By Shazia Anwer Cheema
The world was hit by a pandemic in 2019 and humanity experienced the vulnerabilities in core of how the world is being operated, the experience of a shutdown of transportation and halting of the supply chain was few in the long list of realizations that how compromised we are. After almost three years of simmering down of pandemic and quarantine phenomenon world is finally looking forward to a Christmas mirth in 2022.
Is another “Winter of Discontent” approaching except for the arms industry?
The global impact of the pandemic purported that there is no such thing as regionally contained. The nascent of all living organisms operating in unanimity is paradoxical. The old cliché of global harmony seems scanty in front of the superfluous realization that no one can escape from the impact, no amount of money or development or prosperity can perish us being affected.
The recent pandemic hit the very foundation of Capitalism, a free market economy, production, and the products, appeared the most defenseless and the resuscitation of old individual self-reliance is eminent.
The world is still facing the aftershocks of the pandemic, and someone somewhere decided to wage a war under the fake pretense of “contained and controlled war” and the facade of subterfuge collapsed by the global impact of war.
The dyad of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Ukraine war invited another “Winter of Discontent”, the period between November 1978 and February 1979 in the United Kingdom that represents a situation when the UK faced a series of widespread strikes.
The global autonomous military weapons market grew with an annual growth rate of 10.4%.
Politically motivated decision with false hopes has put the world on verge of discontent where procuring a piece of bread has become the center point and all other ideals of fighting for humanity, containing the hegemonies, sanctions, and world order has become secondary or even irrelevant. Humanity is suffering by the loopholes of capitalist society, the merchandise—seller—buyer triangle is the most susceptible and can collapse at any time without any plan B. Industrialization of everything from household goods to farming has made us dependent on the system and if the system collapse, an ordinary household neither can produce nor can buy the very basic bread and butter.
The autonomous military weapons market is expected to grow to $19.75 billion in 2026
At the same time, the global autonomous military weapons market grew with an annual growth rate of 10.4%. The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the chances of global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The war between these two countries has led to economic sanctions on multiple countries, a surge in commodity prices, and supply chain disruptions, affecting many markets across the globe.
According to a report titled “Autonomous Military Weapons Global Market Report 2022”, the global autonomous military weapons market grew from $12.04 billion in 2021 to $13.3 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate of 10.4%. The autonomous military weapons market is expected to grow to $19.75 billion in 2026.
Major players in the military weapons market are Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, AVIC, CASC, Rostec, Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems, Rafael, and STM while Asia Pacific was the largest buyer region in the military weapons market in 2021.
Media reports suggest that Eastern Europe’s arms industry is in full production mode. Production of guns, artillery shells, and other military supplies is at a pace not seen since the Cold War as governments in the region lead efforts to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia. US-allied countries are supplying Ukraine with weapons and military equipment since the Ukraine-Russia conflict started on February 24, 2022.
Excluding the arms industry, the high demand and low supply made the commodities unapproachable for a common person particularly in Europe because earnings per capita have not changed. Just the combination of the pandemic and war made the production and supply of produce ten times more expensive.
Global media has reported that strikes on mass scales are being exercised in the festive months of November and December 2022. Thanks to Capitalism our festivity is also a slave to the economy and a helpless breadwinner needs some capital to feel the festivity or he/she has decided to share the discontent they are experiencing.
Black Friday this year has already been the victim of strikes and December festivities are knocking at the door but with a fear of more strikes and more suspension of goods in forthcoming weeks. Amazon warehouse workers in 40 countries went to strike and staged protests before and on Black Friday, hampering one of the company’s biggest shopping days of the year.
Cargo services in South Korea, Chile, and Peru are almost dead due to truckers’ strikes while Spanish truckers ended their strike on November 16 and the backlog is still lying at ports. Moreover, British Railways employees are threatening to strike during Christmas festivity. This can hamper mass transit movements all over Europe just not in the UK because British Railways is one of the most-used sources of European traffic during the Christmas season.
War under the guise of peace, saving humanity, and keeping the balance is ultimately putting the entire globe in chaos
The duet of manmade and natural catastrophes has put the world under the proscenium arch of helplessness and sadness. And the weakest point of capitalism; is the supply chain is the target of the labor class. They know in order to get the justice they have to choke the supply.
Let me point out here that old-fashioned capitalism has evolved into a war industry that requires a constant flow of war machinery to the war market. It is no longer a glitch between the factory owner and factory worker, even factory workers are also victims of bigger war sharks. War machinery as a commodity needs continuous production and supply and for that to run a continuous war is also needed. So some time on location A and other times on location B, but the war must not end because if the war ends the manufacturing units have to stop producing weapons.
War under the guise of peace, saving humanity, and keeping the balance is ultimately putting the entire globe in chaos, and the human mind is not chaos-friendly, human mind operates in an order however world’s order is totally disrupted and another winter of disconnect is brewing.
Note: Writer Shazia Anwer Cheema is an author, columnist, and foreign affairs expert who writes for national and international media. She is a doctoral student and researcher in semiotics and philosophy of communication at Charles University in Prague. She can be reached at her: Twitter @ShaziaAnwerCh Email: shaziaanwer@yahoo.com
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
