Global Arms Sales Soar: Another Day, Another Record for Death Inc.
Newsweek trumpets a 'record high' in global arms sales, presenting it with the gravitas of a natural phenomenon. What they fail to dissect is the deliberate, well-funded infrastructure that ensures these records keep breaking. For instance, in 2023 alone, the U.S. State Department approved over $80 billion in foreign military sales, including $14.5 billion to Israel, often pushed by politicians
who receive hefty donations from pro-war lobbying groups like AIPAC. (OpenSecrets.org confirms Rep. Steny Hoyer received $154,000 from pro-Israel groups in 2022). This isn't a 'soaring market,' it's a strategically cultivated garden of perpetual conflict. These 'record highs' are a feature, not a bug, of a system where war is profitable, and peace is bad for quarterly earnings. While the West
decries humanitarian crises, it simultaneously funnels the very weapons that exacerbate them. One might wonder if the headlines would be quite so detached if the 'record highs' were in global healthcare access or climate change mitigation. But then, those don't come with multi-billion-dollar government contracts, do they?