The only winner from endless war is the global arms industry

I just sent this to the Scottish unionist press outlets but have no expectations that it will be printed.

The US and its UK acolyte are plunging the Middle East into a regional war. They’ve bombed Yemen for the Houthis attacks on Red Sea shipping. The Houthis, who know about American bombs, were responding to the US-funded Israelis destruction of Gaza where the killing of civilians has reached historic levels of horror. For years the US and UK helped Saudi Arabia bomb the Yemeni Houthis into smithereens and now risk reigniting that conflict. 

It’s fair to ask whether it’s in the UK’s interests to involve itself in a foreign war when its own citizens are struggling. It’s certainly in the interests of the arms industry, whose stock prices have exploded as a result of the Ukraine and Gaza wars. BAE Systems, the UK’s largest defence company, reported a 30% jump in its share price in 2023 and 2024 looks to be another bumper year.

Rishi Sunak is in Kyiv announcing another £2.5 billion for a war that most people acknowledge Ukraine has lost. 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or seriously wounded – 30,000 per month. The country has been destroyed and the western corporate vultures are circling and plotting, with Zelensky’s encouragement, to turn a rump Ukrainian state into a weapons production hub for the west.

Sunak’s militarism is an attempt to divert attention from failing public services, falling life expectancy, rising poverty and inequality. The UK is failing before our eyes along with its partner in conflict, the US. 

Fortunately, the BRICS nations are demonstrating a different approach to global relations that is rapidly gaining support, one based on consensus and cooperation. It’s one an independent Scotland should welcome.