America’s military-industrial complex is singled out as being the biggest gainer from the war in Ukraine. Pinning the root cause on the greed and hidden pursuit of the military complex as the ultimate factor in the never-ending global wars and conflicts misses the whole architecture of understanding conflicts and international politics.
The perception and narrative have been shifted to one that seeks to place the West, the US, and its perceived warmongering military complex as the instigators, in efforts to shift the blame and narrative away from reality and in acquitting Moscow of its role in Ukraine and militarisation of other regions.
The system in place in America with an open and effective check and balance platform and a sense of accountability creates a first preventive barrier of unchecked abuses. Arms sales from the US are predominantly for the overarching purpose of defending freedom, and democracy and serving as the deterrence to challenging powers in undermining this pillar of faith. Arms transfer to Taiwan and Ukraine reflects the US being the only power that is capable both on merit and spirit to preserve the rules-based order at the global level, barring its own internal decline.
As a deterrence to conflicts and in saving lives from brutal regimes, arms exports from the US come with oversight parameters, unlike Beijing and Moscow. Their comparative advantage enables them to offer advanced military technology at relatively low prices, including those that are under sanctions by the West. These states continue to pursue these arms mainly for their regime interests and survival.
For America, its biggest deterrence to its own potential mistake is its own self-correction and self-determination democratic accountability. In upholding rules and order and preventing aggression and threats to peace and freedom, a credible, effective and respected deterrence is the first frontier, together with diplomacy. Lacking that in any form will invite anarchy and threats to the rules-based order. For America, its biggest deterrence to its own potential mistake of harming the present peace and stability is its own self-correction, self-realization, and self-determination to seek the best path forward and to amend ways and self-correct through its established and ingrained democratic accountability.
It brings back the age-old debate on who is the more “evil” party, one who confronts and stands up to brutal dictators that threaten freedom and lives, or one who continues to defend the oppressive drive.
When push comes to shove, a global superpower has to stand up for a global cause that transcends its own national cause, out of sheer obligations and profound moral conviction, and a sense of duty. It comes with the readiness to forgo self-benefit for the bigger picture of greater returns to humanity and civilizations. Lacking this power credibility and capacity to deter and enforce, Moscow might have been venturing further into Europe, Beijing might have long created powerful bastions all across the world and retaken Taiwan by force, and Pyongyang might do the same against Seoul, all of which leading to global anarchy and prolonged major wars with an unimaginable toll on human sufferings.
It might seem to be an old cliché but the truth remains unbendable and that a proven system of peace preservation and a rules-based architecture of international relations that has maintained the global order and peace for almost a century must continue to be protected. The world has been too complacent or ignorant of the peace dividend we have enjoyed for decades, at our own future expense.
