Military Spending: Where the New Boom Is Born

MILITARY SPENDING BOOM

Arms spending has never been so high worldwide. And this is not just due to the war in Ukraine, which has become Europe's largest arms importer and the fourth largest in the world. According to data published by SIPRI (the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), In 2022, arms spending in Europe reached 345 billion dollars, up 13 percent from the previous year, and globally it reached $2.240 trillion, a historic record. From whom and what do we think we're protecting ourselves with these booming purchases? For nearly thirty years, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe hadn't seen such a significant increase in military spending. But back then, we were in the Cold War and the world was divided into blocs. More understandable, but decidedly more worrying, is the increase in military spending within the purview of three powers: the United States, China, and Russia, which account for 56 percent of military investments.

AMERICA AND THE ARMS RACE

The United States, long considered a warmonger, increased its arms spending by only 0,7 percent in 2022; China by 4,2 percent (a 63 percent increase over the last decade); and Russia by 640 percent, obviously due to the invasion of Ukraine. These numbers tell us only one thing: the arms race is fueling a conflict between powers that threatens global security. Rather, America, where the arms industry is also a very powerful lobby, cosseted by both Democrats and Republicans, increased its exports by 17 percent. Fifty-five percent of the weapons imported by European NATO countries come from US factories. The war in Ukraine and the increase in the Atlantic Alliance's military capabilities, even if World War III is not on the horizon, are not at all unpleasant for the US arms industry.

WEAPONS SPENDING IN ITALY

And now we come to Italy. On the occasion of the approval of the 2023 Budget Law, the Italian Parliament decided to increase the tax rate to 2 percent of GDP. military spending in Italy. That is, approximately 38 billion euros per year, almost double the 21,4 billion euros we spent in 2019, before the pandemic. An Italian-style operetta choice, made in the name of , because the weapons we're buying are useless. And fortunately, for us, war is prohibited by the Constitution.

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WHO SELLS WEAPONS TO IN ITALY

According to SIPRI's analysis, between 2019 and 2023, Italy increased its arms exports by 86 percent, more than any other nation in the world. France also significantly increased its arms exports (+47 percent), overtaking Russia in the world rankings. The most striking, and worrying, statistic concerns the destination of Italian-produced weapons: 71 percent go to the Middle East, particularly Qatar, Egypt, and Kuwait. These countries are not known for their democracy, and we know nothing specific, other than news reports, about the use made in these countries of the weapons sold by Italy.

WHAT DOES THE MILITARY SPENDING BUDGET PROVIDE FOR?

In the 2023 military spending budget, which marks an all-time record for Italy, regarding waste, total inefficiency has been repeatedly highlighted. We're rushing to purchase weapons, but meanwhile we have an oversized army, with 162.000 personnel that should decrease, according to a 2012 law, to 90.000 military personnel and 6.300 civilian personnel by 2024. But since the laws in Italy are written in sand, it's clear that the war in Ukraine, and the increase in the defense budget, will be a good opportunity for the defense lobby to freeze the reduction in personnel. We have overpaid generals And just around 4 percent of spending goes to training our men. We're buying weapons we won't know how to use.

COMMON EUROPEAN DEFENSE

While it is not clear what all these things are really for ArmAs we continue to buy, two things are certain. war in Ukraine This should have been an opportunity, and we're wasting it, to allow the European common defense project to take a leap forward. It's important. Starting with the money, which should have been spent not with a fixed amount per country, but by distributing individual items, precisely to avoid waste and duplication. Instead, everyone went their own way; even Prime Minister Mario Draghi pointed out this inconsistency, thus funding his own national defense industry and postponing the European common defense projects forever. The second certainty is that our military are excellent people, who often risk their lives and deserve the utmost respect. But you don't have to be a pacifist to recognize that we can only play one role in war: that of authoritative and credible. mediatorsWe are not a country equipped, even in terms of national psychology, to wage real war. And we are not a warmongering people, or accustomed to living under arms, as is the case with the Americans. History tells us these things, and we should take them into account.

