At a time when the world is going through a crisis due to inflation, the big arms manufacturers continue to turn their backs to the harsh economic and social reality.
By Roberto Morejón
At a time when the world is going through a crisis due to inflation, the big arms manufacturers continue to turn their backs to the harsh economic and social reality.
The arms industry continued to go from strength to strength with its business in 2022 despite the fact that the planet continues to be burdened by the mandatory shutdown of production and expenses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The death-dealing gadgets branch evidenced profitability in the year just past as its investments were booked on the stock exchanges.
The average market value of the 10 arms companies with the highest sales in the world that are listed on the stock exchanges increased by 18.1 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.
This was revealed by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, which pointed out that this group includes several U.S. companies.
Both they and the other leading global companies increased their equipment sales for the seventh consecutive year.
In this context, the United States approved, with minimal legislative debate, the largest military budget in its history, without the media expressing alarm.
Every year, different pretexts are put forward and today the most common one is the alleged urgency of confronting China and Russia.
With regard to the conflict in Ukraine, that country has received more than 100 billion dollars in humanitarian aid and military support from more than 40 countries, but of this amount of money, the United States granted more than half.
In the Old Continent, the Foreign Ministers of the European Union agreed to increase the spending capacity of the so-called European Peace Fund, which finances military aid to Kiev.
The constant flow towards the manufacture and export of armaments is striking, while according to data from the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2021 there was a setback in the efforts to improve food security and nutrition.
In that year, nearly 828 million people suffered from hunger, 46 million more than the previous year, a trend that, according to preliminary estimates, will continue in 2022.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez is right when referring to the strength of arms manufacturers, he wrote on his Twitter account: "because of the priority given to this lucrative business, peoples and world peace suffer".
