The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Greed is an antidote to good judgment. The profit-oriented military industrial machine that drives western countries to pursue endless wars is simply incapable of sensitivity to the fact that, thanks to its antics, the world is now closer to self-destruction than at any point during the Cold War, which ended in 1989.

That Russia (a nation, like the USA, with enough nuclear weapons to extinguish humanity) has been pushed into an existential corner for no good reason is of no more importance to those profiting from the west’s proxy war in Ukraine than were the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Libyans and Syrians lost in previous profit-driven western wars of aggression.

Let’s consider for a moment who it is that will benefit from yet another “forever war”.

Russia? Certainly not. As a continental nation with troublesome neighbours from the Baltic to North Korea, it has (like China) adopted a defensive strategic stance throughout its history, fearing instability of any kind on its borders. This is why its demands regarding Ukraine (if you actually listen to them, rather than to discredited western media) were both reasonable and defensive in nature.

Do the people of the United States benefit? Of course not. Their tax dollars, which could easily have brought universal access to healthcare up to genuine first world standards (it presently lags Cuba in infant mortality rates), have instead been spent on needless military aggression all over the world.

More is spent on “defence” than on education in a country that has not been threatened militarily since the War of 1812. Who do you think profits from that?

The American people?

Britain, for its part, is the most militarily belligerent country in human history. Of the 191 sovereign states existing today, only 22 have not been invaded, attacked or colonised by the United Kingdom. Yet during most of that history, its own people lived at no higher a standard than the foreign victims of the ruling class whose greed drove those wars.

A clue to who benefits from this particular war is to be found in the nature of the aid being sent to Ukraine by the west.

Russia has captured hundreds of expensive Stinger and Javelin missile systems in Ukraine and displayed them to anyone interested in reporting it – which obviously excludes the western mainstream media.

The manufacturers of these weapons systems, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, are among the largest contributors to political campaigns in the Unites States. Between them, these companies reported net sales of more than $120 billion last year.

Very obviously, they (and the warmongering politicians whom they fund) will benefit from an endless proxy war in Ukraine. But the funding will ultimately come from the American people, who benefit nothing from it.

In short, to quote the imprisoned Julian Assange, modern western wars are “largely a wealth transfer from US taxpayers to military contractors.”

The “aid” from the American taxpayer will prolong a conflict in Eastern Europe that will enrich the corporations that fund politicians who love wars and lie through their teeth to provoke and maintain them. Almost every war since the Second World War has followed this pattern.

This is why Western politicians are so determined to avert a truce that a now pummeled Ukraine is actively seeking, instead frantically channeling advanced arms into the country.

Don’t be fooled by the lies, oversimplifications and false narratives of the corporate mainstream media. What we are seeing in Ukraine is not a plucky Mr Zelensky heroically resisting a regional psychopath who woke up one day wanting to devour his neighbour.

Rather, it is Mr Putin who is the plucky resister, finally (and reluctantly) confronting a vast and arms-industry-driven western colossus that is pursuing a policy of ‘containment’ against Russia (and China) and using Ukraine as an instrument of that agenda – as it also uses Taiwan.

The western politicians relishing this proxy war would never of course dare to directly confront Russia, China or any other country capable of actually defending itself. But, as the viral quip goes, they are prepared to fight Putin to the very last Ukrainian.

ANDREW ALLEN

Nassau,

April 9, 2022.