ACCORDING to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), last year saw a rise in the profit of 41 American companies that are among the top 100 global arms producers, recording revenues worth $317 billion.
The recent ceasefire in the Middle East aside, the United States has already agreed to supply $690 million worth of joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs) to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), which will likely be used against unarmed Palestinians. Egypt has also been promised a delivery of 555 Abrams M1A1 tanks in the name of maintaining a military balance in the region.
It is ironic that most belligerents get their weapons and ammunition supply from the same country that is acting as a harbinger of peace for them. It is a case of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. The US is supporting both sides of the conflict in order to make profits. Its military-industrial complex seems to be one which is the real and the only beneficiary in the equation.
The Middle East is full of US allies. In words of Arundhati Roy, being a `strategic partner` of the US means an unequal partnership in which you are being held close in a bear hug and waltzed around the floor by a partner who will incinerate you the moment you refuse to dance.
Collective conscience and the human aspect need to be kept alive in trade deals in war-ravaged regions of the world.
Capitalism and exploitation should not be allowed to become synonymous and lead to dehumanised commerce.
