The Capitalism of War - Both Military and Civil

In a world driven to make more profits, regardless of the moral or human cost, is it feasible that people would create and maintain wars just to make money? Isn't there a safety switch to ensure that the line is never crossed? The safety switch, which would normally be a government acting on the will of the people, seems to have been bought out by the very corporations that stand to make massive amounts of money if the wars continue. War is good business for some and any conscientious voice from the population that dares to stand against one or all of the multitude of wars in progress at this moment, is ignored or silenced. The media that we rely on to keep us informed either disregards the truth or spins it to suit their corporate sponsors.

Defense companies are all doing well it seems. At a human cost too horrific to contemplate, the marćh to bigger profits continues unabated. Despite the fact that there is a growing inequity in most of the western countries, the lure of bigger profits outweighs any thought of social justice. The morally bankrupt corporations now know nothing else than the hunt for more dollars and more growth. When your business is producing and selling arms, war is seen as a "business opportunity". When Governments have been Corporatized, business trumps human beings. When morals have been numbed, a war death is seen as a successful transaction of bullets and bombs for money.

The Middle East is currently where the majority of the War Corporations' products are used and it has proven to be very profitable over the last few decades. Currently there are numerous theatres where war products are being utilised everyday. In Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Libya, Egypt and Yemen also have internal turmoil. Drones continue to rain death on unsuspecting families that, once killed, are labelled as "suspected terrorists" to justify the deaths. Qatar, boosted by fear, have just bought another $11 Billion worth of weapons from the US. Egypt are given another 10 Apache helicopters to help "quell uprisings".

The market is full of business opportunities. Arms that were sold to one group find their way to another to continue the constant production of killing machines, bullets and projectiles. More weapons are produced and distributed to those with cash or those who can keep the wars raging. Regimes are installed and toppled depending on their lust for money, power and war. The war machines are on the march and they do not need to clear the battlefield to see the profit of victory. They see the profit every time a bullet is fired, every time a missile is launched, every time a house is destroyed, every time a man, woman or child is killed or injured.

The complicated scenarios at play in the Middle East are hard to unravel. It seems to be chaos where groups that were once allies are now enemies and those that were enemies are now allies. The Iran government that was once pronounced as evil is now a potential ally against ISIS. The elected government in Ukraine is ousted for its allegiance to Russia and replaced by Corporatised US and EU friendly leader. The elected government in Syria is pronounced evil for its alliances with Russia. The once supported leader of Iraq is now marginalised. The Israeli government continues to get support for its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by way of a veil of silence and continued military funding from the US. These seemingly unconnected events would point to chaos reigning throughout the Middle East. But it does serve to generate sales and profits for those in the business of making arms. The corporations producing weapons and ammunition are counting their profits and there seems to be no end in sight.

These same corporations are now turning their sights to new products. The think tanks of the defense companies are now planning for the next growing market for their products - Civil Unrest.

In the UK, US and Europe strategies are being implemented for the handling of an unhappy population. People that have been marginalised by the corporatisation of their countries and the harsh austerity measures being implemented, are expected to rise up and new weapons are being sought to quell all mass gatherings. Some examples are:

·      Active Denial System - designed to heat the skin of the target and inflict a high level of pain;

· 

·      Armoured Water Cannons - designed to shoot a high velocity stream of water at targets;

·      The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) - a sonic weapon that can be used to inflict harmful, pain inducing tones over long distances;

·      Riot Gun - a gun used to fire "non lethal" ammunition such as pepper spray, tear gas, chemical agents, smoke grenades, etc;

·      The Personal Halting and Stimulation Response rifle (PHaSR) - a laser shooter designed to temporarily blind the target;

·     Taser Shotguns - delivers a debilitating electric shock from up to a distance of 100 feet away.

There are more currently available and I expect there are also many more in development.

There are winners and losers in every war/conflict across the globe. The losers are the innocent civilians, mothers, children and babies caught in a crossfire of a conflict they do not comprehend and one they are not involved in. The losers are countries torn apart by war for religion/power/resources/control that cannot recover after such devastation. Poverty and despair are their reward.

The winners are those that make the weapons of war and the current contrived conflicts provide ample opportunities for Corporations to make bigger profits. Moral compasses are discarded in the quest for more and more cash