Pentagon has startlingly stated that 'more than half of US howitzers' have reached Ukraine as the US bolsters the Ukraine armed forces. "Munitions continue to flow into Ukraine, as well as weapon systems...," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said, reminding the phrase that everybody loves a good war.
Of course, the US professes that it is carrying out its 'free world commitments' by boosting Ukraine's arsenal. Washington would never accept that it was instrumental in making this horrible war happen in the first place. Joe Biden was the instigator in chief who yapped away about the impending war and gave Ukraine the false notion that he would back it up when Russia attacks.
Now, Biden has thrown Volodymyr Zelensky under the bus, while he himself has little skin in the game. But there are profits to be made. The business of weapons is thriving in the US. The US government is renewing huge arms and ammunition orders given to giant defense equipment makers. Because, as Kirby said, the US inventory is flowing into Ukraine. Not just the US, dozens of European nations are engaging in the funneling of weapons into Ukraine.
By arming Ukraine to the teeth, Biden and his European lackeys are not creating world peace. They are actually ruining it. First, they precipitated this war by pushing NATO expansionism to extreme, unsustainable levels. Russia, in all fairness, had given ample warnings against weapons of mass destruction being placed at its doorstep.
Lockheed Martin Shares Rise 34%
The fair warnings were trashed. The war broke out. And there's now a killing to be made. The American and European defense industries are on course to making multi-year profits. It's the Ukrainians and the Russians who suffer ultimately.
The military industrial complex is just seeking profits, and using profits to justify the immoral agenda. The free world chatter is merely an eyewash.
Jon Schwarz wrote in The Intercept, drawing parallels with the Afghan war started by President George W bush in 2001. "$10,000 of stock evenly divided among America's top five defense contractors on September 18, 2001 — the day President George W. Bush signed the Authorization for Use of Military Force in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks — and faithfully reinvested all dividends, it would now be worth $97,295," he says.
Share prices of defense companies started climbing when war clouds gathered in Europe following Russia's military buildup near the Ukraine border. A day after the US and NATO warned Europeans to leave Ukraine, the defense stocks saw a steep rise even as the broader stock markets fell.
Stocks of fighter jet manufacturer Lockheed Martin, aerospace specialist rival Northrop Grumman, aerospace ad defense contractor Raytheon, aviation and ship building giant General Dynamics, all rose after the war started.
Europe Inching Closer to a Perilous Nuclear Armageddon
When the Pentagon says arms are freely flowing into Ukraine, it actually means the military industrial complex in the US is winning the game for its investors. It means the US government is placing fresh orders for Stinger and Javelin missiles, anti-tank weaponry, howitzers and the like, which will soon be shipped to Ukraine.
When Biden says the US is offering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid for Ukraine it mostly means he is facilitating another gigantic weapons trade between American arms makers and Kyiv. Well it also means he is bankrolling a fruitless war that keeps killing both Ukrainians and Russians while taking Europe closer to a perilous nuclear armageddon with each passing day.
(The author is Managing Editor at International Business Times. Views are personal)
