The slogan ‘War is Peace’ from George Orwell’s book 1984 captures the nature of the weapons industry mafia, which always thrives on wars and conflicts. Although the slogan talks about the totalitarian regime, in the modern day it best describes the independent democracies having traits of warmongers. Hundreds and thousands of innocent, blameless civilians die in the wars they don’t wish. The ultimate benefit of these wars is in the hands of the private weapons industries and capitalist mafia. Capitalist societies openly encourage manufacturers of lethal weapons to produce vast quantities of armaments. Moreover, this weapons industry does not care about any alliance, the only objective of these manufacturers is to print money and gain maximum profit.

Whether it is about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Russian aggression in Ukraine, or the Sudanese Civil War, non-combatant civilians are killed on both sides who do not have to do anything with war. Just in the past three years, the above-mentioned conflicts combined have killed more than 117,000 people, mostly children and women. Directly or indirectly, the civilian population falls prime prey to these conflicts. Furthermore, all this happens in the presence of the agents of human rights. The failure of international organizations to mediate and prevent wars is evident.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute — (SIPRI), and the Defense News, the top five arms-producing and military services companies are from the USA. Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman Corp., Boeing, and General Dynamics Corp.. Lockheed Martin is in the leading position. It is the same company that makes F-35 fighter jets for Israel. Not to mention, fifty-one out of one hundred are US-based companies. The scenario for the permanent United Nations Security Council members is startling. The top five arms-exporting countries are the USA, Russia, China, France, and Germany, while the United Kingdom ranks seventh. Four of the countries mentioned above are permanent members of the UN Security Council. Combining UNSC members, they constitute up to 75% of global arms exports. How can the UN Security Council adopt an abrupt resolution on armaments when all these countries are the accomplices and pivotal players with veto power?

According to a Reuters report published by Mike Stone, an arms industry correspondent, the sale of US military equipment to foreign nations was $205.6 billion in 2022, a record-breaking number. Since then, it has been growing. $200 billion worth of arms were exported in just one year by one nation. Moreover, in a report published by Reuters on June 13, 2023, Israel, too, sold record-breaking armaments of $12.5 billion, and a stupefying 24% of its imports were from the Arab nations. When discussing geopolitics and international alliances, we consider Russia and China on one side while the UK, the USA, France, and Israel on the other. However, regarding the export of weapons, both opposing blocs are aligned.

Governments all over the world buy these weapons either from their private capitalist companies or foreign companies while investing the money of ordinary taxpayers in shady business. Imagine this chunk of money spent on healthcare, education, infrastructure, or tourism. Ultimately, these weapons are used in wars, and innocent civilians lose their lives. Why do these five UNSC permanent member countries not decide to come up with a resolution and form a policy to stop the surge of weapons to limit the capitalist companies from extreme profits? The weapons industry does not only sell guns, but they rent their private armies, whom they call “mercenaries,” to fight in foreign countries. Notable examples are The Wagner Group, POTOK, Don Brigade, Moran Security Group, and Slavonic Corps. These private militias are mostly employed in poor countries in exchange for some money.

The USA spent approximately $300 billion on 12 mercenaries groups from 1994 to 2007. One of the notorious private companies is Blackwater, founded by the former US Navy SEAL Eric Prince. It hires mercenaries from various countries to provide horrifying services in exchange for money. Blackwater gained notoriety in the year 2007 when it killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians. In Donald Trump’s then presidency, these jailed contractors were pardoned. The business model works easily for these politicians, as Erik Prince was the key donator of the Republican candidate Donald Trump in the 2018 presidential elections. Blackwater was awarded $800 million contracts. Politicians ask for donations in favor of contracts when elected. The Guardian report, published in June 2010, that the Obama administration, too, had awarded $220 million contracts to Blackwater in exchange for security inside Afghanistan. The reason behind asking for the security of private mercenaries is that these mercenaries do not need pensions, healthcare, and security services. In contrast, their army does. These mercenaries are often not even regarded as casualties in conflicts. A WSJ report published in 2021 states, that when the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Erik Prince of Blackwater was charging $6.5K to get people out of Afghanistan.

During the Iraq War, US President George Bush’s father, George H. W. Bush, was a board member of the Carlyle Group. It was the same group that obtained all the defense contracts in the Iraq War. Moreover, then US Vice President Dick Cheney had been head of a company named Halliburton that acquired $7 billion of defense contracts without bidding. It was the same company that received contracts for Iraqi oil restoration. In December 2021, Business Insider published a report that highlighted at least fifteen politicians and lawmakers who have invested in the US defense policy.

It is clear whenever there is conflict, these private capitalist companies, business tycoons, and corrupt and hawkish politicians earn profits. Politicians benefit while shifting the public’s focus away from critical issues like employment, education, and healthcare. As George Orwell emphasizes in his book 1984, the slogan ‘War is Peace’ is a notion designed to perpetuate conflict, primarily to maximize profits and to consolidate and maintain power, rather than to achieve victory.

Hassan Raza
The writer is a student of Communi-cations Studies.