Hundreds of thousands dead in Eastern Europe as the Russia-Ukraine war is about to reach a grim 2-year mark... tens of thousands of civilians slain in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank... Iraq, Syria, and Yemen again sliding into chaos, on the precipice of yet more Western military intervention... no one wins.
Correction: someone does win....
With all the global geopolitical flashpoints erupting at the same time in the last year, Western defense firms have been raking it in, with US arms exports in particular reaching a record high in fiscal year 2023.
"The United States sold $238 billion worth of weapons to foreign governments in 2023, as many European countries sought to replace stock sent to Ukraine for its defense against invading Russian forces," Stripes writes. "That sum is a 16% increase from the year before and includes sales by U.S. arms companies and those directly negotiated by Washington, a statement Monday from the State Department said."