Chinanews.com, July 14 (Zhong Xinjun) According to a report by United Kingdom Broadcasting Corporation on July 11, at the 2024 summit held in Washington, the capital of United States, NATO expressed "unwavering" support for Ukraine to fight the war, and vowed to "irreversibly" promote Ukraine's accession to the organization.
NATO plunged into a "war frenzy"
NATO, the world's largest military organization, which was born at the beginning of the Cold War and is now 70 years old, has not only not become history along with the old era, but has continued to expand and become more and more massive and terrifying.
According to NATO's official website, after the end of the Cold War, the organization has undergone seven expansions, and half of its member states have joined in the past 25 years.
At present, the number of NATO members has increased from 12 at the beginning of its creation to 32 countries, with more than 3 million active-duty military personnel, not including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other "associate members" with close relations.
Foreign media said that this year, 23 NATO member states have reached the goal of "spending 2% of GDP on national defense", which will not only provide Ukraine with American-made F-16 fighters, but also use at least 20% of defense spending for the purchase and research and development of military equipment.
According to Reuters, in order to confront Russia for a long time, NATO plans to add 35 to 50 new brigades, and the scale of the expansion may reach 350,000 troops.
It is worth noting that although NATO declared at the summit that it was "eagerly awaiting" Ukraine to join the group, the premise was that it must "defeat Russia first." It can be seen that the United States and the West do not intend to settle the dispute peacefully, but try to let the flames of war burn forever.
War brings destruction and death, but the United States and the West insist on bucking the trend, and there seems to be an undercurrent behind it.
Generally speaking, whoever profits the most is the most suspicious. According to comprehensive foreign media reports, the total NATO defense budget in 2024 may reach 1.2 trillion US dollars, so who is the biggest beneficiary of this "military spending feast"?
Answer: United States military-industrial complex.
Who's carving up the "military cake"
"As soon as the cannon goes off, there are 10,000 taels of gold" is a true portrayal of the insatiable desire of the US military-industrial complex.
In June this year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg couldn't help but complain, saying that Europe's increase in military spending was "good for United States" because two-thirds of arms orders would go to US arms dealers.
According to the TASS news agency, in the past two years, Europe's arms purchases from the United States have reached $140 billion. According to rough estimates, at least another $240 billion (contract amount) will flow into the pockets of US and Western arms giants this year.
Brown University reports that from 2001 to 2021, United States defense spending totaled more than $14 trillion, about half of which went to defense contractors large and small.
Among them, the five major US military industrial giants - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman - have won arms contracts of more than $2 trillion.
In addition to these military industry giants, Microsoft, Pfizer, Beched Engineering, United States Food and other industry giants have also made a lot of money as defense contractors.
For example, in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the Pentagon will spend about $20 billion to pay for veterans' health insurance, and top insurance companies and medical groups such as Hamena, Centney, and Triwest will make a lot of money.
Power-for-money trading to "manipulate United States"
Literally, the military-industrial complex seems to refer to defense contractors represented by military-industrial enterprises, but it is not.
According to the US "Roll Name" news network, this huge interest group has a wide range, with the "iron triangle" of the United States Congress, defense contractors and armed forces as the core, and has extended its tentacles into many fields such as media, academia, entertainment, think tanks, and the Internet.
The military-industrial complex has penetrated deeply into the American society and political situation and manipulated it strongly, far beyond the imagination of the outside world.
According to the University of Chicago's Policy Review, defense contractors have spent at least $3 billion since 2001 on lobbying and donations to policymakers.
According to a 2023 report by the U.S. Senate, in order to earn an average of $300,000 in high commissions, nearly 700 former military and political dignitaries have been transformed into full-time lobbyists for defense contractors to "pull business" and "engage in sales."
These hundreds of people are just the tip of the iceberg, and according to the website of the US magazine "Nation," defense contractors have also invested huge sums of money to buy and buy a large number of royal literati to wave their flags and shout for them.
The 2023 report released by the Quincy Institute of National Affairs, a U.S. think tank, revealed the old story of many peers - more than 75% of the top foreign policy think tanks in the United States, and the "big financiers" behind them are defense contractors.
By studying the declassified documents of the US military, Roger · Starr, a professor at the University of Georgia, found that the Pentagon and the CIA "have direct editorial control" over more than 2,500 movies and TV shows, which means that United States' entertainment, culture and media have been largely controlled and manipulated by the military-industrial complex.
The Hollywood military blockbuster "Top Gun: The Lone Ranger", which will be released in 2022, has grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide. The Washington Post said that if the Pentagon did not provide a large number of equipment and personnel including aircraft carriers and fighters to cooperate in the shooting, it would be difficult to complete the film.
It can be said that it is precisely under the whitewashing of "patriotism" and the exaggeration of "external threats" that the military-industrial complex constantly advocates war, beautifies aggression, and creates public opinion and public image favorable to itself through carefully crafted film and television works.
Hostile to China "stupid to the extreme"
In January 1961, then-US President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that one of the greatest threats facing United States was that the military-industrial complex was "fomenting war." Sixty-three years have passed, and his prophecy has come true.
During the current NATO summit, Western media and think tanks appeared on the stage and clashed with each other, fearing that the world would not be chaotic. For example, the Wall Street Journal said that NATO is "facing a huge gap in arms production" and is clamoring for an arms race with Russia.
On July 10, NATO issued the Washington Summit Declaration, slandering China as "posing a serious security challenge". China sternly refuted this, criticizing "NATO for exaggerating tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content full of bias, smears and provocations." ”
United States scholar Jeffrey · Sachs pointed out that clamoring for "war against China and Russia" has become the norm in the US media and think tanks funded by the military-industrial complex, and these statements are "extremely stupid."
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in early 2024, the number of nuclear warheads in United States exceeds 5,000, and the military budget is nearly four times that of China. The answer is clear who is the source of dangerous conflicts and wars.
The trend of the world is mighty, those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die. No matter how the international situation changes in the future, China will firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, and inject more stability and positive energy into world peace and stability through its own development and foreign cooperation. (ENDS)