MICHAEL WALSH: With its staggering $883 billion war (defense) budget the American military industry constitutes 43% of the world’s entire military expenditure.

This is not far behind the value of the UK and Russia’s combined export trade. The financial resources of this military machine’s apparatus dwarf many national economies.

These conglomerates, like the pharmaceutical industries, are far more powerful and influential than many governments.

Through lobbying, a euphemism for sharp-suited salesmen, they exert enormous influence on government policy.

If there are no wars, no threats; imaginary or otherwise, the arms manufacturers are in deep trouble. It is in their interests to continually promote threat and counter-threat just as double-glazing salesmen exaggerate fault in perfect windows.

British journalist Barry White participated in a tour covering the European arms industry lobby in Brussels; in that city alone more than 20,000 lobbyists seek to influence EU institutions.

Most of them operate from offices situated in the four square kilometres surrounding the EU Commission and EU parliament.

An impressive 70 per cent of these pushy lobbyists are employed by corporate giants; the rest by Non-Government Organizations (NGO) and 10 per cent by non-government organizations such as trade unions.

Former EU Commissioner, Marian Fischer Boel described Brussels as a lobbying paradise; it is equal only to the power of America’s lobbyists.

The European arms industry lobby is phenomenal in the clout it wields. One might wonder why as the EU is mainly dependent upon NATO; largely financed and equipped by the United States.

It is because the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty replaced the obsolete EU Constitution. Since then, there has been a European initiative to become less reliant on NATO, which has fueled the European arms industry lobby. According to White, the arms industry seized the moment.

Following the dissolution of the constitution, the EU has become an independent military alliance with an infrastructure for civil-military interventions. It has its own armaments agency. Governments, through banking and arms industry lobbyists, are under continual pressure to engage in conflict.

This explains why the electorate, who think their votes influence governments, are confused as to why their governments wage wars which voters are strongly opposed to.

There are powerful well-financed lobbying forces actively influencing government decisions. Lobbyists are more successful at persuading politicians. The electorate only exercises their powers of persuasion on one day every five years; the lobbyists do it every day.

The European arms industry, like the pharmaceuticals and banking cartels, uses a myriad of strategies to penetrate decision-making institutions.

Using a system known in political circles as ‘entryism’ they sit on advisory groups, become members of think tanks; are slipped on to various advisory and expert groups from where they influence budget decisions and political strategy; they cozy up to the government’s key decision makers.

An important part of their spiel is to invent internal and external threats for without such there would be no need for defense.

Politicians are not renowned for their principles, or their intellectual gifts; many are ambiguous about brown envelopes and other forms of corruption. They are easy meat for hard-headed well-paid arms industry lobbyists.

The big four arms makers in Europe are the UK’s BAE Systems, Finmeccanica, EADS and Thales. As with the banking industry there is little effective regulation.

As a consequence, much equipment is bought without there being a need. In the meantime, those on the frontline are denied appropriate arms and equipment.

If it were otherwise then solutions wouldn’t be needed. If that were to happen then the only ones to do the dying are those employed in the arms industry. WHAT DO YOU THINK?  YOU CAN SHARE OUR STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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