SIPRI Report Discussed in German State Media

'As we go marching', the core weakness of European arms manufacturing is revealed, which will, of course, do not change the politicians' minds as they have long-since departed reality

Sometimes, re-visiting some of my first notes posted here on Substack is very depressing. Take, e.g., the below piece from three years ago. Entitled, ‘Merkel’s Legacy of Ashes’, it shows that, now that her memoir is out, while her domestic legacy (mass immigration since 2015) is, shall we say, contested, very few lines are written about the massive export of arms to, well, virtually every country except for a handful:

Peddler of the Four Horsemen

While I wrote these lines just after her CDU/CSU alliance had lost the federal Bundestag election that ushered in the left/far-left current, if outgoing, coalition of the SPD, Greens, and (sometime) FDP, you’re probably not surprised at-all to learn that literally nothing changed in this regard.

Translation, emphases, and [snark] mine.

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The Lucrative Business of War

The world is arming itself—and arms manufacturers are doing good business. In the face of numerous crises and conflicts, many countries are stocking up on weapons. A report by peace researchers shows which companies are benefiting in particular.

By Julia Wäschenbach, [German state broadcaster] ARD, 2 Dec. 2024 [source]

Arms manufacturers' order books are full. No wonder—because countries around the world have recently stepped up their arms purchases. Last year, the sales of the 100 largest arms manufacturers also grew again, as new data from the Stockholm-based peace research institute SIPRI shows—by a combined 4.2%.

‘The wars are accompanied by a feeling of insecurity, which is why countries are increasing their stocks. We see that most countries are trying to buy new weapons’, explained SIPRI expert Lorenzo Scarazzato. In such an insecure situation, they would focus more on hard security, he said.

Russian Arms Manufacturers with 40% More Turnover

The wars in Gaza and Ukraine were the biggest drivers of increased demand last year [remember: neither is a ‘war’ under international law as neither Israel nor Russia issued a formal declaration of war]. According to the researchers, the two Russian arms companies in the SIPRI list recorded a whopping 40% increase in sales [re-read this paragraph and see how German state media skews this: these two are the only Russian companies on a list of the 100 biggest merchants of death; the other 98 are non-Russian companies]

The experts assume that Russia has produced fighter planes, drones, tanks, ammunition and missiles on a large scale. However, it is not possible to say exactly, said Scarazzato: ‘The data is becoming less and less transparent for us, even since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.’ The figures are an estimate. ‘But it is useful to be able to give an overview of what is going on in Russia.’ [remember: Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia].

Record Sales in Israel

Israeli companies even recorded record sales against the backdrop of the war in Gaza [with ‘da Rooskies’ mentioned first as boogeymen, everything that follows is, well, ‘not that important™’]. The order situation was also good for European weapons manufacturers. Nevertheless, their combined turnover barely grew. According to Scarazzato, this is due to the fact that companies that manufacture complex weapons systems in particular were still fulfilling old contracts in 2023 [how are ‘we’ supposed to fight anyone, let alone Russia, with stuff that was ordered before 2022 and is still being produced? I mean, this is all laughable to a degree unimaginable if one considers how belligerent and armed to the teeth European countries were some 3-4 generations ago].

‘These are contracts that were concluded before the war in Ukraine. However, we can see that the demand is there because the number of orders is increasing. But it’s more the small companies that have been able to convert demand directly into sales’, says Scarazzato [of course, because these small and medium-sized enterprises are suppliers to the giants of the industry, which is how these merchants of death assure their continued sway over politics: ‘look at my donations, they are huge, for sure, but they also guarantee jobs in your electoral district, dear MP’].

Rheinmetall Profits From the War in Ukraine

Germany’s largest defence manufacturer Rheinmetall has also already benefited, said the expert. The Düsseldorf-based company recorded a 10% increase in sales in 2023. ‘Rheinmetall produces weapons systems that were in high demand last year.’ These included, for example, ammunition for Ukraine, as well as vehicle systems, tanks, and other combat vehicles.

The US defence company Lockheed Martin remains at the top of the SIPRI list, followed by the US company RTX. However, both have suffered a drop in sales, says SIPRI expert Scarazzato: ‘This is because they have a wide range of products. Their supply chain is therefore much larger than that of other companies. Any small disruption can therefore lead to a loss of revenue.’

Nevertheless, sales at Lockheed Martin and Co. are also likely to increase again in the future—like those of many other manufacturers. After all, with numerous wars and conflicts around the world, there is no easing in sight.

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Bottom Lines

If war becomes that profitable, you’re going to see more of it.

So, what will happen is more conflict, which fuels the sales of these merchants of death who fund politicians advocating for more ‘security™’—who, in turn sell this to their ‘voters™’ as jobs in your district.

Take, e.g., Norway which proposed an 18% increase of ‘defence™’ spending in 2025 (year-over-year), which will flow into, among other things, producing Rheinmetall-affiliated Leopard 2 tanks in Norway:

War being the New Peace, Nordic Leftists Celebrate Militarism

Once Norway’s order of 54 tanks is fulfilled, the built-up industry expects to export more Leopard 2s abroad.

The same kinda happens in Germany, and here’s a list of donations to political parties c. 2023. Rheinmetall is among the CDU’s top donors: call me surprised (not).

To understand why this is so, we turn to once-renowned (much more than, say, Walter Lippman) journalist and columnist John Flynn’s As We Go Marching (1944), and I am specifically highlighting Part Three, Chapter IV (but I highly recommend reading the entire book):

Far more important than war is the preparation for war. Indeed war itself is often a by-product of this preparation and of the circumstances which lead to preparation. Preparation for war is far more effective than war as an antidote against unemployment. War produces a more complete result but it is temporary, passes swiftly, and leaves behind it immense dislocations. But preparation for war can go on for a long time—for forty years in Germany and France and Italy. War or preparation for war establishes the government as the one big customer for the one big industry to which almost all industries become tributary: the armament industry. Preparation for war—national defense, it is called—can take a million or more men in this country in peacetime out of the labor market and put them in the army while at the same time three times as many can be drawn into the industries which provide them with tanks, planes, guns, barracks, food, clothes, etc., all paid for by the government with funds raised largely if not altogether by debt.

Just a brief comment: these few lines explain, much better than anything else, why ‘the Left™’ consistently favours such policies: because it enlarges ‘the state’ and thus advances the left-wing aims.

It won’t surprise you, I suppose, that Mr. Flynn, although very prominent in the 1930s, was cancelled and memory-holed after WW2. He also wrote a quite ‘unflattering’ biography of FDR’s presidency entitled The Roosevelt Myth (1948) that I similarly recommend.

One more snippet from Flynn to drive home that point:

War as an economic instrument is possible because it is possible to work up a moral support for war—or for national defense. War produces its economic effects wholly by sending the government off upon a gigantic spree of spending borrowed funds. It would be possible to obtain the same effects by spending borrowed funds on any other sort of project. But there is, as yet, no project behind which the necessary moral energy can be generated.

Sic transit gloria mundi.