these companies refuse to sponsor anyone who doesn’t fulfill their demands, making these politicians de-facto employees of their corporation, and this extends all the way to the oval office.
If this employee helps produce profit for the company, then he can stay, otherwise he will be pushed out.
In light of this situation, politicians and even the president have become actors in scenarios written by the managers of these companies, and these powerful people assure that nothing interferes in their play.
Even though more Americans are being killed by licensed weapons in the US than US soldiers killed in battlefields abroad every year, no president dares to battle the powerful weapon’s lobby. Most congressmen close their eyes and ears on this issue, since they all know that the weapon’s industry is so powerful it could bring them down at any time, even if doing so requires resorting to extra-legal means.
It is perhaps beyond our concern to talk about US domestic policies, but these policies are being implemented on a larger scale around the world, and have become a concern for all of us.
In the Middle East, US politicians are stoking enmity between various countries in the region in order to sell them weapons to fight one another.
They manipulate the antagonism between Iran and Saudi Arabia to push the Saudis to buy more weapons. They also mobilize tensions between Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to sell weapons to all of these countries.
Americans don’t care if their weapons are killing thousands of innocent people in Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and/or other countries in the world, as long as they profit from the conflicts; they are ready to sell weapons of almost any kind for the right price.
Americans claim that they are fighting ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria, but when these terrorist groups are forced to withdraw from conflict zones, American weapons are often left behind them, showcasing their origins.
In some cases American weapons have been used by terrorist groups to kill American soldiers. As long as the profit keeps flowing into American corporations pockets, even the life of an American soldier is worthless.
In some cases, the weapons sold by Americans to Persian Gulf Arab countries are replicas or copies of the original weapons or at the best refurbished weapons don’t fulfill requested specifications and sometimes don’t work at all… but no-one dares to complain.
Sometimes weapons are sold to these countries, but not delivered when needed in order to force political concessions. This is what happened to the Iraqi government when Baghdad was in danger of falling into the hands of ISIS, and yet the Americans refused to deliver the weapons the Iraqi government had already paid for because the Iraqis had refused to sign a deal which would keep American troops in Iraq forever.
Many are likely unaware that before the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, the Iranian Shah was the largest buyer of American weapons. The Americans used to boast that Iran gets its most sophisticated weapons- but after the revolution and during the Iran / Iraq war, these American weapons proved totally useless for the Iranian Army.
When countries like Turkey find that they need more trust-worthy weapons and sign contracts to buy them from countries other than the U.S., such as the S400 missile contract between Turkey and Russia, the Americans threaten sanctions if the contract is fulfilled.
Weaker countries like Qatar are threatened with outright invasion if they buy weapons other than those produced by America, even if the weapons are bought without permission from a western ally. American business men have no allies– for them everyone is a competitor.
The weapon’s industry is the primary reason the U.S. continues to invest in stirring tensions between foreign countries, crafting wars to drive up business at the expense of innocent human lives. Lust for money has blinded American politicians, they are ready to do anything to sell more deadly weapons, regardless of the human costs.
This policy will continue even if it ends in the destruction of humanity unless people all around the world unite, and stand up to American weapons manufacturers. The people of every country must force their leaders to try to solve problems through diplomacy, rather than falling victim to the American weapon’s racket.