Christmas time and the usual stampede of mindless consumerism, the majority of stuff we neither need nor want. Spurred on by an advertising industry that starts to badger and bully the senses as early as October, the relentless onslaught builds up into a crazed frenzy by mid and late December. The Government plays it part, all but suggesting that it is our patriotic duty to spend, spend, spend in order to pump prime our sick and wasting economy. The joke is, in order to rescue the dying patient we will likely plunge ourselves even further into personal debt. Help, get me out of here!

One trade that knows no seasonal bounds, operating as it does 24/7, 365, is the global arms industry, an evil trade if ever there was one, and one The New Internationalist does a useful job in exposing. It makes the idiocy that is Christmas shopping appear almost benign.
There used to be a political joke doing the rounds along the lines that a brighter new day would have dawned when the schools and hospitals are fully funded and the defence industry is forced to run jumble sales in order to buy their latest deadly toys. Rest assured, that bright new day has not arrived. This excellent article is divided into four sections; the insidious behind-the-scenes power of the armaments lobby, the international corruption associated with the arms industry, the absurdity of building a new generation of fighter jets that will never be used, and the growing development and use of the pilotless drones.

The article does a good job in immediately exposing a one Mr Cameron who professes a love of Arab democracy while at the very same time selling deadly weapon systems to repressive governments and dictators that then routinely use those weapons against their own defenceless citizens. But when youre an Old Estonian, squaring that circle is all in a days work. Dinyar Godrej, the author of the opening section puts it this way: ‘Continuing his tour of a region ruled mainly by despots, Cameron leant on the crutch of Britains defence of Kuwait to justify why selling them arms was such a good idea. Wonder why he didnt use the example of Saudi Arabia, ruled by one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world and the biggest buyer of British weapons, with contracts worth $480 million in 2010 alone.’

Then with a lovely flourish of sarcasm Godrej continues: ‘Britain had only the previous year approved export licences to Bahrain for tear gas and crowd control ammunition, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and submachine guns. Who would have imagined that they would be used against people?’

Of course Cameron, and any British government, past or future, would have no qualms about such inconvenient details because they are too busy protecting British interests and British jobs. Ah, the benefits of a private school education.

Behind these arms deals lies the power and influence of the arms industry. Godrej puts it bluntly: The corridors of power are infiltrated by lobbyists for the arms industry. So pervasive is its influence that when it comes to the matter of spending on arms, the tail often wags the dog, with the requirements of the industry being put before effective strategy.. The arms trade is corrupt in more ways than one can describe from the revolving door of kickbacks and bribes to industry funded lobbies that operate through myriad channels.’

At the end of Section One is a useful fact sheet which alone paints a picture so revealing (and so depressing) that you immediately realise why there is precious little money for social programmes around the world. Here are a few examples. In 2010 global military expenditure reached $1,630 billion which is even higher than during the concluding years of the Cold War. Secondly, for every billion spent only 11,600 jobs are created by the arms industry compared to 29,000 jobs in educational services. (But still wed rather kill people than educate them). Thirdly, it is estimated that the arms industry is responsible for 40% of all corruption in global transactions. And fourthly, 7 out of the top 10 arms producing corporations are American and all top ten are from NATO countries. So much for western propaganda about the military threat from the East.

The section dealing with corruption is quite interesting in that it comes from a former member of the ANC who was forced to resign because of his attempts to expose just how deeply the ANC had become embroiled in weapons procurement. The author, Andrew Feinstein writes;
According to the countrys Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, corruption is now pervasive throughout the ruling party and at all levels of government. Its roots are to be found in the arms deal and its cover-up, the point at which the ANC lost its moral compass.

I highlight this passage not to denigrate the ANC, whose alleged misdemeanours are trifling in comparison with the British and US governments, but rather to illustrate just how corrupting the international arms trade has become. To spend $10 billion on armaments that have barely been used when the country has so many pressing social needs is symptomatic of how the armaments trade distorts and deflects even those starting out with the best of intentions.

The final section highlighting the growing use and development of drones is interesting if not a little hyped. Yes, there is something particularly sinister and chilling about being wiped out in an extra-judicial killing by a pilotless drone but if you are on the receiving end it makes little difference if it is death by napalm or death by drone. Either way, Uncle Sam has cut short your life in pursuit of its corporate interests. As a matter of fact, the most chilling and sinister form of extra-judicial killing is via the US dominated IMF and World Bank, whose neo-liberal policies are responsible for the silent death of millions each year. Smart weapons and drones, hideous as they are, can only be considered the icing on the cake of death that is the daily lot of two billion of our fellow citizens. The silent, pilotless death by economic policy.