Militarism | System | Bas Feijen

System

Militarism

Enemy of peace

It was a pretty stunning thing, you mean, the purpose of the military is to start wars and change governments, it's not to, sort of, deter conflict. We're gonna invade countries... my mind was spinning.

Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr. - Speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, 2007

As globalization continues to take effect, large powers will often use the military to back up their globalization goals to maximize the benefits that can be obtained from it.

Global Issues - Military Expansion Serving Economic Objectives

For the strongest and leading nation militarism is used to attack opponents and expand power. For the weaker nations militarism is used to defend against attacking nations. So for the leading nation the purpose of militarism is to wage war and aim for regime changes related to geopolitics and financial dominance. This is what Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu spoke of in The Art of War when he said "It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, defend against them; if weaker, be able to avoid them". Pure and simple war logic everybody can understand. The Anglo-American Empire is the most militarized empire ever. The leading empire will attack the weaker powers in order to maintain and expand its own power. That's of course exactly what the Anglo-American power elite are doing in this materialistic world by waging aggressive wars related to geopolitics and power.

Military imperialism

Richard Johnson - U.S. military bases around the world

David Vine - American Bases Around The World

Since 1990, each large-scale U.S. intervention has left behind a string of new U.S. military bases in a region where the U.S. had never before had a foothold. The U.S. military is inserting itself into strategic areas of the world, and anchoring U.S. geopolitical influence in these areas, at a very critical time in history. It has been projecting that military dominance into new strategic regions as a future counterweight to its economic competitors, to create a military-backed "dollar bloc" as a wedge geographically situated between its major competitors (Euro, Yen)... The goal is not to end "terror" or encourage "democracy," and Bush will not accomplish either of these claimed goals. The short-term goal is to station U.S. military forces in regions where local nationalists had evicted them. The long-term goal is to increase U.S. corporate control over the oil needed by Europe and East Asia.

Zoltán Grossman - War and New US Military Bases

In 2015, according to Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw, U.S. Special Operations forces deployed to a record-shattering 147 countries — 75% of the nations on the planet, which represents a jump of 145% since the waning days of the Bush administration. On any day of the year, in fact, America's most elite troops can be found in 70 to 90 nations.

Nick Turse - America's Elite Forces Deploy to a Record-Shattering 147 Countries in 2015

The military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world. There are in total about 195 countries in the world. Since World War II the United States has intentionally expanded its military bases around the world. Military expansionism is of course part of the Anglo-American Empire paving the way for the globalization of the world.

Enemy of peace

President Donald Trump shows a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest exporters of Islamic terrorism, during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House on March 20, 2018, in Washington.

Johan Grimonprez - Shadow World

The arms trade is surrounded by great controversy. The nature of arms and the possibility to hold governments accountable for irresponsible trades makes the issue politically charged. In recent years, the propensity of many democratic governments to sell arms to autocracies and human-rights violators has stirred great public discontent.

Anders Akerman, Anna Larsson Seim - The Global Arms Trade Network 1950-2007

The fact that military activities may become a profitable enterprise leads to the realization that peace is the main enemy of the military-industrial complex. A simple metaphor can illustrate this problem. Grape growers, the wine industry and wine marketers would be completely out of business if people stopped drinking wine. In a similar way, the military-industrial complex would be put out of business by lasting peaceful conditions because the development, production, marketing and use of military equipment would be not needed.

Vashek Cervinka - Peace is the Enemy of the US Military Industrial Complex

One of the problems -- not specifically on this issue, just in general -- let's put it this way, money trumps peace, sometimes. In other words, commercial interests are very powerful interests throughout the world.

George W. Bush - Press Conference (February 14, 2007)

World military expenditure is estimated to have reached $1739 billion in 2017, the highest level since the end of the cold war.

SIPRI - Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2017

Rickety - 2010 Defense Spending by Country, in Billions of Dollars

Just like any industry profits from the sales of its products, the arms industry profits from the sale of its weapons. The military-industrial complex is big business. The military-industrial-media complex is used for spreading war propaganda in favor of the warmongers who are in control of the military-industrial complex. Just like people buy products to be used, powerful organizations buy weapons to be used. So the arms industry benefits from wars and violence around the world. A simple given. Of course this industry is an enemy of peace.

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