TO KNOW MORE: How to help Ukraine

MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE

Putin's tragic aggression has demonstrated that what Europe can do by bringing together its defense apparatus (including weapons). Without the money and weapons of the Americans and Europeans, with which the Ukrainian army was equipped and organized, Putin's blitzkrieg would have been a walk in the park and no one would have been able to talk about the heroic Ukrainian resistanceThe rapid and effective joint European commitment also silenced the cheap pacifists, and public opinion overwhelmingly supported a decision that, taken by individual states, would have been impossible or at least highly controversial. Even the voice of a true pacifist like Pope Francesco She made her voice heard to recognize Ukraine's "right to defend itself." This money is well spent and not wasted, not the money for our nationalist ambition.

MORE MONEY FOR WEAPONS

The idea of ​​putting more money on the table to buy weapons, at this point, cannot lead us back to the main beneficiaries of this waste: the entire supply chain. of the arms industry. Companies, traders, and brokers. People who do their job, but with a very high lobbying capacity, as is also evident in the decisions made regarding the increase in military spending. We are major producers and sellers of weapons, and in just one year, our exports have increased by 85 percent. Imagine what levels they will reach after the war in Ukraine. We are senselessly increasing military spending, taking resources away from other areas, including the environment; we are wasting money from the defense budget with poorly distributed expensesLet's strengthen our role as arms producers and exporters. But let's take to the streets to demand, amidst the fog of hypocrisy, peace for all.

COMMON EUROPEAN DEFENSE OBSTACLES

Di Common European Defense we have been talking about it since the distant 1956: the founding fathers had already understood well that without putting together the Defence and Security policies, with a relative common army And with shared weapons, the entire architecture of the Union would always have been very fragile. But achieving a common European defense, the heart of true integration, meant yesterday, and still today, overcoming some crucial obstacles. The first: convincing governments, starting with France and Germany, to cede sovereignty in a sector where everyone, politicians and military personnel, are very jealous of their own power. A choice, once made, destined to be irreversible. And certainly, a united Europe of defense cannot be envisaged that must seek the permission of 27 states to make a decision: the unanimity mechanism, at least in this field, must be overcome. The second obstacle: while Europe has continuously expanded since 1956, today having a common defense means bringing together 27 armed forces, with weaponry in some cases incompatible. We are in the presence of a military babel, as is evident from the disproportionate number, and indicative of enormous waste, Weapon systems, or platforms for handling missiles, tanks, torpedoes, and helicopters. In America, there are 30, in Europe, 178; in the United States, there is only one system for tanks, while in Europe, there are as many as 17.

WEAPONS MANUFACTURERS IN EUROPE

But the heaviest obstacle that holds back clear and strong choices in favour of the Common European Defence is represented by the very powerful European lobby, each in each country, of the producers of weapons and ammunition. We are talking about thousands of companies, some of which are part of the national system and with turnovers comparable to those of the top companies in the world. In Germany there are 221 weapons producers, in Italy 157, in France 122: Each of them has a clear interest in preserving the status quo. Merging the army and weapons, in fact, would mean saving and rationalizing military spending in Europe. This is unacceptable to the producers, who are well-backed at the political level. Thus, contrary to what one might imagine, military spending in Europe is currently very high, and a source of enormous waste: we are at 233 billion dollars a year, almost four times the $62 billion spent by Russia. The only certainty, faced with so many unknowns, is still the 1956 axiom: without combining defense policies and militaries, we can never speak of anything resembling a United States of Europe.

WHO HAS MORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, AMERICA OR RUSSIA?

Nuclear rearmament also has distant roots and cannot be directly traced back to the war in Ukraine. The new phase of growth in spending on nuclear warheads began in 2021 and in America, it was shared by both Democratic and Republican presidents. Currently, according to estimates by theIcan Institute that leads the international campaign against nuclear weapons, Russia has more nuclear warheads than the United States: 6.370 compared to 5.800. Of these, some are placed in five European countries, among which Italy, and precisely in the two NATO bases of Aviano and Ghedi.

ON THE WAR:

• "With war, everything is lost. Middle East, Ukraine, and Iraq: stop!" (Pope Francis)
• Fania, a Ukrainian Jew, was saved by Maria during the Nazi era. And now she returns the favor.
• “War cannot be humanized, only abolished” (Albert Einstein)