The report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) was released on April 27. Military spending worldwide reached, in 2019 alone, the sum of 1.917 billion dollars, or approximately 1.782 billion euros. An increase of 3.6% over one year. Nan Tian, researcher at Sipri notes "Military spending has reached its highest level since the end of the Cold War" (1989). The largest budget remains that of the United States with an increase of 5.3% in 2019, to $ 732 billion (38% of global spending).
China comes second with 261 billion dollars, an increase of 5.1% over one year, third India with 71.1 billion dollars (+ 6.8% over a year), fourth Russia and fifth, Saudi Arabia. These 5 countries alone represent more than 60% of total military spending. Germany comes 7th just behind France and records the strongest growth in spending + 10% in 2019, at $ 49.3 billion.
The world is headed for a recession but governments are increasing military spending.
To defend the profit interests of their multinationals, they condemn millions of people to illness and death, they continue to wage wars all over the world.
The press has been focusing for two months on a single theme: the coronavirus pandemic. However, even though this turns our lives upside down, the planet has not stopped, the conflicts that were in progress before the health crisis continue today:
Like the war in Libya; The United Nations organization denounced the presence of “very disturbing new weapons” ... “Among these weapons: rocket launchers with thermobaric ammunition, (they use oxygen among other things in the air as fuel) or even 'suicide drones', which have appeared in recent months and are often used in areas inhabited by civilians ”.
The United States has sharply intensified its air strikes against Somalia, even as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to ravage its population; it continues to support the war waged by the Saudis against the people of Yemen. The escalation of threats of war continues against Venezuela …
The war policy of American imperialism has therefore intensified with the global pandemic.
In a tweet last week, Trump threatens: "I have ordered the US Navy to shoot and destroy all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea." A decision that could ignite the entire Middle East and beyond.
Besides, American warships are heading for China and the Pentagon announces the deployment of its long-range, nuclear-capable B-52 bombers, making their presence less predictable for Beijing and Moscow.
The production of deadly weapons continues:
For imperialism, a pandemic is no reason to stop the production of weapons:
* the Dassault-Aviation site in Argenteuil produces the Rafale, the jet fighter of the French Air Force and the Falcons; 1,000 employees were working there without a mask or gloves; for management this was no time for cutting off production. It took a strike to make management listen to reason.
* Lockheed Martin (USA) collected $ 2.3 billion in the first quarter and expects to exceed $ 7.6 billion this year. The company has an order book of $ 144 billion, an all-time high.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) argues that governments will have to reconsider military spending with regard to areas such as health and education, but obscures the essentials: the struggles within the imperialist system to secure supremacy in all areas: technological, raw materials, production and trade, access to new markets. The violent competition at work within imperialism accounts for the stepping up of the policies of reinforcement of military arsenals and gives a clear view of the regional conflicts we are seeing.
The drive for maximum profit and accumulation of capital is the law of capitalism at all times. Imperialist powers are waging a merciless war to control and exploit material and human resources.
They need to go even further in liquidating the conquests which in their view hinder these objectives. Each capitalist country implements anti-social measures and laws that arouse the anger of the peoples.
The peoples’ only alternative is in the struggle to end the capitalist system and build a society at the service of the peoples which gives priority to health, education, the fight against famine …
It is essential to develop and intensify everywhere the class struggle against capitalist exploitation, against the politics of those in power and their deadly war budgets. There is no other way but to join in this struggle.
This is the only way to go.
