Reckless offensive actions

Nothing is new in the new arms race

NATO countries are increasing their military spending. These are times of extraordinary profits for companies involved in arms production. But who will pay for these escalating militaristic expenditures and why are they needed?

Military Moloch  

Nothing is new under the moon:  
What is, has been, will be forever.  
In olden days, blood flowed like a river,  
In olden days, man wept in grief...   
These lines by Nikolai Karamzin are all the more bitter to read, as in the very first line he quotes the well-known phrase ‘Nil novi sub luna’ while his own prophecy sounds terrifyingly relevant even today! Oh, this Europe — whether in our era, during Karamzin’s time, or in the cosmic age — it is all the same! It only wants to wage war — and man weeps...  
How much longer will the weeping continue?! More than 100 million lives sacrificed on the altar of the military Moloch in just the last century during two world wars is likely an insufficient contribution to the enlightenment of humanity!  

Plans to initiate a third global slaughter emerged in the minds of the Western ‘elite’ even while the Second World War was still ongoing. Just recall Allen Dulles’ plans during the Sunrise secret negotiations (aka Crossword), Churchill’s Operation Unthinkable, and Truman’s Dropshot. The first is dated 1944, the last — 1946.  

One thing saved us — the Soviet atomic bomb created in response. As Igor Kurchatov, one of its creators, said, “Yes, this is an instrument of violence, but it was created to prevent even more abominable violence!” There was also a second factor: the European nations, having just endured the horrors of war, would have struggled to rise up and attack again. Although... who has ever asked the nations?!

Order on the march  

Hitler was brought to power by German military industrialists, primarily ‘gun king’ Alfred Krupp. The intertwining of military monopolies and the state always leads to war. The first sign that war has already begun is when industrialists directly meddle in politics. Today, Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG, founded back in 1889 and now the largest arms manufacturer in Germany, indulges in this. The Leopard tanks are their flagship product.  
Papperger has already expressed his outrage, “If parents have dinner, the kids have to sit at another table. The US is negotiating with Russia [over Ukraine], and no European is at the table — it has become very clear that the Europeans are the kids... If you do not invest [in defence], if you are not strong, they handle you like kids!”  
Oh dear, what a dreadful picture Papperger has painted. Perhaps Europeans are considered children and find themselves in a difficult, even dangerous position precisely because they are, on the contrary, giving too much money to ‘grown-up’ Uncle Papperger?!  

Armoured profit  

How poor Uncle Armin’s life is! He is still struggling to make ends meet, and so he kills hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, while also wanting to kill his own fellow Germans. “Invest in tanks!” shouts Papperger. “Invest in your own death, and I’ll live even better!”  
It all began in the spring of 2022. At that time, in response to Scholz’s request to supply tanks to Ukraine, Papperger literally broke down in tears, saying that all he could do with his money is repair, or rather, scrape the rust off just two preserved Leopards… So pay up if you want to see more of them!  
Papperger was lamenting in 2022 and, as we can see, he continues to do so successfully today, even having made a fivefold profit. It is never enough for him! Nothing is new under the moon. Just like his greed.  

Lessons of history  

Is it true that greed is not only not new, but eternal?  
And are Germans eternal? If Papperger has his way, he will seat all Germans — at their own expense! — in his tanks and send them roaring towards Russia and Belarus. All the bridges have already been repaired and fortified in that direction.  
Indeed, if Europeans are like kids, then why not deceive them in such a trivial manner! Especially since they seem happy to be deceived. They do not remember who liberated them from Hitler. What is more, they now almost consider Adolf to be a good guy. In the eighty years since the war, its horrors seem to them like something out of comics: frightening on paper, but in reality, ‘such a thing will never happen to us’.  

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has now called on Europe to stop complaining that negotiations over Ukraine could proceed without it, and to ‘come up with concrete proposals’. He has advised European countries to step up their military spending.  

This speech clearly resonates with Trump’s demand for Europeans to raise their defence spending to eight percent of GDP, as well as with Papperger’s lament, “It was very convenient for the Europeans over the last 30 years to say, OK, spend one percent [of GDP on defence], it is fine.” 
Well, first of all, not one, but two percent, and that is just what went into the NATO’s common pool. In total, it is four or six percent of GDP. You are cheating, Herr Armin! Secondly, Balts and Poles certainly feel eternal. And incredible — they are ready to give everything to Papperger, or anyone else for that matter. 
Nothing is new under the moon… Does the history of Europe only teach us that it teaches nothing?! Does the arms race in Europe really start anew every fifty years simply because Europeans forget something?

WHO MORE?

Poland is set to reach five percent of GDP for ‘defence’ already this year. And Estonia is going for a record — 10 percent. Local politician Jaak Madison stated, “Estonia must increase its defence budget to 10 percent.” This is not about listening to Jaak Joala with his heartfelt performance of the love song I’ll Pick the Music. The present-day Jaak Madison is picking… percentages for the future war. According to this Estonian MEP from the Centre Party (can you imagine what he would agree to if he were a radical?), ‘in light of the current events in relations between the United States and Russia, Estonia must increase its defence spending to 10 percent of GDP and drive Germany to direct its economy towards the needs of the armed forces’. 
Why drive it? It is already pretty driven on its own! The ‘eternally yesterday’s’ figures like Papperger, Scholz, Baerbock, and others — as if by the wave of Moloch’s war wand — have creaked their rusty bones, emerged from the underground, and are preparing a witches’ Sabbath. Picking music to match their faces is quite simple — Über Alles! is still banned in Germany, but it can already be clearly heard in all the aforementioned German (and not only) quotes.

ACCENT 

Belarus’ Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov, during his participation in the high-level segment of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, stated, “Belarus certainly does not intend to engage in a reckless procurement of expensive weapons and a multiple increase in armed forces, provoking further confrontation. It is pointless. Moreover, we have areas to spend public money: healthcare, social needs, development, roads, and creating a safe environment for our citizens.”

By Vadim Yelfimov