US profiting immensely from Ukrainian conflict
TWO years on, there is nothing signalling that Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is soon going to be concluded. The West continues to use Ukraine as its proxy in provoking and fighting Russia, no wonder the use of the special military operation as a mechanism of active defence.
Some estimates suggest that Ukraine has lost over 500 000 battlefield casualties.
The hopeless desire of wanting to fight Russia is premised on the “Russian aggression” and the “blame Russia for everything wrong in Europe” narratives.
Despite the loss of servicemen, infrastructure and almost 20 percent of territory in the Donbas region, Ukraine in this matter has no sovereign power to determine the outcome of the war.
It has no sovereignty to this regard as much as it has no sovereignty over the right to join either the European Union (EU) or NATO blocs for its fate will be decided by other parties.
The US and her European Union allies promising and pouring more military aid and weapons to Ukraine, technically committing and condemning more Ukrainians to painful deaths.
It is neither Europe nor Ukraine benefiting from this war, but the US’ military-industrial complex (MIC). European rearmament and American aid to Ukraine flow back to defence industrial base.
Since February 2022, shares of US weapons manufacturing companies have been surging and the war business has paid off.
Most of their lethal weapons like javelin missiles, armoured and tactical vehicles, switch-blade drones, guns and ammunition have found way in Ukraine.
This means the US’ military-industrial complex has seen a surge in orders for weapons and munitions in the two years following Russia’s special military operation Ukraine.
The Pentagon is using the war to restock military supplies that were depleted by supplies to Ukraine, as well as from European allies who are attempting to bolster their military prowess.
Global arms market
The global arms bazaar is controlled by a handful big players. From 2016 to 2020, the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany exported 80 percent of the world’s weapons.
Barring China, every other country from these top six suppliers is involved in the military events obtaining in Ukraine.
Also, out of these six countries, five of them are permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, UK, France, China, and Russia) and this tells much about the commitment to world peace.
However, only the US maintains a towering position in the global arms bazaar and dealership.
It accounts for 37 percent of global arms exports, making it the biggest arms exporter.
The reason why the US dominates this market is because it is home to the top five weapons manufacturers which are Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies and General Dynamics. In 2019 these five US companies sold weapons worth over $165 billion. As they say, war is good for business.
How the US benefits
In January 2021, the CEO of Raytheon Technologies, Gregory Hayes, made a statement indicative on how the US through weapons contractors make sales out of wars.
“We are seeing, I would say, opportunities for international sales. The tensions in Eastern Europe, the tensions in the South China Sea, all of those things are putting pressure on some of the defence spending over there.
“So I fully expect we are going to see some benefit from it,” said Hayes.
These big weapons manufacturing companies want to focus on Eastern Europe to recruit more countries into the NATO alliance so that the countries conform to western standards and threaten Russia. They want to have a trapped market that is designed to their specifications despite the dangers.
In March 2022 Hayes told the Harvard Business Review that he had no apology to make from the Ukraine conflict.
Said Hayes: “So I make no apology for that. I think again recognising that we are there to defend democracy and the fact is eventually we will see some benefit in the business over time.”
To confirm Hayes’ sentiments, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last December revealed that nearly 90 percent of Ukraine’s military aid is actually spent in the US and is used to create American jobs and improve its economy.
One wonders how nearly 90 percent of military aid meant for Ukraine is spent in the US. Since February 2022, the US has sent more than US$75 billion in cash and equipment to Ukraine.
Ninety percent of that ($67,5 billion) has been used to build new weapons in American factories and has been paid to American factories as contracts.
It also has to be taken into account that these contractors are providing computer chips, cold weather and night vision gear, medical supplies and spare parts to Ukraine in the name of military aid. Technically, out of the US$75 billion, only US$7,5 billion goes to Ukraine.
Trapped in loss
The goals of the West in Ukraine are now multi-pronged. The current situation now sees the West, besides threatening Russia, is now contemplating dumping Ukraine and make it a failed state that will have no threat to Russia.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has failed to be a war-time leader they created and scripted.
But the biggest cost and expense of the NATO proxy war in Ukraine is set to be witnessed on the postwar reconstruction program. Unlike Iraq or Afghanistan, the West is going to be compelled to build Ukraine’s economy and all the things destroyed.
US Republican Senator Tim Scott recently indicated that some funding Ukraine is set to receive in the future should not be seen as aid but loan.
With the way Ukraine’s economy has been ravaged, these loans are not likely going to be repaid because Ukraine is broke financially.
However, because no one spends money from the West without conditions attached, the government of Ukraine is likely to sell its assets to western multinational corporations, including its prime lands.
In December 2022, US President Joe Biden gave out the contract to reconstruct Ukraine to a US company called Black Rock.
About the alliance to rebuild Ukraine, Zelensky said his country had to “focus in the near term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channelling investment into the most relevant and impactful sectors of the Ukrainian economy.”
There is little that will be expected from Ukraine and a military victory over Russia is an imagine wish. This is an ensnared and entrapped country.
Financially it is trapped by the World Bank loan it received last year, politically it is in a fix that it will not win, and economically its prospects cannot even be described by the words disaster and catastrophe. Furthermore, Ukraine has become a permissive environment for all this wrong for global peace.
The winner is . . .
In an interview last November, President Zelensky told US media that: “I don’t think that the war is a stalemate. They thought they would checkmate us, but this did not happen.”
But his military leadership held and still hold a different opinion.
Zelensky’s inner political circle also believes his persistence on Ukrainian victory is delusional and irrational.
A survey recent poll showed that nearly 70 percent of Americans are in favour of dialogue to end the military confrontation in Ukraine.
However, for US defence companies to make money, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine must go on in the name of spreading democracy.
Western weapon’s contractors are therefore emerging as big winners in this war because none among their leaders and established institutions want the war to end.
Despite a considerable number of people wanting peace, those who want to benefit from a ruined Ukraine see their financial profits doubling, instead of having a broader global peace that can be enjoyed by everyone.