By Jun Sheng
The US government recently pledged to provide Ukraine with USD 800 million worth of weapons, ammunition and security aid of other forms, including artillery systems, shells, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters. As the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates, the US, instead of taking any concrete step to mitigate the situation, has jumped at the chance to make hay through its "arms-dealing diplomacy". Its disgusting and selfish behaviors for the sole purpose of protecting its hegemony have seriously damaged world peace and stability.
The US has been promoting "arms-dealing diplomacy" around the world for many years, agitating conflicts, exacerbating disputes, and starting wars in the process. The fundamental reason why the US is so obsessed with this – almost its only – approach is that a confrontational and military response to crisis is a golden opportunity for some American politicians and military-industrial enterprises to profiteer off the war and serve their economic and political interests.
According to a global arms sales report recently released by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), from 2017 to 2021, the global arms sales volume contracted by 4.6% compared with the previous five-year period, but America’s weapons export grew by 14% in the same period. The fact behind the figure is America’s “arms-dealing diplomacy”, whereby it constantly stirs up conflicts and fuels regional tension in order to create demand for its weapons and make a fortune out of it.
What’s pushing America’s "arms-dealing diplomacy" is the "military-industrial complex" comprising the Pentagon, arms dealers and politicians. This is a gigantic interest group consisting of American troops, military-industrial enterprises, politicians, and scientific research institutes. It was born during WWII out of the structural connection between America’s massive war machine and economic system. In the following decades after the end of the war, the military-industrial complex has seeped into the capillaries of America’s decision-making architecture on diplomatic and national security affairs. Its influence intensified rather than inhibited.
In the past decades, the US has either participated in or started a raft of major wars, such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Afghan War and Iraqi War. It has also meddled in a series of armed conflicts by supporting proxies and providing weapons and ammunition, causing a staggering amount of casualties and humanitarian disasters. While other people are losing their lives, families, or homes, the American military-industrial enterprises are raising their glasses of champagne in celebration of one record of revenues after another, turning geopolitical tension into their milch cow.
For so many years, America has played a part in almost every war that ever broke out on the surface of the planet, either through direct engagement or by providing weapons and equipment. To date, the country has provided weapons to nearly 100 countries and controls 39% of the global arms market. The very existence of its military-industrial complex decides that America needs enemies, and it is always motivated to seek new ones around the world.
The US has tried hard to paint war as a "legit option" in its foreign policy, constantly trampled upon international law, and wantonly used force to invade other countries or interfere in their internal affairs, all to serve its own interests. Is this how America lives up to its daily preaching of "human rights" and "democracy"? In the meantime, its military spending has set new records for years in a row, but the government has no money to improve domestic infrastructure and people’s living standards. Is this the country that claims to be "of the people, by the people, for the people"? It is high time for the war-mongering, peace-wrecking US to stop its "arms-dealing diplomacy"!
