By Liu Tao
Data released by the US State Department on January 25 showed that US arms sales to other countries and regions had a year-over-year increase of nearly 50 percent in Fiscal Year 2022. One important reason is the escalation of the Ukraine crisis. Many analysts pointed out that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a tragedy for the world, but American arms dealers have made big fortune out of this crisis.
In February last year, the US immediately provided Ukraine with $350 million worth of military aid after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out. Only one month later, the US announced that it would provide Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and other forms of security aid worth $800 million. The US Department of Defense's recently updated list of military aid packages to Ukraine shows that since February last year, the total US military aid to Ukraine has exceeded $27.1 billion. In addition, with the excuse of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 was successfully passed in Congress. According to this act, US defense spending in Fiscal Year 2023 will reach an unprecedented $857.9 billion. Some analysts believe that at least one-third of this sky-high military expenditure will flow into the pockets of arms dealers and US military companies.
In the past year, as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued to escalate, the US successfully sold anxiety to Europe and NATO member states. As a result, European countries have adjusted their defense policies and increased purchases of US-made weapons. According to statistics, European countries have committed to purchase weapons and equipment worth about $230 billion since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The German Bundestag has approved the Ministry of Defense to spend 10 billion euros to purchase US-made F-35 fighter jets, and Poland has decided to purchase MQ-9 Reaper drones from the US. According to data released by the US State Department, the total value of direct sales of arms and military equipment by US defense contractors to other countries and regions in Fiscal Year 2022 is about $153.7 billion, a 48.6 percent increase from the $103.4 billion in the previous fiscal year.
For a long time, the military-industrial complex formed by the US military, arms dealers, and politicians has been keen to create conflicts, escalate conflicts, and provoke wars, thereby grabbing huge wealth and political interests. Some think tanks and media outlets in the US often join hands with the military-industrial complex to shape war narratives, incite and guide public opinion. In recent decades, the US has participated in or launched many wars, intervened in a series of armed conflicts by supporting agents and providing weapons and ammunition. Geopolitical tensions have become a money printing machine for the US military-industrial complex.
Franklin Spinney, who has worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for many years, believes that the US military-industrial complex is responsible for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, because the pursuit of interests of the military-industrial complex and its lobbying activities have led to NATO's repeated violations of the promise of "no more eastward expansion"after the Cold War. The interests of the US military-industrial complex determine that the US needs enemies, so it always has an incentive to search for new enemies around the world.
In 2022, as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued to escalate, the stock prices of major US military companies rose sharply. Against the backdrop of a 10 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Index as a whole, US military industry company Northrop Grumman's stock price soared by nearly 40 percent and Lockheed Martin's stock price rose by more than 30 percent.
US arms business made big fortune for self-interests but have intensified regional conflicts and further aggravated the regional humanitarian crisis. Today, a large number of weapons continue to flow into Ukraine, but they cannot be effectively supervised. Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol, once said that arms sent to Ukraine from the West could end up in the hands of gangs and then on to other countries on the continent. The irresponsible actions of the US are like opening Pandora's Box, which will lead to unpredictable consequences.
